A question of taste...

So I get it, people like and buy different cars for different reasons. My own personal taste is no exception to the rule, I like sporty cars but not garishly expensive cars...and when I say sporty I mean that the manufacturer purposefully designed them that way...I am not a fan of 'mods' to give crappy little 1.0 litre boy racer type 15 year old car sporting credentials that it doesn't deserve seems somewhat pointless to me.

I own a Fiat Panda...however I did choose the sporty 100hp version...but why you might ask? Simple...it is better than the Fiat 500...which is a Panda underneath but with more bling, less room in the boot/back seats and a bigger price tag. As James May said the fiat 500 is an accessory, a bit like a hand bag..but the Panda is the better car for every other reason. So having looked at cars with similar power/spec the Panda was the cheapest to buy, lowest insurance group (which, when I bought it, made a MAJOR difference) and also they are relatively uncommon - and i like the feeling of marginal exclusivity. The panda 100hp comes with tinted rear windows, a nice spoiler, larger wheels/alloys than the standard panda, fog lights, a subtle bit of a body kit and is slightly lower than the standard Panda...a lot of this however only becomes really apparent when you park next to the standard Panda...and yes, I will actively seek out normal Panda's to park next to when I'm in a car park. It looks good, and has on all those accessories that you would want for your sporty little hot-hatchling. 

And in regards to my Panda, the aforementioned is just regarding the styling...inside it has slightly hugging seats and orange illuminating dash, a good CD player/stereo system, climate controlled air con AND last but not least...The Sport Button...not a big garish red power button but push it to see the word "Sport" appear on the dash followed by a flood of power as the engine revs more prolifically, the steering becomes super sharp and the engine fizzes with joy, begging you to rev the life out of it. 

Don't get me wrong, the Panda is not the be all and end all of cars...the suspension in the 100hp is ROCK hard...which is great to dart around corners, it handles great and sticks to the road really well...but when it's 7am in the morning and you're going to work half asleep and you hit a few sinks/potholes on the way it is very tiring. Also if you have the sport on a lot the mpg is not great...mine goes down to about 36mpg and as high as 44mpg if I do a long motorway journey and keep the sport off. Admittedly this is not stupidly low...but dissappointing when modern Diesel engines with more power can easily hit 60mpg without trying.

So...anyway...driving today and I get behind a fiesta (at least from what I could tell it once was a Fiesta) I'll give the guy credit that the colour was nice (an unusual grey-ish green colour) and it looked like decent paint job from the rear...what killed me was the wheels and suspension. He had clearly fitted larger wheels...too large, they stuck out around 2 inches from the side of the car and the alloys were red...RED? On a greyish green car? It didn't match to say the least. But the final straw was the suspension...it was so low that I could actually see the wheels touching the bodywork as he turned them...I considered following him to see him hit a speed bump or pot hole so I could laugh at the inevitability of him loosing some trim or bottoming out the over lowered suspension. 

I almost crashed with laughter.

And this brings me around to cost...I'm sure you can pick up an old corsa/fiesta/polo etc. for cheap...but buying stereos, tinted windows, body panals, re spraying the car, buying bigger wheels and alloys...then things like turbos and extra cooling for the engine you've added the turbo to...all of this costs SOOOOO much money! Why not just save all your pennies together and just buy a decent car in the first place? Something like the new Fiesta ST...better fuel economy...better power, engineered correctly not just stuck on with gaffa tape and much much MUCH better styling. Ford will have spent THOUSANDS of pounds on designing there ST the be fast, efficient, well designed, comfortable etc. if you think you can do a better job with a second hand turbo and some fibreglass body kit then you are so sorely mistaken. 

And you know if that guy I saw in his 10 year old fiesta with the wheels that can't turn properly found himself at a set of traffic lights with a proper Fiesta ST he would be shamed by its beauty, jealous of its power and luxury and I would put money on the proper ST beating it flat out...because even if he's added a turbo to give it stupid power it won't be able to sustain it for long as that old engine just wasn't built for it...it will inevitably overheat, or explode...but the proper version will go on and on. 

Additional note. If you are in the Peterlee/Shotton area you can quite often get a glimpse of this guy and his kitted out car hanging around A supermarket car park of an evening...his mates have equally ridiculous cars...I simply used him as a perticularly bad example! 

 

Cars

Stereotypes, at the moment in my current job logging accidents and arrange repairs/hire cars after accidents I have found myself terribly guilty if stereotyping people. Quite often the stereotypes are irrelevant and do not apply...but then you get a few claims in a row where you internally roll your eyes and think "how obvious" and "I could've guessed"

Especially with logging accidents...stereotypes generally do not apply, in fact one that really irritates me is the young driver stereotype. 

It is generally thought that young drivers cause all the accidents with there youth and inexperience...however after logging claims you find that yes young drivers are involved in lots of accidents but that they rarely seem to be to blame. It quite often seems that the young drivers are being more cautious/hesitant at junctions and an impatient middle aged businessman too busy looking at his phone or fiddling with his onboard complex computer system in his big fancy BMW goes running into the back of the poor young driver who was just taking there time a little at the junction.

And in that paragraph I have encroached upon another stereotype...the BMW/Merc/Audi drivers stereotype...that these cars seem to be owned by people who think that there journey is more important than everyone else on the road. It really isn't. 

Of course I highlight again that these are indeed just stereotypes from my observations...not all young drivers are blameless and not all businessmen crash into the back of people...so lets have fun. ..

My new favourite stereotype is that people who drive Subaru Impreza's think there car is glued to the road at all times...when I log a claim with no other vehicle involved in the accident...just the driver and their machine, it is nearly always the scooby with the (typically male) driver who tells me he was going round a corner and 'just lost control' - how hard and fast were you pushing that car to just 'loose control' especially in such a 'planted' vehicle. It was clearly just your terrible judgement thinking your car could go around a 180 degree corner at a million miles an hour. No...just no. 

I have a lot more 'rant' inside of me...but for now I'll stick a cork in it.

Long time no post

As per the title...it does what it says on the tin (ronseal style) it is not long since I blogged...just since it was a personal blog...the others are so functional. 

Anyway...a super speed blog for 5 mins of my lunch break and it is a personal winge/moan/personal flogging. 

So you feel flattered...dispair...hope...more dispair...fear... All just in a days work. Initially flattered but then slightly creeped out and the cut down, like you're a disappointment....and I'm not surprised if I am, I have very little self esteem...rarely (if ever) feeling attractive/pretty/ladylike. I don't do the tangerine fake tan/extensions/false nails...often told this is a good thing but when those around you make such effort, although possibly mis-guided effort, it leaves me feeling old and haggard. 

I want my confidence back...