Best smoker barges 1-5 large [Vol 17]

[Triumph Man]

stickleback123 said:

Macron said:

Omega V6 with flumpy velour at thread min.

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2020...

Eta and a vectra 3.2 estate at £1750.

Butlins car park never looked so good.

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2020...

Edited by Macron on Monday 19th October 16:06

I cannot imagine any reason why any GM Europe product from the last 25 years or so would be anything other than a panic purchase for someone who has the slightest interest in cars. How bad do you have to be for PSA to end up buying you?

I quite like Omegas - that Vectra though is just depressing.

Also, is the Omega one of the last cars with a mechanical drum for the odometer, rather than a digital read-out?

[TyrannosauRoss Lex]

Triumph Man said:

I quite like Omegas - that Vectra though is just depressing.

Also, is the Omega one of the last cars with a mechanical drum for the odometer, rather than a digital read-out?

Good spot! Quite possibly, yes. I can't think of anything else. Although I'm sure some cars built in Russia or somewhere else may.

[JF87]

BigBen said:

Especially as on in thread budget barges it won't work from 0mph, which it will on newer cars, thus giving a useful traffic jam crawl function.

Krikkit said:

The 0-mph function one would definitely be on my shopping list of £20k barges. It's absolutely amazing.

That said, if you regularly went through sections of busy variable speed limit motorway it could be useful - there's always someone in front doing approx the limit to keep it reigned in, just leave it set to 70mph and chill.

Edited by Krikkit on Monday 19th October 15:26

Typical! When was 0mph-capable Distronic introduced? I will never spend £20K on a car, even if I could afford to.

TyrannosauRoss Lex said:

Errrr no, quite the opposite. That's its purpose!

The only time I've ever used radar cruise was on a rental Golf in Sicily last year. On a busy stretch of Italian motorway it was a royal pain, everyone kept pulling into the radar-ordained gap in front of me.

[anonymous-user]

Triumph Man said:

I quite like Omegas - that Vectra though is just depressing.

Also, is the Omega one of the last cars with a mechanical drum for the odometer, rather than a digital read-out?

Vauxhall/Opel apologists like to remind us that the handling and ride of the Omega were considered remarkably competitive with the 5 series in contemporary reviews, but neglect to mention they means the E34 5 series that was current when the Omega B came out in 1994, by then a six year old model that was due for replacement two years later. I remember a colleague leasing what must have been one of the very last ones in 2003 for a pittance, and it felt very much like a 1980s car in the way that the Rover 800 always did. Not at all unpleasant and it loped along very comfortably but it was quite noisy and very thirsty.

The 2.2 petrol engine suffered some catastrophic mechanical failure at 18 months old, so even a decade in production wasn't enough for GM to get it right.

Edited by anonymous-user on Monday 19th October 16:35

[5 In a Row]

0a said:

170k miles, and a slightly strange price (£5,522 - designed for negotiation to the top of thread surely?!), but a large amount of swank for the cash.

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202010044...

Mudflaps is always a good sign.
Also a nice shot of the headlining - is that to prove it's unpunctured by a stiletto heel?

[Timberwolf]

stickleback123 said:

Triumph Man said:

I quite like Omegas - that Vectra though is just depressing.

Also, is the Omega one of the last cars with a mechanical drum for the odometer, rather than a digital read-out?

Vauxhall/Opel apologists like to remind us that the handling and ride of the Omega were considered remarkably competitive with the 5 series in contemporary reviews, but neglect to mention they means the E34 5 series that was current when the Omega B came out in 1994, by then a six year old model that was due for replacement two years later. I remember a colleague leasing what must have been one of the very last ones in 2003 for a pittance, and it felt very much like a 1980s car in the way that the Rover 800 always did.

I think there are two big factors in that:

1. It still had an old fashioned recirculating-ball steering box when the E39 5 series had moved on to rack and pinion in all but the V8 models.
2. For almost all of its life GM stuck in a 4-speed auto with lockup only in top.

The underlying chassis balance was decent and IMO not far off the E39, albeit a lot more inclined to oversteer on its square setup compared to the staggered tyres on more powerful 5ers. But you're filtering that through steering with land yacht levels of play and a gearbox that takes its time over doing anything, unless you floor it from a standstill at which point you'll spend forever getting all the way through first gear like an old 3-speed Granada. Compare to the E39 which came with the 5-speed Steptronic box you could shift manually without the yawning delay (quite exciting for the late '90s) and it's not even close, the latter was a much more involving and direct car to drive quickly.

[TyrannosauRoss Lex]

5 In a Row said:

0a said:

170k miles, and a slightly strange price (£5,522 - designed for negotiation to the top of thread surely?!), but a large amount of swank for the cash.

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202010044...

Mudflaps is always a good sign.
Also a nice shot of the headlining - is that to prove it's unpunctured by a stiletto heel?

It means no stabby redheads have been in that CL.

[CharlesdeGaulle]

paulguitar said:

55palfers said:

SpeckledJim said:

CAPP0 said:

I know everyone here loves a Merc, so here's one which says P.O.R......so theoretically it could be in thread budget:



https://www.classicdriver.com/en/car/mercedes-benz...

It probably isn't, though

Without looking at the ad I'm going to guess that's €1.5m.

Funny how chrome wheel arches look sort of ok on that.

Must be a very small market for one of those. I mean, who would be interested, apart from actual dictators?

Well, me actually. I can't think of anything cooler to cruise down to my local supermarket for beer and pies in than that. And I'd feel like a dictator, which is all that matters.

[0a]

stickleback123 said:

I cannot imagine any reason why any GM Europe product from the last 25 years or so would be anything other than a panic purchase for someone who has the slightest interest in cars. How bad do you have to be for PSA to end up buying you?

ETA Look at this. From 2005. Absolute st.

Edited by stickleback123 on Monday 19th October 16:19

My Dad had a Vectra. The interior was utterly depressing!

[Bonefish Blues]

I'll leave this here.

https://www.evo.co.uk/vauxhall/vectra/14196/mitsub...

[Dapster]

TyrannosauRoss Lex said:

Triumph Man said:

Also, is the Omega one of the last cars with a mechanical drum for the odometer, rather than a digital read-out?

Good spot! Quite possibly, yes. I can't think of anything else. Although I'm sure some cars built in Russia or somewhere else may.

Good quiz question - even the LR Defender had gone digital by 2003 however I did find one from 2004...



[Rolf] Can you guess what it is yet? [/Rolf]

[Mark-C]

Macron said:

Omega V6 with flumpy velour at thread min.

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2020...

Eta and a vectra 3.2 estate at £1750.

Butlins car park never looked so good.

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2020...

Not a lot to say about that Omega other than I quite like non-leather upholstery options

[SpeckledJim]

Dapster said:

TyrannosauRoss Lex said:

Triumph Man said:

Also, is the Omega one of the last cars with a mechanical drum for the odometer, rather than a digital read-out?

Good spot! Quite possibly, yes. I can't think of anything else. Although I'm sure some cars built in Russia or somewhere else may.

Good quiz question - even the LR Defender had gone digital by 2003 however I did find one from 2004...



[Rolf] Can you guess what it is yet? [/Rolf]

Nissan GTR?

ETA: Nope! It's bloody fast whatever it is though.

[anonymous-user]

Dapster said:

Good quiz question - even the LR Defender had gone digital by 2003 however I did find one from 2004...



[Rolf] Can you guess what it is yet? [/Rolf]

Honda NSX?

[Dapster]

SpeckledJim said:

Nissan GTR?

Nearly - correct country.

https://www.pistonheads.com/buy/listing/7432511?cI...

[Dapster]

stickleback123 said:

Honda NSX?

Bingo!

[Timberwolf]

0a said:

stickleback123 said:

I cannot imagine any reason why any GM Europe product from the last 25 years or so would be anything other than a panic purchase for someone who has the slightest interest in cars. How bad do you have to be for PSA to end up buying you?

ETA Look at this. From 2005. Absolute st.

My Dad had a Vectra. The interior was utterly depressing!

GME had three distinct phases of interior.

The original "Fisher Price" era where everything is ridiculously chunky and visibly low-rent, but is more or less impervious to any damage age, children or dogs might attempt to wreak upon it. Became an embarrassment at the end of the '90s when VW pushed the perceived quality of mass market car interiors up several notches. Then there's the modern era where it looks acceptable but pick up a Vauxhall that's come from any abuse-rich environment (such as a rental) and it's a festival of pushed-in buttons, missing trim pieces and mysterious clips in the footwell.

In between we have the transitional period, the "Aiwa Midi System" era. Which somehow combined the looks of the original era with the durability of the modern one. That interior is definitely from this period.

[JeremyH5]

TyrannosauRoss Lex said:

5 In a Row said:

0a said:

170k miles, and a slightly strange price (£5,522 - designed for negotiation to the top of thread surely?!), but a large amount of swank for the cash.

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202010044...

Mudflaps is always a good sign.
Also a nice shot of the headlining - is that to prove it's unpunctured by a stiletto heel?

It means no stabby redheads have been in that CL.

She’s a blonde in pic of sunroof.

[Krikkit]

JF87 said:

Typical! When was 0mph-capable Distronic introduced? I will never spend £20K on a car, even if I could afford to.

The W221 is the first car I can think of that definitely had it, but beyond that I'm not sure.

ETA: Wiki has quite a good list, from a north american perspective of course.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adaptive_cruise_cont...

[TyrannosauRoss Lex]

stickleback123 said:

Dapster said:

Good quiz question - even the LR Defender had gone digital by 2003 however I did find one from 2004...



[Rolf] Can you guess what it is yet? [/Rolf]

Honda NSX?

Pretty easy when you go to quote and the filename link/URL includes Honda NSX in it