Birds and pandas - wots all that about?
New Monday, new week, here we go again.
Started reading a book again at the weekend, not something I've been in the mood for lately. Life's to complicated; sometimes there's real need to slow down and find some way to relax a bit more. I do also think some people are too inconsiderate of what they say and do and how it affects others around them, probably on of the reasons I'm just not relaxed recently, to busy trying to get my head round others and their manipulative way of getting things done. I think I need a change of scenery for a long wile to see if it helps.
Also Starting to get around a wee bit more in the new Panda we bought a week and a half ago. Its much better than the one we tried a year and a half ago. Mind you, that was a bottom of the range 1.1 petrol front wheel drive model, and the one we have is a 4x4 model, which has the middle of the range specs as well as being higher and 4x4 in nature.
The mpg is not up to full economy yet, but that will be because the car's not fully run in yet, still a little tight and much bedding down still to be done yet. I do recommend anyone thinking about a small car looks at them, they are just as well made as any other on the market at the moment. Much better than the previous Fiat small cars I suspect, not that that's to much of a problem since Fiat have always been much better at making small cheap cars than large ones over the years.
I feel all in all, it’s a better buy than the Disco was (1996 Land Rover Discovery XS V8I - big, comfortable relaxing, expensive, thirsty, bit of a stupid thing to buy I confess…). Its fun to drive the new Panda, but strangely also probably much more sensible than the Disco, and no where near as boring as the Toyota Yaris was by a long way. Not that there was anything wrong with the Yaris, it just didn’t do anything for me. As a self-confessed car nut, I prefer cars with history, novelty, mechanical oddity and intelligent engineering quality. Not boring, same as everything else - can't tell one make from another - styling. I still rank my old 2CV as probably the closest car ever so far to a true car for the normal man, not a pretentious fad for showing off how much money you have. I was really surprised how easy it is to get sucked into the one-upmanship of a big flash car. Must make a mental note to avoid that in the future.
OK, I admit there's a wee bit of showing off in the 4x4 Panda, but its also a unique car in the 4x4 market at the moment, because its worth less to buy than many big expensive 4x4 toys lose the minute they leave the dealer's showroom. And from what I've read its just as capable as many off the road to boot. There are also so few normal Pandas on the road at the moment that many people haven't even seen one, no matter a rare 4x4 version, which means its going to stand out more in the future as an unusual interesting wee car when we come to sell it on.
Paula's very happy with it too as far as I can make out. That makes it much more enjoyable to own, because she's not always as interested in cars as I am, which does cause some friction on occasion. I don't mind buying cars that she prefers, but all I ask is to get something enjoyable out of it myself, which is not easy in today's "same as everyone else" automotive design mentality. I bought a book on how to be a bad birdwatcher at the weekend for amusement. The first paragraph likened bad bird watching against Twitchers to the difference between a normal everyday motorist (who doesn't really share any passion to what he drives) betweeen that of a classic car nut, who constantly looks at other cars and knows everything to the minutest detail about what his car would look like when it was new or better etc, how it works and how to fix it.
Probably means I'm one of the latter, but no matter, what's wrong with that, I ask? Life would be much more boring without some sort of passion in something.
Started reading a book again at the weekend, not something I've been in the mood for lately. Life's to complicated; sometimes there's real need to slow down and find some way to relax a bit more. I do also think some people are too inconsiderate of what they say and do and how it affects others around them, probably on of the reasons I'm just not relaxed recently, to busy trying to get my head round others and their manipulative way of getting things done. I think I need a change of scenery for a long wile to see if it helps.
Also Starting to get around a wee bit more in the new Panda we bought a week and a half ago. Its much better than the one we tried a year and a half ago. Mind you, that was a bottom of the range 1.1 petrol front wheel drive model, and the one we have is a 4x4 model, which has the middle of the range specs as well as being higher and 4x4 in nature.
The mpg is not up to full economy yet, but that will be because the car's not fully run in yet, still a little tight and much bedding down still to be done yet. I do recommend anyone thinking about a small car looks at them, they are just as well made as any other on the market at the moment. Much better than the previous Fiat small cars I suspect, not that that's to much of a problem since Fiat have always been much better at making small cheap cars than large ones over the years.
I feel all in all, it’s a better buy than the Disco was (1996 Land Rover Discovery XS V8I - big, comfortable relaxing, expensive, thirsty, bit of a stupid thing to buy I confess…). Its fun to drive the new Panda, but strangely also probably much more sensible than the Disco, and no where near as boring as the Toyota Yaris was by a long way. Not that there was anything wrong with the Yaris, it just didn’t do anything for me. As a self-confessed car nut, I prefer cars with history, novelty, mechanical oddity and intelligent engineering quality. Not boring, same as everything else - can't tell one make from another - styling. I still rank my old 2CV as probably the closest car ever so far to a true car for the normal man, not a pretentious fad for showing off how much money you have. I was really surprised how easy it is to get sucked into the one-upmanship of a big flash car. Must make a mental note to avoid that in the future.
OK, I admit there's a wee bit of showing off in the 4x4 Panda, but its also a unique car in the 4x4 market at the moment, because its worth less to buy than many big expensive 4x4 toys lose the minute they leave the dealer's showroom. And from what I've read its just as capable as many off the road to boot. There are also so few normal Pandas on the road at the moment that many people haven't even seen one, no matter a rare 4x4 version, which means its going to stand out more in the future as an unusual interesting wee car when we come to sell it on.
Paula's very happy with it too as far as I can make out. That makes it much more enjoyable to own, because she's not always as interested in cars as I am, which does cause some friction on occasion. I don't mind buying cars that she prefers, but all I ask is to get something enjoyable out of it myself, which is not easy in today's "same as everyone else" automotive design mentality. I bought a book on how to be a bad birdwatcher at the weekend for amusement. The first paragraph likened bad bird watching against Twitchers to the difference between a normal everyday motorist (who doesn't really share any passion to what he drives) betweeen that of a classic car nut, who constantly looks at other cars and knows everything to the minutest detail about what his car would look like when it was new or better etc, how it works and how to fix it.
Probably means I'm one of the latter, but no matter, what's wrong with that, I ask? Life would be much more boring without some sort of passion in something.
posted by Gordon In Aberdeen at 12:50 pm
1 Comments:
I told you so!!!
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