New car

[Hammer786]

Seat Leon fr diesel or something similar i'd go for.

[Baggee]

Originally Posted by Emjay

have you lot actually read my design brief in the original post?..why do I bother?

Look if Mr whatever his name was had listened to design briefs the quattro may never have been born. Design briefs are there to be expanded upon

[amanda]

Originally Posted by Coxy

I missed the tongue in cheek smiley!

quite honestly, the Prius is the worst car I have ever driven!

and they're not that economical either! and don't even get me started on the green thing with the very un-ecofriendly prius!

Ahhhh then we agree on something I anit green by the way but I hate things classed as green when they are not

[Coxy]

Originally Posted by Emjay

have you lot actually read my design brief in the original post?..why do I bother?

I did, but the list was a tad uninspiring!!

that said, most new cars are uninspiring!
Sorry to say this Mart, but the other week, I drove one of them Volvo C70 D5's and it has to be the only new car (apart from high end stuff obviously), that I have got in and thought, wow, this car is actually nice to drive. Everything felt well built, the 5 pot diesel lump sounded nice and grunty, and for a convertible, the car felt solid as a rock when cornering, and didn't make any squeeks or odd rattly noises like the Astra's do. So, for Modern cars, the Volvo would get a 2 thumbs up from me.
We get to drive a huge variety of modern cars in my line of work and to be fair, most of them just feel very cheap and tacky.
I don't see any Alfa's on your list? Ever considered one of them? Similar sized to the above would be a 147, and the 1.9JTDM engine is not that slouchy really.
And there is just something about the new Alfa's, well any Alfa if truth be known, they are rather sexy!

[Baggee]

Originally Posted by amanda

Ahhhh then we agree on something I anit green by the way but I hate things classed as green when they are not

You've shocked me Amanda. I thought owning 4 quattros, a Q7 and an M3 put you on a par with JC (that's Jeremy Clarkson not the Son of God, although he likes to think he is) when it came to supporting the Green Party and suporting/advertising frugal sipping petol engines

[Coxy]

here's a couple for you to look at

http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/1179316.htm

http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/1264052.htm

[SteveCat]

Leon FR mate!

All the way!

Brill handling,quick,nice shape.

Also,its ungoontlike

[Emjay]

The D5 lump is a great engine, I'm on my second now one now, the first was in an S60. Problem is the emmissions are crap and the taxman just wallops me big time. As we face another year with an ever increasing tax bill then if I going to spend any more money on a car then its going to be on me Audi. Given that I stand to save over £400 a month when I change then I'll quite happily sacrifice a bit of luxury.

Current fave for me is the Beemer. Got a good diesel, very low emissions and somehow the 318 will wallop upto 60 in about 9 seconds whereas the rest are plus 12. Can get one in M stylee but the downside is it's a bit pokey and small

[Emjay]

oh and we aren't allowed Alfa's, too unreliable apparently. Otherwise I'd be cruising around ina 159

[Coxy]

Originally Posted by Emjay

oh and we aren't allowed Alfa's, too unreliable apparently. Otherwise I'd be cruising around ina 159

The stigma of Alfa's unreliability still lives with us all! Not quite as bad as they were in the 70's and 80's at all!
I'd certainly look at an Alfa over a BMW, although it would have to be an ex demo or 6 months old just to get rid of that huge initial chunk of depreciation which hits Alfa's more than most other cars! (apart from Chrysler Sebrings!)