Is blue the new green?

Is it just me or is there some subtle colour changing going on?

Over the last 20 years or more being environmentally aware has generally been referred to as being ‘green’ – a sensible choice of colour I would suggest, as much of the earth is green and the environmentalists aim is to try to keep it that way! In recent years the term has become more mainstream and I would suggest does not (always) mean that you are ‘weird’ as well!

Consequently the marketing men latched onto this and added ‘green’ to products to make them sell to those with an environmental conscience (and those without but who wanted to appear so!). My Volvo for example has a green logo – to indicate one assumes, that it is a low emission car and therefore more friendly to our planet.

But it appears a change is afoot, especially if one considers some of the car brands, and their environmentally friendlier cars;

The main culprits;

Volkswagen – Bluemotion range (blue badge)
Mercedes – BlueEfficiency (blue badge)
Ford – ecomatic (with a blue colour for ‘eco’)
Vauxhall – ecoflex (eco in a greeny blue)
Toyota – blue badging on Prius and any hateful hybrid they produce
Fiat – ecodrive (it’s blue)
Hyundai – blue badges

BMW – EfficientDynamics (ok so no blue here – yet) – probably too busy making all their cars look ugly!

Ok, there are still some who still have green logos, but I am sure its only a matter of time before the marketing men change their colour schemes as well!

Seat – Ecomotive (it’s green!)
Renault – eco2 – and its green!
Skoda – Greenline (yes it’s green)
Volvo – edrive (green)

See what I mean? We are being turned blue! Surely this is just the act of some cynical marketing men – but what will happen when they get bored with blue, what will be the next ‘green’?

Should environmentalists now be referred to as being blue?

 

Interesting Car History?

My current search for a new car has set me thinking about my previous cars from the past 20 years. I am lucky in that I have a car provided as part of my work, I need to visit properties to do my job, so driving has always formed a substantial part of my working life. Consequently car choice has always been important to me albeit directed by various factors such as family.

So does my ‘car history’ say something about me? A basic list of motors is as follows;

Austin Maestro 1.3
Ford Escort 1.3
Peugeot 309 1.6
Volkswagen golf driver 1.6
Peugeot 205 GTI 1.6
Citroën ZX Volcane 1.9
Renault Laguna 2.0
Volkswagen Passat 1.8
Alfa Romeo 159 1.8
Renault Scenic 2.0 diesel
Citroën C4 Grand Picasso 2.0 diesel
Volvo V50 1.6 diesel ?

My worst car?

Austin Maestro - yuk!

Without doubt the only one produced by British Leyland – the Maestro! This was a very nasty car I acquired from a previous employee – I therefore accept no responsibility for having chosen it!. It was ugly, nasty to drive, and I was very glad to get rid off it by moving jobs! (not the worst car I have driven though – that was an FSO Polenez that my father in law had!)

Favorite cars?

205 GTI

This is a difficult one! My favorite from a driving point of view was the 205 GTI. Just like a go-kart and coinciding with a time that I did over 25,000 miles a year. But it was very easy to break and spent lots of time in the garage! But I loved this car, it was the ‘alternative GTI ‘, actually better than a Golf GTI to drive (although the Golf GTI fans won’t agree) and I was sad to see it go, it would be years until I had a car which came close to giving me the same levels of fun!

Alfa 156

It is said that everyone should own an Alfa Romeo once in their life. I can agree with that, I loved my 159, it had character and was fun to drive. It also had red leather seats and gave me ‘street cred’ with my kids and their friends! More importantly it was not unreliable (although it was not good through floods!). This was the last car that I could describe as having ‘feelings for!’

Renault Scenic

Family cars have become a feature over my last few choices (the Laguna was an aberration!). The VW was a superb car, if not a bit boring.The Renault scenic described a completely new style of car for the family – a small people carrier with lots of room and lots of storage lockers!. This was an excellent vehicle which made family travel a pleasant experience for the first time!

Citroen C4 Grand Picasso

The Citroen GP moved this forward more. Not a ‘great drivers car’ but spacious, comfortable, quiet, a car that I have a great deal of respect for (and I will miss to a degree). It enabled us to drive across Europe on more than one occasion as a family with no complaints from the rear seats (DVD player and Hifi helps)!

Trends?

Lots of French cars! Very few German cars, no Japanese cars!

Clever cars, and only cars from the top of their genre (apart from the Laguna).

A move to diesel – initially enforced by company car tax (but now by choice).

The future? A Volvo that is smaller, much more efficient and is inline with current trends apparently!

Regrets?

Not getting a second 205 GTI when I chose the Citroen Volcane.

Not getting a Golf GTI when I chose my Laguna (what was I thinking).

That Laguna!