struck me the other day that you just see the same old cars on the road all the time, hardly any variation, just the different sized models from the main players.
bikes? you can stray from the big boys and go steel, ti, fatbike, singlespeed, 29er, 650b, fully rigid, retro, as nichetastic as you like, but when it comes to buying cars…… autotrader it is for the usual suspects.

so my question is, is there anything out there for the discerning potential auto buyer who just fancies something a little different, but still hitting the ‘safe’ and ‘economical’ criteria? and for the same sort of money as a bog standard car?

jus’ wonderin’ thats all.

and i give you the PT cruiser….

you dont see much out of ordinary these days because people like safe economical carsthat they wont loose money hand over fist on – unless they can afford to – in which case the cars crazy money to buy in the first place – maclaren, arial , konnigsigg 😉

about as out there as you will get for similar money to a standard car = citroen DS3 with a pink roof 😉

nissan cube. you can pretend to be postman pat if you get a red one.

Nissan Figaro – want to buy one?

BMW 13? Looks very different to a lot of the current cars on the road and is electric too. Or, if you have a pot of cash, i8. Looks awesome (saw one the other day).

(Image from Autoblog(http://www.autoblog.com/2014/04/28/2015-bmw-i8-review-first-drive-video/))

as nichetastic as you like

http://www.ant-kahn.com/index.php

The answer is obvious fool!!!!

Citroen Cactus?

PT Cruiser – please god no…

Know what you mean though OP. My first few cars were quite different though still main stream – ish – and last couple have been distinctive too, however needs must on latest buy and it’s not really got any ‘wow’ ness..

It’s reassuring to know that, with the cactus, if a giant ever picks up your car he’s unlikely to drop it.

to be fair …. if they used rubber sides like that on the cars i see folk trying to get into at the local tesco – by opening the door into the next car….folks cars would be alot better looking in 3 years time – when their lease is up….

and the trolleys will bounce off and spack the adjacent shiny beemer, all of whom can’t park straight, and leave me about an inch to open my driver’s door.

Or take a standard car and make it less so. It can be done well you know, not just Max Power condition.

struck me the other day that you just see the same old cars on the road all the time

Well there are hardly any manufacturers to choose from anymore, so many mergers and acquisitions that you’re really choosing between badges glued to just of manufacturers cars.

Out of the ordinary, but still affordable to run would mean looking at grey imports of cars from these manufactures that were intended for different markets – Friendy Bongos, Nissan Cubes, Mitzubishi Delicia. However in many cases these cars weren’t offered here because they’re not really suited to european roads and driving. The Delicia, for instance, is designed for sitting in a Tokyo traffic jam and dreaming you could be on an adventure somewhere, they’re not intended to actually go on that adventure and are a bit too keen to fall over on corners for Toyota to be happy to sell them in the UK. So grey imports of ‘out of the ordinary’ cars might tick the ‘affordable’ box, but not always the ‘safe’ one.

Sounds like my latest purchase

SEAT Altea Freetrack. 2.0tfsi from a golf gti with 200bhp remapped to 250. 4wd and many toys

Ugly but amusingly quick for a bus

^^
I’ve just been a little bit sick.
Sorry…

DrP

Sick, but cheap and quick

I’m not offended – I don’t turn round lustfully and look back at it!

thanks for the input chaps. i didnt particularly mean ‘wow’ or performance cars either, just ‘something different’. dont really know what ‘different’ is, and not really thinking of something that turns heads, just something a bit coooool yet understated. *cough* bit like meself *cough* 😀

Something that says alfa romeo on the front 🙂

Scimitar SST 1.8 turbo, a very quick car.

I love those Reliants ,SS1 , i also love the suzuki Cappucino

Toyota Land Cruiser FJ-40

SEAT Altea Freetrack. 2.0tfsi from a golf gti with 200bhp remapped to 250. 4wd and many toys

Ugly but amusingly quick for a bus

From the back it looks like it’s about to start crying…..and then do a huge poo out of it’s face.

DS3 would be my vote for different but useable. Maybe a Giulietta or a Juke? Sadly if you want to be ‘different’ you really have to be different and suffer the consequences! Ahem…. Nissan PCube.

Edit….what do I know. Silver Astra on the drive. Not sure if I want to age 300 years or start selling pharmaceuticals every time I see the damn thing.

Although I wish they kept the bike rack/tail that was on the concept modle.

Well, I’ve been around long enough to remember when virtually every car looked identical, no matter who made it, a Hillman Hunter, Ford Escort, Vauxhall Viva, were virtually indistinguishable from each other.
Now, though, there’s a real big variation between the different marques, a Vauxhall Astra is totally different in style to a Citrôen DS3, which is different to a Seat, a Kia, Audi, Fiat…
I think car designs have a greater variation now than at any time in the last thirty years.

I like the look of Skoda Yeti so perhaps that will be my first non-Jap car in future or a Superb.

Skoda yeti look ok, until you look for storage….non-existent

T5 FTW 😉

and i give you the PT cruiser

A friend bought a PT Cruiser a few years back and got rid of it within months—referred to it as the PT Crapper

Most of your niche/independent/low volume bikes are priced in a similar bracket to supercars.

Take an average car/bike budget of say £800 and I suspect the ‘niche’ options get fairly scarce.

There’s plenty of crazy Jap stuff available, here’s two and have only a passing knowledge of this craziness…

That’s an Autozam AZ-1 and a Cuore Tr-XX

Other things of interest may include LPG or LPG Liquid inection, for giggles this can be combined with older powerful cars. Been in a BMW 750 on LPG, good fun and xheapish to run, and been considering a Forester with the LPG+Turbo trick…

gofasterstripes – Member

There’s plenty of crazy Jap stuff available, here’s two and have only a passing knowledge of this craziness…

That’s an Autozam AZ-1 and a Cuore Tr-XX

Oi … I used to drive a Cuore Tr-XX (aka. Daihatsu Nippa) in the far east. The Cuore has a turbo so it is faster.

It has a 660CC engine and it is a very reliable car. The maintenance cost is so low almost everyone got one like this:

Yes, safety might not be the best if you get squash between two lorries but apart from that it’s safer than your bike.

Oh ya … a similar one was smashed up by that guy Jeremy Clarkson.

I saw a Tr-XX once hooning around Truro, never forgotten the way it moved!

the vdub boys and girls enrich my life considerably. 🙂

gotta love the americans.. made me smile today ( different paint though )
think it was 6 or 6.5 litres but will probably burble along for a lifetime ( as opposed to blowing ( no pun intended ) a turbo after 50k)
or just show me an alfa

A few from Bugjam the other week..

Another vote for Alfas.

We have a Giulietta as a follow up to our 147. Could have got a Focus/Astra/1 series/Golf but wanted something a little different. You also get the pleasure of the “Alfa wave” (every Alfa I’ve ever passed on the roads has given a little wave, I think mainly because they’re so happy to see two moving at the same time!)

spectabilis – needs some heavier HDR in your pics 😉

I quite fancy a VX220 Turbo