What do you drive?

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#965154 11-Jan-2014 16:19

BigMal:
blakamin:
BigMal:

Though I have imported a newish car from Japan that should arrive in the next 10 days. 2008 Mazda Atenza Wagon. It'll be my first time owning a car built this millennium :-)

Be interested in seeing pics of that... mrs has a 2008 mazda 6 wagon.

It hasn't arrived yet but from the Japanese site:

Some subtle differences, but the body shape is pretty much the same. thanks!

Peppery

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#965223 11-Jan-2014 20:03

2006 Audi A4 2.0T Quattro S-Line in silver. NZ new, bought her in 2012 at 60,000kms. Love it to bits :)

Camden

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#965235 11-Jan-2014 21:04

On my third car since I retired eight years ago, having had free issue company cars for the previous thirty five years.

Volvo XC70 4WD wagon 2001, Bought at 70000km, Sold at 165000km.Ex Japan and owned for five years.

Volvo V50 Wagon 2004 Bought at 72000km and sold at 120000km. Ex Japan and owned for three years.

VW Passat Wagon 3.2L V6 4WD. Bought four weeks ago at 92000km. Again Ex Japan.

Now my latest pride and joy has the optional lowered sports suspension, Sports R series steering wheel and sports seats. The ride is ok but gee does it handle and it goes like the devil is chasing it. The six speed twin clutch gearbox is not quite as smooth as a torque converter at idle speed but very quick to change.

clevedon

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#965567 12-Jan-2014 17:08

Here's my latest vehicle, only 18,000kms on it currently. 307 kw, 6 speed manual.

And my ute before that.

jarledb

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#965755 12-Jan-2014 22:09

I love that high powered cars are not taxed to death here in NZ. In Norway these cars would be way too expensive because of taxation of larger engines.

BUT, I have to admit I am not sure when a high powered car is actually of any use here in NZ?!

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driller2000

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#965758 12-Jan-2014 22:20

jarledb: I love that high powered cars are not taxed to death here in NZ. In Norway these cars would be way too expensive because of taxation of larger engines.

BUT, I have to admit I am not sure when a high powered car is actually of any use here in NZ?!

sure they are of use - useful for large fuel bills, tyre bills and speeding tickets :)

my drive - 2006 ve ss v - imho hard to beat in terms of bang for buck and loads of fun to drive:

Geektastic

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#965792 12-Jan-2014 23:15

jarledb: I love that high powered cars are not taxed to death here in NZ. In Norway these cars would be way too expensive because of taxation of larger engines.

BUT, I have to admit I am not sure when a high powered car is actually of any use here in NZ?!

My neighbour has a $250,000 Aston Martin.

Sounds gorgeous when he goes down the road, and he sure can get to 100kmh really fast. And his car probably does 10 miles per gallon and costs $2000 per service and $1000 a corner for tyres.

With no proper motorways in NZ, cars like that occupy the same niche as they do in Hong Kong and Singapore - conspicuous display of wealth.

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Talkiet

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#965796 12-Jan-2014 23:29

Geektastic:
jarledb: I love that high powered cars are not taxed to death here in NZ. In Norway these cars would be way too expensive because of taxation of larger engines.

BUT, I have to admit I am not sure when a high powered car is actually of any use here in NZ?!

My neighbour has a $250,000 Aston Martin.

Sounds gorgeous when he goes down the road, and he sure can get to 100kmh really fast. And his car probably does 10 miles per gallon and costs $2000 per service and $1000 a corner for tyres.

With no proper motorways in NZ, cars like that occupy the same niche as they do in Hong Kong and Singapore - conspicuous display of wealth.

You can both think what you want, but I have two personal experiences where having a really powerful, fast car has been the major contributor to avoiding an accident.

First - I was driving in Auckland at normal speeds (50kmh in lightish traffic) and was just going about my business heading up to a green light near Mt Wellington. I was proceeding ahead through the light in the left lane, and there were 3-4 cars in the right lane, turning right. Out of nowhere a 10-12 year old kid came sprinting across the crosswalk (TOTALLY against a red walk sign) and directly into my path.

If I was driving an entry level Subaru, WITHOUT the nice fat tyres and the upgraded brakes and suspension that come with being a very fast car, I _WOULD_ have hit the kid or would have had to turn onto a sidewalk which also had people on it, or into the lane of parked cars beside me. As it was I slammed on the brakes. The brakes, tyres and ABS all did their job and my bonnet still touched the kid, but only just, and he didn't even get knocked to the ground. Without the great brakes he would have been hit hard enough to have a real chance of getting a very solid hit on the head, or being knocked to the ground.

Second - driving up Mt Eden road about to turn left into my street... a bus pulled out fast without indicating from his stop (I had indicated) and directly into my path. I nailed it and the car leapt across in front of the bus safely into the street I was turning into. Again, in an entry level Legacy, there would have been an accident.

In both cases, having what you might consider a 'high powered car' was of great use to me here in New Zealand.

So for everyone that assumes fast cars are only for going fast - you can go jump in the lake. High end and fast cars almost always handle better, have better brakes and better safety systems than entry level models. If those things are unimportant to you, then I would respectfully submit that you have your priorities wrong.

Cheers - N

Please note all comments are from my own brain and don't necessarily represent the position or opinions of my employer, previous employers, colleagues, friends or pets.

Geektastic

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#965797 12-Jan-2014 23:37

Talkiet:
Geektastic:
jarledb: I love that high powered cars are not taxed to death here in NZ. In Norway these cars would be way too expensive because of taxation of larger engines.

BUT, I have to admit I am not sure when a high powered car is actually of any use here in NZ?!

My neighbour has a $250,000 Aston Martin.

Sounds gorgeous when he goes down the road, and he sure can get to 100kmh really fast. And his car probably does 10 miles per gallon and costs $2000 per service and $1000 a corner for tyres.

With no proper motorways in NZ, cars like that occupy the same niche as they do in Hong Kong and Singapore - conspicuous display of wealth.

You can both think what you want, but I have two personal experiences where having a really powerful, fast car has been the major contributor to avoiding an accident.

First - I was driving in Auckland at normal speeds (50kmh in lightish traffic) and was just going about my business heading up to a green light near Mt Wellington. I was proceeding ahead through the light in the left lane, and there were 3-4 cars in the right lane, turning right. Out of nowhere a 10-12 year old kid came sprinting across the crosswalk (TOTALLY against a red walk sign) and directly into my path.

If I was driving an entry level Subaru, WITHOUT the nice fat tyres and the upgraded brakes and suspension that come with being a very fast car, I _WOULD_ have hit the kid or would have had to turn onto a sidewalk which also had people on it, or into the lane of parked cars beside me. As it was I slammed on the brakes. The brakes, tyres and ABS all did their job and my bonnet still touched the kid, but only just, and he didn't even get knocked to the ground. Without the great brakes he would have been hit hard enough to have a real chance of getting a very solid hit on the head, or being knocked to the ground.

Second - driving up Mt Eden road about to turn left into my street... a bus pulled out fast without indicating from his stop (I had indicated) and directly into my path. I nailed it and the car leapt across in front of the bus safely into the street I was turning into. Again, in an entry level Legacy, there would have been an accident.

In both cases, having what you might consider a 'high powered car' was of great use to me here in New Zealand.

So for everyone that assumes fast cars are only for going fast - you can go jump in the lake. High end and fast cars almost always handle better, have better brakes and better safety systems than entry level models. If those things are unimportant to you, then I would respectfully submit that you have your priorities wrong.

Cheers - N

I would suggest that any modern car doing 50kmh would stop on a sixpence. Even my Toyota Alphard MPV with ABS, EBD and Stability Control would do that. I concur that many of the POS cars somehow still legally allowed on our roads would not, however.

Of course, you should always expect the unexpected, especially coming up to crossings and especially if turning cars have obscured a clear view of the crossing.

Talkiet

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#965812 13-Jan-2014 00:15

Geektastic:[snip]

I would suggest that any modern car doing 50kmh would stop on a sixpence. Even my Toyota Alphard MPV with ABS, EBD and Stability Control would do that. I concur that many of the POS cars somehow still legally allowed on our roads would not, however.

Of course, you should always expect the unexpected, especially coming up to crossings and especially if turning cars have obscured a clear view of the crossing.

Whatever your opinion about 'any modern car' may be - it doesn't change the fact that high performance cars have better brakes than cheaper and more mainstream cars. Whatever the speed, a performance vehicle is going to be way more likely to stop faster and more safely than an average family sedan.

And I did expect the unexpected. I fully believe nearly anyone else, in 90% of cars on the road would have hit the kid hard.

I consider the idea that performance cars are pointless in NZ utterly debunked now. That was my only intent in supplying the anecdotes - to give real life examples of the sort of benefits beyond going really fast that powerful cars have.

Cheers - N

Please note all comments are from my own brain and don't necessarily represent the position or opinions of my employer, previous employers, colleagues, friends or pets.

nakedmolerat

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#965820 13-Jan-2014 00:32

Talkiet: You can both think what you want, but I have two personal experiences where having a really powerful, fast car has been the major contributor to avoiding an accident.

First - I was driving in Auckland at normal speeds (50kmh in lightish traffic) and was just going about my business heading up to a green light near Mt Wellington. I was proceeding ahead through the light in the left lane, and there were 3-4 cars in the right lane, turning right. Out of nowhere a 10-12 year old kid came sprinting across the crosswalk (TOTALLY against a red walk sign) and directly into my path.

If I was driving an entry level Subaru, WITHOUT the nice fat tyres and the upgraded brakes and suspension that come with being a very fast car, I _WOULD_ have hit the kid or would have had to turn onto a sidewalk which also had people on it, or into the lane of parked cars beside me. As it was I slammed on the brakes. The brakes, tyres and ABS all did their job and my bonnet still touched the kid, but only just, and he didn't even get knocked to the ground. Without the great brakes he would have been hit hard enough to have a real chance of getting a very solid hit on the head, or being knocked to the ground.

Second - driving up Mt Eden road about to turn left into my street... a bus pulled out fast without indicating from his stop (I had indicated) and directly into my path. I nailed it and the car leapt across in front of the bus safely into the street I was turning into. Again, in an entry level Legacy, there would have been an accident.

In both cases, having what you might consider a 'high powered car' was of great use to me here in New Zealand.

So for everyone that assumes fast cars are only for going fast - you can go jump in the lake. High end and fast cars almost always handle better, have better brakes and better safety systems than entry level models. If those things are unimportant to you, then I would respectfully submit that you have your priorities wrong.

Cheers - N

Yeah, performance car vs entry level subaru.

Athlonite

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#965834 13-Jan-2014 05:23

for me it's a 92 Toyota Corolla 5dr hatch it's a collectors item as it was produced for the 92 americas cup challenge it's got central locking , 5 speed, alloys + the spare and is the last run of corollas made in NZ before the factory was shut down

clevedon

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#965837 13-Jan-2014 06:41

Geektastic:
jarledb: I love that high powered cars are not taxed to death here in NZ. In Norway these cars would be way too expensive because of taxation of larger engines.

BUT, I have to admit I am not sure when a high powered car is actually of any use here in NZ?!

My neighbour has a $250,000 Aston Martin.

Sounds gorgeous when he goes down the road, and he sure can get to 100kmh really fast. And his car probably does 10 miles per gallon and costs $2000 per service and $1000 a corner for tyres.

With no proper motorways in NZ, cars like that occupy the same niche as they do in Hong Kong and Singapore - conspicuous display of wealth.

Motorways are boring - big long straights and lots of traffic.

Rural roads with heaps of corners are much more enjoyable.

Jaxson

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#965855 13-Jan-2014 08:15

Sports car debate:

Man I must have been watching this for waaay too long! It used to be on TV1 very late when they used to switch programming content over to the BBC satellite feed each night. That was way back before it became really popular in NZ. Had people like Tiff Needell and Vicky Butler Henderson who later went to Fifth Gear. The timing was perfect after coming home as a student from the pub, if alone, ahem...

Me I drive a Mazda MPV people wagon. There I said it, I feel like I'm at a group meeting for people who now drive things they never ever thought they would. Truth be told it's a pretty good car, ideal for kids and their mate, or taking grandparents out along with the family. It has 3 seats in the back where the whole bench disappears into the floor, so you have a massive back space, or extra seats and still have a good boot. And the seating position is very comfortable, like you're on a real seat at home at the computer. Oh and it has sliding doors on the rear seats, which is actually awesome for taking kids out in tight car parking spaces.

It does however lack a certain amount of power, just a bit less than your average lawn mower really. I recently got some new spark plug leads for it from Amazon in the US for $75NZ and this included fast postage to get them here before Christmas. Fixed the misfire problem completely so very happy now. Also go the 6x iridium spark plugs from Ebay for $75NZ all up including postage, instead of the $33 each from Repco/Supercheap. I'd highly recommened looking online if you need anything like that and can wait a few weeks for them. Also, did I say it's got street cred. Ours doesn't have a Mazda logo on the front (I presume it fell off) so people don't quite know what it is when it rolls up. And it's got this massive body kit skirt on it, so it scrapes EVERYWHERE, just like a lowered crappy sports car would, so that makes it faster right? I think it only adds to the overall brick like aerodynamic styling of the car. Awesome.

jarledb

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#966441 13-Jan-2014 20:52

clevedon:
Motorways are boring - big long straights and lots of traffic.

Rural roads with heaps of corners are much more enjoyable.

I agree with you there. Don't need a huge engine to enjoy that, but a fairly light and well put together sports car will let you enjoy the twists and turns of corners.

The most fun car in that respect I have driven is the Lotus Elise, but anything in that kind of category will be great for that kind of driving.

The station wagon I have it not really made for that kind of driving at all. But motorway cruising it does quite well. :D

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