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My one rule now for buying cars is never buy a car older than you.
snowslave - true but it offers you the same protection as if you were hit whilst on a motorbike/cycle etc but that doesnt stop us from going out on them.
Anyway- I wouldnt go NEAR a motorway in a 2cv. Not a chance!!
That's kinda my point really. OP was about his missus wanting one, and if Mrs snowslave wanted one as a general use car including to ferry our daughter and her mates around, I'd discount the quirky/funny aspects and focus on the deathtrap/don't even think about it perspective.
Wouldn't have a problem if she wanted it for hill climbs though - we saw one in a race coming up Hagg farm and it was well suited!
The gearstick alone is reason not to buy one - having driven one regularly (company runabout at a pleasure park I used to do summer work in), I don't think I ever knew what gear I was in. (Assuming they all have that stupid stick coming out of the dashboard that you sort of wiggle around backwards and forwards and left and right until something that feels vaguely gear-like engages...)
I'd also like a Lada Riva or a Volvo 240 GL. Just. Am I mad?!
yes!
And another reason not to buy an older vehicle....
mastiles_fanylion - Member
The gearstick alone is reason not to buy one - I don't think I ever knew what gear I was in. (Assuming they all have that stupid stick coming out of the dashboard that you sort of wiggle around backwards and forwards and left and right until something that feels vaguely gear-like engages...)
You're not a quick learner are you? 🙂 seriously, I know it's different but it's not exactly solving a Rubik's cube is it...
Ahh 2CV isn't it, being driven to Switzerland by an older woman in one, playing Doctors and Swiss nurses and then driving back.
Don't see many these days, Camden used to be full of em.
2CV's that is, not naughty Swiss nurses!
[i]Fun to drive on rough country roads where you need the high clearance.[/i]
Christ what roads are you on?! Ive driven all over the country in a car with 6" of clearance and never come unstuck!
Small lanes in France where I drove with my ex-gf looking for a place we could canoodle in the sunshine without being spotted. Maybe I am associating the car with that experience ... 🙂
[i]Camden used to be full of em.[/i]
Royal Free Hospital next door by any chance? I know I once went out with a Royal free nurse. Gawd she was utterly filthy- she must have ****ed half of London!
[i]Very few good ones around these days.[/i]
Nonsense, most of the 2cv's that are still around are good ones. As for all the 'it's slow, dangerous, etc' Well it's not a modern car but some of us like to be different - we don't all like to be contained in high powered safety cells. I ride my bike on the road wich is less safe and less powerful that a 2cv, but it doesn't stop me doing it.
I've owned 2cv's for over 20 years, they're great fun, manage to keep up with traffic just fine and my god it makes me smile when I drive it. It was my everyday car for about 7 years - took us on endless camping trips all over the UK, someone crashed into us once and we didn't die, we also managed to negotiate junctions, motorways and dual carraigeways just fine. It's not a modren car, which in my book isn't a bad thing.
Your wife should buy one, go on have some fun.
As for the confusuion over the gear stick I don't get it. Do you manage okay with a gearstick in a normal position or do you need to drive an automatic. 10 minutes using the gearstick and it's sorted, which was about the same time it took me to get used to the auto handbrake on a passatt I recently used.
It's not a modren car, which in my book isn't a bad thing.
Kinda agree with that. The switchgear/steering weighting etc on my Forester is very retro-90's. Very similar to my old MX5 as well. You got a feeling of linkages, what the car was doing, every noise/feedback.
Modern cars- are remote experiences by comparison.
coffeeking how many crashes do you normally have?
How many do you need?
I've seen a lot of accidents and I know people who've been in them. They do happen.
Would you rather your wife die, or live?
molgrips do you avoid everything that is remotely dangerous? I take it you would never ride a bike on the road then.
You could get one of these !
Aren't Citroen supposed to making a new one ?
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To those asking how many times I have accidents - I've had a couple of non-fault and one fault accident. In older cars. In the two non-fault accidents I was quite unpleasantly injured and still have lasting damage (peugeot 205s dont deform much in head-on impacts, your spine does most of it). I had my other half in the car in the latter of the two, she now suffers neck/back problems from it (several years on) - with hindsight if I could have spent a bit more and got a car with crumple zones and more safety and saved her that pain and future problems I'd have bloody well would have.
In the fault accident it was due to me missing a give way sign and trying to stop in too short a space, a space my more modern car would easily stop in. So while I still drive a high performance, older car (1991) if I were buying a new car I would not be buying one that was inherently a lot more dangerous to the occupant than another similar car purely because it was somehow quirky and "different". That's like buying a halfords shed of a bike to do a trans-alp and claiming "its quirky, why not?" shortly before it breaking down and delaying your teams trip.
I'm not against classics, far from it, but I find myself in a strange position if I have to recommend someting that is inherently a more dangerous option for the sake of it.
an old friend of mine had two a while back one of which had a huge whale tail fibreglassed onto the back, but you had to jump out every five or ten miles to put out the fire from the siezed brakes.
the other one he drove to the south of france and loaded with wine for its swansong - when i say loaded, i mean loaded, it was sat on the floor.
gutsy car/gutsy driver who knows - good times.
We had a couple when I was child - one green, one red. I remember being driven round country lanes with the roof back and our heads out the top. Very bouncy, I recall. Then when I was a little older (11, 12?) I was allowed to hoon around the fields in it. I can't see me letting my future kids do that in my passat. Bearing in mind we lived in the middle of nowhere, they were great fun.
As for the safety aspect, as has been said they're no more exposed than a bicycle and probably have a similar top speed. Depends on your circumstances.
molgrips do you avoid everything that is remotely dangerous?
No, I take steps to ensure my safety as much as possible when I do things that are risky. Driving is one of them, biking is another. One of the steps I take when driving is to not drive around in a biscuit tin because I think it looks cute. As for being more dangerous than a bike - I think on the open road most drivers can swerve enough to avoid a cyclist. A lot harder to avoid a crappy old car.
I also wouldn't fancy having to wear ear defenders whilst on the motorway, but that's just a personal thing 🙂
My wife had a a 2CV as her wedding car - her godfather is president of the 2CV owners club or some such, we were doing the wedding on the cheap and he offered to provide transport. I'm sure it was a classic example but....
molgrips - Membercoffeeking how many crashes do you normally have?
How many do you need?
I've seen a lot of accidents and I know people who've been in them. They do happen.
Would you rather your wife die, or live?
I was rear ended in a Mx-5. I went and bought another Mx-5. Why not just buy a Modus and be done with it? Give up. 😥
You cant look at 'what if' in life. My mum let me roam free from a young age. I think alot of kids roam far- do you think we should keep our kids in back gardens and safe from the 'what if's? NO! 
I was chatting to a bloke at the weekend who'd just bought a nice green and white 2CV Dolly. I hadn't seen one in a while and it did look pretty cool. He told me one went on ebay recently for £11,000 - flipin' heck, you can get a 911 for that!
I had an accident in my Renault 4 which was a similar type of car to the Citroen. Some dolt rear-ended me with his XR3i! The Renault 4 was written off in insurance terms and I collected 275 notes. I continued driving it for another year when the tool box (carried as a talisman - I never needed it) jiggled its way through the floor. Total depreciation over three years? It appreciated by 75 quid. I loved that car. I hated the Triumph Dolomite it replaced. Now that WAS a pile of junk.
You cant look at 'what if' in life. My mum let me roam free from a young age. I think alot of kids roam far- do you think we should keep our kids in back gardens and safe from the 'what if's? NO!
There's no point doing something deliberately dangerous for a stupid reason is there? Biking, climbing etc have serious benefits to your lifestyle. Driving a sh*t car when you don't have to is just an affectation.
If she gets one put [url= http://www.2cvcity.co.uk/ ]these guys[/url] in your favourites! 😉
Not sure its coincidence but they are next to the local tip!
1st gear -down and out
2nd gear - push gently in and let it flip to right.
3rd gear - pull straight out
4th gear - firm flip to right and push all the way home.
My doors opened at speed (50mph) and I could see the road.
There was a hole under the rubber mat so I could almost run it flintstone style.
The roof had several cuts and held together by rhino tape.
But I loved the ventilation handle and flap and clippy windows.
A perfect teachers first car.
molgrips- I do have a history of love for small and very gay cars though. So naturally I will love a 2CV 🙄
Remember those french cartoon books with the 2cv in as kids?
There's no point doing something deliberately dangerous for a stupid reason is there? Biking, climbing etc have serious benefits to your lifestyle. Driving a sh*t car when you don't have to is just an affectation.
I've definatley picked up worse injuries cycling than I ever managed in clasic cars or riding motorbikes.
I was shown an off camber 2-3ft drop mid way round a corner at the weekend, whats more likely to put me in hospital, trying that next time im out, or the MG?
I've definatley picked up worse injuries cycling than I ever managed in clasic cars or riding motorbikes.
That makes a lot of sense.... 🙄
I was shown an off camber 2-3ft drop mid way round a corner at the weekend, whats more likely to put me in hospital, trying that next time im out, or the MG?
The thing about car accidents is that they come in two kinds - active and passive. If you are ragging a sportscar about and stack it, then that's your fault - fine. You might be doing 90mph and hit a tree in which case you'll probably die. On a bike you would probably be doing 15mph on something technical and at worst break something. Deaths whilst cycling are pretty rare, because speeds are low. This isn't the case with motorbikes, is it?
Passive accidents are where you are driving along minding your own business, managing risk, and someone smashes into you. This happens quite a bit (fair few people I know got wiped out this way) and if it does, do you want to be in a safe car or a tin can? There is nothing you can do about people crashing into you [i]apart from[/i] driving a sensibly save car. I really wouldn't enjoy having my wife or daughter's mangled bodies need prising out of a crushed 20 year old piece of crap when they could've walked out of a 5 star NCAP rated car just because it looked cute...
[img] http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3534/3215836390_6da4c72457.jp g" target="_blank">http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3534/3215836390_6da4c72457.jp g"/> %3Fv%3D0[/img]
You'll need one of these..
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Ive been involved in passive accidents on my bike, either cars or my own bloomin' friends ploughing into me on their bikes!! I'd quite like a 2CV really, I think it would be great fun 😀
Oh, and get this molgrips, I drive a classic mini! im pretty much committing suicide everytime I drive arent I? 😉
I hope no-one loves you then 🙂
*wraps molgrips in bubblewrap and pats him on the head*
You miss the point!
I guess ultimately if you don't want your lady to buy one, you've got to factor in the views here, which really do explain the appeal of the 2cv to some as the ultimate anti-car. It's a big eff off to logic, green motoring, aerodynamics, safety, reliability, and the modern world of efficiency and things working clinically. Travel in a 2CV is exciting, cos of the uncertainty - it's an achievement to get somewhere. Alive.
I'd forgotten about that stuff, but hey, I was in that space when I bought mine for sure. At the time someone brought an ace advert into work by Citroen which actually picked up on all it's failings and made fun of them. you know, safety - the entire car is a crumple zone, central locking - you can reach all the doors from the drivers seat, etc. It was brilliant marketing - appealed exactly to my sentiments at the time. I've just failed to find it on tinternet, sadly. Then there was the Tintin brochure! Sold!
If she's in that zone, logic ain't going to win the debate mate. It's like singlespeeding for cars....
Why not at a classic beetle?
.
.
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(dons tin hat and dives)
I hope no-one loves you then
My mum does 8)
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🙂
as for their not being green...........
how much polution do you think was created in making a new car (put of significanlty more metal and plastic) every 10 years compared to keeping a 2CV on the road for 30+ years?
After 10 years you pretty much need all the panels replacing on the 2CV spoon 😀
true, but there's a lot less metal in the 2CV than there is in a Fiesta.
As for the 2cv being a shed. I remember what remained of a Fiesta after a Audi 80 T boned it at circa 30mph. I think the driver of the Fiesta would have been somewhere around the passenger-door area.