Never Again!

I don't have a good land rover story but since we are OT here I must say that, Gene, every time I see your avatar I think of that movie The Highlander (not the series) and I don't know why. "There can be only One" yells Gene as he vaporizes his opponent with the flash from a Holga. :)
 
digitalox said:
I don't have a good land rover story but since we are OT here I must say that, Gene, every time I see your avatar I think of that movie The Highlander (not the series) and I don't know why. "There can be only One" yells Gene as he vaporizes his opponent with the flash from a Holga. :)
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LOL! I'll have to check out the movie :D

Gene
 
Guys - aren't most "british" cars owned and produced by germans at this moment?:)

However there's something they can make very good: single malt. Lagavulin, Laphroig (my favourites), Talisker, many Glen-whatevers...
 
Pherdinand said:
Guys - aren't most "british" cars owned and produced by germans at this moment?:)
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Actually I think the majority of current "old Brit" production is U.S. owned. Ford, Jag, Vauxhall/Opel etc.
 
Being from the UK, I'd have to admit that the UK car industry has a long and esteemed history of being totally crap! However, it does excel in some sectors, some of the time. - e.g. Noble, Aston Martin, Rolls Royce etc, and the original Mini was a milestone in the car industry.

Rover, however, the only currently British owned remenant of the once huge government owned conglomerate does leave alot to be desired - they are peddling some models that are well over 10 years old, and turning to Indian and Chinese companies as the solution. The problem with this isn't particularly that they are selling cheap cars, but that the prices aren't cheap.

May I add that all of you from the USA haven't got that much to lay claim to yourselves! The US car industry's idea of luxury is putting the plans of their hatchback through the photocopier at 200%! Would any of you buy a Cadillac over a Mercedes or BMW or Lexus if the prices were the same?

The real problem is when you get an American company building cars in the UK - Vauxhall! - My friend's dad had his engine in a Vauxhall Omega (a large saloon) blow up (smoke and all) TWICE before it reached 5000 miles.

No offence intended and I'm definitely not anti-American, just looking at the powerbook I'm typing this on shows how an American company can produce a product that is both superbly reliable and well designed. I just find it funny how European and Japanese companies sell boatloads of cars in the US but not vice-versa. Does anyone know why? - Maybe it's something to do with the greater wide open spaces in America?

David
 
I think Pherdinand is right, David. Although I've lived here quite a while now and I haven't bought an American car yet! :) Driven plenty though - they are crap to drive - it's like floating on a cloud or something - you're completely disconnected from the road.

BTW, Merc & BMW have hit the skids with respect to reliability, not a single Merc or BMW in Consumer Reports recommended car list last year. Haven't seen this years list yet, I think the car issue comes out in May.
 
Perhaps a disproportinate distribution of resources; Rolls Royce got it quite right, but apparently there was little left for the rest of the industry;)

D2
 
iMacfan said:


No offence intended and I'm definitely not anti-American, just looking at the powerbook I'm typing this on shows how an American company can produce a product that is both superbly reliable and well designed.

David
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The secret may be offshoring! you're powerbook is made in Taiwan :)

And cars, oh my god! I had nearly the same problems with an Audi TT Roadster I had with Fiat Barchetas before.

Ok, a bit different. The Audi gearbox exploded at 80 km/h and I stood at the worst possible spot on a road with heavy traffic in the dark while I was able to drive the barchetta with a stuck gear lever. Then I had electronics problems without an end. On a sunny August day the Audi decided that it's to slippery to drive and blinked its ABS and ESP lights instead of getting me from that damn ... Railroad track while I heard the train comming. In winter the ABS turned itself off as soon as it started to rain, usualy at speeds exceeding 60 mph and without any warning.
On the Barchetta ABS had some trouble when the car was cold but started to work as soon as the engine gained some temperature.

Oh, I drove some 29,000 km in three years with the Audi TT and it needed maintanance only every 3,000 km. With two Barchettas I drove 150,000 km in five years and except changing the brakes and ABS from Bosch to Lockheed in the first one and the stuck gear lever on the second they haven't seen a workshop out of planned maintenance.

Did I mention Audis burglar protection? It honked every night when temperatures reached a critical level. In the end I had the workshop disabling the burglar protection as my neighbours waited outside with pitchforks and torchlights :)

So I had a lot of fun not driving a 45,000 Euro car. And when I drove it, I never tested its claimed top speed of 237 km/h. To risky when you can't rely on your brakes, gearbox or rearaxle.

The Mini can't be worse :)
 
I had a Chryser LeBaron convertible quite a while back that just gave me all kinds of problems. People tried to fix them but would they would resurface later.

Sometimes it would just die for no reason. Once it did this on a sharp turn, and No power steering! Barely made that corner without crashing.
 
I admit to being plagued by dichotomy. I've always liked quirky vehicles:VW Beetles, MG, BMW twins, Harleys and I have a Jag now.........BUT! I drive a Cadillac now for going to work(good for a few hundred thousand miles). Out west with the long commutes, it's nice to just float along. I'm not looking for the joy of driving, just plain getting to work. For pleasuure, I drive the Harley or Jag.
 
my Audi A4 has been the best car I've ever owned.. 85k miles in 3.5 years, and no maintenance problems whatsoever.. I even raced it on Road America in Elkhart Lake, WI when it had barely 4k miles on it.. it's a keeper!

however, I do have the aforementioned problem with the alarm going on at random times.. (un)fortunately, the alarm is so quiet it hardly gets noticed

as for Powerbooks.. I wouldn't use anything else.. and let's not forget the iPod.. I can't live without it!
 
Re: Never Again!

st3ph3nm said:
(1968 Datsun 2000 Sports with erm, no lucas bits in sight)
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I saw this little blurb and had to take this photo off the wall and scan it. It was my '69 2000 I owned back in the '80's. It was the first car I ever owned and the one that taught me how to work on cars. It only ran about half the time I owned it, but when it ran it was a great car. It had the dual solex carbs and was very difficult to keep balanced just right. This photo is from an autocross I entered. I came in third in my class behind two 240zs and ahead of two Honda CRXs. I was in another class also and came in 4th behind 3 Mazda RX7s and ahead of a Pinto. I eventually sold it because parts were almost impossible to get.
 
Oh, magic shot! A Datsun Roadster in it's natural habitat! :)

Cheers,
Steve
 
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