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What do you look for in a car?
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| Despite the wealth of new and old media telling us what we should and shouldn't buy, the purchase of a new, or second hand car, is a very personal thing. What you want from a car probably isn't what I want from one, so how can any advice help you? | |
| Personally, I tend to choose cars according to performance and practicality rather than style, though that said, even if the Ssangyong Rodius was capable of 0-60 in 4 seconds and could do that all day without using any petrol whatsoever, I wouldn't be buying one. But, within limits, I'm looking for something with reasonably good performance, good handling, and I'd quite like it to be reasonably economical to boot. Oh, and I'd like it not to break down too often; actually I'd like it to never break down, even if I don't ever get it serviced. | | | Even though we all have different requirements, looking at other owners comments about their cars is an important part of choosing the right car. If you're in the market for a good car in the longer term, do look out for the surveys published in the major car magazines; they possibly don't tell the whole story, but they're interesting reading, and will help you narrow down your choices. | | | Here's a list of a few cars that we've seen topping a range of different surveys:- | | | If you're in the market for a sports car then, the Honda S2000 always seems to do well in these things. The owners love the car's reliability, responsiveness and sheer value for money. We're quite impressed by this; to our mind there can be little doubt that overall the Porsche Boxster is a better all round car than the Honda. But maybe there aren't enough Boxster owners taking part in these surveys, or maybe the Boxster's pathetically short 2 year warranty and its high price compared to that of the Honda lets it down? | | | At the opposite end of the Honda scale, we're always impressed by the performance of the Jazz in these surveys; it seems to be a front runner in so many owner feedback surveys, and yet you don't exactly see thousands of them on the road. Does nobody take any notice of these things. | | | Though a very different car to the Jazz, the story of the Lexus IS200 is similar. We don't have the figures, but it's pretty obvious that BMW 3 series sales are many times those for the Lexus IS200. And yet year after year, the smallest Lexus was top in its class, if not outright winner, of so many polls. | | | Skoda, we've noticed, tend to do really well in these surveys - better than SEAT, VW and Audi for example. Not the more prestige VAG marques do badly, it's just that Skoda do better. And yet again, we observe that the buying public ignores this and for the most part prefers to spend their money on a VW, or if they can afford it, an Audi instead of the equivalent Skoda. Are we still frightend of what our neighbours think of the badge on our cars? | | | Maybe the owners who take part in these surveys feel a particular need to sing the praises of their cars; the Skoda owners shouting 'no, they really are good cars', the Lexus owners trying to justify their choice of the Toyota prestige brand over the BMWs and Mercedes that their colleagues drive? We suspect that there's a bit of that, though it's equally likely that the Skoda, Honda, and Lexus cars get to the top because they've met their owners needs without fuss, and without excessive cost, and you can't ask for more than that. | | | At the bottom end of the surveys we often see the same cars over and over, and at times you have to wonder why anyone keeps buying them. Maybe the answer is they don't. Famously, the Vauxhall Frontera did particularly badly in a survey a few years ago, and was discontinued not long afterwards. | | | WIn one recent popular survey (Auto Express 2006) we see that the Rover 75 was rated best for comfort, and that its smaller relation the 25 was worst; it seems strange that a manufacturer would score so highly and so badly in the same category; why on earch could whatever it was that they did so well on the 75 could have been applied to the 25? Are Rover 25 owners more demanding, or did the Rover 75 owners convince themselves that they bought the car for its comfort (why else would you buy one) and as a result they felt honour bound to give it good marks in the survey? | |
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Other Information
| A new Mini Cooper S will be seen by the public for the first time at the Paris Motor show in September 2006. | |
| Ford's new Ka is due to arrive in the UK in 2008, and early indications are that it will be a popular new release. | |
| Toyota are said to be developing mind reading devices for inclusion in future models of their cars, and these will be used to adapt your car's settings according to how you are feeling. | | | But don't expect to your Celica, MR2, Avensis or Corolla adjusting itself to your mood any time soon. | |
| Hyundai have facelifted their popular Coupe once again, and it looks good. | | | The 'Korean Ferrari' has changed shape several times in its life and not always to the customer's liking. However, this latest revision, which will be on sale towards the end of 2006 looks great; the lines are leaner and meaner with a relatively agressive look from the front. | |
| Yet another peformance car built on the Golf platform will be available from early 2007 in the shape of the incredible Audi S3. | |
| A Californian Company (Tesla Motors) have developed a 100% electric version of the Lotus Elise with input from the Norfolk company. And before sports car enthusiasts switch off, thinking that electric cars are slow and boring, the new car is claimed to have a 0-60 time of about 4 seconds! | |
| UK Performance specialists Ralliart have released a 366bhp variant of the current Mitsubushi Lancer Evo. | |
| VW have stepped up the ante in the value for money stakes with their Blue Motion Polo; the new model is capable of over 72mpg and has a C02 rating of 103g/Km. | |
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