Car Talk

[ChrisB]

The Dacia Duster in it's 150hp spec does 0-62 sub 10 sec and tops out at 124mph

Not so slow.

[oldgregg]

I hear they're fitting them with radios and electric windows now too.

[twowrights]

10 minutes ago, oldgregg said:

I hear they're fitting them with radios and electric windows now too.

Give it a few years and Dacia will be up there with other car makers, just like Skoda and Kia now are. 

[Paul]

3 minutes ago, twowrights said:

Give it a few years and Dacia will be up there with other car makers, just like Skoda and Kia now are. 

The big difference between those examples is in the parentage. Skoda and Kia both have parent companies capable of building reasonably reliable cars and passing that "DNA" down the chain. Dacia meanwhile are owned by Renault .........

 

[Paul]

1 hour ago, ChrisB said:

The Dacia Duster in it's 150hp spec does 0-62 sub 10 sec and tops out at 124mph

Not so slow.

just boringly mundane, which of course is exactly what it's meant to be. 30 years ago I was driving a Rover 600 which hit 60 in under 7s and went onto 145 so I guess it's what you're used to. Even now in my dotage when my right foot barely gets past 90 degrees I still like to drive something that makes me smile

[oldgregg]

47 minutes ago, twowrights said:

Give it a few years and Dacia will be up there with other car makers, just like Skoda and Kia now are. 

That's not what the brand is for.

They're essentially a budget Renault, hence the bodyshells are based on previous-generation Clios. All of the development costs for the platform, crash structures etc have been amortised during the main model run and a budget brand is a great way of giving those platforms a second life to earn from them and help reduce development costs further.

As an example, Dacia use the same door panels for most of their cars to minimise the cost of tooling.

It won't ever be a mid-range marque because Renault already has their own brand for that. Dacia is for people that see a car as a household appliance, a means to get from A to B. Those people don't care that it's the previous gen Clio in a dress, or that the production accountants have been busy reducing costs by removing features, sound deadening etc.

Hyundai / Kia are very different in that they are the main brands for that manufacturer. They do have others but those are their main focus and so they want them to be aspirational.

[Wonderwall]

As someone who attended road accidents for over 20 years as part of my job , I have never understood why production cars can sometimes have ridiculous acceleration. 
I can understand why people want them for the thrill , but with the big boy pants on , how quickly  do we really need to get to 70mph?

Most bad accidents I attended were on B class roads , and it was almost exclusively down to the speed of a certain vehicle . The devastation it causes is far reaching , and when you see it time and time again , it does get somewhat depressing.

House fire  fatalities at one time were sadly a lot more common than they are now . This is because the authorities acted on it , and made it  law , to have fire detection systems amongst other things.  I’m just surprised that the power and speed of cars is ignored , even encouraged. 

[BroadAmbition]

Decades since I last used / purchased this stuff.  Back in the day it was considered the best out there (It  had a light blue tin then).  Lets hope it's still as good as I'm no doubt gonna be using it.  I can see me getting another one 

Griff

 

[MauriceMynah]

Quick acceleration in the right hands can be a lifesaver, but how often is it in the right hands.

[twowrights]

2 hours ago, oldgregg said:

That's not what the brand is for.

They're essentially a budget Renault, hence the bodyshells are based on previous-generation Clios. All of the development costs for the platform, crash structures etc have been amortised during the main model run and a budget brand is a great way of giving those platforms a second life to earn from them and help reduce development costs further.

As an example, Dacia use the same door panels for most of their cars to minimise the cost of tooling.

It won't ever be a mid-range marque because Renault already has their own brand for that. Dacia is for people that see a car as a household appliance, a means to get from A to B. Those people don't care that it's the previous gen Clio in a dress, or that the production accountants have been busy reducing costs by removing features, sound deadening etc.

Hyundai / Kia are very different in that they are the main brands for that manufacturer. They do have others but those are their main focus and so they want them to be aspirational.

Every day is a school day, many thanks. 🙂

[FairTmiddlin]

2 hours ago, MauriceMynah said:

Quick acceleration in the right hands can be a lifesaver, but how often is it in the right hands.

Having worked as a recovery driver. Whilst in the Motor Trade. The police class accidents on the probability of whose fault it is.

In single vehicle crashes It usually put on the report that it's a PICNIC, PRODE!

Problem Is Clearly Not In Car , Problem Really Obvious Driver Error

[oldgregg]

3 hours ago, Wonderwall said:

As someone who attended road accidents for over 20 years as part of my job , I have never understood why production cars can sometimes have ridiculous acceleration. 
I can understand why people want them for the thrill , but with the big boy pants on , how quickly  do we really need to get to 70mph?

Most bad accidents I attended were on B class roads , and it was almost exclusively down to the speed of a certain vehicle . The devastation it causes is far reaching , and when you see it time and time again , it does get somewhat depressing.

I think there's a point where it's not necessary, certainly. Having decent mid-range pull is much more pleasant if you do a lot of motorway miles, but a 0-60 of 8 seconds or so is mostly adequate.

Below 5 seconds I don't think is probably necessary in reality, and I did hear the EU is considering introducing legislation around it. Does anyone need a Tesla with a 0-60 of below 2 seconds? Of course they don't, but if such a thing is on sale then you can guarantee people will buy them.

[BrundallNavy]

Well another week and another car but what is it this time. 

[oldgregg]

Pre-LCI G20 / G21 3 series.....

Could also be a 4 series I guess.

[Jbx5]

42 minutes ago, oldgregg said:

Pre-LCI G20 / G21 3 series.....

Could also be a 4 series I guess.

Agree 👍

[ExSurveyor]

Little Mix on the radio, how embarrassing 

[Gracie]

What, may I ask, is wrong with having Little Mix playing in the car? Asking for a friend 

[Mouldy]

33 minutes ago, ExSurveyor said:

Little Mix on the radio, how embarrassing 

Could have been worse . . . . . . . . . Could have been Radio 1!

[Bikertov]

And you need to charge your phone battery 

[BrundallNavy]

15 hours ago, oldgregg said:

Pre-LCI G20 / G21 3 series.....

Could also be a 4 series I guess.

Not sure they made the 4 series with the live cockpit. 

[oldgregg]

26 minutes ago, BrundallNavy said:

Not sure they made the 4 series with the live cockpit. 

It was an expensive option. But then isn't everything on a BMW.

I was amused recently when Inchcape told me that adaptive cruise control is a £2000 option on the G20/G21 and that their demonstrators don't even have it.

The salesman didn't really know what to say when I mentioned that even a Toyota Yaris has it as standard kit.

[FlyingFortress]

I must say my answer to that would have been " go buy a Yaris then" 🫣

Adaptive is probably the one gadget I would pay extra for on a new car. It's the one thing that Mrs FF's gadget laden Jeep has that I wish I had on my same age Jaguar. You can keep all the other bongs and bleeps but the adaptive is just brilliant. 👍

 

[oldgregg]

That would be a salesman answer, certainly.

But it's standard on the new Honda Civic (which has almost identical power/performance specs to a 320i). It's standard on an Octavia VRS, Toyota Corolla and various other cars....

Why the justification to charge extra? It's not like their system is any different - All manufacturers are just buying the same system from Bosch etc.

I ran a Honda CR-V for three months over the winter and that had adaptive cruise and it's brilliant.

 

[FlyingFortress]

Someone's ready for a trip out.

Nice to see a bit of sunshine.

[FlyingFortress]

Don't know what I was thinking earlier in this thread. 

The XK does have a cassette player.

It's just we no longer have cassette tapes 🫣