Why didn't you buy a JTD? You bought an Alfa, and have gotten used to diesels, you were still planning to be hacking the company miles when you bought the Alfa, so even though you got a particularly good deal when you did buy, why did you not get a JTD before that?
Because you can't a 156 JTD with any kind of mong box.
That only came along in the 159 and they were still very much 'HFM?' when I was looking for one.
What utter c*ck.
Jaguars used to run on 15 and 16 inch rims, and didn't have stupid low-profile tyres. The adoption of low profiles and large rims is a modern abomination, no doubt to pander to children who think that "bigger always means better". The reason that Jags had 15 or 16 inch rims was that the tyres were much better able to soak up the bumps in the road contributing to the famous Jaguar ride quality.
Welcome to the fold, brother. ;-)
Remember, I've always loved the torque of a turbo, but I guess since the lazy 8 in the Celsior, I don't feel the need to rev and want the boost whoosh without the revs.
too french
too sensible
Jag. 4 cyl. Manual. Diesel, FWD. you kidding?
Nice idea
Too dear - unless you go back to early 2ks Early 220cdis seem fine though, bit underpowered
Fair but probably too pricey.
What about Volvo S60 D5s?
It's also the reason many think the Alfa 156 is harsh - because facelift Veloce cars came with, ISTR, 18s on silly tyres.
Mine is on 16s with a decent sized profile, so it very compliant.
The MX5 is better in every single way. It doesn't have a chain, but it has a belt that is easy to change, Doug did his own for example. ISTR he said it was non-interference so it didn't matter if it went wrong heh.
Any experience of the Avensis D4D range? Interior looks nice, I notice it is mainly plain not patterned dark cloth or leather on the dark paint models. Which I do approve of.
I've not driven one, but, at a guess, dull as ditchwater.
Drove an estate. It's as dull as it looks.
It's "safe", i.e. boring.
The good thing about the Avensis was that it would be 720 miles to a fill without trying to drive economically. I reckon with attention to the loud pedal it would be possible to do 1000 miles on a run.
Well, my last 2 cars had 17s, and they were the smallest wheels that would fit over the brakes. That strikes me as a good reason for bigger wheels as well hehe! The profile was quite thick anyway at 45, well, 45 and 50 on the Vee, and in the R27 the ride quality was loooooads better than I expected. It didn't make it hard to drink coffee and it didn't all slosh out when I put it down either. Indeed, a friend of mine has a Clio3, same age as mine was, but her's is a 'Dynamique S' with the 1.2 turbo engine and it has 15s and the ride was definately better in the R27 which just seemed to handle bumps so much better, yet once you flung it into a corner it just stayed totally flat an level as if the suspension was just rock solid.
I think most stuff, especially luxury marques like Jaguar can afford to run thinner tyres these days because damping and suspension set-ups have got better. The XKR Clarkson was driving on the beach in Top Gear a few years back had huge 20s or something, and he mentioned it was nicer if you didn't spec the 'sport pack' or whatever it was called that gave you the big wheels (I think it added lower suspension as well?) as then you could have a very very fast car, that was still massively comfy on the road. The wheels that are on the cars without the 'sports pack' (I'm putting it in quotes cos I'm not sure what it's actually called) are still like, 19s though with skinny tyres heh!
Even my mum and dad's Mondeo Ghia X estate has 17s on it as standard, and that rides very, very well over the bumps - they just seem to smooth out as you go over them, mind you, it does weigh 1600kg or something so it may actually be smoothing them out.
Apparently according to long term reviews, sluggish in the first couple of gears, but better higher in the box, which is something Toyota have always done with their turbos to protect the box, but the performance improves with miles on them. There are higher performance versions, but it would be the 2.0 that would be in price range I reckon.
At least it should be solid, reliable, comfortable and economical. Cabbies can't be wrong when it comes to choosing cars that keep going with little outlay, and so far I admit I have been drawn back to the cabbies choice cars even if I didn't realise it before.
I'm going to spend hours, sat in traffic, a lot of the time at low speed. So probably the right kind of car.
You hated the Octavia because it was dull as ditchwater, yet you want something that's even worse in the character stakes?
Don't do it, it'll drive you insane.
It's not a car, it's a domestic appliance.
You'd _so_ hate it.
It's a sensible car, logically suited for what you want to do, but you've never applied rationality when considering car purchases before, so why should we expect any different now?
Even the octavia was the wrong one for sensible, and that was too dull for you.
On another note, Croydon minicab drivers are amusingly shit. Second one actually managed to break one of those keep-left signs after we got out. Actually, come to think of it, the first one was in an avensis, almost certainly diesel, and I can remember virtually nothing about it.
i was talking modern jag not old XJ that's different. new jag's have 18-20's on and they ride nice still.
drives ok, nicely built never had any come in with any kind of problems at work. i just find them a bit boring, like a passat i guess. perfectly ok car just dull. depends what you want though, a to work and back hack would be nice and there's a bit of room in them. find one with 17's though to feel out the big arches look a bit odd without them i always think.
huh the BMW was like that, little niggles which i lived with for 3 years before i thought 'bollocks i want newer and smaller' so got the mini. i was looking at fiesta ST's, clio 182's and was a bit tempted by a 206 GTi 180, then i went through all the £35 a year tax cars and set my eyes on a 206
1.4HDi but the ones that came into work were always wrecked inside! cos i suppose people use them as cheap run abouts so no one really cares bout them. Fiesta ST's were quite high on tax and insurance but i thought i could live with that but they lack a bit of grip when pulling away plus the new fiesta was coming out and i knew values would dive, did consider a 1.4 fiesta for the £35 tax but again abused! got put off Clio 182's cos there's a whole list of things that break and fail and unlike there advert i'd NEVER buy a renault! same with the GTi 180so i set my eyes on a mini cooper (not a cooper s cos of the £300 tax!) but then a tidy mini one come up at work so nicked that and saved a bit more in insurance, plus i thought i can always chip it :)
anyway back to your post i think a toyota D4D aint a bad choice especially if taking finance, reliable, pretty comfortable and nice inside not flashy but a well thought out interior like most toyota's
Go on then, now I've bought it you can tell me what they all were...
I know about these:
- remote fob taped together - fixed! New shell from EBay for £6
- Alarm messing about - diagnostic LEDs say it's the battery backup, so I'm getting a new NiCad pack for it
- boot central locking - negotiations under way to replace the motor
- steering lock, lack of - I'm looking at fitting 10-15mm spacers then removing the lock stops, maybe. Unless anyone can convince me small spacers are really bad news?
- check control display backlighting - simple fix, waiting for time to do it!
So... what else would you have fixed if you could? No comeback, I'm very happy with it, I just want to learn from your experiences...
ollocks.
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