Mingebag cost cutting, cheeseparing ,not Project Drive.( oh OK then)

[Timewaster]

Spare wheel wells vs cages underneath.

Swings and roundabouts. On one hand the spare gets dirty and the carrier rusts solid, on the other you can bet that when you need the spare it will be under a weeks shopping or a holidays worth of luggage which you have to dump by the roadside in the inevitable pouring rain.

[MrDuke]

One thing that fucks me off, and I don't know if its cost cutting or if there's another reason for it is French motors with the spare wheel on a carrier underneath the boot floor on the outside rather than a spare wheel well, both my '02 plate 206 and '59 plate Clio have had it. Oddly my '04 plate Clio did have a spare wheel well though.

 

It's not about cost-cutting. It's about being French.

 

In fairness, if you have a boot-full of stuff, it is easier to access one smallish bolt than to lift up the floor and access a wheel-well. Although they do sometimes fall out.

[steve_earwig]

Or get spirited away in the night with the aid of some boltcroppers.

[steve_earwig]

Ach, I just remembered that's what happened to the spare on my bro's Zafira, are they French then?

[HH-R]

Citroen C2 back seats seem a bit stingy, can't you see what's in the boot through a huge gap between them? GR8 4 BEIN ROBBED. I think the AygC107 is like that too.

[MrDuke]

Ach, I just remembered that's what happened to the spare on my bro's Zafira, are they French then?

 

Yes. They actually use the exact same floorpan as a Pug 205. PHAKT.

[lisbon_road]

I remember some Sierras with the apparent double headlights actually didn't have bulbs in the inner lights.  They were just there for effect.

 

More frustrating.  Part of the gearbox linkage on my Corsa C failed when a ball and socket joint popped out.  It was a plastic socket on a moulded bar.  Just popped on and would pop off too.  When I looked at a Mk3 Astra, there was a similar part but it had a nice clip moulded in so that when placed over the ball, you do the clip up to clamp on the ball.  The saving removing the clip?  Must be fractions of 1p. 

[Taff]

more of a comparison than cost sutting but a few years ago I was rocking a 1952 Caddy and the missus had a 1954 Moggy split screen

 

My caddy had:-

Auto transmission

servo brakes

a/c (working)

auto dipping headlights

leccy front windows

heated seats

 

Her moggy had:-

drivers side sun visor

[Asimo]

Mk2 fiestas have two dash boards. I've never seen this in any other car.

Really low spec ones come same as some other fords mentioned with only one wing mirror, one sun visor, no heated back window but they also blanked out the clock, power socket, intermittent wiper and stupidly a two speed heater switch, it's just a small bit of metal inside that make its a three speed

Edit: now with pictures! I forgot there's two different door cards and about 4 centre consoles

post-17845-0-45094500-1412867839.jpg

Ford Fiesta Mk2 (6).jpg

I'm glad mine had the cheap dash in the top picture, the posh one is gopping!

 

I hate "equipment / options / upgrades" all that shit that salesmen and gormless punters love.

Just give me basic everything with the biggest engine and brakes please.

[Timewaster]

Mk3 Escorts all had the same style of dash but in rigid scratchy plastic on the poverty models, squishy soft feel plastic on the GeeHar and XR31

 

The current Focus when fitted with a Start push button has an awful plastic cap on the steering cowl where the ignition switch should be. Thus making the posh version look especially cheap.

[MrDuke]

Mk3 Escorts all had the same style of dash but in rigid scratchy plastic on the poverty models, squishy soft feel plastic on the GeeHar and XR31

 

IIRC, didn't the softer posh dashes end up getting baked hard and cracking in the sun, in a shockingly short period of time? Whereas the pov-spec dashes just faded slightly.

[HH-R]

The mk2 Fester is a car that has just always seemed solid gold shite, same with the '85 ugly Metro facelift.

[Noel Tidybeard]

I'm sure it must've cost ford money instead of saving it to produce separate plastics for base models to make them more miserable, sierra dangle mirrors for example whilst being utterly lovely we get them on the base only this couldn't of been cost effective.

dangle mirrors were on 1.6L estate my burd(at the time)s mom had

[JohnDeere]

It makes no difference to me which side the bonnet release is on, I always pick the wrong side (two cars, two sides). Same for the label showing the tyre pressures. Thank god that there's an arrow on the fuel gauge to show which side the flap's on.

 

On a similar theme, I have two garage doors, two keys. Statistically there's a 50% chance of picking the right key first time. So why do I get the wrong one every single time...

[JohnDeere]

Spare wheel wells vs cages underneath.

Swings and roundabouts. On one hand the spare gets dirty and the carrier rusts solid, on the other you can bet that when you need the spare it will be under a weeks shopping or a holidays worth of luggage which you have to dump by the roadside in the inevitable pouring rain.

Or in a Disco 3/4, the best* of both worlds: wheel slung under the car (notorious for theft if you don't add an aftermarket protector), but you need full access to the boot to lower it down in a cable hoist.

[jakebullet]

I have a base disco 2. Turns out it's pot luck if stuffs going to be there. Got a pair of A post covers with tweeters to upgrade the sounds. Drivers side, plug behind the trim waiting for me. No such plug on the passenger side.

 

Fiesta mk1 also had the 2 different dashes thing going on. Rape a dead xr2, gain a glovebox and fool* everyone you have a hot* hatch.

[AlabamaShrimp]

The molding for the mk1 fiesta dash is the same it's just got more clocks, air vents and a door. Mk2 it's almost all the front that's different

[overrun]

Mk3 Escort base spec and Ghia/S1/RS1600i style dash were different designs.

The povvo one has a small, square ashtray and visible lighter, and the 'high spec' dash had a full size ashtray, with lighter inside.

 

I bought a placca one for my RS, due to the joke, that is the the chosen keep-me-away-from-UV-or-I-will-crack-in-an-instant-foam, covered in cheapo vinyl proper one, but it looked shit - and the switchgear doesn't swap straight over.

 

Circular (20mm?) hole for choke or intermittent wiper switch?

They'll be different, then.

 

Sticking with Ford, my top spec mk3 Mondeo Ghia X had cooled seats, as well as heated, plus as with all of the range,bonnet rams and a key operated bonnet lock.

My Titanium X (basically top spec, aside from TX Sport, with red stitching and a body kit) only has heated seats, and they all have a bonnet stay and internal bonnet release - on the LHS.

 

World car? Not in all respects.

[steve_earwig]

Cooled seats, how does that work then?

[overrun]

Cooled seats, how does that work then?

Essentially a couple of computer fans, cut into the seat base and foam.

Surprisingly effective on my mates Ghia X estate, with perforated leather.

Not so great on mine - until running for a couple of hours - due to it having half leather and perforated Alcantara.

 

The current seats are the same materials. Yet I still want the feature back, as I feel like I have been robbed. Lol.

[overrun]

How about Toyota introducing thinner carpets and removing the 'reach' function from the MR2, for rev 3, onwards?

[steve_earwig]

I was thinking maybe it directed the air con through the seats via a series of ducts but fair enough, it's a couple of fans. I can't stop thinking about what happens when you fart though..

[NorfolkNWeigh]

My fleet of crap consists of 3 German, 1 Italian, 1 Spanish and 3 English. All but 3 have the bonnet pull in the correct position near to the driver of a proper right handed English car- guess which 3 ? Yes, Jaguar,Land Rover and Rover.

[twosmoke300]

With regard to bonnet pulls I always thought old Ford way of a big orange lever under the column was a great idea

[DS20]

The 340 has LHD wiper sweep too, think it was swapped for the MY85.

 

Sounds about right.  Ma_DS20's 1986 340 (it arrived with us in 1988 though) had RHD-specific wipers, and she and Pa_DS20 REVELLED IN THE GLORY of being able to see out of that bit of the windscreen when it was raining (which was always, in the 1980s), whereas the poor saps who'd bought 340s just a little bit older had to struggle.  

 

Less flippantly, I think Pa_DS20 genuinely was grateful - he was 6'8" and LHD wiper sweeps meant that in the rain either he couldn't see important bits of road and scenery, or he sat there hunched over like Quasimodo.  

[jonny69]

There was a time when you could get the indicator switch on the right hand side of the steering column. Think how much sense that makes in a RHD car, that if mid gear change you might be able to flick the indicators on or off with your hand that is still on the steering wheel. When was the last time a RHD version had that?

[colino]

I think the ultimate, "saver" was when Bill Lyons, wishing to keep Jaguar afloat and focus on engineering, not fripperies, realised that a lot of expensive carpet was lying, unseen, under the front seats.  Unfortunately Jaguar was a bureaucrats dream and this message, to save money by using less carpet, was translated into adding to the costs.  Towards the end of the production line, two new men had to be hired, just to take a knife to the already fitted, full set of carpets  and cut out the pieces under the front seats.

[sierraman]

At the end at MG Rover, they deleted the under bonnet sound deadening and replaced it within option called simply 'The Acoustic Kit'

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

Mark 3 Golfs - some had a horrid black plastic infill bit where an aerial went. Right on the side of the front wing at the top for maximum "LOOK AT MEEEE' effect. It was then that I realised what a piece of rubbish they were.

[bigfella2]

Mark 3 Golfs - some had a horrid black plastic infill bit where an aerial went. Right on the side of the front wing at the top for maximum "LOOK AT MEEEE' effect. It was then that I realised what a piece of rubbish they were.

I believe it was the only part that didn't go rusty on a mk3 golf, apart from the tyres.