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Leicester OPC ...

Tinker

Well-known member
Joined
1 Dec 2011
Messages
1,551
I went to the Leicester OPC for 4 reasons today.

To collect a touch-up pen - at the 3rd attempt. #1 'Yes, sir, it'll be here on Tuesday. We'll phone you.' (They didn't.) #2 'I don't know what happened, sir. It came in, but now it's gone. We'll get a new one. It'll be here on Tuesday and we'll phone you.' (They didn't.) #3 'Yes, sir. It's here. That'll be £15.'

To have a pee. Driving across Leicester takes a long time. The city (well, large town) has more traffic lights per mile than anywhere in Europe. (It's not true the Great Wall of China can be seen from the Moon. It can't. But, if they switch on all the traffic lights in Leicester at once, they can. Well, that's not actually demonstrable, because if they did, the city's power supply would fail. But you get the idea.)

To have a coffee from the excellent machine to the right of where the smart Nathalie stands at Reception.

To look at the 991 and the secondhand stock. They have a gold 991. Not as bad as it sounds. But the interior still looks like a Panamera or a Jaguar XF. And 1970s' cocktail cabinets still spring to mind.

Unusually*, they have a large stock of secondhand 997s. (*Because they often have more Caymans - very popular in Lesta.) And very good they looked, too. Well, they could have looked better if they'd been half-properly prepared. You've never seen so much cloudy paintwork and so many scratches & grubby cab roofs gathered together in one place at one time.

The new 997s looked wonderful, outside and in.
 
They are definitely one of the most pleasant OPC's I've found. No arrogance at all just friendly, but then thats the East Mids for you anyway.

Lovely white 993 reg starts SIJ.... there this week. Anyone here?

I know what you mean about traffic lights...and as a ring road it needs to be dual all the way :pc:
 
Interesting you say that about the prep of the used stock.

My neighbour bought a 997.1 C4S from them 3 years ago. He was proud, I said all the right things, but could see the prep was poor. Anyway he went on holiday, left me the keys to his garage and I spent evenings for a couple of weeks machining and detailing it properly. He was over the moon, still needed some work but I am not that good a friend :)

He has since bought another car from them as he says they are a friendly bunch.
 
markvorny said:
Interesting you say that about the prep of the used stock.

My neighbour bought a 997.1 C4S from them 3 years ago. He was proud, I said all the right things, but could see the prep was poor. Anyway he went on holiday, left me the keys to his garage and I spent evenings for a couple of weeks machining and detailing it properly. He was over the moon, still needed some work but I am not that good a friend :)
He has since bought another car from them as he says they are a friendly bunch.

Can I be your good friend? :D
 
Slayer said:
markvorny said:
Interesting you say that about the prep of the used stock.

My neighbour bought a 997.1 C4S from them 3 years ago. He was proud, I said all the right things, but could see the prep was poor. Anyway he went on holiday, left me the keys to his garage and I spent evenings for a couple of weeks machining and detailing it properly. He was over the moon, still needed some work but I am not that good a friend :)
He has since bought another car from them as he says they are a friendly bunch.

Can I be your good friend? :D

Lol, he's a good lad, he brought me a load of Abercrombie gear from the states in payment which was a nice gesture. I do get all the neighbours turning up everytime they get a scratch on their car to get it out .....

Always room for one more :D
 
Another thumbs up for OPC Leicester from me. Very freindly, and very fair (so far).

Incidentally, about the traffic lights, from the village I grew up in (Leicestershire) my father's 40 mile commute to Birmingham took him through only one set of traffic lights, my mothers 10 mile commute to Leicester included over 40 sets of traffic lights. Our city council are just totally idiotic and backwards. The one way systems are adding to both congestion and pollution for little benefit.
 
I've found them quite friendly too. When I brought the car I was invited to call in and say hello if I was around.

They have struggles to get a boot clip for me but they seem as bewildered by it's none arrival from Porsche parts as me.

For me the coffee at Garypaul in Nottingham just edges it but then I'm not a big coffee drinker.

About Leicester's traffic lights...

Am I right in thinking they where the first town in the GB (and possibly beyond) to have them computer sequenced?
 
Slatie said:
About Leicester's traffic lights...

Am I right in thinking they where the first town in the GB (and possibly beyond) to have them computer sequenced?

Yes, using a Sinclair Spectrum (16kB RAM), manufactured in 1982, but bought secondhand by Leicester City Council in 2004, as part of their continuing austerity drive to enable the installation of more traffic lights.

The Council's objective, which may well have been reached by now, was to ensure that from any given set of traffic lights another would always be visible.

One of the downsides of this policy has been an increase in red light jumping and consequent accidents. Leicester City Council has, however, derived considerable satisfaction from the knowledge that the city now has the slowest traffic flow in western Europe, which, for a population of only 330,000, is a major achievement.

(Leicester also holds the record for the number of traffic light units - i.e. single sets of green, amber & red lights - at any one crossroads. 48. This includes pelican crossings, of course. Incidentally, Leicester also has the world's shortest cycle lane - 1.8m.)
 
Leicester has fads and promulgates those fads to saturation point, Years ago it was roundabouts - then roundabouts with gardens, then came traffic lights to control everything including roundabouts with traffic lights.

Now its mini roundabouts (painted on the road) Mini roundabouts built up like a mound - helps to launch the car, and one roundabout built up at an angle like a banked track (Tescos Wigston)
And the latest is speed bumps - even the lowered kerbs for wheelchairs have speed bumps on them.

Leicester council are terrific at driving people and cars away from the shitty city centre - which only has one good shopping area.
 
Yep the planners do go overboard: I think it is a sign of willingness coupled with a seriously deficient intellect.

In the mid eighties my pa used to commute to the centre of Solihull (30 something miles) from a south Leics village. My mother to the Leicester Uni 10 miles-ish.

Dad dealt with 2 sets of traffic lights and Mum had to go through over 40.

The only place I know as bad as Leics is Reading, but it seems these days every city/town or major road is vying for the title of most congested.
 
Very friendly. Well maybe but they have set a new record for me of the most offensive bid against a used car I've yet received.
They have a very nice GT3RS (Black/Orange) which fitted the bill to a tee.
Their "bid" for my CLK53 Black Series was £13000 less than I got in the end.
This is a part of the massive Sytner group, an organisation that I've bought 3 cars from in the past 6 years and they fell short on an admittedly rare , but pretty special, prestige car by a mile.
They also chased me daily to try and close the sale.

I appreciate its only business but thats a massive spread they're looking for there. Personally find dealers looking to shaft me less than appealing.
 
In my experience Leics OPC have been pretty upfront about the numbers involved in trade ins. I chose not to in the end and sold privately.

I do however find that most dealers are offering similar money in most cases, with some being slightly worse than others. But what else can you expect from a dealer? Expect to be upset if you think your car is going to trade at anywhere near its private sale value.
 

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