Sandy's bird bomb bath.

[svend]

Saw the amount of bird bombs on the car, so as soon as I got home I got the pressure washer out.
Degreaser of the dried bird bombs, wheel cleaner on the wheels, rinsed, saw neighbours AMG A35 looking just as bad so seeing that one of the rear windows was still open, went and asked him to close it and I'd give his car a wash too.
Did the same for the A35, then snow foamed shampoo sealant onto both cars, agitated and rinsed, then dried the two, cleaned the glass and job done.

[e90m3]

@svend I would say it's too bad we don't get the A-class hatch here, but if we did it'd be too expensive for me to actually buy one.

[svend]

@e90m3
This AMG is really nice.


The five door hatchback is quite a busy field, not as much as it was around 2000. But still, plenty of five door hatchbacks.

[FourMalibus]

@svend I like your Skoda. I remember when I was living in Germany and liking their designs then too. The interior of the A class is really nice though.

[svend]

@FourMalibus
Thanks. Ye', Skoda have come along way with design over the years.
I love the new Fabia for looks.

[FourMalibus]

@svend Yeah, that's not bad either. Checking out their website, the Fabia RS Rally 2 is pretty sweet. I like that there are actual colors available.

[svend]

@FourMalibus
Ye', that's Hyper Green/Mamba Green (solid colour).
It's available on the electric Enyaq coupe vRS,

Octavia vRS liftback and estate

[FourMalibus]

@svend Nice! I would rock that. I love the bright color with the black accents. I like those Octavia's. If we could get those here in the States, it would be on my short list.

[svend]

@FourMalibus
The black accents are a thing for the performance vRS and the 'look' editions of regular cars with 'sporty' looking accents, the Sportline and Monte Carlo specs.
The Octavia is just Skoda' version of VWs Golf, Seats Leon and Audis A3.
But I think the Octavia looks the best.
The vRS is 242bhp, which is the same as the VW Golf GTi so not as powerful as the R (316bhp), etc...
But the vRS is available in petrol, diesel and petrol plug-in-hybrid with the petrol and diesel engined cars being available in manual and DSG.

[FourMalibus]

Yeah, the familial resemblance between the Seats, Skodas and Audi are definitely noticeable, but I think I'm with you on preferring the Skoda looks.

@svend said in Sandy's bird bomb bath.:

But the vRS is available in petrol, diesel and petrol plug-in-hybrid with the petrol and diesel engined cars being available in manual and DSG.

It always blows my mind how many powertrain options vehicle is Europe offer. When I was working at Opel I couldn't believe that we'd usually offer 2-3 gas and 2-3 diesel engines for most models. That's not even counting a manual and auto transmission versions. The amount of engineering and calibration work for that is incredible.

[svend]

@FourMalibus
The one to beat is Ford and it's Focus.
In hatchback and estate (regular and crossover) forms you can have a
1.0Ecoboost 123bhp in manual or auto,
1.0Ecoboost petrol hybrid 153bhp in manual or auto,
1.5 Ecoblue (diesel) in 118bhp in manual or auto,
2.3Ecoboost petrol276bhp in manual or auto.
I'm not sure if there is any more engine options as the website configurator is off as there aren't taking in any new orders.

Then there's the different front ends dependant on spec whether Zetec, Titanium ST-Line, Active, Vignale or ST.

Doing quick maths,
Four engine options,
Two gearbox options,
Two bodystyle options and 21 spec options,
Not including all the personal add-on options, that's 336 outcomes, taking a fifth away as maybe not all options are available on every spec, that's still 260+ outcomes.

[FourMalibus]

@svend
And then in the US we get this for Ford's cars. You have 10 powertrain options for one car...we have one car.

Ford does the same front end thing in the US with the F-150. I'm not sure why, but there are some years that they might offer 4-6 different front clips.

[svend]

@FourMalibus
We've four 'five' cars, Fiesta, Focus, Mondeo, Mustang and GT. It's hard knowing where to put the Ecosport, Mustang Mach-e, Puma and Kuga (Escape), for MPVs, we have the Galaxy, S-Max, Transit Connect Tourneo and Transit Custom Tourneo (not sure we still do the Transit Courier Tourneo (below a Transit Connect, above a Fiesta van)).
(Looks like we still have the Transit Courier, but as a Tourneo.