I should point out the owner of the mini isn't exactly short at well over 6 foot and has no problems with the seating position.
I should point out the owner of the mini isn't exactly short at well over 6 foot and has no problems with the seating position.
The dash can be very handy if you need to hold an international football game but the pitch is water logged. ;)
Depends. There have been other cleverly packaged cars, and other revolutionary cars. The things which still make the original mini stand out is that it was so much fun to chuck around, and that it had classless styling, and you could argue that it is those qualities that a worthy successor should have, and the new mini does, so it is, kind of thing.
It's for people who know better than rely on a badge for status. What would you buy if you wanted a cheap, sporty, luxo golf with more room, more toys, but for less money (and there is an estate version)?
And like a mini-passat for less than golf money?
To be the sucessor to the Mini means that the BMW Mini is in some way related to the BMC Mini and that is simply not the case.
Is the BMW Phantom a Rolls Royce? Discuss.
-- James
To you today, the fact that the Mini drives the way it does is what makes it appeal to you but there are lots of cars that drive as well as the Mini that just don't have the same appeal.
The original Mini defined a whole genre of cars (i.e. the super-mini class of car).
-- James
The Skodas are cheaper than the VWs and come higher in the customer satisfaction surveys even though they are made of the same parts.
-- James
Yes - stop being a deliberate tart :)
It says "Rolls Royce" on it (well, it probably doesn't, but thats the brand name its given...), there for it is. It may not have the heritage and shit - but its a Rolls Royce.
Okay - drove a Cooper S today. Once I've specced it up to my choices (not 'ultimate' choices, no Satnav, just CD/Climate/Sunroof/Chilli), it's over £17,000, so on a par with the MX-5 or TF135.
It's bloody good fun to drive. And quite comfortable.
Currently #2 in my list of ever changing choices.
#1 is a Beetle Cabriolet - if the VW Dealer can do me the 2.0 ex demo one for the right price. Not as sporty at all, but it feels like it will be very comfortable for long drives.
I certainly won't be sad if I end up with my triple-black Cooper S, though :)
Richard
What does that tell you about cutomer satisfaction surveys? They're all a load of crap!
NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO.
You cannot buy a Beetle Cabrio. Perhaps a proper beetle cabrio with an aircooled flat four, but not one of the new ones. Screams "I'm a gay bloke or a middle aged woman" louder than perhaps any other car in the entire world.
Most of these surveys take into account the attitude of the dealers though. I suspect Skoda dealers are rather more enthusiastic in trying to please customers than VW dealers who have a relatively easy time selling their brand.
No, what it actually tells you is that a Skoda owner has lower expectations of a Skoda than a VW owner has of a VW.
When your Skoda breaks down, it's bad but not as bad as when your VW (with VW reliablity "if only everything in life was as reliable as a Volkswagen") since after all, it's a Skoda and not a VW.
Brand perception is why the VW costs more than the Skoda even when they are the same thing.
-- James
How can you say that when there are MX-5's and MR2's still on the roads? ;)
Which is why car satisfaction surveys are a load of crap! From a statistical point of view they are laughable
Yeah i though that after i sent it, but the surveys are still crap.
Not really. It shows Skoda owners are happy with the product and the service they receive when a coil pack goes but Audi owners are livid with the car and hate the dealers with the same fault. ie Skoda owners expect less and get more than Audi owners.
The clever ones in the last few years have been Jaguar: A complex, up-market product noted for not working at all well (and sometimes not at all) ten years ago with a dealer network that can be a bit, errr, sniffy that managed to roll in at number 5 a couple of years back in the JD Power Survey.
MX-5s and MR2s are seen as impractical by middle aged women, and Julians want Audi TTs ;).
More mental mid engined RWD cars should be made though, preferably with a body designed by Subaru so that they can be ugly, and handling a joint effort between Lotus and TVR to bring in a bit of madness. I've overtaken too many sports (and "sports") cars in the Ka, pootling along driven by someone who wants a sports car because it'll look pretty rather than because they like driving. Maybe you should be able to prove that you know how to heel and toe, and go around a roundabout sideways before you're allowed to buy any sports car ;).
No they get exactly the same, they just THINK they get more. So even though you could have 2 VAG cars, which have identical problems the Audi will come lower in the reliability survey because more owners will decide to phone up and moan, even though the reliability problem is exactly the same, as say, with the Skoda variety.
But the JDPS is a pile of horse poo. The results should be taken with a pinch of salt. If you want an accurate survey ALL new car owners should be in the surveys, not just the ones who decide to phone up. Dont get me started on this one.
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