Microcar

peasant

Anybody ever seen one of them in the flesh?



http://www.micro-car.co.uk/themc1car.htm#

looks good on paper / screen.
505 cc, 21 bhp, 120 km/h, 65 mpg

not cheap though ...12k in France ...God only knows what the good people from Revenue would add to that here.

colm_mcm

what's the advantage over Aygo/107/C1? apart form possibly being able to drive it with a bike license.

peasant

At first glance not much really ...

At a closer look, it should be lighter, doesn't rust (plastic body & aluminium frame) should be easier on fuel and emissions, it's automatic (and it looks better )

VRT,Tax and insurance should be very cheap as well ...but you never know.

It would be a good second or third car ...as your only car the Aygo et al would be better.

On the continent they also do 500 cc diesels, restricted to 45 km/h for which you don't need any or just a moped licence (over 16) ...but 45 km/h would not work on Irish commutes


Afterthought:

Its the ideal ersatz-hybrid for those who want to appear eco friendly and can't afford the now obligatory Prius

colm_mcm

looks like a pile of rubbish to me! questionable safety and only really an option if you haven't got a car license.

peasant

Personally I would take it into consideration for my specific needs ...as a two seater with a big-ish, flat and square boot (1300 liter). Difficult to find a small (non commercial) car that offers that.

It could very well be crap though ... hence I'm asking ...has anyone ever seen or even driven one?

ninty9er

peasant wrote:

looks good on paper / screen.

that has to be one of the ugliest cars since the 97-03 323 3dr.

and 120 kp/h????? the corsa starts to rattle at that speed and the engine is almost twice the size, even if it's heavier

colm_mcm

peasant wrote:

Personally I would take it into consideration for my specific needs ...as a two seater with a big-ish, flat and square boot (1300 liter). Difficult to find a small (non commercial) car that offers that.

It could very well be crap though ... hence I'm asking ...has anyone ever seen or even driven one?

pretty much all hatchbacks have the facility to fold down the back seats. the 2 seats thing is hardly a selling point is it?

peasant

colm_mcm wrote:

pretty much all hatchbacks have the facility to fold down the back seats. the 2 seats thing is hardly a selling point is it?

You're looking at this the wrong way round ...

This (the MC2 model) is the first of these eco-friendly city car type thingys that actually offers space for more than just one or two people and a little bit of shopping. You can also get it with four seats (although with 21 bhp you wouldn't want to be carrying four adults:D )

I don't think you can compare this kind of car with a "normal" car ...it will always lose out on almost every count but running cost and fuel consumption / eco balance.

But ...if all you need is to pop a few miles into work and do the occasional trip shopping and to the garden centre and maybe take the dogs for a drive, then a "normal" car is kind of overkill, really (especially if you should have another car for the "real" driving) ...and all of a sudden this kind of yoke starts to make sense.

Guy:Incognito

21hp? how would that move with 2 fully grown adults anda bootfull of stuff?

Re: bootspace, as colm said, any hatch will do the job. I took the back seats of of my clio and am using it as a work car. You be amazed how much ypu can get into a small hatchback with no back seats. Mines jammed full of tools, coils of qualpex, 2 copper cylinders and boxes of fittings. I can even see out the back window:)

As for fuel economy, a diesel carvan (kangoo size etc) will do around 55mpg, so it's not that much more economical.

peasant wrote:

But ...if all you need is to pop a few miles into work and do the occasional trip shopping and to the garden centre and maybe take the dogs for a drive, then a "normal" car is kind of overkill, really (especially if you should have another car for the "real" driving) ...and all of a sudden this kind of yoke starts to make sense.

€15k is a bit much for a glorified shopping cart. Just think of all the shopping ypu cpuld do in you regular car for that.

peasant

stekelly, see my post above ...

colm_mcm

I don't get it. If it was half the price, maybe you could justify it, but a used Clio 1.5 diesel would be such a better buy. That "car" looks daft, it is slow, it's likely to be a pig to drive, it can't be as safe or refined as the cheapest of microcars.

I'd sooner buy a Perodua Kancil

http://www.perodua.com.my/our_cars.php?sub_page=kancil&sub_nav=specification

actually, I'd get the bus

peasant

All very good points, colm and your probably right with all of them.

Theoretically speaking though ...

"Normal" micro-cars are designed from the top down. They are "proper" cars run through a hot wash and the outcome is compromised on all counts. Most so on the eco balance side of things. Big resources go into making small cars and they still are overweight, overcapapble and overthirsty for what most people use them for.

The Microcar (if its is indeed well designed ?) should be designed from the bottom up. You start with a deliberately limited capability and try to get the most out of it while still maintaining a low draw an resources ...both in production as well as during use.

...theoretically speaking

So you cannot and should not compare this kind of car with a "normal" car.
But think how many people (like me) should be commuting by bike really ...but they can't ...because of the weather and because they need to get a weeks shopping and other things on the way home or at he weekend. A minimalistic car like the microcar would be ideal in those circumstances.

The price is a big problem though ....and we still don't know how well executed that Microcar really is or whether it's just crap on wheels

unkel

colm_mcm wrote:

I don't get it. If it was half the price, maybe you could justify it

Exactly. The "Renault" Logan was going to have a base price of €5k originally (plus taxes). That is competitive. €12k in France for a car that is no match for the Logan is absurd. Over here that would be more like €16k with our VRT

I bought my mother in law a brand new Skoda Octavia for that kinda money 3 years ago

peasant

If you remember ...I was intersted in the Logan as well

I'm a sad case, really, so I am

colm_mcm

so it's basically a modern-day Reliant Robin.

peasant

colm_mcm wrote:

so it's basically a modern-day Reliant Robin.

You could say that.

Done right, it should be a lot better though

colm_mcm

Yes, but even done to the highest possible standards it's still not going to be as good as a small car. It's only advantage is its tax and licensing loophole.

peasant

...and hopefully a better eco-balance and all that


ahh feck it ...you've convinced me ...it's crap

colm_mcm

eco-balance! get the bus!

peasant

I would ...if there was one.

colm_mcm

Doubt it comes in RHD anyway! (Damn!)

peasant

they're selling a good few across the water ...I should think that they are RHD

colm_mcm

look, don't even think about buying one!

Owen

I've seen plenty of these this year, and in previous years at the various Motor Shows, Paris, London, Geneva, Birmingham. They're quite funky little things - but then I have a passion for small cars that do things intelligently.

This fills a niche. Young men in the UK don't want to ride mopeds, they're not 'cool', and you get wet. So here you go. What's essentially a road legal 50cc quad with a body your girlfriend can sit into. You can go to the local Tesco park and get jiggy if you'd like. Not bad for a lad the age of 16. It's easy for the rest of us to look down, but if we were young again, we'd probably jump at the chance.

Hysterically, I saw one of these being pulled in on 'Road Wars', Sky One's dangerous driving cop show. Great craic to watch the two Plods ridiculing the poor lad - "Be careful now, don't turn left, there's a strong wind coming from there and it'll slow you to 10mph"

Just My View

peasant wrote:

but 45 km/h would not work on Irish commutes

How many people average over 45kph crossing the Dublin or any other large town or city?

colm_mcm

I'd love to see it crash tested.

peasant

not looking too good :eek:

The test was with A microcar against a RenaultTwingo ...dunno if it was THE Microcar




You'd probably be better off on a bicycle ...

Ratchet

Small cars make sense in town and should be ultra cheap. there is no way i would spend 15k

colm_mcm

that looks like an Axiam 400.

Guy:Incognito

Nice bit of veleur (sp?) on the door card mind.

unkel

peasant wrote:

If you remember ...I was intersted in the Logan as well

I do remember, ya cheapskate ya

G Luxel

colm_mcm wrote:

I don't get it. If it was half the price, maybe you could justify it, but a used Clio 1.5 diesel would be such a better buy. That "car" looks daft, it is slow, it's likely to be a pig to drive, it can't be as safe or refined as the cheapest of microcars.

I'd sooner buy a Perodua Kancil

http://www.perodua.com.my/our_cars.php?sub_page=kancil&sub_nav=specification

In reply to the Op, there are a number of micro car manufacturers in france that have been around since the I970s. When I was in france, I remember seing a lot of these cars, very small, with 500cc or less engines. I have seen one or two of them in this country, brought over but not yet on irish plates.
There is a similiar class of car in Japan, known as the K class, again with engines of 650cc or less. One car that springs to mind is the Suzuki Twin, which is half the size of an alto....

On the subject of Perodua, Im sure you can buy these in Ireland. I did see a 04 version of the Daihatsu Cuore around and I also saw an advertisement in Buy and Sell for these cars too. The garage selling them was based in Kerry.

damo605

I honestly think this is a way of cleaning up the gene pool....
Spend 15k on a 21bhp car in which you will most likely die if any reasonably sized car hits you at at time where you are barely safe in a decently sized saloon car due to the amount of larger vehicles on the roads.
Is 10/15 mpg of a saving really worth your life? When anyway the chances are the hearse taking you to your plot will burn more (Thinking of the environment here) to cancel out whatever you saved before you died....
Spend 1k on a decent (and safe) 2nd hand car and drive less

TempestSabre

Size doesn't = safely.

I've seen these kinda cars before, especially in other countries. Normally you hear them before you see them, as they need to be revved hard to make any progress. An underpowered car is no fun in heavy traffic. I also think you'd be better with a normal small diesel or petrol.