Christine - I hope you are proud I said I would never own a Ford....but when its the perfect car for what you want/need - what can you do?

My only other choice was the Toyota Kluger, but the Territory out performed the Kluger in every catergory.

Mine's a little diff to the picture, its got Tint and a couple of other extras...but you get the general idea.

Bloody petrol guzzler.

Congratulations, Lexie! That's a really, really nice looking one! I'll bet you can't wait to take it for a long drive--or has that already happened?

quote:

Originally posted by Bartelby:
Christine - I hope you are proud I said I would never own a Ford....but when its the perfect car for what you want/need - what can you do?

Welcome to the dark side.

Nice car!

Looks like another soccer Mom in the making.



P.S. To improve gas mileage, only drive down hill.

Boy that looks good.
Sure beats my ratty old desert jeep.
You got me turning green with envy.

quote:

Congratulations, Lexie! That's a really, really nice looking one! I'll bet you can't wait to take it for a long drive--or has that already happened?

Hasnt happened yet. Wont be long though!! Its got groovy *dickie* seats (7 seater) that disappear into the floor, so Nannie can even come along for the ride.

quote:

P.S. To improve gas mileage, only drive down hill.

Your talking to a flat country girl remember!!

Steepest hill around here is the run down the driveway Guess I can roll it down there then get Tyler to push it back up a few times.

quote:

You got me turning green with envy.

Fancy that Shop....that colour is called Envy

Nice, Lexie, but sadly no good for me:

• Has an eat-by date
  
• Cars with standard springs no good for our dreadful local roads
  
• Big lump falls off when you drive it away from showroom
  
• Not possible for me to maintain or service it.

BTW - what did you have before and why did you have to sell it?

quote:

Your talking to a flat country girl remember!!

I’ll take that as “flat-country girl” and not “flat country-girl”.

Hi Mike,
I had one of these previously and sold it because I couldnt take my Mum and Hubby anywhere with the 2 kids. Also, I work at a car yard, so I change cars about every 12 months



Havent had any *lumps* fall off as yet, and I dont know why you cant service or maintain them yourself??

quote:

I’ll take that as “flat-country girl” and not “flat country-girl”.

I definatley have bumps

quote:

Originally posted by Bartelby:
Havent had any *lumps* fall off as yet

It is called 'depreciation' and it happens so quietly that you don't notice it!

quote:

, and I dont know why you cant service or maintain them yourself??

Maybe things are different in the Antipodes, but modern cars here are full of software - it is cheaper than mechanical parts to produce - and only the dealers can access things that need checking or adjusting - they have £££££.00 equipment spent to do it.
Real mechanics that employ common sense are generally non-existent, and would have little to do. Service information is not freely available, either.
Many cars here have no drain plugs here - oil has to be changed by sucking it out of the dipstick tube! Transmission oil generally cannot be changed. 2 drain plugs - saving on cost of 10p per car.
It seems the manufacturers do not like people maintaining their own cars.

quote:

I definatley have bumps

Steady on, Lexie - we will all be asking for pics!!
I know that any new car I have ridden in or driven feels uncomfortable when I get back to my Deesse that floats along the road!

quote:

I definatley have bumps

Those be known as speed bumps, as one wants to go over them VERY slowly.

Ahhhh, now I understand Mike.

There was a report on a Current Affairs show here last nite regarding depreciation.

A fellow had purchased a $83,000 Audi and 2 years later the same car yard offered him $24,000 as a trade in. The salesman had TOLF him at the time of purchase, that it would be worth $50-55,000 in 2 years. OUCH!!

As for my car, not too bad on depreciation, since I work at the car yard, I can buy at the right price so they dont depreciate too bad. Once I got an extra $1,000 after driving the car for 18 months.

Servicing, I dont worry too much about that either...we have a service department on site.

We dont have any special equipment though, if the vehicle needs analysing we just send it to the dealer.

quote:

Deesse

What's one of them? Picture please

quote:

Those be known as speed bumps, as one wants to go over them VERY slowly.

Not a typical male view.

quote:

Originally posted by Bartelby:
Ahhhh, now I understand Mike.

Servicing, I dont worry too much about that either...we have a service department on site.

Ah - you're privileged, Lexie

quote:

We dont have any special equipment though, if the vehicle needs analysing we just send it to the dealer.

The kiss of death, here!
If i can't fix 'em, I don't buy 'em!

quote:

Deesse
What's one of them? Picture please

It is actually a Citroen DS21 - Cit used model numbers as a play on words. DS pronounced in French is 'Déesse' - the word for 'Goddess' Pronounced here 'day-ess'
The lesser model 'ID' is pronounced 'idée' which means 'idea'. Pronounced in English as 'ee-day'
Enough of my wittering - here is the beast, and its owner. Old ladies and small children, avert your eyes


This one is not mine!

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Mike from West Yorkshire,

quote:

Maybe things are different in the Antipodes, but modern cars here are full of software - it is cheaper than mechanical parts to produce - and only the dealers can access things that need checking or adjusting - they have £££££.00 equipment spent to do it.
Real mechanics that employ common sense are generally non-existent, and would have little to do. Service information is not freely available, either.
Many cars here have no drain plugs here - oil has to be changed by sucking it out of the dipstick tube! Transmission oil generally cannot be changed. 2 drain plugs - saving on cost of 10p per car.
It seems the manufacturers do not like people maintaining their own cars.

So true, Mike!
I recently had acceleration problems ,driving through the mountains in my van. The dealer, in the town I stopped in, put it on one of those confounded machines and I was on my way..$500.00 lighter and a major tuneup. Well, as soon I drove up the first mountain, it bogged down again. I drove it on home anyway. I took it to another dealer. It turned out to be the catalitic converter(under warranty)! I am still arguing with the first dealer about the charge, but all I hear is what their machine diagnoised!

quote:

Originally posted by Mrs.M.:

So true, Mike!
I recently had acceleration problems ,driving through the mountains in my van. The dealer, in the town I stopped in, put it on one of those confounded machines and I was on my way..$500.00 lighter and a major tuneup. Well, as soon I drove up the first mountain, it bogged down again. I drove it on home anyway. I took it to another dealer. It turned out to be the catalitic converter(under warranty)! I am still arguing with the first dealer about the charge, but all I hear is what their machine diagnoised!

Hi Shirl - nice to hear from you, by the way.
That is indeed how dealers operate. Fortunately, up to now, I have managed to avoid cars with catastrophic converters.
We were told that they were fitted because they were environmentally friendly. Pah! (this is a family forum )

I think the design went like: 'Now, how can we create a part that must be fitted when it fails, is very expensive, and cannot be supplied by aftermarket factors. Oh yes, we also need to give the marketroids something to brainwash the punters into believing they are a Good Thing.
Gottit - a catalytic converter'

Sarcasm apart:
Unleaded fuel was created because of the cats.
Unleaded fuel contains all sorts of carcinogens - benzene, toluene et al.
Cats give off hydrogen sulphide until they are warm (bag egg smell)
Cats give off CO2 - hole in ozone layer - when they are warm.
Cats can be damages in all sorts of ways - going over a puddle, fuelling faults, oil consumption.
Cats reduce power, so using more fuel.
A new car typically causes the same environmental damage as running it for 15 years.
<rant over>

Over here - there are stockpiles of brand new cars that lying in fields by the hundreds - the market brainwashing is really intense, TV ads are full of it (none of them actually say anything about the cars!)
The gubmint exhort us to recycle everything - their mantra is 'green and environmentally' - while at the same time, the motor manufacturers are in their pocket and motoring costs are escalating.
Viable cars are scrapped all the time.

quote:

Old ladies and small children, avert your eyes

So, it's OK for young ladies and big children to stare?

quote:

This one is not mine!

Which one isn't yours?

quote:

Originally posted by Rick:

quote:

Old ladies and small children, avert your eyes

So, it's OK for young ladies and big children to stare?

Providing they do not do so at the same time!

quote:

quote:

This one is not mine!

Which one isn't yours?

The black DS isn't, although identical to mine. Neither is the Concorde, but I wish it was, or at least see it in the air again.
Two timeless icons of design; sadly, one of them paid the price of daring to make Mr Blur's gang lose face.

Its going to be another hot day here!

Between owning a Concorde or a Citroen – no contest. Citroen would win any day. Maintenance, parking, and gas cost (not to mention insurance) are so much cheaper. License plates for a Concorde must be outrageous.

Our plates here for any car are around $35.00 Our gas is another story. Right now it is about 2.58 a gal.

Are license plates cheaper for really old cars, aka "clunkers".