Sign of the times...

Is that above or below expectations..?

Ya but not really designed to be quick...

As for the cutting out bit... heh... you got me...

Reply to
DervMan
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What?!

Quite the opposite; cars appreciate the mileage. I'd rather have a three year, 120K machine than a six year, 80K machine.

No, that'll be the engine...

Reply to
DervMan

And yet... most buyers at this end of the market don't care too much about rear seat space and care only for a passable nod at the back.

The Koreans have the small car concept just about spot on from the usable space issues.

Reply to
DervMan

The 1.5 into the Laguna? Blimey. Co2 special?

Reply to
DervMan

The last Evo that fell through the door is a 10th Anniversary one, and it has a little bit showing the top selling cars when their first issue came out, and now. 1st, 2nd and 3rd bestselling cars 10 years ago where the Escort, the Fiesta and the Mondeo. The article says that the Escort was top, despite being universally condemned as shit hehe :-) Today, they have

1st, 4th and 10th - which are the Focus, the Fiesta and the Mondeo respectively. Vauxhall, who had 4th 6th and 8th 10 years ago (Vectra, Corsa and Astra), now have 2nd, 3rd, 8th and 9th with the Corsa, the Astra, the Zafira and the Vectra. Back then, there was no VWs and no Beemers, but 9th and 10th were Rovers 200 and 400 hehe. Now the Golf is 5th and the 3 series is 7th. Peugeot had the 306 in 7th place 10 years ago, and Renault had the Megane in 5th, and now there is no Renaults but Peugeot have the 207 in 6th.

The article has other winners and losers snippets, winners being Aston Martin an Audi whos sales have gone a long way up. The losers are Rover, obviously, and Alfa Romeo as the 156 was launched in 1998 and by Alfa standards sold well, selling just shy of 10,000 in 2001. Its replacement, the 159, is yet to reach a third of that in total...

And finally, in 1998, only 15% of cars sold were diesels, and now it's 43%, and also now 1% of sales are hippy fuels.

Reply to
DanB

I'd rather not have something that has been owned by someone like me, who canes it from cold, doesn't give the turbo time to cool, doesn't back off over hump-back bridges and gets more maintenence than the least possible to maintain the warranty - if that.

Having seen how badly the Passat deteriorated over my use, I'm definitely not in the 'fleet cars good' camp anymore.

Reply to
SteveH

Yeah, it's more the couldn't than wouldn't.

It's hardly a transparent system... although not by design! ;)

Reply to
DervMan

Lots of people want small cars with 5 doors and space for their kids in the back.

Which is why the Meriva sells.

Then there's all the pensioners who also prefer more than 2/3 doors.

Reply to
SteveH

My Mondy doesn't. Covered 100,000 in 3 years. Drives like new.

Reply to
Conor

I'm sure my Mondy would convince you otherwise.

Reply to
Conor

Everyone says that.

They don't.

You think they do.

But, really, they don't.

I have a prime example on the drive.

I thought our old 156 drove very well. Then I bought one with 10k miles on it.

Reply to
SteveH

I'm sure in isolation it's fine.

Against one that's only done 10k miles is a different matter.

See my other post about our 156s.

Reply to
SteveH

Yes, they do, but once you're above and beyond the rear seat space of the

206 CC (as an example of token rear seats), as far as kiddies go, many people differentiate between three and five doors but decide to change the car rather than plan beyond the next three years. If you see what I mean.

Yes; but generally care more for other aspects than space. That's why there are so many five door previous-shape Micras on the roads...

Reply to
DervMan

It does. Also very little wear on the interior.

It does.

I've driven low mileage Mondys.

Reply to
Conor

I drove several when looking in the week before buying the one I have.

Reply to
Conor

Yup... I was surprised when I saw it on the company car list, but it exists.

No idea how good / bad they are, but a mate has experienced a Megane tourer (or whatever it is they call the estate), with the same lump, and said it was actually quite pokey, even fours up.

Reply to
JackH

Whatever you say.

I've had a low miles Passat as a courtesy car when I've had a service and have 2 mechanically pretty much identical cars on the drive with over 100k miles between them. I can tell the difference, despite the fact that the older 156 has been looked after and even had the suspension re-bushed.

Nothing wrong with a high miles car in isolation, but you're kidding yourself if you think that 100k miles hasn't affected the way it drives or feels.

Reply to
SteveH

I don't think there were any expectations really... just stating the current state of play.

Reply to
JackH

Nah I wasn't having a go at the Panda, what I meant was, the Panda has been designed to be inexpensive (and this is something I generally admire), but; did your buddy expect things to be falling off or rattling, and it's met these expectations? Or is it better?

Reply to
DervMan

Ya; it works well enough in the Megane and I don't doubt it won't work just find in the Laguna, but two things will scupper it. One is Snowlandia-scale gearing (so just throw in another ratio) and the other is the "stigma" of driving a 1.5 litre Laguna.

Reply to
DervMan

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