As readers of some of earlier posts on this forum may know, we are a 2 car family, car 1 needs to be a full size 7 seater, and my story that lead to me a Mitsubishi Grandis is here:
www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?t=48948&...f
Car 2, is for fun, and spare when second card needed, I have flirted with various 2+2 coupes, wrote off a mint condition Nissan 200SX (aaagh!!!!!) and now have a 406 3.0 Coupe (hmmm!). Often the second car is used to get 1 or 2 kids to/from something, so a 2 seater won?t do, but any time we are 4 or more, we would take the Grandis so a large 5 seater would be overkill.
So, looking to replace the 406 Coupe due to reliability issues , I want a car that makes me feel I am sitting in something a little special, and that drives with some degree of Grand Tourer type performance (not hardcore sports car or overly ostentatious hot hatch). Also quite a compliant suspension needed due to ridiculous state of roads around here and speed bumps everywhere.
Budget likely to be 12 ? 14K so looking at used vehicles ( up to 3 year old most likely). Although I could be tempted to look for something older and classier (e.g. Merc CLK) I have rather had enough of putting £70 in a gas guzzling V6 and getting only 300 miles tops out of it. So the common sense man in me says look for something mid-sze, more modern, more efficient. A Merc CLK might still make it in to the list but would need to be a fair bit older to be in budget ? we?ll see.
I love the look of the new Fiat Bravo, and since I previously owned two Mareas and two Tempras at various times ( and got on really well with them), thought I?d give it a go. Cabin feels flush and high class, but seat base very small and under-supportive under the thighs. Whole car felt smaller too than I expected. Wouldn?t bother taking it for a drive due to the inadequacies of the drivers seat though.
Sat in a Nissan Qashqai only because the Fiat dealer is also a Nissan dealer, and thought the plastics were all on the hard/cheap side. Also didn?t like the mechanism for tilting the drivers seat back, you need two hands, right hand to pull the lever, left hand to go behind your head and pull/push the seat back? whatever happened to the old ?knurly wheel? most cars had. My Mitsubishi Grandis is the same as this Nissan, and it is about the only thing that regularly annoys me, not going to make that mistake again.
Thinking about it.. what do Nissan have to tempt me? they don?t have a 2+ 2 coupe anymore to replace the 200SZX, like Peugeot 407, Alfa GT,? nor a CC like VW Eos, Focus CC, Volvo C70, they don?t even have a hot (or warm) hatch like latest Astra / Golf / Focus variants). Go up a size, and the Primera is woeful compared with latest Mondeo / Mazda 6. They don?t have an MPV to tempt me from my Grandis or to compete with S-MAX, C-4, Espaces, Galaxy? they don?t have premium mid-size saloon either like Audi A4, BMW3 / Lexus IS ? nothing!!!!! what do they have? Oh.. the GT-R coming! Wow! But what a price. Sorry for the sideways rant, but being in their showroom yesterday left me SO disappointed. While I am on a rant, Toyota too? Can?t even be bothered to go to their showroom, but at least they have Lexus, and I could be tempted by an old shape IS200/IS300.
I also sat a varietry of Golf variants and without failure felt that the quality of interior was a step down from previous generation and since I drove a Bora SE for 2 years, the current models didn?t excite me. Also similarity to Skoda Octavia taxi interiors (that I ride in a lot during my monthly visits to Belfast) didn?t help make me feel I was sitting in something special.
Sat in a Alfa GT, found it very cramped (147 too), if carrying a passenger in the front I think we would feel on top of each other rather. Nice if driving on your own a lot, but the seat felt rather narrow, the whole cabin too for that matter.
Crossed over the road to big Honda dealer and sat in a Civic ES. Wow, lots of space in the cabin, beautiful quality leather seating and materials all round, and of course as is well documented a rather space age looking dashboard. To be honest the dash design I think is a bit of a distraction, but the material qualities, comfort of the seat, and sense of space around the driver (for this class of car) felt light years ahead of anything else I have been in so far.
Yes I know, someone will chew my head off and tell me that it is how they drive that matters, but I am working towards a short list and then will take the ones selected for test drives, to make it on to my shortlist, the car has to be comfortable to sit, spacious too, and to feel a little special inside, (certainly not like a taxi ?are you listening VW?). It is quite possible that when I drive the Civic I will be less than impressed, but I will cross that bridge when I get there.
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