Reminder: Top Gear tonight at 8pm 897Perhaps, but you can't have your cake and eat it too. If you're not going to be blasting to 62 as quickly as you can, but spend most of your time on major routes...
But doesn't produce anything like the power or torque of the 407 I'm sure. And doesn't do 0-60 in 9.5 seconds I'm sure. The same engine in the Focus does even better.
But things like that are perhaps more more relevant to the real world driver. The problem I have with Top Gear is that it might seduce people into buying unsuitable cars for the purpose they really use them for.
Both Peugeots and Vauxhalls are popular despite the fact that our most repected national braodacaster's only motoring programme seems biased against them. Perhaps that is because both companies produce practical cars for real world conditions, rather than machines that can only be properly enjoyed on a racetrack.
If I think about what matters to me in the environment in which I drive, mostly motorway and trunk roads, it boils down to
1. Safety 2. Economy 3. Comfort 4. Ride and handling
Perhaps i should also mention reliability, but by the standards I lived with when I started driving in the 1960s, all cars are reliable. I think my last breakdown was in 1975.
You note that 0-60 in 4 seconds, and top speeds of 200mph don't figureÊin my priorities. They are simply not worth paying the high cost that they involve if you are driving on the UK's congested roads, since although you will pay for that performance in fuel consumption, you will never be able to use it. Why pay more than you have to for the privilege of sitting in a traffic jam!
The 407, which JC doesn't like, excels at items 1 and 2, and for may money 3 too. I consider it the most comfortable car I have ever driven, it doesn't set my back off like the company Vectra I drove the other week, but since one or two settings are close their extremes for me and I am of average height and short in the leg. more long legged folk might struggle as JC suggests he does.
Again, ride and handling are subjective, but I think the 407 is pretty good in that department. It certainly corners well, as if on rails. I can overtake most things or roundabouts, if I choose to do so.
One thing car reviewers never seenm to mention is the heavyness or otherwise of the controls, particularly the steering. My wife suffers from arthritis, and cannot abide heavy steering. So Mondeo, Vectra, even my old Pug 306 are heavy by her standards. She drives a new Fiat Panda, which has very light steering anyway plus a "city" button that makes it even lighter. She is also quite happy in the 407 which has surprisingly light controls for such a big car.
I think the car reviewers on Top Gear have a lot to learn about the real world. I just hope that not too many people are taken in by it.
Martin -- Created on the Iyonix PC - the world's fastest RISC OS computer.
