Omega Owners Forum
Chat Area => General Car Chat => Topic started by: Field Marshal Dr. Opti on 16 May 2025, 11:30:02
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I'd like to pick their brains.
But the only one I can think of is Jimmy. If memory serves I think he bought an electric BMW that fell from the ugly tree and hit every branch on the way down. >:D
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I sense the Lord Opti EV window is shifting. :)
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I sense the Lord Opti EV window is shifting. :)
Not my car. I just have to tolerate it. :)
All cars should be petrol by order of the big man who lives in the sky. ;)
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Yes, I am the proud lessee of Munich's most aesthetically challenged motor. Previously I've had an e-golf and an id3. Probably around 70k miles combined over the three cars.
What would you like to know?
As for other forum ev users, I seem to recall that DTM bloke ran an i-pace for a period of time, and is probably intimately acquainted with its internals through work. :y
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I wonder how long it will be before you trade your BMW for something like an electric Porsche with warp speed like acceleration? 8)
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Had a new shape Leaf as a bifffabout car at work. Hated it. Felt like it had been designed by a team of people who didn't like cars, driving or each other
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Yes, I am the proud lessee of Munich's most aesthetically challenged motor. Previously I've had an e-golf and an id3. Probably around 70k miles combined over the three cars.
What would you like to know?
As for other forum ev users, I seem to recall that DTM bloke ran an i-pace for a period of time, and is probably intimately acquainted with its internals through work. :y
Well, I know next to SFA about milk floats, Jimmy. Something I share in common with many other topics. ::)
I've just discovered the car comes with a heat pump (something I hear doesn't work very well even in our home homes, yet the government, and mad Ed Milliband in particular, wants us all to install one) How does this work in the context of a car.
Also, it comes with an onboard 11KW charger for use when away from home. What is the point of this when even 50KW charging is seen as glacial in 2025.
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I wonder how long it will be before you trade your BMW for something like an electric Porsche with warp speed like acceleration? 8)
I have to admit that the new 1000BHP Taycan has a certain appeal. Apparently it drives like a proper car.
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Had a new shape Leaf as a bifffabout car at work. Hated it. Felt like it had been designed by a team of people who didn't like cars, driving or each other
Yep.....a car designed by people who have no interest in cars for people who have no interest in cars. :-X
Committee car. :-X
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I wonder how long it will be before you trade your BMW for something like an electric Porsche with warp speed like acceleration? 8)
I have to admit that the new 1000BHP Taycan has a certain appeal. Apparently it drives like a proper car.
I followed and electric Porsche once on a duel carriageway and when he accelerated off a roundabout up a steep hill, he must have been doing 60 or 70 by the time I got into second! :o :)
Never seen anything like it, I was just like Wow! Look at that thing go! 8)
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If you join up to the Autoshite forum, there are lots of threads, discussion, info about them in the modern section there.
Theres even a bloke who buys them up and sells them on.
If my little C1 gives up the ghost in the next two or three years I may well buy a cheap used one to take advantage of the free charging at work.
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I've just discovered the car comes with a heat pump (something I hear doesn't work very well even in our home homes, yet the government, and mad Ed Milliband in particular, wants us all to install one) How does this work in the context of a car.
A heat pump is just an inside out fridge.
If you look at the back of your fridge/freezer, you'll see a black radiator. That black radiator gets hot. The inside of the fridge/freezer gets cold. The whole thing runs on electricity.
So in thermodynamic terms what happens is you put in (say) 1 watt of energy to the fridge motor. That 1W of motor energy ultimatley ends up as heat somewhere. However, the motor is pumping a gas around the system, which extracts energy from the inside of the fridge (it gets colder) and dumps that energy into the back radiator (it gets hotter). So say it extracts one watt of energy from the inside of the fridge, and dumps that 1w into the radiator.
We now have a system where putting 1W of electrical energy in results in 1W of cooling, and 2W of heat (1W in the motor, 1W in the radiator). So we are 'making' more heat that the energy we are putting in. We are 'pumping heat' out of the fridge into the atmosphere. The figure of merit is called COP (Coefficient of Performance) An electric heater has a COP of 1. You put 1W of electricity in, you'll get (almost) 1W of heat out. With a heat pump you can get COPs of 3 or more. Put in 1W of electrical energy and you can get 3W (or more) of heat out.
So now mount the fridge in your wall, with the door open to the outside world, and the radiator part inside your house. Turn it on. You will be pumping heat from the outside world into your home. You won't be able to cool the outside world, so the 'inside' of the fridge won't get noticibly colder.
There are also semi-conductor based heat pump devices - called Peltiers. Here is a datasheet for one https://tark-solutions.com/products/thermoelectric-cooler-modules/peltier-cp-series/CP2-127-06-L1-W4.5 . These don't need a pump, plumbing and gas. They are totally solid state with no moving parts, and you can get COP's in the 3-4 region. What happens is when you apply power, one side of the device gets cold, and the other side gets hot. The hot side gets hotter than the cold side gets cold, because you're 'pumping' energy (heat) from one side to the other.
Peltiers are reversible. If you swap the power the other way round, then the 'hot side' gets cold, and the 'cold side' gets hot. You can therefore put one side of peltier inside the heater (HVAC box), and use it to either heat or cool the air entering the cabin.
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I've just discovered the car comes with a heat pump (something I hear doesn't work very well even in our home homes, yet the government, and mad Ed Milliband in particular, wants us all to install one) How does this work in the context of a car.
A heat pump is just an inside out fridge.
If you look at the back of your fridge/freezer, you'll see a black radiator. That black radiator gets hot. The inside of the fridge/freezer gets cold. The whole thing runs on electricity.
So in thermodynamic terms what happens is you put in (say) 1 watt of energy to the fridge motor. That 1W of motor energy ultimatley ends up as heat somewhere. However, the motor is pumping a gas around the system, which extracts energy from the inside of the fridge (it gets colder) and dumps that energy into the back radiator (it gets hotter). So say it extracts one watt of energy from the inside of the fridge, and dumps that 1w into the radiator.
We now have a system where putting 1W of electrical energy in results in 1W of cooling, and 2W of heat (1W in the motor, 1W in the radiator). So we are 'making' more heat that the energy we are putting in. We are 'pumping heat' out of the fridge into the atmosphere. The figure of merit is called COP (Coefficient of Performance) An electric heater has a COP of 1. You put 1W of electricity in, you'll get (almost) 1W of heat out. With a heat pump you can get COPs of 3 or more. Put in 1W of electrical energy and you can get 3W (or more) of heat out.
So now mount the fridge in your wall, with the door open to the outside world, and the radiator part inside your house. Turn it on. You will be pumping heat from the outside world into your home. You won't be able to cool the outside world, so the 'inside' of the fridge won't get noticibly colder.
There are also semi-conductor based heat pump devices - called Peltiers. Here is a datasheet for one https://tark-solutions.com/products/thermoelectric-cooler-modules/peltier-cp-series/CP2-127-06-L1-W4.5 . These don't need a pump, plumbing and gas. They are totally solid state with no moving parts, and you can get COP's in the 3-4 region. What happens is when you apply power, one side of the device gets cold, and the other side gets hot. The hot side gets hotter than the cold side gets cold, because you're 'pumping' energy (heat) from one side to the other.
Peltiers are reversible. If you swap the power the other way round, then the 'hot side' gets cold, and the 'cold side' gets hot. You can therefore put one side of peltier inside the heater (HVAC box), and use it to either heat or cool the air entering the cabin.
Que? :D Joking aside, that is very informative. :y
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There are also semi-conductor based heat pump devices - called Peltiers. Here is a datasheet for one https://tark-solutions.com/products/thermoelectric-cooler-modules/peltier-cp-series/CP2-127-06-L1-W4.5 . These don't need a pump, plumbing and gas. They are totally solid state with no moving parts, and you can get COP's in the 3-4 region. What happens is when you apply power, one side of the device gets cold, and the other side gets hot. The hot side gets hotter than the cold side gets cold, because you're 'pumping' energy (heat) from one side to the other.
Peltiers are reversible. If you swap the power the other way round, then the 'hot side' gets cold, and the 'cold side' gets hot. You can therefore put one side of peltier inside the heater (HVAC box), and use it to either heat or cool the air entering the cabin.
And thats how heated and cooled seats work if you have a posh car, or clapped out 2010 Jaguar....
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Well, I know next to SFA about milk floats, Jimmy. Something I share in common with many other topics. ::)
I've just discovered the car comes with a heat pump (something I hear doesn't work very well even in our home homes, yet the government, and mad Ed Milliband in particular, wants us all to install one) How does this work in the context of a car.
Also, it comes with an onboard 11KW charger for use when away from home. What is the point of this when even 50KW charging is seen as glacial in 2025.
To add to what LC0112G said regarding heat pumps, their purpose on an ev is to extend the range during cold weather. This can add as much as 10% to the range and work well in the UK where we don't often get *really* cold weather. Its something I would look for if I were to be looking to push the range of the car on a regular basis. If its just a second car for knocking about in, I wouldn't worry about it.
In general, I would say regarding range, look up on the 'net what people are getting in the real world and use that as your guide. I'm sure I will get derided on here for saying it, but battery degradation really isn't the issue that most non-ev drivers would have you believe. As an example, I follow a guy on youtube that runs Cleeveley EV - they are an independent EV servicing company that run a fleet of converted MG5 estate cars as their 'vans. The degradation on those seems to be about 10-12% at 100,000 miles and about 18-20% at 200,000. Considering the average mileage of a scrapped car in the UK is around 125,000 its not that big a deal. Also, as more EVs hit the road, the used packs become cheaper to buy. The exception to this general comment is nissan leafs, they don't have any facility to actively manage the temperature of the battery packs, so their battery degradation can be significantly more severe.
To answer your point about the 11kw charger, this is actually how much power the AC-to-DC inverter can handle. 11kw is only any use if you have access to a 3 phase supply, otherwise the max is 7kw. Where these make a lot of sense is workplace car parks, for example here we have some 7kw and some 11kw charging posts and the difference is noticeable. We get told to shift our cars after 3hrs in the charge bays to let other people charge so the higher power rating makes a big difference then.
Being honest its extremely rare I use public DC rapid charging, probably two or three times in the last 11 months / 23,000 miles. When I do I find taht anything over 100kw is fast enough. Starting out with about 200-220 miles on the BMW, taking 15-20mins will add 100 ish miles and its rare I would want to do more than 300 miles in a day. Again if its your only car this may not hold true, but given the average mileage driven in the UK is about 8000 per year, it would certainly apply to most people.
Overall I like EVs very much for daily commuting. The BMW is good for overtaking and quick enough for a family bus. It isn't "fun", but neither is any SUV, short of a RR sport SVR, its not designed to be.
Tried it before I signed up for the BMW (although mine would have been the boggo 400bhp version) but my ar$e didn't fit in the seats, so it was a non starter. If I had my own and could throw some VW golf seats in, I might be tempted 8).
I wonder how long it will be before you trade your BMW for something like an electric Porsche with warp speed like acceleration? 8)
I'm also now divorced and really don't want to work past my mid 50's so I suspect I might end up with something a bit more modest as my next car (iPace looks tempting, but I'd want to chat to that DTM bloke first as I know they had some battery issues).
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Well, I know next to SFA about milk floats, Jimmy. Something I share in common with many other topics. ::)
I've just discovered the car comes with a heat pump (something I hear doesn't work very well even in our home homes, yet the government, and mad Ed Milliband in particular, wants us all to install one) How does this work in the context of a car.
Also, it comes with an onboard 11KW charger for use when away from home. What is the point of this when even 50KW charging is seen as glacial in 2025.
To add to what LC0112G said regarding heat pumps, their purpose on an ev is to extend the range during cold weather. This can add as much as 10% to the range and work well in the UK where we don't often get *really* cold weather. Its something I would look for if I were to be looking to push the range of the car on a regular basis. If its just a second car for knocking about in, I wouldn't worry about it.
In general, I would say regarding range, look up on the 'net what people are getting in the real world and use that as your guide. I'm sure I will get derided on here for saying it, but battery degradation really isn't the issue that most non-ev drivers would have you believe. As an example, I follow a guy on youtube that runs Cleeveley EV - they are an independent EV servicing company that run a fleet of converted MG5 estate cars as their 'vans. The degradation on those seems to be about 10-12% at 100,000 miles and about 18-20% at 200,000. Considering the average mileage of a scrapped car in the UK is around 125,000 its not that big a deal. Also, as more EVs hit the road, the used packs become cheaper to buy. The exception to this general comment is nissan leafs, they don't have any facility to actively manage the temperature of the battery packs, so their battery degradation can be significantly more severe.
To answer your point about the 11kw charger, this is actually how much power the AC-to-DC inverter can handle. 11kw is only any use if you have access to a 3 phase supply, otherwise the max is 7kw. Where these make a lot of sense is workplace car parks, for example here we have some 7kw and some 11kw charging posts and the difference is noticeable. We get told to shift our cars after 3hrs in the charge bays to let other people charge so the higher power rating makes a big difference then.
Being honest its extremely rare I use public DC rapid charging, probably two or three times in the last 11 months / 23,000 miles. When I do I find taht anything over 100kw is fast enough. Starting out with about 200-220 miles on the BMW, taking 15-20mins will add 100 ish miles and its rare I would want to do more than 300 miles in a day. Again if its your only car this may not hold true, but given the average mileage driven in the UK is about 8000 per year, it would certainly apply to most people.
Overall I like EVs very much for daily commuting. The BMW is good for overtaking and quick enough for a family bus. It isn't "fun", but neither is any SUV, short of a RR sport SVR, its not designed to be.
Tried it before I signed up for the BMW (although mine would have been the boggo 400bhp version) but my ar$e didn't fit in the seats, so it was a non starter. If I had my own and could throw some VW golf seats in, I might be tempted 8).
I wonder how long it will be before you trade your BMW for something like an electric Porsche with warp speed like acceleration? 8)
I'm also now divorced and really don't want to work past my mid 50's so I suspect I might end up with something a bit more modest as my next car (iPace looks tempting, but I'd want to chat to that DTM bloke first as I know they had some battery issues).
There was a bit of a stand off between Mrs Opti and me.
She wanted an electric Mini/Bini convertible. I told her that as well as women drivers these cars were also driven by male hairdressers who wear leather jeans with a zipper at the back. Proper LGBT stuff.
So we came to a compromise with something she was happy to drive, and I could also drive without embarrassment if the need arose.
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So c'mon. What is Mrs Opti getting? ???
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So c'mon. What is Mrs Opti getting? ???
Oh dear, you're playing his game ::)
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So c'mon. What is Mrs Opti getting? ???
Well....Sir Tigger.
Car was registered 1st March 2025 so wears 25 plate. She has just 12 delivery miles on the clock.
Dual motors so performance is reasonable, but not proper fast like a Tesla or Porsche Taycan. Middling grunt.
Built in Austria.....and the car has already been mentioned a couple of times by people on this thread.
Easy. ;)
......oh and from next year this manufacturer will only sell cars to homosexuals and women with a penis. ;D ;D
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Jaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaag. :)
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Jaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaag. :)
Yeeaaahhh.....what clinched it was that it's presented in the same Italian racing red as my old XFR 5.0S/C.......although for some unknown reason Jag now call it Firenze red.
I have absolutely no idea why they changed the name. ???
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So c'mon. What is Mrs Opti getting? ???
Well....Sir Tigger.
Car was registered 1st March 2025 so wears 25 plate. She has just 12 delivery miles on the clock.
Dual motors so performance is reasonable, but not proper fast like a Tesla or Porsche Taycan. Middling grunt.
Built in Austria.....and the car has already been mentioned a couple of times by people on this thread.
Easy. ;)
......oh and from next year this manufacturer will only sell cars to homosexuals and women with a penis. ;D ;D
So when you drive it you will identify as a lesbian woman with a penis? ;D
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So c'mon. What is Mrs Opti getting? ???
Well....Sir Tigger.
Car was registered 1st March 2025 so wears 25 plate. She has just 12 delivery miles on the clock.
Dual motors so performance is reasonable, but not proper fast like a Tesla or Porsche Taycan. Middling grunt.
Built in Austria.....and the car has already been mentioned a couple of times by people on this thread.
Easy. ;)
......oh and from next year this manufacturer will only sell cars to homosexuals and women with a penis. ;D ;D
So when you drive it you will identify as a lesbian woman with a penis? ;D
Yes.....a person with a penis who is attracted to women. I'm sure there used to be a name for that which wasn't lesbian. >:D
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......oh and from next year this manufacturer will only sell cars to homosexuals and women with a penis. ;D ;D
I'm led to believe they are in the process of dumping their ad agency....
We all know Jaaaaggs should be driven by virile men who never pay for anything....
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So c'mon. What is Mrs Opti getting? ???
Well....Sir Tigger.
Car was registered 1st March 2025 so wears 25 plate. She has just 12 delivery miles on the clock.
Dual motors so performance is reasonable, but not proper fast like a Tesla or Porsche Taycan. Middling grunt.
Built in Austria.....and the car has already been mentioned a couple of times by people on this thread.
Easy. ;)
......oh and from next year this manufacturer will only sell cars to homosexuals and women with a penis. ;D ;D
So when you drive it you will identify as a lesbian woman with a penis? ;D
Yes.....a person with a penis who is attracted to women. I'm sure there used to be a name for that which wasn't lesbian. >:D
That's just not how it works these days M'Lud. ::)
You can identify as a homosexual, a woman with a penis or both, which means you are a lesbian. :)
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So c'mon. What is Mrs Opti getting? ???
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Built in Austria.....and the car has already been mentioned a couple of times by people on this thread.
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I thought the I-Pace had been discontinued due to poor sales and software issues, or have I got the wrong Jag. :-\
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So c'mon. What is Mrs Opti getting? ???
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Built in Austria.....and the car has already been mentioned a couple of times by people on this thread.
…….
I thought the I-Pace had been discontinued due to poor sales and software issues, or have I got the wrong Jag. :-\
They've got to shift the ones they've already built...
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I was killing time the other day in the local shopping centre where there were BYD cars on display. I know nothing about them but have to say the interior of the "Sealion" was quite impressive (other than the iPad type dash :-X)
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So c'mon. What is Mrs Opti getting? ???
……..
Built in Austria.....and the car has already been mentioned a couple of times by people on this thread.
…….
I thought the I-Pace had been discontinued due to poor sales and software issues, or have I got the wrong Jag. :-\
They have.
They've been around since 2019 but have been updated 2 or 3 times in that period. The early I-Pace would only charge at 50KW.....later cars 100KW.
Mrs Opti's car is an HSE model with all the bells and whistles. With the options an £84,000 car 2 years ago.....A £60,000 car 1 year ago.
Now on a 25 plate available for 45% of the original cost with just 12 miles on the clock.I thought 'f*uck it' why not.
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I was killing time the other day in the local shopping centre where there were BYD cars on display. I know nothing about them but have to say the interior of the "Sealion" was quite impressive (other than the iPad type dash :-X)
We had a look. They are quite well made for a 'chinky' car but look closely and you will see where costs have been cut.
Dual motor top model is around £70,000 which you'd be mad to pay.
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It's probably a 2 year old car in reality so the discount is basically the depreciation and an element of market correction.
The Vin tag on the door frame will show the build date. I would be quite surprised if it wasn't early 24.
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So c'mon. What is Mrs Opti getting? ???
……..
Built in Austria.....and the car has already been mentioned a couple of times by people on this thread.
…….
I thought the I-Pace had been discontinued due to poor sales and software issues, or have I got the wrong Jag. :-\
They have.
They've been around since 2019 but have been updated 2 or 3 times in that period. The early I-Pace would only charge at 50KW.....later cars 100KW.
Mrs Opti's car is an HSE model with all the bells and whistles. With the options an £84,000 car 2 years ago.....A £60,000 car 1 year ago.
Now on a 25 plate available for 45% of the original cost with just 12 miles on the clock.I thought 'f*uck it' why not.
Ah yes, wasn’t it the I-Pace from 2018-2019 build year with the LG batteries that Jaguar offered to buy back from customers due to unresolved overheating and fire risk.
Hope Mrs Opti is pleased with it. :y
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It's probably a 2 year old car in reality so the discount is basically the depreciation and an element of market correction.
The Vin tag on the door frame will show the build date. I would be quite surprised if it wasn't early 24.
Build date was about 7 months ago so one of the last actually assembled. I know it didn't roll off the production line last week.
For comparison my M240i has a build date (Mexico) of February 2023 and the car was registered early June 2023.
Three year Jag warranty runs from March 1st 2025 to March 1st 2028. I'm happy with that for the money.
I'm now waiting for you to tell me an elderly Mercedes would be better in every respect. ::) ;)
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Well, it would do you a disservice not to mention it >:D
It didn't take long to get from "I'm not driving a milkfloat" to "We've bought one to share". ;D
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Speaking of build dates as opposed to registration dates.
Jimbob discovered my last 2.6 MV6 Omega rolled off the production line in Germany in June 2002, but the car was registered in December 2003. It was fine.
But imagine taking a BL car from the seventies that had been standing in a muddy field for 2 years due to industrial action.
F*uck all in the way of rust protection probably meant the car was rusty when it's new owner took delivery. >:D
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Well, it would do you a disservice not to mention it >:D
It didn't take long to get from "I'm not driving a milkfloat" to "We've bought one to share". ;D
Obviously at some point I will drive it, but it's not my car, or my choice of car. There is a little Germanic coupe I can drive.....and I may even buy another Signum. :D ;D
.....although not with a £735 taxable 2.8 V6 turbo. :)
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My '54 Omega was built in June '03. But it was purchased in July'03 to sit in stock until TVP needed it. Not quite the same thing as flogging off old production stock as a new car.
7 months is better than I thought though :y. Think TPC was a couple of weeks between build and registration, although it was built to order and collected from the factory.
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......
But imagine taking a BL car from the seventies that had been standing in a muddy field for 2 years due to industrial action.
F*uck all in the way of rust protection probably meant the car was rusty when it's new owner took delivery. >:D
Iirc that's what Lancia did .... they just cleaned them up & painted as needed and gave them a special edition name. Lancia name then became no more in the UK.
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......
But imagine taking a BL car from the seventies that had been standing in a muddy field for 2 years due to industrial action.
F*uck all in the way of rust protection probably meant the car was rusty when it's new owner took delivery. >:D
Iirc that's what Lancia did .... they just cleaned them up & painted as needed and gave them a special edition name. Lancia name then became no more in the UK.
Yep...... It was the Beta if memory serves.
Quick rub down then a few minutes with the rattle can and she was as good as new to the unsuspecting new owner. :)
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Well, it would do you a disservice not to mention it >:D
It didn't take long to get from "I'm not driving a milkfloat" to "We've bought one to share". ;D
Obviously at some point I will drive it, but it's not my car, or my choice of car. There is a little Germanic coupe I can drive.....and I may even buy another Signum. :D ;D
.....although not with a £735 taxable 2.8 V6 turbo. :)
If you're after another hack modern classic, Uncle STEMO's dealers have a 2.2i Vectra. :y
https://www.modusmotorcompany.co.uk/used-cars/vauxhall-vectra-2-2i-16v-cd-5dr-knottingley-202406221007344