Micra buyer's guide?

TempestSabre

Yes cantdecide (or read apparently) I'm agreeing with you :rolleyes:

TempestSabre wrote:

....Cantdecide is talking about a different scenerio....

[HINT] that means not this one.

Ratchet

i love when people go in to this discussion about what cars you can buy for the money and at the same time are ready to save the earth by seting .org website about space crusade to Mars ....... where buyer gets fed up of reading non micra related info and just goes to first dealer and buys micra anyway.

looks like he was looking for advice on specific small car.
so instead offering him old beemer with high milage

could you just concentrate on his questions and then suggest alternatives????

some people need small car simply due to:

running costs
town only driving
reliability
lady driver which needs solid car without spending the difference on running it

etc etc.

colm_mcm

Cantdecide: You're as entitled to your opinion as anyone else, but you seem to be on a crusade to get people who are driving-or who want to drive small cars into bigger, older cars. You have repeatedly insulted and stereotyped these people in this and other threads, and despite your varied use of analogies you seem to repeat yourself over and over.

cantdecide

i didn't create the stereotype.



i want to see people out of microscopic deathtrap, toy cars. they have no business in ireland. my crusade is to get people to realise they are risking their lives for a perceived saving. maybe people don't like being told their perceptions are wrong. i'm sure a micra/ yaris/ ka suits some people down to the ground, but not half enough to justify the amount you'll see overtaking nothing in the overtaking lane doing 80 in the rush hour traffic.




ps just to clarify- i'm not suggesting we should all buy knackered old M3s. I'm suggesting people who spend almost 20k on a city car in ireland should have their head examined. you are not economizing correctly.




pps i think it's you're the one who isn't understanding me. maybe you should open your ears.

TempestSabre

How is an old big car safer than a modern car with proper crumple zones, ABS and a ton of airbags.

Our man in Havana

cantdecide wrote:

i didn't create the stereotype.



i want to see people out of microscopic deathtrap, toy cars. they have no business in ireland. my crusade is to get people to realise they are risking their lives for a perceived saving. maybe people don't like being told their perceptions are wrong. i'm sure a micra/ yaris/ ka suits some people down to the ground, but not half enough to justify the amount you'll see overtaking nothing in the overtaking lane doing 80 in the rush hour traffic.




ps just to clarify- i'm not suggesting we should all buy knackered old M3s. I'm suggesting people who spend almost 20k on a city car in ireland should have their head examined. you are not economizing correctly.




pps i think it's you're the one who isn't understanding me. maybe you should open your ears.

Are you suggesting that micras are unsafe?

cantdecide

Bond-007 wrote:

Are you suggesting that micras are unsafe?

i've seen one stuck under the tail lift of a truck, up to the windscreen. in the cab, you're very close to what you've hit, when you crash

Our man in Havana

The same can be said of any small car & any medium car in fact the only way to stay safeish is to drive an artic.

maidhc

cantdecide wrote:

ps just to clarify- i'm not suggesting we should all buy knackered old M3s. I'm suggesting people who spend almost 20k on a city car in ireland should have their head examined. you are not economizing correctly.

I agree with what you are saying, but the fact remains some people want a new car with a 3yr warranty and all that, and don't have more than 20k to spend.

BTW for 20k you could get an Octavia 1.4

cantdecide

maidhc wrote:

I agree with what you are saying, but the fact remains some people want a new car with a 3yr warranty and all that, and don't have more than 20k to spend.

BTW for 20k you could get an Octavia 1.4

top class. that is a very clever car for yaris money. probably with a decent warranty as well. which would you prefer?

cantdecide

Bond-007 wrote:

The same can be said of any small car & any medium car in fact the only way to stay safeish is to drive an artic.

please

TempestSabre

cantdecide wrote:

i've seen one stuck under the tail lift of a truck, up to the windscreen. in the cab, you're very close to what you've hit, when you crash

please indeed.

Exactly what stops a car with a longer bonnet going under a tail lift? Or under a jack knifed trailer? Nothing. Even if there are no intrusions into the cab the sudden deaccceleration will kill you. The aim these days is to cushion the impact with airbags and a crumble zone, all so the body deaccelerates slower.

Look at the example 5th gear did with a smart car into a concrete barrier at 70mph. Hardly any intrusion into the cab. You could still open the doors. Its even smaller than a micra.

TempestSabre

maidhc wrote:

I agree with what you are saying, but the fact remains some people want a new car with a 3yr warranty and all that, and don't have more than 20k to spend.

BTW for 20k you could get an Octavia 1.4

You could get a Porsche 911. You could get a S Class Merc. You could buy a share in a Light Aircraft. Whats the point in arguing that you can an older (completely different) product cheaper than a newer one. You might aswell argue you could get a 15yr old 2.8 V6 Passat cheaper than a 4yr old 1.0 Polo. How does that help if it does 20mpg and costs you 3k to insure.

colm_mcm

Just to pick you up on a earlier point cantdecide:

A new Yaris has a 5 star crash rating, and on any models that will come even close to Octavia money, you will have front, side, curtain and a drivers knee airbag. You really don't have a clue about what makes a car safe

cantdecide

"Smart" car.

"the thinking person's..."

you'd want to be soft in the head just to fall for the marketing. if that's not example enough of the car companies reponding to the fancies of the person who couldn't care less about cars, i don't know what is. they clearly don't care what ends up clogging our overtaking lanes but they do know that most car haters (as i call them) fantasize about driving for free and they don't care as long as it has their brand on it.
nissan. on one hand, the skyline- car lover's car. on the other, micra-car hater's car. simple marketing. who will make the better choice in this instance, the car lover or car hater?
i don't play golf but if i did, i wouldn't march into maher's golf emporium and demand a very specific set of new clubs, just because i have a voice in the back of my head telling me they are a very cheap brand.
even the car companies know they're crap cars, that make people feel like they've just made an intellectual and informed decision.

what's sadder is defending a poor choice of car.

whether you want to spend €1k, €2k, €5k, €10k, €20k or €100k on a car, only rarely can you conclude that the small car's economy outweighs it's value(i mean, if you're so hard up....). in fact, the real cost of running ALL cars is very similar.
insurance depends mostly on your sex, age and experience (i've never heard of insurance companies using insurance ratings, i am only aware of this existing in the uk). if you already spend €50 on petrol per week, why not spend €60 and have a decent car. if your tax per year is €350 why not spend €500 and have a decent car.
my point is that at all ends of the scale, excluding purchase price, there is no point in compromising the driving experience for a small cash saving. motoring is expensive no matter what you do. spend 10% more cash, get 1000% better value for it. not spending the little extra is madness to me.


(may i also hazard a guess that lots of you have bought some of these lumbering shopping trolleys for your respective significant others on the pretence of they being practically devoid of expense)


ps i don't really care about what makes a car safe but i do know my sister nearly lost her life in one when someone hit her when they were crossing the dual carriageway and when everything was sorted she swore she would never again drive anythng which leaves you so exposed.
now, i'm fed up of talking about crap cars.

colm_mcm

I think you'll find "The thinking person's small car" was used on the Kia Piccanto

also your repetitive nonsensical anti small car rant is getting on a bit

cantdecide

kia piccanto, another crap car not worth buying no matter how cheap you think it is.



lets all rush out and buy one.

one thing is clear in this debate, people will work hard to defend their ignorance. now the defender- that's a good car:rolleyes:

maidhc

cantdecide wrote:

now the defender- that's a good car:rolleyes:

It a fine tractor, but a car it sure ain't.

cantdecide wrote:

there is no point in compromising the driving experience for a small cash saving. motoring is expensive no matter what you do. spend 10% more cash, get 1000% better value for it. not spending the little extra is madness to me.

So long as you accept for some the "driving experience" is as relevant as the washing dishes or ironing clothes experience.

More people don't have the extra 10% cash. Anyway, you cant run a skyline for 10% more than a micra, it would cost about 100% more.

colm_mcm

I'm not defending the Piccanto, as small cars go, it wouldn't make my top 10. but you must realise that in small cars such as a Yaris, people get a very safe car, with 3 years warranty and roadside assistance, good fuel economy and good resale.
These things mightn't get you very excited, but these are real reasons people have to buy particular cars.

I love cars, and love driving big comfortable cars, but at the same time I realise that some people spend their days zipping through traffic, parking in tight spaces, and spending the running costs of a bigger car on real life things such as kids and a mortgtage.

I have to take you up on your theory that a big car (lets say a "real car" like a BMW 318) doesn't cost that much more to run than a "lumbering shopping trolley" like a Yaris 1.0....

Road tax €151 vs €511
Fuel economy 48 mpg vs 30mpg real world driving means spending nearly 50% more on your fuel.

Ireland doesn't have insurance groups but that doesn't mean that all cars cost the same to insure.

Your argument is full of holes.

TempestSabre

He simply can't do the math, and hasn't a clue about safety design or the car market. Driving experience for most people is not about driving. People have other things they prefer to spend their money on.

colm_mcm

i wonder how many superminis canddecide has actually driven?

I'm not suggesting that I'm a car expert, but working in the motor trade, I have driven most new cars and a hell of a lot of older cars, I've seen countless crashed cars, and heard the stories attached to them.

cantdecide

..................................................................................................

curiosity

Attention all micra drivers, if you're happy with what you're driving, pop in, say hi, post on this thread and let us know.

To all you micra-haters out there, take a breath, relax, and say the following;
'What other people choose to spend their money on is their business'.

Now I don't drive a micra, nor have I ever, but I'd say they do the business for lots of people out there. Nuff said.

colm_mcm

Micras are a bit uncool though.....

Merrion

Micra is the car for someone who doesn't think of their car as male jewelry - it does it's job very well, but is not "the place to be seen".

We have a 98 one and it is the most reliable machine I've ever driven. The last NCT all that was needed was to realign the windscreen washers and replace the number plate light - a total outlay of €2.

maidhc

Merrion wrote:

Micra is the car for someone who doesn't think of their car as male jewelry - it does it's job very well, but is not "the place to be seen".

It does its job of being a small city car very well, I wouldn't go so far as to say it does the job of being a car in general all that well, that category is reserved for cars with ample power and comfort to make long journies less daunting.

Merrion

There aren't any long journeys in Ireland - and this does Sligo and back on a single tank of petrol..., now that the new toll motorway is open.

cantdecide

there aren't that many bustling metropolises either. it is a city car after all

Alun

cantdecide wrote:

there aren't that many bustling metropolises either. it is a city car after all

There's that really big one on the east coast, where nearly half the population lives ... can't quite remember the name right now Anyway, I wouldn't class the Micra as a 'city car' ... that moniker is more relevant to cars like the Smart, or some of the offerings from various Japanese manufacturers for places like Tokyo.

colm_mcm

Yeah, I'd call cars like the Smart, Suzuki Alto, Toyota Aygo etc. city cars.
Not Micra, Yaris Fiesta etc.