Which Car Question
Apr 7th 2016, 7:31 am
#31
BE Forum Addict
Joined: Jan 2011
Location: Dubai
Posts: 3,467
Re: Which Car Question
Love this thread.... It pops up every year or so and everyone goes mental! Ha ha!
For me:
Pajero - does what it says on the tin. Decent machine but nothing inspiring. Reasonable price. Not bad off road, standard on it.
Prado - better than the Pajero on road, not as good off it. Expensive for what you get.
Durango - no experience of them, although I am partial to a big engine Yank mobiles (I have a 4.0L stripped out highly modified old school Jeep as a desert warrior). That said, would I buy one for the road.... unless it was a Velocoraptor..... probably not!
Landcruiser - lost its way. Too big and bulky. Not exactly a pleasant drive (reminds me being on a ferry) and shockingly enough not to well equipped either.
Fortuner - The 2.7L is bang average. Slow, poor handling and locks up waaaaay to easily approaching roundabouts etc. Probably associated with it being basically a Hilux with a car body. Cheap tho. Haven't driven the 4.0L but the 2.7L scares me under breaking so not that keen to either.
All Beemers - Great elsewhere, don't like the environment here. They're known as 'cancer' in Sharjah. Great for 3-4yrs but then expect a big bill as they start to fall apart.
Mercs - Not what they used to be in terms of quality, in fact they got overtaken by BMW.
Audi - I'm split on this. Some designs are ugly, some are awesome. The RS's are super quick but when the turbo's go bang at approx 100K you're looking at 25K minimum. Also, the plastic inside become brittle after a few years. Expensive.
Golf GTi / R - Boring! Decent car but waaaay to much like a nanny state, they look after you too much. Bought by the uninspired as its a default choice for the uninformed. Our car park is full of them. Many better hot hatches out there.
Fords - Just ewww!
American 'sports cars' - Ha ha ha!
So to conclude, if you want a sensible, well behaved, cheap to buy and run, reliable motor with decent re-sale value get a Jap car.
If you want something fun - don't!
For me:
Pajero - does what it says on the tin. Decent machine but nothing inspiring. Reasonable price. Not bad off road, standard on it.
Prado - better than the Pajero on road, not as good off it. Expensive for what you get.
Durango - no experience of them, although I am partial to a big engine Yank mobiles (I have a 4.0L stripped out highly modified old school Jeep as a desert warrior). That said, would I buy one for the road.... unless it was a Velocoraptor..... probably not!
Landcruiser - lost its way. Too big and bulky. Not exactly a pleasant drive (reminds me being on a ferry) and shockingly enough not to well equipped either.
Fortuner - The 2.7L is bang average. Slow, poor handling and locks up waaaaay to easily approaching roundabouts etc. Probably associated with it being basically a Hilux with a car body. Cheap tho. Haven't driven the 4.0L but the 2.7L scares me under breaking so not that keen to either.
All Beemers - Great elsewhere, don't like the environment here. They're known as 'cancer' in Sharjah. Great for 3-4yrs but then expect a big bill as they start to fall apart.
Mercs - Not what they used to be in terms of quality, in fact they got overtaken by BMW.
Audi - I'm split on this. Some designs are ugly, some are awesome. The RS's are super quick but when the turbo's go bang at approx 100K you're looking at 25K minimum. Also, the plastic inside become brittle after a few years. Expensive.
Golf GTi / R - Boring! Decent car but waaaay to much like a nanny state, they look after you too much. Bought by the uninspired as its a default choice for the uninformed. Our car park is full of them. Many better hot hatches out there.
Fords - Just ewww!
American 'sports cars' - Ha ha ha!
So to conclude, if you want a sensible, well behaved, cheap to buy and run, reliable motor with decent re-sale value get a Jap car.
If you want something fun - don't!
Apr 7th 2016, 12:28 pm
#32
BE Forum Addict
Joined: Jul 2008
Location: Dubai
Posts: 2,843
Re: Which Car Question
Scamp
Mid life crisis car. My boss has a golf GTI and drives like a complete knobhead everywhere in it.
Not to mention completely pointless out here. Where do you drive it with any enjoyment?
SCAMP you do realise the R is in a different league to the GTi.
oh and trust me there are long stretches of roads all over Dubai (without cameras) where you can put your foot down - particularly when you get on the outskirts of major roads eg Jebel Ali area
Mid life crisis car. My boss has a golf GTI and drives like a complete knobhead everywhere in it.
Not to mention completely pointless out here. Where do you drive it with any enjoyment?
SCAMP you do realise the R is in a different league to the GTi.
oh and trust me there are long stretches of roads all over Dubai (without cameras) where you can put your foot down - particularly when you get on the outskirts of major roads eg Jebel Ali area
Apr 7th 2016, 12:40 pm
#33
Hit 16's
Joined: Mar 2010
Location: Of all the gin joints, in all the towns, in all the world, she walks into mine
Posts: 13,112
Re: Which Car Question
Scamp
Mid life crisis car. My boss has a golf GTI and drives like a complete knobhead everywhere in it.
Not to mention completely pointless out here. Where do you drive it with any enjoyment?
SCAMP you do realise the R is in a different league to the GTi.
oh and trust me there are long stretches of roads all over Dubai (without cameras) where you can put your foot down - particularly when you get on the outskirts of major roads eg Jebel Ali area
Mid life crisis car. My boss has a golf GTI and drives like a complete knobhead everywhere in it.
Not to mention completely pointless out here. Where do you drive it with any enjoyment?
SCAMP you do realise the R is in a different league to the GTi.
oh and trust me there are long stretches of roads all over Dubai (without cameras) where you can put your foot down - particularly when you get on the outskirts of major roads eg Jebel Ali area
Apr 7th 2016, 12:41 pm
#34
BE Forum Addict
Joined: Jul 2008
Location: Dubai
Posts: 2,843
Re: Which Car Question
[QUOTE=jam25mack;11915972]Love this thread.... It pops up every year or so and everyone goes mental! Ha ha!
Golf GTi / R - Boring! Decent car but waaaay to much like a nanny state, they look after you too much. Bought by the uninspired as its a default choice for the uninformed. Our car park is full of them. Many better hot hatches out there.QUOTE]
oh come on - GTi i agree is usually driven by white old geazers, but the R is in a different league to the GTi - the reason you probably see many in your car park is because they are not as expensive as other sports cars with similar specs
Golf GTi / R - Boring! Decent car but waaaay to much like a nanny state, they look after you too much. Bought by the uninspired as its a default choice for the uninformed. Our car park is full of them. Many better hot hatches out there.QUOTE]
oh come on - GTi i agree is usually driven by white old geazers, but the R is in a different league to the GTi - the reason you probably see many in your car park is because they are not as expensive as other sports cars with similar specs
Apr 7th 2016, 1:16 pm
#36
Account Closed
Joined: Feb 2011
Posts: 0
Re: Which Car Question
Scamp
Mid life crisis car. My boss has a golf GTI and drives like a complete knobhead everywhere in it.
Not to mention completely pointless out here. Where do you drive it with any enjoyment?
SCAMP you do realise the R is in a different league to the GTi.
oh and trust me there are long stretches of roads all over Dubai (without cameras) where you can put your foot down - particularly when you get on the outskirts of major roads eg Jebel Ali area
Mid life crisis car. My boss has a golf GTI and drives like a complete knobhead everywhere in it.
Not to mention completely pointless out here. Where do you drive it with any enjoyment?
SCAMP you do realise the R is in a different league to the GTi.
oh and trust me there are long stretches of roads all over Dubai (without cameras) where you can put your foot down - particularly when you get on the outskirts of major roads eg Jebel Ali area
But I disagree with the Dubai roads bit. It's not like the UK where, for example, my commute was 35mins of A-Roads through the new forest. In my A3, that was epic in the summer. Tunes on, windows down, flicking between 2nd - 3rd - 4th and constant bends etc. Great fun.
Apr 7th 2016, 2:15 pm
#37
BE Forum Addict
Joined: Jan 2011
Location: Dubai
Posts: 3,467
Re: Which Car Question
[QUOTE=mission;11916209]
Golf GTi / R - Boring! Decent car but waaaay to much like a nanny state, they look after you too much. Bought by the uninspired as its a default choice for the uninformed. Our car park is full of them. Many better hot hatches out there.QUOTE]
oh come on - GTi i agree is usually driven by white old geazers, but the R is in a different league to the GTi - the reason you probably see many in your car park is because they are not as expensive as other sports cars with similar specs
No I see so many GTi's / R's is because it fits in nicely with the Him - Engineer, Her - Teacher & 1.2 children set up. It takes zero thought or imagination. 
As for them being so far apart, they so aren't when you look at them. Yeah the R is faster (0.8 sec 0-60) and also a bit more on the top end but that's about it. OK, the R is AWD while the GTi is FWD, however, the GTi is commonly thought to handle better (and is ranked higher in the Car and Driver rankings). Yeah it has approx 80BHP more but loads of that will be swallowed by the AWD and double clutch system.
Its also commonly known by folk in 'the know' that if you took a 5th of the huge cash difference between the two you could remap the ECU and make it pretty much as swift as the R........ and it would still handle better!
Don't take me for a VW hater either, I got my dream VW when I first arrived..... a VW Corrado VR6.......
Golf GTi / R - Boring! Decent car but waaaay to much like a nanny state, they look after you too much. Bought by the uninspired as its a default choice for the uninformed. Our car park is full of them. Many better hot hatches out there.QUOTE]
oh come on - GTi i agree is usually driven by white old geazers, but the R is in a different league to the GTi - the reason you probably see many in your car park is because they are not as expensive as other sports cars with similar specs
As for them being so far apart, they so aren't when you look at them. Yeah the R is faster (0.8 sec 0-60) and also a bit more on the top end but that's about it. OK, the R is AWD while the GTi is FWD, however, the GTi is commonly thought to handle better (and is ranked higher in the Car and Driver rankings). Yeah it has approx 80BHP more but loads of that will be swallowed by the AWD and double clutch system.
Its also commonly known by folk in 'the know' that if you took a 5th of the huge cash difference between the two you could remap the ECU and make it pretty much as swift as the R........ and it would still handle better!
Don't take me for a VW hater either, I got my dream VW when I first arrived..... a VW Corrado VR6.......
Apr 7th 2016, 4:38 pm
#38
I still dont believe it..
Joined: Oct 2013
Location: 12 degrees north
Posts: 2,777
Re: Which Car Question
After some time working for a car manufacturer i can say why european cars bodies dont last in the sun, its pretty simple. EU emissions rules for factories are much tighter than the japanese. Cars are painted using water based paints, covered with a quick low voc varnish. Plastic parts Re either painted the same, or contain colour in the dough, but your have to add UV stabilisers that arent very nice environmentally so enough is added to survive EU conditions for the warranty period plus 1 day.
So, the paint fades, then peels, the plastics go grey, brittle and fall off.
Japnese cars mostly have to survive the sunny hot humid conditions in places like they have in asia. Their cars survive...
So you might ask, why do some toyotas surviva and some dont, where was yours made?
Same for nissan, in the caribbean, qashqai's self destruct after warranty, [uk made] toyota-japanese and south africa, and isuzu-thailand dont... Range rovers are a joke, they also become chicken coops after a couple of years. Ive already seen a 1 year old evoke with peeling wheels.
So, the paint fades, then peels, the plastics go grey, brittle and fall off.
Japnese cars mostly have to survive the sunny hot humid conditions in places like they have in asia. Their cars survive...
So you might ask, why do some toyotas surviva and some dont, where was yours made?
Same for nissan, in the caribbean, qashqai's self destruct after warranty, [uk made] toyota-japanese and south africa, and isuzu-thailand dont... Range rovers are a joke, they also become chicken coops after a couple of years. Ive already seen a 1 year old evoke with peeling wheels.
