Unpopular Motoring Opinion Thread

[EspenO]

Audi and BMW drivers don’t indicate any less than drivers of other brands of car.

 

 

(leans back, awaits forum meltdown) 

[EyesWeldedShut]

Too true

[DeeJay]

Fines. Parking, speeding, reckless driving etc all if them should be a percentage of income. 

[Asimo]

5 minutes ago, DeeJay said:

Fines. Parking, speeding, reckless driving etc all if them should be a percentage of income. 

Better a percentage of the vehicle’s list price when new.

[Supernaut]

31 minutes ago, DeeJay said:

Fines. Parking, speeding, reckless driving etc all if them should be a percentage of income. 

There are countries that actually do this, too.

Switzerland comes to mind.

[Rocket88]

The original Mini pretty much nailed the coffin lid down on the British motor industry 

[St.Jude]

1 hour ago, DeeJay said:

Fines. Parking, speeding, reckless driving etc all if them should be a percentage of income. 

 

1 hour ago, Asimo said:

Better a percentage of the vehicle’s list price when new.

10% of the vehicle's value now, or 10% of the vehicle's value when new, or 10% of your wage last year. Whichever is higher.

Can't be too unfair to the self employed who work cash in hand.

[MiniMinorMk3]

23 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. 

 

 

14 hours ago, yes oui si said:

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

I've also had all three and the best car in the world is a Mk2 Golf GTi. The Mk1 is lighter and quicker, but the brakes are a bit very iffy. The Mk3 is heavier and more comfortable, but they are prone to poor build quality. The Mk2 Golf was excellent, unfortunately it is impossible to find another that has not been Barried to f*** that I would buy.

After my experience of the Mk3, and it's poor quality, I have never had another Golf. The only VW I have had since was a 1.4 Polo N9, nice little nippy car that can keep up on a motorway. 

[MiniMinorMk3]

A Porsche 944 is a much better car than a 911.

[Metal Guru]

1 hour ago, St.Jude said:

 

10% of the vehicle's value now, or 10% of the vehicle's value when new, or 10% of your wage last year. Whichever is higher.

Can't be too unfair to the self employed who work cash in hand.

Points on your licence would be best assuming it’s actually enforced. Too many company car drivers treat parking fines as an expense. 

[St.Jude]

7 minutes ago, Metal Guru said:

Points on your licence would be best assuming it’s actually enforced. Too many company car drivers treat parking fines as an expense. 

There is too much of a loop hole with that. Which normally 12 points means you lose your license, you can get more than that and still keep it.

One such case: https://www.southwalesargus.co.uk/news/9607354.speeding-tony-pulis-spared-driving-ban/

There is another one where a woman in London had about 30 points on her license and still hadn't lost it.

Money, really, is the only way to get results here.

[Sham]

Agreed, outrageously expensive fines is the way to stop it.

£100 fine is an annoyance for most, not a deterrent. 

My unpopular opinion would be more enforcement cameras - particularly on traffic lights and busy roundabouts. But I'd happily accept it if they blanketed all urban areas to prosecute and monetise all the arsehole drivers who blatantly ignore the rules of the road.

[St.Jude]

7 minutes ago, Sham said:

Agreed, outrageously expensive fines is the way to stop it.

£100 fine is an annoyance for most, not a deterrent. 

My unpopular opinion would be more enforcement cameras - particularly on traffic lights and busy roundabouts. But I'd happily accept it if they blanketed all urban areas to prosecute and monetise all the arsehole drivers who blatantly ignore the rules of the road.

Michael Winner would regularly drive in bus lanes and park outside the place he was going to on double yellows. The money he'd get in a fine was offset for getting to where he needed to get to on time and less of a walk for him.

People say when they win the lottery they wouldn't tell anyone but there would be noticeable changes. For me, if I won the lottery or a load of money, I would do exactly what Winner did.

[sierraman]

1 hour ago, Sham said:

Agreed, outrageously expensive fines is the way to stop it.

£100 fine is an annoyance for most, not a deterrent. 

My unpopular opinion would be more enforcement cameras - particularly on traffic lights and busy roundabouts. But I'd happily accept it if they blanketed all urban areas to prosecute and monetise all the arsehole drivers who blatantly ignore the rules of the road.

I mean £100 fine, be a bit of a bastard but not enough to really make you think. Needs to be significantly higher, but then if they’ve got nothing you’ve another problem then. The problem is these days they’d go ‘I can’t pay this fine as I can’t feed my kids’ and someone would let them off. Without going down another direction for another thread people just don’t take responsibility for themselves anymore.

[EyesWeldedShut]

2 hours ago, MiniMinorMk3 said:

A Porsche 944 is a much better car than a 911.

The Porsche 924 does not have a VW LT van engine in it.

 

(Actually that is true but the whole world seems to hold the opposite opinion)

[goosey]

I really can’t understand the appeal of Discovery 3/4s.

[Rocket88]

31 minutes ago, goosey said:

I really can’t understand the appeal of Discovery 3/4s.

Or anything made by Land Rover

[sierraman]

1 hour ago, Rocket88 said:

Or anything made by Land Rover

I get the appeal of an old Defender if you liked tinkering with things. I don’t get the other stuff at all though the new Defender as capable as I’m sure it is seem to get bought by these ‘all the gear - no idea’ guys. You know the type, have a ‘shop’ full of DeWalt gear and a £3,000 Axminster thicknesser but you can see from the clinically clean garage no actual work goes off in there. They probably have a pair of Timberland boots that they genuinely think they could cross the Sahara in and a TAG Heuer watch that has the capacity to tell the time under 200m of water. Something I’d quite like to see them test. 

[Rust Collector]

2 hours ago, goosey said:

I really can’t understand the appeal of Discovery 3/4s.

We do it for the relief and elation you get each time you actually make it to your destination, it's like a Russian Roulette of mechanical misery.

[MiniMinorMk3]

4 hours ago, EyesWeldedShut said:

The Porsche 924 does not have a VW LT van engine in it.

 

(Actually that is true but the whole world seems to hold the opposite opinion)

The 924 has the EA831 engine that was originally developed for the Audi 100. It was also used in the LT van. The 924 used the FWD Audi block but had a Porsche designed cylinder head. At the rear it had the Audi 100 gearbox.

The engine also got used in the AMC Gremlin and the Jeep DJ Mail Van.

PS the VW Corrado is a better car than the 924.

[Dyslexic Viking]

40 minutes ago, Rust Collector said:

We do it for the relief and elation you get each time you actually make it to your destination, it's like a Russian Roulette of mechanical misery.

When you rushed your partner into hospital with the birth of your last child and used the Discovery.

I immediately thought,  that is brave, very brave.

[EyesWeldedShut]

2 hours ago, MiniMinorMk3 said:

The 924 has the EA831 engine that was originally developed for the Audi 100. It was also used in the LT van. The 924 used the FWD Audi block but had a Porsche designed cylinder head. At the rear it had the Audi 100 gearbox.

The engine also got used in the AMC Gremlin and the Jeep DJ Mail Van.

PS the VW Corrado is a better car than the 924.

Not had the pleasure of a Corrado but we had a 1983 924 as a daily driver for about 18 months in 2004/5 ish.  It was OK - not sporty by then but well built and easy enough to work on.
It was in need of a top end rebuild so my wife went for a run out Escort instead. That ate a cambelt rather quickly  despite SH from a Plymouth main dealer showing it had been done..... should have stuck with the 924.

[grogee]

On 19/03/2024 at 15:38, egg said:

Here's mine. So shoot me.

The Jaguar E-type isn't even in the top 10 'most beautiful' cars ever made. It's basically a clown shoe. The series 3 is actually a bit offensive (especially in 2 + 2 form)

+1

Those stupid inset wheels are straight off a Commer van. 

[inconsistant]

10 hours ago, MiniMinorMk3 said:

A Porsche 944 is a much better car than a 911.

The Porsche 924 has aged better than the 944.

[rattlecan]

12 hours ago, DeeJay said:

Fines. Parking, speeding, reckless driving etc all if them should be a percentage of income. 

How does that work if for example it’s a ‘housewife’ ?

[egg]

Another one that might upset folk on here; not sure I even believe it, but I have had it as an intrusive thought 😆

No matter who owned Rover the identity and err, 'values' of the brand meant it was always set for 21st Century decline in the same way Jaguar has essentially faded away too.

[sierraman]

1 minute ago, rattlecan said:

How does that work if for example it’s a ‘housewife’ ?

Easiest way would be fixed penalty starting £500 that goes up on the severity of the offence. Whether they were a housewife or whatever then it’s either paid in 28 days or it’s a court appearance and the usual course of action. None of this agreeing to pay it at £1 a week for 2 years, it’s either paid in full or deducted out of income over the course of no more than 3 months.

[sierraman]

3 minutes ago, egg said:

Another one that might upset folk on here; not sure I even believe it, but I have had it as an intrusive thought 😆

No matter who owned Rover the identity and err, 'values' of the brand meant it was always set for 21st Century decline in the same way Jaguar has essentially faded away too.

The rot set in decades before that, they should have pulled the rug on them in the 70’s and invested the money in providing some employment in the area that actually had some legs.

[rattlecan]

3 minutes ago, sierraman said:

Easiest way would be fixed penalty starting £500 that goes up on the severity of the offence. Whether they were a housewife or whatever then it’s either paid in 28 days or it’s a court appearance and the usual course of action. None of this agreeing to pay it at £1 a week for 2 years, it’s either paid in full or deducted out of income over the course of no more than 3 months.

But that’s not a percentage of income, which is what he said

[sierraman]

Just now, rattlecan said:

But that’s not a percentage of income, which is what he said

Yeah the percentage of income thing probably wouldn’t work especially on self employed and students etc. I’d just go for the £500 start option, I’ll bring it in during the second month of my run at Prime Minister. 🤣