Why some people shouldnt be allowed own BMWs

kdevitt

Cyrus wrote:

Can you point me to where alfas are rated appallingly for interior and exterior quality? the 156 has a nice interior, a lot more character than a 3 series has (ive driven both), the 166 has a fabulous interior, the 147 is the best in its class

Gladly



See the double x's - thats not a good thing. And all these ratings are from owners (25,000 of them or so), so its probably a lot more reliable than you or your mates opinions, or mine for that matter...

And heres the results for that 'class leading' 147 you're talking about, 2nd last it would appear...(after a Fiat...oops)

Cyrus wrote:

have you ever driven a 156? i doubt it

Yes as it happens. In fact (this may be a huge surprise to you) I went to test drive one in Merlin Motors a few years back. The side skirt was peeling away, which was a bit of a problem, but I didn't let it bother me - I was told it'd be glued back. Was a two litre - I didn't find it too bad, nothing overly exciting - wasn't fond of the centre console, thought (and still do) that its a very handsome car though. Also drove my mates a few times (1.6) but the airbag light that the dealer couldn't fix was a bit of a distraction... he must have gotten one of the bad ones because it spent most of its life in Michael Barrables...

Anyway, I'm off now to hog the overtaking lane and forget to indicate at every junction...

Cyrus

ive nothing to say except thats a load of baloney

i rest my case

Joking, pose i cant argue with that but ill just say that is not my experience and some of those marks look dodgy, audi a2 gets two ticks for perf against the 147s x? do people know what they are voting on?

And to be fair did an airbag light really put you off driving?

Cyrus

what survey is that anyway?

kdevitt

JD Power survey is quite well repsected to be honest - Top Gear were one of the main people pushing it a few years back, Subaru Impreza topped it for 3 or 4 years consecutively at one stage. Unfortunately Fiat and Alfa have always been at the bottom or thereabouts...

The A2's performance is part of the vehicle appeal - doesn't necessarily mean it has hot hatch performance, may just be seen by its owners as being quite frugal.

Cyrus wrote:

And to be fair did an airbag light really put you off driving?

The airbag light didn't really put me off driving the Alfa - but it was another one of the crappy things that happened with his 156 - it was bought brand new, had two ecu's replaced (just gave up and wouldn't start again x 2), front seat replaced, various bits of exterior trim and the sensor for the airbag was replaced three times. I only know 3 other people with 156's - one loves his, the other two have also had nothing but trouble. One of them had the exact same airbag problem as my other mate - he lost a packet on his and bought an A4.

Full survey is here http://www.whatcar.com/News_SpecialReport.asp?NA_ID=214562&EL_ID=3121175

Cyrus

fair enough ive only had mine 5 months to be fair and ill prob not keep it for more than another 5, looking for something faster

but then i paid relatively little for mine and for the money its a very good looking car, however i wouldnt buy one new, the depreciation is eye watering

cheers for the link btw

milltown

ds20prefecture wrote:

Excellent - I'll have a Škoda so.

Say you were buying new, you'd be willing to pay €44,500 for a base 320d versus €29000 for a loaded Octavia 2.0TDi so that you could say you drive a luxury brand?


But with the money you save buying a Škoda, you could also buy this

You'd end up paying nearly half the price again in duty on the 2nd hand Beemer though.

I will admit I was reaching for my chequebook before I noticed the UK reg bit though!

unkel

JD Power is hugely influential

Cyrus wrote:

do people know what they are voting on?

That's the main drawback, it's based on customer satisfaction. This is subjective and makes the JD Power survey very different to what you read in car tests / the reviews by professional motoring journalists. Most people don't care about the opinion of motoring journalists and just want to drive a car that does what they want from it without hassle and within budget

The Skoda Octavia has been voted best family car for 5 years in a row :eek:

Why, because it is such a great car? No, it is a very ordinary car

But it represents excellent value for money, it's well built, comes with the nowadays required goodies and has a huge boot

The owner is bound to be extremely satisfied so there's the high rating

Back on topic. Tonight on the M50 there was almost a pileup in the southbound direction between the N7 and N81 interchanges. As I could see no traffic jam far ahead, I presumed it was an accident that had just happened. Thankfully people behaved responsibly (using emergency lights) and all was well

The cause: an oul one in a newish (E46) 3-series driving at about 30km/h in the normal lane - I kid you not :eek: :mad:

Anyone doing that should get an enormous fine, a ban and a large endorsement on their license imho

I don't know what caused the near pile up, maybe someone doing 50km/h approaching your one and overtaking without looking or something...

FX Meister

Spotted that thing in Duddrum shopping centre. Loves to rev his engine and it sounds just like one of those crap puntos when they put a crap exhaust on them. The three pipes looks truly horrible in my opinion.