Cars, cars, cars...
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Do cars still have bumpers?
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Probably because they look better painted.
"I spent most of my money on birds, booze and fast cars: the rest of it I just squandered." [George Best]0 -
There's a great new safety system that can prevent most accidents in any size of car, never mind SUVs 😉 (Headphones on, there's a bit of swearing)
"I spent most of my money on birds, booze and fast cars: the rest of it I just squandered." [George Best]0 -
Sort of pointless when it costs hundreds, if not thousands, to then replace them following a minor bump though. That said, safety regulations mean they fall apart very easily so have to be replaced anyway after most bumps.
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I had the model Fiesta above and actually had someone nick one of the rear quarter bumpers they were so easy to take off and replace (and you only needed to replace the relevant part).
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Yep, best not to get them bumped. The UYFE safety system should help.
"I spent most of my money on birds, booze and fast cars: the rest of it I just squandered." [George Best]0 -
BB doesn't seem to understand that bumpers are not there to facilitate bumping, they are present just in case you do.
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I hired an SUV on holiday recently, specifically to accommodate our luggage and a bike box. Struggled to get them in, I think a decent saloon would have been as useful.
2020/2021/2022 Metric Century Challenge Winner1 -
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Estates are the answer. Practicality and space is better and they drive like a car, not like a van as a lot of SUVs do.
"I spent most of my money on birds, booze and fast cars: the rest of it I just squandered." [George Best]0 -
Agree with that, although was surprised how well the Smax handled given its size. Also significantly bigger inside than a mate's XC90 tank, but much smaller outside.
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You kind of expect that sort of comment from non car drivers.
"I spent most of my money on birds, booze and fast cars: the rest of it I just squandered." [George Best]0 -
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I dunno, those Minis in 'The Italian Job' got away without any damage 🙂
"I spent most of my money on birds, booze and fast cars: the rest of it I just squandered." [George Best]0 -
Why Milan specifically?!
The Romans are nuts.
seanoconn - gruagach craic!0 -
A tale of two bumpers...
We had a FWD Escort back in 1985. One morning I reversed it into a JCB bucket that wasn't there when I'd parked it the previous evening. Bent the rear bumper a bit. When I got to work I unbolted it, took it into the workshop and with the help of a large bench vice managed to straighten it out. Back on the car and good to go 20 minutes later.
Fast forward to 2023, a suicidal badger ambled out in front of the Audi. The insurers' authorised repair took 3 days and cost an alleged £2k for a new bumper, driving light, wheel arch liner and paintjob. But we're now thinking we'd have been better off getting it done privately cos our insurance premiums have gone up so much...
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I drove in Italy a couple of times and found it a bit hairy at times, then I drove in Sicily...
On my first night in Palermo, I saw a guy on a scooter lose control, bounced of parked cars on both sides of the road and then just kept going. From what I could gather, all road signs are optional, small bumps are to be expected if you are in the car for more that 15 minutes and horns are preferred to brakes 😄
I was very glad that I only needed to drive from the airport out of the city, those guys are a different level of bad driving.
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True, the S-Max is the Tardis of the automotive world and quite decent handling given its height and weight.
"I spent most of my money on birds, booze and fast cars: the rest of it I just squandered." [George Best]0 -
And we finally ditched the 22 year old Focus with its failing electrics and disappearing sills. Couldn't face the uncertainty of another MOT / welding bonanza. Wheeler Dealer gave us £300 PX for it, and subsequently got it through an MOT according to DVLA. (Why did I have to go and look???)
So now I'm the proud owner of a 1 litre 3 cylinder Ecoboost Fiesta. One owner, full Ford service history, fully functional electrics, pleasingly nippy and somehow pretty frugal. Lets see how the wet cambelt thing pans out...
Car came with a 3 month warranty the dealer himself described as not worth the paper it's written on 😀
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A few years ago my wife and I went to Sicily. We'd hired a car from the airport for a week and, when walking around the car doing the pre-hire inspection the guy says something like "no bumps or anything, you're good to go". There were a multitude of scuffs, door pings, scrathed wheels and wheel arches etc etc. I pointed these out to the guy asking him to record them all on the outline drawing that they have on the sheet you sign and he looked at me with a puzzled expression - "they don't count" he said "no problem with those"! He then pointed to a Fiat that had had the front quarter stoved in, headlight smashed and soforth . . . "thats the sort of thing we're worried about . . . "
Wilier Izoard XP1 -
By a weird coincidence, just after I posted above I had a nurse visit for some life insurance tests. She drove onto our awkward drive and hit the wall that divides it from the neighbours drive. The whole bumper got pulled away on one side, a minor bump that will now probably cost a couple of grand to sort out (it was a company car but she'll have to pay the excess).
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My S-i-L got t-boned 2 weeks ago slow speed, muppet pulled out of side road in town into her '19 Polo, caught on dashcam so muppet's wailing that "all your fault" meant SFA to insurance company. Wing, sill, door, etc damaged. Car been written off! Too expensive to repair apparently. For a well maintained, low mileage <5 year old car. No wonder premiums are rocketing. And boosting profits too of course.
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I always get a bit paranoid about checking when I hire one (in France), taking photos at the start, and then at the end, if it's just a key-drop after hours. One time I did notice I'd missed noticing some damaged plastic on the wing mirror, so emailed them, and just had the equivalent of a shrug by return of email. In any case, I've got one of those Europe-wide excess policies for 12 months, which is about half the price of a single hire insurance with the hire company.
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Also, while I'm on this thread offering my expert views on cars, why isn't there more protection against car doors being opened into other cars? There seems to be an expectation that all cars park about six inches from each other.
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Top tips. Don't park next to cars which have child seats in them and/or are the sort of and are used to transport sprogs. Where possible park leaving one car park space gap and if you have a nice car, park next to another nice one if you can't find somewhere with a space on either side. Park as far away from the shop as possible for places that have their own dedicated car parking, or park on the street and walk for a few minutes - most people are inherently lazy.
(Awaits predictable comment about someone parking next to you after you've parked. You can't always cover all the risks).
"I spent most of my money on birds, booze and fast cars: the rest of it I just squandered." [George Best]1 -
There is a Citroen available to suit your needs, BB. It has air filled idiot blobs all over it to protect from Yummy Mummies.
Sadly it looks stupid.
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I thought all Merc drivers 'park like a Tw@t' as per the ongoing soshul meejah pics posted, as in park over 2 bays straddling the white line? no?
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I don't need a car, I'm just providing some unhelpful comments.
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I'm regularly puzzled by people who do convoluted parking manoeuvres to squeeze into a tight spot rather than just park 50m away.
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I'm more puzzled by why, when I park in the empty section of the car park as far as possible from the entrance to the building, I come back to find someone parked right next to me despite the other spaces still being empty. I can never work out if they're taking the piss or feel their car is safer next to another.
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