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Nov 13, 2006 16:38:57 GMT
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The other reason for old cars surviving longer on US roads is that in the rural and suburban areas you need a car, you cannot rely on public transport as it doesn't exist in many places.
Therefore anything running and capable of passing whatever roadworthiness tests the state has is probably worth a minimum of $500-1000 dollars.
In the urban areas of the UK, if your £300 Cavalier suddenly needs a new clutch, you may be tempted to junk it and become a commuter - at least in the summer!
I think Australia and New Zealand have the highest average age of cars - I remember a Australian colleague telling me her sister had just brought a Mk5 Cortina for the equivalent of about £3k in 2000!!
In a society where everybody needs a car, every car has a value, unlike in the UK.
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Nov 13, 2006 19:59:22 GMT
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^ People in rural areas in UK also need a car!
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Nov 13, 2006 20:37:02 GMT
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I need several cars
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1941 Wolseley Not Rod - 1956 Humber Hawk - 1957 Daimler Conquest - 1966 Buick LeSabre - 1968 Plymouth Sport Fury - 1968 Ford Galaxie - 1969 Ford Country Squire - 1969 Mercury Marquis - 1970 Morris Minor - 1970 Buick Skylark - 1970 Ford Galaxie - 1971 Ford Galaxie - 1976 Continental Mark IV - 1976 Ford Capri - 1994 Ford Fiesta
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stinkwheel
Posted a lot
Doctor Of Gonzo Journalism - One of gods own proptypes, never even considered for mass production.
Posts: 2,280
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Nov 13, 2006 20:59:06 GMT
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And sometimes more than that ;D
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1973 Citroen Dyane 6 1980 Citroen Acadiane 1992 Citroen AX 1990 Citroen BX 1997 Citroen XM 1993 Citroen BX 1997 Citroen Xantia 1977 Citroen Ami 8 1996 Ford Escort 1989 Citroen BX 1997 Suzuki RF900 1988 Yamaha TDR250 1979 Honda CB400. 'I need less vehicles'
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SkoCan
Posted a lot
Quando omni flunkus, mortati
Posts: 1,916
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Nov 13, 2006 21:19:41 GMT
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I need several cars Me too. And a truck for parts hauling and towing duties
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Nov 14, 2006 10:07:21 GMT
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Hang on a minute! If Britain is a 'New car buying' obsessive country then why is just about every car manufacturer/factory and car components firm closing down here?
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Nov 14, 2006 10:28:05 GMT
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because buying is not the same as making. UK Govt has provided good packages and incentives in the past to get Toyota and Nissan to come here rather than France or where ever but at the end of the day manufacture is cheaper in places like Poland and now they are in the EU they can build there and ship tarrif free across Europe to us, France, Germany...
Also remember that the Eurosceptic and "pro-business" lobby groups (including such as the Daily Mail, Sun, Express) have successfully made it political suicide for any British government to bring in the kind of worker's protection legislation they have in the rest of "tier one" European countries like France, Germany, etc. so when a global player like GM is thinking "do I close a Vauxhall plant in England or an Opel plent in Germany or Italy" they discover its far cheaper and easier to dump British workers than it is to lay of people in the "real" EU. Next time a UKIP candidate comes a knocking on your door canvassing for your vote you might like to thank them for this.
Being a non-Euro country in the EU is also hurting the ability to attract the right sort of inward investment and prevent business going overseas.
The other side of the arguement (and what you will read in the Telegraph or Times) is that because you can sack or lay off Brits easier than most other EU countries then companies are more likely to come here because of the "flexibility" it offers them. What this means though and what they don't ever say is that these "flexible" new jobs tend to be low end short term with poor long term benefits. And these days you can get the same "flexibility" at a wage level a fraction of the UK by going to Poland. Also their environmental controls are far laxer meaning companies can get away with dirty tricks (litterally) that they can't do here, although Poland is making moves on that, but then theres Romania and Bulgaria waiting in the wings to take over as the sweat shops of Europes industrial production...
A lot of this also comes down to the drive for service industry growth at the expense of manufacturing back in the 1980s. Thatcher rather like services (white colar, non-Union) and hated manufacturing (they're all socialists and labour voters anyway). The problem comes that now in the global infrastructure you can run services from anywhere and those call centres and tech centres are moving to India and the like. Fat cat Tory businessmen don't care as they are still reaping the proffits either way. I lost my last job due to it being offshored. When all the workers are in India then you might as well have the managers there too. Huge amounts of software development is being done out there now. Its scary buscuits for the western economies long term. Especially for those who were pushing the "free market" BS and swallowed it themselves. Oh, that will be us. Protectionism rules. Thats how otherwise colapsed economies like Japan and USA keep strong and reasonably stable.
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Last Edit: Nov 14, 2006 10:29:51 GMT by akku
1941 Wolseley Not Rod - 1956 Humber Hawk - 1957 Daimler Conquest - 1966 Buick LeSabre - 1968 Plymouth Sport Fury - 1968 Ford Galaxie - 1969 Ford Country Squire - 1969 Mercury Marquis - 1970 Morris Minor - 1970 Buick Skylark - 1970 Ford Galaxie - 1971 Ford Galaxie - 1976 Continental Mark IV - 1976 Ford Capri - 1994 Ford Fiesta
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Nov 14, 2006 11:03:56 GMT
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^ Your defo the NEW Rev9 ;D Actually everything you said is just about right! ^ Totally agree due to friends in this situation! ^ Built to the same standard as a Dacia Denem? ...I hope not! ;D
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Nov 14, 2006 11:47:53 GMT
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The plants will be owned and run by VAG, Toyota, whoever and run to the same standards as their other "foreign" plants are. Same as the Toyota Aygo is pretty much the same build quality as a Yaris. One is built in Poland one in the UK. Shared production facilities will probably become more of a feature. Already Toyota is building cars with Citroen and Peugeot. Both Nissan and PSA group have been or are in active discussions with General Motors about sharing "world" production facilities (according to the GMInsider anyway). There are some weird negotiations taking place between the various Chinese car makers and the big western ones about the likes of Nangking Motor building Mercedes or whatever cars over there. The only thing holding that one up is that the Chinese are already "ripping off" designs without licence pretty badly and US Govt and the EU are both trying to get some control over rights should production facilities be moved into existing Chinese car making facilities.
Any company or country can build cars to a quality level determined by the market price for the finished vehicle really.
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1941 Wolseley Not Rod - 1956 Humber Hawk - 1957 Daimler Conquest - 1966 Buick LeSabre - 1968 Plymouth Sport Fury - 1968 Ford Galaxie - 1969 Ford Country Squire - 1969 Mercury Marquis - 1970 Morris Minor - 1970 Buick Skylark - 1970 Ford Galaxie - 1971 Ford Galaxie - 1976 Continental Mark IV - 1976 Ford Capri - 1994 Ford Fiesta
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Nov 14, 2006 11:59:05 GMT
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Gazing into my crystal ball, I can see there being 10 basic models of new car on sale, just with different badges on them. It already happens a lot (like Toyota / Citroen / Peugeot)... I can see it going even further.
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Nov 14, 2006 13:15:03 GMT
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Me hope that eastern Europe will still continue to make simple 'Bodge and codge' type cars ... For that was all part of the fun going over there on holiday ... ..."Oh look at that classic ..." "WILL YOU LOOK WHERE YOU ARE DRIVING!" ..."Oops " In fact we at work have all been discusing about the amount of Polish over here and our anticipation at hopefully seeing loads of classic Eastern Bloc cars on the road ... ...we've seen none
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