Almost perfect retirement car?: Motoring Motoring Discussion forum

Motoring Discussion > Almost perfect retirement car?	Buying / Selling
Thread Author: Stuu	Replies: 32

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Mon 13 Dec 10 19:14

Almost perfect retirement car? - Stuu

www.honestjohn.co.uk/road-tests/honda/jazz-hybrid

Seems Honda have one the right thing, ditched the i-shift and made a supermini hybrid which I expect will become more common as time goes on. Looks like a cracking small car.

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Mon 13 Dec 10 20:17

Almost perfect retirement car? - Old Navy

Almost perfect retirement car? You must be joking, looks like a shopping trolley with a lawnmower engine backed up with a torch battery. I want a car that is comfortable and capable of long distance roaming for 500 miles a day.

Last edited by: Old Navy on Mon 13 Dec 10 at 20:18

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Mon 13 Dec 10 20:22

Almost perfect retirement car? - RattleandSmoke

The dash looks quite cheap for a £13k car. Too much use of cheap looking black plastics. Ok on a £6k now, not on a £13k car.

For my £13K I think I will take a Gold, Focus, Cee'd, i30 or Astra thank you.

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Mon 13 Dec 10 20:26

Almost perfect retirement car? - rtj70

>> Gold, Focus

You're not adam are you ;-)

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Mon 13 Dec 10 20:28

Almost perfect retirement car? - RattleandSmoke

I meant Golf, but with the market VW have pitched the Golf at Gold may have been a better name!.

It is a shame looking at that dash because Honda have learnt from Rover how to make very classy interiors, just look at the Accord. Even the spaceship Civic has a look of quality in it even if it dosn't feel especially classy.

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Mon 13 Dec 10 20:58

Almost perfect retirement car? - corax

>> It is a shame looking at that dash because Honda have learnt from Rover how
>> to make very classy interiors, just look at the Accord. Even the spaceship Civic has
>> a look of quality in it even if it dosn't feel especially classy.

Really? I don't think Honda needed much input from Rover in order to sell cars. And from what I can see, their dashboards are completely different stylistically.

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Mon 13 Dec 10 21:06

Almost perfect retirement car? - RattleandSmoke

Well according to the AROnline site a lot of the Rondas had a lot of Rover influence especially the dash. I think the Accord is probably the only remaining Honda with a bit of that Rover feel to it. I am sure the infuence helped Honda become a more premium brand compared to say Datsun.

Fashions change so a modern Honda would not feel like a Rover but at the many Jap cars had cheap plastics which was not to the UK and Europes taste and BL taught Honda about how to design cars to please the European market.

I am not sure if any of that influence exists today but it certainly did in the 1980s.

There is a very interesting article about the Rover 600 which gives a full account of how the Ronda relationship worked.

Remember even in the early 80's BL were still a very big world wide player in the market although it was sharply declining.

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Mon 13 Dec 10 21:27

Almost perfect retirement car? - corax

>> Well according to the AROnline site a lot of the Rondas had a lot of
>> Rover influence especially the dash. I think the Accord is probably the only remaining Honda
>> with a bit of that Rover feel to it.

Admittedly the earlier designs were similar. The one thing I don't like about Japanese cars is that the lights are controlled by the stalks along with the indicators, front and rear wipers, wash/wipe systems and variable intermittent rather than a separate switch. It's too fussy.

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Mon 13 Dec 10 21:34

Almost perfect retirement car? - -

The one thing I don't like about Japanese cars
>> is that the lights are controlled by the stalks along with the indicators,

S'funny how different we all are, i really like Japanese cars for their light and precise switchgear, even the doors and door handles are light to use.

For comparison then drive a Vauxhall with that idiotic indicator mechanism, not as i don't like Vx's in some ways but the indicators would prevent me from ever buying one so afflicted.

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Mon 13 Dec 10 21:42

Almost perfect retirement car? - corax

>> S'funny how different we all are, i really like Japanese cars for their light and
>> precise switchgear, even the doors and door handles are light to use.

Don't get me wrong gb, as I said that's just about the only thing I don't like, and never having owned a Japanese car personally, I would probably get used to it. I love their engineering, light precise gearchanges, quality electrics, and the way everything just works faultlessly.

>> even the doors and door handles are light to use.

Have you ever closed the door on a 2003-8 Toyota Avensis? It's like a bank vault!

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Mon 13 Dec 10 22:04

Almost perfect retirement car? - RattleandSmoke

Remember most Rover cars were actually Hondas during the 80's and early 90's but Rover had quite a bit of influence of the design of those Hondas.

The stalks on my Panda are annoying. The rest of the car is very well built but the stalks are straight out of a FIAT Punto which is a bad thing.

Also funnily enough the lights are all controled on my stalks too. I think was a german idea to have a seperate switch dial for the lights.

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Mon 13 Dec 10 22:13

Almost perfect retirement car? - Stuartli

I seem to remember Mercedes in the past that had multi-feature steering wheel stalks - not been in a recent one for a year or so.

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Mon 13 Dec 10 20:28

Almost perfect retirement car? - Videodoctor

The stitching on the seats doesn't look too good and i know the seats fold but they look very flimsy.

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Mon 13 Dec 10 20:31

Almost perfect retirement car? - Skoda

I thought you were exagerating Rattle (read the posts before the link) but you're right, the area around the stereo especially, that really is bad.

Iffy's in the market for a Gold Focus, i heard him say something about gold's non-pourous? ;-P

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Mon 13 Dec 10 21:13

Almost perfect retirement car? - Runfer D'Hills

I can't imagine ever wanting a small car while bigger / roomier ones are available. Cars are for shifting people and stuff. Small ones just aren't as good at that as bigger ones.

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Mon 13 Dec 10 21:17

Almost perfect retirement car? - RattleandSmoke

I assume you mean at a given price point? Smaller cars make a lot of sense as a second car for use in the city as they are much easier to park.

If I had a family and only had one car then I would certainly need something bigger than I have now.

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Mon 13 Dec 10 21:24

Almost perfect retirement car? - Runfer D'Hills

Your call Rattle of course. Just saying I don't think I'd want one and I learned to park a long time ago so that really isn't a problem.

:-)

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Mon 13 Dec 10 21:33

Almost perfect retirement car? - RattleandSmoke

But there is still only a limited amount of space for parking. I don't think our neighbours would be too impressed if we all had estate cars!

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Mon 13 Dec 10 21:40

Almost perfect retirement car? - Runfer D'Hills

Fine, no problem, have what you like dear boy ! Just saying I don't want a small car and can't imagine ever wanting one. What you want and/or need is your affair of course.

:-)

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Mon 13 Dec 10 21:46

Almost perfect retirement car? - -

Just saying I don't want a small car and can't imagine ever wanting one.

Even if it was RWD roofless tiny 2 seater jobbie he still wouldn't want one...something like the old Lotus 7 even.

::-))

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Mon 13 Dec 10 21:48

Almost perfect retirement car? - Runfer D'Hills

....ah well...now....that's different isn't it ? Different altogether.

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Mon 13 Dec 10 21:45

Almost perfect retirement car? - Stuartli

There's a gold coloured Mondeo.....

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Mon 13 Dec 10 21:47

Almost perfect retirement car? - Runfer D'Hills

Bit "yesterday" though...

SUVs are the thing in Cheshire don't y' know...

:-)

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Mon 13 Dec 10 22:05

Almost perfect retirement car? - RattleandSmoke

The other great thing about having a tiny car is I can squeeze past things that a Range Rover could not. In a typical Manchester traffic jam a Panda is a lot faster than a Range Rover :).

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Mon 13 Dec 10 22:06

Almost perfect retirement car? - Runfer D'Hills

Nope, still don't want one.

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Mon 13 Dec 10 22:08

Almost perfect retirement car? - Iffy

I'd rather be late arriving in a Range Rover than early in a Panda.

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Mon 13 Dec 10 22:12

Almost perfect retirement car? - RattleandSmoke

But then I would be worried where I parked a top end Range Rover. At least in a Panda you can park in Moss Side and not be too worried.

If I lived in a Cheshire Mansion it would be a different matter.

If I had a load of money though I would driving something rather bland like an Audi A8 or a top spec Accord or something.

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Mon 13 Dec 10 22:14

Almost perfect retirement car? - Stuartli

Bland?

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Mon 13 Dec 10 22:16

Almost perfect retirement car? - RattleandSmoke

Compared to a BMW M5 or something yep. You could easily spend £35k on an Accord and have pure luxury but it wouldn't look like a £35k car. That sort of car has a lot of appeal to a certain kind of person.

Bland is probably the wrong word but it was meant in context of rich peoples cars.

Last edited by: RattleandSmoke on Mon 13 Dec 10 at 22:16

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Mon 13 Dec 10 22:46

Almost perfect retirement car? - Avant

I'm coming round to Humph's way of thinking. I used to think it was very convenient to have, as we do, one big and one small car in the household - but I don't often have to park in places where it makes any difference, and even if I do, there isn't much in it as the Octavia has a much better turning circle for its size than the Mini.

SWMBO had one of the first Jazzes, in 2002, and it was a great car but not at its best on the motorway. It would be interesting to find out if the hybrid is any more relaxed at motorway speeds.

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Mon 13 Dec 10 23:04

Almost perfect retirement car? - Iffy

...as the Octavia has a much better turning circle for its size than the Mini...

Good point.

My Focus hatch was more manoeuvrable than my Seat Ibiza because it had a better turning circle.

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Tue 14 Dec 10 11:28

Almost perfect retirement car? - Mike Hannon

I've got my perfect retirement car, thank you. Six litre engine, two useable seats, long, wide, not much luggage or oddments space, no cup holders, almost utterly impractical, thirsty(ish), etc, etc.
Being retired doesn't mean you need something that's one step up from a mobility scooter, if you don't mind. ;-)

Having got that off my chest, when the right time comes, it will probably be a hybrid Jazz...

Last edited by: Mike Hannon on Tue 14 Dec 10 at 11:30

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Tue 14 Dec 10 13:14

Almost perfect retirement car? - Soupytwist

According to the pictures of the satnav on HJ's report they'd strayed a little outside its natural environment. Toddling around Thorpe Bay would have been more appropriate than among the ruffians of Shoeburyness!

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