Irish saloons

[sierraman]

Why are most cars in Eire saloons you don't see elsewhere, eg Mondeo, Almera and Avensis?

[r.welfare]

Because they prefer them. See also the US and much of Asia.

[SiC]

Certain parts of Europe do. See the Renault Symbol (Thalia in some countries). The bastard child of a Clio.

 

[hairnet]

central and eastern europe too

 

see a romanian reg thalia now and again -  late clio saloon

 

uncle shay in 40 years has never had a hatch only saloons

 

504 marina 304 estate galant passat currently corolla

 

dublin taxis are the same mostly avensis saloons

[Snipes]

When I was in Cork last year almost every other car were the ugly, late 90s round-light Corolla saloons. I don't think I've ever seen one in the uk.

[tooSavvy]

Oppss... Thort this was about drunken fisticuffs....

 

..as we were...

 

TS

[17-Coffees]

Nissan Tida.

Always remember that due to there being a fair few of them imported to Scotland and registered here. 

Also, Suzuki SX4 saloon, which was officially sold in the UK, for some unknown reason.

 

Whats also unknown is why I'd want to own any of them...

[Asimo]

Local preference innit? Like 20 years ago it was very obvious that Glasgow preferred 2 / 3 doorcars in exactly the same way that middle England had to have 5 doors or nothing.

[tooSavvy]

Whats also unknown is why I'd want to own any of them...

 

.. more than that...

 

A breaker, hoovering one up for £20 would try to hump the engine/front end but fragg the rest.. "who tf asks for saloon tail lights..??"

 

RockyHorsePoo for anyone who has one, I bet...

 

TS

[Matt]

I'm sure I heard somewhere that in certain parts a saloon is more of a status symbol than other body styles. Anyone else heard that?

[They_all_do_that_sir]

Big north south divide here, in Northern Ireland car tastes are closer to England, with 5 door being the norm. Besides, the North being part of the UK has UK dealers who sell UK models, so you'd struggle to get the smaller saloons.

Down south however seem to get a hybrid of mainland European cars but built to UK spec (I.e. RHD). You also see more obscure JDM stuff down south.

IMO the good old corolla saloon should be crowned the national car of Ireland!

 

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[They_all_do_that_sir]

https://www.donedeal.ie/cars-for-sale/car/13483112

 

Did they ever do these in UK with unpainted bumpers?

 

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[aldo135]

I've read that too Matt, apparently in Spain they see a door at the back as being like a works van, so a booted version has more cache. They do look shit though, I remember on my first Spanish holiday in the early 90's Spotting a Renault 7 and wondering why?!

[Sheefag]

Yes, I'd heard that hatchbacks were considered economy cars in the USA.

 

I have a friend who lives over there and when visiting a couple of years ago I ended up chatting to his neighbour about cars. They'd not long traded a Nissan Versa (Tilda hatch) for a Ford Flex (looked like a Mondeo) and were "really excited to have a trunk again".

 

Apologies for the pedantry but he probably meant a Ford Five Hundred which is now known as the Ford Taurus. Looks like a Mondeo but very significantly bigger

The Ford Flex looks a bit like a Lowered P38.

 

Ford Five Hundred / Taurus

 

 

Ford Flex

 

[They_all_do_that_sir]

Apologies for the pedantry but he probably meant a Ford Five Hundred which is now known as the Ford Taurus. Looks like a Mondeo but very significantly bigger

The Ford Flex looks a bit like a Lowered P38.

 

Ford Five Hundred / Taurus

 

 

Ford Flex

 

More than a hint of B5 passat above the waistline on the five hundred

 

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[17-Coffees]

The Ford 500 always amazes me.

It's as if the designer had seen a Mk3 Mondeo while on holiday to the UK, then 2 weeks later when back at work he was asked by Ford USA to draw them it...

[PiperCub]

I'm sure I heard somewhere that in certain parts a saloon is more of a status symbol than other body styles. Anyone else heard that?

 

That's about it, in the USA the VW Jetta (various marks down the years) outsells the Golf many times over as hatches are seen (or used to be - don't know if it's still the case) as a bit cheapo, down market/utility etc. Yet in UK and europe, the Jetta is a rare thing compared to a Golf. 

 

It can be odder than that though. Some years ago a mate was living and working in Spain, just before he went he lucked into a nice cheap Pug 205 diesel 3 door left hooker, he bought it, sorted it and took it with him to Spain and used it for some time. When he came to sell it on (he had reg'd & ITV'd it locally), it wouldn't shift. He was confused by this as it was a nice little thing. It was cleared up by a local mate who simply said 'Not enough doors' - apparantly, the Spanish don't like it if it hasn't got four (or five) doors - he never found out why this is.

[Brodders]

 

I am slightly saddened that we didn't get a Belmont badged version of this over here.

[sheffcortinacentre]

Crayford mk4/5 cortinas where irish spec as you could get bigger eng higher spec rhd 2drs.

UK only got base/L 1.3 (few late 1.6 autos)as 2drs in rhd.

 

Always preferred saloons, hatchbacks are ests without the extra carrying space.

[Split_Pin]

I remember on my first Spanish holiday in the early 90's Spotting a Renault 7 and thinking wow

FTFY, based on my own, identical experience!

[cros]

You've got to want 4 doors pretty bad to build this..

[warren t claim]

Sadly the latest Mondeo with the hybrid engine is only available in booted form and the boot itself is tiny.

[NorfolkNWeigh]

Apparently if it wasn't for China and a few Septics, the S Class, 7 Series and A8 would probably be no more, the big SUVs are not only getting more popular across the rest of the world but they are massively more profitable.

But in China saloons are seen as prestigious and 4X4s utilitarian .

In this country big expensive saloons are only bought to be chauffeur driven , hence Bentley, Maserati etc moving into the Range Rover market.

[dieselassist]

Cant say we have a preference for saloons here; tis just whatever is marketed here; eg; the mk1 Polo was never offered by VW here, but the derby was; it got the 'irish motoring journalists 'car of the year' in 78 or 79; I forget which...

...main dealers copped years ago that the irish like to have a towbar fitted to even a 1lite car, n the prospective new car buyer, with tow hitch fitting in mind probably preferred a saloon to bolt a hitch kit up to - further away from the rear axle...

 

...generally Irish punters liked 'bang for their buck' so new cars sold here were base spec, if it also included a larger appendage at the rear for the price, we'd go for that... estates also sold well here; I remember them being numerous on my school run, when I was a lad - being predominately catholic in religion here at the time,  the new car buyer couldn't put limit on how far his 'loins' might extend so buying an estate was 'future proofing' for the possible large extension of the family.... Renault 18, Peugeot 504, merc w124 estates were common enough.... 

 

I grew up on the border, n the old man had a few mk1 sierra hatch's - these seemed 'vast' n almost estate like in comparsion to the previous mk5 Cortina or Granada saloons...

 

Dealers n car makers send whatever is historically viewed as 'an easy sell' to whichever market they are shipping to - 'landmark' cars on dealer floors; ie cars that haven't sold 'as new' that year, can be common enough here - new unregistered cars car often sit unsold for 2 or 3 years; later sold for a cash price- out the back door - new car sales often hang on 'economic conditions here' ... some years like 2008/2009 the supply outstrips demand....

[SiC]

What's the Irish autotrader/Gumtree equivalent? Rather interested to see what's for sale over the river and how prices compare to Britain.

[Eddie Honda]

Adverts.ie and Donedeal.ie

[BorniteIdentity]

Cant say we have a preference for saloons here; tis just whatever is marketed here; eg; the mk1 Polo was never offered by VW here, but the derby was; it got the 'irish motoring journalists 'car of the year' in 78 or 79; I forget which...

...main dealers copped years ago that the irish like to have a towbar fitted to even a 1lite car, n the prospective new car buyer, with tow hitch fitting in mind probably preferred a saloon to bolt a hitch kit up to - further away from the rear axle...

 

...generally Irish punters liked 'bang for their buck' so new cars sold here were base spec, if it also included a larger appendage at the rear for the price, we'd go for that... estates also sold well here; I remember them being numerous on my school run, when I was a lad - being predominately catholic in religion here at the time,  the new car buyer couldn't put limit on how far his 'loins' might extend so buying an estate was 'future proofing' for the possible large extension of the family.... Renault 18, Peugeot 504, merc w124 estates were common enough.... 

 

I grew up on the border, n the old man had a few mk1 sierra hatch's - these seemed 'vast' n almost estate like in comparsion to the previous mk5 Cortina or Granada saloons...

 

Dealers n car makers send whatever is historically viewed as 'an easy sell' to whichever market they are shipping to - 'landmark' cars on dealer floors; ie cars that haven't sold 'as new' that year, can be common enough here - new unregistered cars car often sit unsold for 2 or 3 years; later sold for a cash price- out the back door - new car sales often hang on 'economic conditions here' ... some years like 2008/2009 the supply outstrips demand....

Great post.  This is the kind of thing I come here for.

 

MOAR.

[oldcars]

Saw a booted Megane in Dublin the other month. It was called a ef-fluence or something.

[Kiltox]

Saw a booted Megane in Dublin the other month. It was called a ef-fluence or something.

 

Pretty sure that's an electric car rather than just a saloon Megane

[SiC]

You can get the electric versions of the Fluence here

 

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201510308287820