Henk van de Goor's Bloggers@large

Here is a fun trivia question: how many people can you stuff into a Opel Vectra? Four? Six? Maybe eight? Not if you're from Romania, because then you can stuff 14 people in a car. Today the German police stopped this Opel Vectra because it was doing just 40 km/h on the highway (roughly 25mph). Curious to find out if the driver had some mechanic problem, they pulled him over. To their surprise the car was filled up with people: in the two front seats there where the driver and his friend sitting there quite comfortable. In the backseat: their wives, each having two kids on their laps and one kid stuck in between: all on all 9 people. But that was not all: when the police opened the trunk of the car they discovered yet another 5 kids there, totalling the occupants of the car at 14!

I tell you: some people just have a peanut size brain.

Argh! This is one of those (Mon)days! I just tried to drive to work but I had to turn around after literally covering only 500 meteres in 40 minutes! There was a big storm in Holland this weekend (I woke up at 3am Saturday morning from the most frightening thunderstorm I have ever seen!) and it obliterated a big tent that was pitched over the A6 highway that goes from Almere (A6) to Amsterdam (A1). They used the tent so the roadworkers (reconstructing the "Hollandse Brug") could keep working in bad weather. The result was that this morning they still had problems on the bridge. It's just ridiculous! Oh well, I'll just have to sit it out and do my email and other stuff from home. I'm sure it won't be the last time I get stuck. But it's sure one heck of a way to start the week!

Whoa, slap me silly and call me Sally: It's back to the future guys and girls! If you're about my age and some 25 years (!) ago you used to watch those cheesy US sitcoms like the A-team, Airwolf and MacGyver you must have watched "Knightrider" as well. Well, just like The Bionic Woman, TV-studio NBC has resurrected the TV-series and the first episode aired two days ago on Feb. 17th. To be exact: it was actually a television movie that probably is going to become a TV-series (if ratings are positive).

David Hasselhoff has only a cameo in the pilot (as the father of the lead character) and the Pontiac Trans Am is replaced by a 2008 Ford Mustang GT500KR. What has stayed is the cheesy LED light behind the grille (man, did I see many dumb-asses trying to replicate the old Trans Am LED back in the days) and the sarcasm of KITT (The Knight Industries Three Thousand: an upgrade to The Knight Industries Two Thousand) this time with the voice of actor Val Kilmer (WTF?).

I'm about to download this movie in HD format from usenet and am looking forward to see if after 25 years this is still as funny as it was back then. I'll keep you posted.

If you ask people what their most favourite car brand is, chances are you will hear the usual suspects such as Maserati, Ferrari, Lamborghini, Mercedes, Porsche and so on. But all real car lovers out there know there is only one (super)car that tops them all: the Bugatti Veyron EB 16.4. Although the Veyron no longer holds the title for fastest street-legal production car in the world (the American built SSC Ultimate Aero TT now holds that title with a top-speed of 412 km/u or 256mph) it is a very well build supercar that is pretty reliable as well. Top Gear's Jeremy Clarkson called the car 'utterly, stunningly, jaw droppingly brilliant'. And I wholehartedly agree. If I ever have 1.2 million Euro to spend, I will most definately buy this car.

Even though it is the de facto most expensive production car in the world, there are always people who think 'excellent' isn't 'good' enough for them. So this Russian oil guy Ukranian project developer who happens to permanently live in the 7-star Burj al Arab hotel in the UAE (United Arbab Emirates), had his Veyron 'pimped' and turned into a "Bugatti Veyron Pegaso". But that's not all: according to rumour (off course unconfirmed) the car's 1001hp has been upped to 1200hp. The car was spotted outside the hotel by a German guy who had the day of his life.

Oh, for those 'purist' among drivers: Bugatti has also launched a special version of the Veyron: the Bugatti Veyron "Pur Sang" edition. It has no finishing (just carbon fibre and aluminium) and is priced at a mere 1.4million Euro. The bad news: all 5 have been sold already.



More about this stunning car: Forum E46 Fanatics

Finally! Today my new car arrived. It is exactly the model and colour as on the photo next to this article. Some way to start the week and my first day back from vacation. I like it. It arrived a bit later then they told me it would, but at least it did get here with 45 kilometres on the dial. I love the smell of a new car I hope I will make a lot of safe trips with it. It's loaded with cool options that I have to familiarize myself with I guess. I will write a 'review' soon...

About 2 weeks ago I finally got word that my leased car was ordered. So you probably wonder what I ordered. Well, I drove a Seat Toledo 1.6 automatic between '99 and 2001 and after that (2002 - 2005) a Fiat Stilo 1.9 diesel. For almost 2 years now I drive a small Seat Ibiza. As I have a lot of traffic in the mornings, I decided that it was time again for a car with automatic gears. I mean: why have a manual shift anyway?

Anyway: the car I ordered is a Skoda Octavia 1.6 85Kw Business Edition automatic. Now, before you start telling me that you can't find that model in any of the brochures; you're right. It's a special model for the lease market (hence the name "Business Edition". It is based on the Skoda Elegance version but it has a load of extra's that are very interesting: Xenon lights, 16" light metal rims, rain sensor (automatic wipers), parking sensors, some leather stuff, an on-board computer and a 6-shift automatic. The only extra I needed to order was a stereo (with MP3/iPod jack). So what's not to like?

Although Skoda is not a world brand, they build good cars. In fact, in 2006 Warranty Direct, a UK-based provider of mechanical warranties for used cars, rated Å koda the top manufacturer (above Mazda and Honda), while Audi came seventh from bottom. The Octavia specifically had a reliability index of 32.74 (lower being more reliable) while the Golf produced over the same period was 87.28 and the Audi A3 99.43.

That also explains why the tag-line for Skoda is "Simply Clever".

The only thing I hate is waiting for it. So far it looks like it will be delivered in the second part of August; thats just a little before my vacation (I'm planning to go to San Francisco with my girlfriend in September).

Å koda Octavia commercial


See some more videos:
Spanish commercial
German test video
Follow the Skoda driver (Dutch commercial)
Follow the Skoda driver (Dutch commercial 2)
"Funny how we copy each other some times" commercial


Ps; it's actuall Å koda not Skoda but nobody cares I guess.

Last September I was shocked to learn that Top Gear presenter Richard Hammond (aka "the Hamster") crashed and almost got killed trying to set a new landspeed record in a rocket-car. Since then I have wondered how he was doing. As it turns out he gave an interview to talkshow host Jonathan Ross in December last year, when I was in Florida. Luckily, thanks to a fan (and obviously a YouTube user as well), you can now watch it here. I am glad to see he is doing pretty ok.