05 April 2011

Luxury Cars Are So Unreliable


When you part with your money to buy an expensive car, you expect it to be reliable. That monetary outlay should translate to it staying on the road. Well, whether buying a BMW, Mercedes, Land Rover or - as in the picture - a Lamborghini, expect plenty of repairs. Almost certainly the faults will be to do with the 'high tech' elements of these cars. I assume many buyers put up with these annoying gremlins because in many cases, they bought them as a status symbol anyway. They are also very pleasant to drive when they are running.

I bought a basic new car five years ago. It is very roomy, cheap to run and I think quite a nice shape. I asked the salesman as I bought it how reliable they are. He said, with unflinching confidence, that they would only see me for routine services. He added this model just does not break down. Now in its sixth year, nothing has gone wrong with it. I sometimes think of buying something else, but I'm so happy with it. I have such confidence in its longer term reliability too.

Which makes me wonder about premium cars. I paid less for my car that many premium cars depreciate in a year. Mine doesn't break down, they too often do. I'm happy, some of these luxury car owners want to take to their car with a hammer. Motoring journalists usually praise all the electronic accoutrements (bells and whistles) as if they are 'must have' items on this class of car. Maybe these motoring scribes need to meet the stranded and frustrated motorists to seek their opinion.

My Solution: Forget premium brands that are too technically advanced to be reliable. Buy a simple, reliable car. No snob value, but who cares. Then maybe, premium car makers will make sure their technical wizardry is sorted before foisting them on a gullible public.

26 March 2011

Automotive Conundrums

A definition of a conundrum includes an insoluble, or difficult problem. I have a few automotive ones I would like to air.

Audi styling: I find it confusing and bemusing that Audi can make cars that all look much the same and so boringly styled, yet people actually buy them. As an example, take the A1. You could have a fun MINI, a trendy Citroen DS3 or even a funky Fiat 500, but surely not the Audi offering. It makes me realise how banal, how dull many motorists are when they would happily hand over hard earned money for an Audi. I wouldn't. Style surely counts for something.

Jaguar SUV: Actually, there isn't one and that is the point. All premium competitors have them, but not Jaguar. True, Land Rover does SUVs and they are one company, so let's not risk sales being canabalised eh what? However, VW, Porsche, Audi and Skoda all do SUVs too, and they are all in the same company. Sure, they may take some sales off each other, but mainly from the opposition. Jaguar could have gone the soft SUV whilst LR stayed with the more rugged variety, which it is anyway. No, this is a massive blunder that is costing the company so much money because it is a profitable segment to be in. That is why everyone else is doing it. I think Jaguar has some smarter people running it now.

Hyundai's New Model Identification: I'm not against letters or numbers on cars, if they are logical and there are not too many models. Hyundai has ditched car model names for this system. It started out alright, but as the roll out continues, I'm starting to get a glazed look come across my eyes when I try to comprehend what an i30 or i45 is. If the range is too big, it gets complicated to me while names do not have the same effect. Same goes for Mercedes Cl, CLK, CLS, SK, SLK...I'm getting that glazed look again.

Dull Toyotas: How can a company with the wealth and resources of the largest car maker in the world turn out a range of refrigerators on wheels. Actually, why are they the biggest car company in the world? Do people want to drive dull and reliable cars? Well many do in most parts of the world. One area they do not want dreary cars is Europe. If Toyota ever wants to conquer that region, it had better start building something actually nice to look at and satisfies passion. Zzzzzzzz.

Same old Porsche Sports Cars: I believe Porsche sports cars are a good drive. Pretty reliable too maybe. Notwithstanding, they look very similar to designs produced around the 1930s. I really do not think any Porsche is good looking (the Cayenne is just plain ugly), but they persist with this aged style. Some imagination is called for I think.

17 February 2011

E-Type Jaguar 50 Years Young


The Jaguar E-Type is 50 years old this year. It was my favourite car when I was a lad. The style was amazing back then, and it still looks good today. Class is like that, it has style that doesn't date. The E-Type is a permanent exhibit in New York’s Museum of Modern Art and Enzo Ferrari stated it was “the most beautiful car in the world.” Says it all really.


Production figures I have found at wikipedia.org under Jaguar E-Type are as follows:

Series 1 61-68 38,419
Series 2 69-71 18,809
Series 3 71-75 15,287
E-Type Total 72,515



A fantastic car in every sense, a true classic. I think the XK does a good job of continuing the Jaguar tradition of fine sport cars.


Pics: www.netcarshow.com/jaguar/1971-e-type/