What do you drive?

[villa4europe]

Village life, went to the local show room which is the only one within a 30 to 45 minute drive, VW garage and I didnt want a VW (from my experience of the wife's golf and a skoda company car they have shit sat navs that pick up accidents but not traffic from general congestion)

Ended up with a Ford kuga at a decent price, year old second hand but with 20km on the clock, not a clue if they're good or not but the sportier puma I wanted wasn't big enough for the kids and all their shite, 1.5 ST

[Genie]

1 minute ago, villa4europe said:

Village life, went to the local show room which is the only one within a 30 to 45 minute drive, VW garage and I didnt want a VW (from my experience of the wife's golf and a skoda company car they have shit sat navs that pick up accidents but not traffic from general congestion)

Ended up with a Ford kuga at a decent price, year old second hand but with 20km on the clock, not a clue if they're good or not but the sportier puma I wanted wasn't big enough for the kids and all their shite, 1.5 ST

I have an older mk2 Kuga (2015) and it’s been a great car for 4 years. Perfect size. Not massive, but big enough for family holidays.

 

[villa4europe]

2 minutes ago, Genie said:

I have an older mk2 Kuga (2015) and it’s been a great car for 4 years. Perfect size. Not massive, but big enough for family holidays.

That's the weird criticism I saw when I browsed reviews 

Wife has a golf, my last car was a skoda superb pool car which was pretty long with a big boot, the kuga is huge to me, easily the biggest car I've ever had, like learning curve needed big for both of us before we feel comfortable in it

Reviews "not as big as its competitors" that seems mad 

[Davkaus]

My initial reaction to the headline was "well, yes...".

I'm no luddite, I'm excited (but skeptical) about autonomous vehicles, but it's absolutely crazy that companies are hoping to roll out remote control driving on public roads within the year. This desperately needs to be legislated against.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-64705924

Quote

Remotely driving a vehicle in the UK while outside the country should not be allowed, according to an independent body that advises the UK government.

The Law Commission report into remotely driven vehicles says at present they are a "legal grey area".

Vehicles which are controlled by an outside driver are already used in warehouses, mines and farms, but car rental firms would like to use them.

The technology could also support autonomous vehicles.

The commission - which reviews legislation in England and Wales - says there is no specific legal requirement for the driver to be inside the vehicle they are operating.

It is neither "prohibited nor expressly allowed", its report said.

But there is considerable interest in using remote driver technology, for example to deliver rental cars, where it could reduce the time and expense of a delivery driver's return journey.

The report noted that two companies were already testing remote drive technology in the UK to bring vehicles to customers.

At present there is a safety driver inside the vehicle while it is remotely operated, but both firms said they hoped that would no longer be necessary by the end of the year.

 

[sidcow]

On 09/02/2023 at 22:21, villa4europe said:

That's the weird criticism I saw when I browsed reviews 

Wife has a golf, my last car was a skoda superb pool car which was pretty long with a big boot, the kuga is huge to me, easily the biggest car I've ever had, like learning curve needed big for both of us before we feel comfortable in it

Reviews "not as big as its competitors" that seems mad 

It's also a silly criticism anyway. Maybe you don't want a car as big as its rivals.  That's a strength. If you want a big car you get a big car. If you want a slightly smaller car you get a slightly smaller car. 

[Xela]

We've touched on mental prices for used cars before. 

This takes the biscuit! As nice as Cossies were, at the end of the day its an 80s Sierra with turbo lag.

 

[foreveryoung]

3 minutes ago, Xela said:

We've touched on mental prices for used cars before. 

This takes the biscuit! As nice as Cossies were, at the end of the day its an 80s Sierra with turbo lag.

 

Must have some history for that price, or no miles. Even concourse they are generally around 80k

[sidcow]

49 minutes ago, foreveryoung said:

Must have some history for that price, or no miles. Even concourse they are generally around 80k

5,500 miles only apparently. 

[Genie]

This was just discussed in a work whatsapp group, a colleague is married to a Chinese lady and she travels back a lot. This week they are back in China and he shared a picture of his mother in laws new car.

 

It’s called an Ora Good Cat, a Battery Electric car with a 500km range and a from price £12k (up to £19k with all the bells and whistles).

[Xela]

@Genie Jonny Smith did a good review of that car, around Solihull. 

 

Edited April 5, 2023 by Xela

[sidcow]

5 hours ago, Genie said:

This was just discussed in a work whatsapp group, a colleague is married to a Chinese lady and she travels back a lot. This week they are back in China and he shared a picture of his mother in laws new car.

 

It’s called an Ora Good Cat, a Battery Electric car with a 500km range and a from price £12k (up to £19k with all the bells and whistles).

Will be released here imminently (if not in fact actually here already) 

The guys at Fully Charged show love them. This is why legacy manufacturers have got it wrong all chasing the same expensive SUV markets. 

There are going to be A LOT of people, and especially a whole lot of young people (AKA future customers) developing a big affinity with Chinese brands and probably staying with them in future. 

[villaajax]

Think the last time I posted in here I would have had a Mk1 Focus and a running 1968 Mustang. Now I have a Mk3 Focus and a 1968 Mustang that is in pieces all over my garage being restored. Had a Mk2 Focus in between, which is actualyl still sat on the driveway as I'm too busy and lazy to get around to doing anything with it.

Got to say, I really enjoy the Mk3. It's a 2014 Titanium X Ecoboost so it has all the extras as well as a 1.6 turbo petrol engine. I was a bit wary of going down to a 1.6 initially as the smallest engine I'd had was a 1.8 but this thing outperforms the others in every way.

[Xela]

Saw a Ferrari Testarossa, parked up by the shops in Streetly yesterday. Lovely!

Modern Ferrari's, i wouldn't even give a second glimpse at, but the Testarossa is a poster car. 

[sidcow]

Trying to stop going off topic in a discussion with @foreveryoung.  What WILL you be driving in future? 

A couple of videos here from the fully charged guys who are absolutely convinced that we're likely to lose a lot, if not most of the traditional Western car manufacturers due to their dilly dallying on EV's. 

Will we really be seeing the demise of most manufacturers we grew up with? Or as stated in one of these videos they just get bought by a new wave, probably Chinese manufacturer and become little more than a badge/brand.  The think the MG is literally one of the best EV's you can buy full stop, though it's obviously just a badge and nothing to do with what we think of as MG. 

The Chinese are coming and people are literally crying out for cheap electric cars and they are the only people providing them whilst the traditional manufacturers try to sell yet another £60,000 Suv to the same small set of buyers in West London. 

 

 

 

 

[villaajax]

42 minutes ago, sidcow said:

Trying to stop going off topic in a discussion with @foreveryoung.  What WILL you be driving in future?

If I win the lottery tomorrow, I'll be driving an original Ford GT40.

[El Zen]

I’ll be getting a 2021previously owned VW ID3 next week, to replace my 2020 Octavia. 

I’m buying it for £23k but the monthly payment on the loan will be a fair bit lower than my current leasing deal, in addition to what I save on fuel. 

Can’t wait. EVs are fun. 

Edited April 21, 2023 by El Zen

[sidcow]

1 hour ago, El Zen said:

I’ll be getting a 2021previously owned VW ID3 next week, to replace my 2020 Octavia. 

I’m buying it for £23k but the monthly payment on the loan will be a fair bit lower than my current leasing deal, in addition to what I save on fuel. 

Can’t wait. EVs are fun. 

I've heard they struggled with software on it originally (eluded to in the above videos) hopefully they've sorted it by now though. 

Would be interested in your real world experience as I might consider an ID3 if the ID2 is too damn hard to get when I change. 

[tonyh29]

Have Defenders suddenly become the latest chav car ?

keep seeing them everywhere on the school run lately , where as a year or so ago I doubt I ever saw any ....

 

 

[El Zen]

51 minutes ago, sidcow said:

I've heard they struggled with software on it originally (eluded to in the above videos) hopefully they've sorted it by now though. 

Would be interested in your real world experience as I might consider an ID3 if the ID2 is too damn hard to get when I change. 

I will report back, sir

[NurembergVillan]

On 09/12/2022 at 12:03, NurembergVillan said:

Tuned up. They offer ST-Line and ST-Line X, which are as you describe. This is the one upon which Sebastien Loeb's WRC car is based.

Still a 1.5 Ecoboost engine but 200PS (without having it mapped) and with the performance pack it has a Quaife limited slip diff. It's good for 0-60 in 6.7secs.

It sounds outrageous in Sport mode too.

 

Four months in and I absolutely love this thing.

Acceleration, cornering, braking, it's really good at everything.

Some of the interior materials lower down in the cabin are on the cheap side, but not much worse than the last Alfa Romeo I had. The important ones - dash, steering wheel, seats - are good quality though.

Very satisfied with the purchase.

Even the school run is fun. Apart from when I get stuck behind parents who think their 4x4 is 60% wider than it really is.