Install the app
How to install the app on iOS

Follow along with the video below to see how to install our site as a web app on your home screen.

Note: This feature may not be available in some browsers.

AndyC's car guide...

Status
Not open for further replies.
AndyC said:
Have never driven ANY Vauxhall mate... all the cars I get to drive professionally are upmarket... Aston Martin, Audi, BMW, Bentley, Ferrari, Jaguar, Lamborghini, Land Rover, Maserati, McLaren, Mercedes, Porsche, Range Rover and Tesla.
Have driven all of these and more, and will post reviews as I get to drive more of them ;)
Click to expand...
Aye, I was only having a light-hearted tease to deflect from reading all the floppy fathers in the Everton forum. I presume you're a journalist of some sort?
 
AndyC said:
Folks,
There's been a few threads over the years over cars so I thought I'd start one too.

Now I'm very, very fortunate in that for a living, I get to drive all manner of largely prestige cars and often from one of the country to the other. So given cars are a popular subject, I'd like to offer a guide as to how I find cars from driving, performance, comfort, reliability, practicality and fuel economy perspectives. Obviously, these will be just my personal opinions and for those that don't know me personally, I'm a fairly large unit - 6ft 4ins and circa 16 stone - so comfort, leg room etc is pretty important to me.

So let's start with a piece of classic Italian automotive muscle - Ferrari Portofino.

Let me begin by saying that I love to drive this car, despite the colour it's a real head-turner, as it really is a terrific drive.

As with any high-end performance car, the harder you press the throttle pedal the miles-per-gallon numbers tumble but, and it's a big but to my mind, if you drive this car relatively sensibly i.e, more or less to the speed limits or at least up to 10% over the limit, the Portofino can and will return 40+ mpg. Thrash it, and the mpg drops as low as the low 20s or less.

Needless to say, performance is impressive and some. Acceleration is extremely good and having a low centre of gravity and low profile tyres, it sticks to the road like baby poo to a blanket.

From the comfort perspective, the Portofino is surprisingly good for a thoroughbred sports car. The front seats are comfortable and not hip-hugger bucket seats that many other sports cars are fitted with. Electrically operated, the front seats can be set back far enough for a lump like me to get in and feel very happy with the driving position. That said, if the front seats are put as far back as to accommodate a lump like me, there's no leg room whatsoever should you be looking to have passengers in the back seats.

One of the real surprises with the Portofino compared to many other sports cars is it's not ridiculously noisy when driven relatively sensibly - you don't need to have the radio blaring or yell at each other to have a conversation - hit the throttle pedal though and it does growl as a Ferrari should do !!

From a reliability perspective, as with many modern cars, everything is computer/electrically operated and sometimes, fault lights like tyre pressures come on when there isn't any pressure issue - simple answer, whizz it into the dealer and they're usually resolved in just a few minutes of plugging in the diagnostic equipment to clear the false fault.

Now can a sports car ever really be considered practical, well that really is a subjective question. The boot on the Portofino will take two small suitcases but not a lot else. Two people would need to put additional luggage in the back seat.

Overall like I said up front, this is a car I love to drive and long distances in it are not a problem - the Portofino is a seriously impressive car and can be relatively frugal on fuel.
My marks out of ten...
Comfort 8
Fuel Economy 7
Performance 9
Reliability 8
Practicality 4
Click to expand...
Two small additional points on the Ferrari...
Minor fault lights, such as tyre pressures, can be cleared by a simple adjustment without having to go into the dealership - the onboard computer can be reset when the car is at a standstill... and secondly and unlike the majority of sports cars, the Portofino can be fuelled with ordinary (95 octane) unleaded petrol, as against the more expensive Super Unleaded (98 octane) petrol ;)
 
Today's offering isn't as attractive or exciting as yesterday's Ferrari, but here goes with...

The Jaguar F-Pace

The F-Pace shown is a 2020 diesel model and the Jaguar equivalent to the Range Rover Evoque, Audi Q5, Porsche Macan/Cayenne and other similar SUV cars.

It's a not a particularly exciting car to drive but, is solidly built and being an SUV has an elevated driving position that allows for good all-round road vision. The suspension feels stiffer than the Audi and Porsche equivalents and this tends to make the ride feel that bit harsher by comparison.
The F-Pace isn't luxurious by any stretch of the imagination but it's not uncomfortable, with decent legroom for tall driver and front seat passenger if the (manually adjusted) seats are slid as far back as they can go. This still leaves acceptable leg space for the rear seat passengers, providing they're not 6ft plus.

The F-Pace offers a generous boot area and whilst not as smooth a drive as Audi/Porsche equivalents, it's scores better on fuel consumption (See the third picture of 49+ mpg) where the Audi and especially the Porsche models are thirstier albeit in providing better performance, and being quicker off the mark.

As for reliability, it's a little too early to tell with this particular car but, Jaguar and Land/Range Rover do have something of negative reputation for electrical system issues from five years old or 50,000 miles onwards, so if buying second hand this might be something to bear in mind.

From a new purchase perspective, if you were looking for a solidly built, rather bland, workhorse, without going to the expense of a Range Rover or Q7, the Jaguar F-Pace would tick many peoples boxes.

Comfort 7
Fuel Economy 8
Performance 7
Reliability 7
Practicality 7
 

Attachments

  • F-Pace 1.webp
    F-Pace 1.webp
    35.5 KB · Views: 20
  • F-Pace 2.webp
    F-Pace 2.webp
    25.5 KB · Views: 19
  • F-Pace 3.webp
    F-Pace 3.webp
    19.5 KB · Views: 19

@AndyC have you driven the Jaguar I-Pace? Mrs Tree is banging on about saving the planet (bless her, she currently drives a diesel Range Rover) and most EVs look so bad that they make me puke in my mouth, but the I-Pace looks less offensive to my eyes. Would appreciate your thoughts, if you've been behind the wheel.
 
Tree13 said:
@AndyC have you driven the Jaguar I-Pace? Mrs Tree is banging on about saving the planet (bless her, she currently drives a diesel Range Rover) and most EVs look so bad that they make me puke in my mouth, but the I-Pace looks less offensive to my eyes. Would appreciate your thoughts, if you've been behind the wheel.
Click to expand...
Not yet mate but have driven Tesla X and Model 3 Performance - will offer my thoughts on those soon ;)
 
AndyC said:
Have never driven ANY Vauxhall mate... all the cars I get to drive professionally are upmarket... Aston Martin, Audi, BMW, Bentley, Ferrari, Jaguar, Lamborghini, Land Rover, Maserati, McLaren, Mercedes, Porsche, Range Rover and Tesla.
Have driven all of these and more, and will post reviews as I get to drive more of them ;)
Click to expand...
Has Tesla sorted the windows out yet, or they still break.
 

AndyC said:
Today's offering isn't as attractive or exciting as yesterday's Ferrari, but here goes with...

The Jaguar F-Pace

The F-Pace shown is a 2020 diesel model and the Jaguar equivalent to the Range Rover Evoque, Audi Q5, Porsche Macan/Cayenne and other similar SUV cars.

It's a not a particularly exciting car to drive but, is solidly built and being an SUV has an elevated driving position that allows for good all-round road vision. The suspension feels stiffer than the Audi and Porsche equivalents and this tends to make the ride feel that bit harsher by comparison.
The F-Pace isn't luxurious by any stretch of the imagination but it's not uncomfortable, with decent legroom for tall driver and front seat passenger if the (manually adjusted) seats are slid as far back as they can go. This still leaves acceptable leg space for the rear seat passengers, providing they're not 6ft plus.

The F-Pace offers a generous boot area and whilst not as smooth a drive as Audi/Porsche equivalents, it's scores better on fuel consumption (See the third picture of 49+ mpg) where the Audi and especially the Porsche models are thirstier albeit in providing better performance, and being quicker off the mark.

As for reliability, it's a little too early to tell with this particular car but, Jaguar and Land/Range Rover do have something of negative reputation for electrical system issues from five years old or 50,000 miles onwards, so if buying second hand this might be something to bear in mind.

From a new purchase perspective, if you were looking for a solidly built, rather bland, workhorse, without going to the expense of a Range Rover or Q7, the Jaguar F-Pace would tick many peoples boxes.

Comfort 7
Fuel Economy 8
Performance 7
Reliability 7
Practicality 7
Click to expand...
My mum has a 2018 F-Pace and has had no problems with it tbh, It lacks a few things that are on some other SUV cars but it's a nice car and it's powerful. She did have an Evoque and tbh that did have a few electrical issues and she only only had it for just over a year as it became a bit of a nightmare in the end.
 
verreauxi said:
What's your thoughts on those Porsche Cayenne SUV thingys? Not that I could ever afford one, but they always appealed to my dad-body-yet-desperately-clinging-to-stay-relevant persona.
Click to expand...

Personally I prefer the look of the Panamera power wagon (Porsche refers to this as "Sport Turismo") for exactly the same reasons. There's a very wealthy older gentleman in my building with several Porches and none, however, are this wimpy sort.
 

Status
Not open for further replies.

Welcome to GrandOldTeam

Get involved. Registration is simple and free.

Register
Back
Top