lee_m

Anyone see it tonight?

Two items of interest I thought,
firstly with the debates on servicing it came as a revelation to me that you can have your car serviced at a non-franchised dealer (so long as it is as per schedule) and still retain your warranty. It the law! I'm not necessarily suggesting it's the best way to go but those with crap dealers locally might be better off with specialist (import?) service centres.

and how about the Racing Puma - hah, £22K+ and 150 odd bhp? Looks nice enough and was reckoned to handle well too, but honestly if you had that money and didn't want a Scooby - how about a Clio Sport (172bhp) AND a spanking good holiday or motorbike with the change?

Lee

lee_m

Ummmm prize wally - it's the 8th isn't it!

Penni Whitehead

I'm with you Lee - personally

I think that show provides a non-professional approach to a highly specialised subject - Top Gear - wanna bee's - (that's going back a few years) not as it stands at the moment, but when what's his name with the curly hair.... The presenters are wide boys in drag - one step up from Mr Reverse Baseball Cap in a Red -customised (badly) Nova.

Would you buy a Ford !? - if I had and when I did have the money - a 160bhp car for 22 k would not be my first choice - Ford have missed the boat again.

The car actually looks quite good - but they really don't understand the European / Uk market if they did - they'd stick a decent engine in the thing - put a decent front end on it and trot it out to a unbelieving public who would probably buy it because it has a good reputation:

Remember the Cosworth.... ( thinking of you Mike..kkk) and after all is said and done that other thing - Probe! was a nice looking car, and it had some poke.

The bit about servicing was indeed a revelation and if that is true then - the general public has been getting seriously ripped off for many many years more than I'd like to think about. I think that bit is worrying.

Sorry I waffle ...
P

ColinW

And have you noticed how the presenters will sometimes let a car win in a category by only 1 point, if they disagree with the 'independent voters', and how they mark the same car down by several points in another category just to make sure it loses ?
They do seem to have pre-conceived opinions...
I thought the Racing Puma was way overpriced too.

Penni Whitehead

So we agree - the show is not very good...!
and I know about Marketing, Mike, I worked in for 9 years -

it's easy the manipulate the minds of the public - where I was we had a Marketing Manager in charge of the biggest household brand toothpaste worldwide and he didn't have a TV/radio/computer - nothing and was totally out of touch with the planet yet incharge of 40% marketshare and a multimillion pound budget - now that's scarey.

Mike Rainbird

Penni,
Obviously the public is gullable, as they have sold ALL 1,000 of the Ford Racing Pumas....
I think it was just a marketing ploy to show what they could do. It obviously worked....
LOL
Mike

Nightmare

yep - sorry Penni, but this is marketing at its very best, not worst. Only 4% of Ferraris make it to a track, and thats probably indicative of most race car makes. The people who often buy these toys dont want the worlds best, just something to look excellent. 22K is pretty cheap for a pretty car. Im about to sound dreadfully sexist, but the majority of pumas are sold to women drivers who 'on the whole' (cringe) dont seem to be interested in their performance, just what they look like/image they portray. Im not for one second suggesting that blokes are better/buy cars for other reasons or anything like that, just that seems to be the case here.....

Have to agree about last night though - what was the point in asking those quadders their opinions and then ignoring them completely???? Mind you, this is a program that reckons a Nissan Skyline is more *desirable* than a Jag XKR...

JamesH-2

Servicing @ SS & keeping the warranty? Top

Can I have ScoobyS as a coutesey car?

Guy Humpage

Never mind about 20 grand for a tarted up Puma, what about paying similar money for a 90bhp diesel Pickup truck? Ye Gads! Don't they realise that the reason that pickups are popular Stateside is because they are dirt cheap and powerful (a US spec Ford Ranger comes with a 3litre V6 petrol engine and prices start at $12k.)

Ian Cook

Guy, you also forgot to mention the fact they have massive roads, parking spaces big enough to put a mobile home in etc etc

I like the Racing Puma, but its definitely not 23K's worth of car.

Si

Driven eh , the show had promise!

With the demise of Top Gear (i.e. the Jeremy Clarkson show IMHO) and the set up of the Quentin and his Missus show (apologies, apoligies in advance for that comment ). I had high hopes for Driven.

However, after getting a bunch of quad bikers in to rate 4x4 Pickups who rated the Ford 1 out of 3 they proceed to rate the Ford 3 out of 3. Why bother (not for the first time either)? I don't really care about Pickups but ......

I thought the Puma was exaclty how I thought the Puma should be in the FIRST place. If a company can bring out a product to rival a rival (e.g. Subaru, although it doesn't yet) then excellent IMHO.

Personally, I will buy the car that I think is best value for money, bhp per buck etc. etc. Who cares who makes it, Subaru, Ford Skoda etc.

I've had a few beers if this post is more 'conversational' than normal. Apologies, flame suit on!!

Cheers

Si

Grubby

And another thing . . .

How do they judge 'practicality'? All pick ups scored 19 - pretty high for a vehicle with no boot or enclosed storage space! I can see it now, returning from Tesco's with a trail of groceries left along the road. Doesn't parking come into the measurement for practicality? All would be a nightmare to park! Sorry Driven, but you're going off the rails IMHO.

Ian Cook

Grubby, I dont think Drivel have ever been on the rails to be honest, they have always been worse than top gear, even now ? and that is saying something

Dave Thornton

Get rid of Mike Brewer. IMHO his lack of driving ability is reason enough

chrisp

Penni I used to have a 24v probe, good looking car, no space (esp. in back) and didnt go round corners.

I cant believe they spend the first few programmes sliding and throwing cars sideways and then spend the first 10 ten minutes of last nights program slagging of other car programmes for doing it. Double standards come to mind .

To any car programme makers out there:

WE WANT EVO MAGAZINE TYPE STUFF ON THE TV - GET WITH THE PROGRAMME !!!!


cheers

chrisp

lee_m

Hear, hear Chrisp!

DocJock

Dave is right . GET RID OF MIKE BREWER.

He can't even pronounce Mitsubishi , spent all night saying Mitsubushi for christs sake !