WDB
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Post by WDB on Mar 7, 2022 23:06:13 GMT
Nor would I. I saw it first from a distance and thought, Corolla, elderly even by Vić standards. Then got closer and read the badge.
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Rob
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Post by Rob on Mar 8, 2022 0:40:23 GMT
I think all of the suggestions for cars of that era (and others) would look very similar.
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Post by dixinormus on Mar 8, 2022 7:49:05 GMT
Those Bluebirds weren’t bad back in the day. But that day was 35 years ago. Anybody else feeling very old..?!
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WDB
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Post by WDB on Mar 12, 2022 17:59:11 GMT
The house opposite has new tenants. They have a Toyota estate, too new for Vić — and it’s white. Offensively white. The impression on opening the curtains each morning is that they’ve left an old fridge out for the council collectors. But it’s there all bloody day, and the next.
There are plenty of cars that look good in white, not all ‘premium’ or expensive. But this thing is absolutely not among them. It’s put me right off the new neighbours, and I’ve not even met them yet.
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Post by EspadaIII on Mar 12, 2022 20:07:48 GMT
Talk about judging a book by its cover! But yes, some people have no taste at all when it comes to car colours... A 'friend'of ours whose husband is very clever and has made a lot of money, drives a deep china blue Macan. It stands out like a very big f**k off sore thumb. Taste was never her strong point but this confirmed it.
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bpg
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Post by bpg on Mar 12, 2022 20:50:02 GMT
Some people don't want to pay for paint, the car should already be painted, asking for more to change the hue is rude.
My wife had a white Toyota, that was 'free' paint which was just as well, the rest of the car was shite.
Hybrid broke down after 6 weeks, needed special care and treatment to get it back to the dealership. I thought Toyota would have died from embarrassment and bent over backwards judging by how people praise the manufacturer. Apparently not. Interior plastics were margarine pot thin quality and the dashboard reflected in your face. I really don't get the Japanese is best mantra.
I find cars are all much of a muchness, where one excels another fails and vice versa. French electrics are pish, Italian heating 70/30, Bavarian and Schwabian cars need a fortune at every service on suspension, Volvo suspension bushes can be iffy, JLR throws oil in any direction like an old British motorbike. Audi, open wallet surgery. Ford, Toyota, VW cheap servicing but ask them to investigate a manufacturing defect and end up with an Audi bill.
Given the above surprised I still drive at all. Hopefully I can retire and be chauffeur driven in a few years.
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Post by EspadaIII on Mar 12, 2022 22:22:14 GMT
These days, most manufacturers buy in various modules so the quality should be similar irrespective of make of car. Certainly, given the various makes in our family, electrics have been the most reliable common denominator.
The Merc cost me the best part of £3,000 in repairs over the six years I had it (turbo seals, oil contaminated belts and rebuilt rear suspension). The Renault has cost £200 in seven years (water pump), the Punto has cost close on £700 in the last seven years (mainly a gearbox rebuild and new clutch) but it is 17 years old, and it's cheaper than buying a new car. The Minis have been the most reliable strangely, but very susceptible to punctures. Colour had little influence on the purchases.. as long as the Merc wasn't black, silver or dark grey.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Mar 12, 2022 22:45:20 GMT
>>most manufacturers buy in various modules so the quality should be similar irrespective of make of car.
Not as much as you'd think.
Imagine Factory A will produce 1,000 of Widget B at a price of £10 with a failure rate in the field of 10%.
Budget car producer is fine with that and buys 1,000 widgets for £10,000
Medium car producer is less pleased and asks that the widgets are sample tested and they'd like 50% tested. Logically 10% of half fail leaving 950. However Factory A still wants to cover its costs so it charges £11 each for them justifying it by higher reliability. So Medium car producers pays £10,450
Posh car producer sells on quality. So insists that Factory A tests all the widgets, again 10% fail so 900 are left. Factory A is still determined to cover it's costs and this time has had to throw away 10% of it's output so charges £13 per widget again justifying it by quality. Posh car producer therefore pays £11,700.
In all cases the widget was the same widget made with the same materials in the same factory by the same people. Only the testing sample rate was different.
Of course in the real world and in detail it's all about MTBF, DOA rates and process QA, but the point is sound.
The widget is the same, it's quality is not.
Crap explanation, but hopefully you get my point.
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WDB
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Post by WDB on Mar 12, 2022 22:57:54 GMT
Yes, absolutely. There’s also a cost to the care at the manufacturer’s end in specifying and selecting components, even if they ultimately serve the same function. I remember an argument in another place about whether I should buy a Vauxhall because the features I wanted were all nominally available on the options list, never mind that they wouldn’t work nearly as well be the sole criterion in selecting them had been to be able to offer that nominal function. (The Toyota I had was bad enough in that respect; I wasn’t going down the Vauxhall route, thank you.)
Anyway, the neighbours’ Toyota may be a perfectly lovely thing to own and travel in. But it’s still an eyesore.
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bpg
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Post by bpg on Mar 13, 2022 0:01:18 GMT
The alternative is to ask your employer for a pay raise and buy Windsor castle though you may have trouble with squatters and their rights.
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Post by Alanović on Mar 14, 2022 8:57:03 GMT
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Post by Humph on Mar 14, 2022 9:00:52 GMT
Sold apparently
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Post by Alanović on Mar 14, 2022 9:06:39 GMT
Oh yeah. Not surprised. Looks a really well sorted one. Oh well.
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Post by Alanović on Mar 14, 2022 9:13:36 GMT
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Post by Humph on Mar 14, 2022 9:21:08 GMT
A friend of mine had two, or maybe even 3 Zafiras during his breeding years. Swore by them as practical things.
He has a 508 SW these days though.
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