You think you know someone...

[philmophlegm]

I just came down from a bath to find bunn on my computer looking at second-hand car adverts. Nothing wrong with that - we're looking to replace the Impreza in the next few months. But then she looks up at me and asks if I'd mind if she bought a Chrysler PT cruiser.


!

http://www.topgear.com/drives/F6/A8/roadtests/13/01.html

To be fair, she hasn't been very well today, but still...

Comments

[sigisgrim.livejournal.com]

Currently our next car is likely to be a Toyota Aygo (lowest co2 of any petrol production vehicle and lowest insurance band), we currently have a Fiat Bravo. The yearly milage has dropped considerably since moving from Telford but the urban miles have increased. We also have a reduced need to carry stuff or many people. The Fiat is great for that, space for five well built adults in comford and their overnight lugage with space to spare. So a change to a much smaller car makes sense. If we need something larger at some point we can always hire something suitable.

[philmophlegm.livejournal.com]

It wasn't the CO2 I was worried about. More the image, build quality, naff looks...

I tried to explain to her that rather like Harley Davidson motorcycles, Chrysler PT Cruisers are only driven by Americans and homosexuals.

[sigisgrim.livejournal.com]

It wasn't the CO2 I was worried about.

That's one of the reasons you'll be paying proportionally more car tax shortly. Sorry, *stands down from soap box*


Chrysler PT Cruisers are only driven by Americans and homosexuals.

Nothing wrong with homosexuals, I know several and have always got on well with them. (They know I'm not interested and it is left at that.) Americans on the other hand, now that's a completely different kettle of fish!


Oh, yes, I forgot to mention that the Aygo is also about as efficient as the Prius in terms of fuel consumption, but that is because it is small, rather than being a petrol / electric hybrid.

[bunn.livejournal.com]

...whereas we have a need for a car that can carry 2 greyhound sized dogs and a fortnight's shopping along empty but often winding and sometimes icy or very muddy roads. But not every day, and not in urban places.

If you used your Fiat every day to commute, for example, I would bet that my Impreza is producing a great deal less CO2 than your car is, week on week, and that it is having less of an effect on our local environment. It probably only travels about 50 miles a week on average.

I don't think the Chrysler will do, on reflection. We do need a largish car with decent road holding though.

[sigisgrim.livejournal.com]

Indeed, that is why a blanket road tax or petrol tax isn't the best way to tax vehicles and road use.

I do use the Fiat five days a week to commute; total weekly milage probably about 100 miles, excluding longer journeys at weekend. That is why I'm looking to change it to something smaller and more suitable for the journeys that I now do. When we lived in Telford we had to travel far further to get to the parts of the country that we needed to get to (e.g. Oxford, Stratford, The New Forest, etc.) We are now more than an hour closer to almost all places we frequently travel to. Also, when I worked in Telford I had a significantly different drive to work, about two miles with no conjestion.

It is quite clear that something like a Toyota Aygo won't do what you need, but it should suit us quite well.

I'd look at changing it sooner, but I can't justify the purchase price of a new car and there are a significant shortage of Aygos on the second hand market at the moment.

[philmophlegm.livejournal.com]

A colleague of mine had an Aygo as a hire car in Scotland and thought it was awful. It may say 'Toyota' on the boot, but it's really a Peugeot / Citroen. Only time will tell if it has Japanese (i.e. excellent) reliability or French (abysmal). What about a second-hand Yaris rather than an almost new Aygo? Also in that class, you might like the Honda Jazz. I had one as a courtesy car once and absolutely hated it, but my Dad swears by his. It came second in this year's Top Gear customer satisfaction survey, so could be regarded as the second best car in Britain. (Of course the first placed car in this survey has been the S2000 for the last three years...)