I don't imagine for one second that I'm the only person that Santa let down this year, but I did send him very clear instructions as to the car I wanted from him!

 

This forum is for Skoda owners and, at the risk of being pilloried for heresy, the Superb is not the choice we would necessarily make if money was no object. Evidence of this lies in the number of posts here about alternative brakes, lowering kits, light bulbs, remaps and so on. My choice of a 280 was from the very short short-list (Superb, A5 Sportback quattro and 4-series GranCoupe X-drive) that emerged from some pragmatic box-ticking (ugly cars were excluded), and I am very pleased with it in terms of looks, performance, comfort, all-weather security and almost everything else.

 

But this brings me to a story that I wanted to tell (but which you may find too boring to read) about a holiday in Crete a couple of years ago, where we untypically used taxis on three separate occasions.

 

On the first occasion it was an Octavia, and very nice it was too, but the driver wished he had never bought it because the Russian tourists filling the expensive hotels at that time insisted on Mercedes taxis and would refuse to get into his Skoda - he was getting hardly any business, and would have to change his car for a Mercedes like all the others.

 

On the second occasion we wanted to get from Ag.Nik. to Heraklion, and a taxi driver offered us a very reasonable price to take us in his Mercedes S-class. We spent the whole journey clinging to the door handles to keep position on a back seat that was far too big, far too flat and far too slippery - it might have been a great car from a taxi-driver's point of view, but as a passenger I just didn't get it.

 

On the third occasion we got a Mercedes E-class to take us from Ag.Nik. back to our apartment. It seemed better for being smaller than the S-class, but nothing special. However, the driver started telling me about his 1980's Toyota Celica, and since I'd had an MR2 from the same period it was car-related conversation all the way back. When we arrived, I paid him (plus tip, of course) and he got out to open the door for my wife when, just to finish off the conversation, I told him that I now had a Superb, expecting an appreciative comment from a fellow driver.

 

That is not what happened. Instead, he threw his hands in the air, said "NO!" in a loud voice, got back in his car and drove off without a backward glance.

 

I was mortified - there I was, exposed to my wife as a pitiful excuse for a man in the ultimate test of manhood, by a Greek taxi driver.

 

The thing is, four years after I bought it I still think my Superb is great - just not a "if money was no object" car.

 

 

It was a restomod Jensen Interceptor FF, by the way, and I had said that he could just leave it on the driveway if the chimney was a problem.

I have no experience of Greek taxis drivers and was unaware of the nuances of the market, but that was a funny tale.

 

Money no object car? What would I have? Really tricky, but as its fantasy and we can ignore realities such as economy, reliability and servicing. I would like a Citroen SM please.

 

 

 

Simple early retirement and ditch the commute and working for a boss who can't even to be bothered to turn up on time for the start of a shift.

Money no object? I'll buy an old American muscle car, high power, carb fed, terrible fuel consumption and then join the owners club and start posting about what mileage I can eke out of it. 

 

OK that was a joke..

 

If I can only have one car, purchase and running costs are no issue, my requirement for at least 5 seats and a good boot means I'll get an Alpina B5 touring, fully loaded. 

 

If I ditch my family, I'll have a Ferrari 812 GTS. 

 

 

If money really was no object, I'd be buying more than one car, for sure!

Most of them would be quite unusual, collectors' types, and likely heavily customised if not complete bespoke builds, such as the Pontiac Trans-Am Firebird done up as KITT, or the 1980s Aston Martin V8 Vantage (Volante, or more likely hard top) complete with functioning James Bond kit.

 

But money-no-object for a daily driver? That's quite a tough one...

There are so many things I like about driving my L&K Octy 1, that I don't know if any other car could match it without losing or compromising features somewhere along the line.

I think a lot of the forum joined with a Skoda in mind but might not own one now. I thnk it's been 7yr and 5 cars since I've had one. i still think fondly of my Mk2 Octy VRS.

 

I'm with Ttaskmaster, if money was no object why would you only choose one car.

I'd aslo agree that a 60/70s muscle car would have to be on the menu, ideally a big block running 7l+ that sounds like it runs on granite cobbles.

And an Aston Martin Vantage 600

And a Lotus Exige V6

and an MV Augusta F4

And.....and...

i think a full fat Overfinch may find it way onto my soon to be extended driveway.

along with an M5 touring

and an exige (sunday play thing)

 

and a fully restored and tuned up 'stang - shelby gt350 to be exact

and also an old restored 50s yank truck not picky on which really, just think they were really well shaped and proportioned. 

This for me as an almost daily driver.

 

 

What a good name for someone driving very fast.

Radim Passer.

 

At least he has good memories and all caught on film....    Which is handy for the authorities.

http://bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-60301705

 

Not sure how big a fine would need to be to trouble him.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited 8 February, 20224 yr by roottoot

If money were no object I would create and employ a private security force to abduct and re-educate those who use "was" instead of "were" in the "if" clause/conditional use of the verb "To Be".

 

They would also be tasked with euthanising anyone who writes "breaks" for "brakes" on car forums 😆

I could actually afford to buy this, ie only went for £25k, but run it, not so sure..............

 

 

2 hours ago, roottoot said:

What a good name for someone driving very fast.

Radim Passer.

 

At least he has good memories and all caught on film....    Which is handy for the authorities.

http://bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-60301705

 

Not sure how big a fine would need to be to trouble him.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fair play to him. Sunday's are perfect for putting the hammer down as trucks are banned on the Autobahns on a Sunday. No idiot truckers pulling out at 79.7Kph trying to overtake the truck in front that's doing 79.6Kph

I only maxed my Skoda Oxymoron once or twice. It's a novelty and aside from burning DERV too quickly it takes nerves and a lot of concentration. And the novelty soon wears off.

There's talk about bringing in limits. Probably from jealous EV drivers who'd take a week to get from Hamburg to Munich if you add in max power all the way plus recharge time

4 hours ago, @Lee said:

Fair play to him. Sunday's are perfect for putting the hammer down as trucks are banned on the Autobahns on a Sunday. No idiot truckers pulling out at 79.7Kph trying to overtake the truck in front that's doing 79.6Kph

I only maxed my Skoda Oxymoron once or twice. It's a novelty and aside from burning DERV too quickly it takes nerves and a lot of concentration. And the novelty soon wears off.

There's talk about bringing in limits. Probably from jealous EV drivers who'd take a week to get from Hamburg to Munich if you add in max power all the way plus recharge time

 

We do have some speed limits in the UK due to air pollution hitting certain bad levels, in fairness these speed limits should only apply to ICE cars and the authorities should let EVs crack on at better speeds.

 

My Zoe tops out at a measly 140 kph but here in the UK there are speed limits of 60 mph ie less than 100 kph due to pollution and I would like the right to do the 70 mph nominal on these roads as it is not be polluting and killing thousands tens of thousands of people per country per year.

 

I can easily drive for two hours at the UK national speed limit, say cover 125 miles or so taking in to accounting get on and off the motorway itself and the huge amount of roadworks there seems to be at the moment and then pull in to a service station after that 2 hours and still have about 40% battery left and in twenty minutes add about 30% battery if it is just a wee and coffee collect break or if 40 minutes I reckon the car would be back up to about 90% ie easily enough to do another two hours at the UK NSL.

 

What one cannot do is drive at those quick speeds of the German autobahn or probably even the French 130 kph for two hours and expect to charge up to near 100% unless one is driving a TESLA or something like an e-tron I reckon.  They can add a kilometer of range every 5 seconds. 

 

If my wish to drive something clean clicked in, rather than having the Lotus Espirit 2.2 turbo I would have either a Rimac or a TESLA 100S Plaid ie the two fastest accelerating production cars currently allowed on the road.

Sub 9s standing quarters.

 

 

Edited 9 February, 20224 yr by lol-lol

@lol-lol I am happy that there are coaches that nip along quite quickly and some HGV's from Ireland that are good for me drafting behind at a safe distance and at around the National Speed limit for a car. 

 That eeks out the range of an EV otherwise i would have to go about 10 MPH slower or be stopping to charge the car earlier.

6 hours ago, lol-lol said:

I can easily drive for two hours at the UK national speed limit, say cover 125 miles or so taking in to accounting get on and off the motorway itself and the huge amount of roadworks there seems to be at the moment

 

Do not exaggerate.

 

Unless you've found some mythical empty for 125 mile motorway, I doubt you can ever average 62.5mph over 2 hours. Or unless you are travelling at illegal speeds.

 

55mph maybe.

Meanwhile, back at the point, Skoda Yeti vRS 4x4.

I'm not quite sure what I'd want. A modified daily something and something to mess about with during the winter to get ready for summer. So with that in mind, probably a Mk1 Fabia estate (aim high, I know ) and the weekend something being an ST185 Celica or a first generation Subaru Legacy Outback. 

For me it certainly wouldn't be anything new from the likes of the usual sports car makers...   I reckon I'd go old-school with a garage of cars - so maybe something like an older G-wagon / Jimny for winter, maybe an AMG E-Class estate for the family and then something small and light for hooning- so it's got to be a Caterham??

 

I do fancy a massive old American V8 barge though as well, or maybe a TVR with a V8 (despite the lack or reliability - it's the sound I like!)

2 hours ago, xman said:

Do not exaggerate.

Unless you've found some mythical empty for 125 mile motorway, I doubt you can ever average 62.5mph over 2 hours. Or unless you are travelling at illegal speeds.

55mph maybe.

 

M5 has not been too bad for roadworks for several years now and average speeds in the mid sixties is no problem.  Agree M6, M1, M4 and most other motorway are down in the 50s.  M40 is generally quite good too where I would expect average over 60 mph, until I got to near the M25 anyways.  Google maps time, considering all current motorway delays, from Worcester to Exeter Service is 132 miles in 2 hours 11 minutes.  Average speed 61 miles per hour and that includes two miles of getting on to and getting off the motorway so junction to junction I would say 2 hours to do 130 miles so 65 mph average. 

 

Many drivers drive at a genuine 75 mph on their GPS where it is not restricted, knowing the police tend to set their speed equipment at 10%+2 mph on motorways etc so feel happy to run at 75 mph GPS and get their averages back in to the 60s or close to 70 mph, as long as you are not is really bad bits of motorway like the m6 between Brum and Manchester which seems to be half in the 50 mph restriction.  

 

Certainly helps with economy with my Zoe doing over 4 miles per kWh, close to 5 miles per kWh sometimes, and my petrol and diesel cars doing 60 and 70 mpg respectively.

 

When cruising at these speeds a nice comfortable car is much more pleasant that a Clio RS/Megane-Trophy/Cupra R/Civic R Ring tool bone shaker. 

 

I would go buy one of these as all the car & more than i would ever need to see out my driving years.

 

 

Money seems to be no object here.  Lots of crackers. 

 

 

Interesting topic.

Greece is a wonderful place, and Greeks are wonderful people, but are worth little when we get into car territory. No sense to diss the crowd, but are far down in the list, and no sense to feel disrespected by one of them, much less talking about cars.

 

Wanting to tinker about your own car does not mean you would change it for something "better" if you could, same as we mod our cars others mod them as well. One competitor to the 280 I;ve long considered was the E63 (S212), which has many things you would want to mod a Superb "already done". But curiously, AMG forums are again full of people going for sport(ier) exhausts, even lowered setups, etc.

It like a disease we cannot get rid of 🤪😝

 

Money no object, I would change it for NO other car. Too much money I've wasted on fancy cars. Keep me on earth now.

I fancy to get in the garage a 2cv and an old SIIA or SIII and swap them to potter around happily and unworried.

And leave the money problems to someone else ... ☺️