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Vehicle discussion. The SUV vs standard types of car.

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dgl

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I suppose the feeling of speed it less in most modern cars, presumably as modern cars have better suspension and less road noise so you just don't feel the speed, roads are generally better so you can drive faster on them and they stay planted to the road better, plus cars have more power than they used to, for example my Sisters Micra has 79 bhp, compare that to the likes of some older cars in the same size category and you can probably knock at least 20 bhp off that.

I do know when I first went out on the road driving (insured as a learner on my Grans Mk. 1 Focus 1.6LX) I quite quickly and easily got up to the 60 Mph limit, but then it was a road I have been on many times both in a car and on my 125cc and despite being a minor country A road is safe to do the 60 mph speed limit for most of it.
 
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Bletchleyite

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I'm old enough to remember when pavement parking started in a big way, and why. It was during the extensive power cuts of the 1970 winter when town street lighting was off half the time, resulting in a lot of crashes into parked cars. People started parking their cars on the pavement to reduce the chances of that happening.

That would make some sense as to why people do it on roads where there's room not to. In the vast swathes of narrow roads with terraced housing, it's because it's that or only one row of cars fits, meaning only half the inhabitants can park.
 

cactustwirly

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Good if you're a bit cold and need a fire going too :D

In all seriousness, MPVs are very practical, to the point that they've basically unseated the traditional estate entirely[1], and as I've contended above, most of the mainstream SUVs (I'm not talking Range Rovers or Defenders here, rather stuff like the Mokka) are pretty much just bodykitted MPVs.

[1] Demonstrated by the fact that the Mondeo is no longer in Ford's range.

Not true, it's just that the "mondeo man" has jumped ship to Audi, BMW etc. Because of cheap lease deals and they are cheaper in the long term to run.
BMW have spent a lot of money developing a new M3 estate for example
 

37424

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Electric Cars are probably going to Blur the distinction between the more On Road style SUV/Crossovers/MPV's and Standard Vehicles anyway given the increasing tendency of Electric Car designs to put batteries on the floor leading to higher profile and of course some of them are 4 wheel drive as well.

While the new Electric Equivalent of the VW Golf is very MPV like in its styling.
 
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Domh245

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Alpina have been making them for years, they're called the D3 Touring.

Don't forget the B3 (which was introduced on the E46 generation, D3 only came in with the E90)

Alpinas and M cars are aimed at separate markets though, Alpinas are generally targeted a little more upmarket (/Refined powerful tourer) than an M car which tend to be more purely performance orientated.
 

Domh245

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It was in jest at their affinity for random assortments of letters & numbers.

Ah fair enough (although it did dawn on me that for anyone not in the know, E46 and E90 did mean absolutely nothing!)

There is some logic in the numbers, not quite as much as other manufacturers perhaps, but I do prefer the alphanumeric generation identifiers to stuff like "2nd gen fiesta" or "Astra J" - makes it a lot easier to call to mind than trying to run through the entire history of a model to figure out which generation it is
 

EssexGonzo

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Electric Cars are probably going to Blur the distinction between the more On Road style SUV/Crossovers/MPV's and Standard Vehicles anyway given the increasing tendency of Electric Car designs to put batteries on the floor leading to higher profile and of course some of them are 4 wheel drive as well.

While the new Electric Equivalent of the VW Golf is very MPV like in its styling.

I saw one of those yesterday - the ID3. Very uninspiring and bland looking - as a Golf owner, but powertrain agnostic - I would not choose it over a Golf. Surely VW can do better than this with their design?
 

dgl

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Ah fair enough (although it did dawn on me that for anyone not in the know, E46 and E90 did mean absolutely nothing!)

There is some logic in the numbers, not quite as much as other manufacturers perhaps, but I do prefer the alphanumeric generation identifiers to stuff like "2nd gen fiesta" or "Astra J" - makes it a lot easier to call to mind than trying to run through the entire history of a model to figure out which generation it is
Nissan seem to be good at that, my Sister's car is a K13 Micra, the newest one is the K14 and the original a K10, my Suzuki bike was labelled in the same way being a K7 Burgman, useful when looking for parts as the numbering system is unambiguous and you can't get confused, esp. as some model year nomenclatures are confusing.
 

Bald Rick

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I saw one of those yesterday - the ID3. Very uninspiring and bland looking - as a Golf owner, but powertrain agnostic - I would not choose it over a Golf. Surely VW can do better than this with their design?

My neighbour has one. I nearly bought one myself. I think they look fantastic.

I’ve seen quite a few now, they certainly seem to be popular.

Getting back on topic, though, the ID4 is coming...
 

37424

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I saw one of those yesterday - the ID3. Very uninspiring and bland looking - as a Golf owner, but powertrain agnostic - I would not choose it over a Golf. Surely VW can do better than this with their design?
I think they are OK on the outside, but then never really a fan of the Golf styling, inside less impressed looks cheap and tried to make it look a bit futuristic with out pulling it off, something closer to a Golf interior would have been better. However I do think VW deserve some credit for designing a ground up electric car rather than say the Corsa which is more of a standard Petrol car with an electric option, or a fully electric Golf
 
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davyp

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Talking with the service manager when my T-ROC was serviced last week. When I asked about the ID4 - specifically when? - he replied "not a clue!"
Apparently production all up-in-the-air, major shortages of parts, including microchips. "Best guess: next week - next month - next year - never!!"
And 30+ unregistered ID3s in the car park ....
 
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