One line thoughts
- Thread starter Dr Who
- Start date
Grow up a bit and you'll realise that people do all sorts of things for all sorts of reasons!
I had a new insignia elite a few months ago - comfort and ride were fine. Wasn't overly firm and felt fine after a day doing a lap of the trossachs.
Satnav was fine but the system in my old Peugeot 508 was better - it didn't feel terribly modern or slick. The engine was surprisingly decent, but that electronic handbrake is a joke (it was silent and seamless in the 508, if the French can do it why does the insignia one make a huge noise and takes a few second to disengage?) and it still drives me mad that you can't rest your elbow on the door. Oh and if I ever meet the imbecile who decided that capacitive touch was a good idea for the climate buttons, I'm going to poke him in the eyes.
6/10 - fine, better than expected in some places, horrible in others
And sometimes people do things due to circumstances outside of their control.
![[TW]Fox](/data/man-of-honor/2009.png){kind=avatar}
Yea, it was an SRi VX-Line Nav. I don't know if it was an MY16 or not - it was a 65 plate.
Interesting, I have driven a few Insignias over the last 2 months and found them all comfortable over quite long journeys, one was over 3 hours and I am 6'5".
Don't get me wrong, up until these Insignias, I have not been a vauxhall fan, but I did manage to get the perfect seating position.
I never use the onboard Nav as they are NEVER as good as using google maps with live traffic, and google maps gets WAY more adventurous with the re-routing to save time. Just bluetooth my Note 4 to the car and have tunes/nav and phone all to hand.
As for why I am doing this, as I explained, I actually really enjoy the job, pull in as much as I was making in my employed role, and where else do you stand to drive a Brand new C63 AMG or Supercharged F-Type for a few hundred miles at someone else's expense, AND get paid for it! (not had either of those yet, but my colleagues have done a few). Okay, this weekend I have 300 miles in a 1.2 Corsa, but rough with the smooth and all that. I worked for 30 years in banking and financial services, made redundant in 2009, setup my own business to train Barclays Financial advisors, Barclays gave up financial advice, closed my business, wife died, went bankrupt, could no longer get a banking job. Trained as chef but hated it, training as driving instructor, pink licence expired so needed to fill in with some paid work til I pass my Part 3.
I have gone from earning £60k a year to closer £15k and I have remained optimistic and worked my ass off. So anyone who thinks they can judge me on what I choose to do now, at 50, when nobody even wants to give you a chance can KMA
We are limited on what fuel we can use, rely on the trip computer but remaining fuel and how much we put in shows whether it is accurate or not.
[TW]Fox;29118027 said:
BMW Z4 was a 2.3/5 I believe, can't remember and the font on the side was weird.
Audi A5 was a 2.5D I believe
Like I said, I am writing opinions compared to other vehicles I have driven not aiming to give a decisive review, eg the VX Insignia 2.0 pulled 60mpg which I thought was good for a 170ps car. The Golf pulled 54mpg which is good imho for a 1.4 petrol which is actually pretty darn brisk and smooth as silk.
Soldato
- Joined
- 17 Sep 2007
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- 11,117
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- West Yorkshire / Market Bosworth
This one tickled me
They are terrible. The hire car I had was all bling, black wheels, blacked out windows but the drive is awful. Actually felt dangerous on the motorway and desperately trying to accelerate down slip roads.
Vehicle mover? Do you mean your one if these types sat near motorway junctions holding trade plates hoping a nice trucker will give you a lift?
If so, don't take offence if Eddie Stobart trucks ignore you, we're not allowed passengers.
If so, don't take offence if Eddie Stobart trucks ignore you, we're not allowed passengers.
Soldato
- Joined
- 9 Oct 2006
- Posts
- 3,761
- Location
- here
There's nowhere for you to put your right arm and your left sleeve rests on the thouchpad for the audio system. On a few occasions I changed tracks and even went from audio to navigation without meaning to.
Vehicle mover? Do you mean your one if these types sat near motorway junctions holding trade plates hoping a nice trucker will give you a lift?
If so, don't take offence if Eddie Stobart trucks ignore you, we're not allowed passengers.
No Problem, I can do that, but my company pay me expenses for public transport.
Drove a fiesta 1.0 Ecoboost today, Ford have mastered getting all the worst driving characteristics of a diesel in a petrol car. Endless up and down the box, no power off boost and nasty vibration at low rpm's. Worse still driving it off boost and at 50 mph couldn't get over 47mpg. Will give it a proper run on Monday when I drop it off.
Diesels and low capacity eco engines are so much nicer with an auto box but this country has an unnatural attachment to changing gear in road cars for some weird reason.
Diesels and low capacity eco engines are so much nicer with an auto box but this country has an unnatural attachment to changing gear in road cars for some weird reason.
Soldato
- Joined
- 11 Sep 2013
- Posts
- 12,638
Oh man... I very sadly had to decline a VW Golf that was pretty much FREE to me, because I couldn't afford the insurance. Reading the OP really got me in the feels... 
http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/nissan-juke-believed-been-used-9622731
You asked...!
Well.....
http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/nissan-juke-believed-been-used-9622731
You asked...!
2014 Mercedes A200 CDI - Liking the looks, nice interior, good seats, handled well but OMG that engine/auto gearbox combo is a piece of junk. And start/stop made it's sluggishness even worse. Although I did used to regularly get 50mpg
2015 Audi A5 2.0TDI (170bhp) sport back - Nice looks, not a *huge* fan of the MMI but it works well enough, dials are nice and clear, engine is very smooth and refined, bit slower than I hoped, but usable. Feels solidly built and stable in the corners but oh my god, the steering. What a complete and utter deal breaker - so overly light with no feeling through it whatsoever. Reminds me of a Vauxhall Corsa C. And no xenons was disappointing. MPG was all over the place and not as good as I was expecting. Consumed fuel far quicker than I expected it to.
2014 Audi A4 2.0TDI - Unsurprisingly, exactly the same as the A5 down to the last detail. Except it felt quite a bit faster? Think it must be lighter. Still has that horrible steering.
2014 BMW 320d - Nice car, feels solid, interior is nice, steering feels like classic BMW, looks nice even with SE. Very impressed with the MPG, the performance it offers and the way it drives. iDrive is still the benchmark for in car entertainment. Unlike some others, I have no problem with the interior - seems to be fine. Didn't like how when you put it in Sport - everything became "Sport". I often just wanted the sharper throttle and the heavier steering, without the gearbox holding onto the gears.
Mini Countryman 1.6 auto - Handles well on the bends, very well, but jebus, the slowest car I think i've ever driven. Auto gearbox couldn't seem to work out what to do, constantly having to use all the revs to get it to move. Think it's a low powered, low torque engine in a relatively heavy car with an auto gearbox - it was never going to work.
BMW 116i F20 - I was dreading getting this as a courtesy car and groaned when they told me, but when I drove it, I was absolutely stunned. The turbo engine, and the low down torque, helped it infinitely and was an hoot to drive. Made a cool wastegate sound when you revved it. Very impressed with this car, even though on paper it's paltry BHP may put you off.
2015 Audi A5 2.0TDI (170bhp) sport back - Nice looks, not a *huge* fan of the MMI but it works well enough, dials are nice and clear, engine is very smooth and refined, bit slower than I hoped, but usable. Feels solidly built and stable in the corners but oh my god, the steering. What a complete and utter deal breaker - so overly light with no feeling through it whatsoever. Reminds me of a Vauxhall Corsa C. And no xenons was disappointing. MPG was all over the place and not as good as I was expecting. Consumed fuel far quicker than I expected it to.
2014 Audi A4 2.0TDI - Unsurprisingly, exactly the same as the A5 down to the last detail. Except it felt quite a bit faster? Think it must be lighter. Still has that horrible steering.
2014 BMW 320d - Nice car, feels solid, interior is nice, steering feels like classic BMW, looks nice even with SE. Very impressed with the MPG, the performance it offers and the way it drives. iDrive is still the benchmark for in car entertainment. Unlike some others, I have no problem with the interior - seems to be fine. Didn't like how when you put it in Sport - everything became "Sport". I often just wanted the sharper throttle and the heavier steering, without the gearbox holding onto the gears.
Mini Countryman 1.6 auto - Handles well on the bends, very well, but jebus, the slowest car I think i've ever driven. Auto gearbox couldn't seem to work out what to do, constantly having to use all the revs to get it to move. Think it's a low powered, low torque engine in a relatively heavy car with an auto gearbox - it was never going to work.
BMW 116i F20 - I was dreading getting this as a courtesy car and groaned when they told me, but when I drove it, I was absolutely stunned. The turbo engine, and the low down torque, helped it infinitely and was an hoot to drive. Made a cool wastegate sound when you revved it. Very impressed with this car, even though on paper it's paltry BHP may put you off.
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2016 420d XDrive M Sport: Handles well, interior is ok, engine and XDrive completely ruins it. Compared to the same engine in a 2013 5 Series it's noticeably less refined, intrusively noisy and the XDrive system saps so much of the power it never feels quick enough to give you the confidence to make overtakes without the sort of gap you'd want in a Fiesta.
It boggles the mind why everyone got so obsessed with 4wd.
It boggles the mind why everyone got so obsessed with 4wd.
