been driving a Renault Clio

In news:i-ydnbch- snipped-for-privacy@bt.com, Marvin wittered on forthwith;

What a strange list of things to dislike.

Ok, I agree about the wheel being too hard, but the rest of your list seems strange.

If I was going to complain about a Clio I'd be more pissed off about the trim being bad quality, the seats being wayyyy to short in the cushion, the pedals being offset to the right, the wheel being too low, the gearshift being crap, the brakes being over servoed, the seatbelt buzzer being totally irritating, the speakers being crap and the engine being noisy.

In news:f32fid$31u$ snipped-for-privacy@registered.motzarella.org, Pete M wittered on forthwith;

Bollocks, I meant the pedals being offset to the left.

Well it makes as much sense as complaining the steerings too light & pulls too hard to the centre & is tiring when cornering.

Actually you are correct about those things too. But for me the steering of a car is important, it's your link with the front wheels and the road.

Anyway, I just drove it one day, you are correct though the steering wheel is also too low, I couldnt see the 70mph area of the speedo because of it. The gearshift is crap, brakes to sudden and the speakers did sound thin and tinny.

My sister is hiring it at the moment and I got to drive it from Edinburgh to Stirling and back. Did not enjoy the driving experience at all, in fact I felt more likely to crash because it's just not relaxing to drive. Those safety ratings dont tell you how good a car's handling is that's for sure.

You try driving one, see how you like it. I really am surprised they could sell such a s***ty car. They must have put their entire budget into getting the "5 star safety rating".

Pete M ( snipped-for-privacy@bogoffwithzepressedmeatblueyonder.co.uk) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

That's worth a EuroNCAP point, though... (Actually, I think it's *meant* to be irritating, so that you put the belt on to shut it up)

You think the Clio's bad - you should try the new Corsa. Everything you didn't like, but 10 times worse, plus suspension that rolls so much it could make you sea sick! My wife is currently driving the Corsa whilst I rebuild her cylinder head, and I tell you I wouldn't drive that car if it was given to me and I was paid to do so.

We also test drove a new Clio and Fiesta (wifey now wants a lease car), the Clio was just about ok in comparison to the Corsa. Now I've never really liked Fords in the past, but the Fiesta was about as good as I could expect a small family car to be - really nice feedback from the wheel and seat of the pants, decent clutch and gearbox. Felt at home right away driving the car - the only niggle was that I couldn't sit myself exactly the right distance from the pedals, but that always happens.

Andy.

In news:Xns993A51D56C98Dadrianachapmanfreeis@204.153.245.131, Adrian wittered on forthwith;

It works, I'll give it that.

just annoying when you're driving one around the yard, Buzz. BUzz, BUUUUZZZZZZZZZZ and you're only doing 4 mph in a car park.

Oh they're horrible.

The message from "Andy" contains these words:

The early Corsas were vile. I was unfortunate enough to have several and they were hateful.

The new ones have special quality indicator switches that don't latch up or down. Realy really made me wish for the old GSA.

The message from "Duncan Wood" contains these words:

What, you have to hold it on?

:-) Now that would be funny.

I think Duncan meant "...don't *physically* latch..."

Chris

Guy King ( snipped-for-privacy@zetnet.co.uk) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

It's worse than that.

The "latching" is done by software...

The message from Chris Whelan contains these words:

Oh, you mean you shove 'em up and they stick electrically not mechanically. Ugh - what's the point in that? It goes against years of conventional use and contradicts years of experience of millions of drivers - to what end?

Guy King ( snipped-for-privacy@zetnet.co.uk) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

They don't even stay in the up physical position. They're just a waggly thingy springloaded to the centre. Like an electric window switch.

The software decides that that "up" is "on", and they stay on. Or they don't, because it thinks it was only a flick. Or it just hates you. Which is mutual, probably, by this point.

The message from Adrian contains these words:

Yeah, sorry, that's what I meant. Not latching except in the electrical/electronic sense. It sounds very like the sort of thing that's done for two reasons - a)Marketing want it and engineering can do it without any trouble, and b)It saves ¼p on the cost of the switchgear.

Of course, they'll tell you it's more reliable - and it probably is, but that's their fault for not making the original switchgear properly in the first place.

Indeed. In fact, what's the point of a Corsa? :-)

Perhaps mechanical self-cancelling would prove too much for the already woefully fragile electric power steering on the Corsa :-)

Chris

No, the relay latches & the switch returns to centre.