Name this car....

[pippy]

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3 hours ago, pedaes said:

You guys are to good!

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At what point in time did many designers working for some of the greatest automotive manufacturers decide that 'Unspeakably Ugly, Massive-as-aTank and Extremely Aggressive' was, somehow, a more preferrable approach as opposed to 'Beautiful, Svelte, Light and Agile'?

A deference towards 'Politeness' curtails my expansion of this post any further...

Philip.

[IkarusJohn]

I agree, Philip.

Functionality is one thing (Defender, Discovery, Q7, Touareg etc), but the Aston Martin, Lamborghini, Ferrari SUVs, I don’t get.  Actually, the Porsche Cayenne, I do get - it’s incredibly able off-road, but the boot is too small for my purposes (so is the boot in the Discovery - had one of those too).  If I was back in the market for a capable off-roader, I’d look at the VW marques (Touareg, Q7 & Cayenne), but would probably settle on a Land Cruiser (not the Lexus).

[wlaidlaw]

I dislike all 4 x 4 vehicles except for the utility ones used for towing trailers. Nearly all of them have a nodding motion either side to side, back to front or occasionally both due to their high CoG. This stirs up my neck scoliosis and eventually I will get a tension headache, more as a passenger than as a driver. I like 4WD regular cars (my last 3 have all been 4WD) and from personal experience, think that any car with more than around 400BHP benefits from drive going to all wheels from the traction POV, especially in heavy rain.

Wilson

[pedaes]

11 hours ago, pippy said:

At what point in time

When the huge grills started to appear on the larger BMW's et al I remember reading this was blamed on the Chinese, who were a big market at the time, as they saw these grills as a sign of status and prestige. 

[wlaidlaw]

Now that the Chinese mostly buy domestically made vehicles, one might hope BMW will revert to non-clownish sized grilles.However the photos of the projected M9 have some resemblance to Danielle Westbook's cocaine rearranged nostrils. 

Wilson

[pippy]

13 hours ago, IkarusJohn said:

...Functionality is one thing (Defender, Discovery, Q7, Touareg etc), but the Aston Martin, Lamborghini, Ferrari SUVs, I don’t get...

I agree completely that Land Rovers and their ilk are a very different matter. 

The 'Luxury' SUV which gives me the greatest offence is Lotus' Eletre; not because it is drop-dead ugly (which it is) but because, speed apart, it goes against various ethos / ethe which Colin Chapman most valued. Fast they may be but, for one thing, these things are three times as heavy as an Elise!...

I can understand that the model - from a commercial point of view - might possibly be / become the saviour of the company (as WAS the Cayenne for Porsche) but it also raises the question of were that truly to be the case should Lotus not have been allowed to die with dignity, integrity and honour intact?

Philip.

Edited 22 hours ago by pippy

[NigelG]

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15 minutes ago, pippy said:

The 'Luxury' SUV which gives me the greatest offence is Lotus' Eletre; not because it is drop-dead ugly (which it is) but because, speed apart, it goes against various ethos / ethe which Colin Chapman most valued. Fast they may be but, for one thing, these things are three times as heavy as an Elise!...

I don’t think Colin Chapman would be putting his name to Chinese-built electric Luxo-barges even in the afterlife…regardless of whether it ensured the continuation of the family name….

Edited 21 hours ago by NigelG

[IkarusJohn]

I’ve never owned a Lotus, but I get the attraction - a great history.  I grew up with Land Rovers (mostly Series II & III) and the original Land Cruiser in the background - we rode horses, helped on friends’ farms (docking and gathering hay) and I once worked as a farm labourer as a student.  The Land Rover was always there, simple and functional.

Then in the early 2000s, my wife (at the time) bought a Defender for her paragliding business.  I think the worst car trip ever was the 4 hour drive home from the mountain after a day’s skiing - I didn’t think my back would ever recover.  What a terrible vehicle for the time. My Discovery was okay (again, paragliding, kite surfing, cycling, skiing etc), but a small boot for the size of the vehicle, tricky to drive at speed (2½ tonnes up high required careful management), tight back seat and at no time during the 6 or so years I owned it (before I wrote it off) did all the lamps on the outside work and I had to use gaffer tape to hold the fuel filler cover closed.

Never again will I buy a British car, unless it is something made in the 1960s which can be repaired!

Now that I no longer paraglide (post too many serious, life threatening issues, my bone density isn’t what it was), I don’t need the off-road ability so a simple oil burning station wagon suits me just fine; more boot space, a roof I can reach and way more comfortable and capable at speed.

[a.j.z]

Am 12.10.2025 um 20:00 schrieb pedaes:

You guys are to good!

the crop was too generous 😉

I will need a day or two, so if anyone feels the need to post please feel free to go ahead 

[dkCambridgeshire]

This should be fairly easy. 

Marque, model, and its distinguishing feature please. 

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BW, dunk

[wlaidlaw]

Ford V8 Pilot? 

Wilson

[dkCambridgeshire]

4 minutes ago, wlaidlaw said:

Ford V8 Pilot? 

Wilson

Correct Wilson; Ford V8 Pilot 3622cc; first reg. July 1950, And it has a very clean MOT history. 

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Leica CL / TL 18/2.8

BW, dunk 

 

[wlaidlaw]

Open to all to post the next car. 

Wilson