Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Apr 9, 2017 15:10:47 GMT
The musings by EIII about the various rental cars driven in the course of a year. Usually rent about five or six cars depending on the number of trips. Almost every trip is to Israel to visit my father. The interesting thing is that despite the very small new car market, they take different models to the Brits. So you can by hatchbacks, saloons and estates of some smaller cars (e.g. the Renault Clio estate we currently have), rather than just the hatchback in the UK. Sometimes they have engine and/or gearbox combinations we don't see. Certainly the market here is almost exclusively automatic. So, we have a 65,000km Clio Estate, I think with the 1.2 turbo engine. The car is very similar to the Captur I drove for a while but this is automatic and does not have the three cylinder thrum, but I could be wrong; must open the bonnet and count plug leads! Initial thoughts after two 60 mile journeys of mixed roads....Decent ride (far better than the Captur), comfortable seats and driving position, the boot is big enough for a family of five to go away for the weekend. Economy seems perfectly reasonable. I dislike the air-con vents which do not point up enough so in the height of summer the car might get too hot. Overall though, I like it, although I wonder what sort buyer really goes for a car like this. How many people want a small car with a big boot? Are they not better to buy a Dacia Sandero (which you can also buy here - but there are none on the rental car fleet I have seen). My favourite car in this grade is the Hyundai i25, a sleek four door saloon which is mid-way between the i20 and i30 in size and has a big boot at the back. The sort of car that Lexus could sell for £5,000 more and make a killing even in Britain. Wish I could import one..
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Post by Humph on Apr 9, 2017 21:14:49 GMT
A small car with a big boot would appeal to me, if I didn't need a large car with a big boot that is. Cars are for shifting people and their stuff. Most small cars can accommodate the people but not the stuff.
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Post by Hofmeister on Apr 9, 2017 21:23:22 GMT
A small car with a big boot would appeal to me, if I didn't need a large car with a big boot that is. Cars are for shifting people and their stuff. Most small cars can accommodate the people but not the stuff. A van.
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Post by Humph on Apr 9, 2017 21:26:14 GMT
Doesn't tick the people shifting box though does it? Well, not enough people anyway
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Post by Hofmeister on Apr 9, 2017 21:28:02 GMT
Doesn't tick the people shifting box though does it? Well, not enough people anyway I bet that most of the time you are not shifting all the people with their stuff. Just one person with stuff.
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Post by Humph on Apr 9, 2017 21:30:04 GMT
But when you need to shift people and stuff, you need a people and stuff shifting solution.
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Post by tyrednexited on Apr 9, 2017 21:35:50 GMT
But when you need to shift people and stuff, you need a people and stuff shifting solution. ...a VW Kombi (*other Kombi type vehicles are available) will shift both people and shoe/bike related items........ (and possibly both bits of "stuff" at the same time)
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Avant
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Post by Avant on Apr 9, 2017 21:45:01 GMT
The Clio estate was on sale here for a short time, but I don't think it sold very well and it's been withdrawn. For whatever reason, not many Brits go for small estates, and those that do buy Skoda Fabias. More still go the SUV route, and I believe that cars like the Captur and Ateca are doing very well.
At home I'd always prefer the versatility of a hatchback over a saloon, but the one time we do find a saloon useful is when hiring a car abroad. We used to go regularly on holiday to South Africa, and something with a boot big enough to carry two large cases and two small ones - and hide them from prying eyes - was just what we needed. We were usually allocated rather gutless Toyota Corolla sallons, but once we had a VW Polo saloon (sold here somne years ago as the SEAT Cordoba) which was lively and good to drive.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Apr 10, 2017 5:56:18 GMT
I remember the SEAT Cordoba and the i25 is similar it more fancy and say 10% bigger at most. However the Seat had a huge boot if I recall - great for holiday makers.
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Post by Alanović on Apr 10, 2017 9:01:45 GMT
I've always put the European taste for small saloons thing down to them having better perceived security than a hatchback. My brother in law in Serbia just swapped his old Focus hatch for an Opel Astra saloon. Bigger boot, more secure. Less flexible for larger objects, but he doesn't need to worry about that so the saloon is fine. They're also cheaper, Turkish built or something. He paid something like 12,000 Euros for a brand new one, a CDTi.
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Post by Humph on Apr 10, 2017 9:04:50 GMT
Perhaps it's irrational, but I just don't like small saloons. Not majorly keen on big ones either but small ones just have oddly unbalanced proportions to my eye.
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Post by Alanović on Apr 10, 2017 9:11:28 GMT
Mk1 Escort? Mk2 Escort?
I've always had an irrational love for small saloons. Like my old Volvo 360.
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Post by Humph on Apr 10, 2017 9:17:40 GMT
I did have a Mk 1 Escort saloon and loved it, but I'd rather have had an estate even then. I was regularly up and down to Aviemore and Glenshee back then with mates and skis and bikes and an estate would have been a lot more useful. A pal had a VW Variant estate at that time. Fairly agricultural thing, but with a good load bay and the engine in the back providing weight over the driven wheels it was a very good bit of kit for those runs.
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WDB
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Post by WDB on Apr 10, 2017 9:18:00 GMT
A saloon boot is easier to get a body into. You never saw anyone in The Sopranos heaving a suspiciously heavy carpet into a Focus hatch or an Audi TT, did you?
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Rob
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Post by Rob on Apr 10, 2017 14:16:19 GMT
Most small saloons have the design done as a modification of a hatchback. And so don't look right. e.g. VW Vento. But it does mean the boot is usually a decent size. I think Audi did a good job on it's A3 saloon but it's had nearly all of the body panels changed from the Sportback and the design works. Well it does for me anyway. Next car quite likely to be an estate though. And a lot bigger car. That's because the BIK on a Passat GTE will be a lot lower than a diesel.
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