Ford. You can have a Granada but its a hatchback.
Er NO I want a boot so Im off to Volvo or VX or...
Er NO I want an estate so I too am off to Volvo or VX or....
OK then, you can now have a saloon or estate.
Er no thanks I am happy where I am.
But I have now screwed up the styling... er NO.
Oh well I will stop making them.
You can have an Escort estate but only 3 doors.
Er NO I off to ...
IIRC there were many smirks when Mazda put power steering on I think the 323.
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Almost none of UK sold diesel cars have automatic gearbox option. Wake up people, someone buys economy engine, perhaps for taxi, perhaps for business use, how about giving them city friendly gearbox?
Ultra reliable, fantastic makes (example Subaru) with no diesel models at all.
UK Diesel models with no trip computers (I was interested in buying Mazda3 but there was nothing to show me mpg on the dash in best diesel trim, standard in most of their petrol models)
Japanese and US makers misjudging UK and European markets - Toyota trying to sell huge LandCruisers, but not Hilux Surfs, despite resale values of Hilux Pickup in UK being the highest in the world. Mitsubishi not selling high spec LWB Pajeros and Shoguns despite them being privately imported from Japan in hundreds since day one. Why keep Galants away from Europe but instead trying to flog us Carismas? Isuzu not embracing this land of 4x4's as target market for most of their models. Nissan selling the ugly Terrano over here and the nice one in Japan. Etc...
If the most successfull FIATs ever were tiny supermini hatches (600,500,126,127) and saloons (Mirafiori, 125 etc) then why go stupid and stuff dealerships with 4 different MPVs (Idea, Doblo, Ulysse, Multipla) and none of the above?
If the most successfull Volvos ever were large, safe, reliable own designs then why go stupid and make S40/V40 on floorplan of the worst selling saloon ever (Mitsubishi Carisma)?
Why there are no Rover estate options beside 75?
Can we stop the whole central mounted speedos malarky now? We've proven people can adjust their optical habits to your penny pinching politics but it's time to stop now, seriously. It wasn't funny the first time, now it's just simply annoying.
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Mondeo and C-Max great diesels both with (different!) auto boxes.
Mondeo TDCi's have/can have a trip computer and they are not alone.
Re Fiats, agree 100%
Old S40/V40 looked good and were really not that bad, infinitely better that Carisma. New S40/V50 are by all acounts excellent.
Re central speedos, agreed, i.e. new Scenic is great though dash on Megane hatch is much nicer.
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On the subject of estates...
Why was the cavalier Mk 3 never available as an estate?
The Cav Mk 2 estate was very sought after in its day.
I agree with the comment on the lack of Rover Estates
I think Fiat have just lost the plot hence Fiats are no longer a viable motoring option for me.
The Fiat Regata was also a car that had a design fault that meant the passenger could operate the foot brake. I believe that Yugos were recalled to have a plate inserted over the mechanism, Fiat just couldn't be bothered, well lets face it, they don't last 5 mins anyway and they'll never support spares for them for long enough... why go to the trouble now they've sold the car and run.
As you can see I am not a great fan of Fiat.
H
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A MkIII Cavalier estate may have taken sales away from the Carlton estate?
Could never understand why GM produced the Carlton and Senator side by side, wouldn't have thought there would be a market for two large cars by the same manufacturer...
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Could never understand why GM produced the Carlton and Senator side by side, wouldn't have thought there would be a market for two large cars by the same manufacturer...
Ford did the same - Consul & Granada.You got a budget or GT Consul (as per The Sweeny!!) or luxury Ghia,in a Granada.
Doh!
It's times like this I wish I'd got a telly!! One that shows re runs, of old, GOOD progs!!
VB
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The Fiat Regata was also a car that had a design fault that meant the passenger could operate the foot brake.
Just how many cars has this applied to? IIRC some Polos did it as well. Guess it's quite difficult to re locate the master cylinder for the RHD market, but aside from pax operation long links are a recipe for lost motion and sloppy brakes.
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Lexus are obviously losing sales by not offering any diesel models, maybe they could re-engineer the parent company Toyota's supposedly excellent D4-D units to increase power and torque. On the same subject, I feel Toyota maybe missing out only offering a diesel with a maximum of 114bhp in their family cars when the opposition are producing 150bhp from similar size units.
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I can confirm this.
I was talking to a Lexus salesman yesterdsay, and he confirmed that the lack of a diesel option was causing 'big problems'.
Appartently, Toyota has a new randge of Diesels in development for the Europena market, but won't offer them in Lexi until they 'get the refinement right'. The Honda CDTi will be used as the benchmark.@
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With regard to the lack of cavalier mk3 estate, a dealer I spoke to shortly after launch reckoned the Astra estate had nearly as much room as the cavalier would've had???
Having owned a Cavlier Mk2 estate for a while it had a decent sized load area; but was a tad gutless when heavily loaded; they only ever nade the estate with the 1.6 or diesel engines (IIRC) - it really neeed the very nice 1.8 or 2 lire injection units. No high spec models either - no CD,GLS or SRi
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Almost none of UK sold diesel cars have automatic gearbox option
That annoys me too. I love the relaxed driving which an auto allows, but fuel consumption gets quite heavy with a petrol engine (except on the Honda Jazz), and I prefer the more relaxed engine sound of a diesel.
Where a diesel auto is available, it tends to be only on the more upmarket models. I suspect that's because a diesel auto works out much more expensive than a manual petrol ... but that's partly because we in the UK are ripped off for automatics, regardless of engine type.
In the USA, an automatic usually costs about $1000 extra. In most of Europe it usually costs euro1000 extra, but here in the UK we are ripped for £1000 for the same thing.
Try, for example, comparing the prices for a Ford Focus on different European Ford websites, and you'll find that even in Ireland an automatic is about euro1000 extra. So it's nothing to do with being a r/h drive market, it's all to do with being a rip-off market.
It's a pity that the consumer press has never picked up on this aspect of rip-off Britain. (Hint ...)
I just took a look at UK v French prices for the auto option on the Ford Focus C-Max 1.6 diesel. In the UK, £1100; in France, euro1,000. That's a 50% premium in the UK, and it's a particularly outrageous example, because Aprilia tells us that CVTs are much cheaper to manufacture than other automatics (see www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?v=e&t=21...9 )
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"Almost none of UK sold diesel cars have automatic gearbox option" This is probably why when Citroen launched the BX Diesel with an aunto' box, it seemed very novel idea to the UK motoring press
Also, another blip for BL was designing its cars with saloon style boots when the car was shaped like a hatch back. The Allegro and Princess being two such models. The BL marketing depatment thaught that a saloon was more up-market than a hatch. They had to eat their words on that, as the later ARG Ambassador was launched with a hatch. But by this time it was far too late.
Or how about AMC. They tried to sell the pug ugly Pacer model in the UK. But perhapse someone should have told them that we drive on the left and that the "larger passenger door for easy access" idea would need to be swapped round.
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"Or how about AMC. They tried to sell the pug ugly Pacer model in the UK."
Mostly becuase they had shed loads of unsold ones cos the yanks wouldnt buy them either. Jeez what a dog that was.
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Did GM actually test the latest Vectra in urban traffic? Why then didn't the testers advise that they bin the new indicator controls? These are without doubt the worst in any car I have driven; they are so sensitive indications are cancelled ridiculously prematurely. We are about to return a long term hired fleet car on these grounds alone, because all users hate this feature. Some have cited it as being dangerous. Mars an otherwise decent car.
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I love the relaxed driving which an auto allows, but fuel consumption gets quite heavy with a petrol engine (except on >> the Honda Jazz), and I prefer the more relaxed engine sound >> of a diesel.
And the torque charateristics of a diesel suit an auto far better. The BMW 3 litre diesel with a manual is not nice to drive, but with an auto is lovely.
Best of all was the time a BMW dealer tried to tell me to specify an auto just to maintain the car's residual value - I wanted the manual really. How much will it add at trade in, I asked. Oh, says he, best part of £1,000 easily.
The option costs £1200...
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And the torque charateristics of a diesel suit an auto far better. The BMW 3 litre diesel with a manual is not nice to drive, but with an auto is lovely.
Patently,
Although that is true, the problem is that the economy with a diesel automatic suffers. HJ wrote in Car-by-Car breakdown "Steptronic auto increases fuel consumption of 330D by around 25%."; and I have seen this point made in other publications.
There was a thread covering this:
www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?t=11847
The most plausible explanations for this stated
"I suspect that the reason many diesel automatics do not show good fuel consumption figures is due to the high engine torque at low revs, which maximises torque convertor slip. Coupled with the weight penalty of a diesel, this is a sure-fire formula for bad figures unless the box has a torque convertor lock. ....... Around town, an automatic gearbox is using the torque converter as lock-out doesn't occur until 50 mph, or thereabouts. The gear ratio might be slightly more efficient but the torque converter efficiency is quite poor."
As economy is the main reason for most people buying diesel, perhaps this is why few diesel automatics are produced.
C
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Cardew, thanks for the fascinating explanation.
Maybe this is why Audi has chosen CVTs for its diesels?
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Cardew, thanks for the fascinating explanation. Maybe this is why Audi has chosen CVTs for its diesels?
NW,
It was pure plagiarism!
C
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Yes, thanks Cardew. I spoke purely from the driver's seat, as usual.
I was really frustrated on the 330Cd test drive. A lovely car, sitting there brand new ready to buy, yet I could hardly drive it. Every gear change went wrong. But I knew the engine was lovely - the 530d auto test drive told me that.
Maybe I'm too used to petrol engines.
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NW, It was pure plagiarism!
plagiarism? I'd prefer to describe it as "intelligent recycling".
(I think this is like one of those verb conjugation exercises from the late 80s: I intelligently recycle, you are derivative, he plagiarises)
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rover 1.8 engine/head gasket nuff said
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Going back a bit in time - Why didn't Rover put the estate version of the SD1 into production? They did build prototypes, I've seen the one at the Sparkford Motor Museum. I'm sure it would have sold like hot cakes.
Also the coil-sprung Land Rover 90 and 110, launched around 1982/3 could have been launched in 1971 instead of the old series 3. The early 90 and 110 had little or nothing in terms of technical specification that couln't have been done in 71 - In fact their suspension set up and permanent 4WD was closely based on that of the Range Rover, launched 1970 if I'm not mistaken.
Why don't Toyota do a diesel Prius? It might get close to 100 miles per gallon.
cheers, Sofa Spud
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>>Why don't Toyota do a diesel Prius? It might get close to 100 miles per gallon.
I think its because they can't sell a Diesel in America, its designed for the Japanese & US market where most people drive automatics. A diesel would only appeal to Europe and Toyota don't have a market share that would allow them to sell here.
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Why don't Toyota do a diesel Prius? It might get close to 100 miles per gallon.
Somebody (was it HJ???) suggested that the idea of the Prius was to have an economical engine which didn't produce the nasty emissions of a diesel, in case diesel engines get banned or restricted (as they are in South Korea).
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>> Why don't Toyota do a diesel Prius? It might get close to 100 miles per gallon. Somebody (was it HJ???) suggested that the idea of the Prius was to have an economical engine which didn't produce the nasty emissions of a diesel, in case diesel engines get banned or restricted (as they are in South Korea).
I thought the newer diesel engines - with the particle filter were actually better than petrol engines in respects to emissions of all types?
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It never ceases to amaze me why so many medium size vans these days don't make proper use of the space envelope they take up.
For example, the number transit sized vans on the road with payloads less than 8" long.
For people in my trade, this is a really useful feature. Building materials are commonly supplied in 8' x 4' sheets (plasterboard, ply etc) yet the 1996 Renault Trafic SWB has a payload 4" short of that!
By shortening the bonnet and bringing the cab forward they could have accommodated that easily.
When designing vans I would have thought that the designers would want to appeal to the widest market possible for each model.
To get a long enough load space one would need to get the LWB, about 16" longer.
Also, the new Renault Trafic LWB (I have the Nissan version) boasts a payload length of 2.8m (9'4" app). However, that is along the max length of the load area. Leaving room for the seats and the bulkhead to protect the passenger compartment, which comes back into the load area as it goes up. the usable length close to the roof is just over 2.4m (8')!
[goes and bangs head on something solid]
H
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