Our "own" car reviews

Oooh, I wonder if you can get a car in Germany and change it to miles, then drive just enough to do just maybe 10, 15 difference. :D
 
For me at least, living with a Superb would be anything but. Having the largest around is terrible when everyone does parallel parking wherever the hell they please, leaves gaps too small for the superbly endowed gentleman in his Skoda.
Depends on where you live and work of course. I live in a tiny village on a dead end street so theres always a parking spot in front of my house. Work has parking spaces aswell. But I do admit it's awesome having the final parking spot at work again, because my car is the only one that fits ;)
 
Having recently carried the same suitcase in the Eos' boot reduced to toplessness I was reminded how crappy the Camaro's rear end usability really was :lol:



Turned 90? it'd even take two suitcases. Enough space left towards the rear, the angle makes it look fuller than it is :nod:

For comparison, adding 44cm in length and 13cm in width wasn't enough apparently:

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Having recently carried the same suitcase in the Eos' boot reduced to toplessness I was reminded how crappy the Camaro's rear end usability really was :lol:



Turned 90? it'd even take two suitcases. Enough space left towards the rear, the angle makes it look fuller than it is :nod:

For comparison, adding 44cm in length and 13cm in width wasn't enough apparently:

cPF0CCx.jpg

Stupid question but I assume that with the top up on the Eos you can use all the space in the trunk, even the areas with the "no" symbol?
 
Stupid question but I assume that with the top up on the Eos you can use all the space in the trunk, even the areas with the "no" symbol?

Yes. That cover lifts up and gets hooked in place on those two plastic knobs, then you can use all the volume that's there. You're not supposed to put heavy stuff on the sides with the "no" symbol, but I've tried and the solid part in the middle takes a silly amount of drinks so there's really no need.
You can even remove the cover to free up some additional volume, but officially you can't open the roof without it. Unofficially you leave the cover at home, go to your vacation destination with a full boot, unload boot, make sure what's left is low enough, and then stick a paper handkerchief to press the little switch activated by the lowering of the cover :nod:

Biggest single thing I've had in my boot was out 34ft yacht's main sail, 30+m? area... with enough room to spare for two large trash bags full of money returnable bottles.

Not my picture:

 
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SIXT said:
It looks like your rental was closed early by error and than reopened which caused this extra charge. I went ahead and refunded this extra amount back to your card on file.

:thumbup: now to wait for the CC charges to stabilize and then I'll come up with a final figure in ?/km.
 
Re : bigass Skoda
Now you can get a barebones Superb Combi with the 1,6 engine and manual for 18k?

Freebies include sound system, metallic paint, satnav, big stereo, sunroof, and electric everything...

Don't they understand the concept of profit at Skoda?
 
Re : bigass Skoda
Now you can get a barebones Superb Combi with the 1,6 engine and manual for 18k?

Freebies include sound system, metallic paint, satnav, big stereo, sunroof, and electric everything...

Don't they understand the concept of profit at Skoda?

So what you're saying is they will sell you this? :p

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Also Czech people are still cheap labour.
 
I meant the upgrade from the standard stereo :p
Besides those speakers would get lost in the vastness that is the Superb's boot
 
Doing some rough maths off the top of my head without going through receipts I figure about 0.21?/km all in with the rental, ALL the insurances, and fuel... quite okay in my mind.

Now that all the charges/refunds are in, I'm quite pleased with both the final figure and my off the top of my head guesstimate while sitting at LAX without looking at any of the paperwork... final figure is 0.218?/km including the rental, insurances, fuel, and CC charges - 1/3 is fuel, 2/3 is the eight-day rental. I can't run my own car that cheaply, even at US petrol prices :lol:
 
LeVeL reminded me to retrace the route for those interested.

Friday: Golf, A319, 787-I8 #1500, 328i, hotel, :zzz:

Saturday: http://goo.gl/maps/iTM0G
Swapped the 328i for the Camaro at A, I'm a bit fuzzy about the Santa Monica hills so that's only approximate, late lunch (3pm ish) at B, fuel at C, hotel at D. Mostly awesome - and empty - roads in between, minus the bit getting from one mountain region to the other.

Sunday: http://goo.gl/maps/nny1e
Set off from the hotel at A, getting away from the heat up in the mountains - silly signs said I needed chains -, back into the heat of the desert, lunch at B, met the Corvette dude and the group of elderly German bikers in Amboy, some terrible but stereotypically straight roads, Interstate, Vegas baby at C :D

Monday through Thursday: "working" :lol:

Friday: http://goo.gl/maps/48hNC
Leaving Vegas taking the scenic (expensive!) route through Lake Mead NP, fuel at B (did about 460 miles on that tank :clap:), Grand Canyon :jawdrop:, more fuel, hotel in the hottest town. At least they know how to A/C...

Satuday: http://goo.gl/maps/pLRIN
Interstate leg back to civilization, detour back over Angeles Crest Hwy :driving:, drop off car as empty as possible, Fanhansa 747-8I, (Sunday) A321, taxi, :zzz:

Some detours and James Maying left out :p
 
After the Corsa met its demise at the hands of an Astra F, I still needed to get home. Luckily the towing company had a rental right there, and it turned out to be covered by Avis's policy, so I was quickly underway again. The replacement is a very familiar car for me, albeit with a slight difference.
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Yup, it's the estate version of the car my wife owns, and which I myself drove for 8 months last year. It drives mostly the same as the hatchback. It's supposed to have shorter gears than the hatchback, and they do show when accelerating. Even though it's a fair bit heavier than the hatchback, it doesn't feel slower. Interior space is exactly the same, even on the rear seats. The only difference is behind them, where you get a very usable space, with some extra capacity under the floor.
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Nice! We don't see many of those since people who want a small car usually don't want a big boot and vice versa.

Drove an X1 again today. Still hate it. Steering is both too heavy and very unprecise. You can't see out of it. The stereo is crap and iDrive blows. Only had aux in, no sd, usb or bluetooth... Annoying indicator stalk and weird cc control still there (down = 1 kph faster but sometimes 10kph faster) etc etc.

The 18d engine was ok though, if you only used gears 1-4. Frankly a Golf is a better drive, so I don't know why everyone and their mom owns one.
 
o_O I would so love to drive that Clio. Looks tons sharper than most cars I see here.
Really? I think it looks just like a Toyota Matrix with an open clitoris on the grille. A big clitoris, at that. Christ!
 
Really? I think it looks just like a Toyota Matrix with an open clitoris on the grille. A big clitoris, at that. Christ!

Hey, sex sells!

Truthfully though, I fully acknowledge that part of the want is based on it being forbidden fruit. Were it available here my reaction may be more subdued. I still like the styling, though, so there's that.
 
Agreed. Most French cars have a design language that just seems to be more vibrant/unique than most of the cars we get here...of course...I'm saying that having never sat in a French car newer than a 1995.
 
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This morning i returned the Cliowagon to the temp rental company, only to be Captur'd by Avis...
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Now that that horrible pun is out of the way, I can once again be quite short with this review, because it's another Clio-based car, with the same 0.9 TCe engine, the same shorter-ratio gearbox as the wagon, and very similar looks on the outside. I really like how the Captur looks from the front, but the rear is less successful imho, it looks a bit saggy. The black doesn't really suit it either, it's much better in electric blue with a cream roof for instance.
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The interior is different from the Clio's, although all fixtures are the same. This means that the binnacle, HVAC and navscreen all work like I'm used to, and the steering wheel is the same thick-rimmed leather-clad one as I'm used to. I'm not so sold on this interior vs. the Clio's though. Where the Clio's interior is very dfriver-oriented with a high beltline and a quirky tablet-like feature for the navi screen, the Captur's interior feels cheaper, less coherent, and lacks most of the Clio's design quirks. But, it does come with a glove drawer instead of a glove box.
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All in all I prefer the Clio to this, not just because I prefer hatchbacks to crossovers based on them, but the Clio just feels tighter, more coherent, and is just that tiny bit more fun to drive.
 
I got my company car on Monday. There's no use in making a PYC thread of it as the only changes/maintenance I'm allowed to make on it is adding diesel :p

It's a 2014 Opel Astra 1.7 CTDI with the 130hp/300Nm engine. It's a white Sports Tourer with the sports package. So, on the outside it's boring, white, huge and dirty but on the inside it's a surprisingly nice place to be.

It's got sports seats, so they hug tightly. There's no body roll, at least for a station wagon and the engine is quite happy as long as you keep the revs above 1100rpm. There's Bluetooth for phone calls but not for music, heated steering wheel, automatic A/C, and all the other standard things.

I'm positively surprised by this, I would never have used my own money on an Opel. This feels well made and the details work nicely, all the driving aids work better than in any of my previous cars.

Here's a picture of it, taken in the dark. You can see the most important things: it's big as a house, white and looks normal in every way. I was supposed to take a picture from the inside, but sort of forgot.

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