Random Thoughts... [Automotive Edition]

I've never driven the ST, but I found the Fiesta to be very cramped and I could barely see out of it. Is the Focus any better?

I test drove a Focus ST a while back. It felt cramped inside. The dashboard felt big, the A-pillars were obstructive, and the windshield was way too far, but I guess that's how a lot of modern-day cars are. Didn't feel very fast either.
 
Here's a list of cars turned in during the British government's scrappage scheme. There's a decent number of classics in there... :cry:
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploa...4-20775-scrapped-vehicles-supporting-data.csv

I see several reasons on this list for throwing Labour, the LibDems and the Tories out of all offices and replacing them with UKIP. (Last I checked, UKIP didn't support this idiot idea.) Starting with the two Alpina B7s, the 535 M-Sport, the four M535s, the 3 M3s, the ten old 6-series, the S130 280ZX with T-Tops, the two Defender 90s, the eight Sierra XR4s... To say nothing of the destroyed (and very rare!) XJ6C and two XJR-S. Or the more than a dozen murdered X300 XJRs. Or the 7 XJ12/Daimler Double Sixes. Three Volvo/Jensen P1800s got crushed; there's even a TVR on the death list!

IIRC, didn't all these cars have to be demonstrably running before being scrapped too?

I take that back. This list is grounds to start *shooting* Labour, Tory, and any other political party that supported it.

Edit: From this evening's 'festivities':

F-150 STX:
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Fiesta ST:
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Genesis 3.8:
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Mustang Boss 302S racer that happened to be at the dealer:
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How did you even got a dealer open at that hour anyway?
 
How did you even got a dealer open at that hour anyway?

Competition. There are many, many dealers for most mainstream brands in the area. Dealers around here are often open until 8-10pm at night during the week to attract the car buyer with that extra convenience (so the dealer can get their money instead of the next shop over getting it). If there is a customer working a deal past their normal closing hour, the sales department at most dealerships will stay open longer so as to not lose business to another dealer - as it is no great hardship to drive a couple miles down the road to their competition. Service departments at dealers do the same thing, many are open until 8 to attract business.

The only ones that don't are a few of the higher end dealers, but even the Merc and Rolls dealers mostly stay open 'extended' hours as well.
 
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Supercharged 3 liter engines are brilliant, but over here nobody buys them. The bigger the car, the bigger the chance it's a diesel...

That is true, and for a reason. Have you driven the current A6 3.0 TDI? My boss has got one. It's absolutely fantastic.
Oh and when it's going by it grumbles like an eight cylinder.
 
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Today I've discovered that a 100k km Rental Toyota Aygo with Chinese manufactured Rovelo tyres and wet road are a fantasti recipe for getting into troubles.
The Toyota Aygo in particular has a dreadful tendence to transform a mild understeer into a snappy oversteer once the front tyres get to grip again.
All that, at 60 km/h in a very normal slight bend to the right.

Good tyres are required, particularly with cheaply engineered chassis.
 
I'm not one to usually do this, but I talked my father into buying a 2008 Jaguar XF SV8 (4.2L Supercharged!). Even on 20 inch wheels, it rides pretty well - I guess the CATS suspension is to thank for that. But man, nothing beats the subtle whine of a supercharger in a leather lined luxury car.

Even if the servos on the gearknob and airvents are probably going to fail in about 6 months...
 
I don't watch Wheeler Dealers for obvious reasons, but I caught the Impreza episode. :lmao:

What an absolute shagged car that was, they made it worse and then were shocked when it wouldn't sell for a stupid price (Googling suggests a production assistant bought the car, which is common for that show apparently.)

Yes I know it's a TV show, no I wasn't entertained.
 
Seriously? It's a McLaren P1
/me hands in his car geek card...
Sad thing is that I actually seen it in person before...
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Of course the Audi is better looking. Just not 15k? better looking. And I totally understand what you mean about making you feel. If I'd have a Superb I'd openly laugh at every A6 driver, knowing that I have roughly the same car/engine for a whole lot less. And that would make me feel good :p
Not really same car, same size car maybe. I suspect they have a very different driving feel as well. It's fine to drive a car for pure utility of it but keep in mind not all of us think that way.

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I'm pulling for the Genesis Sedan. I would have left the dealer with one of those, if I could have justified the size.

Since when is Arizona cramped on space????
the S130 280ZX with T-Tops
Disagree with that, the only good ZX Nissan ever made was the Z32.
 
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I don't watch Wheeler Dealers for obvious reasons, but I caught the Impreza episode. :lmao:

What an absolute shagged car that was, they made it worse and then were shocked when it wouldn't sell for a stupid price (Googling suggests a production assistant bought the car, which is common for that show apparently.)

Yes I know it's a TV show, no I wasn't entertained.

Yeah, I remember that one - I can't say I like what they did with the stripe on that either. From memory, they fitted a ridiculous cannon exhaust to it as well...
 
Competition. There are many, many dealers for most mainstream brands in the area. Dealers around here are often open until 8-10pm at night during the week to attract the car buyer with that extra convenience (so the dealer can get their money instead of the next shop over getting it). If there is a customer working a deal past their normal closing hour, the sales department at most dealerships will stay open longer so as to not lose business to another dealer - as it is no great hardship to drive a couple miles down the road to their competition. Service departments at dealers do the same thing, many are open until 8 to attract business.

The only ones that don't are a few of the higher end dealers, but even the Merc and Rolls dealers mostly stay open 'extended' hours as well.
There are some dealers around here who have service departments open till midnight.

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That is true, and for a reason. Have you driven the current A6 3.0 TDI? My boss has got one. It's absolutely fantastic.
Oh and when it's going by it grumbles like an eight cylinder.

You know what I never got, diesel luxury cars. You are paying 50 grand for a car but you can't afford fuel?
 
Maybe they can afford a 50-grand car because they live a lifestyle of choices like buying a diesel, that allows them some luxury where it matters to them.
 
You know what I never got, diesel luxury cars. You are paying 50 grand for a car but you can't afford fuel?

This has nothing to do with saving where you can and driving a status symbol. Most of these cars are company cars anyway, and a company saves everywhere they can. And this is Europe, it's way more expensive here than you guys have it, so it definitly makes a difference if you drive long distance in a petrol or diesel powered car. ;) For most ordinary people more than ~ 25k kms p.a. a petrol doesn't make any sense.
 
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Today I've discovered that a 100k km Rental Toyota Aygo with Chinese manufactured Rovelo tyres and wet road are a fantasti recipe for getting into troubles.
The Toyota Aygo in particular has a dreadful tendence to transform a mild understeer into a snappy oversteer once the front tyres get to grip again.
All that, at 60 km/h in a very normal slight bend to the right.

Good tyres are required, particularly with cheaply engineered chassis.

Can't confirm nor deny this, as my (identical) car has always run on Conti's and handles perfectly predictable :dunno:

Not really same car, same size car maybe. I suspect they have a very different driving feel as well. It's fine to drive a car for pure utility of it but keep in mind not all of us think that way.

Yeah I meant more like same class/size.
It's not about utility at all (I have no use for such a car, yet lust after it). It's the sheer ridiculousness of bang for your buck you're getting.
Properly specced VW Passat or fully loaded Superb with leather for the same monies? I can't see why one would go for the former.

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Maybe they can afford a 50-grand car because they live a lifestyle of choices like buying a diesel, that allows them some luxury where it matters to them.

If you do ridiculous mileage the price adds up quickly. A couple of years driving will earn you the money back, especially in backward countries like Belgium where petrol is more expensive than diesel.

Also, torque

This has nothing to do with saving where you can and driving a status symbol. Most of these cars are company cars anyway, and a company saves everywhere they can. And this is Europe, it's way more expensive here than you guys have it, so it definitly makes a difference if you drive long distance in a petrol or diesel powered car. ;) For most ordinary people more than ~ 25k kms p.a. a petrol doesn't make any sense.

Depends on many things, fuel prices (over here petrol > diesel), consumption figures (everywhere petrol > diesel) and type of car/type of journey.
I myself am right on the tipping point, with 17k kms per year. Thankfully the price difference between diesel and petrol has shrunk (was around 30%, now down to 10ish%) and most importantly my car uses almost no fuel at all (see below).

Also they don't make these small cars in diesel form so I had no choice anyway :p
 
There are some dealers around here who have service departments open till midnight.

Yup, that's competition for you. For comparison, a lot of rural car dealers, the kind that are 'the only game in town' and 20 miles around, used to close up right at 5pm. Now that the internet is a thing even in BFE, they're forced to stay open at least a little longer or lose their customers to dealerships in the next county or big city - since it is now trivial to check inventory and make offers at far flung dealers via the internet instead of having to drive dozens of miles to get there to just find out what they have.

You know what I never got, diesel luxury cars. You are paying 50 grand for a car but you can't afford fuel?

Considering we have large numbers of people here that buy luxury cars and then complain about the expense of having to run them on premium instead of regular... If diesel were cheaper than gasoline in the US, we'd have more people buying them, too. Not a majority of the market, but at least significantly more.

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Update: From what I hear from Der Stig, looks like it's going to be a Genesis Sedan. Not sure just which one yet.
 
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IIRC, didn't all these cars have to be demonstrably running before being scrapped too?
They had to have a valid MOT and HAD to be crushed, not broken for parts.

I consider it an utter travesty that such a huge amount of cars simply went to waste. You only got ?2000 against a brand new motor for them though, when a Volvo P1800 in good condition is worth ?10k you have to wonder how many of these cars had a dodgy MOT certificate...
 
Not really same car, same size car maybe. I suspect they have a very different driving feel as well. It's fine to drive a car for pure utility of it but keep in mind not all of us think that way.

A Superb is not only about utility :no: it's utterly sublime to drive on the Autobahn for hours.


This has nothing to do with saving where you can and driving a status symbol. Most of these cars are company cars anyway, and a company saves everywhere they can. And this is Europe, it's way more expensive here than you guys have it, so it definitly makes a difference if you drive long distance in a petrol or diesel powered car. ;) For most ordinary people more than ~ 25k kms p.a. a petrol doesn't make any sense.

That. Additionally, the diesel means you can go fast without having to refuel all the time, actually saving time and money. The NEDC fuel differences are decent, but at high speeds they become insane.
I don't often drive a lot in a short time frame on company time and money, but the last time I had to and got a petrol I had to do an extra fuel stop in just a week compared to when I had a diesel... and driving wasn't my main job, so others driving more might even save two fuel stops per week... that's on top of saving a four-figure amount of Euros per year in fuel.
 
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