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Rant on Euroboxes etc. Does anyone else feel this way ?

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Wolfmann:
Car "designers" have no idea, it is all driven by wind tunnels and accountants now. I'd willingly give up a bit of raw power and a few MPG for some style !
There isn't a modern car I could fall in love with. The F355 is about the most modern car I admire. Don't think it is anything to do with being 50, I just appreciate beauty whilst everyone else seems to prefer the convenience and so called practicality of driving around in a slab sided Eurobox bread van like a Zafira or one of its "MPV" clones. Our roads have never been so dull and bereft of visualy appealing vehicles. Don't even get me started on "4x4's ! Designed to smash pedestrian bodies and keep your family safe in a collision whilst cheerfully killing everyone in the other vehicle. They should all be banned and restricted to farmers permits, never allowed in cities ESPECIALLY London, it's an outrage.
For all the greens out there this 48 year old car has been recycled and even with its 30 MPG best it will, in its limited use lifetime, produce far less CO2 than it would take to produce a hideous electric vehicle and its batteries (not to mention the ongoing filth from charging it from a coal or gas fired power station. What a con !!). Even if we ever have "clean" power generation (forget the radioactive waste) the manufacture of new vehicles liberates huge amounts of greenhouse gas (if it's true!).
So there !
 ;D

This was originally posted on Flickr after someone complimented my W113 and opined that it was born in an era when style still mattered. It's not really a diatribe, just designed to provoke some discussion and or passion !

JamesL:
But our car was never a Eurobox.... contemporary cars of ours: Cortina, Kadett, Viva that were mass produced are today the Zafira, Megane and Focus.

There are some stylish cars around that are a premium - as ours was at the time (2x the E-type??) that don't invlove a Ferrari or Aston.  Admitedly, telling them apart can sometimes be challenging as one "successful" design feature is immediately copied by everyone (dotted driving-lights/eyebrows, anyone?). I like the Mini, the little Fiat and the VW (OK, just kidding...). We are, however, unlikely to see a mass-produced car with the longevity of the originals from thgose manufacturers due, in part, to their status as "first family car" for so many people.

Neil Thompson:
Don't knock the Zafira!, been built for over 12 years and stood the test of time very well for a volume people carrier. Some low emissions, some high power, all can carry 3.5 times the maximum Pagoda passengers and much cheaper, horses for courses as they say!, and selling them has helped me buy, amongst other things, a Pagoda, or two.., as for 4x4's, the passion for the biggest, heaviest machines which will climb mountains and cost more than a 3 bed semi in many parts of the uk and yet spend most of the time on the road is outrageously unbelievable!, until you drive one, test drive a new Range Rover Vogue and see why it's the most enjoyable way to look after your family!

Wolfmann:
I never knocked the practicality of the Zafira,its people carrying ability, its safety, capability or its cost effectiveness, I just bemoan the fact that it is an anonymous style vacuum of automotive engineering that says little about its owner  ;) (it just isn't on the Top Gear cool wall is it ?).

I can well understand the ego swelling capability of large 4x4 vehicles and I'm sure that it is very infectious. I keep my family safe in a Mercedes E class diesel, I'm afraid I cannot see beyond the selfish sentiments of "I'm alright Jack, sod everyone else" that I explained in my first post. I'd ban all of 'em !!!!!

S.

Neil Thompson:
If everything was on the Top Gear cool wall it wouldn't be cool any more. The majority of the cars on the wall, with a few exceptions, will never even be seen on the road by most of the population never mind be affordable by the same. There has to be a differentiation between reality and dreamers and when reality kicks in, you buy a 'eurobox'. The same could be said about this Forum and it's members, me included. I bet the owners of many less expensive classics would love to own a Pagoda but are priced out of the Market by the more fortunate (many on here) and have to opt for something within budget and not on the Classic Car Cool Wall!, as for the 4x4' well, this time of year I'd feel happier with my family in the Range Rover than a RWD E Class! But then again I live outside of London.

Neil

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