Are you a badge snob?

Plugus_Maximus said:
I'd imagine I'd feel the nuts if I was driving a BMW
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From my experience BMW drivers are usually far to busy stroking the shaft to feel the nuts :lol:

Wouldn't say no to an M3 though.

Oooh, anyone with an X5 here, check the manual:

Someone in Essex went offroading in one and badly warped the bodyshell. Insurance wouldn't pay out as stupidly he hadn't arranged extra cover. He thought "Hey, a new BMW offroader shouldn't do that, I'll take it back!"

So he took it back to BMW. They referred him to the owner's manual which stated quite clearly "This is not an off road vehicle". D'oh! :lol: An irrepairable brand new X5, uninsured!
 
My last car (Xantia Estate TDi) I pranged on a r/about at 10mph. Result? Twisted shell - had to go on jig and be straightened out. Got rid asap!

Yes, I did disclose the accident.....
 
It is surprisingly easy to twist the shell of a car; after mounting a kerb sideways after skidding on ice at 4mph, I was told that sometimes even such a low speed prang can cause warping of the bodyshell.

Apparently this X5 was so bad that it was totally obvious even at a distance!
 
Anyone who has ever tried to simultaneously be in Paris AND breathe could understand them levying big taxes on polluters.

I was out there a couple of weeks back and in many areas the smell seemed to be as bad as a petrol station forecourt. I puzzled over why this could be. It's not like they sell special French-version cars that leak petrol everywhere. It's not like they have some guy come around watering the plants with petrol every day. :? And in London we don't all drive those new SAABs where the exhaust gases are actually cleaner than the atmospheric air (particulates are removed) so it can't be that we drive such different cars.

The only reasonable explanation I can come up with is that due to the popularity of oil burners on the continent, they have surplus petrol. So in an attempt to cover up their lack of foodsense they are using it as their new must-have ingredient. In London in the 80s it was lemongrass. In Paris in the 00s it is petrol.

Unless anyone else can think of a more likely explanation, that is what I shall be forced to assume. :P
 
X5 don't make me laugh buy a proper 4x4 like my Toyota Landcruiser. Bring it on!
 
It does p*ss me off that shed-loads of people buy them (to be individual? Not any more!!) and have difficulty parking them (or feel they need more width than they actually do to negotiate parked cars etc..

With each larger vehicle sold, the dealer should include lessons in parking and manoevering so that drivers are confident to handle a larger vehicle.

Near my house is a railway bridge. I can pass under this bridge in a high roof lwb Daily without getting needing to get near the crown of the road.

How many cars have I seen slam their brakes on and veer across the white line to negotiate the bridge? Shed-loads, and when you look at the distance between the nearside of their car and the kerb, there's plenty of room. Makes you wonder......
 
why do people in towns buy 4x4's, I live in a very rural part of the country, yes they are difficult to park, have appalling road handling, fine where I live, but in a town, no way.
 
I would rather they did that than knocked my wing mirrors off mind!

Riding in London I met a couple of 4x4s where the driver didn't seem to realise how wide it was and clipped me with a mirror or came so close as to render my trousers effectively brown. I also got cut up severely by a Range Rover whilst driving, got to the lights and spotted why: both wing mirrors were folded in!!!

And I have seen a couple of 4x4s ripping into another car when trying to park in a supermarket.

I won't make any generalisations about the gender of said 4x4 drivers, but I will give you this hint: they were not of the dangly gender.
 
Eddie M said:
why do people in towns buy 4x4's, I live in a very rural part of the country, yes they are difficult to park, have appalling road handling, fine where I live, but in a town, no way.
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Them townies don't 'um underztand arrr country ways! :lol:

If you look at the logic: country lane = lots of corners at high speed. Town driving = straight roads at 5mph. Which is better suited to an unstable slow 4x4?

I do agree with what you say though. The people in my town can't even drive their own feet. But if you look at it fully, even most country-dwellers don't need a 4x4. Only farmers really. But if townies didn't buy them then the market wouldn't be big enough to warrant producing 4x4s and farmers would be forced to buy £150K+ military-spec vehicles.
 
Eddie M said:
4x4's are no wider than a "normal" car
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But when driving one you can't see what is happening at car wing-mirror level on the left hand side. So, I would rather that someone erred on the side of caution and went through single file instead of chancing it and taking my mirror with them!
 
pipme said:
Looks like the French may be trying to make a move on the 4wd proliferation
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Not that I am a cynic or anything, but how big is the French 4x4 production industry? Well, they have that Megane thingy. And the erm... Oh, and the...

So my cynical side is saying this is to protect their domestic car industry by discouraging further the purchase of Land Rovers, Mitsubishis, Jeeps et al.
 
Seriously though, the fuel consumption issue is far more relevant, my Crusier absolutely chews fuel worst case senario, motorway driving about 19 miles to gallon of diesel, not good.
 
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