Ok so supercars and luxury cars aside are there no vaguely inspiring vehicles to purchase! I guess wanting to get a bike in it and be able to chuck minimaxrays bits and pieces in if you go out may restrict things slightly but you would think there would be something that makes you think ooh lovely..

focus drab
golf yawn
civic soulless
qashqui – looks like a duplo lego car
Octavia – looks like a repmobile

Am I missing an absolute gem or have all cars just become similar, bland and generally a bit boring?

😕

Didn’t think I would spend evenings pawwing over new/used car sites without at least being captivated by one!

Long since given up caring about getting the most beautiful looking car. They’re a money pit so now concentrate on reliability/economy/running costs.

It’s not really about beautiful as such, guess I was just hoping I would find something that I would look forward to driving 🙂

agree with allthepies. long gone are the greats with soul.
i think if your a petrol head you need to look at both,your do anything car (souless) and maybe a second car. Go fire up the quatro..

When were middle of the range family cars exciting? I’ve been driving for 30 years and I can’t recall a time when they were better than today’s crop. They’ve become universally competent, certainly. They drink less fuel, you’ll survive a crash in them, and they’ll probably never properly break down on you.

Unlike their wonderful predecessors – the Escort, Peugeut 309, Morris Ital, Austin Ambassador, Cortina, Toyota Corolla, Allegro, Nissan Bluebird, Cavalier…they all had bags of character, mostly bad.

I learned to drive in an Austin Princess. It was rubbish – the gearbox was hideous at the best of times, the steering was woeful, the brakes overheated with one hard-ish stop, it drank fuel, and it was so noisy that you never drove it above 70. And the window seal leaked incessantly. It also rusted like there was no tomorrow, but that didn’t matter so much as the engine, gearbox and just about everything else was dead by 100k miles anyway.

If you want interesting/inspiring, get an older car (5/6 year old BMW 5-Series) and accept the higher running costs. Or something like a Kia Soul – a bit quirky, a bit of fun, but again a more expensive to run than the ‘dull’ cars you’ve rejected.

Captivating but practical? Alfa Romeo? But you probably want reliability and bulletproof build quality too, don’t you? Figure out what is most important to you, as manu’s will be trying to make good cars that appeal to the masses so they can actually sell some…

:'( gutted…

guess I will have to strike “not drab” from my needs/wants list 🙂

Actually the Giuiletta had been on the possible list. I think I am actually just wanting it to tick too many boxes.

Good point about family cars though nickf, it’s not so much I have rejected anything, was presuming lots of cars were desirable though that was when I wasn’t in a situation to get one and was banging round in an old heap.

What about this… big fanfare for the NEW .. MG???

One thing about MGs was their originality. Now, take a bit of Golf, bit of Prius, bit of Picasso, Focus… etc and come up with something… yes, drab.

Yup! some folk choose a classic for that reason I’m sure. Some examples of what people have done to keep their old cars alive in my galleries below

http://www.peterflynnclassiccars.com

focus drab (get an ST/RS)
golf yawn (get a GTI/R)
civic soulless (TypeR)
qashqui – looks like a duplo lego car (erm, get a GTR?)
Octavia – looks like a repmobile (dare I suggest a vRS? I love driving mine and I actually think its quite a nice thing to look at?)

Just get the Giuiletta, they’re lovely.

A big second-hand Saab or Volvo.
Character & not drab – [possibly not too pretty either,, but hey]

Beat me to it… That DS3 looks anything but drab! But… It has gone too far the other way and looks a bit boy-racer.

If only they did a Focus-sized one.

As an aside, the Seat Leons don’t look too bad.

mrblobby – Member
Just get the Giuiletta, they’re lovely.

Posted 24 minutes ago

+1

Wtf are you expecting?

I liked the Civic – interesting and different interior, felt sporty to me, and cool design features. I also like VWs because they look classier than many of the others and are comfy and refined. Loving the Passat’s comfort.

Focuses handle really well (so I’m told) which is great if you live in the countryside or like throwing it about a bit.

I think you’re being overly precious about cars. Too much Top Gear. All modern cars are actually brilliant engineering.

EDIT: as above for Citroen – my dad always poo-poohed them but I think their design is really tasteful and lovely now. From the outside at least!

Double edit – get a Scirocco.

3 series beemer estate of some variety? 6 cyclinder petrol versions if you can afford it for the fun/noise factor, but my 2.0d is loads of fun to drive and makes everything else I’ve driven since buying it feel really quite crap. Only downside is a solid ride around town.

molgrips I don’t know what I was expecting to be honest. I didnt dislike the Civic, it is probably the most likely I would go for, it just felt very clinical. Getting in a Golf Plus after the Civic showed up the Golf’s interior.

Have written the Focus off puely on the fact there are so many around and it really doesnt do it for me lookswise.

C3picasso was on the list but apparantly a bit gutless.

Not knocking modern cars in terms of engineering, as I said maybe having had old/get you by cars I thought the experience of having time and a pretty open choice would leave me struggling to choose because of all the options not lack of 😀

A mate of mine has got a brand new A4. He just finds it “a car”. He gets no more pleasure from it than I do from my 10 yr old Mondeo Estate. In fact, I probably enjoy mine more because i don’t have to be careful with it, and don’t thing that every mile is costing 50p in depreciation.

Bangernomics! That’s the way forward. If all the car factories started making 10 year old Mondeos and selling them for £1500 we’d ba back to full employment in a flash!

‘fun’ family cars?

Mitsubishi evo?
Scooby (older ones, new one looks a bit wet)?

The problem is you’re looking to have fun in a boring car, regardles of what the STW VAG diesel driving hive mind says, driving arround at 1300rpm isnt fun, even the midget can do that, and accelerate straight upto the redline if you floor it, the difference is, the midget just becomes more and more fun the closer you get to the redline, whereas the sensible economic option, is, well, sensible?

New quatro coming out? Although in reality it’s just a 5cyl petrol in another re-hashed VAG chassis.

Build a kit car or buy a cheap classic car for fun if you’re into driving.

i’d have a civic just for the Star Ship Enterprise dashboard

Renault Wind?

RCZ:

Sirrocco is ok:

Family/Bike Van:

And you can blame the Euro regs for the lack of decent family car styling – especially the pedestrian impact part that means no low noses or anything resembling an edge!

ooh that 159 is nice! That’s what I am talking about 🙂 tho probably cramped in the back etc etc etc

I guess it is all about compromises.

3 series beemer estate of some variety? 6 cyclinder petrol versions if you can afford it for the fun/noise factor, but my 2.0d is loads of fun to drive and makes everything else I’ve driven since buying it feel really quite crap. Only downside is a solid ride around town.

+1

I have a 330d Tourer, makes noises like it’s running on Tigers. Sweet.

driving arround at 1300rpm isnt fun

What difference does it make how fast your engine is turning?! 😯

It really does depend on what you want from a car. Like I say, I like comfort, so I really love cruising along the motorway in my Passat. Puts a smile on my face. Now I know I’m only meant to smile when driving up an Italian mountain pass in a super car, but I’ve resisted the conditioning so far…

If you want sporty then there are sporty cars, if you want fun and quirky then they are there too. You have to put some effort in to this choice 🙂

Cars that fit the bill.
some form of AMG Merc estate
M3/M5 (M3 estate on the cards)
RS4/RS6 Avant
Scooby STI
Evo X
etc etc

focus drab

I like my Focus (Ghia 2l petrol)

Granted I’m really not a “car person”, I only learnt to drive about four years ago – but it is comfy, reasonably nippy, reasonably economical, easy to drive and lots of nice gadgets in it to make the drive a little nicer*

Yeah it is a pretty common car on the roads, but that’s a bonus: big user base means garages know what they are doing with it and there are plenty of parts as it gets older!

* (aircon, satnav, cruise control, heated leather seats, voice control, bluetooth, multi CD, auto lights & wipers, heated screens & mirrors, auto-dim mirror, cooled glovebox and probably some other frippery)

The competence of most modern cars is incredible, even compared to 20 years ago. And in terms of drabness, compare the handling and styling of the Focus, Civic and Golf to the Escort, Civic and Golf from back then – and be thankful!

cheap classic car

no such thing, either;
it’s expensive for what is it (BIL’s Mexico)
it’s modified/ripe for tinkering (other BIL’s 1.8 crossflow powered anglia 105)
it’s used every day and needs maintaining (my midget)
it’s a “modern classic” which just means old skool reliability and new car repair costs!

It really does depend on what you want from a car. Like I say, I like comfort, so I really love cruising along the motorway in my Passat. Puts a smile on my face. Now I know I’m only meant to smile when driving up an Italian mountain pass in a super car, but I’ve resisted the conditioning so far…

If you want sporty then there are sporty cars, if you want fun and quirky then they are there too. You have to put some effort in to this choice

Thats the car driving equivelent of saying “I’d rather go to bed with a hot chocolate than Carla Bruni”

Yes, my 1994 Passat was a dog compared to the 2006 one!

Get a Chevrolet Camaro, a 1982 one, in green specifically.

4 gears and 5.7 litre engine.

Thats the car driving equivelent of saying “I’d rather go to bed with a hot chocolate than Carla Bruni”

Sportiness is not everything Spoon. There are many ways to enjoy the world, even when it comes to cars…

As for Carla Brunei – never met her, I dunno if I’d like to go to bed with her or not 🙂

No it’s the modern equivalent actually being able to meet up with your side squeeze and get back afterwards without arriving on the back of a RAC lorry.

The 159 sportswagon is huge iin the back, not like the 156 sportwagon.

The Scirocco is like the Brera with an unusable opening to the tail – pointless.

I can get my mtb in the back of my Alfa GT lying flat with just the front wheel off and the rear seats down. The Guillietta looks similair but just a tad shorter. I will probably get a Guillietta next, which will make 4 alfas in a row…

The longish term reviews I have seen in the car mags have all been good.

compare the handling and styling of the Focus, Civic and Golf to the Escort, Civic and Golf from back then

That’s why the latest Focus is a worse drive than the older one, and the mk4 golf was a joke compared to the older ones.

I’ve got a new Leon and I think it looks a bit more interesting looking than the other Golf based cars. With 210hp on tap its pretty fun to drive too but the compromise is 28mpg on average which isn’t great. Its by no means a sportscar but I needed something that I could comfortably cart about bikes in so a hatchback with a decent engine was the way to go.

I could have bought a 140bhp diesel got 55mpg and moaned that mid range cars are boring but I didn’t.

There are plenty of options out there for fun motoring if you a prepared to compromise on something but you can’t have your cake and eat it.

never met her

I’ve never driven a F-50 either, and probably never will, but I know I want to.

How about a Skoda Yeti? No older ones around obviously so still near £15k, but a bit less dull than the squashy blob shapes of the others, and more useful for carting bikes and kit.