Wheels.......

Ford Mondeo ST24

Robert

 

I'm normally pretty ambivalent about cars - I like them if they are comfy ,get me from a to b, go in the direction you point them etc. so in the spirit of this I have a toyota avensis 2.0 gls and it does all of the above pretty well. It's got sat nav which I always thought was a silly idea until I had it and it's marvellous.

suddenly I'm all enthusiastic about cars again. My work have introduced a new car scheme that aims to keep us, gordon brown and them happy and on the face of it seems to do this pretty well.

There's a lot of choice but my money seems to be heading for the 2.8 v6 four wheel drive golf.

and by the way never ever buy, rent , borrow or steal a peugot 206 gti. It was the worst car i HAVE ever had.

 

I'll have to add to you to the long list of people I have compiled who have said that. I've never heard of a car with so many rported instances of the airbags (paricularly the passenger one) going off on it's own for no reason. I bet that must be a little distracting......

Mine is an 1999 Astra 1.8 5dr hatch, and most importantly... automatic.

Cheers

 

Hi PBirkett,

That's the one. Mine is in Red.

I like Seat cars. This is the 2nd one I've had. I Had a Kiwi yellow/green 8v cupra before.

SCIDB

 

timpy

I'm relieved to know that it wasn't just me who hated the 206 - and i didn't even know about the airbag.

 

The 80's 205 GTi (esp the 1.9 version) is however a classic. Probably still my favourite hot hatch of all time. Shame that Peugeot have had so much trouble making a worth successor

Michael.

 

Problems with 206 gti

1. pulled to the left

2. crap handling - it even felt dicky on long motorway corners. you don't steer it, you wrestle it.

3. crap seats - the driving position is sh1t. I once drove it from the london to toulouse in a day and pompier had to cut the roof off to get me out of it. I also had to have one of those lumbar pillows. The pedals seemed to be slanted to the left or maybe the right, i can't remember, so nothing was where it felt it should be which meant for the first few weeks I wasn't altogether sure where the brakes were.

4. crap stereo - shocking bad almost as if they tried to make it that bad.

5. crap windscreen wipers - it also has a rain sensor that never seemed to work properly

6. crap wheels (I went through a set in a year)

7. crap brakes

8. stupid ac controls -

9. crap tyres. The lip of the tyre is outside the rim of the wheel so if you kerbed it a little parking you'd roger the tyre. I think i did about 6/7 tyres this way.


i think that covers it. knew i should have test driven it


lets hope the golf is better



John

 

All those comments mainly regard build quality JH - which i would entirely agree with, as i have owned many Peugeot/Citroens and they are notoriously bad. I have experienced some of the same things - and lots besides - radiator/air bags/electrics etc etc. Surprised you thought the handling was no good though??

That is IMO what salvages the Pug GTi's and makes them extremely fun and good handling cars. Personally i think the 306 GTi-6 is the best option, and my personal favourite hot hatch. Top chassis/handling/pretty fast and fun. Or 306 Rallye - plus you get NO extras - completely stripped down - so less to go wrong too

I hate the looks of the new shape Pugs including the 206 which is horrid. The older stuff is much better in every respect.

cheers

 

Renault Megane 1.6e RXE.

Looks good. Goes well. Cheap to run. Comfy. Plenty of space.

I've got a hankering for one of those dinky little Mercedes Coupes.

Chris

 

We've got a Peugeot 406 2.0 petrol estate as OmigaAudio's company car.

Words fail me as to how much I dislike it. I might go into the depressing detail later.

Cheers

 

john,
some tyres are designed to have a lip to protect you from kerbing the wheels. tbh i'd rather pay 50 quid for a new tyre than 300 for a new wheel if i scuffed it up. it shouldn't render the tyre unusable though unless it's a little more than a 'scuff'.

i had trouble getting used to the rain sensor in my 406 coupe. until you realise that you can set the 'sensitivity' by hitting the 1 wipe thingy after putting it into rain sensitive mode.

good luck with the golf although i've heard that they too have their share of problems.

tim,
i loved my 406. it took the knocks of everyday life, looked like something that came out of the same design house as ferraris do and went like stink. mind you if you will get the labrador special version you get everything you deserve .

cheers

julian

 

Hello everyone.

Another vote for Mercedes. I've just opted out of the company car scheme, changed from an Audi A4 Avant to a Merc E320 Avantguard. Can't wait to see my bosses face when I pull up in that at our next sales meeting :MILD:

 

Hex spurt,

nice one! that is a lovely car:MILD:

Robbo

 

I drive a BMW 320 Automatic (in due consideration to my age and today's traffic conditions ).

And for Julian and all other BMW haters:-

Q - What's the difference between a porcupine and BMW?

A - A porcupine has the pricks on the outside.

There, saved you guys the bother

 

dev,
in the interests of forum harmony i've left my bmw opinions at the door. (although the fact that you've got a sense of humour about your afflic...er car puts you a step ahead in my book).

honestly though, they are good cars, reliable, economical, fast and they hold their value well. if you can ignore the fact that people judge you just because you have a blue and white propeller on the front of your car. tolerate obscene hand gestures for minor infractions that in other drivers would have garnered a mere shake of the head and put up with being stuck a busy junctions for ages then they make a lot of sense.

imo you're right about an auto box being the most sensible option in todays road conditions although i do miss the thrill of a screaming redline 2nd to third change execuded perfectly (not that i managed this all that often but when i did ahhhhh).

cheers


julian

 

Julian,

Don't give it another thought, AFAIK, you've never offended me. It's all in been in good spirits (I think!) and I do actually agree with most of your points. What really hurts is getting racist abuse, comments like "we could afford that car if it wasn't for so many ******** here, having food thrown over my then new car etc. etc. Let's just stick to light hearted banter, much more enjoyable

 

And the fact the forum owner is a BMW driver :devil:

Michael.

 

Well. It's a cross some have to bear

 

I seem to get more than my fair share. I mean BMW AND Musical Fidelity? now, come on

 

I may be offered a company car as part of a new package shortly - do not have all the details yet, and i will need to look at the figures, but i get the impression that company cars are not as beneficial as they once used to be (tax?)?...with more people opting out. I've never had a company car before, so am not sure exactly what the score is. Plus it would probably be some duff sales rep type motor like a Mondeo or 406 or something