8-Hours Effort To Feel Like 6 Million Dollars

Did you read my previous post?

What Makes A Comfortable Driving Position?

In survey motorists say versatility, costs, safety, and performance are important. They don’t seem to mention comfort which makes driving a pleasure. There’s nothing worse than a car that’s uncomfortable to drive. Here are a few things to look out for.

Research has revealed a sit up driving position is more comfortable than a reclining position. In other words sitting as if on a dining chair is better than the F1 position. You’ll find in a sleekly styled car like the new Ford Focus  which appears to have low lines actually gives an upright driving position.

It’s also important to have firm seat so don’t be swayed by soft seats. A firm seat gives you better support.

Drivers also prefer a more vertical steering wheel angle with the most frequently used controls on the steering wheel or column.  The instrument panel also needs to be simple with essential information clearly organised.

A comfortable driving position is also an important aspect of safety because it allows you to react faster and reduces tiredness.

Other things to check are ease of entry and exit from the car, headroom, shoulder room, space around the pedals, light weight pedal pressure, all switches and levers in easy reach, comfortable seats, comfortable and stable ride  with control of roll on bends, low noise levels and overall smoothness  free from vibration. Ease of access seems to be a priority with the latest Vauxhall Meriva for sale in the UK.

Driving pleasure also adds to driver comfort which comes from handling, engine performance for all types of road with easy overtaking and smooth gear changes.

Regards
Ralph
www.carbuyersinfo.co.uk

Great Car Finance Deals, BUT …

If you’re thinking of changing you car you’ll find car manufacturers are offering great finance deals and in some cases plus discounts.

BUT there are four deals to be done when you buy a new car. You not only want discount, a cheap finance deal, you also want the best money for your part-exchange and the best price for any add-ons. It’s very easy for a salesperson to focus your mind one of the four deals while they win with the other three.

Today Mitsubishi are advertising 0% finance on the Internet. Click through on their Mitsubishi ASX Crossover and it’s only 0% over 12 months. It’s 5.9% APR over 24 months. 6.9 over 36. 7.9 over 48 and 8.9% APR over 5-years. Even 8.9 sounds OK to me because that’s about 4.55 flat per year which is about the rate of inflation. This could mean over the 5-years you’ll be repaying with money worth way less than it is today if inflation continues. Tempted?

Wait, that’s the finance deal. There’s value for the manufacturer in you signing up because you have a life-time value to them as a loyal finance customer. You should also ask for a discount on the ASX car price plus get the best for your part-exchange.

Even when the manufacturer offers discount and finance you should also ask for discount from the car dealer. In the same way finance and cars are different industries, manufacturers and car dealer offers are different/separate. The car dealer’s price depends on their own goals.

For example today Toyota are offering a customer saving and deposit allowance on the Toyota RAV4 price valued at £1085 plus 9.9% APR over 3-years. Sounds attractive. However at the car dealer ask for more saving on the car price plus a longer period of finance and or a lower rate. Then you want max’ money for your part-exchange.

With so many deals about take each car compare the cars, deals and negotiate one make against the other. Tell the dealer you’ve got a good deal elsewhere which is your next best negotiable alternative but you want a better deal. Don’t worry about the poor dealer, dealing is what they do.

Please don’t take the above as financial advice. My purpose is to make you aware there are four separate deals to be done.

Regards
Ralph

Regards
Ralph.

How To Save Over £600 Per Hour With Free Car Insurance Quotes

You can save hundreds of pounds every year on your car insurance. You just need to shop around and ring a lot of car insurance companies. And I mean a lot. Just keep going. You’ll be amazed at the variation.

I’ve witnessed a young lady save £1,200 with less than 2-hours on the phone. That’s a huge return on an investment of time. The hourly rate is over £600 per hour. And it costs nothing – they’re free car insurance quotes.

Further more you’ve created resources that can save you hundreds of pounds every year. Next time you’ll save time, you’ll know where to get information, you’ll have a long list of car insurance companies, you’ll know what you’re doing.

Regards
Ralph

　

How Do You Compare Car Insurance Quotes?

How do you make your comparisons? With a pen you scrambled to find? Do you end up with a web of doodles on the back of an envelope you later lose?

You don’t want to do it like that. You want to do it like this.

Regards
Ralph

Why Would You Make A Car Comparison?

Somehow an article about a car, a review or road test isn’t enough. We kinda need more than the words. We search for evidence, examples, explanations. If you look for contrasts all you get is differences, usually biased. Only a car comparison fully explains both similarities and differences.

However a simple Kia Picanto can be something else in an advert. Will a Fiat Grande Punto save Chrysler?

I can tell you – as one who manually makes car comparisons – when you compare cars in the same class you find more similarities than differences.

I’ve published many spoof car comparisons – Fabia vs Mazda6 estates, Yeti vs XC60 crossover SUVs. Even though one can be twice the price of the other and one longer than the other there can be surprising similarities.

Overall length  is not an indicator of interior capacity – versatility. Performance, economy and safety can be similar if not the same.

Only comfort, style and prestige can separate cars and how you see them is down to you.

Ideas about durability and reliability are a thing of the past.

Cars can now be reduced to commodities. Ideas about unquantifiable qualities like comfort, style and prestige can be perverted by price or advertising.

Is a BMW an ultimate driving machine or is it just all they’ve been telling us since 1968.

Did you see the Super Bowl Merc family ad. You may deny it but style can count.

I make these car comparisons and wonder if I take away the romance.

Thankfully car advertising makes the difference. Have you seen any of the Super Bowl car commercials? The car industry is huge. If you work it out the running costs of your car probably amount to 25% of your take-home pay.  Most of which is spent on ads to sell cars back to you. They’re amazing.

Chevrolet published several humourous ads. Chrysler warmed the hearts of every American. In 40-seconds BMW established themselves as leaders in ecology, economy and performance which they probably are and then in another 40-second ad made their marque seem like apple pie. Hyundai and Kia made an ordinary car extraordinary and the Kia desired across all space and time dimensions. They say the Chrysler ad was expensive but what did the Kia ad cost. Maybe it was made in Korea. As the Merc ad …

The VW Passat ad choked me. My late 80s Espace had satellite radio controls. Everytime one of our three kids spoke I muted their music on the radio saying it was voice controlled. Worked wonders. Cruel dad. Guilty tear.

So maybe I’m not so sad about my car comparisons. At the end of the day – I hate that saying – I see cars twice the price of others without twice the difference.

Having said all this I sold these tin cans for 43 years because my imagination was captivated by their …

Regards
Ralph

They’re Supposed To Be All The Car You Need

I’ve been looking at the Chrysler 300C Touring. Huge car, performance and space. Comfortable. Questionable economy and safety. Who needs one?

I remember our new Espace in the 80s. Great, with three kids. Loved the versatility, performance, comfort and safety.  But when in the car alone we felt guilty. Did we really need it?

Now the kids are gone all I really need is a small car. When I look at my Mazda 2 review I think they go well, they’re easy/comfortable to drive, economical and safe. And I could’ve squeezed three kids in the back. Plus they look cool.

Without the kids a Citroen C1 might do it. Cheap to buy. Cheap to run. Easy to park.

Maybe I could hire a Merc for week-long journeys, even an S-Class. £1,132.75 with Avis next week. Sounds expensive but imagine the monthly depreciation on a 300C. I’ve just saved £11k in the first year alone.

So maybe as they say, a small car is all we really need.

Regards
Ralph

Empty Nester? What Car Next?

It is a real problem. One I hear is recognised by car manufacturers.

I suppose it’s all down to happy memories. If you once owned an estate car, SUV/4×4 or MPV, fun family cars where you went places and had fun you’ll have many fond memories.

So it’s hard to give up the idea of owning a spacious versatile family car. Maybe you still prefer the elevated view and easy access of MPVs and SUVs.

I’ve still got an old MPV. We started off with an Espace in the 80s. I soon got rid of it because my wife became the local taxi for her and our three plus any friend with two kids. The Scenic seemed a better idea and I still own one. I like the compact Renault Scenic dimensions. I’ll probably never scrap it.

We’ve enjoyed so many trips, weekends, holidays in MPVs. Now they’re gone I’ve still keep my Scenic. It’s dad can you pick this up for me. It reminds me of trips back and forth to Uni’ and the chats. And guess what, we went to Meribel this year with the other two to visit my eldest daughter without a single request for music. How’s that.

But what next? A sleek Mazda 6 estate or maybe a near new Infiniti EX.

A small Modus or Agila? Maybe a Kuga or ASX crossover SUV. Was the Renault Avantime an experiment in this new market? Was the Range Rover Sport meant for empty nesters but hijacked by bankers. Range Rover will soon announce a new small car. Is it for us – empty nesters?

What did we like about our MPVs and SUVs? Performance? Versatility? Comfortable ease of access and elevated visibility? We could do with better economy.

Sounds like a Mitsubishi ASX. Hang on, let’s wait. Mitsubishi make some amazing capable cars. How about an Evo ASX? Dream on.

Regards
Ralph

There’s Nothing Cheap About The Hyundai i30

Yesterday I was saying I’ve posted too much about crossover cars missing the most successful car sector, the medium small car. I mentioned the Hyundai i30 and want to pick up on it today.

If you make car comparisons in this sector you’ll notice like for like these cars are very similar. They’re all the same length and have similar load capacities. Performance, emissions and fuel consumption can vary but in the main they’re similar. Nearly all have a 5-star EuroNCAP rating.

The point is if  value brands like Hyundai, Kia, Skoda and Chevrolet can match the efficiency of the more popular and premium brands then they can’t be dismissed as cheap. There is nothing cheap about the Hyundai i30. It’s built on a quality platform shared with Kia. Skoda are built on more supposedly expensive VW platforms as are Audi and Seat. Chevrolet are built on Vauxhall/Opel or GM platforms.

So when you enquire about these cars the salespeople can only claim differences in style, durability, reliability, comfort, prestige. Durability and reliability are not an issue with cars these days. The only cars you see at the roadside have tyre punctures. Most scrapped cars are in working order.

That leaves style, comfort and prestige to sell. They’re matters for your own personal taste which I can’t quantify.

However customer satisfaction can be counted as an alternative to prestige. Prestige simply means how highly we think of an object. We think BMW are the ultimate driving machine because that’s what BMW have been telling us since 1968. They don’t have the history and achievements of Mercedes, Peugeot, Ford or Renault.

The fact is Hyundai, Kia and Skoda all enjoy high levels of owner satisfaction and are highly thought of. They have their own type of prestige. So if you like the look of them and find them comfortable a Hyundai i30 seems cheap – cheap to buy, cheap to run, but it’s not cheaply manufactured.

Regards
Ralph

The Car for Everyone

I seem to post about small cars, SUVs and MPVs, forgetting about what was once labelled ‘the car for everyone,’ the medium-sized cars – Mondeo, Laguna and the medium-small cars – Focus, Astra.

Mondeo, Passat size cars have grown in length to near an executive 4.8m but are being replaced with growing medium small cars.

This sector is so competitive, you’ll find they all perform well, they’re spacious, economical and most have a 5-star EuroNCAP rating.

To me, they all look stylish and appear comfortable. Most seem to have street cred’. Audi and BMW seem to be the only premium make. The value brands – Kia and Hyundai – seem to be having an impact. The Chevrolet Cruze should do better – it’s on today’s Astra platform.

The A3 vs Golf seems a popular comparison but check out my Hyundai i30 review. When a car is comparatively efficient you can’t call it ‘cheap’ it’s value.

When I was making comparisons I found it difficult to find differences. That’s good thing because subject to you finding a car comfortable and like the look of it, you can shop on price.

By the way comfort is very important. When I sold cars and asked people about their part-exchange, I found comfort was the biggest source of dissatisfaction – if there was one.

On the subject of brands and prestige I’m finding owners’ satisfaction – even delight –  with value brands seems to more than compensate for the badge on the bonnet.

It seems not only is the medium size car for everyone, you’ve also got a lot of makes to choose from.

Regards
Ralph