What is your dream car?

[Alby_da_Wolf]

Michael-5 said:

Alby_da_Wolf said:

 

My Fiesta TDDI is from April 2001, more than 10yrs old, but it has run quite few km, little more than 70000, as I park it on the road and in my town finding a parking is a nightmare, so I used often my parents cars, when they didn't need it, as they have a garage. So the engine is as new, but the body has lots of scratches, the salty mist from the sea whenever goddamm Sirocco blows, often with added scratching Sahara sand (yes, the wind carries it even here, thousands km north of it) made all the paing ugly and rough, the inner lining is swelling near the left forward window due to years of sun in the summer and high humidity in Spring and autumn in my rainy town, and forward suspension are gone, after years of bumps and holes on shitty roads, my mom gave them the coup de grâce hitting a curb when she drove it one day she was very nervous with a friend, thereafter, even changing the suspensions frame, it wasn't the same anymore, it's still nice and sincere to drive, but it makes sinister noises. Weren't for the latter trouble, I'd say it's still in an acceptable state considering it was always treated roughly, and the engine and gearbox are still excellent, steering is good and brakes decent and reliable. Also it still has its original battery and never had serious troubles except the suspension damage that's not Ford's fault. Fuel consumption is better than my mom's old Opel Corsa Turbodiesel, despite the Ford engine still being an older project, but having 7HP more, 75 for my Fiests, 68 for my mom's Opel.

About the BMW 1 Series diesel, it's just the diesel car I'd buy if I could afford it, but I don't think it will be possible next year, maybe if I keep my current car one more year and replace it not earlier than 2013 it will be far more likely, although not sure. BTW my mom's moving to Tuscany, but if I stay in my town I could be forced to look for a smaller car than the smallest BMW, as parking problems and stress are getting worse and worse here in Genoa, and being a town with a majority of some of the most retrograde and dumbest post-communist left-wing electors and politicians in Italy, that what's worse in the last 20 years have been often allied with the Greens, lately not nation-wide, but still quite regularly in local administrations, to keep the majority, future car-friendly solutions can be safely ruled out.

About FIAT, they had a bad reputation for unreliability in the past, particularly in USA, in Italy they are still the best seller city cars, but like Americans I don't trust them anymore, mechanics was good, but the rest was crap, and despite now more reliable they aren't anymore cheap as they used to be.

About Peugeot, I don't trust them anymore, either. In my family we owned two of them, a big, for EU standards, 505GL 7 seater SW and a 205GL citycar, as time went by assistance got worse and worse, spare parts more and more expensive, and curiously, despite Peugeot and Citroën sharing many parts (except the high-end Citroëns with oleo-pneumatic suspensions) and being built by the same corporation, Citroën assistance and spare parts are a lot better and cheaper now, it's been so for the last 15 years at least, I don't know why. Also, while the old 505 was almost as indestructible as the older 504, the 205 was quite unreliable, we replaced it when brakes started rusting inside the pipings and often not correctly releasing the grip after braking, becoming red hot. Also both suffered from overcomplicated Solex carburettors, that lately, with the general switch to fuel injection, workshops weren't able to correctly adjust anymore after the oldest mechanics retired. My mom got a Citroën C3 last time not only because it's the right city car/subcompact for her needs, with low fuel consumption, good performance on both highways and tight roads, not only in urban traffic, and enough space for when she travels with dog and cats and lots of luggage, but also because the Citroën dealer and workshop next to where she'll move is the most honest of the zone and even fixed her old Opel a lot better and cheaper than official Opel workshops.

About the Tesla yes, I looked again at the test I read, it's unbeatable in some tests on the straights, but in the tests at Vairano, a tight track used by Quattroruote, Italian biggest car mag, the Tesla made a not bad lap time, beating most sport-touring cars, but it was beaten by every supercar and even by the quite disappointing Lotus Evora, that's not as good as the less powerful but a lot lighter Exige Cup, and that the Tesla easily beats on the straights, and also by a muscle elephant like the Bentley Continental SS,more than 600HP, but heavy as a truck (Quattroruote was lured into testing the Evora by the hype it got in UK, but they were disappointed, unlike the Tesla, the Elise SC and the Exige, the Evora didn't even qualify for their "4 seconds club", taking more than 5s in the 0-100km/h, nevertheless it beats the Tesla in lap time). Note: Tesla was tested in a different issue of the mag from the one with the supercars test. BTW in last year's supercar tests of that mag, Nissan GT-R in that circuit was third behind Ferrari 458  and Lambo Gallardo LP570-4, but it beat Porsche 911 Turbo S. In that test the winner was the Lambo on lap time, but it was third in raw acceleration data, with Porsche first and Ferrari second in the 0-100km/h, and Ferrari first and Porsche second in the 0-200km/h. Ferrari had the best brakes, followed closely by Nissan and Lambo. Ferrari was also declared by the mag's test drivers and journalists the most amusing to drive.

Only 70,000 km? That's not a lot at all. Have you had any problems with it other then cosmetic?

To my knowledge, Fiat is the least reliable european car manufacterer. I find it funny that they bought out Crysler, the least reliable US car manufacterer, and by far, the least reliable cars on our streets.

I don't know much about small cars because we don't get as many in North America, but my pops own an old Diesel Smart car. However I think a diesel Fiesta is a cooler car to own. Since the BMW is too big, and where you live is bumpy as hell, your probably forced to get FWD.

However if it's possible, get the BMW. RWD is so awesome, and those little 1 series are fast as hell.

As for Peugot's, you know those numbers mean nothing to me? We don't get Peugots here... I know what a Citroen C3 is because of Top Gear and Forza, but my fnowledge of French car manufactuers is very very limited.

Hey....the Lotus Evora is awesome. >;-/ Needs a bigger engine, but since they source their parts from Toyota that's unlikely. I heard many of the upcoming Lotus's will be using BMW V8's (new Esprit, Elan, Estoque, etc)

For that last bit. I still like Porsche. I'm not trying to get a 911 because it's fast, I want it because it's a fast 4 seater coupe, that feels like a sports car. The Nissan GT-R only comes in auto, looks ugly, and is too big IMO to be a fun sport car to have. The 911 S or GTS both are naturally apriated (best noise, no turbo lag, power available through a wide spectrum unlike superchargers). and look like they are fun to drive in city streets (In Toronto, Canada, our streets are probably a lot wider then yours). I don't need too much, and if the base 911 is enough power for me, I might stick with that.

Ferrarri are really good at making cars nowdays. I hate how the Italia no longer comes in stick, but oh well. At least it drives amazing. Lambo have gotten too tame since Audi bought them, they will never produce a beast like the Diablo ever again, and the Nissan would be cool if it came in stick.

Yep, apart the suspension damage started by bumpy roads and made ca lot worse by my mom, only cosmetic problems. BTW, I like my 3rd series Fiesta, once I rented a 4th series and I liked it a lot too, but I'm not an enthusiast of the latest 5th series one, I don't like when a car size increases and its internal space decreases, and that's what Ford did with the latest Fiesta and Focus. Were they cars one buys only for fun, there would be no problem, but they are meant mostly for practical, everyday purposes, so no, thanks.

About Fiat, yes, your infos are quite right, although lately no other car we ever owned gave us as many troubles as the Opel Corsa (even a broken oil pump, and it has a few thousand km more than my Fiesta and it's just 2 months older).

About the Peugeot, the 205 was a city car, its GTI version at its time was faster than the VW Golf/Rabbit GTI. The 505 was some years older, a quite normal family sedan with also a SW version. BTW, when I was a little kid I hated the Citroën DS, I called it "the unbuilt car", now I love it, I started loving Citroëns since the CX, those oleo-pneumatic suspensions (that were first mounted on the DS, but I was too little to appreciate them when that car was still quite common) that once equipped even their compact models (only Citroën city cars and subcompacts had "normal" suspensions once) amazed me. Now they are still excellent and advanced cars, with great value for price, for EU standards, but alas only the high-end models still have those suspensions.

About the Evora, I have never driven it, neither I drove the Exige, so I must trust what I read on tests, and according to what I read the Exige is a lot closer to my tastes. Also, I guess Quattroruote bashed it mostly due to the excessive expectations they had due to their English colleagues' hype for it.

About the 911, I agree about the aspirated ones, I like the turbo more on diesels.

By "stick" I guess you mean the manual gearbox, actually, despite losing a few tens seconds on times, if you aren't a real ace, a good manual gearbox gives a maybe better sensation, although test drivers and car journalists that have the luck to try all those wonderful cars swear the latest robotized and dual clutch gearbox now mounted on most supercars are wonderful too.