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[Varche]

Our bus developed a charging fault which has turned out to be a wiring issue. We hired a very polo or similar and got a cdti manual diesel. Nice enough but feels really cramped and low after 4x4.

Did a load of scenic green routes today and then came back via motorway.

Plus points? Well goes well but lots of gear changes, adequate power but not as much go as an auto 2.0 Passat I last hired. Mind you that was auto. Sat navbut it spends a lot of time just saying off road! Good size boot.

Minus points? Well I hate all the alarms. Seat belt warning. I don't wear them on the dirt roads around us. Proximity warning. Auto switch off of engine. I positively hate the electric handbrake. I have yet to figure out how to do a hill start. No doubt someone will tell me!

I am embarrassed to say that I discovered at Malaga that it has six gears. After fiddling with some switches a light appeared on the dash suggesting what gear to select next. Never been in or driven a car with six gears!

[biggriffin]

Try a 16speed manual. Or an early David brown with a 32 speed,  .
Corsa hire car we had that shift change light, was permanently on whizzing about your manor

[BazaJT]

A lot of cars these days have the shift lights.Fords certainly have them.

[Nick W]

Minus points? Well I hate all the alarms. Seat belt warning. I don't wear them on the dirt roads around us. Proximity warning. Auto switch off of engine. I positively hate the electric handbrake. I have yet to figure out how to do a hill start. No doubt someone will tell me!

Just drive off. It should progressively release the handbrake for you. It's a hire car, so you don't have to worry about the longterm implications.

[ronnyd]

Had an old Mazda 626, prefix A reg, it had a "when to change up light". Got on my tits when the novelty wore off.

[STEMO]

Both of our cars have it. The one on my Astra just works on engine revs, useless. The one on the captur works on revs and torque and won't ask you to change up on a steep hill and the like.

[Varche]

Minus points? Well I hate all the alarms. Seat belt warning. I don't wear them on the dirt roads around us. Proximity warning. Auto switch off of engine. I positively hate the electric handbrake. I have yet to figure out how to do a hill start. No doubt someone will tell me!

Just drive off. It should progressively release the handbrake for you. It's a hire car, so you don't have to worry about the longterm implications.

 

[omegod]

I had to drive a colleague home in his Insignia this week after he walked into a door in work causing concussion   oh how we all laughed at him !

What a bloody hateful thing it was, rock hard seats, like looking out of a coke can with a few slits for windows, daft gear ratios and the bloody handbrake system is a pile of crap.  He does 5k a year round town so he obviously picked a highly strung diesel with such lovely time bombs as a DPF and a dual mass flywheel despite my warnings         

[2boxerdogs]

Hired a Ford Transit minibus last weekend 12 seater as we were all attending a wedding in Kent, 6 speed box + every other option soon got used to the sixth gear economy was good as well around 30 mpg.

[tigers_gonads]

My first car which was a 1.1 ltr Mk1 golf formel e with a 4 speed box even had a little orange light on the dash to tell you to change up iirc

[Kevin Wood]

My first car which was a 1.1 ltr Mk1 golf formel e with a 4 speed box even had a little orange light on the dash to tell you to change up iirc

So did my Mum's Volvo 340, but I didn't need it because I could hear the valves start to bounce.

[tunnie]

Hired a Ford Transit minibus last weekend 12 seater as we were all attending a wedding in Kent, 6 speed box + every other option soon got used to the sixth gear economy was good as well around 30 mpg.

Had the same, we hired a standard transit the other day. A run to Kingston in London through to Croydon and back, generally poor traffic from Kingston to Croydon and back to M25, lots of traffic. But it too averaged 30mpg 

[Lazydocker]

Hired a Ford Transit minibus last weekend 12 seater as we were all attending a wedding in Kent, 6 speed box + every other option soon got used to the sixth gear economy was good as well around 30 mpg.

Had the same, we hired a standard transit the other day. A run to Kingston in London through to Croydon and back, generally poor traffic from Kingston to Croydon and back to M25, lots of traffic. But it too averaged 30mpg 

Hire car spec My work van is a 14 plate Transit Custom and even with all the tools and the idling required for running the equipment I normally average mid 30's (34+), although I did a late one in Cambridge last night which has meant my average took a hit to low 30's