- Joined
- Mar 12, 2006
- Messages
- 2,608
- Car
- Mini Cooper S, BMW M140i
Greetings, Citizens.
Not aimed at Mercedes in particular, but what do you wish you could have bought your car with, but the manufacturer doesn't offer?
I've had the Ypsilon coming up on a year, and overall have been pleased with my choice. It's comfortable, well equipped, frugal and fairly nippy for what it is.
For those of you who aren't familiar with the car (I'm assuming that's most people, they didn't sell well at all in the UK), it's based on the Fiat 500/Panda platform and shares most of the mechanicals. They still sell them in Italy and the range is roughly pitched as Panda = practical, 500 = cute and fun, Ypsilon = luxury in a small package.
The Ypsilon came with 3 engine choices, the 1.2 4 cylinder (smooth, but gutless), the 1.3 diesel (a bit agricultural, but economical) and the 0.9 twinair (unusual, but interesting). I bought the twinair, which has character in bucketloads but I have to say (as did many of the reviewers at the time) that perhaps it doesn't sit that comfortably with the luxury image they were trying to portray.
So, back to my original point - if I had the choice I reckon the car would have been perfect if I could have bought it with a small capacity V6 - say 1.6 or 1.8 - and about 140 to 150 bhp. Given the luxury rather than sporting remit, definitely an automatic, preferably a torque converter or possibly a dual clutch, 6 speed would probably be enough.
I think this would drop the 0-60 down to between 8-9 seconds and up the top speed to 120+, more than enough to keep up with the traffic. Fuel consumption would obviously be down, but as I do few miles this is of little concern.
This of course is just pie in the sky as nobody offers an engine/gearbox combination like this, but what would you have specified given the choice?
Cheers,
Gaz
PS. Druk is excluded as he'd simply go away and build it.
Not aimed at Mercedes in particular, but what do you wish you could have bought your car with, but the manufacturer doesn't offer?
I've had the Ypsilon coming up on a year, and overall have been pleased with my choice. It's comfortable, well equipped, frugal and fairly nippy for what it is.
For those of you who aren't familiar with the car (I'm assuming that's most people, they didn't sell well at all in the UK), it's based on the Fiat 500/Panda platform and shares most of the mechanicals. They still sell them in Italy and the range is roughly pitched as Panda = practical, 500 = cute and fun, Ypsilon = luxury in a small package.
The Ypsilon came with 3 engine choices, the 1.2 4 cylinder (smooth, but gutless), the 1.3 diesel (a bit agricultural, but economical) and the 0.9 twinair (unusual, but interesting). I bought the twinair, which has character in bucketloads but I have to say (as did many of the reviewers at the time) that perhaps it doesn't sit that comfortably with the luxury image they were trying to portray.
So, back to my original point - if I had the choice I reckon the car would have been perfect if I could have bought it with a small capacity V6 - say 1.6 or 1.8 - and about 140 to 150 bhp. Given the luxury rather than sporting remit, definitely an automatic, preferably a torque converter or possibly a dual clutch, 6 speed would probably be enough.
I think this would drop the 0-60 down to between 8-9 seconds and up the top speed to 120+, more than enough to keep up with the traffic. Fuel consumption would obviously be down, but as I do few miles this is of little concern.
This of course is just pie in the sky as nobody offers an engine/gearbox combination like this, but what would you have specified given the choice?
Cheers,
Gaz
PS. Druk is excluded as he'd simply go away and build it.
