SUVs are more profitable than other cars, it seems. I'm less clear whether it's because people are naturally ready to pay more for them than for a hatchback, or whether there is more useless metal as a % of total mass on an SUV. But what this means is that mid/ higher end hatchbacks are fast disappearing. Take Volvo. There is no longer a V40. You either go for its boxy and expensive XC40, or the V60 which is a pretty damn big car. The BMW X6 just does my head in. I mean the X5, I kind of get it if you have a large family, and are going to get out and about often. Here that would include going to the mountains regularly. But the X6s I see in CZ, they never have more than max 2 people in them. It looks like a 3 series hatchback that's been pumped full of helium.
An electric one might be targeted for its cat so you can't win. .
Here are my top 7 reasons why I would never buy an SUV.
1) They are ugly. I suppose we all have different tastes in women/men so beauty is in the eye of the beholder but they are ugly all the same. 2) Most SUVs seat 5 as do most normal cars. So what is the point of the size which does use more resources to produce and whilst there are exceptions, are generally less economical. 3) They are harder to drive. Now a good driver won't have any trouble driving them, but not all drivers are good drivers. My neighbour reversed parked and dented my car in her SUV. She lives on her own and ought to be driving something like a Fiat 500 which is a lot easier to drive. 4) Linked to 3, the centre of gravity is too high. It makes sense for an off roader but these cars can't be driven off road so it is just stupid. It makes them less fun to drive than a car in varying conditions. 5) They are a nuisance on country roads where they take up too much space. 6) They don't have any practical use above a normal car. And Finally 7) Did I say they were ugly? Even if I did, they are so ugly that it is worth another mention!
But if I had an ugly wife, which I don't, it wouldn't be ok for people to slap her so it isn't ok to let down tyres.
8) The higher position of their headlights is a pain in the pupils for drivers of conventional cars.
A problem easily solved if you don't actually stare at them. You are not a rabbit. In any event, my car automatically detects other cars/pedestrians and adjusts the LED matrix to avoid glare problems. So I just leave it on auto high beam and let it do it's thing. It is much more efficient than I am.
I don't know about you, but when I'm driving I like to make use of my rear view mirrors.
So, we still haven't heard what the SUV hater @MuttleyCAFC drives. What has he got to hide? My money is on some French abomination. Or perhaps a Nissan Note?
So, we still haven't heard what the SUV hater @MuttleyCAFC drives. What has he got to hide? My money is on some French abomination. Or perhaps a Nissan Note?
Excuse me. "French abomination"? I have been driving a French car for coming up to 9 years now. Her name is Juliette, she is a Citroen DS5 hybrid, and I love her, she has been absolutely reliable, and slinks gracefully around Prague on the same fuel consumption as my wife's Yaris. She is moving on in June to be replaced by the new model DS4 plug-in hybrid.
You appear to drive an Italian abomination. I had one once. A Fiat 128. It literally tried to kill me. The accelerator jammed open while I was doing 70mph on the Kingston by-pass. A bolt had fallen off and jammed the cable. You are welcome to Italian abominations.
(This is all bollocks of course - the my car, your car, thing-. I don't mean it seriously. Although my Fiat 128 did....)
So, we still haven't heard what the SUV hater @MuttleyCAFC drives. What has he got to hide? My money is on some French abomination. Or perhaps a Nissan Note?
Why would I tell you? I would either be embarresed in comparrison to your stunning marvel or a show off like you seem to be. Sadly too many who are not so impressed. My car does the job I bought it for and ticks the boxes for me. Why would I care what you think of it?
So, we still haven't heard what the SUV hater @MuttleyCAFC drives. What has he got to hide? My money is on some French abomination. Or perhaps a Nissan Note?
Excuse me. "French abomination"? I have been driving a French car for coming up to 9 years now. Her name is Juliette, she is a Citroen DS5 hybrid, and I love her, she has been absolutely reliable, and slinks gracefully around Prague on the same fuel consumption as my wife's Yaris. She is moving on in June to be replaced by the new model DS4 plug-in hybrid.
You appear to drive an Italian abomination. I had one once. A Fiat 128. It literally tried to kill me. The accelerator jammed open while I was doing 70mph on the Kingston by-pass. A bolt had fallen off and jammed the cable. You are welcome to Italian abominations.
(This is all bollocks of course - the my car, your car, thing-. I don't mean it seriously. Although my Fiat 128 did....)
So, we still haven't heard what the SUV hater @MuttleyCAFC drives. What has he got to hide? My money is on some French abomination. Or perhaps a Nissan Note?
Excuse me. "French abomination"? I have been driving a French car for coming up to 9 years now. Her name is Juliette, she is a Citroen DS5 hybrid, and I love her, she has been absolutely reliable, and slinks gracefully around Prague on the same fuel consumption as my wife's Yaris. She is moving on in June to be replaced by the new model DS4 plug-in hybrid.
You appear to drive an Italian abomination. I had one once. A Fiat 128. It literally tried to kill me. The accelerator jammed open while I was doing 70mph on the Kingston by-pass. A bolt had fallen off and jammed the cable. You are welcome to Italian abominations.
(This is all bollocks of course - the my car, your car, thing-. I don't mean it seriously. Although my Fiat 128 did....)
Of course it's bollocks, 70mph in a Fiat 128?????
I think the Lada Riva was based on the Fiat 128 - certainly it was based on a Fiat that looked similar to the 128
So, we still haven't heard what the SUV hater @MuttleyCAFC drives. What has he got to hide? My money is on some French abomination. Or perhaps a Nissan Note?
Excuse me. "French abomination"? I have been driving a French car for coming up to 9 years now. Her name is Juliette, she is a Citroen DS5 hybrid, and I love her, she has been absolutely reliable, and slinks gracefully around Prague on the same fuel consumption as my wife's Yaris. She is moving on in June to be replaced by the new model DS4 plug-in hybrid.
You appear to drive an Italian abomination. I had one once. A Fiat 128. It literally tried to kill me. The accelerator jammed open while I was doing 70mph on the Kingston by-pass. A bolt had fallen off and jammed the cable. You are welcome to Italian abominations.
(This is all bollocks of course - the my car, your car, thing-. I don't mean it seriously. Although my Fiat 128 did....)
Of course it's bollocks, 70mph in a Fiat 128?????
I think the Lada Riva was based on the Fiat 128 - certainly it was based on a Fiat that looked similar to the 128
So, we still haven't heard what the SUV hater @MuttleyCAFC drives. What has he got to hide? My money is on some French abomination. Or perhaps a Nissan Note?
Excuse me. "French abomination"? I have been driving a French car for coming up to 9 years now. Her name is Juliette, she is a Citroen DS5 hybrid, and I love her, she has been absolutely reliable, and slinks gracefully around Prague on the same fuel consumption as my wife's Yaris. She is moving on in June to be replaced by the new model DS4 plug-in hybrid.
You appear to drive an Italian abomination. I had one once. A Fiat 128. It literally tried to kill me. The accelerator jammed open while I was doing 70mph on the Kingston by-pass. A bolt had fallen off and jammed the cable. You are welcome to Italian abominations.
(This is all bollocks of course - the my car, your car, thing-. I don't mean it seriously. Although my Fiat 128 did....)
Of course it's bollocks, 70mph in a Fiat 128?????
I think the Lada Riva was based on the Fiat 128 - certainly it was based on a Fiat that looked similar to the 128
Lada Riva are well used by the locals in France. See em everywhere
So, we still haven't heard what the SUV hater @MuttleyCAFC drives. What has he got to hide? My money is on some French abomination. Or perhaps a Nissan Note?
Excuse me. "French abomination"? I have been driving a French car for coming up to 9 years now. Her name is Juliette, she is a Citroen DS5 hybrid, and I love her, she has been absolutely reliable, and slinks gracefully around Prague on the same fuel consumption as my wife's Yaris. She is moving on in June to be replaced by the new model DS4 plug-in hybrid.
You appear to drive an Italian abomination. I had one once. A Fiat 128. It literally tried to kill me. The accelerator jammed open while I was doing 70mph on the Kingston by-pass. A bolt had fallen off and jammed the cable. You are welcome to Italian abominations.
(This is all bollocks of course - the my car, your car, thing-. I don't mean it seriously. Although my Fiat 128 did....)
Of course it's bollocks, 70mph in a Fiat 128?????
I think the Lada Riva was based on the Fiat 128 - certainly it was based on a Fiat that looked similar to the 128
Most cars these days are reliable, certainly if you are buying new and keeping for 4/5 years etc and look after them.
But there's still vast difference in build quality between the German cars and most others (there are some non German cars of course of high quality).
It all depends what you want from a car and your budget. Many people are happy with (no offence to anyone) the lower end build quality and spec as long as it gets them from A to B, others like the higher end and are prepared to pay for it.
Probably my best ever daily was a Porsche Cayenne, but that was in part down to the spec. I bought it at 2.5 years old but the original owner spent over £40k on options making it over a £110k car new (bonkers for 2013), the options were ridiculous really from £8k on softer leather to remote heater (which was lovely coming out of a winter midweek game at the Valley into a warm car), heated and cooled seats all round, radar, pan roof, 4.2v8 for any tyre letting down watchers, lights everywhere, leather everywhere, at the time state of the art audio and nav, garage opener, RS steering wheel Blah blah blah. Every option possible was ticked apart from heated steering wheel (as you couldn't have an RS wheel heated).
I also found the Porsche dealer exemplary, nothing was too much trouble and under warranty they never quibbled and often replaced things that didn't really need it yet. On one service they forgot to reconnect the cable to the oil pressure sensor, so I popped back the following day, two minute fix and they refunded me the service costs (I didn't ask or make a fuss).
Of course a £8k fiat/nissan/ford/vausxhall etc etc would have got me to my destination in pretty much the same time, done more MPG etc but you pays your money you take your choices much like anything in life.
So, we still haven't heard what the SUV hater @MuttleyCAFC drives. What has he got to hide? My money is on some French abomination. Or perhaps a Nissan Note?
Excuse me. "French abomination"? I have been driving a French car for coming up to 9 years now. Her name is Juliette, she is a Citroen DS5 hybrid, and I love her, she has been absolutely reliable, and slinks gracefully around Prague on the same fuel consumption as my wife's Yaris. She is moving on in June to be replaced by the new model DS4 plug-in hybrid.
You appear to drive an Italian abomination. I had one once. A Fiat 128. It literally tried to kill me. The accelerator jammed open while I was doing 70mph on the Kingston by-pass. A bolt had fallen off and jammed the cable. You are welcome to Italian abominations.
(This is all bollocks of course - the my car, your car, thing-. I don't mean it seriously. Although my Fiat 128 did....)
Of course it's bollocks, 70mph in a Fiat 128?????
I think the Lada Riva was based on the Fiat 128 - certainly it was based on a Fiat that looked similar to the 128
Lada Riva are well used by the locals in France. See em everywhere
That's probably because they are majority owned by Renault....who have been very quite on complying with Russian sanctions. Presumably Renault provided the sales infrastructure to sell in France. The Kyiv Independent is reporting that Lada stopped production today because of a shortage of parts. (No mention of Renault pulling the plug on it.)
So, we still haven't heard what the SUV hater @MuttleyCAFC drives. What has he got to hide? My money is on some French abomination. Or perhaps a Nissan Note?
Excuse me. "French abomination"? I have been driving a French car for coming up to 9 years now. Her name is Juliette, she is a Citroen DS5 hybrid, and I love her, she has been absolutely reliable, and slinks gracefully around Prague on the same fuel consumption as my wife's Yaris. She is moving on in June to be replaced by the new model DS4 plug-in hybrid.
You appear to drive an Italian abomination. I had one once. A Fiat 128. It literally tried to kill me. The accelerator jammed open while I was doing 70mph on the Kingston by-pass. A bolt had fallen off and jammed the cable. You are welcome to Italian abominations.
(This is all bollocks of course - the my car, your car, thing-. I don't mean it seriously. Although my Fiat 128 did....)
Of course it's bollocks, 70mph in a Fiat 128?????
I think the Lada Riva was based on the Fiat 128 - certainly it was based on a Fiat that looked similar to the 128
Lada Riva are well used by the locals in France. See em everywhere
That's probably because they are majority owned by Renault....who have been very quite on complying with Russian sanctions. Presumably Renault provided the sales infrastructure to sell in France. The Kyiv Independent is reporting that Lada stopped production today because of a shortage of parts. (No mention of Renault pulling the plug on it.)
Most cars these days are reliable, certainly if you are buying new and keeping for 4/5 years etc and look after them.
But there's still vast difference in build quality between the German cars and most others (there are some non German cars of course of high quality).
It all depends what you want from a car and your budget. Many people are happy with (no offence to anyone) the lower end build quality and spec as long as it gets them from A to B, others like the higher end and are prepared to pay for it.
Probably my best ever daily was a Porsche Cayenne, but that was in part down to the spec. I bought it at 2.5 years old but the original owner spent over £40k on options making it over a £110k car new (bonkers for 2013), the options were ridiculous really from £8k on softer leather to remote heater (which was lovely coming out of a winter midweek game at the Valley into a warm car), heated and cooled seats all round, radar, pan roof, 4.2v8 for any tyre letting down watchers, lights everywhere, leather everywhere, at the time state of the art audio and nav, garage opener, RS steering wheel Blah blah blah. Every option possible was ticked apart from heated steering wheel (as you couldn't have an RS wheel heated).
I also found the Porsche dealer exemplary, nothing was too much trouble and under warranty they never quibbled and often replaced things that didn't really need it yet. On one service they forgot to reconnect the cable to the oil pressure sensor, so I popped back the following day, two minute fix and they refunded me the service costs (I didn't ask or make a fuss).
Of course a £8k fiat/nissan/ford/vausxhall etc etc would have got me to my destination in pretty much the same time, done more MPG etc but you pays your money you take your choices much like anything in life.
Sorry Rob, but this is a rare example of you being flat out wrong. Go take a look at recent reliability figures. Starting with Mercedes. I couldn't quite believe it myself, since I was eyeing up a Merc A or B class, but there we are.
Where shall we start? USA? Here you go. Sure your Porsche is doing well but need I state the obvious, that it occupies a very small and privileged niche? For me, Mercs and Audis are expensive enough and just look at the state of them in that table.
Closer to home here's WhatCar split by sector, and in some cases BMW does quite well, but in two of the three sector tables I looked at a Merc came - bottom!!!! Mercedes-effing- Benz. And in the small car section the winner was, and this is also a prejudice-detonator, a Dacia !! Dacia has been turned around by Renault, another "French abomination" that allegedly all fall apart.
Which magazine doesn't do a ranking, and you might feel its 48,000 respondents are kind of not typical, but basically the top brands are Lexus or Kia and other unfashionable brands. Skoda does well. But it's Czech. even if its part of VAG. And btw Which readers are deeply unhappy with the reliability of their Teslas. 🤣
An electric one might be targeted for its cat so you can't win. .
Here are my top 7 reasons why I would never buy an SUV.
1) They are ugly. I suppose we all have different tastes in women/men so beauty is in the eye of the beholder but they are ugly all the same. 2) Most SUVs seat 5 as do most normal cars. So what is the point of the size which does use more resources to produce and whilst there are exceptions, are generally less economical. 3) They are harder to drive. Now a good driver won't have any trouble driving them, but not all drivers are good drivers. My neighbour reversed parked and dented my car in her SUV. She lives on her own and ought to be driving something like a Fiat 500 which is a lot easier to drive. 4) Linked to 3, the centre of gravity is too high. It makes sense for an off roader but these cars can't be driven off road so it is just stupid. It makes them less fun to drive than a car in varying conditions. 5) They are a nuisance on country roads where they take up too much space. 6) They don't have any practical use above a normal car. And Finally 7) Did I say they were ugly? Even if I did, they are so ugly that it is worth another mention!
But if I had an ugly wife, which I don't, it wouldn't be ok for people to slap her so it isn't ok to let down tyres.
8) The higher position of their headlights is a pain in the pupils for drivers of conventional cars.
A problem easily solved if you don't actually stare at them. You are not a rabbit. In any event, my car automatically detects other cars/pedestrians and adjusts the LED matrix to avoid glare problems. So I just leave it on auto high beam and let it do it's thing. It is much more efficient than I am.
You don’t have to stare at them for them to be a problem. You do have to stare at the road ahead though. They are fecking annoying and possibly dangerous.
I am sorry but that is rubbish. If you are staring at the road ahead, you are not a good driver. Your eyes should be switching all the time between the road ahead, your rear view mirror and your door mirrors. You should also be scanning pavements for pedestrians and side roads for people joining the main carriageway. If you find oncoming headlights to be problem you need to think more about your own driving style because it is not very safe. Is it at all possible that you have early on-set cataracts? Because they cause a halo effect, streaks and rays around headlight beams.
If anyone is having this problem you should probably get yourself off the road, get your eyes tested and probably book yourself in for some eye surgery.
Thanks for the tip. I've only been driving for 43 years, so it's great to hear from an expert.
The Fiat 128 was a great car in its day. It won car of the year 1970 and over 3 million were sold. It was a massive influence on car design.
Pile of shit, mine. It decided to murder me when it realised I was getting a company car. When the murder attempt failed (but I was clocked in Surbiton High Street unfathomably gunning the engine to full revs in first gear) it waited until it had been fixed and then on a date it dropped its exhaust pipe. But not at the back where I could at least have secured it and limped home. Under the middle of the car. Car from hell. By contrast, my first car, a Beetle, got me back from Grimsby to Eltham in time for our promotion winning game against Preston, with one piston broken. Hardly noticed. Only sold it because I was about to do a year in sales with a Ford Escort. That was a laugh too. I noticed that the Ford logo in the middle of the steering wheel was loose so I prised it off to try and fix it. Underneath, someone had scrawled "Put it back, you c**t."
An electric one might be targeted for its cat so you can't win. .
Here are my top 7 reasons why I would never buy an SUV.
1) They are ugly. I suppose we all have different tastes in women/men so beauty is in the eye of the beholder but they are ugly all the same. 2) Most SUVs seat 5 as do most normal cars. So what is the point of the size which does use more resources to produce and whilst there are exceptions, are generally less economical. 3) They are harder to drive. Now a good driver won't have any trouble driving them, but not all drivers are good drivers. My neighbour reversed parked and dented my car in her SUV. She lives on her own and ought to be driving something like a Fiat 500 which is a lot easier to drive. 4) Linked to 3, the centre of gravity is too high. It makes sense for an off roader but these cars can't be driven off road so it is just stupid. It makes them less fun to drive than a car in varying conditions. 5) They are a nuisance on country roads where they take up too much space. 6) They don't have any practical use above a normal car. And Finally 7) Did I say they were ugly? Even if I did, they are so ugly that it is worth another mention!
But if I had an ugly wife, which I don't, it wouldn't be ok for people to slap her so it isn't ok to let down tyres.
8) The higher position of their headlights is a pain in the pupils for drivers of conventional cars.
A problem easily solved if you don't actually stare at them. You are not a rabbit. In any event, my car automatically detects other cars/pedestrians and adjusts the LED matrix to avoid glare problems. So I just leave it on auto high beam and let it do it's thing. It is much more efficient than I am.
You don’t have to stare at them for them to be a problem. You do have to stare at the road ahead though. They are fecking annoying and possibly dangerous.
I am sorry but that is rubbish. If you are staring at the road ahead, you are not a good driver. Your eyes should be switching all the time between the road ahead, your rear view mirror and your door mirrors. You should also be scanning pavements for pedestrians and side roads for people joining the main carriageway. If you find oncoming headlights to be problem you need to think more about your own driving style because it is not very safe. Is it at all possible that you have early on-set cataracts? Because they cause a halo effect, streaks and rays around headlight beams.
If anyone is having this problem you should probably get yourself off the road, get your eyes tested and probably book yourself in for some eye surgery.
Thanks for the tip. I've only been driving for 43 years, so it's great to hear from an expert.
Is that all? 52 years me. Seriously if you have problems with on-coming headlights even if your vision is otherwise okay - get your eyes tested for cataracts. It is only sensible. I have early stage cataracts, I know I'm going to have to get them sorted in the future but they are okay at the moment. But it's the reason many old people like you and me don't like driving at night only they don't know it. https://arisvisioncorrection.co.uk/safety-driving-with-cataract/
I get tested regularly and I don't have cataracts. This is a known problem, as is the fact SUVs are not designed for city streets. I don't agree with the people letting down tyres but most people don't have an excuse for driving a tank on roads not designed for them. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/05/business/led-hid-headlights-blinding.html
An electric one might be targeted for its cat so you can't win. .
Here are my top 7 reasons why I would never buy an SUV.
1) They are ugly. I suppose we all have different tastes in women/men so beauty is in the eye of the beholder but they are ugly all the same. 2) Most SUVs seat 5 as do most normal cars. So what is the point of the size which does use more resources to produce and whilst there are exceptions, are generally less economical. 3) They are harder to drive. Now a good driver won't have any trouble driving them, but not all drivers are good drivers. My neighbour reversed parked and dented my car in her SUV. She lives on her own and ought to be driving something like a Fiat 500 which is a lot easier to drive. 4) Linked to 3, the centre of gravity is too high. It makes sense for an off roader but these cars can't be driven off road so it is just stupid. It makes them less fun to drive than a car in varying conditions. 5) They are a nuisance on country roads where they take up too much space. 6) They don't have any practical use above a normal car. And Finally 7) Did I say they were ugly? Even if I did, they are so ugly that it is worth another mention!
But if I had an ugly wife, which I don't, it wouldn't be ok for people to slap her so it isn't ok to let down tyres.
8) The higher position of their headlights is a pain in the pupils for drivers of conventional cars.
A problem easily solved if you don't actually stare at them. You are not a rabbit. In any event, my car automatically detects other cars/pedestrians and adjusts the LED matrix to avoid glare problems. So I just leave it on auto high beam and let it do it's thing. It is much more efficient than I am.
You don’t have to stare at them for them to be a problem. You do have to stare at the road ahead though. They are fecking annoying and possibly dangerous.
I am sorry but that is rubbish. If you are staring at the road ahead, you are not a good driver. Your eyes should be switching all the time between the road ahead, your rear view mirror and your door mirrors. You should also be scanning pavements for pedestrians and side roads for people joining the main carriageway. If you find oncoming headlights to be problem you need to think more about your own driving style because it is not very safe. Is it at all possible that you have early on-set cataracts? Because they cause a halo effect, streaks and rays around headlight beams.
If anyone is having this problem you should probably get yourself off the road, get your eyes tested and probably book yourself in for some eye surgery.
Thanks for the tip. I've only been driving for 43 years, so it's great to hear from an expert.
Is that all? 52 years me. Seriously if you have problems with on-coming headlights even if your vision is otherwise okay - get your eyes tested for cataracts. It is only sensible. I have early stage cataracts, I know I'm going to have to get them sorted in the future but they are okay at the moment. But it's the reason many old people like you and me don't like driving at night only they don't know it. https://arisvisioncorrection.co.uk/safety-driving-with-cataract/
Mate, I am 31 (shouldn't have cateracts) and I have big cars behind me that dazzle me through the rear windscreen, and I have cars in front of me that because of their height, also dazzle me. It is 100% the case, 20 times worse in the rain.
It is always taller cars.
Also, I have 20/10 vision, so zero problems there.
My guess is some of the drivers are not as clued up as you on how to use their headlights...
Most cars these days are reliable, certainly if you are buying new and keeping for 4/5 years etc and look after them.
But there's still vast difference in build quality between the German cars and most others (there are some non German cars of course of high quality).
It all depends what you want from a car and your budget. Many people are happy with (no offence to anyone) the lower end build quality and spec as long as it gets them from A to B, others like the higher end and are prepared to pay for it.
Probably my best ever daily was a Porsche Cayenne, but that was in part down to the spec. I bought it at 2.5 years old but the original owner spent over £40k on options making it over a £110k car new (bonkers for 2013), the options were ridiculous really from £8k on softer leather to remote heater (which was lovely coming out of a winter midweek game at the Valley into a warm car), heated and cooled seats all round, radar, pan roof, 4.2v8 for any tyre letting down watchers, lights everywhere, leather everywhere, at the time state of the art audio and nav, garage opener, RS steering wheel Blah blah blah. Every option possible was ticked apart from heated steering wheel (as you couldn't have an RS wheel heated).
I also found the Porsche dealer exemplary, nothing was too much trouble and under warranty they never quibbled and often replaced things that didn't really need it yet. On one service they forgot to reconnect the cable to the oil pressure sensor, so I popped back the following day, two minute fix and they refunded me the service costs (I didn't ask or make a fuss).
Of course a £8k fiat/nissan/ford/vausxhall etc etc would have got me to my destination in pretty much the same time, done more MPG etc but you pays your money you take your choices much like anything in life.
Sorry Rob, but this is a rare example of you being flat out wrong. Go take a look at recent reliability figures. Starting with Mercedes. I couldn't quite believe it myself, since I was eyeing up a Merc A or B class, but there we are.
Where shall we start? USA? Here you go. Sure your Porsche is doing well but need I state the obvious, that it occupies a very small and privileged niche? For me, Mercs and Audis are expensive enough and just look at the state of them in that table.
Closer to home here's WhatCar split by sector, and in some cases BMW does quite well, but in two of the three sector tables I looked at a Merc came - bottom!!!! Mercedes-effing- Benz. And in the small car section the winner was, and this is also a prejudice-detonator, a Dacia !! Dacia has been turned around by Renault, another "French abomination" that allegedly all fall apart.
Which magazine doesn't do a ranking, and you might feel its 48,000 respondents are kind of not typical, but basically the top brands are Lexus or Kia and other unfashionable brands. Skoda does well. But it's Czech. even if its part of VAG. And btw Which readers are deeply unhappy with the reliability of their Teslas. 🤣
I think you've misinterpreted what I said between build quality and reliability.
Also it's well known that an owner of say a Kia Optima has lower expectations than the owner of a car 8x the price so these type of ownership comparisons aren't always giving a true picture.
Not saying the germans are perfect and Mercedes in the last few years have had issues, but I stand by that in the main they are of better quality than say a Dacia/ford/vauxhall but then there will be a huge price differential.
As you may know in a previous job I managed the company car fleet so bought (yes madly our owner/chairman always bought outright the cars) and sold maybe 300 cars from small vauxhalls to top of the range Bentleys and everything in-between. In my experience the quality levels of the cars were streets apart, as were the prices.........
Bloody arseholes, i have never understood why there is such support for criminals by some (same) quarters on this forum, perhaps when something like this effects them they may have a different view.
"Such support". You mean a handful of people who suggest that there may be other responses than the "I hope I catch them at it I'd give them what for" type of response that always crops up when things like this get raised? I thought the posts by Seth, KingK and Muttley contained clear and reasonable arguments.
Yes, bizarre behaviour to stick up for criminals, no wonder this country is just a soft touch. Bang em up for 10 years, they wont do it again, and bang the sympathizers up with them for the same period.
Hahahah 🤦🏻♂️
What you in here for mate? 10 stretch for tyre deflation sympathising on a league one football forum.
I would like to restate what I said in my previous post that I think it is wrong for them to do this. I just, as a car lover took the opportunity to criticise SUVs. Which I hate with a passion.
Go for a spin in an Alfa Romeo Stelvio, fantastic handling and very, very quick depending on the model. Might change your opinion a bit. I am a car lover too and always have been. 4 wheel drive SUV but I live in rural Suffolk so its no Chelsea tractor. Agreed, they shouldn't do this, there might be an emergency where they need to use their vehicle urgently.
An electric one might be targeted for its cat so you can't win. .
Here are my top 7 reasons why I would never buy an SUV.
1) They are ugly. I suppose we all have different tastes in women/men so beauty is in the eye of the beholder but they are ugly all the same. 2) Most SUVs seat 5 as do most normal cars. So what is the point of the size which does use more resources to produce and whilst there are exceptions, are generally less economical. 3) They are harder to drive. Now a good driver won't have any trouble driving them, but not all drivers are good drivers. My neighbour reversed parked and dented my car in her SUV. She lives on her own and ought to be driving something like a Fiat 500 which is a lot easier to drive. 4) Linked to 3, the centre of gravity is too high. It makes sense for an off roader but these cars can't be driven off road so it is just stupid. It makes them less fun to drive than a car in varying conditions. 5) They are a nuisance on country roads where they take up too much space. 6) They don't have any practical use above a normal car. And Finally 7) Did I say they were ugly? Even if I did, they are so ugly that it is worth another mention!
But if I had an ugly wife, which I don't, it wouldn't be ok for people to slap her so it isn't ok to let down tyres.
8) The higher position of their headlights is a pain in the pupils for drivers of conventional cars.
A problem easily solved if you don't actually stare at them. You are not a rabbit. In any event, my car automatically detects other cars/pedestrians and adjusts the LED matrix to avoid glare problems. So I just leave it on auto high beam and let it do it's thing. It is much more efficient than I am.
You don’t have to stare at them for them to be a problem. You do have to stare at the road ahead though. They are fecking annoying and possibly dangerous.
I am sorry but that is rubbish. If you are staring at the road ahead, you are not a good driver. Your eyes should be switching all the time between the road ahead, your rear view mirror and your door mirrors. You should also be scanning pavements for pedestrians and side roads for people joining the main carriageway. If you find oncoming headlights to be problem you need to think more about your own driving style because it is not very safe. Is it at all possible that you have early on-set cataracts? Because they cause a halo effect, streaks and rays around headlight beams.
If anyone is having this problem you should probably get yourself off the road, get your eyes tested and probably book yourself in for some eye surgery.
Thanks for the tip. I've only been driving for 43 years, so it's great to hear from an expert.
Is that all? 52 years me. Seriously if you have problems with on-coming headlights even if your vision is otherwise okay - get your eyes tested for cataracts. It is only sensible. I have early stage cataracts, I know I'm going to have to get them sorted in the future but they are okay at the moment. But it's the reason many old people like you and me don't like driving at night only they don't know it. https://arisvisioncorrection.co.uk/safety-driving-with-cataract/
Mate, I am 31 (shouldn't have cateracts) and I have big cars behind me that dazzle me through the rear windscreen, and I have cars in front of me that because of their height, also dazzle me. It is 100% the case, 20 times worse in the rain.
It is always taller cars.
Also, I have 20/10 vision, so zero problems there.
My guess is some of the drivers are not as clued up as you on how to use their headlights...
I agree. Some cars headlights are unnecessarily bright.
Find the LEDs on the Peugeot 3008 / Renault Captur crossover type cars worse than big SUVs though. Have always assumed it was down to the people driving them not knowing what setting to keep them on.
@Rob7Lee Slightly odd to try and de-couple build quality and reliability. I venture to suggest that you might have been dazzled in your earlier years by the brilliant VW advertising ( from the agency I worked at) which fed you the idea “If only everything in life was as reliable as a Volkswagen”. When I came to the Prague agency I started working with the VW people - got on very well with one of the young Germans who had been sent to Prague - and tried to persuade them to run the British campaign. I couldnt get to the bottom of their reluctance until on one of many drunken evenings he admitted that the campaign claim made them nervous in Wolfsburg becauše they knew they were not delivering on it. Then in 95 I went and bought the funky new 3 door Toyota RAV4. I had two later models of that too ( yes an SUV!) And I quickly realised that that VW campaign line should have been written for Toyota.
Comments
You appear to drive an Italian abomination. I had one once. A Fiat 128. It literally tried to kill me. The accelerator jammed open while I was doing 70mph on the Kingston by-pass. A bolt had fallen off and jammed the cable. You are welcome to Italian abominations.
(This is all bollocks of course - the my car, your car, thing-. I don't mean it seriously. Although my Fiat 128 did....)
looked similar to the 128
But there's still vast difference in build quality between the German cars and most others (there are some non German cars of course of high quality).
It all depends what you want from a car and your budget. Many people are happy with (no offence to anyone) the lower end build quality and spec as long as it gets them from A to B, others like the higher end and are prepared to pay for it.
Probably my best ever daily was a Porsche Cayenne, but that was in part down to the spec. I bought it at 2.5 years old but the original owner spent over £40k on options making it over a £110k car new (bonkers for 2013), the options were ridiculous really from £8k on softer leather to remote heater (which was lovely coming out of a winter midweek game at the Valley into a warm car), heated and cooled seats all round, radar, pan roof, 4.2v8 for any tyre letting down watchers, lights everywhere, leather everywhere, at the time state of the art audio and nav, garage opener, RS steering wheel Blah blah blah. Every option possible was ticked apart from heated steering wheel (as you couldn't have an RS wheel heated).
I also found the Porsche dealer exemplary, nothing was too much trouble and under warranty they never quibbled and often replaced things that didn't really need it yet. On one service they forgot to reconnect the cable to the oil pressure sensor, so I popped back the following day, two minute fix and they refunded me the service costs (I didn't ask or make a fuss).
Of course a £8k fiat/nissan/ford/vausxhall etc etc would have got me to my destination in pretty much the same time, done more MPG etc but you pays your money you take your choices much like anything in life.
Where shall we start? USA? Here you go. Sure your Porsche is doing well but need I state the obvious, that it occupies a very small and privileged niche? For me, Mercs and Audis are expensive enough and just look at the state of them in that table.
Closer to home here's WhatCar split by sector, and in some cases BMW does quite well, but in two of the three sector tables I looked at a Merc came - bottom!!!! Mercedes-effing- Benz. And in the small car section the winner was, and this is also a prejudice-detonator, a
Dacia !! Dacia has been turned around by Renault, another "French abomination" that allegedly all fall apart.
Which magazine doesn't do a ranking, and you might feel its 48,000 respondents are kind of not typical, but basically the top brands are Lexus or Kia and other unfashionable brands. Skoda does well. But it's Czech. even if its part of VAG. And btw Which readers are deeply unhappy with the reliability of their Teslas. 🤣
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/05/business/led-hid-headlights-blinding.html
It is always taller cars.
Also, I have 20/10 vision, so zero problems there.
My guess is some of the drivers are not as clued up as you on how to use their headlights...
Also it's well known that an owner of say a Kia Optima has lower expectations than the owner of a car 8x the price so these type of ownership comparisons aren't always giving a true picture.
Not saying the germans are perfect and Mercedes in the last few years have had issues, but I stand by that in the main they are of better quality than say a Dacia/ford/vauxhall but then there will be a huge price differential.
As you may know in a previous job I managed the company car fleet so bought (yes madly our owner/chairman always bought outright the cars) and sold maybe 300 cars from small vauxhalls to top of the range Bentleys and everything in-between. In my experience the quality levels of the cars were streets apart, as were the prices.........
Go for a spin in an Alfa Romeo Stelvio, fantastic handling and very, very quick depending on the model. Might change your opinion a bit. I am a car lover too and always have been. 4 wheel drive SUV but I live in rural Suffolk so its no Chelsea tractor. Agreed, they shouldn't do this, there might be an emergency where they need to use their vehicle urgently.