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Post by PetrolEd on Apr 16, 2024 8:44:42 GMT
That MPG figure of 61 has blown my mind. Seems there is life in the diesel still. Something our lawmakers should keep in mind. A tiny petrol engine mated to a few batteries isn't the answer in many cases.
I'm another fan of many things Skoda. A VRS one of these would be all the car I'd need.
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Post by PetrolEd on Apr 16, 2024 7:54:31 GMT
Very pretty. All my cars are particularly filthy at the moment! Thought of you yesterday - we went to the Members Meeting at Goodwood and walked past at least six Yaris GRs in the carpark, four of which were a sort of wine red colour. We made the same comment in the carpark, it seemed to have all the Alpines ever made and many of the GR Yaris.
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Cardle
Apr 16, 2024 7:43:41 GMT
Post by PetrolEd on Apr 16, 2024 7:43:41 GMT
Manufacturer in 1 and luckily the name was on the side in pic 3.
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Post by PetrolEd on Apr 15, 2024 9:24:41 GMT
Knew it in 2 but couldn't get the answer the bot wanted. First guess was a Skoda Felicia Pickup!
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Cardle
Apr 13, 2024 17:25:56 GMT
via mobile
Post by PetrolEd on Apr 13, 2024 17:25:56 GMT
In 2
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Post by PetrolEd on Apr 12, 2024 14:47:03 GMT
Yes, the owners will feel pretty fisted when it comes to residuals! I don't really get what is going on in this space. The EV mandate and all sorts of other legislation means EV sales growth will be high regardless of what consumers think - we are being told, not asked. But because there has been more poor customer sentiment, EV company valuations are crashing, despite this. There also needs to be a more open discussion about China. Their vehicles are built with government support, and the environmental and labour rights aspects are not what we would consider acceptable in the West. So why are we not adding big import duties? I assume Western companies want their markets, but what % of them will they get, and what % of them want a premium priced product? ? Quite right, I assume the European manufacturers are lobbying the EU rather hard on the matter, especially as its the EU legislation that has began their downfall.
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Post by PetrolEd on Apr 11, 2024 14:40:07 GMT
I tend to love anything with an alfa badge, it looks pretty good, don't hate the grille but I really hate where the future of Alfa Romeo looks to be headed.
"the Milano was designed to help the brand go "from exclusive to inclusive"." Yuk
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Cardle
Apr 11, 2024 8:22:22 GMT
Post by PetrolEd on Apr 11, 2024 8:22:22 GMT
In one
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Post by PetrolEd on Apr 10, 2024 13:12:48 GMT
I suppose the car manufacturers are just doing what Apple do with their products. Which is fine when you have a product people queue round the block to buy, less so on Mercedes new models. I like the SL and GT but do they sell anything this side of 100k that we'd call desirable?
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Post by PetrolEd on Apr 10, 2024 11:38:01 GMT
I can see most purchases going down the Personal Contract Hire route where manufacturers can control the market far more effectively. You can also provide blind discounting far easier then deposit contributions on PCP.
Its not how I want to own a car and therefore I'll stick to the used market.
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Post by PetrolEd on Apr 10, 2024 11:27:22 GMT
A good choice, again I'm no fan of the front end but the rest of the package makes up for that and Tanzanite is a close second to that lovely green they do. Its why BMW are well ahead of most of the competition. It can't be hard to tool sales people with the right equipment to close customers. I was in car sales over 20 years ago and it seems that nothing has changed and that most dealers have a guy who has no power to make decisions and has to refer you to the sales/business manager. If that BMW was in the Jag showroom you would still be waiting to do a deal and probably never get round to it. Yes, the customer service I've had from Porsche during and since buying it has only been ok...definitely not as good as BMW. I know I was a repeat customer of Vines but I was spending half the money and I wonder how people get and keep new customers if you don't treat them extra-well upfront. Whenever we have a new client, I work on the basis that we have to actually deliver a better and more responsive service than that client expects in order to distinguish ourselves from our many competitors. Simply being "as good" doesn't really cut it in today's hyper-competitive environment. I had my car in at the Porsche specialist for its big 4 year service yesterday. He was telling me how busy they were now that Porsche Guildford is £280+ Vat an hour. The Macans big service at 4years old is therefore over £2k while they do it for half the price. Amazing what Porsche can charge but I guess these new Gin palace dealerships don't pay for themselves.
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Cardle
Apr 10, 2024 8:05:12 GMT
Post by PetrolEd on Apr 10, 2024 8:05:12 GMT
In one today.
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Post by PetrolEd on Apr 9, 2024 8:26:30 GMT
A good choice, again I'm no fan of the front end but the rest of the package makes up for that and Tanzanite is a close second to that lovely green they do.
Its why BMW are well ahead of most of the competition. It can't be hard to tool sales people with the right equipment to close customers. I was in car sales over 20 years ago and it seems that nothing has changed and that most dealers have a guy who has no power to make decisions and has to refer you to the sales/business manager. If that BMW was in the Jag showroom you would still be waiting to do a deal and probably never get round to it.
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Cardle
Apr 9, 2024 8:12:51 GMT
Post by PetrolEd on Apr 9, 2024 8:12:51 GMT
In one, what a car.
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Cardle
Apr 8, 2024 8:12:58 GMT
Post by PetrolEd on Apr 8, 2024 8:12:58 GMT
In 2, this might be a repeat.
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Cardle
Apr 6, 2024 9:08:45 GMT
via mobile
Post by PetrolEd on Apr 6, 2024 9:08:45 GMT
In 2 this morning. Great car
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Cardle
Apr 5, 2024 11:31:31 GMT
Post by PetrolEd on Apr 5, 2024 11:31:31 GMT
In one, only as I recognise the odd black plastic air intake on the wing.
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Cardle
Apr 4, 2024 11:29:41 GMT
via mobile
Post by PetrolEd on Apr 4, 2024 11:29:41 GMT
In 1 amazingly
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Cardle
Apr 3, 2024 8:11:21 GMT
Post by PetrolEd on Apr 3, 2024 8:11:21 GMT
Took all 5 goes today, only worked out the brand in 3 and started with the lowest number first Exactly the same
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Post by PetrolEd on Apr 2, 2024 8:13:53 GMT
I don't think those costs fairly typical. When I spoke to Radley Motors a few years ago they reckoned on most years budgeting 2-3K and then every 5 years you might get a 5K bill. I guess its all about buying right at the start.
Dare I say its cheap compared to the depreciation on something modern.
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Post by PetrolEd on Mar 28, 2024 14:29:18 GMT
That Silver Spyder is lovely. In theory the Green one should be lovely but the colour just doesn't work does it? As much as the Spyders are fantastic a Boxster GTS would be a far better proposition 99 times out of a 100 in this country. No and I don’t think it would even with different wheels. Don’t you think it depends on how you’re going to use it? If it’s regularly or as a daily, then GTS every time, but as a weekend toy the Spyder is quite a bit more ‘special’. 100% the Spyder is an event but its a lot of money to have tied up in something you can only use when the weathers right. I love the Spyder but its rained everyday for the last 6 months and that roof would get irritating. But if I could have it sat in the garage with the roof off waiting for the sun to break then its no contest.
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Post by PetrolEd on Mar 28, 2024 10:33:04 GMT
Looking at the market currently all my old favorites have either moved to EV or are in the process of changing its replacement to EV. Cars like the Giulia Quadrifoglio are going EV, the next Cayman, the death of the hot hatch. Now not all is lost as the i30N is being replaced by things like the Ioniq 5N. The problem, they're the size of a bus and at 65K not exactly affordable like hot hatches of old. Maybe I'm a dinosaur and in 5 years EV's will prove me wrong with them becoming smaller, lighter and less expensive. What happened to the Caterham concept that was supposed to be a game changer? Having looked its 80 grand for something that has a small battery and not that quick. If you can't sell an Alpine for 50K can you sell at Caterham for far more? So do I just get a car like a Cayman 4.0 GTS with a manual gearbox, manual dials, physical buttons for the controls, a great noise and let the EV revolution pass me by until a time when hopefully those manufacturers that have survived (probably all chinese) can offer us something interesting? Yes, absolutely. I've had my M3 for almost 15 years and will keep it until it goes pop. I intend to keep my current Cayman for at least that long, unless Porsche replaces it with a similar petrol-powered manual Cayman that I prefer. And I will keep my GR Yaris (or its similar petrol-powered manual replacement) for the long term too. Still love all of them, and driving each of them reveals the strengths of the others. How do you find the GTS after the GT4? In many ways I preferred my basic 2.7 as a road car to the GT4 that came afterwards. There really isn't a huge difference in price between the GTS an GT4 and the GT4 has that straight off the track look that I'm a sucker for.
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Post by PetrolEd on Mar 28, 2024 10:24:01 GMT
That Silver Spyder is lovely. In theory the Green one should be lovely but the colour just doesn't work does it?
As much as the Spyders are fantastic a Boxster GTS would be a far better proposition 99 times out of a 100 in this country.
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Post by PetrolEd on Mar 28, 2024 9:05:52 GMT
In 2, my first guess was something way more exotic.
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Post by PetrolEd on Mar 27, 2024 14:27:00 GMT
I'm currently looking into getting a Reliant Scimitar GTE as a project. The idea being it gets restomodded and kept for the forseeable. The 330d is being kept for as long as is necessary, I can't think of anything that I would replace it with other than a newer version of the same or maybe a 335i, but as long as it keeps running and passing MOTs, getting rid is not needed. A Scimitar Restomod would be a fantastic car.
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Post by PetrolEd on Mar 27, 2024 10:02:35 GMT
Stephen Bayley's column in the latest Octane makes the point that EV design is crap and that we appear to be past the peak of car design. Its the only area I see some hope with electric. Without the need for all the cooling for an IC Engine it does give designers some scope for creativity. Clearly Tesla missed this by a country mile. I really can't understand why their designs are so gopping given a clean sheet of paper. Still, we have the new Renault 5 to look forward to. I quite liked the Honda E and Ioniq 5. Where Bayley does have a point is that all these designs appear to be an homage to something in the past rather then anything new and groundbreaking.
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Cardle
Mar 27, 2024 9:32:56 GMT
Post by PetrolEd on Mar 27, 2024 9:32:56 GMT
In 1, luckily the model name is written on the side in the first pic.
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Post by PetrolEd on Mar 26, 2024 14:48:24 GMT
Looking at the market currently all my old favorites have either moved to EV or are in the process of changing its replacement to EV.
Cars like the Giulia Quadrifoglio are going EV, the next Cayman, the death of the hot hatch. Now not all is lost as the i30N is being replaced by things like the Ioniq 5N. The problem, they're the size of a bus and at 65K not exactly affordable like hot hatches of old.
Maybe I'm a dinosaur and in 5 years EV's will prove me wrong with them becoming smaller, lighter and less expensive.
What happened to the Caterham concept that was supposed to be a game changer? Having looked its 80 grand for something that has a small battery and not that quick. If you can't sell an Alpine for 50K can you sell at Caterham for far more?
So do I just get a car like a Cayman 4.0 GTS with a manual gearbox, manual dials, physical buttons for the controls, a great noise and let the EV revolution pass me by until a time when hopefully those manufacturers that have survived (probably all chinese) can offer us something interesting?
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Post by PetrolEd on Mar 26, 2024 14:28:38 GMT
Top spec I-Pace is still a very attractive car. Might not be the last word in battery tech but has an interior that is at least more "traditional". Have you checked out the new Macan or are they taking the pee on lease costs currently? Can't see those flying out the showroom like the old model. For the new Macan they want £9,000 up front and £1,000/mth over 4 years. So that is £57,000 over 4 years for an £80K car! The i-Pace is such a nice place to sit and it drives better than any other EV I have been in. The Tesla S drove pretty well but I just hate the central i-pad and just love the i-Pace's traditional layout with proper dials. My wife dislikes the look of the Ioniq 5 and a taxi we took in Madrid didn't appeal greatly in the quality stakes. It was practical and spacious but it was very much a white goods experience. The EV6 is a possibility but when I say that the thought of the i-Pace going back is really upsetting her (she says it's like losing a good friend), I think you get some idea of how much she enjoys driving it as do I: great grip, poise, body control and ride just like a really good Jag should be. WHAT!! Thats ridiculous. I pity the early buyers of those. The payments obviously reflect the confidence Porsche has in the Macan holding any of its value. I do feel a bit of sympathy for these manufacturers. If the new Macan was an evolution of the old model (ICE) the order books would be full.
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Cardle
Mar 26, 2024 9:31:11 GMT
Post by PetrolEd on Mar 26, 2024 9:31:11 GMT
In 2. The door roundel made me go for its more special project version one the first go.
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