Our "own" car reviews

I'm reeaally not sure about customable colours and displays in a car. There is no my liking! The manufacturer is correct!
 
I'd given the Superb my highest score yet so that's why it's the benchmark. It's a bit better in every way but lots more expensive though... dunno if it's worth the premium though...
 
public said:
I'm reeaally not sure about customable colours and displays in a car. There is no my liking! The manufacturer is correct!
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No! I loved to drive around grey E-class with full pink mood lights. Everybody was so confused when they jumped in :D
 
Europcar dropped this off today:



It's the new range-topping diesel Megane, the 130hp 1.6 dCi Bose with the optional big touchscreen and a few more extras like the heated steering wheel, 360? porking sensors, rearview camera, HUD, on-board internets, etc.



I didn't drive it yet because bsns only, but from touching it inappropriately I'm not yet a fan of the touchscreen-centric operation... it doesn't even have a volume knob on the centre console, only sensor buttons... while there are buttons on the steering wheel for that, they had to add a third dimension - they're behind 3 o'clock.
I think I'm counting 19 buttons on the wheel, plus the headlights, front and rear fog lights on the left stick feels a bit overcrowded :? and there's room for more buttons on the wheel if it had the radar-guided cruise missile control.
The audio system is really nice.
I'm curious how much they'll do with the display instead of the rev counter or speedo, e.g. how much nav info will be in there. While stationary, I couldn't make it display a map :( only choose between speedo xor rev counter, and change colours around.
...at least it's no stripper rental edition :D will report back tomorrow after driving it for a few hours :)
 
Renault has had a stereo remote pod on the steering column since the 90's.
 
And it's still the same unit. And actually it's pretty damn good remote pod once you get used to it. Unlike the touchscreen system...
 
So why exactly do you get a rental for business when you already have a company car, narf? :p
 
DanRoM said:
So why exactly do you get a rental for business when you already have a company car, narf? :p
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Two reasons...
One, because parking costs at my destination for the whole week are about as much as the rental... mind you, we get damn good rental deals with free one-way so I "park" by handing in the car. Last week I took the Beetle, but only stayed for one night.
And two, because I'd usually take the train but the frequency and extent of issues between Kiel and Hamburg last week means that's a risk to travel times... the plan for this week is to drive out, and see if the train situation stabilizes for the way back. On top of scheduled trackwork they had a truck taking out overhead lines at a level crossing, a digger taking out a cable killing parts of the Elmshorn Stellwerk causing a colleague to take twice the travel time Monday, more issues at the same Stellwerk Wednesday while I was driving instead of taking the train :D, utter chaos on the Sylt connection leaving commuters stranded... while Sylt and the truck incident don't affect my route directly, it puts the whole system under additional stress so more cracks start to show.
Rough summary: https://www.ndr.de/nachrichten/schl...hn-gibt-Strecken-wieder-frei,elmshorn252.html http://www.shz.de/lokales/sylter-ru...hrplan-gehts-ab-montag-weiter-id15393086.html https://www.ndr.de/nachrichten/schl...-bleiben-an-Bahnsteigen-zurueck,bahn1276.html


Mind you, I am curious if accounting will ask that very question :D
 
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Driving the Megane was fairly uneventful. Sufficient power, reasonable noise level... Except From about 135 and up there's an annoying whistle, like blowing on a beer bottle :(

Stop start took ages to enable itself, like half an hour... The heater was rubbish, my passenger was cold with the knob at 25C :eek:
The LED headlights were aimed way too low, with no knob to adjust... When there's a car ahead of me at a reasonable distance for 70kph it wouldn't even illuminate the ground that car was on.

Fuel was okayish, though more than expected, six and a bit litres of diesel at 140-150 target speed and several slower stretches. IMHO it should be 5.x for a new generation small manual diesel :dunno:
 
You should totally do that differently:

So I just drove this Toyota Wish. It's a cool car. For more on my thoughts, click the link down below to read my column on autotrader.com/oversteer allwheelsforward.com.


:)
 
Got a Joke for the week:

sQUlI70.jpg


The 86kW CVT noise machine :lol: a reasonable a to b box, but far from remotely fun. Lots of revs, not a lot of shove. Feels weird to take of from traffic lights going VRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR but as slowly as anyone else. Nothing like the lovely multitronic I had in an A5.
Love the massive mirrors. Boot is tiny, but I only have carry-on plus laptop bag anyway. Rear view camera without porking sensors is a weird combo, gotten used to looking around for cars and people while listening to the approaching car/wall when reversing :dunno:
 
They sell that there?!
 
My parents' Qashqow has a similar drivetrain (0.4l more engine, 18kW more power), and I hate it. It's slow to respond, and it's really hard to properly control it, it's too easy to give it a little too much throttle in an effort to get it to move, which results in massive amounts of BRAAAAAAAP (well, as much braap as a 2.0l I4 in a family car can give) and really jerky behavior. Oh, and it hates constantly changing loads, like city traffic driving.
 
Adunaphel said:
My parents' Qashqow has a similar drivetrain (0.4l more engine, 18kW more power), and I hate it. It's slow to respond, and it's really hard to properly control it, it's too easy to give it a little too much throttle in an effort to get it to move, which results in massive amounts of BRAAAAAAAP (well, as much braap as a 2.0l I4 in a family car can give) and really jerky behavior. Oh, and it hates constantly changing loads, like city traffic driving.
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Yes, all of that. It's woefully un-torquey, and feels thirsty too... Will know tomorrow when I hand it back. Would certainly not buy :no: in this hilly place it has to go VRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR quite frequently just to maintain 70...
 
I don't understand why anyone would pay actual money for a Juke.
 
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