Wouldn't be seen dead in one guv'nor. Or would I?

chink sportings are top fun!

Johnny,

I'm going to have to disagree with you about the Chevrolet (nee Daewoo) Matiz.

Perhaps it was the surrounding circumstances, I don't know.

I had a 'like for like' courtesy car policy. So I was expecting a Focus, Astra, etc.

They gave me that.

Now I'm not trying to sound ungrateful, and yes, it did get me to work and Wish blah blah blah.

I don't have a downer on many cars (except the New Mini and BMW X5), but this one took the pee.

But I couldn't understand why you'd buy one. If they were seriously cheap, like £2500 for a new one, I could see the point. However, they start at about £6000 for the cheapest. There are far, far nicer cars than that for the money. It just seems to me to appeal to the Jones' brigade that have to have something new on the drive every year.

If I were GM, I'd decontent it (as if the margins weren't obscene enough on it already), detune the engine to run on curse word fuel and sell it cheap enough to compete with the Tata Nano.
That's the only way I would ever buy one.

Clutch, gearchange and pedals were dreadful. Mushy and way too small.

Handling was curse word. Back end way too soft.

The one I had the 4 pot, which whined and groaned, didn't pull particularly well in any gear, and ran rough for a OHC (remember, I had a Endura OHV Ka, so I'm not fussy. I'd say the B18 in my Amazon ran smoother).

It wasn't economical at all either. Maybe that's because I ragged it to bits because I hated it, it stank and they gave it me with £6 worth of petrol in.

Not good for a rental company that gave you a car 'with a full tank of fuel'. I gave it back running on fumes.

I thought the C1 that Barclays lent me would be ghastly as well, but I loved that little thing to bits. Mad triple thrum and lovely to drive. Stupid boot though.

FWD AUTO'S - 2 things I have never liked, mostly because of horrible early experiences (mid 80's Ford Laser, mostly) never liked auto's or fwd's on principal or experience, and definitely not in combination on a generic modern car.

Now we bought one of these for my sister in sedan last year. I cant fit in comfortably, but with that exception it handles remarkably and has been a respectable little car.


and then got this for dad as a run-around. remarkable cruiser just eats up the miles, wouldnt hesitate in getting myself one if i was in need of a sensible family car.

One of these:



I used to do a lot of travelling because of my work and got to have a go in most of Avis' fleet. One day they dropped one of these off. I fully expected to hate it but it was amazing. It had done about 8000 miles and half the trim was hanging off inside but it revved like you wouldn't believe. It just howled as it got up above 5000 rpm and it went round corners like it was glued to the road.