Currently got MY03 STi (WR blue) and thinking of swapping jobs, to a place in the middle of Birmingham.

this would mean daily commute and obviously parking in Bham city centre.

anyone think it would still be there at the end of the first week?

not sure if it would be safe really - any thoughts, before i sell it when in "paranoia" mode? just worried about all the car jackings etc which get mentioned on here.

andy.

 

Get a Blackjax on it to be on the safe side.

 

forgot about those - will check out prices tomorrow.

 

Get the job first then ask

 

Aint going to stop you getting pistol whipped/shot at/stabbed/slashed.

Many, many incidents with violent car jackings in west midlands...take it from me.

In saying that plenty of people do drive around in their scoobs etc.

Bob

 

What about a cheep run a round? I have a 1.7 Diesel corsa I use to drive to work in, 60+ MPG as well.

 

You got to get into the centre of Brum first in rush hour............and then youve got to try and park............good luck!

 

There's plenty of safe places to park in Brum. I know of all kinds of exotica that park each day in a variety of locations.

The commute can be bad - but it depends where from (and what time you leave of course). Several have a long commute in my office, which is right in the centre.

In spite of what people say, violent assault like that described above is rare, so don't listen to the scare mongering.

Wilster.

 

In spite of what people say, violent assault like that described above is rare, so don't listen to the scare mongering.

Exactly, lived in the city all my life and these are still very (thankfully) rare occurances. There are a lot of very exotic cars in the city centre at all times of the day!

You country yokels are just afraid of the big, bad city.

 

try doing a news search on birmingham and subaru.

its got nothing to do with exotica etc. Bank robbers/ram raiders favourite of which there is plenty in brum.

and thats not the views of a country folk either....been there...been held up at gunpoint etc...its no joke.

Bob

 

Try the same search with Manchester, Leeds, London, Glasgow...!


BTW when & where were you held up at gunpoint, if you don't mind me asking?

 

Coventry

 

Interestingly I've just done a search at:

http://www.itnarchive.com/

using Subaru/Birmingham and guess what...Nothing, Zero, Zilch!

Plenty of hits for carjacking, but no mention of Birmingham or Subaru...!

Try it yourselves and see, I may be wrong! onder2:

 

Coventry


Hang on I thought we were on about Birmingham??????????

 

Have you seen the price of parking in brum ????!!!

 

thanks guys.

mixed views then.

yep, country yocal!

have been to this and other cities lots of times on business, but never regularly in the same place - its the regularity of the parking that I see would make it more of a target really

 

My cousin once left his clapped out ol' banger of a vauxhall astra in a car park in brum and when he went to the police to report it, my aunt asked the kind wpc where the safest car parks in Birmingham are. to which the wpc replied," safe car parks in Birmingham? there aren't any"

Have a nice first day.


but more seriously i have also experienced plenty of car crime in Birmingham and i wouldn't leave any sweet lookin motor within 50 miles of the place

 

And coventry is no-where as bad as brum.

I'm not saying its a no-go area at all. Just that out-of-towners should be well aware.

Bob

 

Obviously not looking in the right places:

http://icbirmingham.icnetwork.co.uk/...l&siteid=50002

 

http://icbirmingham.icnetwork.co.uk/...l&siteid=50002

another one where blackjax worked at stopping the car.....but not the driver getting shot

 

So thats one incident over two years ago that happened late at night miles from the City Centre....

 

Lets not be so naive as to think there has only been one car-jacking in brum over the last to years. Almost laughable!

 

No but there not as common as people make out. There are carjackings going on all the time all over the country and involving all a makes of cars but to make someone think there going to be targeted as soon as they venture within 10 miles of Birmingham is just scaremongering!

If your that worried about it happening then you should drive something like a 10 yr old astra diesel! But then you've let the bad guy win! Then where do you draw the line?

 

I commute into Brum every day and have been doing so for nearly two years, to date I have not had a problem, although on some days I could get in/out of Brum faster by walking.

To be honest I don't think it is a problem.

Phil

 

maybe not so bad then - wouldnt be every day anyway, as would sometimes do train, and sometimes out and about anyway.

I take it your in a Scoob Phil??

Andy.

 

Yep!!!
Mica green 02 wagon, will hear me before you see me!!

 

Ahhhh, Bob, my fault for not making my point clearly enough. The article you refer to only serves to undermine your argument (IMO). The original thread is asking the question how safe is a daily commute and parking in Brum.

If someone cruises in their Scoob through gangland (i.e. Nechels/Aston??) in the middle of the night and parks up in the street for all to see the odds of a problem substantially increase!

If all you're doing is a normal daily commute, are fully aware and take all the sensible steps to minimse risks the chances of anything violent happening are extremely slim.

Yes many incidents happen but they are still rare. I've lived in Brum 14 years, (including Aston, Handsworth, Small Heath as a student) been to many footy games at the Blues and Villa (occasionally in the Scoob!!!! ) grew up in London etc. and I'm still here. Won't be ordering my bullet-proof vest & windows just yet. Have you?

Wilster

Ps. I'm going travelling through South Africa over Xmas and New Year and the only car we can hire is a Toyota Corolla - I wonder why??!! Be interesting to see if we run in to any urban Scoob owners...

 

Wouldn't a train be an option? I do loads of commuting, but if I can avoid parking in a large city, I do. Depends where you're likely to be working...centre or outskirts?

 

yeah - office all day = train.

need to go to out meetings = take car.

would be parking part day really, not all day.

sometimes am, sometimes pm.

am starting to think may be not so bad.