Pros and cons of your car (Pt. 2)

[Sharky]

Yes, I know I did this thread some months ago in the gravel trap but now that we have this excellent Road car forum I figured that re posting it perhaps isn't a bad idea.

So, simple questions. What car do you have, what do you love about it and what do you hate about it.

For me:
I have a 1996 Peugeot 205 GRi (55000 Kms)

Pros:
- Terrific fuel economy. Sometimes I forget to fill it abou (about once every 2 weeks) but I just need some change to buy enough gas to get me trough the day.

- Good performance for a 1.1L engine.

- Small size means that it's very easy to park which is a good thing because most parking lots at the uni have very small places to park.

- For some strange reason peugeot has a status similar to that of BMW or Merc over here (dunno why though). Well, maybe not that much nowadays but it still has a lot of status.....well above brands such as renault, Mazda, chevrolet....

-Visits to the mechanic are very rare and when they have to be made it's usually for minor things.

-The ride is very smooth and both the steering and gearbox have are very soft.

-The car looks so nice when it's clean....

- That CD stereo sounds soooooo nice. It really makes every traffic jam wothwhile.

Cons

- I think that when the designers designed the driving position they only had in mind small or medium size people. I'm relatively tall and the back of the seat is too short and my legs always end up touching the steering wheel even when I move the seat all the way to the back.

- The cabin loses it's adjustment with time and it starts making a lot of noises, in particular over irregular terrains. However it just takes a re-adjustment to fix that.

- Spare parts are by no means cheap.

- It gets dirty very easily. Dark colors look so nice when they're clean but i haven't been able to keep the car clean for more than a week and if more than two weeks without a visit to the car wash and people will start looking at you with disgust.

- Gap between first and second gear is too big.

So, how about you guys??

BTW, no replies will teach me the lesson that sequels are never good

[Wrex]

Hmmm, interesting topic Sharky

1998 Subaru WRX

Pro's

• *Very Fast - read em and weap Falcon & Cr*p-o-dore fans *Moff will talk about his Ducati now*
  
  *AWD is stunning - especially in the wet
  
  *Red makes it go faster
  
  *Great rap-around seats
  
  *Great Nardi steering wheel
  
  *I raced (and defeated) my friends porsche 996 (No rematch's)
  
  *Best performace car for the Money
  
  *Its cool to have a car that's in alot of games

Con's

• *Cops hate them
  
  *Insurance is over $2,100 per year
  
  *Ram-raiders dream - high theft rate *touches wood*
  
  *No CD player
  
  *No airbags - not that I need them *holding the wood now*
  
  *Someone backed into it and drove off and I have'nt found them yet
  
  *1 point left on my licence (again)
  
  *Now every man and his dog has one
  
  *Can't turn AWD off so I can have some fun
  
  *I'm selling it

[elephino]

2000 Nissan Pulsar SSS

Pros:
- Very sweet engine.
- Handles predictabely, if not quite the best around
- Yokohama A539 front tyres
- build quality
- good exhaust note
- cheaper than expected to insure
- excellent fuel economy on the open road

Cons:
- original Dunlop Performa tyres (lasted only 12,500km)
- fuel economy on premium unleaded (still not sure why)
- not exactly a new design anymore
- gaping hole in passenger door where the door lock used to be.

[Wrex]

Originally posted by elephino
- Yokohama A539 front tyres

I had these Yokies on my car and replaced them with some Dunlops - huge mistake. They were great. Now my car handles like a Holden

[Wolf]

Well, it's 1984 Fiat 126p...

Pros:
1. very cheap (£100)
2. fun to drive (twitchy)
3. very short wheelbase (1.86m)- great to drive in rain
4. engine where it should be (rear)
5. RWD
6. air-cooled engine
7. drum brakes (make you go spin-spin when applied in corner)
8. engine so loud that one doesn't need a radio
9. excellent seating position (one can get very far away from steering wheel and drive in almost reclining position with arms almost stretched out)
10. very cheap spare parts
11. good for chrash-course in mechanics (something that each owner *should* be familiar with)
12. because of it's size (3.11x1.38x1.33m) can be parked virtually anywhere
13. makes you go through corners as fast as possible, just to avoid the ordeal of accelerating (see cons 6.)
14. much younger than my previous '74 same make/model (bought and sold for, surprise-surprise, £100)

Cons:
1. needs lot of care
2. Hardy-joints seem to break very oft
3. not a lot of space in the back (especially if it's behind me)
4. Porsche 911 sized boot
5. 12" wheels
6. underpowered (24 BHP)
7. relatively high and narrow, not a best combination to prevent keeling over in sharp corners

[Airhead]

Umm OK.

BMW K1100 RS.

Pros (don't know any but am open to offers):

- 78 kws and 230 kilos
- goes fast
- able to carry two people in relative comfort
- is black
- panniers (saddle bags but better)
- handles OK
- reliable
- top speed (240 klms/hr)
- fuel consumption, 5 litres per 100 klms or 20 klms a litre

Cons:

- little heavy in the tight stuff
- I like V twins for 'feel' this is a 1100cc fuel injected four with ABS brakes and the best thing of all heated hand grips.

[Luigi]

Skoda 130 Rapid

Pro Nobody would steal it!

Con My wife won't drive it, she wants a Peugot 205!

[Wolf]

Luigi- how is that a con? I call it two pros... :lol:

[Vandas]

Mazda RX7 Series 2, 1983.

PROS:

- Cost me less than $2000, and all I need was a screen and tyres to pass roadworthy.

- Solid little 12A engine which can be very economical if I keep it under 3000 revs, but sucks fuel when I don't. I learnt this is a big hurry.

- Rails are the straightest ever recorded on an RX7 of this age. It will make a good future shell for our race car. I have been told by our pit crew, if I bend it they will break me. hehehe.

- Manual, first one I have ever owned (I am 21 and have only owned one other car)

- Can do most of the work on it myself, as our race car is a Series 2 Mazda RX7, and I have worked on a majority of sections of the race car.

- Only fits two people confortably. Now I can never be the designated driver ever again. hehehehe.

- If it gets stolen soon, I will have made a profit, as it is insured for over $6000.

CONS

- The 12A lacks a bit in the power department, would prefer at 13B.

- No boot space, so I can't use it when I go on holidays.

- Doesn't fit enough people, so I can't take everyone Wakeboarding.

- A lot of minor problems which need to be fixed for personal pleasure. ie. two or three switches, some interior, Dash, Clock.

- No Sunroof (but then again, can still use it for racing car)

- Not a Series 6.

[bella]

bmw 316i 1989/1990 shed.

pros -
**left indicator no longer ticks twice as fast as the other one (which arse put a lorry bulb in it?!)
**hurrah for standard top notch bmw handling! i may not be able to out drag most new beemers but sure as hell i can outsmart them on the roundabouts
**left hand drive. lots more visibility on motorways.
**french plates. ner ner traffic wardens..
**makes a nice noise when you put your foot down.
** top(ish) speed 112mph. it will go faster. i just chickened.
**good on petrol (averege 35mpg. YEAH baby.)
**my best friend.

cons -
**engine lifted stright out of a small childrens go kart.
**bloody heavy car.
**too big.
**not enough legroom in the back.
**clutch is wearing out.
**nowhere to put box of 6 chicken mcnuggets and sauce.
**no drinks holder.
**no cd player. tape player is phillips jobby that is connected up to factory standard giant headphones, which freak out at the first sign of fatboy slim or daft punk.
**too slow up to 80mph (saw sticker on the back of a camper thing once - 0-60 in 3 days. that's my shed..)
**gear ratios all wrong. can do 40mph in 5th. is screaming at 90mph.

that'll do for now.

[SL]

Nissan 200SX

Plus

Excellant acceleration in all gears.
Great handling in dry, incl power slides in 1 & 2
Leather seats
A/c
6 CD auto changer
Nice shape (in my view)
Low revs at high cruising speeds
Nissan reliability
Low servicing costs
Entertaining views of girls getting out of low slung cars in high
slung skirts
Passing Nova's whilst I'm in third at 80 mph

Minus

Low grip in wet under power
Tyre wear at rear (8,000 miles) possibly due to above power slides
Rattle under rear boot lid
Spark plugs at £16 each
Blue metallic gets very very dirty very very quickly
Boot space looks good but hinges require a lot of room
All Mondeo / Astra drivers know that they can beat me off at
the lights, then following their cars seeing the smoke / dust from
their exhausts as they rev to 7k RPM plus in the attempt.
Insurance costs
Unable to see front and back bumbers.


I really had to think of the minuses, all are outweighed by the pluses 10 fold All other 200SX drivers I have meet agree, very few cars come close for the price.

Simon

[Bluebottle]

I'll do them in size order:-
Mk 2 Granada 2.3 LX-
pros
It's big.
It can carry lots of stuff and four passengers in comfort.
Good towing car (with added 'Pump up the back end of the car so your lights don't point at the sky when towing' shocks)
Power steering and a decent sized engine make it an easy drive.

Cons
It's big
25 mpg
Can be difficult in small car parks

Series one Dutton Sierra (Ford 1600 crossflow)
pros
Two seats and a big load space
Great in traffic, small 'footprint' and fairly nippy.
Tight turning circle, great in small car parks.
Not very likely to be stolen (!)
Fibreglass won't rust

Cons
Only two seats
27 mpg
noisy (not a good noise!)
grotty paint

Vincent Hurricane
Pros
It's fun
Fibreglass won't rust
It's fun
It's noisy (good noise!)

Cons
25 mpg
Only two seats, but hey, who cares?
Hood don't fit very well, but who needs a hood?
Parts are sometimes difficult to find
Not as fast as it was, engine in need of a rebuild/replacement (110 000 miles since the last rebuild)

[Valve Bounce]

Volvo V70 AWD (the low version)
Pros: Great handling and road holding,
No wheelspin on wet roads under acceleration, nor even on icy patch on road to Thredboe,
Great safety features like SIPS and side air bags,
Great extras like TRACS, ABS, very good leak proof sun roof, great 9 speaker sound system, fog lights,
Low pressure turbo gives great low speed torque and good acceleration,
Very comfortable on long hauls,
Great to sit on rear compartment while putting ski boots on,

Cons: Expensive tyres and tyre wear rate is not good,
Rear axle hop on tight corners which I cannot find a solution to,
Not allowed to drive fast on winding roads
Not allowed to turn music up
Expensive service,
Lousy windscreen wipers,(too slow for heavy rain)
Cannot carry large objects like other wagons because of bar just behind rear seat about 1 metre above floor of rear compartment,
Other drivers hate Volvos and will get angry when I overtake,

[Wrex]

Originally posted by Valve Bounce
Other drivers hate Volvos and will get angry when I overtake,

Don't worry Valve, to sum of us, that would never happen

[DAVID PATERSON]

2000 Ford AU Falcon Futura 4.0 Automatic station wagon (estate car).

Pros:
157kw (210hp).
Room for five adults and LOTS of luggage.
Excellent towing ability with leaf sprung live rear axle.
Four wheel discs, ABS, 16" alloy wheels, cruise control and CD player all standard.
Local product and very popular, therefore service and parts are VERY easy to get.
7km/litre (20 mpg) when towing over 1 1/2 tons.
Err, umm......excellent tyre wear, it has done 46,000km (28,750 miles) and still wears the original tyres.

Cons:
It's a Ford, and everything that goes with that.
The AU Falcon is one of the ugliest cars ever built in Australia.
It handles much worse than my previous car, a Holden VT Commodore.
It sucks a lot more fuel than a VT Commodore.

[Sharky]

Ah, I just thought of a couple more cons and pros....

PROS
Very big glove compartment. Something very rare nowadays. Ideal for putting a lot of CD's with their respective cases and no need to buy one of those 10Cd packs.

CONS
No temporizer on the windshield wiper. Well, at least it has a "one touch" function

Vinil trunk cover means that everything slides and if you'0re carrying delicate stuff you'd better tie it up with something.