Irish Car Engines Size Compared to other EU Countries 1990 - 2013

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http://www.nzz.ch/spezial/wohlstand/sommerserie-interaktive-datenvisualisierung-wohlstand-hubraum-autos-1.18356173


We seem to be about average now but a lot of country's cars have got smaller esp Greece and Denmark.

Mycroft H

Ahhh so Ireland isn't obsessed with small cars like so many would like us to believe. Who'd have thought

Moneymaker

I reckon the 100 or so regulars here all driving 12 litre petrol engined barges we paid 200 quid for is what's pushing that average up. :pac:

ba_barabus

Don't Greece get a 516d now?

Foxhole Norman

ba_barabus wrote: »

Don't Greece get a 516d now?

I think it's a 516i they got, could be wrong though.

colm_mcm

1.6 turbo, badged as 520i

coolisin

I love the way Portugal shot up in the graphic!

As for Denmark I wouldn't blame them, the vrt over there used to put ours to shame! I'm assuming it still does.

porsche959

Interesting graph. Shows the assumption Irish market is somehow uniquely gravitated to small engined cars is much exaggerated. Worth bearing in mind many European countries much more urbanised that Ireland.

Another hate of mine is the "Paddy spec" mantra. Is no such thing. No manufacturer makes specs specifically for Irish market. Irish market tiny in global terms.

Foxhole Norman

porsche959 wrote: »

Interesting graph. Shows the assumption Irish market is somehow uniquely gravitated to small engined cars is much exaggerated. Worth bearing in mind many European countries much more urbanised that Ireland.

Another hate of mine is the "Paddy spec" mantra. Is no such thing. No manufacturer makes specs specifically for Irish market. Irish market tiny in global terms.

I think Paddy Spec more refers to how Irish people spec new cars, in that, they don't. On the continent/UK you'd generally find higher specs as people tend to like extra comforts and toys :pac:

Sobanek

Yeah, even in Poland nowadays people spec their cars at least a little bit when buying new.
(Doesn't apply to fleet cars)

Sh1tbag OToole

porsche959 wrote: »

Another hate of mine is the "Paddy spec" mantra. Is no such thing. No manufacturer makes specs specifically for Irish market. Irish market tiny in global terms.

Caterham does, they really went out of their way with that 0.6L

alias no.9

porsche959 wrote: »

Interesting graph. Shows the assumption Irish market is somehow uniquely gravitated to small engined cars is much exaggerated. Worth bearing in mind many European countries much more urbanised that Ireland.

Another hate of mine is the "Paddy spec" mantra. Is no such thing. No manufacturer makes specs specifically for Irish market. Irish market tiny in global terms.

Surprisingly, yes they do. More about importantly though, there are usually more threadbare specs available in the UK, Ireland tends to gravitate more towards the middle, towards mediocrity, less high spec, no totally poverty spec.

Odelay

ba_barabus wrote: »

Don't Greece get a 516d now?

Only in Greece.........wait a minute.... should be Ireland I'm whinging about...

JohnBoy26

Foxhole Norman wrote: »

I think Paddy Spec more refers to how Irish people spec new cars, in that, they don't. On the continent/UK you'd generally find higher specs as people tend to like extra comforts and toys :pac:

Vrt can be to blame as the reason why many cars aren't that well spec'd here compared to the UK. Of course many do buy the lowest spec available here, however the lowest spec could be better if it wasn't for the vrt.

porsche959

Sh1tbag OToole wrote: »

Caterham does, they really went out of their way with that 0.6L

Not sure if you're serious, but as I pointed out in the Caterham thread, the applicable motor tax rate for that car is much lower in the UK. But even it it wasn't the idea of a specialist niche sports-car manufacturer producing a variant specifically for the Irish market is, frankly, ludicrous.

porsche959

alias no.9 wrote: »

Surprisingly, yes they do.

Source?

alias no.9 wrote: »

More about importantly though, there are usually more threadbare specs available in the UK, Ireland tends to gravitate more towards the middle, towards mediocrity, less high spec, no totally poverty spec.

That's what I thought as well, but from reading posts on here you'd think UK buyers spec to the max. Far from it. As any marketeer knoweth, UK buyers notoriously price conscious.

Foxhole Norman

JohnBoy26 wrote: »

Vrt can be to blame as the reason why many cars aren't that well spec'd here compared to the UK. Of course many do buy the lowest spec available here, however the lowest spec could be better if it wasn't for the vrt.

I don't know, IMO I think people over here just think of a car as an A-B machine and nothing more, sure how many cars even have air con specced these days? Very little I'd imagine, "shuuuuuuuuuure we don't get the heat to need that!"

porsche959

Foxhole Norman wrote: »

I don't know, IMO I think people over here just think of a car as an A-B machine and nothing more, sure how many cars even have air con specced these days? Very little I'd imagine, "shuuuuuuuuuure we don't get the heat to need that!"

You've just described the average car buyer pretty much the world over (excepting that in hot countries, of course, most cars sold will have air con).

Why do you imagine this is unique to Ireland, I really don't get that.

Jesus.

So a 1.6 is the average engine size of an Irish car? Thought it would've been that alright.

What about the USA? I'm guessing around 3 liters these days.

Cee-Jay-Cee

alias no.9 wrote: »

Surprisingly, yes they do. More about importantly though, there are usually more threadbare specs available in the UK, Ireland tends to gravitate more towards the middle, towards mediocrity, less high spec, no totally poverty spec.

I'd imagine that's because there are a huge number of fleet cars bought in the uk and many of them end up over here once they're over a certain age/mileage.

Foxhole Norman

porsche959 wrote: »

You've just described the average car buyer pretty much the world over (excepting that in hot countries, of course, most cars sold will have air con).

Why do you imagine this is unique to Ireland, I really don't get that.

You can still almost guaranteed that cars will be better specced in other countries, no matter what the type of buyer is. When I was over in Portsmouth last year I don't even remember seeing a newish car with hub caps in comparison to here when you see hubs on cars such as the new Qashqai, Golf etc.

alias no.9

porsche959 wrote: »

Source?



That's what I thought as well, but from reading posts on here you'd think UK buyers spec to the max. Far from it. As any marketeer knoweth, UK buyers notoriously price conscious.

The UK never got a Corrolla Saloon after the launch of the Auris, so that makes a RHD European Spec Corrolla from 2006(ish) onwards an Ireland Only model, never mind an Ireland only spec (with the possible exception of Malta).
Similarly for RHD European Spec Nissan Tiidas, the Nissan Tiida was never officially sold in the UK.
The latest generation of Mitsubishi Lancer had no saloon variant in the UK and no hatchback variant in Ireland.
That's a few off the top of my head without even starting to go into model specifcation nomenclature (your LX or Comfortline or whatever) which often vary from country to country.

Sheldons Brain

If cars are more expensive in Ireland, then rational people will consume less car. Nothing much to report here.

jimgoose

Hmm, interesting indeed. They like their big ol' 2l tanks in Luxembourg, don't they. My crackpot theory is that bicycles are used a fair bit for jogging around in the towns and cities, and folk keep a half-decent car for heading into the Continong at weekends.

RedorDead

porsche959 wrote: »

Interesting graph. Shows the assumption Irish market is somehow uniquely gravitated to small engined cars is much exaggerated. Worth bearing in mind many European countries much more urbanised that Ireland.

Another hate of mine is the "Paddy spec" mantra. Is no such thing. No manufacturer makes specs specifically for Irish market. Irish market tiny in global terms.

BMW offer a 516/516D in Turkey.

Anyone concerned with Irish equipment levels should compare here to Germany. Gunther spec is a lot worse than so called Paddy spec.

Sh1tbag OToole

porsche959 wrote: »

Not sure if you're serious, but as I pointed out in the Caterham thread, the applicable motor tax rate for that car is much lower in the UK. But even it it wasn't the idea of a specialist niche sports-car manufacturer producing a variant specifically for the Irish market is, frankly, ludicrous.

No, I was taking the piss

Jesus.

I'm slightly surprised that Ireland ranks near enough to average considering the crazy amount of tax we generally have to pay for larger engines.

Why are the other Country's cars no bigger? Possibly less tax but less wages too, is it?

CJhaughey

Jesus. wrote: »

I'm slightly surprised that Ireland ranks near enough to average considering the crazy amount of tax we generally have to pay for larger engines.

Why are the other Country's cars no bigger? Possibly less tax but less wages too, is it?

Probably well developed urban transport links and decent motorway networks.
No need for big engined vehicles in much of the continent unless you are towing.
Plus new engines produce enough power from small capacity.

Jesus.

CJhaughey wrote: »

Probably well developed urban transport links and decent motorway networks.

Would the Motorway networks not more likely tend toward a larger engine than a smaller one?

CJhaughey

Jesus. wrote: »

Would the Motorway networks not more likely tend toward a larger engine than a smaller one?

See my last point. Many 1.6 engined diesels are actually fine at motorway speed.
Used to be the way that Motorways needed big engines to cruise efficiently, but the new small CR diesels actually perform best on Motorways and tend to last longer as well!

Jesus.

Oh I know that but in comparison to a Country with much less miles of Motorways?

Leonard Hofstadter

Mycroft H wrote: »

Ahhh so Ireland isn't obsessed with small cars like so many would like us to believe. Who'd have thought

The Irish do like small engined cars. What they don't like is small cars per say.

The easiest way to explain it is this: in the UK if someone had the choice of a high spec 2.0 TDI Golf or a poverty spec 1.6 TDI Passat, the average British buyer will go for the Golf, because it's got a much more powerful engine and the spec is better and because the Golf is quite a big car these days anyway. The Irish buyer will choose the Passat because the Passat is 'bigger' and there is a status associated with owning a larger car, even a low spec one with a horrible little engine. The Irish attitude in a situation like that is sure what would you need such a "large" engine in a Golf anyway, sure isn't the 1.6 TDI a "big" engine anyway for a Golf.

The Irish want the cheapest possible way to get the most amount of metal for their cash. This inevitably results in the most popular version of say a Mondeo being the lowest spec one with the 1.6 diesel.

This explains why the engine size is bigger than might have been thought, but it doesn't change the fact that Irish people love buying cars without a decent engine for the size of car in question. Look at how many Passats are 1.6 TDIs for example, one the rare occasions you see a Passat in the UK it's almost always the 2.0 TDI.

And Paddy spec is still alive and well in Ireland, the Toyota Corolla and Auris still don't have air conditioning as standard - this feature was made standard on all British Corollas 10 years ago when the E120 Corolla was given its mid life facelift in mid-2004:eek:. To be fair, it's not as bad as it used to be, people are more inclined to go at least one level from the bottom spec now (and that practically never happened before) but still lower spec cars are what sells in Ireland, especially with a small engine.