Best smoker barges 1-5 large [Vol 18]

[TyrannosauRoss Lex]

Krikkit said:

Emeye said:

IMO the Volvo D5 is a great sounding diesel engine - being 5 cylinder helps.

Yep, Alfa 5-pot also sounds pretty good for a diseisel.

I'd have a straight 5 or 6 again if push came to shove, but rather walk than a 4-pot. I recently borrowed a friend's car with a misery engine and it was truly, irredeemably awful.

I have never come across a 4 cylinder diesel that's nice to use. I've driven a few 6 cylinders that have been nice, but none have been nicer than a nice 6 cylinder petrol. In most cases I'd probably rather a 6 cylinder diesel to a naff 4 cylinder petrol.

[anonymous-user]

TyrannosauRoss Lex said:

I have never come across a 4 cylinder diesel that's nice to use. I've driven a few 6 cylinders that have been nice, but none have been nicer than a nice 6 cylinder petrol. In most cases I'd probably rather a 6 cylinder diesel to a naff 4 cylinder petrol.

Absolutely - I'd have a current 330d over a 330i because of the 4 pot in the petrol model. The Volvo 5 cylinders are nice engines, the diesels have a much broader power band than a 4 cylinder diesel and sound better but they're not as smooth as a six and when the mounts wear they vibrate plenty.

An auto takes the edge off how awful a 4 pot diesel engine is, but I struggle to comprehend the reality that (most?) people consider them acceptable in cars costing £50k+. I think since at least 1999 with the first CR rattlers I've been reading/hearing nonsense like "you can't tell it's a diesel once you're on the move", which is as laughable now as it always has been. A decent 6 or 8 cylinder diesel can work very well in a barge though, 500+ mile range is a big plus in a car that can comfortably cover that in one sitting.

Edited by anonymous-user on Tuesday 23 February 18:09

[W00DY]

biggbn said:

W00DY said:

The Granada sold quickly and will likely be a decent investment filled with retro charm and uncomplicated mechanicals. The Eos will make you miserable and lonely and then it will break.

Its only redeeming feature is the reminder that people are fickle and the stupid SUV/Faux SUV craze will pass and be resigned to history alongside these hateful CC stboxes.

Edited by W00DY on Tuesday 23 February 10:23

So your absolutely sure about your position on this, its just your earlier post suggested a degree of wiggle room but, you really don't like it then?

I'm always open to changing my mind, but I think in this case that might require a baseball bat.

On today's work travels I was held up by a Renault Wind which had found its way into the motorway barriers in today's breezy conditions. Bit of nominative determinism at work there perhaps.

[AdrieBiemans]

Macron said:

Nice.

C&C does rather lend itself to fantasist pricing, outstripping even Covid walliness. Examples of others in the "500" category on there:

A very shiny CLK320 (yes, in the 500 section), with a caramac and black interior. Nice, but 5.5k nice?

https://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C1191499

And an Armani edition CLK, which is at least a 500, but FIFTY GRAND nice??!?!??!?!?!??!?

https://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C1277742

If that first one would be a 350 I'd love to have it, even at that price! The Armani edition looks nice but definitely not 50k nice

[anonymous-user]

On a barge related note, although I'm not sure these can ever be counted as barges because of their miserable power plants, the new C Class was announced today



Look at that dash to axle ratio and long nose, they've made sure there is no mistaking this for one of the FWD models.

[0a]

Derventio said:

Slightly above thread budget but maybe could be haggled down close.

Another lovely E34 with a small (but sonorous) 6 pot. this time with added usefulness and lovely wheels. I don't think I have ever seen those wheels before. Are they Alloys or hubcaps?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1995-BMW-E34-520i-SE-TO...

There appears to be far more E34s cropping up close to thread budget, lately.

Incidentally, When I was a teenager, still living back home with my parents,(about 1988ish) Our next door neighbour had an E30 320i Lux Touring in a dark metallic green colour. It was absolutely gorgeous and was one of the best sounding cars in our street.

**Derventio dashes off to search for E30 Tourings for sale!**

Edited by Derventio on Tuesday 23 February 08:22

Edited by Derventio on Tuesday 23 February 08:23

I love those wheels!

[LetsTryAgain]

0a said:

I love those wheels!

They're off a 750iL.
Never came on the E34...

[W00DY]

Call that a profile? This is a profile.


https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1991-ROVER-825-TURBO-DI...

It looks fast stood still, which is the only time it'll look fast.

[anonymous-user]

W00DY said:

Call that a profile? This is a profile.


https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1991-ROVER-825-TURBO-DI...

Even that had a six cylinder option. How sad that one with the horrible VM diesel engine has survived though



There is every possibility it left the factory with the panel, trim, and bumper fit like that. £3k? Cheap at twice the price.

[TyrannosauRoss Lex]

stickleback123 said:

On a barge related note, although I'm not sure these can ever be counted as barges because of their miserable power plants, the new C Class was announced today



Look at that dash to axle ratio and long nose, they've made sure there is no mistaking this for one of the FWD models.

Yeah saw that. Can't say I like it. I also think the interior with that screen the way it's integrated looks awful, same as with the new S class. I also think this looks very bland, although maybe seeing one in the metal may change that. I wonder if 6 cylinder options will come. It'll be sad that the AMG will have gone straight from 8 down to 4 cylinders in just 1 generation if the rumours are to be believed. That would put me off straight away I think.

Edit - just look at this. I think it's awful. Some of you may disagree, mind

[mondayo]

stickleback123 said:

On a barge related note, although I'm not sure these can ever be counted as barges because of their miserable power plants, the new C Class was announced today



Look at that dash to axle ratio and long nose, they've made sure there is no mistaking this for one of the FWD models.

I normally rely on CDG to ask this sort of question....but what do you mean by "dash to axle ratio".
Obviously, just to save him having to ask himself....

[Macron]

TyrannosauRoss Lex said:

I have never come across a 4 cylinder diesel that's nice to use.

FTFY.

Do we really need to go round this buoy again? Noise. Stink. Cancer. No amount of soundproofing stops any of that.

[Timberwolf]

TyrannosauRoss Lex said:

Edit - just look at this. I think it's awful. Some of you may disagree, mind

MB seem to be going all-in on the, "can't afford to even rent a place where you grew up, but if you're going to be living at your nan's until you're 32 you may as well find something to spend £500/month on" market. I'd probably love that if I was about 25. (And hadn't spent my actual 20s being an old-before-my-time luddite when it came to modern cars). The fact it has the olds fumbling with their mid-range Android phones to jab excitedly at interior pictures of W124s may even be considered a bonus in that context.

[josh00mac]

em177 said:

Completely agree - the car had an aftermarket bonnet badge which I removed as it was squint and looked naff. Unfortunately I can't find an OEM replacement for a decent price at the minute.

Likewise with the wheels, would love a set but again would need to be a decent used set at the right money, and the car rides so well on the HSE spec wheels.

The main reason I bought the car is that it has a spring conversion (air suspension delete), so I'm cautious about what it'll feel like on skinnier rubber...

Interested to hear about how it is on springs. I bought my old P38 because it had a decent spring conversion (much to disgust of most) - I just didn’t want the hassle or the bills from the notoriously flaky system. Who did the conversion or what kit is it, and how does it ride and handle?

Looks great - you have done a nice job cleaning it up and returning to spec

[kevinon]

TyrannosauRoss Lex said:

Yeah saw that. Can't say I like it. I also think the interior with that screen the way it's integrated looks awful, same as with the new S class. I also think this looks very bland, although maybe seeing one in the metal may change that. I wonder if 6 cylinder options will come. It'll be sad that the AMG will have gone straight from 8 down to 4 cylinders in just 1 generation if the rumours are to be believed. That would put me off straight away I think.

Edit - just look at this. I think it's awful. Some of you may disagree, mind

Totally agree TRL. One example; the steering wheel. It looks like a kid has built his own console wheel so he can play 2 games at once.

[W00DY]

TyrannosauRoss Lex said:

Yeah saw that. Can't say I like it. I also think the interior with that screen the way it's integrated looks awful, same as with the new S class. I also think this looks very bland, although maybe seeing one in the metal may change that. I wonder if 6 cylinder options will come. It'll be sad that the AMG will have gone straight from 8 down to 4 cylinders in just 1 generation if the rumours are to be believed. That would put me off straight away I think.

Edit - just look at this. I think it's awful. Some of you may disagree, mind

Like a nightmare in which I'm being assaulted by a gang of robots.

[alec.e]

W00DY said:

TyrannosauRoss Lex said:

Yeah saw that. Can't say I like it. I also think the interior with that screen the way it's integrated looks awful, same as with the new S class. I also think this looks very bland, although maybe seeing one in the metal may change that. I wonder if 6 cylinder options will come. It'll be sad that the AMG will have gone straight from 8 down to 4 cylinders in just 1 generation if the rumours are to be believed. That would put me off straight away I think.

Edit - just look at this. I think it's awful. Some of you may disagree, mind

Like a nightmare in which I'm being assaulted by a gang of robots.

That steering wheel is awful, don't like the dashboard, the door card and seat look nice though, does look very 'premium'- whether that translates into real life remains to be seen.

[0a]

Such screenage always looks cheap, because they are cheap. Why can manufacturers love using them.

[mondayo]

W00DY said:

TyrannosauRoss Lex said:

Yeah saw that. Can't say I like it. I also think the interior with that screen the way it's integrated looks awful, same as with the new S class. I also think this looks very bland, although maybe seeing one in the metal may change that. I wonder if 6 cylinder options will come. It'll be sad that the AMG will have gone straight from 8 down to 4 cylinders in just 1 generation if the rumours are to be believed. That would put me off straight away I think.

Edit - just look at this. I think it's awful. Some of you may disagree, mind

Like a nightmare in which I'm being assaulted by a gang of robots.

What is it?

That giant tablet thing looks like it's not even at the right angle, like it started off more vertical but then started to slip.

And I really hate the latest trend for no buttons, because that's going to work well.

It's not a good and classy or resolved looking thing.

Also, I had a conversation with someone (probably not recently due to not getting out much) but it's the airport test. Where, can you get into a car in the dark and be able to drive it and operate it's controls easily and safely.
And I think with cars like this you can't. I had a Kia thing last year and it was a fking nightmare.... constantly bonging at me and basic functions were hidden in various menus. Hated it.

[anonymous-user]

mondayo said:

I normally rely on CDG to ask this sort of question....but what do you mean by "dash to axle ratio".
Obviously, just to save him having to ask himself....

There are a couple of explanations available:

https://www.autoblog.com/2013/08/13/dash-to-axle-a...
https://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2017/11/vellum-v...

However in short it's the size of the gap between the cowl/bulkhead/effectively the leading edge of the front door to the wheel arch. On FWD transverse engine cars the front wheel is often right up against the door, as below, such that a line drawn from the A pillar carrying on to the ground would pass in front of the wheel.


On a real car with right wheel drive it looks more like this (extreme example used)


You'll notice that even on small but proper cars like a 3 series or the new C Class (agree it's bland, but that's kind of the point of a Mercedes saloon isn't it?) this gap is noticeably larger than on FWD stuff. It also means more space behind the strut towers for engine so the car doesn't end up having a load of weight hanging in the nose (which is why almost everything VAG makes isn't very nice to drive, whatever journalists might say.

It's also why that 800 looks so gawky from the side - it has a long bonnet to give it that long thrusting bonnet look an 80s junior sales executive needed but then the wheel right back towards the door because it's wrong wheel drive, giving it a long front overhang and knock-kneed look with a short wheelbase relative to it's length.

It's also quite illustrative to look at engine bay shots of, say, a Golf (or Audi if you want something with a longitudinal engine done wrong) and look at where the top of the dampers and a line between them sits relative to the engines mass and then compare it to something like a BMW or Jaguar (or MX5!) that pushes the engine almost entirely behind that line.

Edited by anonymous-user on Tuesday 23 February 20:05