I've driven automatics and manuals on Swiss mountain roads. While I marginally prefer manuals, what really matters is the turning circle and stability.

AWD/4WD with lots of power are the most fun.

What 4x4 is smaller than a Panda?

Tom

A Jimny?

a) they brake worse than a normal car
b) they handle worse in corners than a normal car


SUVs feel safer as you have a high sitting position and a lot of steel around you. Simple truth is that in any physical way imaginable they are worse than a standard sedan. And if you have kids and need extra space: a "Kombi", the good old station wagon, will work much better than any SUV. The only thing they have going for them is that their resell value is so bad that is makes financial sense to go for an SUV for the used car market of 8-10 year old cars.

With a bit of objectivity and European safety figures:

BMW X3


Adult safety: 88%
Child safety: 83%
Pedestrian safety: 53% *

Renault Clio

Adult safety: 96%
Child safety: 89%
Pedestrian safety: 72%

So one's a sh1tty little hatchback and ones a massive big SUV.

Shall we look at fuel efficiency betrween the two now?


* I appreciate a BMW SUV driver might not give a damn about this figure but lets include it anyway.

I checked and I was wrong - mine's bigger by a few inches.

You're showing off now.

If a BMW X3 crashes into a Clio, I would still prefer to be in the BMW. Those extra kilos make a massive difference in crash impact.

Not according to the accident research people, you will be safer in the Cleo.

Suzuki Jimny or Ignis ?

Applies more to full frontal head-on collisions.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3400214/

A selected extract...

I had an Audi A3 1.6tdi for a couple of years. Front wheel drive, manual gearbox, normal car, no Quattro system. I have recently upgraded to a Q2 with S-Tronic, Quattro and a 2.0tdi engine. The difference is night and day grip wise. I have so much more confidence in the Q2 in a variety of conditions. The A3 was running 17inch wheels and the Q2 19inch. This winter was terrible compared to the last for snow and ice but i felt much more confident in the Q2. I didnt get stuck once and didnt really feel like the auto box was a hindrance. Having said this i understand why people would prefer a manual, especially in snow or tricky conditions as you can feather the clutch more.

Basicaly anyone saying you dont need 4x4 is probably right, but anyone saying that you are getting the same levels of grip or control in a front wheel drive car compared to a 4x4 is wrong. It is all about tires too, equipt your car for the conditions and you will be fine. The quattro system is noticably better than the front wheel drive equivalent, even on days like today, flooring the throttle from a junction equates to no wheel spin at all and just pulls you forward at an alarming rate.

This is my 1st quattro car and i would say that from now on i would try to get a car with this system, or similar from another manufacturer.

Thanks, useful to know next time I'm at traffic lights and they change to green.

Where did you get those figures from for an X3? i could only find better than what you quoted. Unless you are looking at an old X3 comapred to a new Clio? Im not complaining, just be good to know for a like for like comparison

It should be:

Adult safety: 93%
Child safety: 84%
Pedestrian safety: 70%

https://www.euroncap.com/en/results/bmw/x3-/-x4/33285

https://www.iihs.org/ratings/vehicle...-door-suv/2019

Ok, so the X3 is only slightly worse than an Clio... alright then. While I am not saying your Q2 is in any way a bad car… that A3 you had with added quattro would probably be even more stable, no?

No problem!

Stability wise, possibly due to being lower down. The Q2 is higher up but not by much. To be honest the 19inch alloys and the Quattro system give it much more grip that really it negates any of the instability issues, not that i have had any. Now if i was comparing an A3 with like to like features, then you do have an argument. The thing is, SUVs like the Q2, in my opinion are not high enough to be much different stability wise. The A3 is hardly a sports car and is often criticised as a terrible drivers car. The XC40, X5 or Q5/Q7 would all have stability issues for sure as they are higher.

Automatics had a bad reputation way back for being jerky and more expensive to run in fuel costs.


Today, they have 7,8 or 9 speed autoboxes, covered in sofware, they are cheaper to run and far more convenient, both for the once per week (if that) when you vist whichever Swiss mountain rocks your boat, and then so much easier for the next 6 days on your daily commute.


Point and squirt and off you go, no more porridge stiring !


As for speed and acceleration, etc, well Formula 1 are all automatic now and go quite fast so I am told and my car, which is automatic needs no more than 3.3 seconds to be at 100kmh.....

They aren't. The lack of a clutch pedal does not make it an automatic transmission.

As you so say, but for most of us mere mortals, no clutch pedal is essentially an automatic car, with or without flappy paddles