[Closed] Why, while browsing for small, economical, likely Asian cars,.....

Do it (said the Golf GTi owner)...

Small? Asian?... Oh, cars. Shuffles off disappointed 🙂

Honda Beat. Do it.

In between the thrashed and trashed, there are some gems in there it seems...are people put off by running costs? Tax? Insurance?

Because as much as we often hate to admit it fast / nice cars are fun and make us feel good.

This is not to be confused with failing to behave properly behind the wheel of one.

I think they amplify the bass of door closure through the stereo

Everyone should own a golf at least once in their life.

Pretty sure in my mark 5 they amplified the dashboard rattle through some hidden Marshall stack.

It only disappeared when the dealer removed and refitted half the interior trim to sort an electrical issue

It's just a car. A method of transport. Obviously you are confusing it with other things such as identity, sexuality, so-called 'lifestyle' etc. Marketing works on all kinds of levels. Peer pressure also. We seek to both fit in and be trailblazers. Within consumerist culture cars became a shortcut to forging, declaring and affirming ones 'identity'.

Silly really, as anyone with the money can buy a car. Cars roll off factory floors all day long all around the world. Like doughnuts. But they aren't viewed anywhere near as simplistically as other commodity or utility. Thanks to the billions spent on advertising since the advent of the The Ford we are now entranced, hypnotized and ever-watchful of the automobile trend. Millions of jelly-moulded units roll off the line every year to be painted this-years colour and sold as the ultimate expression of freedom and individuality.

Car manufacturers have literally created a paradigm shift in the collective human experience. You can have your Golf (therefore still 'fitting in' with the chosen peer-group) but also add a 'personal touch' (some colour or custom tat) and so be seen as individualistic/trailblazing/risk-taking/exciting.

On the flipside - those few modern humans in 'developed countries' who do not own a car are perceived as either 'out of the game', extremely impoverished, or extremely radical.

As for choice of car? Choose well. Like those 50s adverts of red-haired boys with skinny arms and spectacles having a sand sandwich fed them at the beach by a burly smiling jock. A small asian car would be your declaration of having skinny arms and glasses. Red hair too. Why would you do that to yourself? All the cool guys and girls have German cars.

Pimping your Japanese car would (outside of Japan) arguably be much more individualistic. Too much more. At some point in your life VW's clever marketing got into you, and it stayed there. Gestated inside of you. Now a trigger (ie desire/require a car) has awoken a semi-latent 'lifestyle' hankering. Your life will not now be complete without owning a VW.

I bought a VW Scirocco GT at 40 because I couldn't afford one at 20. I genuinely believed it looked awesome and cool to the 20yr old manitou on my back that now cooed into my ear Obviously I was still a 20yr old kid somewhere in my mind - attempting to reclaim 'youth' by unashamedly declaring immaturity. tbh the VW didnt change a thing in my life except make me think it looked cool, that and and develop bigger arm and neck muscles as power-steering was not an option. And have VW bus drivers/ other Scirocco drivers flash me. At this point I felt like a fake because I didn't really care about the Volkswagen company/identity. I bought it because I liked the look of it and wanted one when I was 17 and couldn't have one but now I could. I didn't want to join the 'club'.

Now, my Citroen ZX 1.9D before it was 200% more useful. But it sometimes made me think that people were judging me for driving it. Judging me unkindly. Was I perceived as a weirdo? Like a poor weirdo? Not like the sleek, black VW Scirocco. I couldn't imagine that people saw me in the Scirocco and thought 'mid-life crisis'. 'Older man trapped in a teenaged mind'? I was so caught up in owning it that I didn't care what anyone thought. Yet it too passed, and so did my mid-life rubbish. Finally got beaten into pieces by careless/elderly drivers and van-men. Insurance write-off. So I sold it. I watched my teen-dream be dismantled for parts by genuine enthusiasts, ie those that love German cars more than even their families - if love is where the money goes....

Now I drive my wife's Panda and am free of cares. People can think what they like, car-marketing doesn't touch me, I've got my eye on a 2014 Kona Cinder Cone...matt black...

^Sorry, too much coffee.

Shorter version: 😉

[img] [/img]

Malvern Rider. Wow, you really are angry at life.

I got to about the end of the first paragraph and decided to give up. I think a little bit of soul left my body at that point.

MR - more of a monologue than a rant 🙂
- [s]7/10[/s] 8/10 for working in retro bike /native spirit thing.

I did that too. I was almost the owner of a golf gti but got a diahatsu charade. Smaller engine than my last motorbike.

Its slow on the motorway but sits at 75 comfortably but very nippy in town. Easy to park too. Super cheap to run/repair.

I dont regret my choice. Most of the time 🙂

Malvern Rider. Wow, you really are angry at life.

(!) Oops, really not intended (or felt) as a 'rant' more a long-winded caffeine-fueled rumination, albeit with a hefty dose of amused self-deprecation/realisation. (Nods, smokes pipe, chuckles)

Apologies if came over angry, really wasn't.

MR - just noticed there is a car in that photo too!

If you fancy it, have enough money and live in rural Scotland then go for it. You'll enjoy it, I suspect your mileage is low enough for economy to be not too important and if you want to get stuff done you have your other car.

I had a small economical Japanese car and loved it. Now we have a sensible economical supermini and a daft fast semi-german supermini. We love that too.

jekkyl - Member

Everyone should own a golf at least once in their life.

This +1 (or +6 in my case albeit 2 non GTIs, a 1.1 and a VR6)

Really miss my beautiful White 16v Mk1 Golf....almost bought it again this year after it came back up for sale on Ebay...but due to the nasty fitted carbon roof I declined

Golf gti owner here (the chubby mk4 flavour).

It's quite nice. Decent seats, nippy, reliable, quiet inside.

I'd swap it for a good 16v mk2 at the drop of a hat though.

[i]Because as much as we often hate to admit it fast / nice cars are fun and make us feel good.[/i]

Nothing to do with "fun" or "fast", I just hate Asian cars. It's irrational, I know, but coming from the 80s, Kias, Hyundais, even Skodas. Just can't.

This was a Kia
[img] [/img]
Hyundai
[img] [/img]

etc.

Do it (said the Golf GTi owner)...

Definitely do it! (said another one)

I was derided on this very forum for my choice (Mark 4 1.8t GTi) due to its horendous understear blah, blah, blah, yadda yadda yadda

However, giving it a bit of welly round some nice twisty Cheshire B roads last night, I can honestly say that (maybe even because of the heart-in-mouth cornering) its in the room-full-of-coke-and-hookers league when it comes to fun. I love the bloody thing!

Are you going to get this from a small, economical, likely Asian cars?

In short.... no!

Lifes to short. Go and buy a Golf GTi 😀

Just buy one we have to treat ourselves from time to time and if you like cars then buy one. If you don't get a Panda.

Not driven a Panda then?
🙂

I liked my MK2 Jetta.

But I had more fun in the free Daewoo Nexia that replaced it.
Lack of expectation, guessing what would fall off next, and generally screwing the arse off it everywhere.
Carefree motoring.

I'd rather have a Panda than a modern Golf too - personally, I reckon I'd have more fun.

We not sure everyone should own a Golf in thier lifetime.... Although I do

But everyone should own a turbo in thier lifetime.... my golf is also a MK4 1.8t

It might just be me, but I love a bit of turbo lag .... slow slow.... fast, fast .... really fast.

Or making sure your driving so that the fast fast ... really fast bit it always available ... ??

That being said, I can't wait until the kids start driving. 12 or more years off yet and I can share a modern asian supermini with them.... wonder what the toyota aygo will look like in 2028..?

small, economical, likely Asian cars?

Civic Type R.
Pulsar GTiR
Celica VVTi

...may not be that economical.

MR - just noticed there is a car in that photo too!

We will never [i]not[/i] notice both the car and the brand. It's like an implant. I claim (and 99% honestly believe) to have no interest in cars beyond utility (discounting their environmental and cultural impact) - but I can name most makes and models. Weird.

Skoda is Asian?

We will never not notice the car or the brand.

Well it was very defiantly only the second thing I noticed in the photo, and it was only because it was in front of the first thing!

I was almost the owner of a golf gti but got a diahatsu charade.

There simply are no words....

You have my deepest condolences

if you like cars then buy one. If you don't get a Panda.

winded caffeine-fueled rumination, albeit with a hefty dose of amused self-deprecation/realisation. (Nods, smokes pipe, chuckles)

And that's how it came across to me MR. Enjoyed it! 🙂

Everyone should own a golf at least once in their life.

I've driven almost every variant of the Golf and they are 'ok' but they aren't characterful or an immense or intense/fun experience by any stretch. Ontop of this the interior space is 'ok' but not dazzling.

😀

Oh aye oop. Clarksons arrived.

[img] [/img]

Mine is in getting a new bloody timing belt and water pump today though... 😥

If only cars were maintenance free.

[i]Oh aye oop. Clarksons arrived.[/i]

Almost too true to be funny. But not quite. 😆

Could I suggest (in true STW fashion as I currently own one) a renaultsport clio of any flavour bar the latest. Fun in a chavvy kind of way with the added addition of 'french flare'. For French flare, ready rattly a **** and occasionally things not working - adds to the 'charm'.

[i]Skoda is Asian?[/i]

No. But the same thing ("[i][b]even[/b] Skodas[/i]")

I disagree. You have to rag the arse of it as it has bugger all torque.

Oh aye oop. Clarksons arrived.

Says the man who probably owns a 2.0 N/a GTI but claims its a 1.8T 😉 😀

[i]Everyone should own a golf at least once in their life.[/i]

A bit like everyone should own a V8, I've had two and they are the most glorious of engine, probably only bettered by something with more cylinders 🙂

Although straight-six's are fun, in a very laid-back way.

MR I think that photo just ruined your whole argument :p

And modifying J-tin is far from individualistic, its just another scene.

MR +1 very well written diatribe against the [i]myth of the motor[/i]

I disagree. You have to rag the arse of it as it has bugger all torque.

That's the whole point. A slow car driven quickly is way more fun than a fast car driven slowly.

I want one of these...

[img] http://pictures2.autotrader.co.uk/imgser-uk/servlet/media?id=08075249ec27924869b6fb26e48193ad [/img]

This one polishes up well...
http://www.gumtree.com/p/volkswagen/golf-gti-2006-low-miles-fsh-full-leather-interior-/1126631695

8)

Do you have to buy the Barbie separately?
🙂

Nah, I married her 20 years ago...

I used to have a heavily tweaked v6 Golf and now drive a 1.0 Kia Picanto. About town the Picanto is the better car to drive, it's small size makes parking so much easier and the softer suspension copes much better with pot holes / speed bumps, plus the economy is amazing, last year I only filled it up 3 times!

[i]About town the Picanto is the better car to drive, it's small size makes parking so much easier and the softer suspension copes much better with pot holes / speed bumps, plus the economy is amazing, last year I only filled it up 3 times! [/i]

I'd guess if you drove it more you'd hate it.

The 1.0 Aygo/C1 engine is a fantastic little 3cylinder beaut. Really loves revving and peppy 😀

Cars nowadays are just too heavy. We should have a return to small/stripped out small cc turbo and supercharged cars as a norm 😀

I'd guess if you drove it more you'd hate it.

That I very much doubt, I'm not that arsed about performance any more.

The 1.0 Aygo/C1 engine is a fantastic little 3cylinder beaut. Really loves revving and peppy

The Yaris is great, but weekly it feels 'small'.

A lot of our driving is also not town driving - me heading up A9 or around Highlands for work, for example.

Everyones different- I once drove an Aygo through winter from England, France, Belgium to Germany 😀

You already know the answer. All this is surely just foreplay? You big tease! 😉

[img] https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTRyFipfhrheyfwMR44J5UBAMKjD0O6T6l8w7ZfTURZbW6LYXHP3Q [/img]

So much for the Asian car.

We bought a Spanish designed and Slovakian built car. 😆