Canada Car Sales, with Commentary

[Eggchaser]

I may be chancing my arm on a new Renault Zoe when the Ioniq lease is up in August, although no doubt I will have to pay half a million quid for the minor scratches that owning a car for three years attracts.

[WOM]

My beloved '97 Jetta was a lease-return with so much damage that it was almost cheaper for me to buy the car than for my mate to fix it and return it.

The worst bit was his brother putting the car in reverse when it was still going forward, and butchering the synchro gears. It made a godawful noise when backing up, but lasted a remarkable 8 more years before packing it in one day.

[WOM]

That was a great story, too. I got home, put the Jetta in reverse and - instead of the telltale grinding noise - there was a dull thud and then nothing. Transmission fucked.

So I called my VW guy (you really do need a VW guy) and said "the transmission has finally packed it in" and he says "Gimme ten minutes".

Ten minutes later he calls me back and says "A friend of mine has one in his shed wrapped in plastic. He wants $200, and I'll need $200 to put it in."

So within 24 hours I had a 'new' transmission and was back on the road for $400.

[Antepli Ejderha]

There's lots of reasons why people change the car they drive. Size, fuel efficiency and other running costs, newer tech, wanting something under warranty, safety, performance... it's endless.

I've owned 9 cars in 19 years of driving. Only two were brand new.

1. 1989 Citroen AX 10 RE (2000-2002). Ideal and typical first car.
2. 1997 Ford Escort 1.8 Sapphire (2002-2004). Much prettier, perkier, bigger, more grown up car. Good for driving friends around in.
3. 2004 Renault Clio 1.2 Dynamique (2004-2007). First brand new car, taking advantage of low interest rates to coincide with first proper job and income
4. 2007 Renault Megane 1.4 something (2007-2009). Thought it was an upgrade - but tedious performance. Had moved in with partner (now wife). More practical for going camping and IKEA runs etc
5. 1999 Daihatsu Cuore (2009-10). Bit of a departure, this one. This was my partner's car. It got hit and we assumed it had been written off so she got another car. Then it turned out the insurance company were going to have it fixed, so I terminated the finance on the Megane and took this, until it was killed off by rust.
6. 2001 Vauxhall Astra 1.7 diesel LX (2010-11). A massive mistake of a car but we needed something bigger when we were expecting a baby. Awful car, had a fitted alarm that kept going off, electronic issues, and stunk of smoke. It was curtains when it failed to start on the night my wife went into labour and we had to take the Panda.
7. 2005 Nissan Almera Tino 1.8 SE+ (2011-2017). By some distance the longest I've owned a car. And this really was a case of a car that did everything we needed it to do. Was well specced, plenty of room for the dog and the child / children but once it got to 12 years and over 100k miles it was looking old hat and with outdated safety kit etc, plus some parts were starting to wear out. It was from the last year of manufacture of the Tino (before the Qashqai replaced it) so the car was effectively a 17 year old model. Still smile when I see one.
8. 2010 Renault Scenic 1.6 petrol (2017-2019). Fairly practical and with better safety equipment etc than the Nissan but the boot was never quite big enough, the performance (speed and economy) never really good enough and it had an annoying way of locking itself and arming the alarm all the time, plus those silly key cards. It did a lot for us in a few years though, taking us all to lots of different parts of the country with far fewer issues than people think used Renaults have.
9. 2016 SEAT Leon Estate SE diesel (2019-). Blooming love this car a couple of months in, but then I've not had a car this relatively new for a long time. Bigger boot than the Scenic and now the children are a fair bit older I don't need to 'load' them in, so can go back to a proper car shaped car rather than a mini-MPV shape.

Lovely list of cars you've owned. Surprised to see you've gone for a diesel.

For some reason I thought you drove a Kia. Someone recommended it to me when I asked for car advice and I've misremembered it as you.

[Kevin S]

Yeah, that was me though I'd not owned one. They seemed pretty good value especially with the long warranty. And I did nearly go for a Ceed instead of the Leon this time.

[Nefertiti2]

Yes, but that was my wife's car rather than mine. Her ownership history goes: Daihatsu Cuore, Fiat Panda, Nissan Tino (shared), Nissan Note, VW up!, over about 15 years.

I'm slightly disappointed as I had an image of the two of you heading for the hospital more like this

[Wouter D]

For some reason I thought you drove a Kia. Someone recommended it to me when I asked for car advice and I've misremembered it as you.

It could also have been me. As Kevin mentions, the seven-year warranty on new cars made them a great deal.

[Antepli Ejderha]

Toyota have five year warranties which you can extend for a few hundred pounds, I've done that for piece of mind.

[ursus arctos]

https://twitter.com/EdTubb/status/1223015573547778048

[WOM]

Okay, okay. Stop with all the PMs. I'll revive the thread.

So, here's the big news: after 17 straight years as Canada's best selling car, Honda Civic has been dethroned by the very appealing and reliable Toyota RAV4. That's big news, and is indicative of the shift from cars to more flexible (and taller) CUVs and SUVs.

The rundown:

1 Ford F-150 145,210 (YTD as of August, 2020)
2 Ram Pickup 89,593
3 Toyota RAV4 65,248
4 Honda Civic 60,139
5 Honda CR-V 55,859
6 GMC Sierra* 48,846
7 Toyota Corolla 47,596
8 Chevrolet Silverado* 45,837
9 Ford Escape 39,504
10 Hyundai Elantra 39,463

*Same vehicle sold under different brands

[WOM]

I'm a bit of a rubber-necker when it comes to astronomical sums of money being squandered.

To wit, the Elio. The Elio was supposed to be a high-mileage, low-cost three wheeled commuter car. It's very fun and handsome looking, and frankly should have been relatively easy to build.

I mean, it's basically a BRP Spider that's been enclosed. But almost 12 years and $200+ million later, none has been delivered.

And now they've decided to go electric, because that's what the kids are doing. That should easy enough to do. Maybe even easier than a gas-powered car. But my skepticism runs high that they'll pull this off either.

More here. https://www.greencarreports.com/news...l-not-canceled

[caja-dglh]

What I am hearing is that you admire Tesla for being a successful auto start-up?

[ursus arctos]

I guess that the RAV4 is built on a sedan (rather than pickup) chassis, but it still doesn't strike me as a "car" tout court.

But then I'm old and completely out of touch with such things and find that few things currently on the road do strike me as "cars".

[WOM]

I truly think that Tesla has earned its place as a footnote in automotive history. Its ability to mass-produce an eminently drivable electric car before being squeezed out of existence by the collective strength of every other manufacturer in the world is worthy of admiration.

[WOM]

I guess that the RAV4 is built on a sedan (rather than pickup) chassis, but it still doesn't strike me as a "car" tout court.

It's a tough one. The distinction between SUV and CUV and 'tall wagon' is getting narrower by the year. And even my truck is a unibody construction versus body on frame.

[San Bernardhinault]

I truly think that Tesla has earned its place as a footnote in automotive history. Its ability to mass-produce an eminently drivable electric car before being squeezed out of existence by the collective strength of every other manufacturer in the world is worthy of admiration.

I think you mean "Before becoming the prestige electric marque of (Honda/Subaru/GM/Ford/Toyota/Fiat - delete as appropriate)"

[WOM]

I think you mean "Before becoming the prestige electric marque of (Honda/Subaru/GM/Ford/Toyota/Fiat - delete as appropriate)"

Oh sure. "Please sign here to assume the collective debt and insufferable owner of Tesla Inc."

[WOM]

(Sign me up for the Polestar 2 any day of the week, too.)

[San Bernardhinault]

I have to say that Polestar2 looks very nice, at what seems like a non-comical price-point.

[WOM]

I'm also pretty confident that the fit and finish will be good. The Polestar 3 will be built in a US Volvo factory next year, so they're serious about this.

[Snake Plissken]

I have to say that Polestar2 looks very nice, at what seems like a non-comical price-point.

Almost, almost bought one last week. But I promised myself next summer so that’s when it will be.

[hobbes]

I don't know. It looks alright (if a bit 3-series) but I guess I just don't like Saloons I think. If they did an estate one it'd be better. And no Carplay until next year? Deal breaker.
Incidentally I've come round to the Kia EV6 having seen a bit more of it. I prefer the look of the Ioniq 5 but everything else about the Kia looks better.

[Snake Plissken]

CarPlay arrived in the summer.

[WOM]

Awful product name, that.

[Ginger Yellow]

I'm a bit of a rubber-necker when it comes to astronomical sums of money being squandered.

To wit, the Elio. The Elio was supposed to be a high-mileage, low-cost three wheeled commuter car. It's very fun and handsome looking, and frankly should have been relatively easy to build.

I mean, it's basically a BRP Spider that's been enclosed. But almost 12 years and $200+ million later, none has been delivered.

$200m is peanuts by modern automotive vapourware standards. Look at the billions pissed away on Faraday Future and Nikola.