Car appreciation... the aesthetics, the engineering, etc

I leased this 2018 Skoda Superb 2.0T 220bhp Combi from new.. Book price was £33,800 when new.. including extras - Heated front seats, Front parking sensors, electric boot and spare wheel.. It was leased through work, so we got 10% vat back and get a good bit of the payments as tax deductible..

3 months deposit - £1101 + 35 x £367.. handed it back with 37k on it.. I found out the buy back figure 3 months before the end of my lease and it was £17,352.. which is nearly 50% of the original price.. I later saw it for sale for £21,500.. Cost me £19,946 in leasing and other costs below.

I the 3 years it had two oil services (£372), two front tyres (£240), rear pads (£220).. It was always under warranty and was fantastic.. I ran a tuning box in it for a bit and it took it to 290bhp and 350 Lb/ft.. so was rapid.. First car I got rid of and actually missed... Now moved onto a 7 seater!!!! due to 3 kids getting bigger by the day..

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😂😂😂

I had fun in my 1.6 Cavalier doing 116 on the M6. It made a nice noise. The speedo said 124. But then a policeman in an XJ6 appeared, and it stopped being fun. He was a bit shirty. Banned for 21 days.

"Think we're Stirling Moss, do we Sir?"

‘A mate’ of mine did 130 on the M25 in a Ford Escort. Not his finest hour but he didn’t get caught. It was interesting but not that much fun by all accounts.

"You must have been blowing the top end off that thing." He went from a standing start, so it would have taken him a while to catch up. Many decades ago, when motorways had empty stretches. He was very fair to me in court though - said I hadn't inconvenienced other road users. Nobody mentioned danger at all.

Super neg rep and to the meme thread ;)

I think you should start a list of those who have failed to comply (consider adding your own name😂😂😂)

https://youtu.be/kYz2nPE0BCk

Oh no, my petard.

I had a 1989 2 door Saab 900 T16S. My favourite car ever. The previous owner was some sort of racer and he'd fruited it up with extra boost and better suspension and a rorty exhaust and wider tyres. He said that the 2 door bodyshell was stiffer than the 3 door. The car was just impossible to unstick. The speedo went up to 140 and the needle would go way, way past the end. 150+. Don't know how accurate it was. It was fun because you could feel the spoilers pushing the car down. But the mpg was so bad you could pretty much see the fuel needle moving. And the gearbox would break every 18 months. The dealer would replace it under the extended warranty. He lost the franchise. I don't know whether my gearboxes had anything to do with it. I was stopped by the police several times but they were always terribly nice. I think back then you got extra respectability points for having a Saab. They always wanted to have a good look at it, and got excited about the position of the ignition, which was on the floor. I bloody loved that car.

Sadly a hit and run while parked!

Bah. Make a good story and stick to it then. I've got a facial scar which was actually the result of a cycling crash, but depending on company it's either the result of being bottled in a fight or a duelling scar...

the result of being bottled in a fight or a duelling scar...

That's how I explain my vasectomy scars.

Speak of the devil. Not sure what the pretend racing livery is all about.

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He said that the 2 door bodyshell was stiffer than the 3 door.

It is, the 2dr T16S is the sought after for that reason (why else loose all that boot space?!). Gearboxes are lovely and smooth but a major weak point, especially with more grippy rubber. Some people use the earlier 99 4 speed if it's going on the track.

After doing 165 on the autobahn 110 to 120 became a nice easy speed to cruise at, when the caravans weren’t spoiling things. Germany is big and it got it out of the way sooner.

Stupendous amounts of acceleration are more useful when overtaking 10 cars and a truck all in one go.

I do definitely get the overtaking advantage! Would be nice to have that sort of acceleration on tap for those purposes.

I'm guessing fuel economy goes to absolute shit at those speeds though (I think it was yourself making reference to 4mpg pretty recently!). I even notice the difference on journeys between going 70 or going 80, and mine is a tiny and relatively slippery shaped car!

I used to do the same through France. Beat the Mrs on Easyjet to Bordeaux Airport once, although I did have a couple of hours headstart.

I know what you mean. If I sit in sixth at 55mph I get 85-90pmg. At 75mph it drops to 50-55mpg.
The difference surprised me!

You've all not been paying enough attention to your cycling aerodynamics. The power needed to overcome drag is proportional to the cube of speed.

Squared no? Also it's not the only component otherwise sitting at a traffic light wouldn't use any fuel ;)

Top Gear candidate. (Or the new show) 😁

Can’t do those numbers in France anymore. Not even if you put KM at the end. Macron’s 80 limit plus speed cameras everywhere have absolutely fucked the idea of getting anywhere fast.

70mpg, 80? My god. I reckon thrashing it was still more economical than being in a traffic jam, but it would have been in the teens. Still what else do you earn money for except spending it on things that make you happy? I used to feed it petrol like you feed a dog, saying “good car, we’ll done. Have some more lovely petrol.”

My current Citroën C5 tourer can do 1200 km on a tank of diesel. It’s a very different world!

How big is the tank?

Try a school run!