Ford ~ if only because they have a franchised (albeit small) dealer in our very small seaside town.
--
L\'escargot.
|
Hyundai/Kia are currently putting out some interesting models - the i30, the new Santa Fe, the Cee'd, with other models like the Veracruz hopefully coming to these shores.
Add in the 5year warranty and I don't think you can grumble with that!
|
Would strongly disagree re BMW and particularly their design.
Auto express recently had one of their features "which 5 series to buy" and showed, I think, the last 4 models side by side. There was no wild design differences, just a very gradual transition. Yes I know Bangle's input in the 7 series was maybe a bit too far and sales suffered as a result but still think overall they are very boxy and square edged.
Would need to compliment Ford - they seem to be getting rave reviews for the Mondeo and lets face it if any mass market producer can get good solid sales in the company car market then it will help get them on a good financial footing (obviously ignoring subsidiary companies).
Vauxhall have done very well with new Corsa but rest of range is a bit "old hat" now.
--
2007 Seat Altea XL 2.0 TDI (140) Stylance
2005 Skoda Fabia vrS
|
|
|
Horace, the second Hyundai utility car (SIII V6 coupe, rather clever automatic) is giving me considerable satisfaction both for looks and go, as well as expectation of further reliability; and take into account my old hobby car is a Supra twin turbo.
|
Skoda - decent cars and decent dealerships.
|
You are telepathetic - I've been trying to think for 24 hours which one impressed me and as I was about to post you beat it to me.
The sheer diversity of the range, value for money and good old fashioned dealer values (I know one of the local ones of many, many years standing) I'm thinking of buying one in a couple of years when my circumstances change and I no longer need a flash car.
|
I keep saying if work doesn't get more exciting I'm going to quit, dump the lease car and get a used Fabia vRS.
It's getting more tempting by the day at the moment!
|
|
|
The old rear drive Skodas were the best, believe it or not; they just needed more horses to be a real poor man's Porsche. No, I had not one, but my my brother impressed me mightily, flinging around one or another of his!
|
|
I remember Motor's claim that they were better than a Porsche !
|
|
|
|
|
|
None!
That's right IMO all car companies seem to miss out on opportunities for practicality and the prospect of cheap motoring in new cars, in favour of profits and fab design.
What I want to see in manufacturers is a real effort to design their ranges to be cheap to run and more environmentally friendly.
I'm thinking, not only of MPG and VED class, but maintenance, reliability and general totall costs of ownership.
Example, the early Mk2 Vauxhall Cavalier had an easy change clutch, this was abandoned in favour of a design to cost the motorist £200 as opposed to £50.
Several years ago it was possible to service your own car with little more than a decent toolkit. Now it has to be hooked up to the latest £3k computor at a £50 an hour dealership. Why not design a simple diagnostic computer into the car that can give fault codes that are freely available from the manufacturer?
The Nissan Primastar rear light lenses sit behind a transparent plastic cover. The cover received a small hole, which meant the whole lot had to be replaced! This serves to generate a lot of money for Nissan whilst creating so much waste. Why not sell these as two separate units? Weight is not an issue here surely.
I would gladly look at a range that appeal on the basis of simplicity. That is why I love my Discovery 200TDi.
|
None!
This was exactly my thought, but I didn't want to seem too much like Victor Meldrew.
My reason is that I don't think any of the manufacturers are doing anything particularly exciting. Among the last things I saw which really excited me was the bonded aluminium chassis used on the Lotus Elise.
I think there are a whole host of reasons for this, and many of them are our (the consumers) fault - our choices over the years have been perhaps too conservative. Perhaps because we demand too much in terms of refinement, safety, luxury and performance, our cars end up being too expensive to risk buying anything too radical.
I include myself in this - I should have a radical and technologically interesting car on the drive, but instead I have a 12 year old W124, almost the definition of a monolithic block of German conservativism.
Number_Cruncher
|
>> None! This was exactly my thought but I didn't want to seem too much like Victor Meldrew.
Oh thank you for that complement! ;)
In the defence of many car manufacturers, didn't Jeremy Clarkson once comment on the 'folly of Ford?'
Ford apparently asked their customers what they wanted, they took customers' comments on board then delivered.
Unfortunately 2 things happened:
1) Other companies were much more imaginative with new gadgets and features and upped market expectations as a whole.
2) All this happened whilst ford were working to deliver our wish list, and said wish list became outdated by the time Ford delivered.
As a result Ford were struggling to sell the customers the cars they had asked for.
|
|
Hugo you tease. I read that expecting to find out what Ford's People's Car was !!
|
Sorry PU, I'm just flatterd that you could think I could impart anything worth knowing. As you have now discovered, sadly this is not the case. :))))
BTW do you remember the Young Ones?
One of the characters won a Ford Toppex.
|
Hugo,
You've started to make me laugh just thinking of it. I am now on the way to the Attic to dig out the vids !
|
|
None!
Would take an amost 100% contrary view. The car industry overall now produces a huglely varied range of safe and reliable cars Reliability must have increased severall hundred percent in the last 20 years. Car no longer rot away before your eyes. Cars are more affordable than they ever were. You can buy a basic supermini for £5,000. Most family cars come with a ranged of extras you could only dream about 20 years ago.
I find all that pretty impressive
If forced to single out a single manufacturer woild choose Ford for bringing decent cars to the mass market
|
|
|
|
Several years ago it was possible to service your own car with little more than a decent toolkit. Now it has to be hooked up to the latest £3k computor at a £50 an hour dealership. Why not design a simple diagnostic computer into the car that can give fault codes that are freely available from the manufacturer?
or try one of these
www.scangauge.net/features/index.shtml
165 euros?
cannot vouch for it myself, is on my wish list though!
|
We had a typical pub discussion last weekend. You have 20 grand to spend on a new car. What would you choose?
Not one of the five of us instantly jumped up and said x or y. It was more like "well, such and such is alright I suppose, and I wouldn't mind one of those". We came to the conclusion that most new cars dull as ditchwater. Safer, smoother and "more capable" maybe, but also bigger, more bloated and more isolated from the road than their predecessors.
Ford should be commended for being about the only mainstream manufacturer to even be considering the enthusiast, even though they themselves are not a patch on what Peugeot were doing in that department 20 years ago. Everyone just seems to be copying the Germans who themselves are just rolling our bigger and more generously equipped versions of the models that went before.
And the relentless kerbweight increase is making a mockery of any engine efficiency increases. A 20 year old 1.8 Sierra with a cast iron, carb fed Pinto engine designed in the 60's is no slower and no less frugal than a current 1.8 Mondeo for example. That is a ludicrous state of affairs.
The cheapest new car I can get remotely excited is about is a top end 3-series or C class, and that's more respect and admiration than excitement.
Cheers
DP
--
04 Grand Scenic 1.9 dCi Dynamique
00 Mondeo 1.8TD LX
|
|
|
|
Several years ago it was possible to service your own car with little more than a decent toolkit. Now it has to be hooked up to the latest £3k computor at a £50 an hour dealership. Why not design a simple diagnostic computer into the car that can give fault codes that are freely available from the manufacturer?
You can buy OBDII readers for most cars to help self diagnose as the codes are (supposed to be) standard.
Hugo, where do you find these half price dealers with their £50 an hour labour rates ? I can't remember the last time I went to a dealership in the UK who ONLY charged that.
|
Not one impresses me enough to say "I want WANT to buy that".
Not one impresses me that I WANT to spend £20k on a used one, let alone a new one.
Lets face it, anyone spending £20k could get an Golf TDI with a few bits and bobs.
What a piece of boring boring boring brown stuff.
I'm afraid cost and environmental pressures are making new cars zzzzzzzzzz.
The late 19990 are the apex of simple(ish) car manufacture (so late 80s deign). After that..
The only one I fancy is unavailablke for £20k.. a Bentley Continental.. and no use for shopping..
madf
|
based on the company rather than their products -
BMW - for selling more premium price product than some of their mass market rivals.
I have to admire any company that can sell the awful-looking six series :-)
Also, they've managed to stay independent.
Generally though, the modern car market doesn't impress me at all.
The only car currently available that I would want to buy is the Mazda 2. Many are just too wide to even consider.
On the bike front, Triumph have impressed me - just by surviving. Their dealers continue to impress also
|
"miss out on opportunities for practicality and the prospect of cheap motoring in new cars, in favour of profits"
Err, car companies are in business to make a profit (not that you'd always guess it).
|
Err car companies are in business to make a profit (not that you'd always guess it).
I agree with you entirely. However there are ways of making profits by adding value rather than just fleecing the motorist unnecessarily for parts and servicing costs when such costs could be designed to a minimum.
Show me a manufacturer that actually does this over and above its competitors, and I might show you my next car.
|
|
On the bike front Triumph have impressed me - just by surviving.
Yes, I agree. The fact they came out of the whole factory fire disaster stronger, leaner and meaner almost brought a lump to my throat. It's so nice to see a British success story that owes nothing to overseas investment or technology.
Their recent decision to focus on producing bikes that are slightly different to the mainstream competition, largely thanks to their "signature" three cylinder engine layout is proving to be a masterstroke as well. Take the new Daytona 675 - if that had been another four pot sportsbike along the lines of the old Daytona or TT600, it would have been another "nearly but not quite" set of reviews by the bike press, and the fashionistas who make up such a big percentage of sportsbike riders would have gone out and bought the latest GSXR or CBR or whatever the press said was THE bike of the year because it's 5g lighter, revs 20 rpm higher or makes half a bhp more. However, by doing their unique thang with the triple, and applying the kind of chassis know-how that they've shown in previous bikes, they've sidestepped the whole thing, essentially invented a new class of bike, and gone straight to the top of it. The 675 has been a massive success, and early indicators suggest that the naked version they've just launched, the Street Triple, will do just as well.
Then there's the iconic Speed Triple which is among the top selling bikes in many countries (Italy and Germany to name but two), the mental 2.3 litre Rocket III which still has a healthy waiting list Stateside, and the rave-reviewed Sprint ST not to mention the ongoing steady sales of the retro stuff like the Bonneville and Thruxton.
A British company that's learned from its mistakes and goes from strength to strength. If they'd continued to try and take on the Japs head on, not being able to compete with their vast R&D resources, they'd have gone under. Instead, they took a step back, and focused on building unique bikes, but with enough mainstream appeal to ensure big sales. The whole brand uses its heritage as a marketing tool, but doesn't depend on it from a product point of view. If only more British vehicle manufacturers had been so clever.
Cheers
DP
--
04 Grand Scenic 1.9 dCi Dynamique
00 Mondeo 1.8TD LX
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Vincent de Marco. You are absolutely correct about present Seats. I still drive my 1999 Seat Toledo ( best looking one, not like the horrible new one). I saw a sketch of the proposed Bolero for 2009. That may well turn out to be a lot nicer to look at. For years Seat worked on cheaper end sports car designs and had them on test.Parent company VW, whilst orrigionally saving Seat and bringing in quality etc, took a similar car with a VW badge to the States, as Seat I think don't sell in Northern America. I am a fan of the better VW models; but I would be interested if someone knows much more about the goings on at Seat and VW. I know Dr Piech is now in control of VW.
I am an admirer of Lexus quality. For various reasons I am interested with buying German.
|
|
|
|
