End of term test.

I want a Japanese car.

1 mark for writing your name on test paper (pending approval by external examiners).

Well so far that's 1 more than anyone else.

If they're a Passat. With STD (soft touch dash...).

Except anything Alfa, even the much derided 33.

About 3/4 of 73.

MK2 Golfs are good. And I couldn't kill my Volvo 340, but it wasn't exactly good.

205 and 106 GTI you mong. They're ace. Puntos are s**te mind.

205 maybe, the 106 is for kids who think they are being 'cool' by not choosing a Saxo VT.

Full marks on that one.

If we're talking mainstream models I'd have to agree with that..Although I think Volvo's are still a little on the square side and SAAB's are definately overrated for what they are (A pretty body on a Vauxhall Vectra chasis) the performance aint nothing special and they cost BMW money..

On the exception of the odd Lada there are no crap cars anymore. Maybe the Chinese will do their best to add another crappy bugger.

You get what you pay for. Most cars have no soul in it, not even the memory of a soul.

This said: GF has her Mini One D. She loves it to bits, calls it Hobbes. So I am scouting for a rental Mini Cooper S. I like to corrupt people. I like the GF too and a lot :-)

Tom - Happy 2007 for everybody! - De Moor

Point of order!

Theres Hyundai, Kia, Proton and Perodua.

Hyundai - reliable, efficient, cheap, dependable. Kia. Cheap, big and er... cheap. But not unreliable. Awful interiors. Proton: Cheap, nippy, not that bad to drive but awful to sit in. Effective transport, used by Humberside Police due to dealer being very clever and putting them all on LPG. Perodua - I'll give you that one. Still at least there's one less since Clarkson got it.

How about you give us your own opinions backed up by facts? It might be more interesting than posting a message in which you don't seem to be saying much of interest to the rest of us.

I keep having unhealthy urges to try the VIP style on a Kia Magentis

Leganza Hyundai Sonata. rims, zero clearance, rock hard suspension on coilovers.Black out the windows, who is to know.Not right at all, but wrong feels so right sometimes.

I briefly had a Daewoo Leganza once. Quite nice in some respects. Ok, so it really didn't handle for shit, but had quite a nice smooth ride, seats were very comfy and had lots of adjustment in various places that made it actually quite easy to tweak things like lumber support etc. to the nth degree to get it just right. Engine was a bit unrefined, but not bad - supposed to be 130bhp but didn't feel like it, but wouldn't struggle on the motorway - apparently it's an engine they use in the Holden Somethingorother. Gearbox felt like it was straight out of a Mk2 Astra (probably 'cos it was), and was what you'd expect from one of them, though they are quite sturdy, even if they do feel a little s**te. Reliability wise the only issues I ever read about were the autoboxes being utter s**te, and the usual 16v Vauxhall engine cambelt/tensioner fiasco, so one with a recent belt/tensioner change and a manual box shouldn't see you too far wrong. Mine averaged about 30mpg, so not brilliant, but not terrible - on long gentle-ish motorway runs I'd guess you'd easily see mid 30s.

The good bit is they're stupidly cheap - I got a 5 year old one with pretty much FSH and a recent cambelt change (main dealer jobbie) for £1200, and sensible miles (about 70k).

Ok, so it'd be as dull as the Octavia, similar on fuel if not marginally worse, but a lot more comfy.

And then you realised you could have something better, so you no longer have it ?

It was nothing more than a light hearted attempt at humour based on the content of some recent threads.

Obviously you didnt think it was funny. Fair enough - just killfile me and I won't cause you any more problems.

All the best.

My 106 Rallye was pretty damn good actually... wasn't exactly standard though, was it. :-)

As for 106 GTi vs Saxo VTS... it's a bit of a no-brainer really - you're more likely to find a less chavved up GTi than a VTS... they're nice looking anyway, and they tend to come with half decent half leather / half suede seats.

That, and insurers rate them a group lower.

Indeed.

I'll give you mine based on the fact I currently own an N reg Golf TDI and an N reg 406TD.

Not exactly direct competitors in their day, but a worthy comparison given they're both coming up for 11 years old and have a few miles under their belts.

The 406 has the better chassis by far in terms of ride and comfort - the 306s I've had of that era were much the same as well.

The Golf runs rings round the 406 for hard cornering, and especially in the wet... but to be fair is cheating a little given it has bigger wheels / rubber... that, and no overhang for an arse.

If you want economy *and* performance, the Golf is much easier to get much more of both out of, at least it is when it's running 100% which mine doesn't appear to be going by the economy or rather lack of it over the last week.

The 406 is good on fuel and pretty powerful as standard, at least once you get it rolling... but you soon notice a big drop in economy once you start driving it 'spiritedly'.

Golf interiors wear much better than 406 ones... 406s come with far more toys as standard.

406 toys (and other electrical bits such as the clocks), tend to break on a more regular basis, but then Golfs have a tendency to kill window regulators and sunroof motors - no such problems here, given CL spec features neither. 406 rear ends appear to be hewn from solid granite judging by the mess made of the Rover that twatted it a couple of months ago, whereas the 406 came away with barely a scratch... I've yet to do a comparison of this with the Golf, and tbh, given mine is fairly mint and took ages to find, I'm in no particular hurry to do this particular comparison - only a matter of time though I reckon, given how much time I spend on rush hour M25 these days.

Neither is a bad car IMHO - they both resist rust well, they're both reliable (although Pugs tend to snap cables on a regular basis, but then that's what normally happens with cheap, neglected by cheapskates, diesels)... but then I'm biased given I own both, and I'd recommend a good example of both if someone found one and asked me if they were any good.

Oh... and neither have what I'd call a soft touch dash, although both have cupholders - they're called 'my hand'.

HTH

I've got a Japanese car... it just happens to have a Rover badge on it. ;-)

The big Hyundai thing was amazing - X30 or XG30 or something it was called, client of mine had one and it was mental - went well, had every conceivable toy, handled like a drugged donkey. Very comfy and quiet though.