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  #1  
Old 22nd August 2019, 11:15 AM
moltuae's Avatar
moltuae moltuae is offline
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Agreed (about the overstated styling).

The thing is, virtually every car has overstated styling now, right down to the smallest 1.0L shopping carts. The result is that sporty styling has been normalised meaning that, where it is justified, it no longer stands out.

Understated is the new overstated.


On a related note: Is it just me or do D2s get noticed a LOT more now? I mean, in my 9 years of ownership, I've always had strangers notice my S8, often stopping to pass a compliment or ask me about it. But lately it's like every time I go out in the car. I can't even stop for fuel any more without someone stopping me to talk about it. I wonder if D2s now stand out more, given that almost everything else on the road has the same overstated looks.
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Cars Owned:
The Tesla Era: 2020 Model S Performance Ludicrous+ (present)
(Black, with all black premium interior and carbon fibre décor, 21" sonic carbon twin turbine wheels and FSD capability)

The Audi Era: '97 A8 4.2 (Ming Blue) --> '96 A8 4.2 QS (Dark Green) --> '02 FE S8 (present)
The Citroen Era: '84 BX 1.6 RS --> '89 BX 1.9 DTR Turbo --> '94 XM 2.0L Turbo --> '96 XM 2.0L Turbo Exclusive --> '00 Xantia Activa 2.0L Turbo
The Banger Era: '76 1.2L Lada VAZ-2101 (Ruski Fiat 124) --> '80 1.7L Morris Ital HL, finished in Ermine White and Rust

Last edited by moltuae; 22nd August 2019 at 11:23 AM.
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  #2  
Old 22nd August 2019, 04:22 PM
HPsauce HPsauce is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by moltuae View Post
Is it just me or do D2s get noticed a LOT more now?
Oh yes, we stayed here: https://www.belmond.com/hotels/europ...-saisons/about last night (belated "coming-of-age" celebration).
And of course we travelled there in style in the D2 S8. I even gave it a quick rub down with a damp chamois beforehand!

When we arrived I drove straight into the "reserved for valet parking" area and the reception lady came out to meet us and take our cases. Several staff looked at the car with interest.
They asked for the key, offering to park it and SWMBO actually told them I'd park it myself once we'd checked in as it was too precious and I didn't let anyone drive it. Nodded agreement.

When I moved it to the main car park there wasn't a single car there of any real interest. Plenty of expensive ones, but that's all.

This morning that same valet parking area was full of boring, aggressive-looking, fast modern cars with no actual "style".
__________________
2003 D2 FL S8. Irish Green Pearl/Beige. Solar sunroof, auto-dim mirrors, electric rear seat functions and extended leather. Ski hatch retrofit. Aftermarket reversing camera. DVB-T and XCarlink now removed as redundant.
2016 Volvo V40 T5 Cross Country (4WD) with ALL the toys including adaptive cruise etc. etc. Osmium Grey with Blonde/Charcoal leather interior. Polestar performance "optimisation". (Even rarer than a D2 S8!) Oh, and a brand new engine at just under 30,000 miles on the factory one!
Finally: gone, but not forgotten.....
1998 D2 PF S8. Agate Grey/Platinum. Every option (I think) except electric rear seats, Tiptronic steering wheel, ski hatch, towbar & dimming door mirrors.
e.g. Cruise control, NavPlus/TV, Bose, GSM, Xenons, Solar roof, Parking sensors, Alcantara/leather everywhere of course. (internal dimming mirror added later)
1998 (very early) Ford Focus 1.8 Zetec; ABS/TCS, Heated screen/mirrors, Aircon. Added Auto-dim mirror, Leather seats, Trip computer, Cruise control, OEM Ford SatNav with CD changer.
And before that a lot of Rover 800s, a few oddities, a lovely Triumph Dolomite 1850HL with Overdrive and way back in my schooldays an Austin Seven aka Mini 850!
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  #3  
Old 24th August 2019, 09:57 AM
snapdragon snapdragon is offline
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Looks like a Toyota.
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  #4  
Old 24th August 2019, 11:49 AM
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moltuae moltuae is offline
RIP 27/02/2021 :-(
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by HPsauce View Post
Oh yes, we stayed here: https://www.belmond.com/hotels/europ...-saisons/about last night (belated "coming-of-age" celebration).
Very nice Presumably not your belated "coming-of-age" celebration Andrew?


Quote:
Originally Posted by HPsauce View Post
When I moved it to the main car park there wasn't a single car there of any real interest. Plenty of expensive ones, but that's all.

This morning that same valet parking area was full of boring, aggressive-looking, fast modern cars with no actual "style".
That's what I find quite humorous. These are sub-10K cars (sometimes sub-5k even), yet a brand new S8 would likely get less attention. I can pull into a car park full of nearly new cars and frequently someone will stop to admire the car, or take photos even. Strange thing is, this has become a much more common occurrence in the last year or so. It's like the D2 S8 has, well, 'come-of-age' , gaining people's respect instead of envy.
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------------------------------------------------------
2002 FE S8 Ebony Black Pearl
------------------------------------------------------

------------------------------------------------------
Cars Owned:
The Tesla Era: 2020 Model S Performance Ludicrous+ (present)
(Black, with all black premium interior and carbon fibre décor, 21" sonic carbon twin turbine wheels and FSD capability)

The Audi Era: '97 A8 4.2 (Ming Blue) --> '96 A8 4.2 QS (Dark Green) --> '02 FE S8 (present)
The Citroen Era: '84 BX 1.6 RS --> '89 BX 1.9 DTR Turbo --> '94 XM 2.0L Turbo --> '96 XM 2.0L Turbo Exclusive --> '00 Xantia Activa 2.0L Turbo
The Banger Era: '76 1.2L Lada VAZ-2101 (Ruski Fiat 124) --> '80 1.7L Morris Ital HL, finished in Ermine White and Rust

Last edited by moltuae; 24th August 2019 at 11:56 AM.
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  #5  
Old 24th August 2019, 11:53 AM
HPsauce HPsauce is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by moltuae View Post
Very nice Presumably not your belated "coming-of-age" celebration Andrew?
Afraid so, I've even had to get one of those new-fangled plastic credit-card driving licences that only last 3 years.
__________________
2003 D2 FL S8. Irish Green Pearl/Beige. Solar sunroof, auto-dim mirrors, electric rear seat functions and extended leather. Ski hatch retrofit. Aftermarket reversing camera. DVB-T and XCarlink now removed as redundant.
2016 Volvo V40 T5 Cross Country (4WD) with ALL the toys including adaptive cruise etc. etc. Osmium Grey with Blonde/Charcoal leather interior. Polestar performance "optimisation". (Even rarer than a D2 S8!) Oh, and a brand new engine at just under 30,000 miles on the factory one!
Finally: gone, but not forgotten.....
1998 D2 PF S8. Agate Grey/Platinum. Every option (I think) except electric rear seats, Tiptronic steering wheel, ski hatch, towbar & dimming door mirrors.
e.g. Cruise control, NavPlus/TV, Bose, GSM, Xenons, Solar roof, Parking sensors, Alcantara/leather everywhere of course. (internal dimming mirror added later)
1998 (very early) Ford Focus 1.8 Zetec; ABS/TCS, Heated screen/mirrors, Aircon. Added Auto-dim mirror, Leather seats, Trip computer, Cruise control, OEM Ford SatNav with CD changer.
And before that a lot of Rover 800s, a few oddities, a lovely Triumph Dolomite 1850HL with Overdrive and way back in my schooldays an Austin Seven aka Mini 850!
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  #6  
Old 24th August 2019, 12:11 PM
moltuae's Avatar
moltuae moltuae is offline
RIP 27/02/2021 :-(
 
Join Date: Sep 2014
Location: East Lancs.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by HPsauce View Post
Afraid so, I've even had to get one of those new-fangled plastic credit-card driving licences that only last 3 years.
Ah, that coming of age. Congratulations! I figured you probably didn't mean 18.

I'm still clinging on to my old paper licence too. I guess it's only a matter of time before I'm forced to replace it.
__________________
Mark
------------------------------------------------------
2002 FE S8 Ebony Black Pearl
------------------------------------------------------

------------------------------------------------------
Cars Owned:
The Tesla Era: 2020 Model S Performance Ludicrous+ (present)
(Black, with all black premium interior and carbon fibre décor, 21" sonic carbon twin turbine wheels and FSD capability)

The Audi Era: '97 A8 4.2 (Ming Blue) --> '96 A8 4.2 QS (Dark Green) --> '02 FE S8 (present)
The Citroen Era: '84 BX 1.6 RS --> '89 BX 1.9 DTR Turbo --> '94 XM 2.0L Turbo --> '96 XM 2.0L Turbo Exclusive --> '00 Xantia Activa 2.0L Turbo
The Banger Era: '76 1.2L Lada VAZ-2101 (Ruski Fiat 124) --> '80 1.7L Morris Ital HL, finished in Ermine White and Rust
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  #7  
Old 24th August 2019, 01:38 PM
HPsauce HPsauce is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Sep 2011
Location: Chilterns, almost over HS2!
Posts: 8,544
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Quote:
Originally Posted by moltuae View Post
I'm still clinging on to my old paper licence too.
Going rather off-topic, but mine was almost 40 years old when it was replaced (we haven't moved house in all that time!); a very tatty original all-green one from the 1970s that replaced a little book!
It really did confuse car hire companies abroad in recent years, they had at best only seen the pink/green paper ones.

It was even more confusing as the old one had a slightly different postcode (due to changes by Royal Mail since it was issued) so didn't match anything for checking. The new one was however updated automagically by DVLA without any input from me.
__________________
2003 D2 FL S8. Irish Green Pearl/Beige. Solar sunroof, auto-dim mirrors, electric rear seat functions and extended leather. Ski hatch retrofit. Aftermarket reversing camera. DVB-T and XCarlink now removed as redundant.
2016 Volvo V40 T5 Cross Country (4WD) with ALL the toys including adaptive cruise etc. etc. Osmium Grey with Blonde/Charcoal leather interior. Polestar performance "optimisation". (Even rarer than a D2 S8!) Oh, and a brand new engine at just under 30,000 miles on the factory one!
Finally: gone, but not forgotten.....
1998 D2 PF S8. Agate Grey/Platinum. Every option (I think) except electric rear seats, Tiptronic steering wheel, ski hatch, towbar & dimming door mirrors.
e.g. Cruise control, NavPlus/TV, Bose, GSM, Xenons, Solar roof, Parking sensors, Alcantara/leather everywhere of course. (internal dimming mirror added later)
1998 (very early) Ford Focus 1.8 Zetec; ABS/TCS, Heated screen/mirrors, Aircon. Added Auto-dim mirror, Leather seats, Trip computer, Cruise control, OEM Ford SatNav with CD changer.
And before that a lot of Rover 800s, a few oddities, a lovely Triumph Dolomite 1850HL with Overdrive and way back in my schooldays an Austin Seven aka Mini 850!
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  #8  
Old 24th August 2019, 02:14 PM
moltuae's Avatar
moltuae moltuae is offline
RIP 27/02/2021 :-(
 
Join Date: Sep 2014
Location: East Lancs.
Posts: 2,679
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Quote:
Originally Posted by HPsauce View Post
Going rather off-topic, but mine was almost 40 years old when it was replaced (we haven't moved house in all that time!); a very tatty original all-green one from the 1970s that replaced a little book!
It really did confuse car hire companies abroad in recent years, they had at best only seen the pink/green paper ones.
I remember the all-green ones. Mine's the slightly newer (about 31 years old) pink/green type, complete with a nice hand-written history of my spent speeding offences
__________________
Mark
------------------------------------------------------
2002 FE S8 Ebony Black Pearl
------------------------------------------------------

------------------------------------------------------
Cars Owned:
The Tesla Era: 2020 Model S Performance Ludicrous+ (present)
(Black, with all black premium interior and carbon fibre décor, 21" sonic carbon twin turbine wheels and FSD capability)

The Audi Era: '97 A8 4.2 (Ming Blue) --> '96 A8 4.2 QS (Dark Green) --> '02 FE S8 (present)
The Citroen Era: '84 BX 1.6 RS --> '89 BX 1.9 DTR Turbo --> '94 XM 2.0L Turbo --> '96 XM 2.0L Turbo Exclusive --> '00 Xantia Activa 2.0L Turbo
The Banger Era: '76 1.2L Lada VAZ-2101 (Ruski Fiat 124) --> '80 1.7L Morris Ital HL, finished in Ermine White and Rust
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