Agri Vehicles Insurance from Greenlands

Author Topic: Car Shopping  (Read 2697 times)

pgkevet

  • Joined Jul 2011
Car Shopping
« on: September 08, 2018, 10:53:57 am »
I do like a bit of a wind-up.

...So I'm sitting in £100K's worth of car yesterday and salesman offers me a deal on a showroom model. I asked if the discount was due to all the folk that have sat in it and farted through the seats.Salesman "Oh no, Sir. Our customers wouldn't do anything like that!"Me           "I'll just open the sunroof and give it ten minutes then..."

pgkevet

  • Joined Jul 2011
Re: Car Shopping
« Reply #1 on: March 15, 2019, 12:07:30 pm »
S I went car shopping again. This time it's V who wants a new one just 'cos I got one and hers is 10 years old and showing signs of getting tired.

I used to always go scruffy but I'd happened to shave recently and the jeans weren't as muddy as usual because the sheep had brushed the last lot off and not jumped on me for two days. That and i do like driving my overly expensive electric toy so we went in style (It's a style I tell you!)

V doesn't take car shopping seriously. the whole reason she wants a new one is because of neck and shoulder pains and complaining that mine isn't comfortable for her (and it's too big and she doesn't understand all the technology but , yes, she likes the power and instant torque and automatics but she doesn't want to plug anything in but it has to be a 4x4 and it has to be petrol...)

She wants ground clearance but doesn't want to have to climb in. She wants to be sitting up high inside but wants one with a low roof. So you see my problem.

At least modern car showrooms have clean loos and free nice coffee. Biccies too if you pick the right dealerships (Tesla do all sorts of fruit bars, cold drinks and stuff - you can have lunch there but V won't handle thinking about keeping it charged and anyway the new cheaper ones aren't going to get to the UK for at least 2-3 yrs).


We only managed 4 dealerships before her eyes glazed over and she couldn't remember the difference between Volvo and Audi (yes, dear, that was the one with the 4 circles).


She did quite like the Nissans but hated leather seats and they weren't quite right and there's a holdup over new X-trails. She did find the Volvo's quite comfortable but amazingly i couldn't get in most of them. Heck, you'ld think scandinavians would make a car for tall people. There was only one prospect on the list.


She hated all the Audis from the comfort viewpoint and then threw a spanner into the proverbial by suggesting she keep the moss-covered X-trail and sorn it for the fields and get something smaller for her real journeys.

We were on the way home but i pulled into the Mini dealership. V finally decided there was one she quite liked - because of the colour. For heavens sake, woman! It was only when i pointed out that it was a convertible and 2 door and the top was down (her two apparent pet hates) that she noticed those little details.

Getting V to halfway look after a car is a nightmare. Her X-trail has moss growing on it and is a pretty green (it was white when we bought it). She actually went to have it valeted when it was a few months old and the valet company refused the job on the grounds of how many sticks and treasures the dogs had hidden inside. She took it to the garage once because the door wouldn't close properly - and they fell over laughing at the clumps of dog hair they pulled out of the lock.

Next week it'll be Kia, Ford, Mitsubishi and Subaru's turn..

I did point out that all these dealerships offer 24-48 hr test drives. There's 4 towns equidistant from where we live and 10 dealerships in most towns. If she test drove 2 cars from each one that'd be 3 mths of cheap motoring and never have to wash one....

hampshiresmallholder

  • Joined Mar 2019
  • Hampshire
  • If two wrongs don't make a right, try three
Re: Car Shopping
« Reply #2 on: March 15, 2019, 12:23:53 pm »
 :roflanim: :roflanim: :roflanim: :roflanim:

Lesley Silvester

  • Joined Sep 2011
  • Telford
Re: Car Shopping
« Reply #3 on: March 15, 2019, 11:30:49 pm »
 :roflanim: :roflanim: :roflanim:

doganjo

  • Joined Aug 2012
  • Clackmannanshire
  • Qui? Moi?
    • ABERDON GUNDOGS for work and show
    • Facebook
Re: Car Shopping
« Reply #4 on: March 16, 2019, 11:51:44 am »
Oh boy you tell a good story.  You should have a blog, I'm told you can make a decent income from them - that would pay for whatever Mrs #pgkevet would like  :roflanim: :roflanim:
Always have been, always will be, a WYSIWYG - black is black, white is white - no grey in my life! But I'm mellowing in my old age

pgkevet

  • Joined Jul 2011
Re: Car Shopping
« Reply #5 on: March 16, 2019, 12:21:55 pm »
Oh boy you tell a good story.  You should have a blog, I'm told you can make a decent income from them - that would pay for whatever Mrs #pgkevet would like  :roflanim: :roflanim:
I did have a blog - the beanstalk diaries - but no-one ever read it and it has vanshed from search engines. Such is my unhappy failure to gain fame...

cloddopper

  • Joined Jun 2013
  • South Wales .Carmarthenshire. SA18
Re: Car Shopping
« Reply #6 on: March 18, 2019, 09:16:47 pm »
The outlander PHEV might suit her down the the ground as she can put the petrol in & let you pop it on charge .
 Alison does both seems to get over 150 mpg in summer always driving with in the magic 15 miles radius from home when she doesn't need to  use the heater.

 Other wise it gives her about 45 mpg in the minus 10 of winter . Hollidays & hey day times when we tow the caravan or do 200 mile round trips its different rate  but  places like Ikea used to let you charge the car for fre whilst you went and had lunch in their restaurants  .
 Currently ( last Monday ) the Outlanders are doing a free charging all over the country for the first six months after purchase  .  They might also still have a deal for installing the FOC home sited charging point if it is sited within four metres of the electric meter .

 The all wheel drive is brilliant for agri shows and the like .. " You can't bring that car in here Dia only four wheel drive vehicles & tractors past this point  ,  you'll  get stuck on the wet grass & soft ground "  .

 I  flicked the AWD button & said   " Dim probs ,  I'm now in electric four wheel drive "

  Getting in & out is OK for me with my replacement left knee joint , two wrecked disc areas in my lower spine & problems in my cervical spine as I can sit dining chair style in it .

Had to get both front seats fitted with an extension bar for me to move the seats depending if I was driving or passenger,  but if you get the top of the range jobby their are all electric seats . 
 
« Last Edit: March 18, 2019, 09:23:37 pm by cloddopper »
Strong belief , triggers the mind to find the way ... Dyslexia just makes it that bit more amusing & interesting

pgkevet

  • Joined Jul 2011
Re: Car Shopping
« Reply #7 on: March 18, 2019, 10:53:37 pm »
Outlander is on the list. If a type2 connector then could get plugged into the Tesla's charger anyway but in reality it can't have much more than a 7kWh battery if only 20-odd mile range and one can plug that into an ordinary 13amp socket overnight (got 2 in the yard). I had high amp lines re-run to the barn for mine and easy to add a commando socket for 16amp too - even 32 amp but then need to add isolators to stop some fool trying to charge both cars at the same time (only a 60A run to barn).I don't know about the Outlander but Tesla cars monitor the current flow characteristics and will drop charge amperage on any signs of cable/house wire stresses - as in some pratt using an extension lead that's too long or not fully unwound from it's reel. Tesla tops up 22 miles/hr range rate at home (peaks at over 350 miles range per hour on a current supercharger and the new Model3 on latest supercharger type can peak at 1,000miles range per hour)

pgkevet

  • Joined Jul 2011
Re: Car Shopping
« Reply #8 on: March 20, 2019, 02:20:57 pm »
I took V to the mitsubishi dealership today. She did find the outlaner quite comfy but prefers the smaller new Eclipse which oddly has more room for me in the cockpit.. the Outlander was driveable by me but cramped - designed for you short folk.
e'll doa  48hr test drive on the Eclipse when they have a spare one.

Lesley Silvester

  • Joined Sep 2011
  • Telford
Re: Car Shopping
« Reply #9 on: March 20, 2019, 10:16:57 pm »
Hopefully, she'll have found what suits her.

pgkevet

  • Joined Jul 2011
Re: Car Shopping
« Reply #10 on: May 09, 2019, 02:48:46 pm »
<sigh> the story continues:

I made the mistake of taking V to the jaguar showroom a couple of weeks ago. Now V is the one that told me that 'no way are you getting and f-type jag. It's a silly car' back when i was car shopping.

Let's face it, lads of my era drooled at the thought of the iconic e-type. Indeed i almost bought one in the mid 80's, old showing rust and £1500 but was warned off by the local garage on the grounds that more modern cars have better brakes etc. With the benefit of hindsight I should have bought it and stored it. A second hand E-type rag-top in almost any condition has serious zero's behind it as a collector item now.

But I digress. V loved the E-Pace. Again this is the person that told me the I-pace had crappy range and wouldn't let me consider that (hence the Tesla).

We did test-drive the Mitsubishi Eclipse a week or so ago. I think it;s a nice car but V felt it was underpowered for hills: on the grounds that the engine gets whiney even though it happily got up them. Trying to explain things like engine revs and gears in automatic boxes to V... well her eyes glaze over.

Today she test-drove the E-pace. and loves it even more. She insisted i had a go and while I can cram myself in OK there is a big issue with feet. OK so it'll be her car but i might have to drive it sometimes and it's dangerous for me. Trying to get my foot from accelerator to brake it snags on the bulkhead. I've never had that in a car before. Size 14 feet aren't that big and I've driven old fashioned Mini's and A30's and all sorts of tiny rubbish over he years albeit crouched and curled up with my head banging on the roof but never had my feet snagging.

The best news today was when i climbed into the showroom F-type. I don't fit in that either so i can stop dreaming.

Qashqai test drive on Monday.


pgkevet

  • Joined Jul 2011
Re: Car Shopping
« Reply #11 on: May 29, 2019, 11:08:36 am »
Good grief - we have a decision! It's the quashqai but only if she can have the one she wants by july 16th...(some things it's better just to let them wash over you...)

 

Forum sponsors

FibreHut Energy Helpline Thomson & Morgan Time for Paws Scottish Smallholder & Grower Festival Ark Farm Livestock Movement Service

© The Accidental Smallholder Ltd 2003-2024. All rights reserved.

Design by Furness Internet

Site developed by Champion IS