Originally posted by Moongoose
Always sad to hear that a loved one (car) died due to no fault of your own though.
There is a reason why I own larger cars though and that simple reason is that you will come unstuck one day and you will take a big, hard hit. As to how you walk, crawl or get cut out of it is entirely up to the car, I quite like Ford Focus's as well and put a lot of miles down in one, but I'm under no illusions on how they would stand up to being hit by a 3100kg Landcruiser in the rear at 60km/h and then hit in the drivers side front by a 2000kg Mercedes sedan doing 60-70km/h.
In a hatchback all the people in the back seat are dead from a bullbar to the back of the head and torso, in the front you're getting your legs crushed off at the knees and you will probably die.
So yes, my often derided $70,000, 2 tonne luxo barge with a V8 was dead, but she wasn't even scratched and insurance companies cope with the rest.
As for big GT cars, people forget that they're a GT car. They're not a sportscar, hotted up hatch, light weight coupe, roadster or anything else. They do take a lot of effort to wrangle in because they're really just meant to sit on 150+km/h all day, accelerate like a rocket, stop so hard it'll tear your head off and essentially get driven like a very large sports sedan through corners. Brake late, maintain traction and power out hard.
About all I've had go on mine was a master and slave clutch cylinder, (sort of figures the only non Japanese, German made bits on it fail...) aside from that its had a pricey major service but that's part and parcel of owning an older car. Old cars need bits.
I did actually want a Mk4 Supra, but I couldn't see over the dash :o
Ian
quote:
Originally posted by Lilith
There is a reason why I own larger cars though and that simple reason is that you will come unstuck one day and you will take a big, hard hit. As to how you walk, crawl or get cut out of it is entirely up to the car, I quite like Ford Focus's as well and put a lot of miles down in one, but I'm under no illusions on how they would stand up to being hit by a 3100kg Landcruiser in the rear at 60km/h and then hit in the drivers side front by a 2000kg Mercedes sedan doing 60-70km/h.
In a hatchback all the people in the back seat are dead from a bullbar to the back of the head and torso, in the front you're getting your legs crushed off at the knees and you will probably die.
So yes, my often derided $70,000, 2 tonne luxo barge with a V8 was dead, but she wasn't even scratched and insurance companies cope with the rest.
As for big GT cars, people forget that they're a GT car. They're not a sportscar, hotted up hatch, light weight coupe, roadster or anything else. They do take a lot of effort to wrangle in because they're really just meant to sit on 150+km/h all day, accelerate like a rocket, stop so hard it'll tear your head off and essentially get driven like a very large sports sedan through corners. Brake late, maintain traction and power out hard.
About all I've had go on mine was a master and slave clutch cylinder, (sort of figures the only non Japanese, German made bits on it fail...) aside from that its had a pricey major service but that's part and parcel of owning an older car. Old cars need bits.
I did actually want a Mk4 Supra, but I couldn't see over the dash :o
We were in a 2001 ford focus estate when the stupid cúnt hit us this year. We sustained a lot of damage to the wheel arch and the front left of the car, and they wrote it off but the other guys car was pretty much flattened. I'm surprised he walked out of it, and wish he hadn't tbh.
bas
quote:
Originally posted by Chris Crossland
God damn she is weird looking.
Lira
quote:
Originally posted by Moongoose
Otherwise, the french ing rule!
+1. Here's a picture of the French helping capitalism vanity subvert the Communist regime in North Korea:
Hey, Louis Vitton, merci beau -- wait for it-- coup!
djhaziel
Some of my fav french people/artist in the world
Zinedine Zidane
Manu Chao
Edith Piaf
Victor Hugo :D
Claude Debussy
François Truffaut
Daft Punk
Gipsy Kings :gsmile:
Originally posted by bas
God damn she is weird looking.
Yeah, she's french!:stongue:
couch-potato
Not a single mention of PHILIPPE BERTHO?
Uncultivated swine :o
bARTovsky
Moongoose
quote:
Originally posted by Lilith
There is a reason why I own larger cars though and that simple reason is that you will come unstuck one day and you will take a big, hard hit. As to how you walk, crawl or get cut out of it is entirely up to the car, I quite like Ford Focus's as well and put a lot of miles down in one, but I'm under no illusions on how they would stand up to being hit by a 3100kg Landcruiser in the rear at 60km/h and then hit in the drivers side front by a 2000kg Mercedes sedan doing 60-70km/h.
In a hatchback all the people in the back seat are dead from a bullbar to the back of the head and torso, in the front you're getting your legs crushed off at the knees and you will probably die.
So yes, my often derided $70,000, 2 tonne luxo barge with a V8 was dead, but she wasn't even scratched and insurance companies cope with the rest.
As for big GT cars, people forget that they're a GT car. They're not a sportscar, hotted up hatch, light weight coupe, roadster or anything else. They do take a lot of effort to wrangle in because they're really just meant to sit on 150+km/h all day, accelerate like a rocket, stop so hard it'll tear your head off and essentially get driven like a very large sports sedan through corners. Brake late, maintain traction and power out hard.
About all I've had go on mine was a master and slave clutch cylinder, (sort of figures the only non Japanese, German made bits on it fail...) aside from that its had a pricey major service but that's part and parcel of owning an older car. Old cars need bits.
I did actually want a Mk4 Supra, but I couldn't see over the dash :o
Ah thats the difference here in europe. The chance that youll get hit by someone in an oversized SUV is quite small. Until now i used to drive a small hatch (still do occasionally as i haven't sold it yet), but somehow 80% of the people that ran into me managed to drive even smaller cars than i did :D
I probably wont buy another hatch again, as while they might be fast and nimble, the larger cars just offer so much comfort thats more useful in the every day world when you dont feel like racing everywhere. They were fun when i was younger but now they just make my back ache at the end of the day. So when i start to work again (god it was so nice to take a year off and do all) ill probably loking to upgrade the nice and sporty familly sized wagon that im driving now for something a bit bigger and more comfortable.
I always wanted a big GT myself (not for racing, but for speeding trough europe...the stuff these things are designed to do) but the selection over here is a bit poor if you dont have 100k+ to waste on a new one.
Lilith
I've driven a lot in Europe and England and there's a very good reason why they have small cars, small distances and massive amounts of suburban and city areas. Much easier and cheaper to live with a small car, especially in Paris, London or some of the German cities where there is no room to park. (edit- thought peak of parking and driving hilarity is Japan)
Here, the distances are huge... http://www.sydney.com.au/distance-b...alia-cities.htm
Still, its nice to have a smaller car in the city but if you are actually going on the road, doing it in a little car is a uniquely horrible experience.
Average family sedan here weighs in anywhere between 1600-2000kg and will have a 3-6L engine, another thing you don't want to be listening to for hours at a time is some sub 2L car screaming at 110km/h highway speeds, big engines just lope along somewhere around 1500-2500rpm and are quiet!
