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The Joy of Specs !


Justin Case

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Bluetooth is good, I like streaming music to my speakers without a rat's nest of wires.

Good handling and ride quality are important to me, my current SEAT Inca handles well but the ride is choppy, inevitable with a solid beam and leaf springs at the rear.

Can't wait to get my Berlingo TD going, it has the ride and handling balance of the best French cars of the era and much more shove than the Inca SDI.

So many modern cars are corrupted by torsion beam suspension - fine for a supermini but anything bigger sucks with that setup.

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Actually I don't even really need a car to begin with, let alone a specced one.

After driving fully laden waftbarges for centuries, I thought switching to a P6 where even tinted glass is a rarity

and practically no mod cons were even available, at least on home market cars, would be an interesting

'step down', but it oddly wasn't. At least most of them had PAS, which I considered necessary until I drove

one without it and loved it. I'm now driving - as you all know - an R16 with absolutely nothing, not even automatic

and love it to bits. Okay, if it weren't for column change, I'd not enjoy that shifting business to be fair.

The really weird thing is, whenever I drive the 405 now, which is rarely indeed, I feel patronised by everything.

I want to open/close windows myself. I want to steer myself. I want to lock the doors myself.

I don't want some stinking robot do it for me anymore. There are way too many organisations/machines/fuckwits

interfering with my life as is, so I think I rediscovered the pure freedom of pure automobile, if that makes sense

to anyone except me.

 

 

I sometimes waste some time on new car configurators just for fun, because I'm a boring sad stock, and I'm

often baffled how patronising it became to even order a bloody car!

What I mean is the bizarre option group combinations that make zero sense at all, like if I want my new Camaro

in this striking blue metallic, I can't spec the yellow interior accents and if I want the fancy wheels I can't have it in

this striking blue metallic. Other mindbobingly nonsensical stuff I encountered is that if I order an enhanced stereo

I must also order some spoiler package and can't have the automatic if I want electric mirrors, or sum such.

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I could quite happily do without electric windows and central locking but I wouldn't like to do without a stereo/CD player or air con.

 

I think Dacia got it a bit wrong with the Sandero Access. It should have had a stereo as standard plus a choice of colours and forgone the electric windows imo. The new ones have plastic wheel trims - that's decadent!

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The really weird thing is, whenever I drive the 405 now, which is rarely indeed, I feel patronised by everything.

Increasing brake effort to the back axle under braking as it loads up is good and easily achieved automatically with some simple hydraulics and a lever, whereas switching on the wipers is something the brain prefers to do itself.

 

I love advance-retard knobs on the dash but see that given so many struggled with chokes, that wouldn't make sense. But non-self-cancelling indicators are definitely a safety feature, once you're accustomed.

 

I'm convinced there's a plot to make the masses as dim as possible so the elite can get away with more than usual, along the lines of "look at all these convenience features" while trying to disguise a Jaguar's 4 pot Peugeot diesel engine.

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Central locking is definite bonus to the paranoid of us that end up walking round the car checking all doors and the boot even if we've only used the drivers door to get in. 

 

I don't get sun roofs at all, I'm not even a fan of the windows open above 40mph due to noise which but absolutely love air conditioning, just a shame I don't have it as older cars and working air conditioning don't always go together... in all fairness the already slow focus with aircon on struggled up hills so like automatics best left to large engine waftmobiles.

 

Cruise control is a decent gadget for anything dual carriageway / motorway based. Especially in this world of average speed cameras.

 

Wind up windows never worried me, nor normal wing mirrors presuming you can adjust them from inside the car.

 

Power steering has to be tied into the dislike of modern wheels surely? We all know it's not necessary but I imagine trying to park a german repomobile without it these days wouldn't be quite the same as a 70's car.

 

ABS is useful when it works, how it encourages people to drive is not....

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I wouldn't own a car with an auto gearbox.

 

 

 

I always said that. 

 

Between October 2015 and September 2016 I owned a perfectly good low mileage 1.6 16V mk4 astra sport. This care had rock hard suspension and silly wide low profiles as standard.

 

I did 18K in it.  It had nothing much in the way of spec. But I commute 110 miles to work  on a Monday and 110 miles back on Friday up the M6. And the occasional trip to Cardiff some 220 miles away.

 

What was special about that car was that after 2 hours behind the wheel, I couldn't walk, and after 4 hours (with the recommended stops) I was crying in pain.

I did Cardiff and back in one day, which turned out to be 5 hours there and 7 hours back due to problems.

Plus my wife had/has back issues and to go away for the weekend, I had to lie the front passenger seat fully flat, and fully forward with the head rest removed, and put cushions on the back seat and have her sit in the back with her legs across the front seat.

 

It was at this point that I resolved to buy a big automatic with cruise control.  Thanks to Autoshite and JohnK I ended up with a lazy 3.2 omega.

 

A nice traditional 4 speed autobox with a massive torque converter and a Sport Button. I've done 20K in a year. Not once have I or my wife or anyone in the back been in any pain.

I use the cruise control, whenever I can, as soon as I get into traffic that is at a steady speed, be it 25 mph or 70 mph. I will set it, and if the car in front is slowing, I turn it off with the button (rare that I turn it off by braking - if you have to brake, you were not paying attention)

If the traffic speeds up I'll increase  speed by 2 or three dabs on the cruise button.

It's great on the Roadworks on the m6, where there is 30 miles of average speed cameras. I just set it to 50 against the sat-nav and relax.

 

I have turned into the man that I once hated.

 

Occasionally I use the sport button. This is usually because it is great way to put a virtual 2 fingers up to tail gaters - If you get close to my bumper, I will knock it out of cruise, let the car slow by 5 or more mph, press the sport button, and hit the right hand pedal, and watch your Aldi disappear into the distance, behind me, before moving into a slower lane and seeing how long it takes you to come past.

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Actually I don't even really need a car to begin with, let alone a specced one.

After driving fully laden waftbarges for centuries, I thought switching to a P6 where even tinted glass is a rarity

and practically no mod cons were even available, at least on home market cars, would be an interesting

'step down', but it oddly wasn't. At least most of them had PAS, which I considered necessary until I drove

one without it and loved it. I'm now driving - as you all know - an R16 with absolutely nothing, not even automatic

and love it to bits. Okay, if it weren't for column change, I'd not enjoy that shifting business to be fair.

The really weird thing is, whenever I drive the 405 now, which is rarely indeed, I feel patronised by everything.

I want to open/close windows myself. I want to steer myself. I want to lock the doors myself.

I don't want some stinking robot do it for me anymore. There are way too many organisations/machines/fuckwits

interfering with my life as is, so I think I rediscovered the pure freedom of pure automobile, if that makes sense

to anyone except me.

 

 

I sometimes waste some time on new car configurators just for fun, because I'm a boring sad stock, and I'm

often baffled how patronising it became to even order a bloody car!

What I mean is the bizarre option group combinations that make zero sense at all, like if I want my new Camaro

in this striking blue metallic, I can't spec the yellow interior accents and if I want the fancy wheels I can't have it in

this striking blue metallic. Other mindbobingly nonsensical stuff I encountered is that if I order an enhanced stereo

I must also order some spoiler package and can't have the automatic if I want electric mirrors, or sum such.

 

 

There was a bit of software in 1994 that I tested, from a start up in Germany, who had got Land Rover to try it, who were suggesting to Lucas that we try it. 

It translated to Variant Tree.  The premise being that there were both technical and marketing reasons for putting options and solutions together.

 

So if you were say a car company, there might be a technical reason why you wouldn't put solid front discs and drums on the top of the range car with the highest power output (it would not stop quick enough), so you'd set a rule that said Solid Front discs only went with drums, and another rule that said that solid discs only go with power outputs below 80 bhp, and another rule that says that solid discs can only go with cars that weigh no more than 1000Kg

 

But then you might have a marketing reason that rear discs only go on cars with alloy wheels

 

Land Rover used it to assess and try to reduce the number of OE (not aftermarket) varients of the V8 engine, which came to about 300 different versions.

 

Different Compression ratios, Valve sizes, cam profiles, timing, carburation and fuel injection, piston diameters and materials, crack throw and materials, applications for military and marine, and for TVR and the MGBV8. Even ancillaries of different sizes.

 

Which meant smaller batches, which means more stock control, and less economies of scale.

 

Then they started looking at how the software would help them rationalise, but still achieve the same technical outcome, but with only 100 varients.

 

For instance there's no reason why you can't just use the largest valve that fits, and tune the output through the ECU. There's no reason why they all shouldn't have the same injectors, and why not put the heavy duty clutch on everything.

 

Now that's all about technical rules, but when it comes to 'Spec packs', knowing what the customer wants or will pay through the nose for, is where the real money is made.

 

Back in 1994 again, the Chief Engineer of Lucas Car braking (John Ford) at Fen End, told me that given the choice between a sunroof and ABS most customers would choose a sunroof. So car manufacturers would make the sunroof standard on all models above base model, but make the ABS available as an option on everything apart from the top of the range.  Which meant that they couldn't get economies of scale on the manufacturing costs, so they were seen as an expensive option (and anyway, I can do cadence braking).

The story of airbags is interesting. There was no demand at all, until safety lobbyists in the USA got it put into a massive government contract to supply vehicles for federal use, and the spec was to include airbags. Such was the statistical improvement in the improved life expectancy following accidents in federal owner cars and light trucks that the said lobbyists were able to force a change in the law, which required that all cars had airbags as standard in the USA.

That said our 1997 MX5 doesn't have airbags.

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Must have

- comfortable seating position

- nice suspension

- heated rear screen

- clock (for time)

- power socket/cigar lighter

- radio

- seatbelts

- decent brakes (discs and drums is just fine)

- interior light

- good sized boot

- decent/loud horn

 

In the bin (stuff that annoys me and/or I'd be happy to not have on the current daily)

- electric sunroof

- electric mirrors

- rev gauge

- power steering

- tiny steering wheel

- air fresheners

- air con

- seat warmers

- electric seats

- touch screen

- telephone

- automated systems (lights, wipers, etc.) 

- central locking

- immobiliser

 

My 414 is monstrously overspecced for what I like while the Princess is pretty close to ideal, just needs slightly more comfortable seating position for longer distance driving and electric front windows for convenience.

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Want


Powerful Engine


Autobox


Air con with climate control


Full instrumentation


Proper Spare wheel


Decent ride


Reasonable luggage space


Armrest


Automatic


Decent headlights but not those paint stripping Xenon jobs


 


Don't Want


Leather Seats


Bling wheels (anything bigger than 16 inch)


Heated seats


Electric handbrake


Factory satnav


Sunroof


Glass roof


Touch screens


Automatic lights

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New POD, on 20 Sept 2017 - 10:08 PM, said:

I always said that. 

 

Between October 2015 and September 2016 I owned a perfectly good low mileage 1.6 16V mk4 astra sport. This care had rock hard suspension and silly wide low profiles as standard.

 

I did 18K in it.  It had nothing much in the way of spec. But I commute 110 miles to work  on a Monday and 110 miles back on Friday up the M6. And the occasional trip to Cardiff some 220 miles away.

 

What was special about that car was that after 2 hours behind the wheel, I couldn't walk, and after 4 hours (with the recommended stops) I was crying in pain.

I did Cardiff and back in one day, which turned out to be 5 hours there and 7 hours back due to problems.

Plus my wife had/has back issues and to go away for the weekend, I had to lie the front passenger seat fully flat, and fully forward with the head rest removed, and put cushions on the back seat and have her sit in the back with her legs across the front seat.

 

It was at this point that I resolved to buy a big automatic with cruise control.  Thanks to Autoshite and JohnK I ended up with a lazy 3.2 omega.

 

A nice traditional 4 speed autobox with a massive torque converter and a Sport Button. I've done 20K in a year. Not once have I or my wife or anyone in the back been in any pain.

I use the cruise control, whenever I can, as soon as I get into traffic that is at a steady speed, be it 25 mph or 70 mph. I will set it, and if the car in front is slowing, I turn it off with the button (rare that I turn it off by braking - if you have to brake, you were not paying attention)

If the traffic speeds up I'll increase  speed by 2 or three dabs on the cruise button.

It's great on the Roadworks on the m6, where there is 30 miles of average speed cameras. I just set it to 50 against the sat-nav and relax.

 

I have turned into the man that I once hated.

 

Whereas I commuted 108 miles every day, a journey that could last upwards of 3 hours if traffic or roadworks were particularly bad, in my (25 mm lowered) Calibra for three years without any back or leg pain.

 

Like I said: I understand why some people might want an auto for commuting or if they're unable to perform all the task of driving themselves due to age, injury or disability, but I don't find automatic cars in any way engaging. Except big old Jags, of course.

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Want

Powerful-enough Engine

Air con

Full instrumentation

Proper Spare wheel

Decent ride

Reasonable luggage space

Armrest

Automatic

Cruise

Decent headlights but not those paint stripping Xenon jobs

 

Don't Want

Leather Seats

Bling wheels (anything bigger than 16 inch)

Heated seats

Electric handbrake

Factory satnav

Sunroof

Glass roof

Touch screens

Automatic lights

 

-yeah I copy and pasted 406v6's list as it's nearly the same.

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In the bin (stuff that annoys me and/or I'd be happy to not have on the current daily)

 

- rev gauge

 

 

 

Now this must be controversial? Unless it's an automatic car's without rev counters piss me off, I'd put them up with temperature gauges (rather than a pointless light that comes on when too late) as very useful information.

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Actually I don't even really need a car to begin with, let alone a specced one.

After driving fully laden waftbarges for centuries, I thought switching to a P6 where even tinted glass is a rarity

and practically no mod cons were even available, at least on home market cars, would be an interesting

'step down', but it oddly wasn't. At least most of them had PAS, which I considered necessary until I drove

one without it and loved it. I'm now driving - as you all know - an R16 with absolutely nothing, not even automatic

and love it to bits. Okay, if it weren't for column change, I'd not enjoy that shifting business to be fair.

The really weird thing is, whenever I drive the 405 now, which is rarely indeed, I feel patronised by everything.

I want to open/close windows myself. I want to steer myself. I want to lock the doors myself.

I don't want some stinking robot do it for me anymore. There are way too many organisations/machines/fuckwits

interfering with my life as is, so I think I rediscovered the pure freedom of pure automobile, if that makes sense

to anyone except me.

 

 

I sometimes waste some time on new car configurators just for fun, because I'm a boring sad stock, and I'm

often baffled how patronising it became to even order a bloody car!

What I mean is the bizarre option group combinations that make zero sense at all, like if I want my new Camaro

in this striking blue metallic, I can't spec the yellow interior accents and if I want the fancy wheels I can't have it in

this striking blue metallic. Other mindbobingly nonsensical stuff I encountered is that if I order an enhanced stereo

I must also order some spoiler package and can't have the automatic if I want electric mirrors, or sum such.

 

Aye that whole if you pick one item you cant have another type thing annoys me too, including such anomalies as say "Xenon headlamps can only be selected if you have also chosen the sight and light pack also, not available without" (sight and light pack being manufacturer jargon for auto lights and rain sensor wipers) or "electric sunroof not available in conjunction with premium sound system" errr, why not?

 

Or just completely bizarre things, take for example the Vauxhall Corsa E, i discovered that they do 2 similar models, Limited Edition and SRI VX-Line, the only differences being the Limited Edition has black roof, wheels and mirror caps, 1 piece folding rear seat, rear tinted windows and the flat bottom steering wheel and 'VXR' style gear knob. The SRi VX-Line is the same car but with silver wheels (same size and style of wheel, just different colour), no black painted parts so just body colour, it also has a 60/40 split fold rear seat, and auto lights and rain sense wipers.

 

HOWEVER, the rear tinted windows, flat bottom steering wheel, and VXR style gear knob is not available as standard or as an option at extra cost, and I cant think why, its like they are stopping you building your perfect car within reason of all the options and items available either as standard or as an option on other models in the range. All options should be available to all customers as if you buy any new car, even with 1 optional extra that is available, its usually a factory order anyway so what difference would adding yet more stuff to it on the production line make. 

 

I could quite happily do without electric windows and central locking but I wouldn't like to do without a stereo/CD player or air con.

 

I think Dacia got it a bit wrong with the Sandero Access. It should have had a stereo as standard plus a choice of colours and forgone the electric windows imo. The new ones have plastic wheel trims - that's decadent!

 

Sandero Access doesnt have electric windows to forfeit anyway. 

 

I always said that. 

 

Between October 2015 and September 2016 I owned a perfectly good low mileage 1.6 16V mk4 astra sport. This care had rock hard suspension and silly wide low profiles as standard.

 

I did 18K in it.  It had nothing much in the way of spec. But I commute 110 miles to work  on a Monday and 110 miles back on Friday up the M6. And the occasional trip to Cardiff some 220 miles away.

 

What was special about that car was that after 2 hours behind the wheel, I couldn't walk, and after 4 hours (with the recommended stops) I was crying in pain.

I did Cardiff and back in one day, which turned out to be 5 hours there and 7 hours back due to problems.

Plus my wife had/has back issues and to go away for the weekend, I had to lie the front passenger seat fully flat, and fully forward with the head rest removed, and put cushions on the back seat and have her sit in the back with her legs across the front seat.

 

It was at this point that I resolved to buy a big automatic with cruise control.  Thanks to Autoshite and JohnK I ended up with a lazy 3.2 omega.

 

A nice traditional 4 speed autobox with a massive torque converter and a Sport Button. I've done 20K in a year. Not once have I or my wife or anyone in the back been in any pain.

I use the cruise control, whenever I can, as soon as I get into traffic that is at a steady speed, be it 25 mph or 70 mph. I will set it, and if the car in front is slowing, I turn it off with the button (rare that I turn it off by braking - if you have to brake, you were not paying attention)

If the traffic speeds up I'll increase  speed by 2 or three dabs on the cruise button.

It's great on the Roadworks on the m6, where there is 30 miles of average speed cameras. I just set it to 50 against the sat-nav and relax.

 

I have turned into the man that I once hated.

 

Occasionally I use the sport button. This is usually because it is great way to put a virtual 2 fingers up to tail gaters - If you get close to my bumper, I will knock it out of cruise, let the car slow by 5 or more mph, press the sport button, and hit the right hand pedal, and watch your Aldi disappear into the distance, behind me, before moving into a slower lane and seeing how long it takes you to come past.

 

All thats happened there is youve discovered a well known fact that mk4 Astra/Zafira A seats are horrifically uncomfortable no matter what spec it is. 

 

The cynic in me thinks this is now why Vauxhall offer ergonomic seats which are AGR certified on their current Astras and Insignias. 

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Setting the idle as a practical thing on older cars? On my Focus it's a reminder that as a modern 16v engine you are allowed to rev it to make progress (I'm convinced part of the love for Diesels in recent years is people not enjoying an engine as it's meant to be used) as well as a way of driving with economy in mind, I know that I could memorise all the relative speeds but trying to keep it below 2k whilst accelerating etc.. is amongst boring games I play to try and be less bored whilst driving to work.

 

We could all easily live without one, but I suppose my thoughts are tied in with an earlier post on this thread serious cars having rev counters is embedded in my mind as sun roofs were for someone else.

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My Golf Mk2 has just the correct spec for a daily driver around town and country. No stupid electronics apart from LCD-clock and electronic carb. But being a limited edition it came with a nice colour, descent BBS-wheels w/ standard /60 tyres, no PAS, optional sunroof, foglights and a nice aftermarket Blaupunkt Bremen. It has tinted windows, too, not for looks only, the green glass really keeps the sun out so there are barely any cracks in the dash and the interior still looks good. Love it.

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Want:

Comfortable seats

Comfortable suspension

Enough power

Power steering

Reasonable economy

Lots of space

Cloth seats

Aircon - don't have in the sharan and it's like an oven

Central locking

Electric windows

Cruise - never had but would like

Bluetooth - ditto

Sunroof - would be nice if doesn't leak

Odments space and cup holders - sorry

Auto - I'm now a convert

ABS

Airbags

Stereo with working MW so radio 5

Auto wipers

Parking sensors - if a big car

Well laid out dashboard

 

Don't want:

Leather - heated if I have to

Hard or low suspension

Big wheels and low profile tyres

Electric handbrake

Too much power

Bling

 

 

Think I must be getting old...

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Oops, my mistake. :oops: I'm liking the idea of a Sandero Access even more now. Just need to get the bodywork wrapped to cover that insipid white paint. ^_^

 

I sat in the back seat of a Step (A) Way in a dealer the other week.  Not comfy at all. White is fashionable apparently.

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Want:

 

Stereo with working MW so radio 5

 

Aye, LW too so that TMS or Crossing Continents doesn't fade away when you're out of sight of an FM transmitter. I love it just for how the TMS theme can cut right through the middle of a Woman's Hour discussion, I'm amazed the politically correct tribes who seem to infest the Beeb allow it. Radio 4 rulez!

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Desirables.

 

Proper auto box, though later Toyota CVT a possible, or hybrid drive.

Engine big enough ...not looking for willy waving BHP (or as the hipsters call it, brake) figures cos they don't actually mean anything...to propel the vehicle easily with torque developed low down the rev range.

Soft preferably long travel suspension.

Decent aspect, 60 min, popular sized tyres.

Parking brake of the drum inside disc design unless the car has all drum rear brakes.

Foot operated perking brake is fine if real auto box, if not then a normal handbrake.

Good visibilty all round, with proper squarish door mirrors, heated.

Sunroof if no aircon, aircon as well as sunroof preferred.

Rear parking sensors.

Boot opener that works via a mechanically linked handle, not a switch.

Exterior bulbs all accessible with standard basic tools, able to be changed at a convenient point on a journey.

Car designed to be worked on not just for ease of manufacture, this tends to Japanese.

North South engine.

 

Undesirables.

 

Engines, often too small for the vehicle with various methods of forced air induction, with no guts at all until a certain rpm is reached when it all wakes up.

Twin clutch, automated manual, or other robotised gearbox without a proper torque converter.

Electric parking brake.

Overservoed brakes.

Keyless go.

Start stop.

Bulb changes requiring the dismantling of the vehicle.

Door mirrors designed for form not function.

Huge A pillars.

Interior mirror at forward visibility height,  should be mounted higher to leave a clear view across the screen.

East West engine.

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