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Post by bromptonaut on Mar 11, 2018 23:01:35 GMT
Fiat Tipo saloon for four days in Israel. Its OK, but rather anonymous both inside and out, but spacious and I understand cheap in the UK. Auto box which feels like a TC but not sure. Ahh the FIAT teapot. Didn't know they were still made.
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Post by Alanović on Mar 12, 2018 10:38:46 GMT
I'm a Chicken Shish man, Rob. Had lamb kofta yesterday though at a Lebanese restaurant, served on very thing flat bread with a spicy tomato and pepper sauce, and vegetable rice. If anyone's ever in Reading, Bakery House is the place to go for grub like this.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 12, 2018 12:43:43 GMT
The New Teapot. I have the 1.4 95bhp version which is slow. Compared to the ten year old, 75,000miles automatic Daihatsu Sirions my father has both in the UK and in Israel, it is a slug. More noise than power. Shame, as the car itself is reasonably likeable.
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Post by Alanović on Mar 12, 2018 14:56:27 GMT
Ah. The 1.4 petrol in the UK is 120bhp. Maybe the 95 is available too. But neither can be had here with an auto box.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 13, 2018 0:28:55 GMT
Home now for two weeks then back for the Passover holiday. Drove about 300km of which at least 250 was highway or motorway. Used about 22 litres although the car probably wasn't brimmed when I picked it up so I reckon on about 7 litres per 100km. What's that? About 40mpg? Given the traffic, the fact I had to cane it for some acceleration and three people plus luggage ; it's adequate.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 30, 2018 11:07:02 GMT
Back again. This time we have a Nissan Sentra. It is a four door medium saloon of similar size to a Golf or Focus but with a good size boot. Probably based upon the Nissan Pulsar. Very similar in size to the Fiat Tipo I have three weeks ago. However, it is street ahead in terms of performance and cabin environment. A reasonable ride as well which is surprising, as unusually for Israel it comes not only with alloy wheels, but fairly low profile tyres as well.
It is rare to see cars with anything but steel wheels here, although the roads are generally smoother than in the UK with fewer potholes, so alloys would not be so stupid. However when you do see potholes, they are pretty large. The repair of damaged steel wheels is usually carried out using a long slide hammer and some brute force, but it seems to work.
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Post by dixinormus on Mar 31, 2018 1:26:37 GMT
Wonderful variety of rental cars you seem to get! Here in NZ 75% of the time it's "Here's the keys to your Toyota Corolla sir"... And if you book a small car and it turns out not to be a Yaris it'll be a Holden Barina 😒
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Post by tyrednexited on Mar 31, 2018 9:08:49 GMT
........ and it turns out not to be a Yaris it'll be a Holden Barina 😒 ...could be fun if you got the keys to this one, though......
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Post by Deleted on Apr 1, 2018 20:17:02 GMT
Did a longish trip in the Sentra today. About 325km on a mix of motorway and some single carriageway roads. Everything is pretty good about the car apart one minor and two major complaints. The minor is the steering lacks feel. The majors are in my opinion serious matters of safety. - it is impossible to see what position the headlight switch is on without totally changing the position of your head, so that you lose any vision of the road. There is no feel about whether the switch is in auto, or sidelights or headlights and because the sensor is poor, I found myself switching the lights in a brightly lit tunnel and then discovering that they had been on for hours.
- there is a terrible blind spot behind your shoulder. Both Espadrille and I position the door mirrors in our cars in identical positions and have never found ourselves side swiping a car we didn't see. Today I did it twice and she commented that it happened to her on one day before I arrived. The penny pinching is clear to see; the last inch or so of the mirror which should narrow down to a point is missing and that inch makes all the difference.
These things are the matters you miss on a short test drive so renting before you buy is a great idea. And I'm not buying a Sentra...pity, it's far more likeable than the Tipo. Quicker but no less economical. Comfortable as well but perhaps lacking a little sound deadening at 70mph.
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WDB
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Post by WDB on Apr 1, 2018 21:55:01 GMT
...that inch makes all the difference.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 2, 2018 8:36:42 GMT
We're not Grumpy Old Farts but Dirty Old Men....
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Post by Alanović on Apr 3, 2018 9:15:28 GMT
Funny innit, I have driven a Tipo and a Pulsar recently and I preferred the Tipo on pretty much every single measure.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 3, 2018 17:56:17 GMT
Except the Tipo you drove probably had more than 95bhp. It was not unpleasant as a car, just so slow that it was a pain to drive. The Sentra was driven again today, five up, with no evidence of lack of performance or economy.
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Post by Alanović on Apr 4, 2018 7:47:36 GMT
Yeah, mine was the 120PS diesel, with plenty of torques too. Point I was making though is that I found the interior and overall quality far superior in the Tipo than the Pulsar. Pulsar felt naff and cheap in comparison.
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WDB
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Post by WDB on Apr 4, 2018 8:56:10 GMT
In Germany the other week I found myself crammed into a small Nissan of some kind with three others, none small. Remarkable in a way that we got in at all, but the interior did seem to lack more than just space relative to the previous week's Focus.
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