Thank you Karen, my cheap mobile does take good photos. 
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Most of our farmers seem to drive Dacia’s of one model or another
Nothing wrong with Dacias, they are Renault previous generation engineering and low spec to meet a lower price point. Many people cannot afford the ridiculous prices of new cars and don’t want to gamble on a secondhand motor. I personally would buy a secondhand or older higher spec car for the same money from another manufacturer purely for the creature comforts, but calling somebody’s purchase decision shit just because you don’t like Dacias shows your ignorance of cars rather than theirs.
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Virtually all modern small engines have a dreadful reputation these days. Ford, BMW, VW, Stellantis, Mazda all have certain engines designed by engineers but built by accountants , some of which barely make 40,000 miles before catastrophic failure . Buying a new car with a small capacity turbo engine is a minefield.
Citroen has the disastrous puretech engine that starves itself of oil and blows up
The curse of the Industry and the death in the nineties of Mercedes Benz as we knew it.
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I agree with much of what you said, which is what happens when you come to a thread days late and only reply to one comment rather than seeing where the discussion went and then replying to the overall conversation. You were obviously also so incredibly irate at what you thought I said that in a rush to reply you misread it. I never said Dacia’s were shit, at least not in the comment you’re replying to, and I’m pretty sure not elsewhere either, what I said was…
however shit life gets if it ever gets duster shit there really isn’t much point carrying on…
referring to the fact that if life was ever so shit I’d consider getting a duster. Perhaps the second use of shit confused you’ll but it wasn’t referring to the car, which as I’ve already said are fine cars, just not a choice I’d ever make unless desperate due to the fact that 1) every other person has one 2) I don’t find them pleasant to look at outside or in and 3) while I don’t go into generalising usually, I don’t believe the old jokes about BMW or Audi drivers for example, the Duster drivers I personally know (so not representative of all of course) are all massive cockerels. The sorts of people who would have the most audacious gaudy Ferrari to attempt to hide the lack of love from their parents in their youth and their tiny chipolata, but are too poor to afford one so get a duster. That clouds my view of them. But I never said they were shit as my following comments demonstrated. I hope that clears it up for you.
Another bizarre throwaway line from the scientist.
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Apologies , I thought I was reacting to a car snob, or should I say badge snob these days and jumped the gun in defence of the OP.
Many of the components used in all European cars are either made in China or in some cases, the entire car is made there then marketed under a European badge. To my mind, the difference between a Skoda and an Audi is pretty much the same as that of a basic Austin and the Vanden Plas version.
I have owned literally 100’s of cars and loved the variety of driving experiences they afforded,which seem to be sadly now lacking in modern cars.
I have owned and restored 4 x 2cv s. I don’t think there is anything that makes me feel more unsafe than driving a 2cv in traffic. The metal they were made from is very difficult to weld because it is so thin and regardless of what people say about the chassis strength,the cars have no safety features whatsoever and you will die in all but a minor shunt.
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You probably wouldn’t be keen on driving a Spitfire amongst all the massive trucks and SUVs in the gun-toting US, then, would you? That’s one small reason I left to come here…
Interesting cars still exist but the driving experience seems to a feature that is becoming less and less important for the majority of buyers.
Drove a MK1 Spitfire from the UK to the French Mediterranean. Not a fast car but the rear axle arrangement made cornering at speed a frightening experience if you took your foot off the throttle as the rear wheels tucked under the body making it easy to turn the thing over!
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I used to get my pleasure from buying interesting old cars, then restoring them. Now I build interesting cars ( cyclekarts) from scratch
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I had a MkIII. It originally had the same axle, but I installed the improved MkIV version with the pivot. Somewhat better. Still a deathtrap on many of today’s roads. Sold everything I had in the US. That, a TR4a IRS, 3 Mercedes W123 diesels, a W116 diesel , 2 VW IDI diesels and 2 BMW e34 535is. Someday, when I own a house here, I’ll buy something old, fun and useful, if I can still hold a spanner.
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There are interesting cars but in retirement, they are no longer in my budget. I now drive a mundane modern box but now enjoy building my own cars instead.
I’ve owned and driven just 2 of them - our first was yellow, and the second blue like the one in your first picture, but with the yellow roof from the first. Also curiously enough, a MkIII Spitfire, and from what I recall the brakes (or relative lack) plus fracturing trunions were the biggest flaws. All cars of a particular (long-past) era, fun driven within their limitations, and in ways that suit their characteristics.
I mentioned the Zoe in relation to the 2CV because the Zoe has that feeling of “the metal is so thin that I can feel the bodywork bend as I shut the door”. In the case of the Zoes, both an original and a second generation, shutting the rear door causes the bodywork to creak and bend, and instead of the reassuring clunk that you expect with a recent vehicle, closure results in a clang. A key difference is for me is that the 2CV is light and all the heavy parts are at the front, but the Zoe has batteries and motors in places where I could easily imagine them causing damage to occupants in an impact. Brakes and acceleration in the Zoe will be much better of course.
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Actually, they now use the current Renault platforms and engine/gearbox offerings. Yes, they are a cheaper option but hugely improved over the previous generation of cars they sold.
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Swing axels, they’ll get you every time. Spitfires were only Heralds in wolf (may be wolf cub) clothing anyway. But for swing axel fun you should read (or maybe you have) Denis Jenkinson’s account of seesawing his swing axel 356 from Grand Prix to Grand Prix when he was reporting for Motor Sport.
Back in 1975 a friend of mine came back from France with an old 2 CV. It had only 400cc if I remember correctly, and suicide doors. The wipers were run from the speedometer cable and had a knurled knob to give them a twist when stopped in traffic. It was dreadful.
I can see it now, you on the ledge and the forces of law and order and the paramedics trying to talk you down. “another one bites the duster..”.
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