Our "own" car reviews

[Crazyjeeper]

Mazdaspeed6 2.3DISI 6MT

The Mazdaspeed6 is a very capable sport sedan that lives a life of anonymity. You have to be a huge car bore to tell one apart from a regular Mazda 6. This car, in my opinion, is one of the best kept secrets in the car world. If Mazda actually bothered to advertise it, or maybe promote it, then more people would have one, but I have only seen 2 others in the past year driving around in my city of 1,000,000+ people.

I'll get the boring stuff out of the way first. Now, the interior is not going to match the fit and finish of a Lexus or Infiniti, but it does hold up quite well considering that a base model speed6, which is the one I drove, only costs 26,000 dollars new. None of the interior materials resemble anything that can be found in the cab of my 1997 Ford F150, so it's a winner in my book. It comes standard with a 7 speaker Bose stereo, which sounds good, if a bit too over processed and the standard cloth sport seats are very comfortable on longer drives and I am even able to move the seat back far enough to accommodate my 36" inseam. If driven carefully, you can push 24mpg and the ride is just about perfect for a car wearing 18" wheels and 45 series tires.

Now, the fun stuff. The Mazdaspeed6 is powered by a 2.3L turbocharged, inter cooled, direct injected inline 4 which makes 274hp and 280lb-ft of torque. I'm not going to lie, and say that there isn't any turbo lag, because there is. Below 3,000ish rpm, the performance can best be described as "meh". However, once you go beyond 3,000 rpm, its an entirely different story. The turbo builds in with a very satisfying surge or torque that really presses you into the seat, making the car feel much faster than it is. If you launch it aggressively, you will get from 0-60 in less than 6 seconds. And once you get to speed, you will find that the steering is very direct, if a bit heavy and very communicative. Once on the move, its very easy to forget that this car weights nearly 3600 pounds. In the corners, the handling is extremely neutral, however, on the right surface, you can pull off full on, muscle car style power slides due to the Mazda's AWD system. I am staggered by the amount of grip from the relatively narrow tires. If you are approaching the very high limits of adhesion, there is a hint of under steer, but that is telling you to back off you pillock, stop pushing so hard. However, if you drive into a corner using the slow in, fast out technique, there is zero under steer, just tons of grip. Now, most of the driving I did was on relatively straight freeways and surface streets where its very easy to be going far faster than you should. Most of the time, you don't even need to downshift to overtake someone. Put your foot down at 70 in 6th and before you know it, you are going a very illegal speed. Not that downshifting is a chore. My only complaint is that the clutch can be difficult to master. It is a little bit grabby, but considering the amount of power available, its forgivable. The gearbox is just about perfect. The shifter has short, but direct throws and you always get the right gear. Overall, the Mazdaspeed6 is a joy to drive, and when I was driving it, I found myself taking the long way to places. I just can't believe that Mazda made a nose heavy, 3600 pound family sedan drive so wonderfully, but they did.

Overall 9/10

 

[GM_IV]

My branch has only got these very recently, while my main office has just gotten several. The car in question is the Jeep Patriot, I'm not sure why all the sudden, I guess Chrysler has trouble selling them although I find another reason later.

The Patriot is a Caliber-based Jeep, unlike the Compass and the Caliber itself this is apparently capable of going off-road. Unlike the Liberty you will not find the low range gear box, this instead has a CVT.

As a regular road vehicle, I just didn't find the Patriot all that good. The interior given in the Patriot is far better designed than the really poorly designed Caliber(my knee always hits the stupidly designed plastic bowl under the wheel, not helped by the fact I'm short). The Patriot does come with a few power options like windows, mirrors and locks as standard. The Patriot however doesn't silence the critics who believe Chrysler makes very cheap interiors since its mostly black plastic or even worse the tinfoil spray painted plastic. The seats are somewhat decent unlike the solid rock, uncomfortable Sebring seats. The rear seats can fold, a feature becoming more common in all cars.

Driving a Patriot is very similar to driving a Caliber. Despite the fact it has the 2.4L, it doesn't seem that much quicker than the Caliber. Although unlike the Caliber, tiny hills does not force you to rev 4000+ rpm, so it is a tad more powerful in that respect. The ride is a bit more stiffer than the Caliber. The steering feel of the Patriot...like most current Chryslers is rather detached, so its not exciting to drive. Cornering abilities are quite similar to the Caliber's which is not very good, I felt quite a bit of roll.

Still it can do probably only a little bit of the off-roading which means its much more useful than the Caliber or the Compass. Overall since most drivers will never use the off-roading technology in the Patriot its pointless. Serious off-roaders would choose the Liberty over the Patriot since that car was designed to be an off-roader instead of a car that's trying to become one. Considering the base price of a Patriot in Canada is $14,750 its ridiculously cheap, to put it in perspective...a base Toyota Yaris sedan is only a few hundred cheaper. GM and Ford do not produce an SUV that is this low in price, even Kia's Rondo which isn't an SUV but merely a CUV is at least $19,000.

Its not a good car in the regular sense, but because its so desperately cheap it may convince some people to buy one. Its an SUV...but considering the Patriot is light for a recent Chrysler product I do not see it being that much more greedier than a Caliber.

Performance: 2/10
Fun Factor: 1/10
Practicality: 6/10
Comfort: 5/10
Value for money: 10/10

 

[otispunkmeyer]

2002 Ford Focus CL 3 door 1.4 zetec

i do have pictures, but comp is back in the menders so ill get them up later on.

i dont actually own the car anymore, having sold it about 2 weeks ago, but i think now is a good time to reflect on ownership!

the car in general

i dont think the bottom end focus ever gets reviewed, but i think i know why. the CL model is "apparently" built to lesser standards than the mid-high end cars. having sat in mine, then been in a same year top of the range ghia i can attest to this. fit n finish in my car was rather quite dreadful, though adequate.

also, ford saw fit to supply the CL with softer springs than the other cars so the focus' renowned sharp handling and dynamics were somewhat diminished. the upshot was good ride comfort.

as far as goodies go... electric windows and power steering and remote boot release were your lot. simple. nothing to go wrong then.

overall i enjoyed my time with the car, after fitting a sony CD-player the stock speakers produced a quite agreeable sound and their placement in the car i found to be rather good. instead of been hidden on the bottom of the doors firing into the foot well, they were much higher up, around knee level, so for what they were, listening to music was on the whole, pretty good.

the biggest boon to the car really is the amount of space. with the rear seats down the car is practically cavernous! i dont think i've ever come across something that wouldnt fit in the back of my focus. the only fly in the load lugging ointment was the engine really.

handling

as mentioned, the car uses softer springs than the focus's that generally find there way into the journo's hands. so my car felt rather roly-poly in the corners, the crisp edge to the focus' handling definately not present. still the core dynamic was still there, the level of handling was enough given the engine present and i got plenty of compliments from friends who drive other, newer, more expensive cars about my focus's ride quality over bumps.

still there was something that always irked me about the car.... over some of the more severe bumps, it almost felt like front end and back end of the car weren't even connected! as there was a disconcerting shimmying going on.

steering - spot on i thought, hydraulic PAS for the win. it let you know exactly what was going on

gearbox - best box i have ever used, its almost like you have a telepathic link to this thing, it goes exactly where you want it every single time. never missed a beat.

brakes - this car didnt come with ABS, another of the CL models foibles at the time. still, the brakes were very strong and very progressive with a good feel in the pedal. you had to really really really be pressing, like two footed assault on the pedal to lock the wheels. i would argue the car didnt even need ABS, the brakes were moderated so well.

performance/engine

under the bonnet.... a 1.4, zetec 16 valver.. pinched from the older fiesta's. with 73bhp and i think 91Nm of torque it definitely wasn't going to win any races. it wouldn't be so bad if it was frugal, but to actually get anywhere with some kind of pace you had to drive it hard, which made fuel economy plummet. i dont think i ever saw over 40mpg from it.

still, the car weighed in at just 1150kg, so the engine wasn't totally out of its depth. keep it between 2500-4000rpm and it pulled rather well for its size. it sounded rather quite fruity too....it had a nice metallic rasp to it that always encouraged you to press on. ford quote the 0-60 in around 14 seconds, but it always felt faster than that.

this engine, the whole car infact, had a strong character.... like it was always trying its hardest for you, all the time.

still the engine was utterly defeated by hills and even the most unassuming inclines on the motorways caused it to loose speed. carrying passengers was always a problem when it came to the motorway because it just couldnt handle the weight. Joining motorways was also a bit hairy at times, you have to accelerate hard to get up to speed, but you had to plan ahead because if you got caught off guard, you wouldnt have the power to get yourself out of the mess again.

infact this car taught me alot about driving.... it made you think about what you were doing, made you plan ahead because you could never rely on its grunt to get you out of tricky situations. you always had to plan your way out before you got there.

Quality

adequate id say... the fit n finish inside and out was rather quite miserable, but if you didnt take the time to look you wouldnt really notice is. uneven panel gaps every where, the drivers door closed tighter than the passengers and the wing mirrors made whistling noises at motorway speeds.

there were a few rattles in the cabin, wind noise, road noise and engine noise got rather intrusive and the quality of the plastics used were quite bad. they were very shiny and felt quite brittle, and had this odd fake leather pattern molded into them. still the dash had a nice sweeping design to look at.

seats weren't all that comfortable on long trips.


overall, a good car for pottering around town and ragging on B-roads. but not really a motorway machine. despite its short comings in the engine bay... the car was a very good all rounder

7/10

 

[NooDle]

an old one I had lying around :

Mini Clubman :

I drove a Clubman yesterday (not the Cooper one, sadly) and I have to say I was very impressed. A colleague of mine drives a new Mini Cooper D, and he had a Clubman as a temporary replacement.

The regular Mini is very, very cramped. i'm not even 6' and I cannot sit in the rear seats for longer than half an hour before getting cramps. The whole rear of the car just gets narrower and narrower and you end up with your knees against the seats.
Front seats are fine, but rear room is pathetic and so is the space in the boot. You?d have to take several smaller trips to the shops instead of buying everything at once.

All of this is solved if you buy a Clubman. The rear space is much much improved, infact I dunno why they just made the regular mini like this.

Driving it was very nice, it had the 110hp diesel engine, which was plenty for carrying me and a mate. Handling is superb, but the ride is on the harsh side. Comfy for doing long distances on the highway, but when you get to the towns, and have a bumpy surface, too hard and uncomfortable.

Interior is very nice, but I have a problem with having a farking huge dial in the middle. I know Minis always have these, but this one's just too large. It?s almost cartoony like this.

I liked the split open roof though, you can have it open while the passengers one is closed and vice versa. Another lovely little touch are the pillarles doors. As you open the door, you?ll see the window automatically rolls down a bit, and closes again once you shut the door. Neat.

I also ventured over to the back, and tried out the new twin doors. It looks neat, but isn?t very handy when you've parked very close on one side. It does not mean you have a 'door' though, the opening is still too narrow to get in and out easily.

You actually see out of it very well from the drivers seat, but I don't see why they used a split door. It doesn't help functionality since you need to open 2 doors instead of one, and you cant fold the left one down first either.

I was amazed at how small the boot was, even in Clubman form its way way smaller than you think and for me, much too small.

Overall, it was very nice to drive, small enough to park it easily, but for me not practical enough, and most importantly, way, way too expensive (as most BMW things are). I can't be expected to fork over 20k?+ for something so tiny and so impractical.


7/10, but expensive

 

[MP5A4]

Here is one i wrote a long time ago for my local AR club members.
Yes i am a Jezza quote rip-off person.

Alfa 159 3.2 JTS. Tested

Ahh. The all new Alfa is finally here. Ever since they launched it in Europe, we here in hk can only look at the pictures and drool all over the place. Finally, it is here.

As an Alfa guru, I teleported to the nearest Alfa dealer and took it for a test drive.

Seeing the Q4 version for the first time, I nearly wet myself, twice. First when I see the car, second when I opened the door. Damn this car is a beauty inside and out.

For some mind boggling reasons the dealer let me test the new car in some sort of redish, brownish violetish red. They call it rossosomething. I call it color for the color blind. But it doesn't matter. Even in such an awful color, I would still spend the rest of my life looking at it. Drooling. And touching myself.

After several pants change and several hours in the mens room, I finally calmed myself and sit inside the car. And almost immediately I need a new pair of pants. The inside feels like a Gucci bag, the leather is all soft and fluffy. The gear stick is at the correct position, the steering wheel too. The pedals are made for heal-and-toe-ing and it even got electric seats! I've almost never seen electric seats in an Alfa. Mostly because nobody wants it since it'll stop working in some awkward position.

There is plenty of leg room in the rear too even for a big fatman like myself. There?s also plenty of luggage space. Think Alfa made such a large boot so when the driver got mugged and thrown into the boot, he won't feel like a deadman in a coffin.

Finally I took out the keys that look like they stolen it from starship enterprise, and pressed the big engine start button...

Once I pressed the engine start button I immediately jumped off the car. You would expect me going "the engine noise made me creamed all over the car" but actually that's not what happened. I couldn't hear a thing inside at all... It is all nice and quiet inside that made me thought the car had refused to start. The sales from the dealer says that due to sound isolation technology that kept noise out...

Sound isolation? What's that? Sound isolation on an Alfa? That's like saying civics comes with an uber loud muffler.. Who wants sound isolation in an sports sedan? And mind you, they don't mean the sound isolation technology we get on our Bose headphones, those 'technology' he talks about is just a huge chunk of foam shoved into the doors.

And then it?s the ride. It?s smooth as silk. Easy to drive, 47 : 53 weight ratio was good. The front heavy and understeer I get from my 156GTA is no where in sight. The clutch is light and the gearstick is also light. Pedal placing is excellent for heal and toe as I mentioned, its just such a good, easy to drive car.

And on to the powerrrrrr. The 3.2 JTS engines gives 10 more brake horsepower then the GTA but the car is somewhat heavier AND instead of the front wheel drive its now four wheel drive. But that didn't hurt much. The acceleration is still awesome and the torque curve is still impossibly smooth. You can shift to third, and then forget about shifting ever again even on hilly roads in Hong Kong.

By now you may think "oh that's great then" but it?s not that straight forward. As an Alfa guru, I am no that happy. There is some.... "Alfa" missing from the 159. It?s like some spirit of Alfa is missing. It?s just like iced cocoa without cream. Still great, but just not right.

The ride is too smooth, the suspension is a bit too soft, and the sound isolation is too... Well isolated, I don't want to listen to Italian classical on RTHK 4, I want to listen to the music generated by the 3.2 JTS. I don't want the star trek engine start button because it?s just another thing that will break.

Tested this car in a long route, got hilly roads, twist and corners and bumpy sections. This car is perfectly balanced, I don?t feel any under steer or torque steer, the acceleration is almost as fast as my GTA, but since the suspension is so soft and the ride is so smooth, you won?t notice anything unless you are looking at the speedometer?

The cornering is pretty smooth, but the shocks really need a little firming up. The ride is very comfortable thou, which I don?t know if that?s good or bad for an Alfa? I?ve never said an Alfa being ?comfortable? before?

Approaching a corner, Shift down, heal toe, and whoa! I missed the RPM. Hmm must be because I am not used to the car? oh here is another corner.. shift down, heal toe? Whoa! Miss again? Obviously its too quiet, I cannot tell how fast the engine is turning just by listening to the sound of the engine. (more like I can?t hear the engine at all!) that?s another down side for the sound isolation..

But the turn in is direct. This car did not lose its Alfa spirit in terms of cornering, I don?t know how it compares to the 2.2 Liter version as I didn?t get to try that, but on the 3.2 I drove, cornering was just razor sharp.

When driving along a highway, I noticed a lot of eyes looking at my way, one driver particularly switched lane and matched my speed to look at the 159. I guess that?s a very very good thing. If you are not a celebrity or having sex in your car.

Then it?s the noise, the GM based engine produced a very lovely Alfa tunes?.. But you can only hear it outside... The sales zoomed by me (sort of) when I was standing on the streets and the tune just made me go WOW?.

Then it?s the price. The model I tested cost around 450K (Hong Kong Dollars or around 58000USD or 33000 pounds). That?s a total 50K off the BMW 330i that is tasteless and ugly, And a whopping 100K off the Audi A4 3.2 that looks like it is going to eat the car in front of you.

So, its all good then. Its cheap, fast, looks great, it sounds great on the outside, it drives great. Its 6 eyed front is just shouting ?Look at me, get out of my way?. Sounds like an excellent replacement for the 156 then?

Well sorry, no. As an Alfa guru I am disappointed, I don?t feel like I am driving a new Alfa at all. I feel like I am driving a Passat, or an Audi A4 with excellent cornering capabilities. There is this big hole in me when I drive along in this car, Where is the excitement that I always looked forward to when I jumped into an Alfa? Where did the communication between car and driver go? Pop the bonnet and I feel even more disappointed, instead of the old ?brush you to death? chrome intake manifolds, now you get is a big piece of ugly plastic covering the heart of the car. Instead of the good old ?guess where is the door handle? hidden rear door handles, now you get normal door handles, this feels more like a replacement for the 166 not 156!

This car will sell. A lot. I can already see that a lot of people who don?t like Alfa before will go and get a test drive, going wow this feels like my A4/Passat/Whatever, and then buying one. But as an Alfa guru myself, I?ll cross my fingers and hope that the 159 GTA will not give me this feeling.

 

[NooDle]

Another old one from me :

Opel Corsa

I'm driving a brand spanking new Opel Corsa as a loaner while my car is in the shop. Because all Opels (including mine) have dials that are quite hard to read in the sun, this one has a little light that automatically turns on when you turn the ignition key. And that, officer, is why I was racing across country lanes in pitch dark without my headlights on. Because I thought they were already on. Because normally you can tell by the dashboard lights. But this car, strangely, turns its dashboard light to very dim when the lights are on, and to very bright when they are off. Logic by Opel I guess.

More annoyances : the indicator stalk also doesn't "click in", which means you don't know when you'll begin to indicate, and more importantly, when it will end. So you do a frantic left/right move everytime you want to switch it off, also because it doesn't cancel itself. And if you do it wrong you turn on your high beam and blind everyone, because the headlamps are larger than all of the headlamps of every other Opel put togerther. Furthermore the buttons for the stereo have a new layout, which is all wrong. And you can't turn the volume to normal (read : insane) levels without everything screeching.

So while this is a very thought through car, it is infact, rubbish. Having only 75 hp of course did not help.

I'd prefer the wife's much older, much simpler one. Which has even less power, and despite that is far better to drive.

The problem is this : They keep telling us we want these things but we don't. Sure in time we will learn to work with these things, but they'll never become the thing we like about whatever it is we buy. Sure it's quirky and fun, but nothing more than that. And bloody annoying if they get it wrong.

6/10

 

[AiR]

Drove three cars today but I'll focus on the best one, the Ford Kuga (others were Nissan Qashqai, complete rubbish, and Opel Antara, much better than the Nissan but not as good as the Ford).

Now I didnt bring my camera so I'll just have to steal Fords press pictures.

Me and my friends car were a black Titanium so all that differed from the one pictured was the center console, no satnav and better looking aircon.

We were out hunting CUV's for friends parents and so cars with easy access was on the shopping list, and the new Kuga fits the bill perfectly. We had about an hour of driving on twisty rural roads and a small stretch of motorway and I was suprised at how good the 2.0 liter diesel fits a big car like the Kuga, no lack of power or grunt and a decently wide torque-span, of course you're best of utilizing all six gears in more spirited driving but you dont have to.

The looks, I cant think of anyone who does not find the Kuga to be at least interesting, I think it looks great (better in black or blue than white) altough it has a few cheap styling cues, the side "air intake" as the salesperson put it is fake and so is the slit below the headlight. From the back the Kuga has an angry face with two facetted bug-like eyes staring at you and a wide mouth. Google for pictures, I'm lazy.

Now it is a Ford so I expected to be let down by something major but the interior once again suprised me. Good materials, plenty of places to put stuff, a good Sony stereo with phone connectivity (probably Bluetooth, not sure though), great seats with just enough bolstering and of course a 4-way adjustable steering wheel to help one find a good driving position.

It looks jeepish but it handles really well, perfectly planted on the road and very little body roll in the twisty narrows. Ford are masters of suspension and the weight of the steering is perfect as well. By now I realize this is beginning to look like I work for Ford (which I do) but I have a very hard time to find faults on this car. It's just minor niggles, like why the hell do I need the key to open the bonnet, why is the bonnet supported by a stick like it's the middle ages, the HUGE combined cruise/audio control unit takes getting used to and is cumbersome, its functions could easily be moved to the steering wheel.

My 2-meter tall friend found the rear seats a bit small but I had no such issues, the back rest is tilted back just enough (hear hear Nissan, maker of 90-degree Qashqai backseats) and the tailgate has a nifty split opening. If I were in the market for a CUV, the only real contender would be the VW Tiguan, but when you look at the price sheet that's really not an option anymore.

To sum it up, I really liked it.

 

[Hidden_Hunter]

Drove three cars today but I'll focus on the best one, the Ford Kuga (others were Nissan Qashqai, complete rubbish, and Opel Antara, much better than the Nissan but not as good as the Ford).

Now I didnt bring my camera so I'll just have to steal Fords press pictures.

Me and my friends car were a black Titanium so all that differed from the one pictured was the center console, no satnav and better looking aircon.

We were out hunting CUV's for friends parents and so cars with easy access was on the shopping list, and the new Kuga fits the bill perfectly. We had about an hour of driving on twisty rural roads and a small stretch of motorway and I was suprised at how good the 2.0 liter diesel fits a big car like the Kuga, no lack of power or grunt and a decently wide torque-span, of course you're best of utilizing all six gears in more spirited driving but you dont have to.

The looks, I cant think of anyone who does not find the Kuga to be at least interesting, I think it looks great (better in black or blue than white) altough it has a few cheap styling cues, the side "air intake" as the salesperson put it is fake and so is the slit below the headlight. From the back the Kuga has an angry face with two facetted bug-like eyes staring at you and a wide mouth. Google for pictures, I'm lazy.

Now it is a Ford so I expected to be let down by something major but the interior once again suprised me. Good materials, plenty of places to put stuff, a good Sony stereo with phone connectivity (probably Bluetooth, not sure though), great seats with just enough bolstering and of course a 4-way adjustable steering wheel to help one find a good driving position.

It looks jeepish but it handles really well, perfectly planted on the road and very little body roll in the twisty narrows. Ford are masters of suspension and the weight of the steering is perfect as well. By now I realize this is beginning to look like I work for Ford (which I do) but I have a very hard time to find faults on this car. It's just minor niggles, like why the hell do I need the key to open the bonnet, why is the bonnet supported by a stick like it's the middle ages, the HUGE combined cruise/audio control unit takes getting used to and is cumbersome, its functions could easily be moved to the steering wheel.

My 2-meter tall friend found the rear seats a bit small but I had no such issues, the back rest is tilted back just enough (hear hear Nissan, maker of 90-degree Qashqai backseats) and the tailgate has a nifty split opening. If I were in the market for a CUV, the only real contender would be the VW Tiguan, but when you look at the price sheet that's really not an option anymore.

To sum it up, I really liked it.

I prefer the styling of the territory to the kuga, the kuga looks a bit wierd at the front with all the angles.

 

[AiR]

I actually looked for other photos but I couldnt find any that were the right size, the press pictures look a bit weird as you say.
Much like the XC60, press pictures were horrible overphotoshopped things, while the car in the flesh is dead gorgeous.

I'll write a few things about the Nissan Qashqai too. A fully loaded 2.0-liter petrol.
Pro's:

• Cheap, lots of equipment standard
• Looks OK on the outside

Con's:

• Biggest engine, 150HP petrol (14 horses more than the Kuga) is slooooow
• Boat suspension. I drove the same stretch as the other cars and it was no fun in the Nissan. I felt like Sig Hansen.
• Interior is made of wank cheap black plastic. Everywhwere. Everything is black and scratches easily.
• Seats (black!) are too hard and too soft at the same time.
• It doesnt matter if the stereo is fitted with Bluetooth as standard when audio quality ranges from completely unacceptable to poor.
• Steering wheel only tilts up or down

Quick words about the Antara, we got a severely demo'ed unit (14000 kms!!) and it was an odd experience. It's really a Daewoo and you can tell, odd placement of buttons and asian feel. But nice, I especially liked the chrome inlays to lighten up the dark cabin, they appeared to be genuine metal or they are the best fakes I've ever touched. We got the 2.0 liter (1.9 liter Fiat?) 150hp diesel with an automatic. Yes, it's a slushbox but even so the Antara was on par with the Kuga in speed. Drove well too. Plenty of space for my tall friend in the back. Looks good. Fuel economy not that great but better than the Nissan.

It only had one major issue, it was falling apart. The roof made random noises (!), leather on steering wheel was unstitching itself, headrests had burst its seams. I cant believe how one can offer a car in that state as a demo to customers. Too expensive as well.

 

[LeVeL]

1997 Toyota Camry automatic, 4-cyl
Very strange car. Probably the most boring vehicle I have ever driven. Even an old commercial Ford van was more entertaining. The Camry is quiet, rides very well, and shifts very smoothly (you barely notice them). It beats my Maxima in all those respects. Where it fails completely (at least in my eyes) is the driving experience. There is an ever-present feeling of detachment. There is absolutely no steering feedback at all (I dont know how they managed to pull that off) and no brake feel. It is a very one dimensional experience to drive the Camry and I felt a little uneasy without at least a little bit of feedback (lets face it - the Maxima I'm used to is a boat but its still a hell of a lot more fun and involving than the Camry).

 

[Zesty]

But this car, strangely, turns its dashboard light to very dim when the lights are on, and to very bright when they are off. Logic by Opel I guess.

Logic by Honda too, it would seem. My Jazz does the exact same thing. I've got the adjustable light thing in the right place now, however. Minimises the brightness / dimness thing a bit, but jeez was it annoying until I got it figured out.

 

[Hidden_Hunter]

Logic by Honda too, it would seem. My Jazz does the exact same thing. I've got the adjustable light thing in the right place now, however. Minimises the brightness / dimness thing a bit, but jeez was it annoying until I got it figured out.

accord euro does it and I quite like that behaviour, I don't like be dazzeled by my own lighs when driving along at night.

 

[GM_IV]

Dodge Caliber:

I finally took one of these things on the highway. I'm hoping if anybody is tempted about the low price of these cars to just stay away!

Starting with the interior, I'm a short 5'3-5'4 guy and because Chrysler's stupid interior designer put a bowl under the steering wheel I constantly injure my knee all the time. In order to avoid this because I always forget about the stupid plastic bowl, I have to drive in an less comfortable seating position. Right there, I found the Caliber uncomfortable despite the seats being decent(superior to the horrible ones in the Sebring/Avenger). The rest of the interior is very cheap hard plastic, a lot of the center console had aerosol spray painted plastic which is disgusting to look at. The hatch is quite useful though despite the really cheap white board.

In the most base model the Caliber doesn't come with a tachometer, power windows, power locks, etc. To top it off you get an ugly old-looking brown Dodge key. Fortunately my company doesn't buy the base model so most of the Calibers I drive have most power options. Build quality on this car is below average, quite a few of our Calibers are missing interior pieces, its not as horrible as a Trailblazer but nowhere near as solid as a Mazda 3.

The power...despite having the 2.0L 158 hp engine which produces more power than most cars in its class...this car is very very slow when it comes to acceleration. You will always be disappointed with the acceleration, its even worse when there's even a small hill. Revving isn't too much of an issue if it seems like the car does something but the Caliber makes a horrible noise with little recognizable difference in speed. Truthfully if you needed to overtake somebody, you'll need 5000-6000 rpm since it takes about 4000 to maintain speed on a hill using the CVT.

As I said I took this car on the highway, I had trouble merging because this car's engine is so unresponsive. The Toyota Yaris with about 66% of the Caliber's power is actually faster and IMO safer to use on the highway. The handling is quite bad, this Caliber actually has more body-roll than a soft Toyota Corolla...yet its quite hard on bumps. Steering feel...Dodge has managed to do worse than some toyotas in this regard, the wheel is quite vague. The Caliber is a truly frustrating car to drive, there's so much about it to make you upset.

As for practical stuff, the Caliber is a bloody heavy 3000 lbs for a base car competing against cars in the same segment that reach about 2900 lbs fully loaded. I've found very few customers happy with its fuel economy so this car will not be cheap to run. Reliability...its a current Chrysler so its given us some problems mostly with electronics. The only good thing here is its initial purchase price is ridiculously low. About $13,000 CDN for a base Caliber.

To summarize: This is a very slow, heavy, fuel eating, good for straight lines only, not likely to be reliable, not too comfortable, few standard options, but very cheap car. Frankly your better off with a Kia, since a Kia will do several things better than the Caliber at similar price.

Performance: 1/10
Fun Factor: 1/10
Practicality: 2/10
Comfort: 1/10
Value for money: 3/10

 

[AiR]

The dealership that I borrowed the crap Nissan Qushqosh from had a Dodge Caliber in the showroom, the interesting back end the Dodge first caught my attention and I smirked a little at the thought of them ever selling one of those. Then I tried to get into the car but the dealers had foreseen the problem of letting people vomit over the interior so it was locked. A locked car in a showroom means they've given up in my book. I noticed the rear windscreen wiper is from 1984 and that they didnt bother painting the inside of the fuel filler door.

 

[Bubs360]

My van is kind of an odd-duck here. It's an '84 Vanagon, a minivan with a four-speed manual. Lowered 3'', Mercedes rims and a '91 Legacy 2.2 engine swap. A German van with American suspension components and a Japanese engine. A very fun combination.

The Subaru motor gives the van something like 140 horsepower with a cone-type air filter. This doesn't seem like much, but when you mate it with a transmission geared for 80-90 horsepower, it has the torque to do full-posi burnouts better than many regular cars. The Legacy 2.2 is also replacing the van's biggest design flaw: the engine. The stock 1.9 flat four the van rolled out of the factory with was, to say the least, not the greatest engine in the world. What it lacked in power, it also lacked in reliability. The head gaskets need replacing regularly. If you don't, they leak and overheat. The aircooled variety was not much better, as they have a nasty habit of exploding.

This is the only minivan I have ever driven that could be considered enjoyable by a driving enthusiast. Since it is lowered and has the wide tires, it grips the road surprisingly well. I enjoy outcornering people on highway off-ramps in a van. While the ride suffers horribly, it does make the van track extremely well on good roads. The long four-speed shifter is precise and has a good feel. The throttle response is fantastic and the clutch feel is also very nice. Even my father, who has experienced many, many cars in his lifetime, enjoys having the opportunity to drive it.

The brakes are not very good. They are adequate for the job, but I have to give the car in front of me plenty of distance to be safe. There are many remedies to this, such as rear disc-brake kits to get rid of the clunky drums. They kept making vans like this in South Africa until 2001, so there are updated front brake kits to make the van have some great stopping power. There are also a variety of motor swaps to make it even faster. BMW, Subaru (Including WRX STI), Porsche (Including 911 Turbo), bigger Volkswagen units, and many others. Within the next few years, I plan on doing a restoration to this van to make it truly great. I just need to decide on a motor, gather the funds and get the experience I need at Northern Ohio Technical University starting next year. I will be able to perform the work at the school, so I will be rolling out of college in style.

 

[NooDle]

me again

This time it was a BMW 1 series I got to drive for a short while. As this is still Belgium, it was ofcourse the 120d version, d being diesel. It wasn't half bad though, 143 in a car so light reminded me much of driving my own car (which is a bit down on power but less heavy). tootling around traffic you don't really notice the beemer is RWD, but as soon as you nail it or go around a faster bend you can really feel the advantage. It feels different, and it turns better aswell. One thing I noticed was the ride was pretty stiff, it really had trouble with big bumps and stuff, but it was quite good in corners and stuff so I'll forgive it that.

This particular car had the start/stop system that shuts the engine off if you're not in gear and take your foot off the clutch. This was annoying, but not nearly as annoying as I thought it would be. You don't really notice it shutting down either, but you do notice it starting up (juttery). It's only really annoying when you're waiting at the lights and you're not paying attention, you can't just pop it in gear and go.

All in all, it kept feeling a helluvalot like a Mini Cooper D, just a bit firmer ride and with RWD. Which is about as good as it can get. Also, since this had rear seats large enough for actual people and also a boot that can carry more than your briefcase this is clearly a superior car over the Cooper.

I'm just not sure I'm willing to pay all that extra money for what is, essentially, just a BMW badge.

Overall 8/10

 

[Dogbert]

If you guys have Scions, what do you think of the tC?

It's fantastic.

A year and a half and 65,000 miles (a fair bit of which being on a track or autocross course, as you can see ), and the only thing that's gone wrong on it is the power steering belt exploded... and that's the only documented case of that ever happening on a tC.

It's heavy (3000lbs), but you begin to appreciate how heavy it is when you see people in tC accidents where the car is completely totaled, and they're fine enough to post about it on a forum. Even with the panoramic glass roof, it can still survive a rollover accident just fine, and the triple-reinforced doors are great for when someone decides to ignore you and change lanes anyway.

Biggest complaint? The back seats are next to useless for anyone above 5'7 or so.

 

[Red_Bull]

this is more about cars you drive because you don't have a choice (rental, company car, friend's car, etc.

Alright then, so I'll review my 1996 Holden Commodore VS, a car that was sort of thrust upon me when my parents decided to sell my old VN Berlina and buy themselves a VY Executive. The local car dealer were doing a $3000 trade in for any car (within reason) so they got rid of the VN and gave me their VS, which at the time had about 175000km on the clock.

So basically, the VS was launched in 1995 as an upgrade to the existing VR model, itself an upgrade of the previous VP, which was (yup, you guessed it) an upgrade of the VN. The VS would be the last of the cars known as the 'second generation' Commodores as the VT revealed a completely new shape when launched in 1997. Appearance wise, there's not a lot of difference between the VR and the VS, in fact, the only real difference is the Holden badge which was updated into what it currently is today.

Under the bonnet and things are a little different. The VS saw the introduction of the Ecotec, which involved a pretty hefty revamp of the existing 3.8L cast iron Buick derived V6 engine, revised four speed transmission (yup, the same one that exists today in the current VE), improved brakes, and the addition of a passenger airbag on some models, but as my version is a '96 Series I Executive (pov pack, rep mobile, call it what you like) it doesnt have that.

From the outside, the VS by today's standards is an extremely conservative design, not unpleasant, but well...bland I guess. For its time though, I guess it was cutting edge, although the sports versions one can still see on the roads are nothing short of fantastic. A few details become obvious from close range, such as uneven panel gaps, and the door seals are a little crude.

Getting into the vehicle is ludicrously easy as the door openings are plenty wide enough, and I find the drivers seat is extremely comfortable, akin to something of a big lounge chair, minus the armrests. The cockpit is a relatively sparse, although pleasant enough place to be. The controls are easy to reach and adjust, although the quality of the plastics leaves a lot to be desired. Vision is about as good as it gets with very slim A-pillars and a low bootline in comparison with later models.

Driving along and there are no real surprises. I believe the 0-100kph time is around the 8 second mark, which isnt too bad for a car of its size (actually quicker than the later model Commodores), although it's fitted with the most appalling gearbox ever designed. This is the major drawback of what is otherwise a nice car to drive. Upon exiting a slow corner the gearbox wont realise it needs to be in a lower gear, and when it eventually does twig, it kicks it down, delivering a violent thump to your back and suddenly you're going warp speed. Sluggish and unintelligent. As I mentioned, it's only a four speed which really isnt enough anymore.

Despite the refinements, the engine seems to run out of breath at high revs and sounds like a gasping asthmatic. Obviously not being a sports car, the ride is a bit wallowly around corners, although a significant improvement on the flawed VN. Get it on the highway however, and it all starts to make sense. This is what the big Aussie six does very well as you cruise along at 110kph with the engine barely ticking over. You can almost watch the fuel gauge increase rather than decrease! Ok, maybe not, but fuel economy is very good nonetheless. It seats five adults in relative comfort, along with all their luggage stowed away in a spacious boot which makes it ideal for interstate trips.

As far as costs go, it's cheap and easy to service (10000km intervals), there are parts galore if you need them, easy to mod if you're into that sort of thing, and if you're looking for one on the used market will set you back no more than $2000-$3000 or so. The best thing is that it really can't depreciate much lower than this, so when the time comes to sell it, you'll get most of your money back.

It's a bit hard to write much more than that, really. There isn't much to really like about it, but by the same token, there isn't much to hate either, once you get over the agricultural trasmission. My next car wont be too dramatically different, I happen to like Commodores and Falcons, and find them excellent cars for the price you pay. You dont have the badge equity of the European or even some Japanese makes, but these cars have made great steps in recent years so that they're almost comparable in every other department.

 

[tone76]

I should do a proper review of my previous company car, 2005 Holden-badged Opel TS Astra.

The upshot of it is that it handles well and drives OK, but the build quality and reliability is shithouse. I wouldn't want one after the warranty expired, that's for sure.

 

[Thraxes]

Mercedes Benz E63 AMG Estate (yeah - no shits!)

A friend of mine is currently entering his mid life crisis and is looking for a sports car. A 911 is his target (yes, he has some money) but he took his regular E-320 CDI in for servicing and chatted with the dealer who suggested combining utility and sport and arranged a testdrive in the AMG. Nice of him to let me have a go as well

Exterior - It was in gunmetal grey and just looked mean, especially from the rear. The exhausts, the huge wheels and large carbon-ceramic brakes make an otherwise fairly standard E-class quite menacing.

Interior - I generally don't like the Merc E-class interior at all. It just somehow doesn't match the pricetag. From the feel of it I would put a regular E-class interior in about the same league as a Volvo V70. Nice but there are better ones out there.
Unfortunately the AMG is not that much better IMO. Sure the alcantara headlining is awesome, the seats are super comfotable but I look at the dash, touch and use it and am back at what I just said - good but not great.
I drove the version with the new command system. It works fine once you have figured it out and the presence of actual hardware buttons is nice. I hate the BMW iDrive... with a passion, the Audi MMI is much better but still suffers from the "jog dial" interface. Haven't tried the newer full "jog-dial" command system on the C and S class though.

Power - Where do I begin It was raining on that day so no fooling around. It really is brutal, the ESP flickering red every time you depress the loud pedal a bit more than necessary, even when just pootling around town in the wet. Burnout? Oh yeah - that works just fine and smells real nice. Acceleration? Mental - we are talking about a large wagon here! What impressed me the most was not the 0-100 KMh time (kinda hard in the wet - the ESP will take you there at a leisurely pace, without ESP see "Burnout" ). No what was cool was the time needed to get from 160 to the 250 limiter on the 'bahn. Oh and the way that the brakes got rid of all that speed again really quickly. The noise this car makes though is biblical! In person it is just fantastic. Although it must be said: Noisewise the best seat in the house (or car) is the back seat. It is just that bit louder and clearer in the back. In the drivers seat it is quite a bit more muffled.

Handling - In the wet... hairy at best, downright scary without ESP. The ride is well sorted enough, it's just that damn atomic bomb lurking under the bonnet, going off every time you flex your right foot and kicking the tail out. If you have the space to do stuff like that - awesome! In the urban Rhein-Main area not so great. If the weather had been better we would have taken it to the hills surrounding the Rhine valley, as it was - it wasn't worth it


Anyway, I did film our fun and games with this beast:

[YOUTUBE]vATaW8QAMlg[/YOUTUBE]