Day 5 - The new Transit :-(

[Moley]

Ah, the good old days. Try explaining the use of a manual choke to kids these days or how about the days when you dipped the headlights with a foot switch. Anyone remember that? Think it was on my old mans 1950s Morris Oxford Traveler.

 

[brianmoooore]

Not sure when they swapped over to wind up from sliding.

They didn't for a long time after '69, which is when I'm on about. The Riley Elf (and Wolseley Hornet) were upmarket, posh versions of the Mini, with the most obvious difference being that they had an extended body at the rear, forming a 'proper' boot. Other differences were a leather interior, a more conventional dashboard with glove boxes, a 1000cc engine, rather than the more usual 850 at the time, and the wind up windows. All this was built into a conventional Mini shell, the engine tuned into a 7500RPM screamer, which I then managed to register as new. So 17 years old with a unique Mini on the latest year plate, which I didn't think was bad.

 

[Dan]

Well, I've had my new Transit for a few weeks now. It's only done aound 3000 miles so far but what do I think of it? Let's put it this way, if I could have my old Transit back I would. So, what's wrong with the new one? Well, I still hate the 'square' steering wheel. The fuel tank is a lot smaller so have to fill up more often. Everything is done via the touch screen. By the time you find what you want to do you've forgotten what it is you wanted to do. Even simple things like altering the blower from the screen to your feet takes 5 presses of the screen. The sat nav keeps loosing it's signal. I was driving in the middle of the north sea a couple of weeks ago. Twice when I've got to within a couple of miles of my destination it's crashed on me. The lane control system gives me no confidence in narrow lanes. It detects the left side of the road and tries to turn me into the right side of the road. If I'm on twist roads it has to be turned off. Turning off auto stop start has to be done every time you turn the ignition on. The electric handbrake doesn't auto release as you pull off. The DAB reception is terrible. They have dropped the right hand wiper stalk. It's all now on one stalk on the left so a quick flick on the wiper isn't anymore and I usually end up indicating instead. Drivers seat belt isn't height adjustable and is too high for me. The door release for the passenger back door in now a push button which sometimes works on the first push, sometimes the second etc. They've taken away the USB socket on the top of the dash. It's now only by the gear stick so extra trailing USB lead to get tangled in things. And REALLY annoying is the bloody alarm randomly goes off in the night. Only the night though. On the plus side there's, um, well, I'll have to get back to you on that coz I can't think of anything.

My lady has a 73 plate astra with all this on and I hated it at first but get used to it on long drives.

There's a pause button on the steering wheel on hers that pauses ALL driving aids Inc stop start.

I mostly forget about that, it brakes for me way too early and will steer the car while I'm passing parked cars then I remember and press it.

Insert 4 random swear words at any points in that process too. But that doesn't turn them all off either.

You just need find the quickest way to off for it.

 

[pirate]

I well remember the sliding windows on ther Mini, and also the manual choke and the foot-operated dip switch.
I recently traded in my 18 year old car for a 12 year old car of the same marque. The "older" girl wa still on its original exhaust and battery...well, until a week before I traded it when the battery died, so that's £239 I won't see again.
The "new" one has many gizmos the other one didn't have and I haven't bothered to try and fathom everything out. I discovered only today that it has a headlamp wash system, as pointed out by a pal. Whatever, it isn't ULEZ compatible, and I don't care! It's lovely to drive, much faster than the previous one, and It just does what I need. I like older cars, they are cheap and well built, in my experience anyway, and as I can't afford a nice new one I'm happy driving a nice old one! a much nicer old one than any new one to which I might aspire. I see that a top spec Vauxhall Corsa EV is £38k...too rich for my wallet., too small for my needs, and it will be worthless, almost, in 5 years. Plus, I don't have any range anxiety in my car. I filled it up today and saw a satisfying 525 mile range.
Okay, I know older cars can cost a lot to run and repair and service, but my mileage since retiring has dropped dramatically, so it all evens out. Additionally, with the tanking of the EV market the value of my present car has actually increased!