Loan car during the X5 airbag recall

[sapphireblack]

Setting aside my bias for most things BMW, i was advised i would be loaned a Ford Capri for 48 hours by Enterprise as BMW no longer have loan cars.

I was quite excited until i laid eyes on the Ford Capri in the parking area. It's a travesty to call this ugly vehicle by an iconic name, when it is so far removed from its predecessor. Add to that a version of British Leylands Austin Allegro, Quadoptic steering wheel, and its a double disappointment.

I gather its range is just 300 miles. I was also obliged to cough up £16 to negate the £700 accident excess regardless of blame. So even if rear ended I'd have to pay £700 and fight my own corner to get it back.

Its parked outside my home where it will stay until my car is sorted, hopefully by tomorrow afternoon.

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[X5Sport]

I don’t get the obsession with square steering wheels that seems to be ‘in’ at present. Flat bottomed maybe, but square?

At least my i4 has a ‘normal’ cockpit.

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I honestly thought it was Polestar 2 at first glance.

I remember driving ‘Cr@ppi’s back in the day. Our fleet had a number of 2.0 litre models. Used by the unmarked squads they had a nasty habit of overheating at exactly the wrong moment! The solution was to buy a number of Cavalier Sportshatch 2.0L. They would go all day. It’s one of the reasons I bought my Manta GT/E. That and the Manta was a little less ‘tail happy’, something the Capri suffered from unless a couple of bags of sand were put in the boot - or a load of kit the squads had to carry with them.

[sapphireblack]

My flat mate back in the day (70s) had 2.0l Capri, gold with a satin black bonnet and wing tops iirc?. I was driving it when it wasn't very old, and the clutch pedal hit the floor and stayed there. The cable had snapped, no grommet throught the bulkhead if memory serves

[sapphireblack]

Gear selection on this Capri is via a steering column stalk, twist forward to go forward, etc. Enterprise guy said much of it is a VW under the skin!

I don't like its styling at all. Though, as my first full electric experience, aside from an Express Dairy milk float many, many years ago, its pretty rapid, albeit in very unfamiliar way.