Little luxury cars

[Sundance]

1 hour ago, Rabbers said:

Anyone wanting to understand the difference between having an opinion and being opinionated should read this thread. 

Hardly necessary Renato.  I only need to read the first line of Bernard's (dutchie01) post of yesterday and I can safely assume the rest! 😄

As for a little luxury car, look no further than this classic of its day with leather seats, wood veneer instrument fascia and chrome gear lever as standard. Yours for a mere £13k ...

 

[Malc1]

is that a Wolseley or a Riley ? ... now there's true quality in abundance

Malc

[Boomer54]

10 minutes ago, Malc1 said:

is that a Wolseley or a Riley ? ... now there's true quality in abundance

Malc

It looks like an Hillman Imp to me albeit I have not seen one for so long I could easily be mistaken. I don't recall it being synonymous with quality at the time.

[Lmafudd]

You have to love those discrete door hinges!

[Malc1]

2 minutes ago, Boomer54 said:

Hillman Imp

nowt like a Hillman Imp .  i had one brand new in 1969 ............  nope, that's a BMC marque of quality

takes me a little back to my days of owning, proudly, a Wolseley 16/60 and a Wolseley 6/110 ( or was that a Westminster of same 3ltr ilk ? )

Malc

[Boomer54]

43 minutes ago, Malc1 said:

nowt like a Hillman Imp .  i had one brand new in 1969 ............  nope, that's a BMC marque of quality

takes me a little back to my days of owning, proudly, a Wolseley 16/60 and a Wolseley 6/110 ( or was that a Westminster of same 3ltr ilk ? )

Malc

You're right, not an Imp at all.  The bonnet also completely different.

[First_Lexus]

1 hour ago, Malc1 said:

is that a Wolseley or a Riley ? ... now there's true quality in abundance

Malc

Either a Wolseley Hornet (with the light up grille badge!) or a Riley Elf. Both were based on the Mini, with different front and back treatments and luxury interiors, essentially the predecessors of the Vanden Plas 1300 (based on the BMC/BL 1100/1300 range) then the Vanden Plas 1500 based on the Allegro, and finally the Vanden Plas Metro, Rover 216, Maestro, Montego etc. Later MG/Rover used the ‘Mayfair’ tag on Mini, Metro, Maestro and Montego for the same effect, but things had declined even more with velour replacing leather as standard (with leather as an option). By the time the last Honda derived Rover 216 had arrived they’d even dropped that, with the GSi being the top model (from memory). Fashions had simply changed.

As time went on the real walnut dashboards, picnic tables and deep pile Wilton carpets were replaced with fake wood, bling and ‘extras’ as standard, much as a Fiesta Ghia or Astra CD was in comparison with a standard model.

The BMC/BL idea was to appeal to the customer who had owned a Jaguar or Rover (P5, P6) and who wanted similar levels of luxury and traditional treatments in a smaller car - much as Alan asked right at the start of this thread. The problem was that the German brands were already prioritising the ‘driving experience’ over tradition and younger customers in the 70s preferred the break from what they saw as the staid vehicles of their parents and grandparents. Shame, as there could have been room for both had BL not imploded with strikes, terrible build quality and general mismanagement. I think the last company to really try such an approach was Renault with the Clio Baccara, perhaps also the Peugeot 106/205 Gentry.

Anyway, back to the original question. There are smaller cars with nice interiors, and there are smaller cars that are reliable and well built. The UX is one, Audi A1, BMW 1-Series etc. However, in my opinion none of them try to match the ‘quality’ of materials in the larger models in their respective ranges. They are all perfectly fine in isolation, but if you sit in an Audi A1 and then an Audi A6 (for example) the plastics feel more dense, there is more soft touch treatment, more leather, ‘surprise and delight’ features and so on. I don’t know if the plastics used are actually different, or how they may be different, but the perceived quality is certainly greater based on my experience. Same with UX vs RX, and that shouldn’t be a great surprise as companies need to justify (or try to) why customers would want the larger and more expensive model (apart from the obvious ‘because I can’ factor!)

[Sundance]

59 minutes ago, Malc1 said:

is that a Wolseley or a Riley ? ... now there's true quality in abundance

Malc

[First_Lexus]

22 minutes ago, Sundance said:

Hard to imagine now, but when I was growing up our neighbour opposite replaced his Rover P6 2200 with a new Wolseley 2200, which was a badge engineered ‘wedge’ Princess. I guess that was 1975. At the time his new car was seen as cutting edge, even bleeding edge, as the styling was so different and modern. Inside there was luxury but also moulded plastics in all sorts of funky shapes. It was like he’d bought a spaceship, and we youngsters were very jealous. At the time my Father had a Granada Ghia from memory, but shortly after even he switched to a Toyota Corona and then a Cressida, before a dalliance with a Rover SD1 3500 followed by a Renault  25.

Back to the wedge, the Wolseley grille and light up badge remained. Move on fifty years and the P6 is still (rightly) seen as a beautiful and desirable thing, with a great following. The wedge Princesses not so much…

The original question here reminds me of one thing. My Father had always had big company cars. I was used to that growing up. I was at University when he retired, and came home at one point excited to see what he’d bought for his retirement. I expected a big Mercedes, or possibly a Jaguar. What I saw was a bright red Peugeot 205 Automatic 3-door! “It’s my money now, this is all I need.” It was certainly a life lesson, and I should add it was a brilliant car. He later gave it to my (then) wife, who ran it for years. 

[Malc1]

i saw a brilliant tiny red Peugeot here the other day .  an early L reg, is that 1992 then ?  Little old lady driving .  guess she might have had that from new too ......... remembering I had an old white tiny Peugeot 104 ?  alongside my first Ls400 too that i used to love driving, could throw it around anywhere and about 100 mpg if i remember ..  when i used to worry about fuel costs in those bad old days of being hard-up 🤣

Peugeot made some smashing tiny brilliant cars 

Malc

[Mr Vlad]

OMG what has this tread turned into in just it's 4th page.

My not so good brain is now frazzled lol.

I wish you well in your search for a small luxury car. I really do.

You know what Linas. In a couple your posts I read with great interest and thought 'you know what Vlad he's effing bang on'. 

My current steed (Ford focus Zetec S 1.5 ecoboost) isn't a luxury car. No leather seats but dya know what? The cloth type material seats are amongst the most comfortable I've ever had in a car. The plastics in it, and boy oh boy there's tons of it lo, feel quite ruddy good. The door shut sound is a solid thud, nowt better. At the end of the day it's a really really nice place to be in. I've had premium is300h. F sport RX450h. SE-L is250. Loved being in them too. Am I a closet snob? Ruddy hope not. At the end of the day surely it's how you feel when you get into your car. You set your phone down. Start the car. Look at what lights come on and go off again. Look at the instrument cluster and give a wry smile. Engage drive then set off. Listening to the music you like, or listening to an audio book or the radio, and driving to your destination. It's how you feel whilst you're in the car. It's how you feel when you get out of the car. 

It's only in the last couple of decades I've actually appreciated my cars. Yes older cars but they're the ones I like. Never skimped on them. But the way I've felt about the cars and feel about my cars. You know what I do every time I get out of my cars? I pat it and say 'thanks bud'.

So if a cars got shagpile carpet or a rubber floor mat so what. Leather seats aren't the be all and end all. What IS important to me in a car is a ruddy good sound system. That's me. Sod 'him' over the road.

A good few weeks back the missus and me got a taxi into Leeds centre. Blow me it was a newish GS300h. We both said to each other 'hey this is a really nice place to be in' oh so smooth on the road. Because of the mechanics you just can't get the same in a small car. The weight and size matters.

So downsizing inheritantly impacts the 'luxury ' of a car.

I need a coffee. Am off.

 

[Rabbers]

3 hours ago, Lmafudd said:

You have to love those discrete door hinges!

Indeed.  I reckon they kept the car stable at high speeds and probably inspired the side strakes on the Ferrari Testarossa. 

[MartinH]

46 minutes ago, Malc1 said:

Peugeot made some smashing tiny brilliant cars 

 

Haha yes, I had two successive 304 Cabriolets, plenty big boot for two people's luggage, and strap the bike in on rear shelf with the wheels off. The first one had to be re-built after a stolen double-decker London bus side-swiped it. (This is true.)