[thechat] Cars (Re: ripped from the headlines - a speedy newsstoryforMadhu)

[William Anderson]

Elfur Logadóttir wrote:
> I'm guessing I struck a nerve, since both William and Martin saw fit to lash
> out ;) 

Hey, I wasn't lashing at anything, just setting the record straight! :)

> [snip]
> 
> It's true, Skoda shifted from being east-european (along with Lada and
> Wartburg) to being west-european ... And it raised it's status ... But here

Lada?  They pulled out of the UK due to consistent reliability problems late 
in life (the Camara, mainly).  They still have a bad name here, despite 
earlier models being built like fucking tanks - they had to be to survive 
Russian winters.  My dad had one of these - http://www.vaz.ru/v2107.htm - 
and two more before it.  Lada started off by using licensed Fiat designs 
from the 60s to 80s - think Fiats 124, 125, 131 - also FSO Fiats too - hence 
the similarities of those types.

There's talk of them re-entering the UK market, but I doubt it'll happen 
soon - meanwhile, they're still quite active at home, cf http://www.vaz.ru/

fwiw, the Niva kicked ass - and still does; http://www.vaz.ru/v2131.htm

> in Iceland it's still the poorer choice ... And is not ranked as high as
> other west-european brands. It is however ranked higher than Asian brands.

Shame - some Nipponese cars rock.  Oh for a Nissan Skyline 2002 R34 GT-R ...

> May I remind you - Iceland is a snob and a half ... Very high standard of
> living and everything is expensive ... As if we would ever feel proud
> driving a car with east-european name on it ... No matter how west-european
> it has gotten recently.

That's a pretty shocking attitude.  You'll find that several so-called 
Eastern European countries (which still conjures images of the Soviet Bloc) 
manufacture cars and other goods for "the West" - Volkswagen, GM (Opel) are 
prime examples.  You might even find parts of your Omega were produced in 
Opel's Hungary facilities!

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_ __/|  William Anderson      | Brodie: The Force is strong with this one
\`O_o'  neuro at well dot com |    Jay: Dude, don't encourage him
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