Our "own" car reviews

So my brother has left that ailing Festiva parked outside for a while now. I decided to take it for a drive to see just how bad this car is.

https://pic.armedcats.net/h/hb/hbriz/2011/04/12/DSC_6954.jpg

The answer should be immediately obvious. Just look at the thing. This decomposing US-market econobox was never something to set your world on fire. Even when it was new, the cheapest Ford was a car who's only selling point was that it was cheap. Despite this, the Festiva was a huge success. Ford shifted these in numbers that were never matched by the much better and even cheaper Fiesta.

This particular car was the bottom-rung Trio. In 1994, it would set you back a cool $14,695. It came with a tape deck with 4 speakers, and power steering. And that's it. Air conditioning was an elitist option not specified to this particular car, which unfortunately was specified in a green I haven't seen anywhere but my grandma's kitchen cupboards. It was probably called Tropical Holiday Breeze or something. Anyway, much of this Tropical Breeze had decided to go on its own holiday, as what remained on the roof looked like the result of a very nasty skin infection. The cracking paint on the pinstripes along the side were set off beautifully by the $9.99 shiny wheel covers.

https://pic.armedcats.net/h/hb/hbriz/2011/04/12/DSC_6959.jpg

Included in that price was an engine - a 1.3 four pot with 47kW, and a 0-100km/h time of 16 seconds when it was new. Since that day back in the whimsical old times of 1994, this bargain beater has piled on nearly 350,000km, and the log book shows no sign of servicing being completed since the 150,000 mark. It felt exactly like a 17-year old pensioner's runabout with 350,000km would feel like. The gearbox was horribly imprecise - slotting into each gear felt like putting a very thin wand into a wizard's sleeve... the steering was equally vague, as loose as the aforementioned sleeve. The cheap K-Mart tyres gave up gripping without even trying, squealing around roundabouts as the worn out suspension pitched and rolled even at shopping trolley speeds. This wasn't all bad though, it even became fun. Speeds well below the limit began to feel like I was re-enacting chase scenes through the city, tyres squealing through intersections and the engine shouting angrily at being made to do work. Put simply, it was a laugh.

Inside the lavish Trio, the cassette deck greets you as an oasis of luxury in amongst the cheap '90s Korean plastic. The steering wheel had yellowed with age and presumably the previous owner's nicotine and the markings on the gear knob had worn off. The seats were a two-piece affair with no adjustable headrest, highlighting the just how deep into the bargain basement this car sat.

https://pic.armedcats.net/h/hb/hbriz/2011/04/12/DSC_6966_copy.jpg

I was expecting to hate the Festiva. I was expecting a terribly engineered and even more terribly aged Korean shopping car. And it delivered on those aspects. But, despite all its foibles, I found the little Ford from Seoul strangely lovable. Perhaps it was the nostalgia bringing me back to my childhood spent in dreary '90s Fords. Or maybe it was the fact that, if you don't take it seriously, this shitty little $400 hatchback is a riot. Either way, it hasn't helped squash my desire for a little cheap beater of my own.
 
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On the adjustable headrests thing - I didn't notice until recently, but my car doesn't have them either!
 
So my brother has left that ailing Festiva parked outside for a while now. I decided to take it for a drive to see just how bad this car is.

https://pic.armedcats.net/h/hb/hbriz/2011/04/12/DSC_6954.jpg

The answer should be immediately obvious. Just look at the thing. This decomposing US-market econobox was never something to set your world on fire. Even when it was new, the cheapest Ford was a car who's only selling point was that it was cheap. Despite this, the Festiva was a huge success. Ford shifted these in numbers that were never matched by the much better and even cheaper Fiesta.

This particular car was the bottom-rung Trio. In 1994, it would set you back a cool $14,695. It came with a tape deck with 4 speakers, and power steering. And that's it. Air conditioning was an elitist option not specified to this particular car, which unfortunately was specified in a green I haven't seen anywhere but my grandma's kitchen cupboards. It was probably called Tropical Holiday Breeze or something. Anyway, much of this Tropical Breeze had decided to go on its own holiday, as what remained on the roof looked like the result of a very nasty skin infection. The cracking paint on the pinstripes along the side were set off beautifully by the $9.99 shiny wheel covers.

https://pic.armedcats.net/h/hb/hbriz/2011/04/12/DSC_6959.jpg

Included in that price was an engine - a 1.3 four pot with 47kW, and a 0-100km/h time of 16 seconds when it was new. Since that day back in the whimsical old times of 1994, this bargain beater has piled on nearly 350,000km, and the log book shows no sign of servicing being completed since the 150,000 mark. It felt exactly like a 17-year old pensioner's runabout with 350,000km would feel like. The gearbox was horribly imprecise - slotting into each gear felt like putting a very thin wand into a wizard's sleeve... the steering was equally vague, as loose as the aforementioned sleeve. The cheap K-Mart tyres gave up gripping without even trying, squealing around roundabouts as the worn out suspension pitched and rolled even at shopping trolley speeds. This wasn't all bad though, it even became fun. Speeds well below the limit began to feel like I was re-enacting chase scenes through the city, tyres squealing through intersections and the engine shouting angrily at being made to do work. Put simply, it was a laugh.

Inside the lavish Trio, the cassette deck greets you as an oasis of luxury in amongst the cheap '90s Korean plastic. The steering wheel had yellowed with age and presumably the previous owner's nicotine and the markings on the gear knob had worn off. The seats were a two-piece affair with no adjustable headrest, highlighting the just how deep into the bargain basement this car sat.

https://pic.armedcats.net/h/hb/hbriz/2011/04/12/DSC_6966_copy.jpg

I was expecting to hate the Festiva. I was expecting a terribly engineered and even more terribly aged Korean shopping car. And it delivered on those aspects. But, despite all its foibles, I found the little Ford from Seoul strangely lovable. Perhaps it was the nostalgia bringing me back to my childhood spent in dreary '90s Fords. Or maybe it was the fact that, if you don't take it seriously, this shitty little $400 hatchback is a riot. Either way, it hasn't helped squash my desire for a little cheap beater of my own.

The Aspire! I remember seeing those everywhere in the mid 90's. My mom's friend has one, an ex rental red 3 door. I've always liked the thing, as noisy and underpowered as it is.

I saw a 97 facelift model here just a few days ago, it was pretty worn looking but not bad. If I had the choice between a 5 door Aspire and my Saturn, I'd probably choose it, that's how much I like the car.
 
I'm slow at this. Posting content, that is. But since most of you see it as a blessing, I'll spare the apologies. :p

Last week I visited a neighbouring town, 'cos I had to see about a girl. That in itself is an interesting story, but don't worry, I'll focus on cars for the moment.

See, since I sold the Citro?n, I haven't exactly had a need for wheels. You can't park in this damned city without being hassled by some legal faction, and the traffic lights around here show three forms of red, so I rather walk everywhere. The problem really is when I need to get to Helsinki or whatever closeby city. I mean, I could take a train. Trains are fun if you're drunk and want to IRC and facebook while underway. Or a bus. Buses are traditional and quaint, and give you that 70's technicolour-feeling. But both of these forms of transport are expensive, stressful and the seats are awfully uncomfortable compared to a Mercedes. Or a Mitsubishi Sapporo.

So, while I enjoy being drunk every time I'm out of town, and the various body-aches resulting from public transport can be considered "traditional and quaint", I just had to look into an alternative form of transport. I had basically two options here:

1. Do the Top Gear thing of buying a cheap car for the trip and possibly selling it off afterwards. But since I'm a bit of a perfectionist, it'll be awfully hard to find any sort of comfortable and relatively worry-free car that could handle the trip for under 800?. And even though I'm somewhat certain I could get my money back on the other end, I'd rather avoid the risk at this point, since the variance could very well be more than the cost of a train ticket. And since I rarely have a film crew tailing me in a brand new Range Rover, a potential breakdown would completely ruin my trip.

Cost to me 0-150? (Including petrol)

2. Rent a car. I'd normally not recommend this, since around here all you can rent are overpriced awful econoboxes with small engines. But, what am I looking for? Aircon, timetable free travel, privacy, comfort. Which a small econobox will most likely accomplish.

And since I'm a lazyass bastard, choice number two it was. I rang up the local sixt-office and asked for a hatchback to be ready asap. And who'd have guessed - they had an Opel Astra standing by. "Gimme 20 minutes, I'll wash it up for you and you'll be on your way."

Cool. So here's the review of said Astra:


Opel Astra 2011 1.6 Ecotec - 4,5m of car, sir. Would you like fries with that?

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These pics are from wikipedia, mind. But the car I had was nearly identical. And seriously, it's an Astra, they're not exactly unique to begin with.

Jumping in, the array of buttons was a bit intimidating, but I soon found everything I needed. As opposed to a certain Vectra, where the A/C had to be turned on from a hidden menu, the aircon began blowing cool air straight away. All in all, a relatively unpretentious place to sit in. Pretty solid compared to this French piece of junk I recently owned, but also didn't tingle any senses. It was kind of there to do its job.

The only thing that actually induced an emotional response was the car stereo. Seriously. Even public wouldn't consider listening to music on that thing. It was like Tom Jones yelling for help while stuck at the bottom of a well. Which in itself might sound quite interesting, but it's not the thing I wanna hear when I have a Muse CD in the player.

Other than that, stuff was pretty much as expected. To the point of being dull, even. No personal style points, no peculiar features. It wasn't really the driver's seat, but more of an area to sit while you carry out the tedious task which is driving. I thought of playing around with the fuel economy meters for random entertainment, but I couldn't for the death of me figure out how the on board computer works. My sentence then, was hours of dullness, listening to Tom Jones in a well. Oh well.

The engine had no torque. Had to rev it like a rent-a-car, which it was, to get any response. Surprisingly though, it made 140kmh seem quite effortless. Nothing to write home about then.

Basically then, what I rented was 4,5 metres of grey car. There was absolutely nothing good about it, and absolutely nothing bad about it. Exactly what a modern car buyer (with no personal taste) needs then - something that'll blend in, something seemingly sturdy. Something that'll make that midlife crisis something to look forward to.


Cost 122? (one day rental with petrol for 340km)

A bus ticket for the same trip is 59?. Would I get the Opel again? Without doubt.
 
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Needs a turbo, it's a very heavy car. Sixt prefers NA though ;)
 
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*Obligatory rickhamilton620 wishes the Saturn brand was still around so we could get the Astra in it's unmolested (read: not a Chevy Cruze or Buick Verano) form again post* :p

That said, shame it didn't drive as nicely as I'd hope, those seats look very comfortable. :)
 
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So a few weeks ago I was at one of these and I drove, among other things... a Chevy Volt. It's taken me till now to get over my shame and talk about it. I'm not even sure where to start. It was completely and totally underwhelming. Quite depressing, actually. Even the representitive who rode with me didn't seem particularly enthusiastic about it. I imagine you'd have to be on some pretty powerful drugs in order to be... or have no soul. If you want to know what it was like inside, imagine a sea of cheap-as-can-be black plastic and fabric, with an iPod like thing superglued to the middle of it. that's the dashboard. the steering wheel is next to it and has a little screen behind it that tells you things like how nice you're being to mother gaia, as well as other less important stuff like how fast you're going. Seriously, it was bad. The interior door panels seemed to be the same type of rough, cheap plastic a portable outhouse it made of. And it has the characteristic football-shaped-hybrid bar in the middle of the back window that keeps you from seeing anything behind you. my final verdict: ugh. I hope I never have to set foot in one again as long as I live.

But going to the thing was still totally worth it, because I also drove a Corvette and a Camaro. Chevy made you drive them with a representitive in the car, but they were cool and actually let you have a little fun. I could really get used to the power of the Corvette, as well as the view down that long hood. I'd still take a Mustang over the Camaro any day, but now I do like the Camaro a little bit better. If someone gave me one, I might not get rid of it. At least not right away.

But the car I was actually most impressed with? The new Taurus. The Camaro and Corvette were great and all, but they were pretty much what I expected. If I ever need a four door family hauler, this is the first car I'm looking at. The interior was nice, refined, even. Any hint of malaise or cheapness typical or recent American car interiors was nowhere to be found. It was nice enough that the starter button did not feel at all out of place. As for power, it felt downright quick compared to my Buick. It definitely has all the power you could want in a car of its type. It also had the smoothest ride of anything I've ever stepped on that moved, including large ships* and elevators. The driving course they had laid out had some things to run over to test the rides of the cars, like some boards and things, and if I hadn't seen them, I would not have even known they were there. My final verdict: Well done, Ford. I honestly don't see how any other car in this segment could possibly be any better than this. Problem, GM?

Some other notes: conspiciously absent were the Mustang, the Hyundai Genesis coupe. and Dodge. GM thought their cars still couldn't measure up, perhaps? Quite likely, I say. I was hoping to check out the new Charger. booooo.

*possibly a slight exaggeration. but still. it was crazy smooth.
 
So a few weeks ago I was at one of these and I drove, among other things... a Chevy Volt. It's taken me till now to get over my shame and talk about it. I'm not even sure where to start. It was completely and totally underwhelming. Quite depressing, actually. Even the representitive who rode with me didn't seem particularly enthusiastic about it. I imagine you'd have to be on some pretty powerful drugs in order to be... or have no soul. If you want to know what it was like inside, imagine a sea of cheap-as-can-be black plastic and fabric, with an iPod like thing superglued to the middle of it. that's the dashboard. the steering wheel is next to it and has a little screen behind it that tells you things like how nice you're being to mother gaia, as well as other less important stuff like how fast you're going. Seriously, it was bad. The interior door panels seemed to be the same type of rough, cheap plastic a portable outhouse it made of. And it has the characteristic football-shaped-hybrid bar in the middle of the back window that keeps you from seeing anything behind you. my final verdict: ugh. I hope I never have to set foot in one again as long as I live.

But going to the thing was still totally worth it, because I also drove a Corvette and a Camaro. Chevy made you drive them with a representitive in the car, but they were cool and actually let you have a little fun. I could really get used to the power of the Corvette, as well as the view down that long hood. I'd still take a Mustang over the Camaro any day, but now I do like the Camaro a little bit better. If someone gave me one, I might not get rid of it. At least not right away.

But the car I was actually most impressed with? The new Taurus. The Camaro and Corvette were great and all, but they were pretty much what I expected. If I ever need a four door family hauler, this is the first car I'm looking at. The interior was nice, refined, even. Any hint of malaise or cheapness typical or recent American car interiors was nowhere to be found. It was nice enough that the starter button did not feel at all out of place. As for power, it felt downright quick compared to my Buick. It definitely has all the power you could want in a car of its type. It also had the smoothest ride of anything I've ever stepped on that moved, including large ships* and elevators. The driving course they had laid out had some things to run over to test the rides of the cars, like some boards and things, and if I hadn't seen them, I would not have even known they were there. My final verdict: Well done, Ford. I honestly don't see how any other car in this segment could possibly be any better than this. Problem, GM?

Some other notes: conspiciously absent were the Mustang, the Hyundai Genesis coupe. and Dodge. GM thought their cars still couldn't measure up, perhaps? Quite likely, I say. I was hoping to check out the new Charger. booooo.

*possibly a slight exaggeration. but still. it was crazy smooth.

The Taurus is a nice car, but many say it's nowhere as roomy as the old "I'm an American Passat!" looking car. Sucks about the Volt...I'm definitely not a fan of the interior...it's simply unacceptable for a 40k car.:/
 
As you may have noticed we don't have the option of loaner cars at work any more (due to the lack of posts from me in this thread)

However, I need to take the Picasso in to fix some electronic gremlins (French cars FTW) and so, I wil be driving some Citroen for that day. So expect a review from me for a Citroen Whatevertheyhappentogive me soon!
 
I really want to drive a Dacia. Shame there's no Dacia dealership in the next town.
 
Renault Sandero/Logan?
 
Preferably the Sandero. They sell Dacias in Renault dealerships here, so no separate Renault / Dacia models available.
 
So there I was at the Citroen dealership, when the dude behind the counter said "we've got you the red courtesy car"... I realised there was a tatty old stinky smelly red Saxo on the lot, and was sad.

To my surprise though, he handed me the keys to a relatively new C1.

Foto0014.jpg


Now this is a car I've been wanting to drive ever since the Top Gear Aygo segment, since it is basically the same car for less monies, what more could you want....

At first I really realised how basic this car was when I opened it, no fancy keyfob, just a key that opens a lock. It's worked on cars for 70ish years, and still does.
Then I saw the interior, not that nice to be honest, but with a car of this pricetag, I'm amazed at the quality and finish.
They sell the petrol C1 here for something like 6000?, so I expected interior that looked like i made it. I did find a big cubbyhole where the radio should be,

Foto0008.jpg


Apparently those 6000? don't include a radio. Or a rev counter for that matter.

Whatevers, what's it like to drive. I was not expecting a lot to be honest, but was surprised, it has quite a sporty ride, just verging on the side of too bouncy, and a nice exhaust note that makes it sound like you're going ridiculously fast, when you aren't.
It also has weird clunky gearchanges that take some getting used to, and a weird layout for the gears (2nd goes from 0 to 110 kph, for instance, while 5th is only useful above 120kph for cruising, wtf?)

The 68 hp this car has are plenty, even for motorway cruising, you don't feel underpowered at all, unless going up a steep hill.

Foto0007.jpg



The handling is quite nice, since it weighs nothing it's easily flicked around without much understeer at all. It's a car that makes you think all other cars are just big, expensive and wasteful. Because they probably are.

On the downside, a small niggle of mine is that I usually rest my elbow on the windowpane, this is not possible in a C1 because the door is not wide enough...still, easily solved by opening the window. I do actually like the painted metal insides of the doors...

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For some reason there are also big words in English on everything, which I found strange, since this is a car made by French (Peugeot and Citroen) and Japanese (Toyota) companies, mainly for the Euro market.

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I did some more motorway stuff, only to discover that this car DOES have a decent turn of speed if you have the patience. This is basically as fast as you ever need to go anyway


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All in all I was pleasantly surprised, sure it's basic, but in ways you don't notice, like a single windshield wiper or no real boot (just an opening glass partition).

For me, those flaws are forgivable, as well as the fact that the rear seats are designed for people without legs (ie small children). This car is very good at doing what it was designed for : being a small, nippy runabout that's ridiculously cheap to buy (price mentioned above) ridiculously cheap to run (very narrow tyres and it only used about 5liters of petrol for the 100ish kms I did with it), while still being stylish and funky.

I particularly love little details like the rear lights, this is one of the major (and only) difference between this and the Aygo

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Only real downside for me is that they don't make it with the 1.4 HDI diesel anymore. That, with a few "luxuries" like aircon and a stereo would really make me consider swapping my Astra for it.


7/10

pros

-handling
-price (both to buy and to run)
-actually goes when you nail it
-doesn't have electric heated everything, so there's nothing to break

cons
-not available in diesel
-it's still a french car, so it isn't known for being reliable
-not for people who like big showoffy cars or cars loaded with options
 
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^ great review...the only reason I could imagine that the car had so much english lettering was due to the Toyota parts sharing. Those steering wheel mounted stalks look as if they were lifted straight out of a Corolla, similar could be said for the cluster LCD display which looks to be straight out a Yaris. Door handles and other things match up as well. Is it really that unreliable though, since it's 1/3 Toyota?
 
If they were unreliable they wouldn't use them as driving school cars over here. Same goes with Logans and Renault Symbols.
 
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