Clarksons GT 40

unkel

rabbitinlights wrote:

Its not as if he can just say to ford, "I actually want the ferrari, please let me return the GT", So publicly he would have to have a reason......

He could have just mentioned the problems in his column and also that he had fallen in love with the Ferrari. He would have had no difficulties at all in selling the Ford, rather than being the drama queen and demanding his money back while still giving it 5 stars :rolleyes:

528i

At the end of the day whether or not the cars any better or quicker than a 430, its the badge that counts.

Turning up to a vile ford dealership for some incompetent fás-type imbeciles to maul your expensive supercar doesn't seem right. And lets face it, you could be there every other week as it's a Ford

I'd say clarkson will buy a murcielago next.

unkel

528i wrote:

I'd say clarkson will buy a murcielago next.

Or at least, he should

drdre

clarkson should have sold it at a profit:D

Ernie Ball

"Two hundred years from now, when all this environmental claptrap has been exposed as a sham, and engineers can once again devote themselves to creativity and excellence without having to worry about the trees and otters, someone, somewhere may well build a car as good as the Ferrari F430.

Joke's on him. He'll be lucky if there's any petrol left in 50 years, let alone 200.

RicardoSmith

unkel wrote:

You're missing my point. I don't believe it was just an alarm problem. I'm getting the feeling JC realised the car is nowhere near as good as he initially thought (and hoped and dreamt) it was going to be. Then he just uses the easy way out by reporting a, no doubt genuine, issue with the aftermarket alarm system

I sure hope I am wrong

My point is. Theres nothing about clarkson thats genuine.

528i wrote:

At the end of the day whether or not the cars any better or quicker than a 430, its the badge that counts.

Turning up to a vile ford dealership for some incompetent fás-type imbeciles to maul your expensive supercar doesn't seem right. And lets face it, you could be there every other week as it's a Ford

I'd say clarkson will buy a murcielago next.

I think your badge snobbery is reaching new level there 528i...

As for slagging FAS...
http://www.fas.ie/information_and_publications/press_releases/pr_2003_3.html

Blitzkrieger

You know I've never heard of a major problem with a Ford. I owned one myself, my father owned six and loads of my friends had and still have Fords. The fact that they're top of the reliability index speaks volumes. The reliability index ranks manufacturers average number of faults (Ford were seventh or something) against the average cost of repair. Ford won by a mile. In contrast Mazda (owned by Ford) came first for reliability and fourth in the index. Seventh isn't that bad a result either, considering the amount of manufacturers out there and the fact that Ford owned three of the top six.

jayok

The fact that they're top of the reliability index speaks volumes.

What reliability index was that? By any chance was it sponsored by Ford? Any reliability index I've seen tends to put the Japanese manufacturers at the top (Lexus, Honda, Toyota, etc).

DubTony

jayok wrote:

What reliability index was that? By any chance was it sponsored by Ford? Any reliability index I've seen tends to put the Japanese manufacturers at the top (Lexus, Honda, Toyota, etc).

.... and maybe Mazda?

whippet

just an observation .... I reckon every mass produced manufactor of motor seems to be slated on these boards, VAG, GM, Ford ..etc .. apart from the (in my opinion extremely dull) toyota's you can't buy a mass market car with out the fear of being told that you are after buying an unreliable pos.

Do we all have to look at €100k + hand built motors to buy a decent car?

ssh

Blitzkrieger wrote:

You know I've never heard of a major problem with a Ford. I owned one myself, my father owned six and loads of my friends had and still have Fords. The fact that they're top of the reliability index speaks volumes. The reliability index ranks manufacturers average number of faults (Ford were seventh or something) against the average cost of repair. Ford won by a mile. In contrast Mazda (owned by Ford) came first for reliability and fourth in the index. Seventh isn't that bad a result either, considering the amount of manufacturers out there and the fact that Ford owned three of the top six.

Ford own 33% of Mazda. I don't think you can derive anything from Mazda's reputation about Ford's attitudes towards reliablity. Not that I'm necassarily knocking it, mind you...

ssh

whippet wrote:

just an observation .... I reckon every mass produced manufactor of motor seems to be slated on these boards, VAG, GM, Ford ..etc .. apart from the (in my opinion extremely dull) toyota's you can't buy a mass market car with out the fear of being told that you are after buying an unreliable pos.

Do we all have to look at €100k + hand built motors to buy a decent car?

What about BMW? VW?

They both make and sell an awful lot of cars and people here tend to be very complimentary about their reliability.

Blitzkrieger

jayok wrote:

What reliability index was that? ................Any reliability index I've seen tends to put the Japanese manufacturers at the top (Lexus, Honda, Toyota, etc).

I didn't say reliability survey.

Oh.........and not all Toyotas are dull.

kermit_ie

http://www.reliabilityindex.co.uk/top10.html?apc=3128339010848601

Squirrel

ssh wrote:

What about BMW? VW?

They both make and sell an awful lot of cars and people here tend to be very complimentary about their reliability.

You do know VW are part of the VAG group, the first in whippet's list

RicardoSmith

ssh wrote:

What about BMW? VW?

They both make and sell an awful lot of cars and people here tend to be very complimentary about their reliability.

BMW have only recently raised their game. They used not to be all that great either. My experience of German cars, and that of anyone I know hasn't been all that great. In terms of reliability. Whereas the Japs have been excellent. The myth german reliability is a great marketing spin. It doesn't quite match the reality.

Squirrel

RicardoSmith wrote:

BMW have only recently raised their game. They used not to be all that great either. My experience of German cars, and that of anyone I know hasn't been all that great. In terms of reliability. Whereas the Japs have been excellent. The myth german reliability is a great marketing spin. It doesn't quite match the reality.

Japanese cars are reliable
German cars have a feeling of quality which is something completely different

RicardoSmith

Squirrel wrote:

Japanese cars are reliable
German cars have a feeling of quality which is something completely different

Ummm they have a better stand of interior. But if you compared the mechanical quality of the gear change of a Honda Civic to a Golf or Astra, there Honda is miles better. A friend of mine has a 2 yrs old Porsche which he bought from new. After changing from a 10yr old car his many complaint with the Porsche has been the poor build quality of some parts of the car. Never occured to me that you'd have that kind of a problem. I've heard the same from people with new Golf (Mrk IV)'s.

Squirrel

RicardoSmith wrote:

Ummm they have a better stand of interior. But if you compared the mechanical quality of the gear change of a Honda Civic to a Golf or Astra, there Honda is miles better. A friend of mine has a 2 yrs old Porsche which he bought from new. After changing from a 10yr old car his many complaint with the Porsche has been the poor build quality of some parts of the car. Never occured to me that you'd have that kind of a problem. I've heard the same from people with new Golf (Mrk IV)'s.

The new Golf is the Mk V btw,

It depends on the car really, I've found the interiors on the cars my family have owned to be well put together, we've had all Japanese bar 1 Korean since I've been born, but some of my friends cars (BMW and Hyundai - like I have) have been fairly sh1tty tbh

RicardoSmith

Squirrel wrote:

The new Golf is the Mk V btw...

I was talking of people who bought new Mrk IV's, back in 1998/1999.

Squirrel

RicardoSmith wrote:

I was talking of people who bought new Mrk IV's, back in 1998/1999.

Okey dokey, what car do people think JC will buy next?

OfflerCrocGod

Squirrel wrote:

Okey dokey, what car do people think JC will buy next?

Well if it were me I'd get the F430, but he may not be able to live with the embarrassment so I'd say he'll get the Toyota Corolla Verso; he likes it a lot.

unkel

RicardoSmith wrote:

BMW have only recently raised their game. They used not to be all that great either

Huh?

kermit_ie wrote:

http://www.reliabilityindex.co.uk/top10.html?apc=3128339010848601

Yeah saw that a while ago. Not too sure what to make of that though. I mean, Hyundai, Vauxhall, Daewoo, FIAT, Peugeot in the top 10?

And Toyota not in the top 10?

Dunno the terms and conditions of the reliabiltyindex.co.uk but it's prolly crap

Fabritzo

I think you summed that site up in one word unkel, they've got Subaru in the bottom ten. I think they came top of the jd power survey only a couple of years back. It seems it's connected with whatcar? (the mag that comes free with yer petrol sometimes!)
I wouldn't be suprised if Clarkson has his name on the top of the list for the new small Aston Martin, the AMV8 if I'm not mistaken.

qz

I reckon Clarkson will buy the DB9 for shíts and giggles, but then he'll get bored and go for the F430.

unkel

Fabritzo wrote:

I think you summed that site up in one word unkel, they've got Subaru in the bottom ten. I think they came top of the jd power survey only a couple of years back

I missed that, they've got Subaru as the second worst of all cars. That just can not be right

neilCC

I've no respect for Clarkson anyway. Never had.
His reviews of cars are mostly useless.
His sense of humour is pathetic.

I recall him slagging off bikers because they have to wear gear while riding.
I doubt he ever slagged the Stig for wearing his helmet and racing suit while out on the track.

IMO, his programme is useless except for very low entertainment and to occasionally see some nice cars, but it isn't informative or helpful.

dahamsta

neilCC wrote:

His sense of humour is pathetic.

I recall him slagging off bikers because they have to wear gear while riding.

That would suggest a lack of humour in yourself rather than Clarkson. Even if he actually meant it, I don't know any serious bikers that wouldn't just laugh it off. Bikers slag drivers, drivers slag bikers, get over it.

I don't think anyone will argue that Clarkson's an arrogant bastard, but he knows his cars, and it would seem a pretty large contingent find him entertaining.

Course it'd be useless without the other two. I particularly like it when May says "cock".

adam

ds20prefecture

neilCC wrote:

I've no respect for Clarkson anyway. Never had.
His reviews of cars are mostly useless.
His sense of humour is pathetic.

Couldn't agree more. The show is useful by accident - if Clarkson recommends a car, you can be absolutely positive that it is NOT the best in it's class. e.g. Aston Martin, Merc SL, etc.

I loved the piss take that Steve Coogan did of him - he modelled his "Crash! Bang! Wallop!" character on Clarkson, who was less than impressed. It was spot on.

Apparently he couldn't stand Tiff Needel, probably because Needel could drive him off any track in any car.

Clarkson.
a.k.a the blurred fist.
a.k.a. Onan the barbarian.

528i

http://img123.imageshack.us/img123/779/top0071kh.jpg

Have to say I find myself in agreement with him as regards the spoilers & vulgarity of the E60 etc.. but its obviously better than any Ford GTwhatever