GTAm

Well just think about it who would really need 1001bhp when 500bhp is so adequate...... The Veyron is simply a symbol of the absurd exess the whole world was indulging in. Bhp was getting higher and higher quite uncontrollably. For me it's like the the 'sign' or bad omen that things were getting too hot. And now we have a global economic meltdown. Things and especially cars were getting very ugly! How would you sell a used overweight overpowerd Veyron in this market? There's nothing truly admirable with the Veyron engineering. They just went on adding extra cylinders and turbos to reach their 1000bhp goal and then had to figure out ways to cool the engine down and stop the damn thing. Just an image thing. Gordon Murray's Mc F1 is a much more admirable approach. After that car the Veyron seems like a step backwards. Btw I learned another interesting thing about the Bug. VW loses 3m Euros on each car!

Hope HellRazor's post gives you all the info. This guy was sucha smooth talker and had a certification from the British Motor Heritage intsitute....not sure if he forged this, but he did have a framed cert. At that time I wasn't a member of the CCCC nor did I know anyone who could advice me or was willing to. To cut a long story short, we drove the T2000 to Homagama and had to tow it back after 3 years. There was rust that did not exists before he painted it when we brought it back. We put it for a paint and suspension repair. The suspension felt the same and the paint looked paper thin! Wood clappings on the doors were gone, all the badges were missing. We were down 150k. 150k was big in 1999!

Yes saw the Triumph. It's with another wrecker..... 4th Giulia coupe we know of. There's minter step front Junior in Ruwanwella. Real beauty. Only mine's LHD.

I Bump into him occassionally and he's extremely polite and nice towards me....... He works for a major new car brand now! Scolds? He really can't afford to. Only a Singaporean guy did him justice for ruining his Moriss Minor convertible. Punch him and gave him a few Karate chops in front of all this guys work force!! !!!

It's been a well known fact that Toyota is the most efficient manufacturing company in the world. Hence the Toyota systems being practiced by ther companies in other industries. But 1.1bn is probably nothing as they must be having a cash stack the size of Mt. Fuji. Could there be a correlation between high profit and boring cars ? Will Toyota start making some exciting cars at last?

Good one. But this is beyond MR tiny crookish brain I bet...

Well I did not know that. About that tasteless folk heh heh Alfa is a more sophisticated brand compared to Abarth which is a more hardcore 'tuner' kind of brand. There's quite a price difference as well. But obviously there will be some overlap. The Mito's main rival is the Mini and the upcoming Audi A1. But it's priced low enough for someone who's thinking of a Renualt or Honda to also consider it.

The Notorious "restorer" who talked a lot and did very little. He was a real scam artist and even I got caught to him with my Triumph 2000. Luckily I managed to take my car out before it ended up like the ones in the pics. Subsequently he was exposed by the Sunday Leader. I wonder how sad the owners of those cars must feel, especially if they see these pics. There's the remains of an Alfa Giulia GT junior in there as well. It's a pathetic sight. The BMW 2500 in the pic is a car we nearly bought as a family car..... in the late 80's yes it would have been a crazy move. We were put of by the LHD

Further gloom, http://www.autocar.co.uk/News/NewsArticle/AllCars/236694/ http://www.autocar.co.uk/News/NewsArticle/...oncepts/236708/ http://www.autocar.co.uk/News/NewsArticle/...-Rexton/236707/

Hmmmm the Range Rover was born in 1970 I believe. The Rav4 did kick off the mini SUV pseudo off roader genre. So the original could end up a classic one day. It depends on how desirable people find it.

The lack of originality is the biggest problem with the Japanese. Everything was a copy and a derivative of a western product. But I reckon all the old Skyline GTs are definitly going to be very sought after.

Very true. It's all about cost cutting and pleasing shareholders. Too much Greed in the world I guess....... It's been getting out of hand. The proof is the Veyron! Morgan - the Aero 8 is quite a high tech piece of kit isn't it. They even came up with a new high tech eco friendly concept recently.

Hard to imagine that they would with the Mito when the Abarth is around just fo that......

Mihin Air to the rescure !

NO please don't. If you are happy with the ride stick with the manufacturers recomendations. I have never heard of under-inflating tyres to get better mileage. There are gurus and fake gurus. Nissan is the former

No way PSA and FGA together will be only as big as VW Group. Anyway it's not very promising given that there are vast cultural differences between the two and the only real advantag ethey can gain is sharing development costs. On the other hand if one of them mergers with a US or Jap company then there's access to new markets (US and Asia) as well as RWD platforms. But many believe these are scary stories made by the companies themselves to get govt funds. "While everyone is in the mood of giving....why not put our fingers in to the honey jar?" seems to be car makers mantra these days. VW has asked for 10bn.

Well Fiat already gets 180bhp from the same engine for the GP Abarth. So I guess 220 must be the absolute limit(The Mito GTA will have a 1.8 TT engine giving 230bhp). I really have not read why Marangoni did this. Nowhere does it say that this will be offerd for sale. So perhaps its a dip of their feet in the pool. Must be to check if "ricers" dig it Red tyre smoke...... a bit gay I would say....... On the other hand some might think its time for change from Henry Ford's favourite hue...

At last MR's luck seems to be getting tested. Hope the bogus dream will be revealed in all its glory sooner rather than later, before we all go under!

All the above cars were truly special. They were the work of geniuses who thought out of the box. Dr. Porsche, Andre Lefebvre (hope I got the name right) and Alec Issigonis were all came up with very radical designs. They were unique in a few ways that set them apart from the rest of the market. The Beetle was a cheap, reliable and economical form of transport for the masses. Yet it was unique and innovative enough to last decedes in production. It's the same with the Mini which took space utilization to a new level and probably accidently earned a cool image. I can't picture drab old Leylend thinking "Let's make the coolest car now"! ever!. As you know the 2CV is an engineering masterpiece as well and production lasted until the 80's. This is an era that's moving very fast. Today companies have to please their shareholders much more than during that time. Therefore being adventurous is not on the cards for most. The bean counters will axe something too radical. Then also today consumers are a lot more image concious. So before the accountants the innovative radical product might get chopped my the marketing dept who go by stats and focus group discussions. There are too many economic failures around. The Smart, The Audi A1, the Sinclair C5? However, today the requirement of cuttting edge innovation in greater than ever before. Time to go "Back to the Future"??

I'm wondering if Ford will pull out of the WRC as well..... Ford Europe has been doing a lot better than their US parents but given the magnitude of the problems facing the parent co. I won't be surprised if they pull out. It will be interesting to see how the WRC will carry on with only one factory team.....

Heh heh Well said HellRazor! Would have been nice to see Dilmah tea or Elephant Soda sponsored McLaren Merc! And to think we were so ahead of India in 1995!!!!!

I can picture Ralph Lauren sitting on the bonnet of a 406 Coupe next to his Alfa 8C but some how I don't think the EK9 will fit in there... KLM the 406 Coupe was semi hand built in Italy by Pininfarina. That's enough kudos for Ralph to at least pose with one being a great designer himself. But you really can't bring a minorty like Lauren into a discussion like this. They'll collect the classics of all classics only. The modern equalents to his Alfa 8C is the Mac GTR and Ferrari FXX. You really think that the EK9 would have eaten a GTi-6??? I doubt very much if at all it would have been the other way around. I have read many group tests - actually I have one that pitted the EK against the GTi-6 and Golf GTI and Alfa Clover Leaf. The Honda was nothing special accoring to them apart for it's highly revvable impressive VTEC engine. That too had too little low down torque, something you need a lot on twisty tracks........ Having driven a few performance Hondas I have to agree with that. The Ek9 was place last in that test. Maybe in Asia the EK9 was the best hot hatch but from a worldwide perspective it was only average. The Peugeot is a lot lighter don't forget. To make a car light and fast is not easy. Of course the EP3 Type R is a real contender with its great chassis. I recently had an opportunity to drve one on the road and it was great. From the way it behaved when pushed as much as I could on the road I know it will be a dream on a track. Actually I feel it is a car more suited to a track than the road.

Terrible styling but great to get 220bhp from 1.4 liters! I'd lose the red tyres as well

Ratan Tata sits on the Fiat main board. He has openly said that he would like to have a stake in Ferrari. This could be a first step. There's also a talk of Fiat and Tata consolidating further to survive the long term. Italian press carried rumours of FGA and PSA merging as well. Interesting times ahead....

At least they have a buy back agreement..... But they deserve this for not re-structuring their companies before. They've had so many calls to do this. Build economical cars to a high standard. But they just kept on churning out mostly crap.