Renault Kangoo – Driven To Write

係本田 Mobilio Spike

A Japanese delicacy, sampled in Hong Kong.

You can enjoy quite a few regional specialties in Hong Kong. They serve milky, sweet tea in ‘tea cafés’ and a pineapple bun accompanies this very well. Or try a Hong Kong-style French toast. Other local specialties, or regional specialties, are the JDM/emerging market cars that we don’t get in Europe. I am not saying all of these cars would be sure-shooting successes if sold here but it would be a little boon if Japanese companies could at least Continue reading “係本田 Mobilio Spike”

Nicer Than a Pint of Plain at the Widows Pub

The first Renault Kangoo (1997) is now old enough to be a bit of vintage street furniture.

1997 Renault Kangoo in east Cologne, Germany.

You can tell this is series 1 Kangoo because of the fun and slightly incongruent indicator lamps. Renault once had a bit of a habit of putting in one design feature that caused you to Continue reading “Nicer Than a Pint of Plain at the Widows Pub”

Re-1998 Part 5 : Kangoo and Berlingo

If you’d asked me in 1998 what were the most important car design trends I’d have thought it was MPVs and vans serving as family transport.

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Cars like the Berlingo and Kangoo fall into the second category. And interestingly, if I Continue reading “Re-1998 Part 5 : Kangoo and Berlingo”

A Photo for Sunday (Micropost): 2001 Opel Combo

Other sites may concern themselves with exotica and luxury brands.

Well, we do too but we also have space for bread-and-margarine cars like this 2001-2011 Opel Combo (C). Was this the car that prompted a jealous Mercedes Benz to launch the Vaneo? Continue reading “A Photo for Sunday (Micropost): 2001 Opel Combo”

Theme : Brochures – The Myth, The Truth & The Alternative Truth

Deluded though the Brochure often is, what lies behind it can be equally deluded, albeit differently so.

Back in 2009, we bought a Renault Kangoo Estate for work. It replaced a series of similar vehicles, starting with a Mark 1 Kangoo, then two Citroen Berlingos in succession. When I first visited the showroom, the New Kangoo had just been introduced to the UK and brochures had not been printed so, in response to my request for a brochure, the salesman gave me instead a full 55 page print-out of the ‘Distance Learning Guide’, a dealer sales briefing for the then newly introduced Mark 2 Kangoo. This made interesting reading alongside the public brochure that eventually arrived. In essence the brochure showed the usual, gurning, happy, young, lifestyle types of high-functioning humanity whereas the dealer briefing identified the Kangoo’s potential owners as ageing, low-ambition losers. OK, I’m exaggerating … but just a bit. Continue reading “Theme : Brochures – The Myth, The Truth & The Alternative Truth”

White Goods : Nissan Cube, Six Weeks On

I’ve now had my Nissan Cube for a month and a half. Any Regrets?

In the spirit of our strapline, I’m presenting Part Two of The World’s Least Relevant Long Term Test, referring to a car that, although still apparently on sale in Japan, flopped in Europe and is no longer available in the USA. My Nissan Cube is a third series (Z12) example, a 2010 1.6 litre manual, petrol-engined Kaizen model in Pearl White. I bought it in June 2015 at just under 30,000 miles.

Why Did I Buy A Cube? Continue reading “White Goods : Nissan Cube, Six Weeks On”