On the subject of previous cars - I have had a few!

1. VW Golf N 1974 - my first car donated by my parents - The N stands for nothing! Speedo and fuel gauge , rubber mats, no rear wiper, no headrests, 4 speed gearbox and a wonderful 1100 engine - Great car but rusted like sin. Would have one again if you could find one.

2. Triumph TR7 convertible 1971 - bought as a first year doctor. Badly made and very heavy to drive - came with 4 different tyres and span at the first wet roundabout I encountered (I was driving it like a Golf!) Changed tyres and much much better ! Eventually swapped the engine to a Dolomite Sprint one and this was great. Sold to buy my wife an engagement ring! (Didn't quite cover the costs!) I think I replaced almost everything on this car in the time I had it!!

3. Mini Racing Green - 1988 - Mini 1000 with green body and white roof - hilarious car - would do 'p' mph (the speedo went up to 80 I think and the needle would reach the p of mph which was on the 6 o'clock position on the speedo! Bumpers used to rust like crazy and were replaced 3 times on warranty.

4. Fiat X/19VS - really my wife's but she used to take the mini leaving me with this! Hideously unreliable with a distributor that always came loose and span around!! Great when it worked but that was infrequent!

5. Mini Cooper - one of the first of the new release iof the old Mini. 1.3 litre engine - no faster than the Racing Green and was clearly one of the first made as it had one front seat from a cooper and one from a Racing Green (the pattern on the material is up and down on the cooper and side to side on the green!!) Staggeringly badly made!

6. Vauxhall Cavalier 1.6GL - again a car my wife had - this time a company car. Very big, fairly slow and very boring.

7. Honda Beat - personal import - wonderful car - mad 660cc three cylinder engine which revved to over 10,000rpm. Sounded great. No boot space , passenger seat smaller than driver's seat both zebra striped!

8. VW Golf GTi 16V - last of the small bumpered Mk 2 models- heavy as no power steering but very fast. Kept on being stolen though not successfully! Because of that, very expensive to insure!!

9. Toyota Camry Estate 3.0GX - brilliant car - very fast, huge, quiet, well made. Eventually scrapped because fuel tank rusted and cost of tank was more than car worth!

10. VW Polo 1.3 1988 - the bread van one - used for wombling round practice - I really liked it - written off when someone drove into the driver's door at speed - moved the driver's seat 6" to the middle - Police said if I had been in a Metro, i would have been dead.

11. Honda Accord Aerodeck Auto - very comfortable and very reliable - slow - biggest seats I have come across! I gave it to one of my receptionists eventually!

12. Mercedes A170 LWB Avantage - brilliant design - mine was diesel and automatic and was good to drive. Badly built and rusted!!

13. Toyota Prius 2006 - the Mk 2 version - little bit wacky inside but very reliable.

14. 1969 Triumph GT6 coupe Mk 2 - two tone grey - leaked more than a convertible and very noisy! Was a stop gap whilst waiting for my convertible.

Now have what mentioned in previous post!!

Best car - the Camry estate.

Worst car - The X/19

Brian wrote:

Simonbeo wrote:

...Back to VW , the big banks who underwrite their resale in Europe have told them they are junk status as they are overproducing too many models....

At least here in Germany, a basic Golf 7 costs 16.975€ and can go up to almost 30.000€ without extra options. If the Golf price kept pace with inflation, it should not cost more than 10.368€, according to an article in link. Most young people (myself included) have been priced out of the new-car market. To be fair to VW, a lot of the added cost is due to higher taxes and stricter environmental and safety standards. If I were in the market for a small- to mid-size VW, I would take a hard look at Skoda (a VW subsidiary). IMHO Skoda is much closer today to what VW was 20 or 30 years ago.

That would appear to be the plan; VW , the peoples car moves up market. After all ,everybody feels premium nowadays. Skoda takes over. 

But it's how VW survives with 14 different Golf bodyshells where Ford has two for the Focus which intrigues me. They are creating sharper body panels which are requiring reworks in the factory and still apparently profitable as a group. Audi is making former-VW quality cars and making 10 percent profit and Czech salaries are lower , but how do they do it? The banks are asking the same question . 

The Prius is catching on amongst gangsters and thugs in the U.S.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZJjTEmXaf8

Beopiranha of course you'd argue that, your cars are some of the most polluting, fuel consuming cars on the market with the highest CO2 emisions :) At least for my business, i've gone for the most economical petrol based car there is in that category. I don't think an old car would be safe for my motorway mileage plus an old car puts out a lot of pollution. At least most of the time I cycle everywhere :) :) :) 

Paul W wrote:

Beopiranha of course you'd argue that, your cars are some of the most polluting, fuel consuming cars on the market with the highest CO2 emisions :) At least for my business, i've gone for the most economical petrol based car there is in that category. I don't think an old car would be safe for my motorway mileage plus an old car puts out a lot of pollution. At least most of the time I cycle everywhere :) :) :) 

What bike have you got Paul ?

ive a Bianchi MTB and a Campagnolo equipped  road bike and my veteran custom built touring bike. 

Good to see so much of whole life Eco considerations with cars . 

Simonbeo wrote:

That would appear to be the plan; VW , the peoples car moves up market....They are creating sharper body panels which are requiring reworks in the factory and still apparently profitable as a group....

That's exactly the problem. If I had 20 to 30K to spend on a new Golf, then I would also be considering an entry-level BMW or an Audi. If the new Golf ran between 10K to 15K it would be in Skoda territory - and a lot of people would choose the Skoda.

As for 14 different body styles, VW buys almost all of their components from suppliers and has the volume to get a better deal than most other car makers-but that's just speculation on my part. Arguably the bigger problem is that VW runs multiple assembly plants around the world, each making variations on the same chassis. But with currency fluctuations, politics, and individual market preferences, there's also a strong business argument to be made for producing closer to the end consumer.

All manufacturers buy in virtually everything but bodyshells and engines from suppliers , not just VW . The suppliers are often the same as Ford , GM , Mercedes and BMW.

VW had to buy parts from GM for a while in settlement of a curruption case General Motors took out against them ( the Lopez case where they hired a guy who stole info on departure from GM to join VW , google it)

BMW have some cars , Mini Clubman and X1 outsourced entirely to suppliers. 

I'm disgusted with Range Rovers and 4x4s as to me it shows zero consideration for pedestrians, cyclists and my gosh, the environment with the gas

Try towing a horse box over a muddy field with a mini,or living in the country on a single track road.We don't all choose to stay in polluted cities.

butch1 wrote:

I'm disgusted with Range Rovers and 4x4s as to me it shows zero consideration for pedestrians, cyclists and my gosh, the environment with the gas

Try towing a horse box over a muddy field with a mini,or living in the country on a single track road.We don't all choose to stay in polluted cities.

I'm seeing a contradiction in what you write. Is this sarcasm?

what do you drive ... And why ?