19th October 2006 - Granny state / Speed Cameras / Maybachs

Ramblings and thoughts from Neil
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19th October 2006 - Granny state / Speed Cameras / Maybachs

Post by neil » Thu Oct 19, 2006 8:34 pm

Granny State
It seems every day I read something more depressing about England - we seem to spend our time giving liberties to the wrong people, criminalising the good people and generally not appearing to do anything for the greater good. How much imdustry have we lost ? It seems like other than niche players any reasonably size manufacturing business (we're not talking just cars) is foreign owned. We still appear to have great brains but do we nuture and support them - no we do the opposite and so lost of knowledge goes abroad. The fiascos of MG Rover are all to common. Compare this to other EU countries who still state subsidise their industry and its little wonder. Offshoring is another example of where the government was actively encouraging it - leading to lower standards and questionable value for money either from the consumer or the company undertaking it.

Speed Cameras etc
Leading on from the above...

If I won the lottery jackpot (which to be honest is a very long shot - not just the odds, its not help by me not playing it either) I'd be seriously looking to buy an old airport or some kind of track. To be honest I don't have a clue how much they cost, but it seems so close to the point where the little blackboxes in our cars combined with the wonderful GPS gagdets we are all fond of, will start reporting our every move. Speeding has its place - I'm not condoning reckless driving but everyone does it - even people who are adamantly against it - driving has become a lottery in its own right. And that effect is down to speed cameras - just think how riduculous it will be when the car itself is the detector - a simple journey down the road would get you banded ? I used to think it wouldn't happen but now I'm not to sure - it still seems unworkable but we are being manipulated into accepting that we need to watched 24 hours a day for our own safety etc. The move by car insurance companies is another step towards this - ok its for high risk young drivers who can volunteer to have their every move tracked - but we need insurance to drive legally - insurance = tracking = inevitable?

Whats the answer ? realistic speed limits ? submission ?

Maybach
Spotted this when I was in London yesterday:
Image
Got me thinking...Would you buy a Maybach ?

There's no doubt they are fantastically engineered but are they so different to Mercedes S Class - and can they compete with the sense of occasion of the Rolls or the street cred of a Bentley.

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Post by Heuer » Fri Oct 20, 2006 12:32 pm

Got me thinking...Would you buy a Maybach ?

Because you want people to think you drive a Daewoo?
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Post by hythe » Fri Oct 20, 2006 1:22 pm

The answer is (a) get a racing licence and get yourself on the track and (b) make sure you and everyone you know votes against the government's candidate at every election going - local or national, and make sure that any activists who come to your door know that the government's anti-driver (i.e. anti-majority-of-the-population) policies are a major voting factor for you.

Not that I really trust Dave to do the right thing, but ultimately I'm sure there are plenty of habitual speeders among would-be Tory ministers, so it's not in his interest to have them all banned, causing a scandal, is it? :)
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Post by KevinB10 » Fri Oct 20, 2006 2:31 pm

No even if I had the money I would not buy a Maybach or a R/R Phantom. I looked over both cars on visits to London and neither car did it for me. In my opinion a B7 would be perfectly adequate - a large luxury car with a good engine.
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Post by Heuer » Fri Oct 20, 2006 8:26 pm

Having driven the Phantom for about 160 miles I can say it is actually a fantastic car, for what it is. Certainly cuts a swath through the traffic and it does not half go!

Managed to get the reserve power meter down to 0 uphill on the M27 with an indicated speed of 125 mph and four people on board, much to the horror of the salesman who claimed it was not possible.

Not my type of car but I can see why it is becoming a bit of a classic.
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Post by neil » Fri Oct 20, 2006 8:50 pm

Yeah I drove the Phantom around the hill course at Millbrook and actually overtook some of the other cars - it feels a lot smaller to drive than it looks. I couldn't imagine ever owning one but in my mind it is a fantastic piece of kit.

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Post by ALPB1033 » Sat Oct 21, 2006 4:45 am

In metal the RR is more beautiful rhan the Maybach. Beside when driving the RR this will make you feel to be a special occasion but i don't find that on Maybach.(As I saw that in the recent Paris motorshow) To me this is just the S class with extend wheel base. If two cars park togeher this will be the RR people will stare at instead of the Maybach.
If money is no object I will have the RR. In reality I still love my Alpina and I already start saving for a 2nd hand B6 as my hp will finish in next Jan. So I can save more for the B6.
However the British government seems to transfer the Brit, ecomony from manufacture base to service base. As far as I know the British ecomony is about 5 to 6 years behind the Yanky ecom.(That was about 10-15 years ago)
So thats why all the manufacturing industries fell in the foreign hands. That may due to lack of natural resources but not the brain power of British. I still think they are one of the clever people in this world.

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