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Exporting vehicle and Household goods - Any Advice!

Exporting vehicle and Household goods - Any Advice!

Old Aug 11th 2010, 7:30 pm
  #121  
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Default Re: Exporting vehicle and Household goods - Any Advice!

Originally Posted by Atlantic Xpat
Isn't the real argument that the rise of the hot hatch, rally derived saloon, 'executive express' and sporty offroaders, have catered to those looking for sporty yet practical vehicles? Sports cars per se. are either classics, modern interpretations of classics or supercars.
This is the crux of it, IMHO. There have been very few proper sports cars made in the last couple of decades. The Mazda MX-5, derided up-thread, is probably as close as anybody came to the 1950s-60s ideal of affordable fun motoring. Front engine, rear drive, two seats, soft top, small and light with a reasonable amount of oomph, tyres not so fat that you have to get up to stupid speeds to enjoy cornering at the limits of adhesion, predictable behaviour in the limit. Ticks most of the boxes in my book.

See also Vauxhall VX220, Lotus Elise, Caterham 7. But it's a short list. Strangely, in the N American marketplace, the Pontiac Solstice and Saturn Sky both came reasonably close, but both have been victims of GM's retrenchment.


A bracket or two up the price range the Porsche Boxster accomplished many of the same aims. So too, but in a different direction, does the Morgan roadster (which, by the by, uses a BMW V6 engine now that the old Rover V8 is no longer viable).

4-seat (or at least 2+2) "sports tourers" do very well in their market segment too - from the 3- and 5-series convertible BMWs, Audi's A4, even the Toyota Solara, but there are too many compromises towards comfort and convenience and away from the stripped-down ideal of a proper sports car.
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Old Aug 11th 2010, 7:55 pm
  #122  
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Default Re: Exporting vehicle and Household goods - Any Advice!

Originally Posted by Atlantic Xpat
Indeed. In North America the phenomenon has progressed to the extent that the entry level crossover/softroaders are 2WD. Vis Escape, Torrent etc. All the disadvantages of an SUV without the offroad ability? This type of vehicle, together with the ubiquitous mini-van seems to have replaced the traditional estate car. Ask yourself this - what wagons can you buy in Canada? VW Golf/Passat. Mercedes? Subaru Legacy, Volvo V50/70. That's about it!
Can you get Audi wagons here? I've always rather liked the A4/A6 Avant. Other than that, I see a few VWs, some Mitsubishi Lancers, Ford Taurus/Mercury Sables, a handful of Focuses, and of course some everlasting Buick Roadmasters and the like. And of course, how could I nearly forget the Dodge Magnum? That's a wagon, of sorts... Most aren't made, or sold, here any more. My in-laws had a Honda Accord wagon for many years (except it had some fancy meaningless name like "aerodeck"). It would comfortably fit four adults, some luggage and a dog - pretty much the defining characteristic of a wagon. It's been unavailable for a while but I gather is coming back soon with an Acura badge. I see way more M-class Mercs than proper wagons around these parts. Most of them, of course, never going anywhere further off-road than the driveway.

Didn't Cadillac recently announce they're doing an estate version of the CTS? Perhaps the OP should consider that as an alternative to the X5?
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Old Aug 11th 2010, 8:14 pm
  #123  
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Default Re: Exporting vehicle and Household goods - Any Advice!

Originally Posted by Oakvillian
I see way more M-class Mercs than proper wagons around these parts. Most of them, of course, never going anywhere further off-road than the driveway.
Towing capacity and comparative frugality were the top reasons I purchased an M-class. 4WD's good for a slippy boat dock, but who's really going to off road with any degree of bravado in a $60k SUV?
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Old Aug 11th 2010, 8:22 pm
  #124  
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Originally Posted by Atlantic Xpat
Yes, you will see Astras around. They are badged as Saturn. However the Saturn brand and all vehicles including the Astra are no longer being sold in Canada.
Astras--UK- Vauxhall. When I was a girl in Bedford we used to joke that all the Vauxhalls were made in home garages after being smuggled out piece by piece from the factory in Luton.

Gosh, it's an exciting place to live, Bedford.
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Old Aug 11th 2010, 9:14 pm
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Originally Posted by fledermaus
Astras--UK- Vauxhall. When I was a girl in Bedford we used to joke that all the Vauxhalls were made in home garages after being smuggled out piece by piece from the factory in Luton.

Gosh, it's an exciting place to live, Bedford.
Johnny Cash lived in Bedford, did he?
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Old Aug 11th 2010, 9:15 pm
  #126  
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World English Dictionary
sports car

— n
a production car designed for speed, high acceleration, and manoeuvrability, having a low body and usually adequate seating for only two persons

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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this to me sums up the modern sports car such as the bmw m3, honda type R
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Old Aug 11th 2010, 9:29 pm
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Default Re: Exporting vehicle and Household goods - Any Advice!

Originally Posted by Adrian Harison
World English Dictionary
sports car

— n
a production car designed for speed, high acceleration, and manoeuvrability, having a low body and usually adequate seating for only two persons

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
Cite This Source



this to me sums up the modern sports car such as the bmw m3, honda type R
I don't suppose I've seen either of those on the road, or if I have I've failed to pay any attention to them. Googling images of them, the first seems to be a BMW 3 series, a car for a small family in the manner of the Austin 1100. A good car I expect, if you need that sort of thing.

The Honda R type would seem to be the vehicle called a Civic here which, for all its alleged reliabilty is surely the definition of what the sensible, if conservative, father or two small children would drive.

I put it to you that these are small saloon cars with trim bits stuck on. Boy racer specials. If those are sports cars this is a better one:

http://www.penny4them.com/images/0207/chavcar1.jpg
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Old Aug 11th 2010, 9:32 pm
  #128  
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Default Re: Exporting vehicle and Household goods - Any Advice!

Originally Posted by Adrian Harison
...a production car designed for speed, high acceleration, and manoeuvrability, having a low body and usually adequate seating for only two persons

this to me sums up the modern sports car such as the bmw m3, honda type R
It might sum it up for you, but your interpretation is still off.

I'll reiterate, as you're continuing to ignore the central point. Neither BMW or Honda market those vehicles as sports cars, they're coupes or hatchbacks. The manufacturer deems it inappropriate to call them sports cars. Flick through the back of Evo magazine or any other that lists vehicles by body type and you won't find them in the 'sports car' category either.

They sum up 'sporty performance car' that's all. Oakvillian's post higher up the page was an accurate summary, IMO.
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Old Aug 11th 2010, 9:39 pm
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Default Re: Exporting vehicle and Household goods - Any Advice!

Originally Posted by R I C H
It might sum it up for you, but your interpretation is still off.

I'll reiterate, as you're continuing to ignore the central point. Neither BMW or Honda market those vehicles as sports cars, they're coupes or hatchbacks. The manufacturer deems it inappropriate to call them sports cars. Flick through the back of Evo magazine or any other that lists vehicles by body type and you won't find them in the 'sports car' category either.

They sum up 'sporty performance car' that's all. Oakvillian's post higher up the page was an accurate summary, IMO.
If you can't pretend you're Cary Grant driving to monte carlo in it then it's not a sports car.
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Old Aug 11th 2010, 9:48 pm
  #130  
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Default Re: Exporting vehicle and Household goods - Any Advice!

Originally Posted by Alan2005
If you can't pretend you're Cary Grant driving to monte carlo in it then it's not a sports car.
But I do that in my base model mazda 3 when strumming down Hastings 0
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Old Aug 11th 2010, 10:11 pm
  #131  
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Originally Posted by dbd33
Johnny Cash lived in Bedford, did he?
Nah, he built a Cadillac not a Vauxhall Shovette.
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Old Aug 11th 2010, 10:27 pm
  #132  
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Default Re: Exporting vehicle and Household goods - Any Advice!

Originally Posted by R I C H
It might sum it up for you, but your interpretation is still off.

I'll reiterate, as you're continuing to ignore the central point. Neither BMW or Honda market those vehicles as sports cars, they're coupes or hatchbacks. The manufacturer deems it inappropriate to call them sports cars. Flick through the back of Evo magazine or any other that lists vehicles by body type and you won't find them in the 'sports car' category either.

They sum up 'sporty performance car' that's all. Oakvillian's post higher up the page was an accurate summary, IMO.

My interpretation is just that ,it's my interpertation of a modern sports car
and i stand by what i have said , so pleause dont start telling me what it should be , i find that rude
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Old Aug 11th 2010, 10:33 pm
  #133  
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Default Re: Exporting vehicle and Household goods - Any Advice!

Originally Posted by Adrian Harison
My interpretation is just that ,it's my interpertation of a modern sports car
I can understand that. Sometimes, when my car is my field, I interpret it as being a raised 4x4 truck. I think of myself simultaneously winning at the Mud Bog and the Tractor Pull.
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Old Aug 11th 2010, 10:35 pm
  #134  
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Originally Posted by Adrian Harison
My interpretation is just that ,it's my interpertation of a modern sports car
and i stand by what i have said , so pleause dont start telling me what it should be , i find that rude
I'm only pointing out that your interpretation flies in the face of decades of corporate marketing and the car manufacturers own definitions. I'm not telling you what it should be, I'm telling you what it actually is.

I'd have felt a fraud when I owned a WRX to have described it as a sports car, it was just a warmish/hot hatch. It just didn't meet the criteria, not just in my eyes, but in the motor industry as a whole.

If you want to be different and categorize vehicles in your own way, then you can hardly expect anything but a degree of opposition or debate about what you propose.
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Old Aug 11th 2010, 10:41 pm
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Originally Posted by R I C H
It might sum it up for you, but your interpretation is still off. IMO.
I Dont mind a good degree of opposition or debate , thats all good to me
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