Recommend a Car

tweety said:
My first car was the one your grandad had, it was a heap of shit, wasted £150 on one in the 70s, my nose was stuck in the Haynes manual seemingly on a daily basis.
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Mk1 Astra for me, then a '72 Mini Clubman (which I modified to death), then I had a Mk 1 Escort LX 4 door in Sky Blue with a vinyl roof... and it was downhill from there.
 
metalblue said:
Motorbikes eh? Not potatoes? Ah you always want the Maris pipers
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A fine all round spud but Idaho is more enormous Russet Country and near me we concentrate on seed potato production. If they can survive here they’ll do well just about anywhere
 
metalblue said:
Most important thing about a car in the US is how many cup holders it has. In the rest of the world it’s how fast it can get to 62mph.

Probably the second most important thing in the US is how comfy it is. No one gives a fuck in our pot hole infested roads because you always feel like you’re being interrogated by the KGB be you in a 1982 Metro or a 2024 Merc S class. Our roads are a great social leveller.

The RoW has dream cars you have dream assault rifles.

The reasons for these priority disparities is a lack of paying top trumps as children in the US. Whilst I have absolutely no evidence to back this up it’s the only possible conclusion.
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I can only assume you’ve never driven such car candy as a Shelby Mustang, or a Cadillac CTS-V, or a Corvette Z01, or a Performance Tesla, if you think cup holders are the dealbreaker, but they’re all “comfy rockets!

As for the dream assault rifles, they needn’t be a dream! They’re cheap and accessible to almost everyone with a clean psych profile.

Ah, now I see the “dream” part! ;-P
 
metalblue said:
Most important thing about a car in the US is how many cup holders it has. In the rest of the world it’s how fast it can get to 62mph.

Probably the second most important thing in the US is how comfy it is. No one gives a fuck in our pot hole infested roads because you always feel like you’re being interrogated by the KGB be you in a 1982 Metro or a 2024 Merc S class. Our roads are a great social leveller.

The RoW has dream cars you have dream assault rifles.

The reasons for these priority disparities is a lack of paying top trumps as children in the US. Whilst I have absolutely no evidence to back this up it’s the only possible conclusion.
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Because when you’re chugging along at 55mph doing 4mpg in your 5 ton pickup truck, you’re stopping at a lot of “gas” stations.
 
ChicagoBlue said:
I can only assume you’ve never driven such car candy as a Shelby Mustang, or a Cadillac CTS-V, or a Corvette Z01, or a Performance Tesla, if you think cup holders are the dealbreaker, but they’re all “comfy rockets!

As for the dream assault rifles, they needn’t be a dream! They’re cheap and accessible to almost everyone with a clean psych profile.

Ah, now I see the “dream” part! ;-P
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I lived in the US for a while, had an Audi Q8 which handled like an oil tanker, was comfy though. You don’t see many of the real performance cars when out and about compared to UK IMHO.

You do make some fast cars though.
 
Trevor Morley's Tache said:
Mk1 Astra for me, then a '72 Mini Clubman (which I modified to death), then I had a Mk 1 Escort LX 4 door in Sky Blue with a vinyl roof... and it was downhill from there.
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Had the 1275GT which I loved, did a few mods myself but unfortunately the sills and subframe had more rust than the Titanic so it went to the scrapper. They're worth a mint now, isn't life a bummer!
 
metalblue said:
I lived in the US for a while, had an Audi Q8 which handled like an oil tanker, was comfy though. You don’t see many of the real performance cars when out and about compared to UK IMHO.

You do make some fast cars though.
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I think the more cosmopolitan cities have their fair share, but then car culture cities like Miami are dripping with them!

However, 90+% of the country is SUV & Truck country!
 
ChicagoBlue said:
I think the more cosmopolitan cities have their fair share, but then car culture cities like Miami are dripping with them!

However, 90+% of the country is SUV & Truck country!
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Not much point in having low
Profile tyres in snow country unless you have multiple vehicles
 
idahoblues said:
Not much point in having low
Profile tyres in snow country unless you have multiple vehicles
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Or a Discount Tire, where they’ll put your winter tires & wheels on for free in a 15 minute appointment! ;-)

Contis for summer & Michelins for the winter!
 
This year I bought a used Kia Sportage - 2021 so it’s the end of the old model. They’re a well built car and having the 7 year warranty means you can buy one that is a couple of years old and still have a few years left.
It’s not particularly exciting to drive - it’s very low geared which means for urban driving there’s a lot of gear changes. The interior is very roomy and would suit a family and the boot space is more than adequate. The infotainment system lets it down a little - it sounds good but the user interface is poor. Sat Nav is good and is free and easy to upgrade with a usb stick and you’ve got Apple play.
The car is pretty thirsty on petrol. My mileage is low so it doesn’t affect me too much.
Overall I would definitely recommend
 
tweety said:
Had the 1275GT which I loved, did a few mods myself but unfortunately the sills and subframe had more rust than the Titanic so it went to the scrapper. They're worth a mint now, isn't life a bummer!
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Mine was an 1100cc short stroke, which I bored out to 1158, and fitted a 1275 head and Stage 2 cam, with vernier timing gear. Spent about a week porting and polishing the head, and then another week getting the twin 1 1/4" SU's sorted. I eventually fitted a single W40DCOE in an airbox that protruded through the dashboard. Had to fit double valve springs after I lightened the flywheel. Had a 5/7 final drive, and did 0-60 in around 6.2 seconds, but topped out at around 65mph. Absolutely rapid off the mark, and I used to love leaving XR2/XR3's for dead at traffic lights.
 
Trevor Morley's Tache said:
Mine was an 1100cc short stroke, which I bored out to 1158, and fitted a 1275 head and Stage 2 cam, with vernier timing gear. Spent about a week porting and polishing the head, and then another week getting the twin 1 1/4" SU's sorted. I eventually fitted a single W40DCOE in an airbox that protruded through the dashboard. Had to fit double valve springs after I lightened the flywheel. Had a 5/7 final drive, and did 0-60 in around 6.2 seconds, but topped out at around 65mph. Absolutely rapid off the mark, and I used to love leaving XR2/XR3's for dead at traffic lights.
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What a spec!
 
Stuuuuuu said:
After a day of reading around, I've whittled it down to the following potential cars. i'd be interested in hearing your view on any of these. I need good boot space, and I like to be able to accelerate with confidence. I guess reliability is quite important, although I am likely to lease for three years so it's probably not a big factor. Cheers.

Skoda Karoq

Kia Sportage

Seat Ateca

Volvo XC40

Cupra Formentor

Ford Puma

Volkswagen T-Roc
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Ford Puma was my suggestion so I'm going to advocate for that one again. Or rather I'm going to point you in the direction of the Top Gear review. Whether you like the programme or not I think this does cover your points. Although you can probably ignore the bit where he turns it into a rally car at the end....

 
metalblue said:
Many moons ago a work colleague said to me why buy a new Ford Mondeo when you can buy a second hand S class for the same money. I’ve never owned one but did buy an Audi A8L and it was the mutts knackers with every gadget going had air suspension as well which was fantastic. Absolute rocket of a car as well - might have got a Ford RS to move out of my way after he was giving it some beans on a private road - and I bet I paid far less than he had for his RS.

Worst thing was people would hit it in car parks all the time.

As you say the bills weren’t ever going to be cheap if it went wrong but it meant you can pick them up for a fraction of their new costs as no one wants them when they out of warranty. And it was very reliable.
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I'm with you mate, just transfer the word Audi for Mercedes, same same
 
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