Gidley Gossipings

28 Sep, 2005

Recently we have bought 2 large items and recieved such different levels of service it is hard to believe. We bought a kitchen from MFI and a car from www.buyacar.co.uk
The Good
Buyacar.co.uk are an online car shop whom I bought my new Smart ForFour from. They are cheap, efficent and their web site works really well.
The site allowed me to choose what I wanted and then I got to discus (via email) with one of their staff over the details and what was in stock etc. Once ordered they delivered when they said they would. There was one slight glitch - the car came without a luggage cover (as Smart added them to the range mid year). They (without an argument) ordered one and arranged for it to be delivered somewhere convient. This is what I want from a company!

The Bad
We ordered a kitchen in April 2005 and as I write (end of September 2005) we still don't have one. There are a long list of reasons for the delay but they simply boil down to MFI don't care if they deliver or not.
They have had all sorts of supply problems and just seem to be unable to deliver the bits they need. They fitter has fitted most of the kitchen but some bits (a drawer, a plinth and a shelf) were missing. It has taken months to get these items and we still haven't got the right drawer (we have 4 of the wrong one).
The general attitude of MFI is the most annoying part - they make it all our problem and don't try and fix it.

27 Sep, 2005

I have replaced my roadster - After a short and pointless search I have come to the conclusion the obvious vehicle to replace the roadster is a Smart ForFour.

It is nice Blue and Silver Colour. The only annoyance so far is I can't find an iPod kit for it yet...

While picking this car I had the pleasure of test driving a wide range of cars in the extended text bits are random thoughts on them!

Note all opinions below are my random prejudices based on test drives therefore they could be (and probably are) completely wrong.

Toyota Prius

I test drove this first. It is shockingly quiety at low speeds and oddly noisy as it accelerates. The engine really rev's. It is very smooth (a bit too smooth for my taste). It is quick for a car in general and the inside is great. The exterior looks a bit funny.

The main thing that put me off was the combination of the exterior and the price. It is quite a bit more than normal car and the fuel economy - especially on Motorways is not that good. Most diesels are in the same ball park.

Toyota Corella Diesel

Nice outside, noisy engine, horrible interior.

Mazda 3 D

Nice outside, quiet engine, nice interier. Little weak road holding - felt amost too comforable going round corners too quick.

Citroen C4 1.6 (110) D

Nice outside and in. Quiet engine. I though slightly better than the Mazda 3 but I had quite a short and limited test drive. Full of hi-tech toys!

Mini Cooper

Boooooooooooooooooooring.

Sorry - slight chip on my shoulder. Ever since I have had a Smart Roadster people compare it to the Mini. So I thought I would give it a try. Interior is great. Exterior great (but common as muck around here). Equipment options etc great. But the drive - it's just not fun. I was a little jaded after having had an extremely good test drive in a brabus the day before - but the mini just was missing the fun stuff.

It cornered ok, acceleration was ok - but not great, it struggled on a hill with 3 of us in it.