"progress"... not impressed....:evil:

[ColJack]

As I'm a big chap ( 6 foot 4, 28 stone.. ) I need a roomy car / van, so on the basis that I've been driving my escort van quite comfortably for the past 9 years I thought I'll get another one the same.
I went to look at an escort van this evening going on the assumption that it looked exactly like the one I have now, the only visible difference ( besides the rust ) is the instrument panel..

mine is an N reg, the one I went to look at was a Y reg..

for some strange reason, I didn't fit in it comfortably..

they must have changed a whole host of things in such a subtle way that it made the driver compartment smaller..

the seat was the kind that tilts, whereas mine isn't, so maybe there is an inch there, the dash may have been made an inch deeper ( making the steering column an inch closer ) and they may have brought the bulkhead behind the driver forward by an inch...

 

[lifesagasman]

increased crumple zones, airbags, bulkhed?

 

[Nige F]

Don`t call Col. a Bulkhead just because he`s big. I`m getting close @ 6`2" and *ahem* 20 stone

 

[lifesagasman]

Don`t call Col. a Bulkhead just because he`s big. I`m getting close @ 6`2" and *ahem* 20 stone

then i'll call him a taxi.

 

[ColJack]

after chatting to an AA bloke about it, mu Dad was told that the Mk 6 escort vat driver compartment is 2 inches shorter than in the Mk 5... aparently done to try and reduse the weight of the vehicle.. aha..

so I wasn't being paranoid then. it really was smaller...

I'm getting a meganne scenic now anyway..

 

[securespark]

My Ford Connect is fine. And I'm a little over 6' & 20+ stone.

 

[LastMagicBean]

coljack...........

I blame the homemade scones and breadmaking, that your a fan of.
Not the van......

 

[Shifty22]

I'm getting a meganne scenic now anyway..

I wouldn't, Renaults are notoriously unreliable.

 

[securespark]

My Ford Connect is fine.

At least, it was until this afternoon.

I now have a van with no gears. No, it's not the clutch. The lever moves every which way you like and there are no longer any gates. It's as if the link from the lever to the 'box has failed. While the AA were on their way, I had a fiddle and found a rod under the gaiter that felt like it was flapping around. So I thought it was that. But according to the patrol, it's a cable linkage and he had a feel under the bonnet only to find the cables seemed to be attached. So I don't know what it is.

Knowing my luck, it'll need a new 'box!!

 

[masona]

Wouldn't it be best to try and lose some weight instead?

 

[ColJack]

well yes it would, but that doesn not solve the immediate problem of transport does it?

 

[kevindgas]

My Ford Connect is fine. And I'm a little over 6' & 20+ stone.

well ain't you the lucky one mine is a heap of ..... nothing but trouble from day 1

what about looking at the berlingo or kangoo vans, i've had a kangoo and it was a really good van.
as said before the scenic & picasso's have a lot of issues

 

[kevindgas]

I'm getting a meganne scenic now anyway..

I wouldn't, Renaults are notoriously unreliable.

with the exception of the 5 / extra van which were brilliant little motors but not for the tall peeps my old extra did 110,000 on 3 services, 1 radiator (froze in the iceage Norfolk 1 winter) and 1 battery never let me down until the cambelt snapped

 

[ColJack]

the reliablity of a make of vehicle is an objective thing..
if you've had troubles with a vehicle then that colours your percepton of all vehicles from the same maker.. regardless of whether you managed to get the one duff one out 10,000 that they made that month..

my family has had 4 renaults in the recent past and never had any troubles with them besides the rediculous price of a dealer service ( it only went there once.. went independant since.. )

if you search for any make of car you will find a thousand people with something to complain about each and every make.
you never go on a website to say that your car is working fine and that it sailed through it's last MOT and that it was the best thing you ever decided to buy, you only go on to bitch about needing new tyres or some welding or it breaking down and leaving you stranded in the middle of nowhere for hours..

 

[noseall]

French cars are ok so long as you only keep em for four or five years.