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BMW i7
Apr 22, 2022 6:06:22 GMT
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Post by Big Blue on Apr 22, 2022 6:06:22 GMT
Just watched the Autogefühl walk through. The rear is not so grim on video and to be fair neither is the front. He does point out that the Merc competitor (EQS) is a proper munter at the front. To Sav’s point: yep, don’t expect to see rows of these in the Embankment traffic jam so I won’t need to be offended. The big problem for me is the lack of driver binnacle.
Engine-wise it’ll be EV, PHEV Petrol or Diesel with likely no pure petrol in Europe. I guess the pure petrol engines remain for Southern States of the US (where electric cars are the preserve of them poncey democrats) and other markets where petrol will be king (Nigeria, Venezuela, Brasil etc) for the well off.
It’s not so bad but definitely not European targeted.
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Omicron
Apr 21, 2022 9:57:18 GMT
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Post by Big Blue on Apr 21, 2022 9:57:18 GMT
Bad luck Racing. I had the “no discernible effects” version. Hope the main type has become that.
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BMW i7
Apr 21, 2022 6:41:07 GMT
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Post by Big Blue on Apr 21, 2022 6:41:07 GMT
This quote says it all. It’s not for we European buyers because we’re a bunch of old farts.
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Post by Big Blue on Apr 20, 2022 17:12:37 GMT
See my previous comments about the instruments: the speed is a huge digital number, rendering the “dial” to decorative status; similarly rev counter: you say it’s not worth thrashing it and it’s an auto which won’t allow you to either overrev it or labour it so why do you need it? (on the PHEVs this dial is only revs in sport mode). The other gripes about the torque shite and map view are in the menu for Displays.
I have no issue with them as they are in the binnacle but the next gen looks likely to just have the screen sitting as a horrible upright rectangle sitting on the dash. That’s far more of a visual offence than the layout.
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BMW i7
Apr 20, 2022 14:09:33 GMT
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Post by Big Blue on Apr 20, 2022 14:09:33 GMT
Yes, saw a thread on this via TopGear on Facebook. I’m not a fan of the driver facing screen not being in a binnacle but otherwise I’m guessing the interior is a nice place to be. The front end is ghastly with that vent detail under the lights that are too slim (in what I suppose was some attempt at elegance that turned out to look like Benny Hill’s impression of the large Asian customer base) and the rear has attempted to be Alfa-164-ish but ended up looking like a badly traced version of the rear of some old Bristol that sold 20 cars in its entire lifetime.
I like the LCI G31, and I liked the F11 when launched. As I avoided the E60/61 at all costs I’m already dreading what I might be speccing in three years time!
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Post by Big Blue on Apr 20, 2022 13:58:19 GMT
Yep. On Martin's advice I have had the same policy and have used it three times in however many years with no quibbles on claims.
Whatever Enterprise told you it would be enough to never use them again, not that I would in the first place due to the Europcar account. I’m currently in a Peugeot 5008 and the notes on it are building up daily.
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Random
Apr 15, 2022 21:07:46 GMT
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Post by Big Blue on Apr 15, 2022 21:07:46 GMT
Understanding those that live In your neck of the woods, Chris, I can’t help but think leftie forces have planned these shortages and other Brexit related issues just to teach the local voters a lesson for voting away the hopes and futures of their children. None of these issues round our part of outer London which isn’t a million miles away in distance but is somewhat more cosmopolitan.
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Post by Big Blue on Apr 14, 2022 17:04:33 GMT
Another vote for idrive (unsurprisingly). Even though I have iOS 6 I still use the wheel as opposed to the touch screen for Nav input.
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Post by Big Blue on Apr 14, 2022 10:52:40 GMT
They don’t get penalised for mileage, it’s more about the viability of their fleet as a used sale. Some cars in some markets may stay longer than others and I reckon in some cases the Avis, Hertz, Europcar cars go to the next chain of hire companies in the hierarchy, so you get an 18month old car with 20k kms on it for 2/3 the price of a tier one hire company.
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Post by Big Blue on Apr 14, 2022 8:12:29 GMT
Yes perhaps I should’ve been more diligent with my wording: you need to be careful with Sixt because the default position may be no excess cover insurance, as it is in Nice I seem to recall.
My issue is that I’m VIP Exclusive with Europcar so I rarely look elsewhere. I once booked a car with a flight and forgot I had a car booked so automatically booked with Europcar - the other car was with Avis! Idiot doesn’t begin to describe it.
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Post by Big Blue on Apr 13, 2022 23:52:16 GMT
And I never take out extra insurance - just have one of those annual policies that costs about £50-60 per year. You can’t do that with Sixt. Their basic sale is no insurance outside 3rd party cover which is the legal minimum. So the excess cover insurance policy (I have one too) doesn’t cover a basic Sixt hire as there is no excess. Sixt have nice cars but I avoid them like the plague because of their insurances.
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Post by Big Blue on Apr 13, 2022 19:55:35 GMT
Utterly vomitorious.
The XB7 in the picture is just revolting.
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Post by Big Blue on Apr 13, 2022 16:07:53 GMT
Typical JLR despecing items over the model life cycle.... The complete opposite of any other manufacturer.
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Post by Big Blue on Apr 13, 2022 13:18:18 GMT
He'll be too busy running after his seized Italian assets to care much about the rights and cancel culture affecting other (more ordinary and talented) Russian athletes.
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Post by Big Blue on Apr 13, 2022 13:15:05 GMT
An item so utterly crucial to both the environment and the capability of the car that it's not standard.......
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Post by Big Blue on Apr 13, 2022 8:57:00 GMT
Personally I'd rather not give the taxman another £1500 a year..... Hi Mrs Sunak. How's things?
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Post by Big Blue on Apr 12, 2022 11:14:26 GMT
Yes: but the words “permanent basis” offer the loophole. If you’re a midfielder you’re only one until the next one arrives. There will no doubt be an element of a footballers remuneration classed as earned in the UK but a lot will be earned by some other financial vehicle.
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Post by Big Blue on Apr 11, 2022 19:23:00 GMT
Most footballers are directors of limited companies or employees of companies neither in the UK nor paying them in the UK. Mr Viera, for example, is the manager of Crystal Palace. He is paid by the company that owns Manchester City.
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Post by Big Blue on Apr 11, 2022 16:32:47 GMT
………it's not a good look for the chancellor to be involved in it. The legality of the matter doesn’t enter into it, this is the only pertinent matter, more so at the time everyone is being asked to chip in a bit more for a frankly intangible benefit at the time of drooling regression (ok, a bit harsh but you get my drift). It would have been better for the economy and the taxpayer if the rules on euthanasia had been altered instead of hiking the NI rate (again, accept that’s harsh…..). My own tax return includes the repayment of the child benefit my wife gets* so someone related to the head of the department that drives that policy not chipping in on all their earnings isn’t a matter of legality but one of “doing as I say not what I do.” *we leave it that way because I’ll have stopped earning before they reach the end of eligibility so it avoids having to do a reclaim in the future before you ask.
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Post by Big Blue on Apr 11, 2022 16:16:54 GMT
Max has indeed looked calmer since his tainted title. Ferrari will do well to make hay whilst the Maranello sun is shining on them because Red Bull will find more development than them over the course of a long season and add in the scenario of McLaren and Mercedes pinching more points as the season goes on means Ferrari will need to become the one driver team it excels at being before Monaco is finished. Sainz is fuming not only because his luck ran out but because he knows he’ll soon be second fiddle because that’s how it works.
Williams strategy was amazing. OK they relied on a couple of top end retirements to get 10th but to finish in the points, first you must finish, to paraphrase the old racing adage. I reckon Seb’s lap on that scooter was faster than any he managed in the Aston and are we certain Stroll was weaving or is that just how it handles? Talking of which in MotoGP they have long lap penalties, so there’s a corner at each track with an extra radius you must take within a given window which costs a few seconds as opposed to a pit lane speed limited drive through.
The Merc PU looks to be reliable and hopefully so is the red cars’. Poor George: he’s done a Brundle, who joined the fabulously successful McLaren team just as they slumped. Hopefully he’ll get some success in.
In other matters I see Marzipan is arguing for the rights of sportsmen who are penalised for their country’s leaders misdeeds - not really cutting it when his entire career has been made possible by his family’s connections to that leader. He’d just be one of those boys launching shells from five kms away if it weren’t the case.
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Post by Big Blue on Apr 11, 2022 15:57:38 GMT
Surely as a Partner you can include your car lease somewhere, although I accept that like my place there are partners and PARTNERS. The books at companies house shows how much profit we make to be divved up: eye watering equity Ps. income.
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Post by Big Blue on Apr 11, 2022 13:07:46 GMT
Hybrid all day long (in terms of preference and moving under power……) for me. I love the interior of RRs but I’m a BMW blinkered idiot…..
The short journeys are eye opening in Eva. No electric charge; drove girls to Epsom for gym club in a 10mile round trip. Almost 50% running on pure electric is great but means you half the mpg to get a petrol only mpg and boy, it needs the electric assistance - but then that’s the point.
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Post by Big Blue on Apr 10, 2022 20:45:32 GMT
I was up early for the F1 so after that I took the opportunity to clean the Mini whilst the family slept in. The white roof looked white enough, until I cleaned part of it!
Eva was cleaned thoroughly two weeks ago and will be again in a couple of weeks.
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Post by Big Blue on Apr 10, 2022 19:36:30 GMT
This story has been on the shelf for weeks and Sunak most likely told of it in the run up to the new tax year amid the pressure to not raise NI levels. He decided he could ride the bad press of both and lo! the story broke at the start of the new tax year in every media outlet. Legal or not legal the idea that the cabinet member responsible for the collection of taxes has a spouse that has non-dom status is repugnant to the man on the Clapham omnibus.
As to the Green Card thing: why is that an issue? My mum held hers for years after she’d left and our own Prime Minister had to renounce his place of birth to avoid him running off to run for POTUS.
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Post by Big Blue on Apr 9, 2022 6:51:50 GMT
Q2 suggests the Merc PU is ok. Hamilton fastest in S1 and both McLarens top 10. Then P4, 5 and 6 in Q3 for Norris, Hamilton and Russell.
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Post by Big Blue on Apr 7, 2022 16:53:36 GMT
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Post by Big Blue on Apr 7, 2022 16:49:50 GMT
MEGA!
Well played - great extended family transport.
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Post by Big Blue on Apr 1, 2022 13:04:22 GMT
As the roads get busier and busier and more and more controlled, the places you can really enjoy a big engine are limited. But I still like that feeling of utter restraint and "within itself" that a larger engined car has though. Do you miss that aspect at all? I haven't yet but I assume our summer sojourn across Europe will raise this aspect of modern economic ownership.
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Post by Big Blue on Apr 1, 2022 11:46:22 GMT
One of the mechanics at the garage I use has a very low mileage (below 1k miles) Ital. He must be weird because he's also got an Orion 1600E, Starsky & Hutch Gran Torino, a 1950s Ford Pop and a couple of Golfs (Mk4 and a brand new one). I’d check he’s not on some kind of register…..
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Post by Big Blue on Mar 31, 2022 9:53:40 GMT
Highlighted by a chrome surround, that grill just got even worse. I was hoping that Alpina might have found a way to graft on a different front grill treatment on but unfortunately not. It's a shame because I don't otherwise find the 4GC unattractive. A neighbour had a white one for a couple of days (maybe test driving it) and it looked attractive when parked nose in to his driveway. Agreed. The shape is really nice but the grille hasn't even softened its impact on the visuals with the passing of time.
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