4wds and Kiwis?

[Swoop]

I believe Peter Brock put it best. He said the 4x4 phenomenon was brought about by people getting out of their Bongo Wagons and into a 4x4.
At least you could camp in a bongo.



The cayenne.
It might perform, but it is so ugly it should have been designed by Picasso to improve its looks.
It is an indicator of the person who purchased it. "Could afford a Range Rover but really isn't intelligent enough to do so".

As for the blingy utes...

I laughed this morning, watching a pajero plodding along... on massive chrome rims and very low profile rubber tyres.

Talk about sprinkling glitter on a turd.

...yuppies and shit arse drivers!...

Ahh. The prius.
I had the mis-pleasure to ride in the back of one while visiting wellytown last week. What a painful experience that was! TOP TIP: NEVER put more than two people in a prius taxi!

[neels]

PS. The only reason I am thinking of the Outlander is the economy. I was going to go for the Honda Insight as the best small car I have driven. But nothing gets anywhere near these figures!

Figures do look pretty good, and going by some rough maths from the sales speak even with only a 50k range fully electric and 5 hours charging it looks equivalent cost wise to 2l/100k. Once the battery's flat and it's petrol only it would be interesting to see what the economy is like.

Wonder what would happen to the national grid and electricity prices if everyone went out and bought one tomorrow......

[BoristheBiter]

Aha you need to drive a new one. You'd be amazed how good they are!



They did. The worst one guy managed was 2.2lt/100k. One got 1.7 the other got 1.9. They claimed the figure was a real one and seems they were right. I have no problem matching the 7.9 quoted for the Kizashi, and that's with the air - con on. Real world figure though is about 8.8. Keeping up to speed, I average 7.8 on a trip and 8.9 around town. Hoofing it back from Taupo yesterday, while avoiding getting tickets, I did several full throttle passing maneuvers at speeds up to 1** , and got home with 8.1 on the meter. Not bad for a 2.4 lt CVT auto with the air-con always on. I can get it down to 7.1 on a trip taking it easy while still maintaining 100+ but within the tolerance.

The only true way of measuring the economy is,
fill the tank full so you can't get anymore fuel in, rest trip meter,
drive until the tank is empty,
fill the tank again and see how much fuel goes in, see how many km's you've driven,
work out the per L/100km.

my ute has read as low as 7.2 but is always 9.8ish if you do it properly.

[Banditbandit]

PS. The only reason I am thinking of the Outlander is the economy. I was going to go for the Honda Insight as the best small car I have driven. But nothing gets anywhere near these figures!

If you like the Outlander ... have a look at the ASX ..

[cynna]

That would be alloy wheels being dented, and cars written off due to cracked chassis from hitting pot holes, many times daily.

I'm with you in general, but I can definitely see why the average person living in Christchurch is keen on them at the moment.

true - i have had three bent rims fixed on my car- royce clive engineering is the place to go....

my front spoiler has ripped out the corner mounts and is taped on - the bumper shop said its too much to fix as each guard has to come off

just waiting for it to die so i can get a 4wd again - floods and the snow we have had over past few years is another good reason to get one

[Edbear]

If you like the Outlander ... have a look at the ASX ..

Like I said, though, it's only the economy in consideration here, and not even the Insight or Prius can get close. I don't need a big vehicle and the Insight would be my top choice for its combination of economy and driveability along with its beaut versatility.

My view is that the PHEV is so economical it's a no-brainer for anyone considering a new vehicle. Driving as a hybrid averaging 2lt/100km gives a range of around 3,000km on a tank of gas!

[Scuba_Steve]

You would want to have a good long test drive of one as I have heard some of the hybrids on the market do not live up to their economy claims. Battery life and the cost of replacement batteries would be an issue too.

yep I think someone said replacing the batts in the Prius was to the tune of around 7000$ & they're recommended to be done every 8yrs (course I think that was dealer so could be cheaper)

[Edbear]

You would want to have a good long test drive of one as I have heard some of the hybrids on the market do not live up to their economy claims. Battery life and the cost of replacement batteries would be an issue too.

I have driven most of the hybrids, the Insight several times and have long considered it to be the best small car in the market regardless being a hybrid or not. Battery life is yet to be proven as there are a lot of older Prius' running around. Personally, I don't like the Prius, too expensive for what you get and even the latest version doesn't drive as well as the Honda Insight or Jazz.

[pritch]

riding a bike driving a car is supposed to be enjoyable not an alternative to counting sheep.

Exactly. When i see one of those I assume the person behind the wheel can't drive. Nobody who likes driving would be behind the wheel of one of those things.

Best to give the bloody things plenty room.

[DMNTD:Me]

No doubt they are but far from the plauge that infests the roads on a daily basis,on average i would guess most in cars cant drive for shit but put them in a great lumbering shitbox Toyota surf it seems any sense of commonsense disappears or there just born arseholes,either way there fucking annoying.

Oi! I love my shitty old '96 Surf, but it's covered in mud and now dents!
The only road driving it gets it to and from off roading etc

[Edbear]

Exactly. When i see one of those I assume the person behind the wheel can't drive. Nobody who likes driving would be behind the wheel of one of those things.

Best to give the bloody things plenty room.

That's why I chose the Kizashi over the others. It is a proper sports sedan and runs away from most vehicles on a winding road. The only thing three times the money would get you is more power. However for most situations it's plenty fast enough. I do plan on getting it chipped though.

Re: The PHEV, I simply can't ignore those figures. If the Kizashi had that it would be perfect for me.

[imac]

Fuck me .. you all sound much like a bunch of twats moaning about motorcycles on the road ...

When did you all turn into such twats?

4x4s don't get in the way - they're just moving chicanes ... makes riding more fun

What you said

[Edbear]

Figures do look pretty good, and going by some rough maths from the sales speak even with only a 50k range fully electric and 5 hours charging it looks equivalent cost wise to 2l/100k. Once the battery's flat and it's petrol only it would be interesting to see what the economy is like.

Wonder what would happen to the national grid and electricity prices if everyone went out and bought one tomorrow......

You would want to have a good long test drive of one as I have heard some of the hybrids on the market do not live up to their economy claims. Battery life and the cost of replacement batteries would be an issue too.

Well, I went and took it out for a drive this afternoon. Short story is that it lives up to the claims. Plenty of power when you give it the stick, rides, handles and steers fine. I could see myself doing long trips in comfort. Downsides? Minor, really. It's bigger than most people need of course but easy to drive for sure. You do need to use a lot more throttle than you would normally otherwise it's a bit sluggish off the line. Lag, similar to turbo lag, when going to overtake means adjusting for that but it would be as fast as the Kizashi in most situations requiring grunt. It easily held its speed up the Albany hill with good acceleration available if you wanted it.

Seamless integration of the components makes it easy to get used to and by the time I got back to the dealer, I was sold on it. No it's not perfect but it is a long way ahead of anything else and 1.9lt/100km is nearly 150mpg in the old money! The size and power of a full size vehicle with the economy of a small scooter! Rugged enough to finish a tough off road rally, tow anything while carrying five in luxury, it's a winner in my opinion.

[Edbear]

Oh, forgot to mention, once you have used up most of the battery in full electric mode the motor cuts in to drive both the electric motors and recharge the battery. Claims of around 800 km in petrol only mode wouldn't happen in practice as after about 10 min the battery pack is charged enough to take over again. So you are looking at about 3000km range before needing to fill up again.

[Scuba_Steve]

Rugged enough to finish a tough off road rally

I don't know about that, apparently it's a SUV, so designed to fold like origami at the 1st minor impact; It's how these things get their 4/5 star ratings.