Generally, 95% of euroepan cars are manual, 5% automatic. There or thereabouts, anyway, no more than 10% autos. Reason is, almost everyone learns to driev a manual since if you pass your driving test in an atutomatic, thats what your licenses restricts you to. Autos are not common, and often cost a fair bit more than a manual for that reason.
Drive a load of european spec cars then, then drive a load of comparable american cars. odds are the suspension will be a lot softer in the US car, the steering not as sharp, the engines tuned more for low-range power, and bigger, and much more likely to have an automatic box. , oh, and the US car will also be heavier
It's a common saying in the business world that it's completely acceptable to have all four wheels of a rental car in the air at one time.
Bill Putney (To reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my address with the letter 'x')
That's the answer to a question I did not ask. Are you a politician or something? ;-)
BTW, most Mercs in the UK are sold with auto boxes. Would not be surprised if same applied to BMWs.
DAS
For direct contact replace nospam with schmetterling
You sure make assumptions and jump to unsupported conclusions. My last UK rental was a BRAND NEW Focus SW in May. I've never had a rental car from a major rental company that was more than 6 months old. Thank goodness you don't write auto reports.
Major rental company cars are used for such a short time, handling would not be affected by poor maintenance. Of course miss use could affect handling, but that would be unusual.
Just returned from a 2-day trip to London. Geeze, LHR is a pathetic excuse for an airport.
Anyways, I don't see why the 300c is being pushed in the UK. It's a huge car given that many roadways and parking spaces are so small compared to North American standards. I've never understood why the previous 300m never got more exposure in the UK (or in Europe in general). It was certainly more compatible with UK/European roads (and gas prices) than the 300/300c give it weighed less and came with a 2.7 L v-6 (and it looked better even compared to all the UK/European junky little cars that you see over there).
Really? The 300M and 300 are almost identical in ground area, so they would both be too large for UK roads. I have a '95 Concord, again of the same ground area, and wouldn't want to drive it on non motor way roads in the UK- it's too large. IMO a Ford Focus SW is big enough on the UK roads.
I rented a Magnum with the 2.7L engine; very underpowered. We have the 2.7L in my wife's Sebring; a good match. In the 300M I'm not so sure. I was going to buy a 300M, but they discontinued it for the RDW 300 monster, I certainly would have bought the 3.5L engine.
thought it was pretty weird when they chopped the trunk on the LHS to make the 300M.....but remember an article in Automotive News (or some such) saying that the 300M was being made to fit German parking spaces.........up to that point, Neons were they only models being sold there as Chryslers.
even here in the US, times change. I learned to drive on a '57 Lincoln.....my first car was a '56 Packard (!)......they had wheelbases of 127 & 126 inches.....were around 220 inches long and weighed around
4800 pounds each........never gave their size a thought......threaded thru traffic with ease (the Packard especially handled well).I love my old LHS, but only drive it on long trips now because it feels like a tank!
btw: think the LHS is about 208 inches long....weighs about 3400 pounds (?). this spring bought a Mustang GT converf..........it's about 190 inches long.....the engine is all alluminum......it's half plastic and no one can get in the back seat. each car is individually weighed at the factory and my window sticker sez it weighs 3875 pounds - what's with that?
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