Quite morbid but this happened all over New York rail stations/airports post 9/11Mint Subaru Legacy, anyone? It’s going free, just sat in a Tesco car park for a few months. Find it odd that they haven’t done anything about it tbh.
Quite morbid but this happened all over New York rail stations/airports post 9/11
Happened in Dubai too when the gov cracked down on all the shady tax shenanigans going on.
I bet that Subaru would fire right up and drive you to Cape Town if you wanted it to though, those things are tanks.
Not worth its own thread really and this seems as good a place as any!
I took this out for a drive the other day:
I've spent the last 2-3 months agonising over buying a GT car. I'm massively conflicted on exactly what I want from a car, but broadly I want something that is able to take the mrs and I to anywhere in continental Europe in relative comfort but also be able to enjoy the best roads that Europe has to offer when I get there. The M5 was utterly brilliant on motorways and fast A-roads but as things start to tighten it became less brilliant. Not to the point of annoyance as such but you're aware you're managing the weight and the brakes more than you're enjoying the scenery. Doing a full day of B-road driving in it was draining in ways that the M2 wasn't.
I've discounted the Bentley Continental GT for the same reasons as the M5 - undoubtedly the best way to get from A to B along motorways but it weighs about the same as the QE2 and feels about as agile. I gave serious consideration to the DB11 AMR and new Vantage - the latter is surprisingly capacious when it comes to luggage and while it is very sporty it isn't as draining on long drives as you might expect. I also looked at the Ferrari California T after deciding there was simply no way I wanted to actually own the car which originally started this whole thing, the 599. For me the 599 was simply too big, too old, too mental to run. The Cali T Handling Speciale is a nice car, looks ace in the right colour and sounds good. But the interior felt... flimsy? Gorgeous material quality in terms of tactility but I couldn't help but feel like the perceived quality was really poor. You'd be alright if the car was £50k but at well over twice that, it wasn't good enough and the rest of the package didn't make up for it.
So, I'd got to the point where I'd more or less decided on the DB11 and accepted that it is dynamically compromised (but not enough and not in the same way as the M5 to put me off) when I happened across a review of the McLaren 570GT. After some digging around, chatting to a few people and so on I arranged to pop into McLaren and explore the new McLaren GT...
I've got to be honest, I didn't really know what I was expecting. Immediately, it is a LOT smaller in person than it looks in photos. Yes, it is bigger than any other McLaren and a lot less shrink-wrapped/taut but I don't think that is a negative thing, personally. The ride is surreal - at least as good as my Range Rover's air suspension and miles better than the M5 although it is inescapably much more noisy than any other car I've considered. Not too noisy, but noisy nevertheless. This is without the 720S's linked dampers etc. Performance is what it is, 611bhp from what is essentially a detuned 720S engine. Certainly would have the legs on the DB11 AMR pretty much from any speed to any speed but only if you were in the right gear. Catch it off guard and in too high a gear and there's one, maybe two eternities of waiting for it to wake up. Cornering is predictably on another level meaning overall performance is a stratosphere above the DB11. Interior fit and finish I would put above both the DB11 and Cali T but nowhere near the Conti GT. Luggage space is actually pretty impressive. I had my doubts but it is usable and I could easily fit luggage for two for two weeks in it without feeling packed in. 150L in the frunk, ~400L in the back although the shape is awkward. Using soft luggage and packing smart you could probably do an even longer trip.
In many ways it is just another McLaren with the edges rounded off but, while there is no way I'd want to buy a 720S for what I want from a car, this ticks every box. Am I going to buy one? Watch this space!
Nope... 720S
Easy to just throw out a quip but the 720S could not do the job of a two week road trip around Europe for me. I don't mean driving to a single hotel somewhere and then short jaunts out, I mean a proper trip in a different hotel each night etc. I'm not looking for a super-focussed sports/supercar, I am looking for a GT that doesn't disappoint when off the motorway. Of all of the cars I have considered, the McLaren GT is the most exciting with some significant but acceptable compromises on the motorway side of things.
Oh, and I don't give a stuff about what the puritanical McLaren fanboi brigade think of the GT either, I'm buying a car for me and what I need and nobody else
I see… you haven’t driven a 720S or tried fitting suitcases.
It fits 2 carry ons in the front and a large bag on the shelf behind the seats… more than enough for 2 weeks for 2 people, as I did many times over the 30,000km I did in mine.
It’s more comfortable in comfort mode than most GT cars on the market… save for a Bentley or Rolls.
Then it excels in all other areas too.
Given the price points of used models, it doesn’t make any sense to buy a GT over a lightly used 720S. For YOU or anyone else.
I now see the type of poster you are. While there's basically no point in continuing to discuss this with you, I would suggest that perhaps you shouldn't assume that just because a car works for you/your lifestyle it automatically means it will work for everybody else. Some people might consider two weeks out of a single carry-on bag to be a stretch too far, requiring a greater volume of luggage space and thus drawing them to, you know, GT cars with greater storage capacity.
Have you driven an AMG GTR? Not talking my book up but for what you outline a good fit. It's like the Aston but better in every way bar the badge and subjective stuff. Image is not for all and I understand that, but for what you cover in your first paragraph perfect. Will waft along in silence in comfort mode, decent damping (for this type of car) and then come to life when you need it. Boot space will carry 2 decent size suitcases and other stuff as well.Not worth its own thread really and this seems as good a place as any!
I took this out for a drive the other day:
I've spent the last 2-3 months agonising over buying a GT car. I'm massively conflicted on exactly what I want from a car, but broadly I want something that is able to take the mrs and I to anywhere in continental Europe in relative comfort but also be able to enjoy the best roads that Europe has to offer when I get there. The M5 was utterly brilliant on motorways and fast A-roads but as things start to tighten it became less brilliant. Not to the point of annoyance as such but you're aware you're managing the weight and the brakes more than you're enjoying the scenery. Doing a full day of B-road driving in it was draining in ways that the M2 wasn't.
I've discounted the Bentley Continental GT for the same reasons as the M5 - undoubtedly the best way to get from A to B along motorways but it weighs about the same as the QE2 and feels about as agile. I gave serious consideration to the DB11 AMR and new Vantage - the latter is surprisingly capacious when it comes to luggage and while it is very sporty it isn't as draining on long drives as you might expect. I also looked at the Ferrari California T after deciding there was simply no way I wanted to actually own the car which originally started this whole thing, the 599. For me the 599 was simply too big, too old, too mental to run. The Cali T Handling Speciale is a nice car, looks ace in the right colour and sounds good. But the interior felt... flimsy? Gorgeous material quality in terms of tactility but I couldn't help but feel like the perceived quality was really poor. You'd be alright if the car was £50k but at well over twice that, it wasn't good enough and the rest of the package didn't make up for it.
So, I'd got to the point where I'd more or less decided on the DB11 and accepted that it is dynamically compromised (but not enough and not in the same way as the M5 to put me off) when I happened across a review of the McLaren 570GT. After some digging around, chatting to a few people and so on I arranged to pop into McLaren and explore the new McLaren GT...
I've got to be honest, I didn't really know what I was expecting. Immediately, it is a LOT smaller in person than it looks in photos. Yes, it is bigger than any other McLaren and a lot less shrink-wrapped/taut but I don't think that is a negative thing, personally. The ride is surreal - at least as good as my Range Rover's air suspension and miles better than the M5 although it is inescapably much more noisy than any other car I've considered. Not too noisy, but noisy nevertheless. This is without the 720S's linked dampers etc. Performance is what it is, 611bhp from what is essentially a detuned 720S engine. Certainly would have the legs on the DB11 AMR pretty much from any speed to any speed but only if you were in the right gear. Catch it off guard and in too high a gear and there's one, maybe two eternities of waiting for it to wake up. Cornering is predictably on another level meaning overall performance is a stratosphere above the DB11. Interior fit and finish I would put above both the DB11 and Cali T but nowhere near the Conti GT. Luggage space is actually pretty impressive. I had my doubts but it is usable and I could easily fit luggage for two for two weeks in it without feeling packed in. 150L in the frunk, ~400L in the back although the shape is awkward. Using soft luggage and packing smart you could probably do an even longer trip.
In many ways it is just another McLaren with the edges rounded off but, while there is no way I'd want to buy a 720S for what I want from a car, this ticks every box. Am I going to buy one? Watch this space!
[USER=47953]@Housey I went to Mercedes and got the usual abhorrent Mercedes dealer treatment. We went in to look at a brand new EQA for the mrs and then an AMG GTR. Wouldn't unlock even the EQA and even after demonstrating more than sufficient ability to buy both on the spot they didn't change their attitude. They offered to take our number and call us to make an appointment which of course they didn't call. I had a similar experience as an actual Mercedes owner years ago and vowed never to go back but gave them this one more chance and they blew it. I have many friends with near identical dealer experiences and that's killed my interest in the brand stone dead now. McLaren, Ferrari and Aston Martin were nothing like this at all, with each of them going out of their way to make me feel welcome. You would imagine those brands to be more like the Merc experience due to the sheer number of dreamers they must get but nope.[/USER]