Stupid things non petrolheads say....

[NotDave]

Rochellc01 said:

DannyScene said:

Depends what speed she was driving at surely and to some people a 1.4 would be a fast car

1.4? no chance of catching that mate, they're rapid.

Guy I used to work with got his PPI claim through & was brassick, so bought his first nearly new car...... A 4 year old (2007) Astra 1.4 5door.

Spent a good half an hour telling me how it was a license loser on the motorway as it'd do 90-100mph without him even realising.

I wouldn't have minded but I was sat outside as he said it, next to my 200SX..... Which he'd seen the RR printouts for.

[Alfa numeric]

To be fair, when I was 21 my 103BHP Rover 214 felt like a rocketship compared to the family 440 and the Maestro I'd had previously, and it would sit quite happily at 90+ on the M1 so it's not too unbelievable.

[Ferg]

DannyScene said:

I
Depends what speed she was driving at surely and to some people a 1.4 would be a fast car

I agree, Danny. I'm not sure what the problem is with that quote, really. I'm sure (like virtually every car except for the very fastest and the very slowest) it was faster than some cars and slower than others! What performance figures are the breakpoint for a 'Fast car'..?

[real4star]

Ferg said:

'm not sure what the problem is with that quote, really. I'm sure (like virtually every car except for the very fastest and the very slowest) it was faster than some cars and slower than others! What performance figures are the breakpoint for a 'Fast car'..?

I'll clarify, I was looking at replacing my 1.4 Renault5 shed (I'd describe as nippy)and asked my sister wouldn't she like a faster car like an Alfa or BMW. And she said 'my Corsa is a fast car'.

She wouldn't let me drive her car, so I have no idea how 'fast' her defenition of a 'fast car' is.

[folos]

Ferg said:

agree, Danny. I'm not sure what the problem is with that quote, really. I'm sure (like virtually every car except for the very fastest and the very slowest) it was faster than some cars and slower than others! What performance figures are the breakpoint for a 'Fast car'..?

Under 7 to 60 i'd guess could be defined as every day 'fast', under 5.0 i'd say would be actual 'fast. (imo)

[Hugo a Gogo]

so up until the 90s there were no fast cars

[Ferg]

Hugo a Gogo said:

so up until the 90s there were no fast cars

Quite. All things are relative. My little 1.8 will hit 60 in around 5, maybe even a little under if the conditions and I were right. , but our old Metro would do it in 3.
And does 'fast' mean top-end, or acceleration? The two don't necessarily go together.

[JayT]

I heard it all today, from the same person aswell:

- This girl was talking about the fact she heard that the local news station had said do some car checks in these weather conditions - she said that she has never checked anything in the four years she has driven but her car is strangely costing her a fortune to keep running. I wonder why!

- We got onto the subject of tyre pressures and she said that job was too skilled for her to do at home, so booked it in at the dealer!

Lastly I have heard someone question the importance of tyres - they thought tyres were there to protect the alloys so they do not scratch/break as it goes down the road - and a flat tyre is nothing to worry about as it is only flat on one part of the tyre.

Makes office life a little bit more interesting.

[scarble]

Ferg said:

our old Metro would do it in 3.

har har har
show off.

[LordSvetly]

When trying to explain to my fiancée about the process involved in putting a new tyre on a wheel (she had to take the car to get a tyre replaced for me) she replied "what? I thought they came with the metal bit in the middle already in" bless her

[kiteless]

Rochellc01 said:

my problem is that i assume everyone has to know everything about cars that i do, so if they dont, i sub-consiously think they are stupid, i forget no one else is a petrolhead.

Apart from my father-in-law and brother-in-law, I get this all the time. I've now got to a stage where I wind up one of the blokes at work on purpose with car nerdisms: "Merc W126" and "nikasil cylinder liners" are big winners for getting a WTF look

[NotDave]

Alfa numeric said:

To be fair, when I was 21 my 103BHP Rover 214 felt like a rocketship compared to the family 440 and the Maestro I'd had previously, and it would sit quite happily at 90+ on the M1 so it's not too unbelievable.

214sei came with recaros etc at the end of the run. If you drove it hard, would out run a VTR saxo... So I heard

[Dominicc01]

folos said:

Under 7 to 60 i'd guess could be defined as every day 'fast', under 5.0 i'd say would be actual 'fast. (imo)

How often do you actually do 0-60 full bore standing start? I very, very rarely do, very occasionally the traffic light GP in the S2K.
Sufficient torque makes a car feel "fast" in normal driving. As does sufficient BHP per tonne.

[Blown2CV]

come on, we've done this surely on a number of threads over the years. Fast is relative to the cars you've driven previously, and the other cars that are around at the time. Move on.

[scarble]

Dominicc01 said:

How often do you actually do 0-60 full bore standing start?

All the time..

Hush B2CV, where will we be with out recurring senseless arguments?

[busta]

scarble said:

Dominicc01 said:

How often do you actually do 0-60 full bore standing start?

All the time..

Likewise, at any given opportunity...

[rob1234]

My wife, this week:

'Why doesn't this car have sidelights?"

"The car keep stalling" (after selecting reverse up a slight incline and pretty much dumping the clutch with no throttle)

[sebhaque]

Overheard in Sainsburys earlier:

Woman 1: "blahblah Tony's got a new car"
Woman 2: "I don't blame him, his old car was always breaking down. What's he got now?"
Woman 1: "I don't really know, he said a Lotus Elise whatever that means."
Woman 2: "I know what they are, they're those sports car things aren't they."
Woman 1: "Is it? I told him not to get another gas guzzler."
Woman 2: "Well if it's one of those sports cars it must be awful on fuel, he needs to get his priorities right if he's buying another silly car."
Woman 1: "He must spend a fortune driving to work and back."

This train of thought continued for a while, with both women convinced that an Elise was terrible on fuel - practicality never factored in the conversation.

[LukeSi]

sebhaque said:

Overheard in Sainsburys earlier:

Woman 1: "blahblah Tony's got a new car"
Woman 2: "I don't blame him, his old car was always breaking down. What's he got now?"
Woman 1: "I don't really know, he said a Lotus Elise whatever that means."
Woman 2: "I know what they are, they're those sports car things aren't they."
Woman 1: "Is it? I told him not to get another gas guzzler."
Woman 2: "Well if it's one of those sports cars it must be awful on fuel, he needs to get his priorities right if he's buying another silly car."
Woman 1: "He must spend a fortune driving to work and back."

This train of thought continued for a while, with both women convinced that an Elise was terrible on fuel - practicality never factored in the conversation.

Meanwhile on a quiet B road

[blearyeyedboy]

LukeSi said:

Meanwhile on a quiet B road

Have a on me!