For under £1000 it is possible to get a very tidy one-owner
Posted in General on 03. Sep, 2010
For under £1,000 it is possible to get a very tidy one-owner 1.4 petrol model that will be very reliable and should only need a service once a year. So a cheap petrol vehicle is better than an old diesel which may have covered some high mileage and won’t adjust well to being parked for weeks at a time.I agree that Hans should go for a mainstream good value vehicle such as a Rover – these cars have never been cheaper. Diesel cars cost more so you will need to get that money back by travelling longer distances anyway, so I would not write off the petrol engine just yet.Some petrol cars are very economical and a reasonably small one will achieve 35 to 40mpg without trying too hard. Also, emissions-wise, although the CO2 count is lower there are more particulates, which can be carcinogenic. It will only be used on weekends and holidays, as they bike to work and everywhere else. Danes do that!
They have been looking at a Rover 200 and 25 and thought diesel would be good for the longer trips since they are not going to use it in town.
Let’s get one thing straight, buying a diesel car does not mean minimal running costs and squeaky-clean emissions. Hans Henrik Samuelsen is Danish and, in his own words, feels “a bit lost on the left side of the road”.
Hans and his partner are looking for a small car and are ready to spend £1,500 to £2,000. Cars such as the Ford Mustang, the Chevrolet HHR, Jeeps, the Dodge Charger and the wacky Chrysler Imperial concept speak of a country looking over its shoulder at a better yesterday, and one where paying $2.50 (£1.50) for a gallon of gas was unthinkable….. Not surprising when Ford and GM are in such financial trouble. Bentley’s new Continental GT Convertible is no SUV but doesn’t do Gaia any favours either.But you do get the impression that automotive America, despite the exuberance, is worried. Thus the new E-Class features some clever safety devices, such as brake lights that flash if you execute an emergency stop. Well, as such, it ought to set new standards if it wants to withstand ever more accomplished competition from Lexus, BMW and Volvo.
Mercedes-Benz got some acrobat with lightning rods to unveil a facelifted E-Class saloon, with a new pointy front end This is, we are told, the world’s default executive saloon. They may not be all they are cracked up to be, but it’s better than another SUV hitting the roads.Elsewhere you found brands determined to stay in the public eye with established products. Toyota’s Camry, America’s best-selling saloon car, is also available as a hybrid. Lexus launched its huge hybrid luxury saloon, the LS 600h, and Honda did its bit too, promoting a Civic that runs on your domestic gas supply and hybrid versions of the Civic (available in the UK) and Accord.
Chevrolet, for example, is pushing E85 bioethanol in many of its models. Was that nameplate an answer to President Bush’s call for Americans to reduce their reliance on foreign oil imports?The most patriotic thing Americans can do now is to exploit energy-efficient technology. All depressingly identikit, it has to be said.Then again the more optimistic observer, the one who might want to hope American consumers could learn to love a more sustainable future, and one less dependent on wearisome foreigners, might point out that the more significant new SUVs at the show were the smallest – especially the all new Ford Focus-sized baby Jeep, the Patriot (pictured below). At New York there were new launches from Acura (an upmarket Honda brand), Mazda and Mitsubishi. That’s to say that the bigger the SUV the more people wanted to get into it; rows of Cadillac Escalades and Hummers drew people to them by sheer bling power.
Nowadays there is a new generation of SUV “crossovers” that are supposed to be a bit sportier. I spent a day at the New York International Automobile Show and found much there to cheer – as well as to chill – my preconceptions. For those who hold that the America is leading the world to environmental disaster there was plenty of evidence in the Jacob K Javits Convention Center to choke the spirit.