What makes you grin? Antidote to grumpy thread

[RobT]

Who's Alan Hinkes?

Probably the UK's most prolific high-altitude mountaineer/climber.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Hinkes

 

Blimey, that's an impressive record. A worthy torch bearer then!

[Craig the Princess]

The Olimpik torch relay has just come through Wetherby, and despite being a cynical bitter bastard I ventured out for a gander, especially as Alan Hinkes was going to be carrying it. The TSB's promo vehicle was tip-top, but the LEZ may a probem unless it's petrol :

 

Can't quite make the reg out but if it's a G-reg it's ok, pre-1973 is an automatic LEZ pass

[Richard]

It's a G. Here it is wearing different colours last week.

 

 

I nearly missed it as I wasn't expecting to take any pictures and the camera wasn't ready.

[catsinthewelder]

I'm grinning because I've finally got an answer out of my boss, 'yes you can run a Citroen BX tech weekend on the premises and no, you don't have to pay for it

[The Moog]

Got the final result through for my MBA. I passed with 75%! Stunned is not the word. I am now MBA, Dip Mngt, PGCE, BA (Hons) and have more letters after my name than in it!

 

Taken about 5 years and 16K but a real relief. Think how many shoddy cars I could have bought for that!

[Mike D]

Congratulations The Moog, that's impressive

[morris_ital_lover]

 

Somebody at Peugeot actually thought this was a good idea, making it a double grin because 1) those damn frogs must have an epic drugs stash 2) PSA are doing their best to continue the propagation of future shite.

[DSdriver]

I am now MBA, Dip Mngt, PGCE, BA (Hons) and have more letters after my name than in it!

Bigger envelopes will be required.

Congrats and I hope you don't get the sack for being over qualified.

[Craig the Princess]

Got the final result through for my MBA. I passed with 75%! Stunned is not the word. I am now MBA, Dip Mngt, PGCE, BA (Hons) and have more letters after my name than in it!

 

Taken about 5 years and 16K but a real relief. Think how many shoddy cars I could have bought for that!

 

Congratulations. Could you make some of that back by selling the rights to that combo to Subaru for an Imprezza special edition?

[The Moog]

Well anagram is "Hmm! Adept pong scabbing" maybe that would be an awesome bit of future shite!

[Negative Creep]

 

Somebody at Peugeot actually thought this was a good idea, making it a double grin because 1) those damn frogs must have an epic drugs stash 2) PSA are doing their best to continue the propagation of future shite.

 

Nice to know Peugeot are continuing their policy of fuck ugly charm free cars

[Pillock]

No doubt they'll be banging them out with £3k off list price, free insurance, or that "just add petrol" scheme and within 6 months they'll be all over the place like frickin' cockroaches.

And in 4 years they'll be all over scrapyards, like dead cockroaches.

[barrett]

To be fair to Peugeot, their newest cars are about 7 million x more attractive than anything they've built for about 15 years. The huge gopping mouths are getting smaller and the headlights are beginning to retreat from their position about an inch away from the A-pillars. Whilst I was genuinely shocked and disappointed every time I saw a 308 or 608 or whatever (I just couldn't accept that anyone was stupid enough to actually pay money for something so ugly), that thing above /\ is not actually laughably ugly, it's just a boring modern car like everything else.

 

Anyone seen the new 508? Looks rubbish in photos sadly, but in the metal it's a genuinely handsome motor. Only really works in black, but still. I literally stopped in my tracks the first time I saw one drive by, I never thought Peugeot would make a good looking car ever again.

[Guest]

If you wonder about people spending money on fuck ugly cars - what about the BMW X series vehicles / Porsche Cayenne / Range Rover evoque etc etc. Peugeots arnt that bad but allways seem to get a good kicking from people

[cort16]

The 208 is much nicer looking than the 207 but that's a bit like saying getting kicked repeatedly in the bollocks is much better than not getting kicked repeatedly in the bollocks.

I think the 207 is one of the worst most ham fisted designs of any car in the last 10 years (other than the BMW X1). Some of the bits don't even look finished. It's like the design team took a half day on a Wednesday and someone wandered in, shrugged their shoulders and just put what was there into production.

[barrett]

BMW/ Porsche/ Range Rover are always gonna sell to people who only care about the badge. It's a different kind of stupidity entirely. I reckon this is the ugliest car design of the last couple of decades, and yet they are EVERYWHERE with absolutely no badge kudos at all. Are Pugs even reliable these days? Do they have any kind of reputation at all? I just don't get it!

 

Liking the new avatar btw John...

[Mr H Sceptre]

To be fair to Peugeot, their newest cars are about 7 million x more attractive than anything they've built for about 15 years. The huge gopping mouths are getting smaller and the headlights are beginning to retreat from their position about an inch away from the A-pillars. Whilst I was genuinely shocked and disappointed every time I saw a 308 or 608 or whatever (I just couldn't accept that anyone was stupid enough to actually pay money for something so ugly), that thing above /\ is not actually laughably ugly, it's just a boring modern car like everything else.

 

Anyone seen the new 508? Looks rubbish in photos sadly, but in the metal it's a genuinely handsome motor. Only really works in black, but still. I literally stopped in my tracks the first time I saw one drive by, I never thought Peugeot would make a good looking car ever again.

 

 

Agreed re. the 508 - it is a pretty handsome carriage indeed.

 

One 'brand' I can't qite get my head round is the Citroen DS range (new ones, obviously). Quite a few folk I know have commented on how ace the DS3 is. To me its just a typically bulbous small modern car with bland styling. Lots of stupid fairly ligts & wacky colour scemes do not make a good design.

[Cavcraft]

Probably should be in 'grumpy' but I did LOL my FAO at what I saw:

 

Glasgow to Liverpool by 'plane: 23 hours and fifty minutes with one stop. Where does it fucking stop, New Zealand or something?

[dollywobbler]

I think the ugliness of Peugeots is so galling because the 06 range was pretty darned attractive. The 306 remains one of the most stylish hatchbacks of evah in my book. The pre-facelift 406 is nice too (then got a bit blingy in old age) and the 106 does the whole small car thing very well. It all went wrong with the 07. The 307 looked like someone trying to make a car out of an elephant and the 407 looks like it's been stretched in a cartoon manner. They're also packed full of the crappest electronics known to man. The 508 is an eye-catching car, but I can't quite decide if I actually like it.

 

I really REALLY don't get the Citroen DS thing. I had a sit in a DS5 at La Vie en Bleu. It looked shit, felt as light and airy as a coffin inside and almost everyone who got into it clouted their head on the roof. It also has a rear wiper smaller than the headlamp wipers on most Volvos, as much visibility as a knight's helmet with the visor down and only appeals to people who have far more money than sense. "It's quirky just like an old Citroen!" Er, no. It isn't. Citroens were never just about odd styling. There was more to them than that!

[Mr_Bo11ox]

I’m gonna defend the DS3, if I was in the market for an expensive small car like a Mini/500/A1 etc I’d go for the DS3. Can’t give a rational reason for that but it just seems more interesting than the others. The mags reckon its a good steer as well. Considering PSA is desperately skint it seems to have upped its game a bit lately on the product front, like everyone I think the 207 and 308 are some of the worst lookers on the road but the 508 looks well classy, spesh in saloon form.

[cort16]

The DS3 is a good drive. I had a go of the 110 diesel and it went really well. The fronts ruined a bit by the running light but the rest is nice. The interior is also nicely done out for a car of that price and about a bazillion miles away from the sun dried elephants arse Citroen used to cover their dashes in.

[chaseracer]

Apparently there is already a Citroen DS3 club. Presumably a support group for people who wonder why they've spent so much money on a hideously ugly, over-priced family hatchback with zero visibility and those dreadful bling lights that blind everyone.

The DS3 outsells the infinitely more practical C3 in the UK - which says much about the UK market. I'm pleased Domestic Management resisted making the default choice...

[Pete-M]

I'd have a DS3 as well, if they drive as well as they look. Every time I see a sporty one they seem to get better looking. Personally, I think the DS3 'Racing' is the best looking hot hatch since the 205 GTi.

 

I've not got the AS collective's "ARGHHHH YOU'RE BLINDING ME!" thing when it comes to DRLs, Xenons and lights that actually produce light instead of a feeble 20w glow (despite having eyes that are extremely sensitive to bright light according to more than one optician) so it's glad to see that I'm not the only one on here who doesn't consider the DS3 to be some sort of grotesque affront to decency.

 

If I was offered a DS3 Racing or an 'as new' DS Pallas, I'd take the DS3. Not very AS, but old Citroens do nothing for me. I like the CX GTi Turbo thing, some Xantias, the Saxo VTR/S and the AX / BX GTis, but that's about it. The rest I consider generally ugly and willfully weird without any real benefits to offset the weirdness, and I'm including the oleopneumatic suspension in the 'pointless' category. It's handy for loading trailers and changing wheels, but I don't think the ride quality is all that it's made out to be. C5s are shit. Xsaras are the 306's ugly sister. The XM (sorry Campbell) is probably a great motorway car - when it works.

 

Don't get me wrong, I like that people have GSAs, 2cvs and all that, and I like seeing them, but I think the DS3 (if it goes like it looks) has to be the coolest Citroen I can think of.

[trigger]

I like those DS3's as well, I think you'd look much less of a nob in one then you would in a BMW Mini.

 

As for Peugeots, My father in law has a well looked after low mileage 07 plate 307 1.6 HDi SW and although he highly rates the engine, he hates the poor build quality, he reckons every week part of the trim falls off and at the moment one of the rear light keeps randomly falling out, Also he moans saying about how the air filter is located right back in the engine bay under the windscreen and it takes 45 minutes just to strip the engine down to reach it just to change the filter.

[MrDuke]

I parked up next to a 406 coupe at the supermarket yesterday: I'd forgotten how utterly gorgeous they were for a family-saloon derivation. With the exception of Alfa Romeo, I don't think any of the european companies have ever quite hit the mark so well since, it was the last really pleasing design outside of high-end/sports territory. IMO, anyway.

[phil_lihp]

I had a 307 HDi SW for a while, at the time the newest, most expensive cars I'd ever bought at only four years old. I always thought it looked quite smart and was a pretty good drive but it was flimsy as anything, trim fell off, the electrics were useless and the clutch juddered. Final straw after 6 months was a DPF fault which cost the garage I sold it to over £1000 to fix, only for it to fail again a couple of months later. Happy ending though cos I got rid of it!

[quicksilver]

Funnily enough after being offended by the sight of several 407s yesterday I was wondering what had gone wrong at Peugeot, so I'm glad I'm not alone. As MrDuke said, the 406 coupe is one of the best looking cars EVAH and the saloon and estate are hardly mingers, but the 407 looks like a retarded fish. Same deal with Shitroen; with the noble exception of the C6, everything since the Xantia has been either terminally bland or 'funky' for the sake of it.

[Cavcraft]

Those DS3 things looks pretty nice to me, but they can still shove those stupid daytime running lights up their arse/s.

[fotorabia]

Yesterdays paranoid antics that the Mercedes starter had failed..the local garage Ive taken a shine to..and I think they assume im just slightly bonkers..a tow down the street was gonna be $70 outsourced call out..so i got the flatmates..Frenchman..Columbian and a Kiwi to push it..slowly..i look back and all three of them sitting on the boot as we freewheeled..$20 and a pkt of biscuits bill for a new battery terminal..relief..i go to my security job..8.55pm car starts rocking..funny..i didnt think we had earthquakes in Victoria.. 5.3 richter..very seldom occurance..5.30am work finishes..batteries flat..so return later..watch an old Holden Commodore pull up..wild haired guy jumps out and goes take a piss against a tree...I ask him for a jumpstart..i think he was Greek..he asks for money and if I had any cassette tapes..so I gave him $5.60..tapes were to good to give away..and he then gives me the jump cables...its a mad do nothing job..last night i watched a ringtail possum tight rope walking the power line..

[pompei]

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