Stupid things non petrolheads say....

[NotDave]

DickyC said:

Mate of mine met his missus in the seventies when she was a sales exec with a GTI Golf company car. When she fell pregnant she left her job, lost her GTI and he kindly bought her a 1.3 Marina. "It's very slow. I keep forgetting when I pull out to overtake."

Is it a bloke thing to assess a car's abilities fairly quickly? I hope I wouldn't have pulled out to overtake in GTI mode in a 1.3 Marina at all, let alone "keep on" doing it.

God knows, mine's done it in the Mondeo too...... Forgets that she's in 1800cc of 5spd petrol with 125bhp and bugger all torque and not in 6spd 150bhp and fkloads of torque.

[Utterpiffle]

I thought my Father-in-law had mastered the art of bangernomics. He is retired and has a very nice life of 6 months in the UK and 6 months in the US. As such, I generally get him a car every year and then sell/break/scrap it for him when he goes to the US. He has had various niceties including a £500 '96 S280 Merc that cost him nothing to run other than fuel for 6 months, and I sold it for £550 to an exporter when he went to the states. He did this three years on the trot.

This year, he comes back and before I get the chance to pick something up for him, he goes down to Ford, and buys a '07 fiesta auto for £5.5k. When I asked why, he said he didn't want the risk of it breaking down. Other than a broken rear spring on his a-class (pretty much a service item on those), none of his bangers have ever given him grief.
In the last month, the Fiesta has been back to Ford 3 times with faults various. I just hope he'll let me get his car next time.

Then to rub it in, he told me it was between that fiesta and a 7 year old v6 x-type on LPG. Rarrrr!

[marcosgt]

NotDave said:

God knows, mine's done it in the Mondeo too...... Forgets that she's in 1800cc of 5spd petrol with 125bhp and bugger all torque and not in 6spd 150bhp and fkloads of torque.

Does it really make that much difference? 25BHP doesn't sound like it'd make a huge difference...

I must admit, once in a blue moon I forget my wife's 1.6 won't pull like my 1.3...

M.

[Blown2CV]

if there is nothing else to be learned from this thread, it is that helping or trying to change the mind of a non-petrolhead is going to be nothing but hassle and grief.

[eltax91]

Targarama said:

RizzoTheRat said:

You'd like my local scrappy then, they've started up a secondary business selling repairable stuff

http://www.repairablevehicles.co.uk/salvage-vehicl...

Old school cool:

http://www.repairablevehicles.co.uk/salvage-vehicl...

My Brother just bought an 850 estate with a huge service history, 107k miles, 11 months MOT and 7 months tax fro £550 so I don't think this 244 is good value, but I still love it.

I know its got no TAX or MOT, but looks like profit could be made. Shame Im so far away

http://www.repairablevehicles.co.uk/salvage-vehicl...

[NotDave]

marcosgt said:

Does it really make that much difference? 25BHP doesn't sound like it'd make a huge difference...

I must admit, once in a blue moon I forget my wife's 1.6 won't pull like my 1.3...

M.

125bhp petrol with 100+ nm of torque and 5spd box......


VS


150bhp 6spd box and 350+ nm of torque - because diesel

[ShampooEfficient]

eltax91 said:

I know its got no TAX or MOT, but looks like profit could be made. Shame Im so far away

http://www.repairablevehicles.co.uk/salvage-vehicl...

Damn, that's tempting.

[TAHodgson]

Similar to something i've seen a few pages back.

I very rarely have any rear seat passengers in my car, so the three rear headrests are as low as poss to help visibility. When with the ex girlfriend, on a few occasions her sister would be in the back and she's adjust one of the head rests (fair enough, crash safety and all that). Once she was out, i'd put it down again, and so on and so on. Once she said "why don't you just leave it up for me?" I responded "so I can see in my mirror" this turned into an argument, she was a bit firey. And she uttered the words "It's illegal to not have it adjusted, do YOU want points on your license" at that point I could not control my laughter.

[Cotty]

TAHodgson said:

she was a bit firey. And she uttered the words "It's illegal to not have it adjusted, do YOU want points on your license"

FFS did you ask here to point out where it says it illegal?

[Bowler]

[quote=NotDave]

So you're going to spend £8,000 to £10,000 over three years to save about £110 a year?

I'm amazed by how many people who make decisions over cars based around this annual expenditure: EG my OH.....

[NotDave]

Bowler said:

So you're going to spend £8,000 to £10,000 over three years to save about £110 a year?

I'm amazed by how many people who make decisions over cars based around this annual expenditure: EG my OH.....

Indeed. The day before yesterday my OH suggested we swap my Saab 9-3 that's been faultless in the last 2.5years and 49k miles. Why?



Because it needs 2x new front tyres at £100 each and a full service & cam-belt.


She did about 20 seconds later realise her stupidity

[Nohedes]

NotDave said:

125bhp petrol with 100+ nm of torque and 5spd box......
l

Really?! That seems exceptionally low...

[TAHodgson]

Cotty said:

FFS did you ask here to point out where it says it illegal?

She'd never even had a driving lesson, nevermind pass her test. I just found it funny that she came to the conclusion that her not adjusting her head rest would result in me getting points/fine if we were ever pulled.

[thinfourth2]

One stupid thing that non petrolheads say

I hate that car because it is small and cheap

[DKS]

My FIL has no interest in cars, yet is the only one who drives so spends his life running the rest of his family around.
NEVER checks the oil ever and only rings me when "that funny red light, looks like an oil can" comes on. Whilst putting 2 out the 3 litres the engine holds back in, I go to check the washer fluid. "Oh I always top that up, I hate not having a clear windscreen".

Priorities?! Opening the bonnet is half the work done FFS!
I've now given up badgering them for oil changes, so I know it's not had a new filter in over 20k miles, and been run dry twice. Respect for the old skool 1.6 8V Astra, but it won't last forever...

[GBB]

eltax91 said:

I know its got no TAX or MOT, but looks like profit could be made. Shame Im so far away

http://www.repairablevehicles.co.uk/salvage-vehicl...

That age and mileage and the unloved V8, I'm not sure it could. I've got a 2000W Sport with 115K on it and I reckon it's worth about £1500.

[HTP99]

eltax91 said:

I know its got no TAX or MOT, but looks like profit could be made. Shame Im so far away

http://www.repairablevehicles.co.uk/salvage-vehicl...

Who are you, Mike Brewers younger brother?!

[NotDave]

Nohedes said:

Really?! That seems exceptionally low...

Google it. 1800 DURATORQ Mondeo engines ain't exactly gutsy!



Mrs piped out another one today, when I told her not to use the Mondeo as the NSR caliper has siezed and isn't being sorted until Monday.. She replies:

"maybe we should look at getting rid?"

What??? It's a £40 part FFS!

[AstonZagato]

NotDave said:

Mrs piped out another one today, when I told her not to use the Mondeo as the NSR caliper has siezed and isn't being sorted until Monday.. She replies:

"maybe we should look at getting rid?"

What??? It's a £40 part FFS!

Ah! Depending on available resources, this is a good excuse to break out the Exchange and Mart and do some PH shopping without the OH harrumphing that you are buying another car.

[Nohedes]

NotDave said:

Google it. 1800 DURATORQ Mondeo engines ain't exactly gutsy!

Isn't the Duratorq the diesel engine - I thought Duratec was petrol? In any case, a quick Google seems to show the petrol having c165nm of torque. As you say, it ain't exactly gutsy.