Car Spotting - European Edition

[Drew Dowdell]

Yeah, it's a month late, but here we go:

Ford Focus Cabrio, this was my friends' wedding limo.

Opel Astra Twintop

Chevy Alero

Fiat has a deal with Chrysler to take excess parts inventory..

Not to be outdone, Mercury is in a parts sharing program with Seat

Citroen C4 - Hot little hatch... should be sold here.

Saturn Aura Combi..... no... wait...

Opel Astra <Maxx>

Sexiest wagon EVAR, Alfa 159

Alfa 159 Sedan

Edited September 27, 2007 by Oldsmoboi

[ZL-1]

Tiny correction (forgive me for being so picky): the <maxx> is in fact a 5-door Astra :AH-HA_wink:

Edited September 27, 2007 by ZL-1

[Drew Dowdell]

Tiny correction (forgive me for being so picky): the <maxx> is in fact a 5-door Astra :AH-HA_wink:

Actually, the "maxx" in fact a joke.

[ZL-1]

Actually, the "maxx" in fact a joke.

So, what's your impression of the Focus and Astra convertibles? Personally, I like the Astra more. The Focus' rear reminds me of a boat...

[Drew Dowdell]

I prefer the Astra also, however I think both would sell here really well. The Focus was a 2.0 litre turbodiesel that was as smooth or smoother than any 4-cylinder gasoline engine we have here. All that low end torque made it feel like a V6 around town. It also has a monochrome LCD NAV that was an interesting option inbetween full color nav and no nav at all.

[Cory Wolfe]

Citroen C4 - Hot little hatch... should be sold here.

Eh.. It's not very attractive, if you ask me. As well, I can see where our Focus got its headlights.

[Drew Dowdell]

Eh.. It's not very attractive, if you ask me. As well, I can see where our Focus got its headlights.

I think it would be a good car for the bottom end of the Citroen lineup in the US. They need to bring over everything from the C4 up.

[pow]

Agreed that the 159 is the sexiest wagon evar, especially in black. In the spirit of this thread, here's the one I saw Salzburg...

Absolute power, corrupting absolutely in Prague. Pilsner, too:

If the 159 takes the title of sexiest wagon, the Renault Megane can be the funkiest. This one was in London. Me likey:

A Ford Fiesta ST, also in London. It's very Germanic (the car, not the city).

Hydrogen 7:

Rare Focush shedan shomewhere in Holland. Looks like a Esh40:

Edited September 27, 2007 by empowah

[NINETY EIGHT REGENCY]

Very nice photos. It was interesting to see them. I liked the "Chevrolet " Alero. Thank you for the photos to share with others.

[Drew Dowdell]

A Ford Fiesta ST, also in London. It's very Germanic (the car, not the city).

I think if Ford sold the current Fiesta here it could put some serious hurt on the Asians and the Aveo.

[ocnblu]

Wow, soon as I saw the Focus sedan, I thought "Volvo S40", you can really see the sisterhood in that shot.

[Robert Hall]

Cool..cool... I miss Europe...I must get across the pond next year...been too long since I was last in Europe (3 years).

One of the sharpest wagons/wagon-like vehicles I remember from my '03 Italy trip was a black Opel Signum in traffic outside the Collesium in Rome....across the street from the Collesium was a dark blue Tahoe with a dark gray Trail Blazer parked behind it..they looked HUGE amidst typical compact European cars....

[K.C.]

Great photos! Really enjoyed those!

[Flybrian]

Whoever has that Alero is seriously an awesome guy.

[K.C.]

Whoever has that Alero is seriously an awesome guy.

Definitely a pro-American car family there. It looks like they also have a late 88-93 Mustang LX 5.0 as well.

[Drew Dowdell]

Whoever has that Alero is seriously an awesome guy.

He's from Luxemburg. He also has a white early 90s Mustang LX convertible that is beat to hell. It was originally sold at Ocean Side Ford in Florida.

[Drew Dowdell]

Some more:

There were a bunch of these ugly little critters running around.

Chevy Captiva... I've seen someone say it's bigger than the Vue. Looks the same to me.

Volvo C30

The elustive Peugoet 407s... I could never get a good shot of these cars but I think they are very attractive in person especially the coupes

Now... Imagine Dodge continued selling the Colt Vista wagon in 2005.

Now... Imagine Dodge shared the platform with VW.

Now... Imagine VW had their way with it and put a turbo diesel and 6 speed manual in it.

You get a 2005 Volkwagen Touran.... the most strangely optioned car I've ever been in.

It handles about as well as you'd expect a 2005 Dodge Colt Vista to handle. My German friend's reluctance to use the A/C was surpassed only by the climate control system's utter inability to carry out such a task once requested.

[Drew Dowdell]

The Touran was optioned thusly:

2 litre turbo diesel

6-speed manual

Power front windows

hand crank rear windows

dual zone automatic climate control

eletronic stability control

FM/CD, front speakers only

no cruise

Rear fog lights, no front fog lights

[ZL-1]

I don't like the Touran either: did you get any shots of a Golf Plus? And I too like the 407, and Peugeots in general.

Edited September 28, 2007 by ZL-1

[ToniCipriani]

Rare Focush shedan shomewhere in Holland. Looks like a Esh40:

And you wonder why Ford NA is so in trouble... Ford: No, wait! People wanted the Escort, just like the Taurus!

The Euro version needs to be here like yesterday.

[Intrepidation]

Wow it looks really good...easily the best looking subcompact if it were brought over here.

Lots of great photos guys...thanks for sharing!