What made you choose the car you have?

What was the biggest reason for your car choice

  • its NCAP rating on safety

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • fuel economy and running costs (insurance, tax etc)

    Votes: 17 17.5%

  • style

    Votes: 16 16.5%

  • reliability

    Votes: 7 7.2%

  • its what you could afford

    Votes: 7 7.2%

  • Other

    Votes: 50 51.5%
  • Total voters
    97
andrewc said:
because the engine in my road car forms the basis of the engine in the Formula 3 car we have.
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All sorts of engines have been used in F3

Ford Anglia with Cosworth MAE?
Ford Escort with Cosworth BDA?
Hillman Imp?
Think there were even some with Triumph Dolomite engines.
 
onomatopoeia said:
All sorts of engines have been used in F3

Ford Anglia with Cosworth MAE?
Ford Escort with Cosworth BDA?
Hillman Imp?
Think there were even some with Triumph Dolomite engines.
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Yep, Mansell drove a Dolomite powered F3 car. As the car was sponsored by Unipart, they required him to use that engine. It was vastly inferior the rival Toyota.

Current favourite engines are VW and Mercedes.
 
I can put mine in low box and drive over Scrivens VW UP........result..............:lol:
 
onomatopoeia said:
All sorts of engines have been used in F3

Ford Anglia with Cosworth MAE?
Ford Escort with Cosworth BDA?
Hillman Imp?
Think there were even some with Triumph Dolomite engines.
Click to expand...

IIRC, the last time 4 cylinder turbocharged engines were used in F1, BMW's was based on the 2002's block.
 
Functionality - would be my main reason, so I went for other.

The other options are considerations but not deciding factors.
 
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Other.

I had a Toyota Celica - with the pop-up headlights - which had to go when I got married. had the 'family' car - Fiat Brava, Renault Scenic and Megane which involved trips to the local tip, shopping, visits, transporting stuff to/back from Uni, holidays and so on. Once daughter left Uni I thought "me time" again and got a Mazda MX5 - two seater - a boot of sorts - and a hoot to drive.
 
Without my Land Rover Freelander I would not have been able to get out from my place with the recent snow. 4X4 vehicles are really a necessity in the countryside. Also the Freelander does about 34mpg around the houses

Realspeed
 
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I was given mine by its previous owners - it is so old it was hardly worth them selling it, and they knew I liked the thing. I then got a very good stereo installed by Sonic Frontiers which cost many thousands and makes the car such a pleasure to be in !
Sadly, it has a V6 petrol automatic engine so gets 26mpg at best and 20 around town. It has also started to go wrong with alarming frequency...
 
Other for me, was given to me when my gran wasn't able to drive anymore. Living in London, I don't have any real need for a car day to day, but when the time comes to purchase one myself, it would be economy and style.
 
I've had my car for thirteen years. When I bought it I was in my thirties and unencumbered by offspring or pets. I made my choice primarily based on performance (for the price), styling and reliability. It is a Nissan 200SX S14a and still going strong. Prior to that I had a Nissan 200SX S13 for eight years and I trust the brand.

Now I'm 50 and considering a change of vehicle again. Yes, I'm fickle like that. ;) I still want styling and reliability, but also low running costs, comfort, practicality, easy ingress and egress (especially when squeezed between parked cars in the supermarket) and somewhere other than the back seat for my dog. Safety is a bonus, but as I don't plan on crashing the thing it's not top of the list. In a decent modern car I expect it to be a given. A new shape Ford Fiesta or Focus are the current front runners. I wouldn't even turn my nose up at a mini MPV - I'm expecting great things from the replacement for the Nissan Note.

How the mighty fall. :( :D
 
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Maybe the poll questions could be better, but most people seem to have gone with 'other' and nobody seems to be impressed by NCAP ratings...

Maybe that's because they can be misleading, I believe that they refer, not to your chances of escaping serious injury in any crash, but to your chances if you are in a collision with a pedestrian, or with another car of the same size and weight - run into my 2.5 ton car and the high NCAP rating will become pretty meaningless.

I used to have 2 cars, a nice Merc for when I wanted to travel comfortably, and a 4 x 4 for when I need it. My Merc was written off whilst parked, I didn't get around to replacing it and I'm managing pretty well with just the 4 x 4. It isn't fast, comfortable, quiet, small or economical, and it certainly doesn't have style - but it gets me there (and back)
 
I liked the smile of the young sales girl with the long legs in the showroom compared to the big bellied salesman in the second garage I went to. :D
 
Other for me too, couldn't nail any car i buy down to any single one of those options

For me priorites go like this

1. Performance
2. Handling
3. Stlye
4. Price (under £2000)
5. Reliability
6. Tuning options

Hence i ended up with a Focus ST170, but it was a close run thing against the Clio 172, just let down on the reliability of the French build quality
 
interesting that as yet not a single person picked safety. doesn't surprise me at all though
 
joescrivens said:
interesting that as yet not a single person picked safety. doesn't surprise me at all though
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I think unless a car has a reputation as being a death trap then it's not something that even enters my head, but then i don't have a family and i am generally the only one in my car

I also think that it is a consideration for most people, but maybe not their number 1 reason for choosing a car
 
I bought a 4x4 because i need one to get me where I want to go and get me back again.

So economy is not that important, you must accept that anything over 20 in a true 4x4 is as good as it gets.

I bought Japanese so reliable enough.

Not interested in style.Practicality rules for me.

Dunno know the Ncap rating for Patrols, but they are pretty solid.
 
just wanted something reliable and cheap to run
not too big but enough room inside am crap at parking:D
bought the Yaris in 2010 new and intend keeping it for ages
Am more into motorbikes spent ages chosing my last bike:)
 
joescrivens said:
interesting that as yet not a single person picked safety. doesn't surprise me at all though
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Even more interesting that you have a vote and either have abstained so far or voted other than safety!
 
Just thinking about it..........

My car will return 40+MPG, £130 tax (seems quite good to me), 7 years old so quite reliable, I think it looks nice, I own it so I must have been able to afford it and b*gger me it's got a 5* NCAP safety rating too :D

Add to that it's comfortably big enough for 5 adults or 2 adults and a couple of decent kiddie seats and room in the boot for pushchairs/bikes etc.

Just need the kids to put in it now :lol:
 
joescrivens said:
interesting that as yet not a single person picked safety. doesn't surprise me at all though
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Joe, if you read my post I said I couldn't vote as my choice was more than one and explained why.
 
Davec223 said:
Joe, if you read my post I said I couldn't vote as my choice was more than one and explained why.
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yes I did read that. The question though is about what was the most important choice. There always has to be a limiting factor with a choice, all are considered but something has to push over the edge

for example, if there are two cars with the same amount of pluses and minuses then you have to pick one category to make you choose - which would it be - thats what the poll is for, if that makes sense
 
joescrivens said:
interesting that as yet not a single person picked safety. doesn't surprise me at all though
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I think it's because of how your poll is set up.

Safety is a consideration but not the main factor.
 
dinners said:
I think it's because of how your poll is set up.

Safety is a consideration but not the main factor.
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but thats exactly what the poll was for - to discuss the main factor. Hence in my OP

of course all of the above are taken into account but which one was the most important to you?
Click to expand...
 
Being young I had to consider insurance cost, but I guess that didnt really stop me as I bought a car that cost more to insure than to buy.

I'm assuming your 'poll' is talking about the model, rather than individual car. Most of mine comes in to other

It's a Mk5 Fiesta Zetec S, reasons I bought it -

Familiar with them as my previous car was also a mk5
Good rev happy engine
The chassis is excellent, handling feels really connected
Driving Position
Ease to work on myself
Very few electronic aids
Price of parts
Aftermarket Market
Looks
How fun it is to drive
Gearbox is fantastic

It's not safe at all, think its 2/5 ncap? It's not good on fuel, insurance isn't the cheapest, tax isn't that cheap, build quality isn't amazing, interior rattles now I've made it a lot stiffer, it rusts everywhere, standard seats are rubbish, boot only just fits all my equipment.

However it's great fun on a B-road or a track.
 
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I think the main factor would usually be to get certain items - adults, family, pets, goods from A to B then you start narrowing down to other things, if you are left with a big enough choice and just cannot decide then the safety rating would probably be a decider.

I spent months looking for a vehicle that suited my requirements, eventually it was a chance sighting of a vehicle in a supermarket carpark and the owner let me have a good poke around inside that put me on the right track
 
fracster said:
I bought a 4x4 because i need one to get me where I want to go and get me back again.

So economy is not that important, you must accept that anything over 20 in a true 4x4 is as good as it gets.

I bought Japanese so reliable enough.

Not interested in style.Practicality rules for me.

Dunno know the Ncap rating for Patrols, but they are pretty solid.
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My freelander is a proper 4x4 and as I said in a previous post I get around 34mpg around the houses

Realspeed
 
realspeed said:
My freelander is a proper 4x4 and as I said in a previous post I get around 34mpg around the houses

Realspeed
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That's pretty good, it's a very efficient car.

But I suppose it depends on how you define 'proper 4 x 4'
I tend to think of 4 x 4 vehicles as
Weighing 2 tons +
High ground clearance
Low transfer gearbox
Capable of towing 5 tons +, gross train weight
 
My main priority is it has to be a bargain

I've been playing the cars game for the last 7 years, I buy if they're the right price, obscure models are usually cheap, subarus renaults , I ran a 55 plate Subaru legacy for 18 months, lost £100 on it, a megane for 2 1/2 years, lost £1000 on it

Current cars are a 1995 Defender 90, a 1997 Jaguar XK8 and a 2006 focus 1.6 TDCI

I've spent way too much money on the 90 though :D

There's a lot of new cars on the roads but most of them are rented, it'd kill me paying out £250 a month for a car I'll never own

I did get a nice offer from range rover on a vogue though, somebody must have thought I had money when they saw the XK8 , £2500 bought a lot of jaguar 3 years ago

It's was a nice brochure with a PCP offer £30,000 deposit,35 payments of £899 a month and an optional final payment of £36,000

Every time I see a new range rover now I just see those numbers flashing before my eyes
 
Convertible, performance and sound. For my weekend car. SLK55AMG

Reliability and Comfort for my work car. Honda CRV.
 
SAFETY!
That and loads of boot space.

Volvo V70 - got it when we had three under 20 months, not many cars will take three car seats across the back and a double buggy!

J
 
onomatopoeia said:
All sorts of engines have been used in F3

Ford Anglia with Cosworth MAE?
Ford Escort with Cosworth BDA?
Hillman Imp?
Think there were even some with Triumph Dolomite engines.
Click to expand...

This is a Toyota engined version, which in the 2007 F3 car has a Hewland FTR 6 speed sequential gearbox with it. Road car is Toyota Altezza RS200.
 
other....

1st priority... a boot big enough to carry enough baby crap............. prams, carry cots, etc etc.
2nd - isofix in the rear, for ease of 2 x small ones...

3rd diesel for economy


hence we have a skoda octavia estate.. not exactly sporty, but good for drag racing off at tesco's lights, and shedloads of torques...
 
realspeed said:
My freelander is a proper 4x4 and as I said in a previous post I get around 34mpg around the houses

Realspeed
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if you feel a freelander is a proper 4x4 then all is good.
 
Garry Edwards said:
That's pretty good, it's a very efficient car.

But I suppose it depends on how you define 'proper 4 x 4'
I tend to think of 4 x 4 vehicles as
Weighing 2 tons +
High ground clearance
Low transfer gearbox
Capable of towing 5 tons +, gross train weight
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By those definitions a Landy 90 isn't a 'proper 4x4'!

Kerb weight, 1771kg...
 
Nod said:
By those definitions a Landy 90 isn't a 'proper 4x4'!

Kerb weight, 1771kg...
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For goodness sake, how can anyone deem a LR 90 to be anything other than a proper 4x4?

OK, it does not fit exactly to Garrys criteria, but the best pedant in the world could not dismiss it as being anything other than a 4x4.They have sold pretty well to people who need them over the years.
 
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