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quote: Originally posted by Palmira:
Lexus LS430. Totally over-rated and total rubbish.
 Mwahahahahaha.... Now, now don't be shy Palmira. Spit it out...say what you mean! Very accurate statement though. The private hire company that my company uses has just bought one. Now, when I call them, I always mention that I do not want to be picked up in an LS430. Imagine the shame if someone saw me at T1 or T4 getting out of one! Mwahahahahaha...
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quote: Originally posted by barky: quote: Originally posted by Palmira:
Lexus LS430. Totally over-rated and total rubbish.
then there's the sc430   then there's the cars that should have been strangled at birth: ford edsel, pontiac aztec ........ or should that be a new thread ???
The Edsel was a good idea, it had alot of interesting features for a 1950s design, but politician Ralph Nader's book "Unsafe at Any Speed" saw it slated for lack of safety features and it did not sell. At its launch, thousands of people came to the showrooms to look in awe at this radical car, but nobody was buying. OOOo god yes the SC430 - thats ghastly too. Buy an SL instead which is a proper car. |
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quote: Originally posted by Palmira:
The Edsel was a good idea, it had alot of interesting features for a 1950s design, but politician Ralph Nader's book "Unsafe at Any Speed" saw it slated for lack of safety features and it did not sell. At its launch, thousands of people came to the showrooms to look in awe at this radical car, but nobody was buying.
seem to remember edsel was product of a ford customer survey on the perfect car [or something] but by time it went on sale everbody had moved on ....... go on, tell me i didn't just dream that up ????
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Two junior particle physicists were dismissed today after using the Large Hadron Collider to smash conkers into each other at near-light speed.
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This is probably right - the 1990 Escort was a product of a customer survey too. Ford thought they ought to ask perspective buyers what they wanted in a car- they listened to the responses and the ensuing car was rubbish.
Best to let engineers & senior designers design cars, and the general public to get on with what they should be getting on with. Doing the washing up for example.
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Re: Escort Disaster The trouble is, they probably only went with public a opinion if a certain threshold in popularity was reached, thus if 50% was the winning line (in true Family Fortunes style): We asked 100 Punters at a meeting of the Bryan May fan club what the top feature they wanted to see in their next car, and our respondents said: 55 Wanted Bryan May in a cheesy song about driving 25 Wanted good handling 15 Wanted Reliability and 5 Wanted good looks So, we did exactly what the customer wanted and let loose Mr May (the rest of Queen too embarrased I think)... Imagine the scratching of heads when the car flopped! Ok, that's a bit silly, but probably not a million miles off the mark...
---Oily---
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Subaru SVX  I've only ever seen 1!!
I'm no 4Car, I Live 4 Cars!
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quote: Originally posted by OilBurner:
Re: Escort Disaster
The trouble is, they probably only went with public a opinion if a certain threshold in popularity was reached, thus if 50% was the winning line (in true Family Fortunes style):
We asked 100 Punters at a meeting of the Bryan May fan club what the top feature they wanted to see in their next car, and our respondents said:
55 Wanted Bryan May in a cheesy song about driving
25 Wanted good handling
15 Wanted Reliability
and
5 Wanted good looks
So, we did exactly what the customer wanted and let loose Mr May (the rest of Queen too embarrased I think)...
Imagine the scratching of heads when the car flopped!
Ok, that's a bit silly, but probably not a million miles off the mark...
Brilliant analagy, and actually quite close to the reality of what happened! |
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svx is a superb car...i will have one...soon....totally agree with yer analogy about customer 'clinicing'...picture the scene...you are a top engineer..you admire elegant mechanical solutions, you abhor wasteful overweight products, you love the perfectly balanced scalpel like feel of the fine sportscars you design.....then mr piech calls and says, ja, ve haf ze results from our latest clinic und ze public vant a jeep...make me a cayenne......how happy are you???
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Hyundai Stella Datsun Cherry What was the car that Alfa and Datsun/Nissan built together? It should have been the best of Italian design with Japanese build quality but ended up Japanese design and Italian build quality. I think Clarkson blew one up!
I live 4 cars me.....
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quote: Originally posted by khanie:
What was the car that Alfa and Datsun/Nissan built together? It should have been the best of Italian design with Japanese build quality but ended up Japanese design and Italian build quality. I think Clarkson blew one up!
alfa romeo arna a.k.a. nissan cherry europe
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Two junior particle physicists were dismissed today after using the Large Hadron Collider to smash conkers into each other at near-light speed.
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Mahindra Jeep thingy
Alfa 6
I was going to go for the Nissan Cherry Europe but got beaten to it.
Subaru SVX is a brilliant car, I would love one!
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quote: Originally posted by barky:
more to add:
amc pacer
amc gremlin
chevvy corvair? [rear engine one]
all fwd ford escorts [cept original xr3]
all ford fiestas mk2 on >
All fiestas post MKII - your life has been too comfortable - has anything bad ever happened, the MKIII handled great, witht he 1.3 OHV engine it was reliable and I only know of two people killed when driving them - one apparently by the early drivers airbag - snapped the neck clean in two - funny looked alright with the brown paint after a day or two. You want bad, try Trabant with the heating, you can't turn it off by design and in the UK that means you cook and the insurance is through the roof unless on classic
Fuelled by diesel, fired by Red Bull
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pal had a mahindra and christened in ma-hindrance.....says it all.....stanza was unremittingly poor....not a big fan of nissans tbh...like the old 240/260z..even got a soft spot for the lardyass 280...but the 300 onwards...not for me...tho i quite like the escargot, even tho its just a micra with a beret on....
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Scooby SVX - 3.3 litres of techno 80's wonderland, side windows were a nightmare though and I could have done a better job of the electrics I have destroyed nations with my soldering iron - or was that my self igniting Triumph Stag? - which shouldn't be forgotton, not because its any good but because if you neglect to notice them, like if you forget to do exactly what Bush says, you're gonna fry sunshine
Fuelled by diesel, fired by Red Bull
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quote: Originally posted by OilBurner:
Re: Escort Disaster
The trouble is, they probably only went with public a opinion if a certain threshold in popularity was reached, thus if 50% was the winning line (in true Family Fortunes style):
We asked 100 Punters at a meeting of the Bryan May fan club what the top feature they wanted to see in their next car, and our respondents said:
55 Wanted Bryan May in a cheesy song about driving
25 Wanted good handling
15 Wanted Reliability
and
5 Wanted good looks
So, we did exactly what the customer wanted and let loose Mr May (the rest of Queen too embarrased I think)...
Imagine the scratching of heads when the car flopped!
Ok, that's a bit silly, but probably not a million miles off the mark...
I have had 3 Escorts and entirely agree with you. Why didn't I learn? Why such torture? When the Mk 5 turned out to be pants (Yes I had one), what did Ford do? Change the rear lights and the very front of the bonnet. Cost £6.53. Genius. Saw sense and no more Escort related nonsense since!!
I live 4 cars me.....
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quote: Originally posted by AndyCardiff:
Datsun Stanza. My dad had a 4 door saloon version. Metallic light green over silver. Hideous
I hired a Stanza in 1988 and I thought it was OK, mind you I had a Talbot Horizon at the time! So my judgement was clearly no good! Another nomination; Polo Harlequin. Actually saw one on Sunday |
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..polo pikey cut n shut.....one car, looks like several.....
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quote: Originally posted by khanie:
I have had 3 Escorts and entirely agree with you.
Why didn't I learn? Why such torture?
When the Mk 5 turned out to be pants (Yes I had one), what did Ford do? Change the rear lights and the very front of the bonnet. Cost £6.53.
Genius. Saw sense and no more Escort related nonsense since!!
Good for you. Last one of these I had was the last of the old shape cars from 1990. Orion Ghia 1.6i - Just like an old mans XR3i!  I looked to replace it with a 90s Escort, OH DEAR! What a step backwards..... So I got a Mondeo instead, now that *was* a good car, although technically ford invented the invisible car with that one!
---Oily---
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quote: Originally posted by biggbn:
..polo pikey cut n shut.....one car, looks like several.....
LOL! The Harlequins! I actually saw one of those on the road (once!), must have been a demo car bought by a sales manager for a laugh! Probably ended up in the crusher a couple of weeks later....
---Oily---
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quote: Originally posted by Milky: Subaru SVX I've only ever seen 1!!
I've just seen a YELLOW SVX (and it was yellow in capital letters !). I sometimes see a silver one at the cash and carry, yellow really didn't suit it. It looked a bit like an updated Gamma Coupe....? |
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quote: Originally posted by OilBurner: quote: Originally posted by biggbn:
..polo pikey cut n shut.....one car, looks like several.....
LOL! The Harlequins! I actually saw one of those on the road (once!), must have been a demo car bought by a sales manager for a laugh! Probably ended up in the crusher a couple of weeks later....
Nice and easy to repair body work though - you could get a new panel and it wouldn't matter what colour it was, just stick it on.
I live 4 cars me.....
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I had the original Polo harlequin, Mk1 Coupe that was chistened "The Rubic Cube" as no two panels were the same colour. Even with a few tins of VW Burgandy spray paint for the worst panels (some were white, one yellow and it had a blue hatch !) it never look right.
That thing had panels thicker than Panzer armour plate, poor thing struggled to move under it's own power and took some stopping once you had some momentum !
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mark 2 escort
mark 4 cortina
fed up of losing the back end every time you go round a bend..
and the engine stopping every time it rains.
thank god ford changed to front wheel drive with the mark 1 fiestas i wouldnt be here now being able to go round a bend at 80 and not lose the back end..
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zero grip but very controllable..my memory of my second car..a mk2 escort van with 1300gt engine....taught me the difference between oversteer(fun)..understeer(inconvenient)..and an amazing condition called no-steer usually encountered when i had too many mates crushed in the back causing the nose to point up to the sky(terrifying!!)...ah memories...3 engines in 8 weeks as i recall..probably goes a long way to explain my general distaste for the blue oval products....would have had nothing too do with my youthfull 'exuberance' wi the loud pedal...oh no....honest...
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