Bring back the Motorshow

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Wed 12 Aug 2020 23:40
Bring back the Motorshow - SLO76
Looking through the pages of old car mags I’m finding myself reminiscing over the glamour from the Motor Shows which were common throughout the country in the 80’s and 90’s and the UK national show which died in 2008. My dad bought several cars off stand at the local car show in Ayr, the pinnacle being a new Audi 80 16v Sport in metallic grey. It was a pleasure watching as the salesman put the sold sticker on it in front of the crowd.

Every major town seemed to have one back in the day and I worked the Glasgow show a few times on the flashy stand of Proton or the rather more glamorous Mitsubishi offering. It was full of the latest cars before they became white goods and good looking women before the PC brigade took their jobs. I just loved the event whether working or as a punter. There was a magic to buying a new car back then that’s sadly missing in today’s contract lease/PCP world. No one takes pleasure in buying a car in the same way now, where’s the fun when you’ll never own it and it’s dated quickly by the twice yearly plate change I was so vocally against back in 1999.

I loved new registration day on the 1st of August. Yes as a salesman it was a busy day but it was an event for buyers both of new and used cars. I left the trade shortly after as I could see the way it was heading. White goods bought on never-ending finance then thrown away at the end with no equity retained. I was never good at selling something I didn’t believe in.

I wish the car show would return but it’s been sadly killed by the PCP/Contract lease and the never-ending above inflation rise in costs these events attracted. I can’t remember the exact figure the last time I went to London but I was pretty appalled by it, especially when you consider that they were overcharging potential customers.

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Thu 13 Aug 2020 07:44
Bring back the Motorshow - nellyjak

Sadly the world has changed SLO...there's little pride/desire in car ownership anymore.

Peeps have become lazy and disinterested...would rather click a mouse and have a car delivered with no hassle....and have no clue, or desire to know, what's going on under the bonnet...no empathy.

They just want to get from A to B in the newest bit of shiny metal they can afford...and they care not that they won't ever own it...just send it back and get another.

I'm old enough to remember..and enjoy, the feeling of a getting a "new" car..to be cherished and looked after...I remember how driving was a privilege and a skill to be learnt...not a right.

Happy days...lol

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Thu 13 Aug 2020 07:59
Bring back the Motorshow - veloceman
Sorry I have to disagree.
I picked up my new Alfa Giulia Veloce on 2nd March.
Didn’t sleep for at least a week before delivery!
This is my dream car and took the plunge to spoil myself before retirement.
Car came with 5 years warranty and service plan too.
Yes it’s on PCP but will buy it at the end as I know how it will have been treated.
Low interest and £9k manufacturers/dealer contributions made it the sensible way to buy.
Car is and will be cherished.
Before I get all the comments 4K miles nearly five months later not a squeak.
Alfa’s are not as unreliable as folk would have you believe.
Downside? Expected slightly better than 32mpg but not doing many miles these days and Alfa’s daft pricing policy which means even the metallic silver paint takes it over the extra road tax threshold.
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Thu 13 Aug 2020 08:46
Bring back the Motorshow - nellyjak

But that's good..!!!....though I'll wager your attitude and excitement is not as typical with the car "owning" public as it once was.

It's good that there are still some of us left.!!...glad you are enjoying your Alfa.

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Thu 13 Aug 2020 14:58
Bring back the Motorshow - SLO76
“ Low interest and £9k manufacturers/dealer contributions made it the sensible way to buy.“

It’s now the default choice when taking on (not buying) a new car but the main reason is that manufacturers make greater profits from never-ending monthly payments and a shorter replacement cycle than they do/did from traditional car ownership. They’ve rocketed the list prices of cars to unrealistic levels in order to push almost everyone into one of these constant monthly payments. Superminis are now approaching £20k, small family hatches mid 20’s and a typical family SUV or saloon is £30k plus. Wages haven’t risen by anything like the pace cars have in recent years. The Corsa SRi I got for July sister in law in 2016 for £9495 is now £18k plus for today’s equivalent for example.

Typical buyers in the past would pay a car up over 3-5yrs and they’d usually have a year or two with no payments and a heap of equity which was then used as a deposit on the next owned car. Today people pay a constant monthly payment and own nothing. Cars are costing far more than they should but again most don’t even look at the actual list price, in fact many dealers don’t even display it or hide it as an irrelevance in the small print. People ask only how much it is a month. To me it’s a horrible way to own a car and over a lifetime it’s a massive amount of cash, mostly being spent by people who don’t care about cars at all.

I’m forever staring in stunned amazement at the sticker prices displayed by my local dealers - those who still show them. A Honda Jazz at £19,700!!! An electric Corsa at £30k!!!, A Fiesta 1.0T at £23,000!!! A Ford Ecosport at £21,000!!!!!!!! Even Suzuki who were a byword for value in the past expect £14k plus for the tiny Ignis, a good car yes but that’s insane for a city car.

I’ll never buy new again, I’ll wait until the used market has taken a big bite out of the cars supposed value and reset it to the more sensible level then I’ll buy it outright. Another issue I see with PCP’s is that the bulk of people taking them do so because they think it’s cheaper than conventional finance when barring a large manufacturer subsidy it is not. The problem is they’re not comparing like for like when calculating costs. They look at a 3yr PCP compared to 3yr finance/loans instead of comparing a 3yr PCP with a 5yr loan. After 3yrs you’re in the same position but typically with the loan you’ve paid less in interest plus you can keep the car without hassle or you can sell it at any time. It’s a better way to buy in my opinion but the trade don’t want you to buy they want you to rent it new or used.

Edited by SLO76 on 13/08/2020 at 15:07

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Thu 13 Aug 2020 10:10
Bring back the Motorshow - Engineer Andy

As a teenager (in the mid-late 1980s), I once went with my dad to the motorshow at the NEC in Birmingham.

I certainly enjoyed the experience - other than seeing all the flashy cars, I like fiddling with the latest ICE, including a few that had (this was the in-thing for home hifi at the time) whizz-bang spectrum analysers (apologies if the previous word was deleted - blimmin' naughty words filters!).

Much later on, I really enjoyed going to the mini motor show held in Canary Wharf (I happened to work in the area at the time, so could visit during my lunch break), which was really good, as you could sit in some amazing supercars, and also it put me on to a Mazda3, which I bought 6 months later and still own.

I recall that some lucnky people were able to do test drives there. A shame it didn't continue for long after.

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Thu 13 Aug 2020 10:47
Bring back the Motorshow - Stackman II

Very much lament the demise of the UK Motor Show.

Always an annual pilgrimage, either by train to Earls Court or driving up to the NEC. As Dad was a trader we would go on Motor Trade days so we were in after the press but before the general public. Probably went to most of the shows from 1984 onwards.

So many memories of new car launches, concept cars and sitting in all sorts of unaffordable metal.

Our favourite trick was to set the child locks on the rear doors then stand back and watch as some poor mug got trapped in the back and had to bang on the window for someone to release them.

Latterly we have been to the shows in Geneva and Frankfurt which are a bit more glamorous than the NEC. Frankfurt is spectacular with the huge pavillions occupied by the domestic manufacturers and their off-shoots.

Geneva has some spectacular launches and the opportunity to die a snowy death driving over the Jura mountains.

We still try to set the child locks but not many cars have them now.

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Thu 13 Aug 2020 11:27
Bring back the Motorshow - _

As well as working on the Rover stand at Geneva my favourite memory is the launch of the XJ220 at The NEC. quite early in the morning then chairman of jaguar was extremely "Elated".

But he was a lovely man and kind to me.

Edited by _ORB_ on 13/08/2020 at 11:28

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Thu 13 Aug 2020 11:51
Bring back the Motorshow - RT

I went to the '66 Motor Show at Earl's Court with some fellow students - I found it somewhat overwhelming with so much to take in. The first couple of Motor Shows at the NEC were notable for using parts of the unopened M42 as a giant car park - for NEC shows after that it was easier to park at one of the stations along the Birmingham-Coventry railway line and use the train.

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Thu 13 Aug 2020 12:16
Bring back the Motorshow - Terry W

I can remember the excitement as a kid going to Earls Court.

It was also a time of rapid improvements to car technology, road networks, living standards, car ownership levels etc.

But the world moves on. Even if there was a motorshow now would I bother to go - probably not.

  • travel by car to NEC about 2 hours each way
  • queue and ticket £??
  • lunch and coffee/tea probably poor quality and inflated prices (like airports!)
  • probably no chance to sit in and touch - look only - not like the good old days
  • lots of carfully crafted expensively produced PR material reserved for real buyers

Probably more fun to be had at the local car supermarket where I can look, touch, drive and talk to someone who is not just parroting corporate speak from a script!

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Thu 13 Aug 2020 13:19
Bring back the Motorshow - alan1302

As a teenager (in the mid-late 1980s), I once went with my dad to the motorshow at the NEC in Birmingham.


Went to the NEC one as well around the same time...don't remember much as was only 6/7ish...remember having a cold burger and looking at Austin Maestros! LOL

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Thu 13 Aug 2020 13:18
Bring back the Motorshow - alan1302
My dad bought several cars off stand at the local car show in Ayr,

Think I went to one in Ayr once - was that the one at the ice rink? Went to the Glasgow one a few times as well - always enjoyed this visit.

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Thu 13 Aug 2020 15:06
Bring back the Motorshow - SLO76
My dad bought several cars off stand at the local car show in Ayr,

Think I went to one in Ayr once - was that the one at the ice rink? Went to the Glasgow one a few times as well - always enjoyed this visit.

Still got an ice rink but there used to be a huge one at the top of the town back in yon olden days. Nice enough town but as with many the town centre is in ruin via ill thought out council policies, overly high property taxes and competition from shopping centres in Glasgow where one can park without having your pocket picked by the local authority for having the cheek to come to the town to spend money. Utter madness to attack people for coming to your town to spend money. I love Glasgow, I drive Express coaches to and from there and I love a wee night out in the big smoke. There’s just something about the place. It’s a great atmosphere on a night out, totally random people will crack up a conversation with you at the bar yet I find Edinburgh very different, less welcoming.
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Thu 13 Aug 2020 14:21
Bring back the Motorshow - Avant

I agree with Veloceman - I don't think it's leasing and PCPs that have killed off the motor shows. I enjoy my cars even if I'm not the legal owner, and when i had company cars I enjoyed them too....even better when someone else is paying.

I certainly enjoyed my PCP-financed car yesterday, the hottest of all. I had a 200-mile rouind trip to do and the coolest place to be was definitely the car. The AC in Audis is a real chiller.

No - I think it's the increased number of big car showrooms, whether main dealers or car supermarkets. Be as rude as you like about glass palaces, but in Salisbury for example, 45 minutes from me here, there are about 12 of them on the same industrial estate. OK, no exotica, but wide ranges of cars that one might actually buy. So an uncrowded 'motor show' almost on the doorstep.

And less of a chance that (my friend and near-neighbour) Stackman II has been round setting the child locks....

Edited by Avant on 13/08/2020 at 14:23

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Thu 13 Aug 2020 17:39
Bring back the Motorshow - John F

I think young men today (and motor shows are basically a male thing) are not nearly as interested in cars as their predecessors were, regarding them as just utilitarian white/grey goods. Neither of my two sons and few of their friends had 'sports' or 'gt' cars. My youngest, aged 35, has only ever owned two cars - one was an old £400 Peugeot 309 I bought him when 17, and the other is our old Ford Focus estate.

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Thu 13 Aug 2020 23:30
Bring back the Motorshow - veloceman
Thank you Avant.
The thing is retail price of my car is around £40k. Not bragging, it’s what it is.
I guess I could have negotiated a small discount for cash if I had that much hanging around. If I did I probably wouldn’t blow it all on a car. This way I can budget and still own it at the end.
Anyone who has their own business will know cash is king. That’s why so many new small businesses fail - they run out of cash even though trading profitably.
In my business I need new equipment I lease/purchase it and keep the cash in the bank.
Ultimately with PCP I can afford my dream car. What possibly can be wrong with that. Cars are my thing.
Other folk pay a fortune for a years’ golf club membership or spend thousands a year cruising the seas. Far more than I pay a year for my car.
I know a lot of you guys on here buy others cast offs and run them on a shoe string. My dad did the same, rolling around under his cars at weekends though probably not by choice. He was mechanically very able, I know the basics of how things work which is enough for me.
I hope in years to come someone will enjoy bangernomics with my Alfa.
Hard to imagine I know but strangers things do happen!
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