MatraSport Forum

Friends,

We all have our very good reasons to prefer our old, simple and special (Matra) cars.

However, IF you *had* to buy a brand new car today, which ones would you consider - all things considered  (price/reliability/practicality/looks/feel/soul)  ?

and "none" is not accepted as an answer :-)

well I could name alot... for instance.. I have a soft spot for the citroen c4.. but as soon as one thinks of the prices of new cars.. well...
Id probably end up in a pug 206 hdi 1.4 or 2.0 if I "go all out" :)... and then ofcause keep the murena on the side

Lotus Europa S

(http://www.carbodydesign.com/archive/2006/01/01-lotus-europa-s/Lotus%20Europa%20S%205-lg.jpg)

Anders!! you need to think of the price aswell... or did you forget how hard it was to persuade the Mrs to allow the purchase of your murena? :)
But MY GOD! this Europa is better looking then the first one eh?
I cant waite to see the next Esprit too

I would love an alfa, lets say a V6 GT. I almost bought a 156 before the Matra, but chickened out in the end.

Yes, it's all gone!

Besides price is not an issue (!) - at least not as long as I'm dreaming........ why limit yourself until you know the limits? I hate compromises!!! And my8 yr old son Aksel truly beleives that I'll buy us (i.e him and me!) an Elise or other Lotus one day.

Besides, I hope my next car will be an Avantime so I'm not going to leave the Matra brand any time soon...!

Well one limit is that it has to be new, so that rules out the Avantime!

Anders!!
Lennart said "all things considered  ".. that includes the price...... I'm telling!! :P

Ps:.. I cant stop looking at that Europa S.....my god that is a beautifull car!!

You guys are so boring, what's wrong with dreaming? 8)

Lennart

Just done the consideration and ordered a Saab 9-3 Turbo Estate in Black with 18" wheels and Hirsch tuning, so it produces 195 Bhp and goes to 100 in 7,8 sec.

For me it gives the combo of practicality, price, safety, speed and looks that does it for me at this moment. It also has to be able to haul the Djet in style when heading for the racetracks ;D

Will be delivered in a week and can't wait

Brgds
Erik

Nothing at all wrong with dreaming.... I am all the time  ;D

Martin

Wow, see what a simple thread can do!!!

BTW is this the same engine in the Europa below? Though the Elise uses a 1.8 litre Toyota engine, the Europa uses a 2.0 litre Opel engine (same as in the speedster, they say) - so this might actually be the same in yours, Erik...


And what a wonderful car you've come up with there :D

Well I did say that I had dreams all the time Anders.... and here is another one..... to get a full size BMW V10 Lego set for Christmas.... I'd even wait until my birthday for the rest of the M5 to go with it  ::)

Martin

Martin, I'm all with you!. Any current Aston will make it to my garage - provided somebody takes care of that little detail called economics :-)

Should I look at a more reasonable car, I have the Honda S2000 very high on my list, but since it has a crap roof (soft) I would seriously consider the new (much cheaper) Mazda MX5. Both are even ridiculously reliable cars, I'm told.

I haven't seen the new MX5 in the flesh yet, - but from pictures it looks good - and it is bloody marvellous to have that folding steel-roof. Mazda's is even the fastest operating roof around.  I once owned a Merc SLK 230K which in many ways was super nice, even if it was a bit more comfy than sporty.  Loved the roof!

The Lotus Europa is VERY much down the same line, BUT rather expensive to begin with, and rather cheap a year later (depreciation).

All these cars are two-seaters, so I will need another one, and for city driving (shopping and my wifes commute to work) I would LOVE to own the Smart Fortwo Brabus. - and to complete the image, my wife would too :-) 

Anders: The new C4 Picasso really looks to be a great car ... I could seriously consider this as a replacement for the Espace. Just imagine being "mainstream" and drive a car which is actually imported in this country!

Erik: since you actually curl yourself into that lovely Djet from time to time, you are excused for wanting a huge Saab ... (which btw is a VERY nice car- especially from new). Point taken.


/Lennart

I only came across this while looking for information on MVS Venturi, as I seem to have missed it in the press, but the Tesla seems to tick a lot of boxes:

Lot of Lotus input. I guess that includes an Elise chassis

250 miles per overnight charge and amazing performance, or is that just American exaggeration?

Quite nice looking,

OK it's very expensive, but it's green so that's alright if you have the money (which I don't!)

The downside is that it weighs 2500 pounds which is as much as the Discovery I despise so much.

 http://www.teslamotors.com (http://www.teslamotors.com)

The day we all drive electric cars, is the day I stop driving!

I will keep on driving, I will just get myself a Venturi Fetish

http://www.gizmodo.com/archives/venturi-fetish-first-production-electric-sports-car-022314.php

Hans

Its all because of the batteries - but if it delivers the stated performance and economy, then it could be ok. I like the looks too - well, its a facelifted Elise.

I just have my doubts to how you can pour all this electric energy into it using any normal extension chord, - and if we all have such cars sitting in the garage, sucking energy all night, will the grid actually be able to cope ?

I read a rather worrying article in a danish newspaper for engineers about this.

/Lennart

I hate the idea, its just moving the pollution from one place to another.

The Venturi Fetish? It has a quick charge system that will give you 16km of driving for a 10 minute charge. Great, I can fill my Matra with fuel in 10 minutes and get over 400km of driving out of it!

Fuel cell cars are the future and in the interim, more sophisticated diesels are my choice.

Well I guess we'll all have windmills outside our houses, and then when there's either no wind or too much wind to use the windmills then we'll have standby generators running on...oil ;D

Well its a hard question.I would buy Skoda Octavia RS.It has 200 hp,it`s nice,fuel consumption good,and the price is low,and of course safe,pump up your adrenalin with top speed of 240 km/h.