brum brum.

[Rags]

Yeah, when you live in Wyoming, there is no such thing as a close drive. If you want to go to another town, it usually means a minimum of a two hr drive (not including the pop 20 towns ). My Grand Ams racked up the miles while I was at college, the Escort got the privelage of serving as my main transportation for two years after college, I purchased the Escort with 75K on the odometer, both Grand Ams had under 20K, and the Tempo was my infamous HS car. I had a first car as well, but I don't wanna talk about it, or my second car for that matter One was a Toyota Corona, the other was a Renault Alliance.

Rags

[Paddy]

Don't worry gurm!

After three years i will give the car to my sister.

It was never supposed to be a long term investment! I'll treat it carefully and it'll last....It was never suposed to be a luxury, just a cheap means for getting from A to B.

As I originally posted, all I want is four wheels, a roof and an engine...otherwise I would have gone for a bike.

I'm only young, wait until i qualify, have a house, marriage and kid on the way....then i'll thing about that BMW

Kinda of scary thought....

cheers for being honest though! I appreciate it!

[impact]

You should've seen the Chevy Corvette vs BMW (Z8 I think )comparison on DSF. BMW was trashed utterly.

[Gurm]

Impact:

What's "DSF"? Just curious. I've seen some similar shootouts, and have a few thoughts:

1. American muscle wins in off-the-mark times. No question.

2. A corvette can't corner. I'll look at the numbers if you post the site, but a stock BMW 3-series out-performs a corvette in the twisties.

3. A corvette is made of fiberglass. One 10-mph impact and it's all over.

4. A modern corvette's useful lifespan is VERY short.

5. Never said a corvette wasn't a nice car. But I've known a few people who have owned them, and I've even driven a couple, and it's just not as nice to drive as the Bimmer.

- Gurm

------------------
Listen up, you primitive screwheads! See this? This is my BOOMSTICK! Etc. etc.

[SteveC]

Gurm, one of my friends works at Fords here in the UK and one of the employees there drives an old Mondeo (Something like an N or M reg - that's ~6 or 7 years old and it had done 250K as of a year or so back (when I last spoke to my friend). The owner drives something like 300 miles a day in it and Fords pay the owner's petrol and servicing now just to see how many miles it does go without dying.

------------------
Cheers,
Steve

"Life is what we make of it, yet most of us just fake"

[impact]

Well about the BMW they said it's a car. Literally. It will safely take you wherever you want, but there is no fun driving it, it needs a lot of fuel.

The corvette was slower (like 1 second more to get to 100km/h), but gulped less fuel, was fun to drive especially on twisty roads (the reporter pulled some fabulous skids), included fully heated interior and had a place for a pair of skis(pretty good for a two seater). Also looks better IMHO.

[KvHagedorn]

Impact, who cares what Joe Schmoe in a magazine SAYS? I certainly don't base my system of worship upon someone's opinions. Opinions are like a**holes, everyone has one and some are more f***ed than others.

Drive the cars yourself and form your own opinions, then buy whatever pleases you. That's why there are so many different cars to choose from out there. You can drive your Corvette, Gurm and I will drive BMWs, Rags and Paddy can drive whatever they want to and we will all be happy.

------------------
Kind Regards,

KvH

[impact]

Oops, forgot. DSF = something like Eurosport sports channel, butpurely German. Makes me wonder why did they not like the BMW.

I were to buy a car, it would be a Subaru Impreza. Haven't seen a negative review on this one yet.

[impact]

Well I guess europeans will continue to buy american cars and americans will continue to buy european ones. Yeah Ford and their heated windscreen all the way!

[Gurm]

impact:

Just did some checking on the whole Corvette vs. BMW thing, and according to "Road & Track" (which is substantially more credible than some online euro-only thing) the Corvette loses hands-down to the BMW M3, which is the poor cousin of the Z8. Sorry.

- Gurm

------------------
Listen up, you primitive screwheads! See this? This is my BOOMSTICK! Etc. etc.

[impact]

It is an american magazine right?

I am not trying to argue about which of the two is better. I am merely trying to say that people usually think that foreign cars are better than those that come from their home land. And yes it is weird.

[Schorsch]

Hi impact,

don't know about the USA, but in Germany most people buy German cars despite the insane prices (the cheapest Mercedes C class costs about $25,000 here). Most other cars on the street are French, Italian or Japanese brands.

American cars are rarities in Germany. You can see a Jeep here and there, but I guess even Porsche is selling more cars in Germany than any American carmaker.

Georg

[Paulr]

The thing about cars now a days are that they are a lot more reliable and last a lot longer than they used to.
All this "I wouldn't buy that make because they only last 4 years" is a little bit old hat.
I was in a similar situation to Paddy a while back.
Just before the X plate cars came out over here in the UK I decided to take the plunge and buy something brand new rather than second hand like I'm used to.
As soon as people know your buying a new car everyone is an expert and the advice came rolling in:
"Look at Japanese cars, they last forever"
"Don't buy Ford or Rover"
"Italian cars, designed for people with short legs and long arms"
"Don't buy French"
The list goes on.
However I just decided to pick up a load of car magazines to see what they thought about the cars I was looking at.
That combined with actually going out and test driving the motors I managhed to come to my choice.
I basically ignored all of the 'advice' given to me.
OK, so I had a higher budget.
I'm also 25 with full no-claims bonus.
In the end I bought a brand new Renault Megane Sport Alize.
Industry loves it.
Nippy, stylish (dare I say sexy?) and one of the safest cars in it's class.
Now, if I had listened to the 'advice' I had been given and listened to the 'old stories' or which makes you should never have bought, then buying a Renault should have appeared mid way down my list.
The only advice I did take seriously when deciding what to buy was that in the bigger independent car magazines.
What the industry thinks was all I really cared about.
I shall now be driving this car for about three years (until she's fully paid off) and I'm a very happy bunny.

[Topha]

schorsch is right, the only american cars you see more than once a months here are fords, and thats just fords made in germany, models you probably never heard of.

[impact]

Germany has definitely a lot of different car manufacturers who produce 'quality' cars. Also if I lived in Germany, I would buy a german car, just because it would be cheaper in the long term, services would be everywhere, lots of spare parts etc... But I don't live in Germany, so I'll probably end up with Skoda (yeah I don't live that far from you Topha and Schorsch ).

But I am astonished when I hear the americans talking about Ford. In Europe, Focus was voted Car of the Year in several countries and people see to love it... same for Mondeo and the other variants (probably named differently overseas). In America Ford equals junk. But BMW's, Audi's, Mercedes' are worshipped by masses (could this have something to do with watching to much of Korn and Limp Bizkit videos? ).

In Europe, BMW's, Audi's, Mercedes' are seen as very luxurious, but very expensive cars, not something everyone would like to buy if he had the money to do so. And Fords are favoured, not hated. So are other (not only Am.) cars.

Then there is also the irrational american fear of the Japanese cars. *wonders why*