FROM: "Pablo Montoya" SUBJECT: Your chance to participate in the design of a car DATE: Thu, 30 Nov 2000 02:12:22 +0100 ORGANIZATION: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com NEWSGROUPS: aus.cars.offroad Hello to everybody in the group My name is Pablo Montoya. Some of you may already know me if you are subscribed to the uk.rec.cars.4x4 newsgroup, in that case, sorry for bothering you again with my project, you can stop reading now. In case you don't use that newsgroup, please continue. I'm a Transport Design student doing my fourth and final year at Coventry University, UK. My final year project is a futuristic, ecological, lightweight off-road car concept. I'm in the research stage at this moment, trying to put together all the necessary information on which to base my proposal. I've read books, magazine articles, I've surfed the net, but there's no better source for me than you, the users, the enthusiasts. And thanks to mailing lists like this I can reach a lot more people than in any other way. So I'm going to ask all of you a favour: I've put together a questionnaire (marketing and statistics people out there, I'm sure you'll find flaws in it, but you understand this is really not my thing..!) with the objective of finding out as much as I can about the whole off-road philosophy. You would help me out enormously if you filled it in and sent it back to me at my email address, brundlefly@madasafish.com . I have posted this questionnaire in the UK 4x4 newsgroup, but since I've found this other one as well, I thought this would give me the chance of getting a few more filled in ad some more opinions from other places in the world. I hope my intervention in various groups will not be dismissed as "spamming", it is really important for the credibility of my research to look out for as many ways as possible to investigate the market. The first section is about how you choose and use the car you buy, the second section is composed of more "abstract" questions about people's perception of the image of off-road cars. It doesn't matter what kind of user you are, if you have traveled Africa with your 4x4 or if you use it maily to commute, as long as you own one you are useful to me because you are the potential customer for my product. Don't worry if there is any question for which you are stuck for an answer; I'd rather have an incomplete questionnaire sent back than nothing at all. I hope I will get some response and participation, and I promise to keep you posted about the progress of my project. Thank you in advance! Here it is: OFF ROAD VEHICLE QUESTIONNAIRE Age: Sex (M/F): Are there any other people in your household? If so, please state their age and relationship to you: Any pets? Do they ever travel in the car with you? Please feel free to give as much detail and elaborate on these questions as much as you want, any information you provide will be useful. 1. What 4x4 vehicle(s) do you own? (make-model-engine-body type) 2. Is it your only car? If not, please state others: 3. Why did you decide to buy a 4x4? 4. Why did you choose this model in particular? 5. Did the car meet your expectations? 6. What features do you most like about your car? 7. What features do you least like about your car? 8. What features do you think could be improved? 9. What features would you like to have that are not present? 10. How do you use your 4x4? What activities do you carry out with it? - Commuting to work, school (distance)? - Shopping? - Long-distance motorway traveling? - Weekend trips to the countryside? - Adventure sports activities? - Travelling to exotic locations? - Work? - Towing a trailer, caravan, etc.? - Other activities? (Please detail) Is the car ideally suited for these these activities? 11.How many people and what volume and kind of luggage do you need to be able to carry? 12. Have you done modifications to your vehicle? If so, which ones and why? 13. Do yo use your car on: (E=Every day O=Often S=Sometimes R=Rarely N=Never) - Urban areas: - Interurban roads: - Motorways: - Unpaved tracks: - Off-road "mild" terrain (grass, brush): - Off-road extreme terrain (mud, snow, rocks, sand): 14. What factors are more important to you when choosing an off-road vehicle? (Please rate with a number, starting with 1 for the most important and 15 for the least important. Feel free to leave without number any aspects you consider irrelevant, and to add any other factors that you consider important if they are not in the list) - POWER - SIZE - EQUIPMENT - BRAND NAME - PRICE - LOOKS - BUILD QUALITY - COMFORT/LUXURY - RUGGED IMAGE - OFF ROAD HANDLING/CAPABILITY - ON ROAD HANDLING - PASSENGER CAPACITY - LUGGAGE CAPACITY - PRACTICALITY/ADAPTABILITY - ENVIRONMENTAL FRIENDLINESS About the Off-Road debate: 15. Have you ever felt accused for your off road activities by the press or by anyone who considered that enjoying the countryside in a car was a contradiction? (D=Definitely, P=Possibly, N=Never) 16. Have you ever felt accused for driving an off road car in urban areas by the press or by anyone who considered that these vehicles are more dangerous for pedestrians and other cars, or consume more fuel than they need to? (D/P/N) 17. Have you ever felt accused for owning an off road car and rarely using it off the road, by the press or anyone who considered that this was just a banal fashion statement? (D/P/N) 18. If so, how do you respond to these accusations? Do you see any truth in them? 19. Do you think that the popularization in the last 20 years of the off-road car, to the point that many owners rarely actually use it off the road, has damaged/enhanced/not changed the perception of these cars by the general public? 20. Do you agree with these statements: (SA: Strongly agree, sa: Slightly agree, sd: Slightly disagree, SD: Strongly disagree) - 4x4 vehicles are appealing to me because of their power - 4x4 vehicles are appealing to me because of their big size - More people buy off road cars because of their image than because they need one - An off road car is just like any other car and should be treated as such - An off road car should try to be more environmentally friendly than other cars 21. What do you think would happen to the popularity of Off road cars if their image changed to one more benign and eco-friendly, less associated with size and power: (Would they be M=more popular, S=the same, L=less popular?) -among business users (farmers, forestry, etc)? -among recreational off road activity enthusiasts? -among urban users? 22. If you could throw all established concepts about off-road cars out the window and make your "ideal" off-road vehicle, what would you change (if you would change anything)? This can be anything: position of the driver's seat, passengers' seats, storage area, type of engine, wheel size, overall size; anything at all. 23. What do you think is the future of the off road vehicle? Where do you think it is headed? PD: Since I first wrote this questionnaire, my design project has been moving and so far I have come up with some ideas I would like to post here to see if anyone has any comments. The car will have a hydrogen fuel cell engine that transmits electrical power independently to a motor for each wheel. That is the only thing that's now set in stone so that's why I won't even ask about it! I was thinking of giving it a Suzuki brand name but the general reception to this has been cold so now I'm thinking about other possibilities, like "New Jeep" or "New Mehari 4x4" I would just like to know what people out there think about a proposal like this, bearing in mind that it is still just a collection of ideas, it may change a lot in the upcoming months. What people would be interested in a car like this? What would be your reaction to these elements in an offroad vehicle: - An MPV-like cabin shape, with a small overall size (around 3.80-3.85 metres) but optimized interior space? - The driver sitting at the very front, with the engine below him instead of in front of him? - The driver sitting in a central driving position, not on the right side of the car (left if you ar not in the UK)? - All the seats being foldable into the floor (as in a Vauxhall/Opel Zafira) to obtain any number of configurations and combinations of passenger/luggage space? - Using natural but not expensive materials in the interior, such as varnished wood board, cork, bamboo, etc? - Most or all exterior panels (not just the bumpers) made in textured thermoplastics? Once again, thank you very much for your help.