Can anyone explain the purpose....

[Baz]

....Of This....

 

 

....Small piece of plastic, for all the world resembling a snapped-off mudflap, on this....

 

 

....They don't all seem to have them, but when they do, it's all I can look at....It drives me crazy....It just looks so SILLY!

[M'coli]

Are they just on the Ecotecnic or whatever they call it? If so some device to probably generate a votrex coming off the rear arch and so reduce drag somehow.

[chaseracer]

No, but Domestic Management's C3 has a bumper moulding in the same place which may serve a similar purpose. Whatever that may be...

[j-j]

Can't say I'd noticed this until you pointed it out!

 

It's similar to the little plastic tag you find on 90s mid-range cars 1/2 way up the front window frame pointing back from the front (A pillar) bit of frame. Took yonks to work out what this did (was it a water drip deflector? a vortex inducer to help your fag ash fly off nicewise? was it a wee antenna?) no, finally turned out to be a guide for the front window glass to stay in its rails when traveling at speed where the tendency for the glass to be pulled out due to the air flow might cause it to derail... quite dull reason actually..

[barrett]

I seem to remember it took about 6 pages of arguing to come to that conclusion.... someone better explain these things on the Fezza sharpish!

[Lacy]

Are they shite deflectors so models with slightly wider tyres don't cover the rear end in muck every time you drive through a puddle?.....My mates scirroco Tsi has them too.....

[garethj]

Speaking to a mate who works for Jaguar development (an oxymoron?), because there's something similar on the XF. I thought they were to keep the tail lights clear but he says they're to keep the paintwork free of stonechips.

[Pete-M]

Jaguar development (an oxymoron?)

 

Methinks not. I also have a friend who works developing new Jags, and he's rather a skilled chap. He works with suspension and steering more than anything and he's bloody good at it.

 

Last time I saw him he was thrashing the pants off an XKR and it was obvious that he's not clueless.

 

Oh, and have you seen the new Jag "Eco" car? It's got jet engines, ffs. How cool is that?

[autofive]

this one?

 

[Baz]

I think Pete-M means this one:

 

http://www.jaguar.com/gl/en/#/about_jag ... ary/c-x75/

 

....Beautiful!

[chaseracer]

Jaguar development (an oxymoron?)

 

Methinks not. I also have a friend who works developing new Jags, and he's rather a skilled chap. He works with suspension and steering more than anything and he's bloody good at it.

 

Last time I saw him he was thrashing the pants off an XKR and it was obvious that he's not clueless.

Bloke I know who worked for Jag after his engineering degree turned up at my place (sometime in the very early 90s) with a 'used'-looking XJ40.

 

It was one of the supercharged XJR prototypes...

[Guest Leonard Hatred]

Can anyone explain the purpose of the inflata-Fiesta?

[Formula Autos]

Can anyone explain the purpose of the inflata-Fiesta?

 

It no doubt replaces the Mk1 Focus, as the Mk2 is much bigger. The new Fester is near enough the same size as the Focus Mk1.

 

No doubt the upcoming Focus Mk3 will be bigger again, necessitating a bigger replacement for the current Fiesta in due course. Hang around long enough and I'm sure Ford will bring out a new model smaller than the Ka (their supposed 'city car') to fill the gap opening up beneath it in their range. Before long Mondeos will no doubt be the size of a Mk4 Zephyr.

 

All the while, customers are being nudged almost imperceptibly into buying bigger cars than they realise.

 

It's not just Ford at this game either. Look at how cars such as the Polo and Civic have grown over successive generations.

 

To me, there's shades of the US car industry of the '50s in all this - each successive year bringing ever lardier models to the marketplace.

[eddyramrod]

To me, there's shades of the US car industry of the '50s in all this - each successive year bringing ever lardier models to the marketplace.

 

No... back then cars were pretty, and lashed with chrome. Now they're just lumps. This is progress?

[Guest Leonard Hatred]

The chrome and fin laden cars of the 1950s were considered pretty grotesque come the 1960s.

[eddyramrod]

Someone had to love them, and I am he, I don't care who knows it!

[chaseracer]

Before long Mondeos will no doubt be the size of a Mk4 Zephyr...

They're already bigger...

[Albert Ross]

Think about the size of Mk1 Cavaliers and Insignias. Then consider the Insignia is larger than the Mk2 Senator, and is available with a 1.6 Turbo petrol. And they're shit.