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HalloKitty
Sep 30, 2005

Adjust the bass and let the Alpine blast

Steve. posted:

Here's my ride... a 2008 Volkswagen Passat R36:

I'm too poor to even contemplate being able to afford an Audi RS6, so this is the best alternative!

drat, I love it

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HalloKitty
Sep 30, 2005

Adjust the bass and let the Alpine blast

DropShadow posted:

I've posted mine before too, but I got the windows tinted yesterday so DEAL WITH IT.



You have utterly impeccable taste

HalloKitty
Sep 30, 2005

Adjust the bass and let the Alpine blast
I'm glad at least some Europeans posted recently so I'm not lost in only a sea of awesome old cars.

I recently got this:


Which to anyone in Europe will no doubt immediately seem an ordinary and common car (it's a Vauxhall Astra H estate, 2007-2008 ish). Which it is.
But it's a ton newer than anything I had before, dammit!

Yes, it has the miniscule 1248cc diesel engine that somehow produces 90hp/200nm using a variable geometry turbocharger that no doubt contains witchcraft, and it sips fuel as if it was enjoying expensive whiskey.

(If you're wondering.. maybe not.. yes, an engine that small with a fairly high power output does have schizophrenic power delivery.. no power at low rpms then a massive surge, even with a VGT)

HalloKitty fucked around with this message at 00:04 on Mar 22, 2012

HalloKitty
Sep 30, 2005

Adjust the bass and let the Alpine blast

dissss posted:

I think part of that low spec in Europe is much lower than low spec in the USA, at least as far as power-trains go. A basic Auris (Corolla) has a a 100hp 1.3l in the UK remember.

I don't know where in the Euro Golf range a 1.6TDI Bluemotion sits, but I can tell you its a freaking horrible car to get as a rental.

That could be because of the stop/start, which is apparently sluggish on these, but I think it can be disabled.

It's not the worst Golf otherwise..
http://www.volkswagen.co.uk/#/new/golf-vi/which-model/engines/acceleration/

HalloKitty
Sep 30, 2005

Adjust the bass and let the Alpine blast

Sir Cornelius posted:

In Scandinavia, especially Denmark and Norway, it's two-fold. Tax speculation and resale value. If a car is a part of your production equipment, it gets a massive tax-reduction.

Once you've used the vehicle a while (150 or 200K km., I don't remember the exact number) you can resell it to a private party with a significantly reduced tax-payment. That really matters for countries where vehicle tax is close to 2 times the purchase price of said vehicle.

To use the above to your advantage, a lovely car that can't be expected to run at least 300K km. won't do. That's why the only rental cars are pretty nice high-end cars and almost all taxis are high-end Mercedes.

The switch from diesel is another tax issue.

A lot of taxi companies makes almost all their bottom line from resale of used vehicles and so does a lot of rental companies.

Car taxes in Denmark are completely unreasonable by any imaginable standard.

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HalloKitty
Sep 30, 2005

Adjust the bass and let the Alpine blast

Sir Cornelius posted:

You can rest assured that car and motorcycle taxes are amongst our minor problems. We also have to donate close to 60% of our income to the state. There might be something rotten...

I only know all too well because my girlfriend is Danish, and looking to import my car... the charges are eye-watering, most likely more than twice what I actually paid for the car.

I know the other way round (bringing a car to the UK from within the EU) there's barely a charge.

HalloKitty fucked around with this message at 23:14 on May 27, 2012

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