Unpopular Motoring Opinion Thread

[Bazfr69]

1 hour ago, cort1977 said:

I thought it was cool until I met all you bastards.

Yes, this is definitely the first place you’d come to when deciding what’s cool. 😄

[Bazfr69]

1 hour ago, Yoss said:

You had me at corduroy seat covers. 

Talking of which, leather seats are massively over rated. Especially some of the modern grey ones. if you're going to have them they need to be a proper colour and have at least 50 years patina.

But even then a decent velour is better than leather any day.

Absolutely cloth is better. 
The only decent leather seats I’ve ever had was in our 1990 Range Rover and I wouldn’t buy a modern with leather seats even if I loved everything else about the car. 

[goosey]

14 hours ago, ETCHY said:

His input & the fact his views on advanced engineering at expense of profit/ updates were slavishly followed, also helped contribute significantly to the decline of BMC. More British motor industry villain than hero imo.

Was it Donald Stokes who said “we’re going to have to short shit this bloke Issigonis” Short Shit being factory speak for whenever Issigonis needed to go for a poo at work his Colleague’s would intentionally get in his way or distract him till he got to the point where he would end up going Home to use his own toilet out of frustration (he was known to not suffer fools well) thus spending less time in the Office ?

[warch]

14 hours ago, Supernaut said:

I speak from experience. I spent a summer using a SIII as a daily driver, and am currently assisting with the restoration of a SI.

Fun curiosities but complete bollocks after about 10 miles.

I concur, having used mine for many long journeys, on the upside you really appreciate how good a modern car is in comparison. 

The only time they come into their own is off road, a well driven one is pretty much peerless in muddy conditions.

My first unpopular motoring opinion is the Mk 3 Golf GTI 8v wasn't a materially worse car in terms of performance or handling than the corresponding Mk 2 model. Yeah I know, same power, more weight but there was minimal difference in real terms. 

 My second is that mass market Vauxhalls were better than Fords in the 1980s and probably the 1990s in terms of engines, comparative models and build quality. 

[Conan]

Okay, here's a good one.
A lot of the "unpopular opinions" in this thread is hardly unpopular, even to normie communities.

[Metal Guru]

Pistonheads is a superb site where everyone is made really welcome whether you have a Lada or a Lamborghini.

[Jerzy Woking]

"Red Robbo" was the best thing that ever happened to BL.

Fiat Doblos are brilliant vehicles.

Two wheels are much better than four.

[Split_Pin]

1 hour ago, Conan said:

Okay, here's a good one.
A lot of the "unpopular opinions" in this thread is hardly unpopular, even to normie communities.

I was about to post that. I'm confused as to why my comment about cars made before 1980 being rubbish garnered 3 'confused' reactions. It's meant to be an Unpopular Opinion, therefore it's meant to be in this thread. 

[EyesWeldedShut]

3 minutes ago, Split_Pin said:

I was about to post that. I'm confused as to why my comment about cars made before 1980 being rubbish garnered 3 'confused' reactions. It's meant to be an Unpopular Opinion, therefore it's meant to be in this thread. 

I think the point is being missed by some

Have another:  I always mix cross plies and radials on the same axle on my MGT. I find it makes cornering rather fun and fully brightens up the quick sprint back to the digs for tiffin after cwicket pwactice.

[Cavcraft]

4 hours ago, eddyramrod said:

Want another one?

The so-called "penalties" in this country for driving while impaired by drink or drugs are at best, laughable.  There's no deterrent, even in the unlikely event one is caught.  For the above offences, the FIRST ban should be FOR LIFE, ACCOMPANIED BY FIVE-FIGURE FINES AND CONFISCATION OF THE VEHICLE.  And that's before you hit anything, or heaven forbid, anyone.  The sliding scale for those eventualities should start as above with the addition of a minimum 12 months inside, and go up, and only up, from there.  Fail a breath test a second time?  12 months, bang.  Plus the baseline.

I guarantee this will be an unpopular opinion because boozing is the national sport, but come on, I've seen what happens.

Yeah, but ban someone for life and they're hardly going to be arsed if they get caught driving again.

[sierraman]

On 18/03/2024 at 19:04, inconsistant said:

Issigonis wasn’t a very good designer. 

I suppose he was ‘of use’ up to about the Austin 1300, why they kept him on with crappy projects up until the 80’s I have no idea. He really was getting a nuisance so they should have fucked him off in the mid sixties. 

[sierraman]

21 hours ago, Bren said:

The insignia is shit.

I disagree. There - i've said it. Mine is very leggy but well maintained. Good on fuel with a reasonable turn of pace. Nimble compared to our Mk IV mondeo which for me is somewhat of a pudding and vastly overrated. At ten years old and 184 k nothing squeaks or rattles - the trim on the side of the seat near the switches has broken because of a trapped seat belt buckle.

Like all cars they have their issues but they certainly will have issues when they are treated as white goods.

The Insignia I’m afraid couldn’t hold a candle to the Mondeo. 🤣

[sierraman]

On 18/03/2024 at 19:40, Mrcento said:

I have a few belters....

The Mk1 Focus is overrated. It just came at what had been a bit of a low point for Ford in that sector with the Escort, and was so bold design wise that the improvements it brought was overhyped.

Don't get me wrong, decent car, but fuck me, all this talk about how incredible they are to drive is bizarre.

Nice, certainly up at the sharp end for its class at the time, but does nothing outstandingly. You'd think it moved the game on lightyears, it didn't. It wasn't even the best handling car in the class around that generation. The Peugeot 306 (actually from a generation before the Focus) was. And it had a better ride to boot. The Focus was always just that little bit too firm at low speed. It was sharp, but really wasn't much beyond standard FWD fare.

And the engines were... largely, garbage. The 1.4 petrol was a boat anchor. The 1.6 was better but ran out of puff too readily for the revvy nature, the 1.8 was quite flat at low RPM and too thirsty around town. The original Diesel was the 1.8 td, again, outdated and too agricultural. Miles and miles off the French and VW offerings of the time.

The 306 diesel was better but the petrols… no. I’ve driven a few 306, they’re alright I suppose but they’re a bit slapdash inside. I don’t get the fuss at all, better than an Astra but then so would being disembowelled with a blunt stick. 

[sierraman]

1 hour ago, Split_Pin said:

I was about to post that. I'm confused as to why my comment about cars made before 1980 being rubbish garnered 3 'confused' reactions. It's meant to be an Unpopular Opinion, therefore it's meant to be in this thread. 

Some of them were fucking shit but I guess that’s why I like them, they might be shit but at least they had a bit of personality. I can’t see anyone foaming at the mouth upon discovering a BYD Chinesium crap. 

[egg]

Not sure if this is an unpop opinion or not, but feedback will tell me.

20mph zones are debatable re: pollution and safety (and they aren't good for cars that aren't geared for 20mph)

but

IMO, they do help traffic flow, because everyone has more time to make the right decision.

[Bren]

51 minutes ago, sierraman said:

The Insignia I’m afraid couldn’t hold a candle to the Mondeo. 🤣

I have insignia. Wife has mondeo.

Mondeo is a better looker and a nicer place to park your arse. Interior is much more upmarket. However I find that to drive the mondeo is meh - it reminds me of my 2000 SD1 - a big car with a small engine. Performance is decidedly underwhelming and for all the bodykit and 19" wheels it is a sheep in wolf's clothing. Plus being an estate it fills the parking spaces in town centres - it's a big bugger and you are at the mercy of other peoples' car doors.

I expected the sig to be utter pants - mine was an emergency purchase. The interior has a korean feel to it ( cheap) - the infotainment ( intellink) is a bit pish - it is very slow to respond.

However, with 160 PS it goes well. Mine has 19" corsa wheels - on spacers ( no I never fitted these), bends can be tackled at a fair old velocity. Despite the clutch being 12000 miles old I find the pedal heavy.

Sat nav. Stop start. Heated steering wheel. For £2k what's not to like?

Would I have paid £8k? No. But I wouldn't spunk £8k on a mondeo either. 

 

[Split_Pin]

My mate Raymond had a brand new Focus 1.8 petrol in March 2000, W563 PGE. It was a Serec so had a good spec for its day and was in that then- fashionable yellowy gold colour. It drove spectacularly well, really quick with excellent roadholding. It looked refreshingly different inside and out and was just generally brilliant. I have no experience of a diesel focus or any 306 but I don't care to either.

 

[eddyramrod]

5 hours ago, Cavcraft said:

Yeah, but ban someone for life and they're hardly going to be arsed if they get caught driving again.

Twelve months off work in a cell isn't a deterrent?

[Bazfr69]

5 minutes ago, eddyramrod said:

Twelve months off work in a cell isn't a deterrent?

I’ve never heard of someone being jailed for violating a driving ban, certainly not over here.
We frequently hear about people being convicted of yet another offence and are asking for multiple similar offences to be taken into consideration. 
 

Fines are also pretty useless if it’s just another pound a week out of your bru. 

[Supernaut]

We've seen mentions of Minilites and series Land Rovers...

How about both at once?

AAAAAARGH

[sierraman]

5 minutes ago, Bazfr69 said:

I’ve never heard of someone being jailed for violating a driving ban, certainly not over here.
We frequently hear about people being convicted of yet another offence and are asking for multiple similar offences to be taken into consideration. 
 

Fines are also pretty useless if it’s just another pound a week out of your bru. 

This is the thing, the fines don’t deter people enough. Also when they let them pay it at a pound a week it just drags on forever, it should be repayable immediately. 

[eddyramrod]

7 minutes ago, Bazfr69 said:

I’ve never heard of someone being jailed for violating a driving ban, certainly not over here.

I agree, that's why it needs to be written into the law as a mandatory element.  As I was saying about the penalties being rubbish...?

[sierraman]

36 minutes ago, Split_Pin said:

My mate Raymond had a brand new Focus 1.8 petrol in March 2000, W563 PGE. It was a Serec so had a good spec for its day and was in that then- fashionable yellowy gold colour. It drove spectacularly well, really quick with excellent roadholding. It looked refreshingly different inside and out and was just generally brilliant. I have no experience of a diesel focus or any 306 but I don't care to either.

 

It was very ‘of the time’ when people were sick of rubbish like the Escort and wanted something that could do everything well. Also though look at the competition at the time like the Nissan Almera - just a complete non entity of a car. Fine if you were nearly dead but younger people in their 20’s/30’s wanted something a bit more sharp. 

[St.Jude]

3 minutes ago, eddyramrod said:

I agree, that's why it needs to be written into the law as a mandatory element.  As I was saying about the penalties being rubbish...?

They moved fairly quickly to ban the XL Bully dogs. So when there is a political point to be made or the will to make a change it can be done fairly quickly.

But of course, wasn't that gobshite Zak Goldsmith done for speeding or a driving ban this week? If they think they're likely to fall foul of the rules they'll sit on any change to them.

[Dyslexic Viking]

All new cars from now on should be limited to 120 kmh or whatever it is in miles as no one needs to drive faster.

[UltraWomble]

4 minutes ago, Dyslexic Viking said:

All new cars from now on should be limited to 120 kmh or whatever it is in miles as no one needs to drive faster.

A smidge under 75mph.
But to be fair you are not wrong. I feel the same way about motorbikes, Im happy with something small and  looking at the Trumpet 400 as being more than adequate, if Im honest a de-restricetd 50 is plenty for local commuting

[yes oui si]

8 hours ago, warch said:

 

My first unpopular motoring opinion is the Mk 3 Golf GTI 8v wasn't a materially worse car in terms of performance or handling than the corresponding Mk 2 model. Yeah I know, same power, more weight but there was minimal difference in real terms. 

 

Having owned all three, I'd rather have another mk3 over a mk2 or mk1. 

Although if anyone here has an automatic b3/4 Passat estate going spare... 

[yes oui si]

Modern cars aren't inherently bad just because theyre modern. 

Almost anything you can buy will do 100k in four years with nothing more than basic maintenance, and double that by ten. 

Vastly preferable to setting points and having to weld shit tin for every other MOT. 

[jon.k]

1 hour ago, Split_Pin said:

My mate Raymond had a brand new Focus 1.8 petrol in March 2000, W563 PGE. It was a Serec so had a good spec for its day and was in that then- fashionable yellowy gold colour. It drove spectacularly well, really quick with excellent roadholding. It looked refreshingly different inside and out and was just generally brilliant. I have no experience of a diesel focus or any 306 but I don't care to either.

 

A couple of years ago I had a 306 GTI-6 and when it was in the garage I was given the garage shitter focus 1.6 of the same era. My 306 was getting on a bit but the focus was one MOT from the scrapyard and .had been driven with no oil in it, etc. etc. Honestly I thought the focus drove better and I realised there might be something to the hype.

[chaseracer]

12 hours ago, Yoss said:

I'd love to get a Stag and put a straight six in it.

An acquaintance in the US did precisely that, with impressive results.