RoyMac5 Posted July 5, 2017 Share Posted July 5, 2017 10 minutes ago, jono said: Love cars but can't get excited anymore unless I win the lotto. Everything is brand or style. Technical identity is a rare bird in the mass market but I am a bit geeky about things like this Got to the age where safety is more important than 0-60! Had an old Polo where the choke was held together with a coathanger, lasted ages did that fix! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wolfie Posted July 5, 2017 Share Posted July 5, 2017 3 hours ago, coneheadjohn said: Daihatsu Charade GTI??That is mental. They couldn't have been safe? They were decent & fun cars but were so highly engineered (twin turbos etc) to wring the performance out of them, there can't be many left which haven't blown up long ago. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wolfie Posted July 5, 2017 Share Posted July 5, 2017 All the mentions of Alfas reminds me of a joke I heard years ago, along the lines of: 3 Chief executives from car companies competing about the quality of their vehicles... Mercedes: "Our Quality control and perfect panel & window fit means we test the car by leaving a cat in it. If it has used up all the oxygen and suffocated within 3 hours, it passes the test". Jaguar: "We have a similar test but our cars pass if the cat dies within 5 hours". Alfa: "We too have that test and the car passes if, within 5 hours, the cat has not escaped!" Mrs Wolfie used to have a Guilietta diesel sport model. Great car to drive & proper quick. Unfortunately the electrics started to develop a mind of their own after about 2 years from new and we got rid by it's third birthday. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rev Posted July 5, 2017 Share Posted July 5, 2017 4 hours ago, jono said: never really had a complete dog but the least enjoyable was a company ford Capri 1.6 with a weird Eco carburettor that pinked when the weather was warm and was gutless, heavy and boring even though it was quite pretty. Had a Lancia Delta GT that broke a throttle cable half way across the forth bridge at 4.00 o'clock on a Friday. Drove back to Manchester with a screwdriver stuffed in the linkage which gave me about 35 MPH. Same car also had an electric window which failed (down) when I was in Scotland in January. That was a chilly journey home down the A74 ! Best .... 3.0 24v V6 Alfa 164 it had 72,000 on it when I bought it. We did another 70,000 miles together. Made me smile every time I turned the key. Oil and filters, pads an exhaust, tyres and an air con rad. That was about it. Still singing when I sold it. Ran it to the red line in top gear on an autobahn as it passed 100k miles just for the fun of it. Brilliant engine .. Loved that car, blip,the throttle close your eyes and you were as close to being in a Ferrari as normal mortals can be Put my less than 2 yr old Leon Fr on the drive last but one Xmas eve, thinking I won't need that till January. Half hour later the neighbour knocks on the door to tell me the passenger window is down! Turns out I can't lock the doors without the window opening itself, on a car that had done less than 6k from new. Leave it unlocked, but watertight until 2 days after Boxing Day, only for the dealer receptionist to describe it as a feature of the model when I took it in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jono Posted July 5, 2017 Share Posted July 5, 2017 Fav topic of mine cars. Talking of Turbos and what not, made me think about inappropriate adverts .. Can't remember which Japanese Turbo model it was when the 0-60 / BHP wars of the late 80's / 90's was going on but their strap line was..Eco warriors hold your breath ...... "The trigger is under your right foot" ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
McRainy Posted July 6, 2017 Share Posted July 6, 2017 Most hated was probably my 1968 VW Beetle in headache yellow. Handled like a shopping trolley and you couldn't turn the heating off, ever. Replaced it with an Austin Allegro, which was more practical but just as unreliable; tended to need 20 minutes with a hair dryer to get it started. Worst brand generally, Vauxhall; every one I've had has been plagued with niggly faults. Best was a Mondeo estate bought for £700 with 80K on the clock. Doubled that mileage over the next 8 years with no major expense. Used it as a camper with a mattress in the back, and even lived in it for 6 months between jobs. Eventually got £150 scrap for it when it finally needed welding, after having been repeatedly driven through sea water. Biggest disappointment was a Golf VR6. Quick, but not engaging to drive. Preferred the original XR2. Current car is a diesel 407, which is sound mechanically but the electrics have been lifted from the anxiety circuits of Marvin the paranoid android. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LesterRam Posted July 6, 2017 Share Posted July 6, 2017 My favourite car was the Lexus SC430, the most complete car I have ever driven, power and precision engineering, I prefer my vintage motors and my beautiful VW Karmann Ghia was an absolute delight, didn't drive it much but it was a thing of beauty when it came out, the new breed of motors are all too generic now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe. Posted July 6, 2017 Share Posted July 6, 2017 21 hours ago, LesterRam said: I have now yeah, it will kill me eventually, the cab fills up with diesel fumes and it only fires on three of its cylinders Is it the 1.6? If so both of those issues are probably caused by a leaking injector seal, cheap and easy to fix done it on my Peugeot with the same engine Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LesterRam Posted July 6, 2017 Share Posted July 6, 2017 22 minutes ago, Joe. said: Is it the 1.6? If so both of those issues are probably caused by a leaking injector seal, cheap and easy to fix done it on my Peugeot with the same engine yeah I had it done but it went again less than 3 months later Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jono Posted July 6, 2017 Share Posted July 6, 2017 22 hours ago, RoyMac5 said: Got to the age where safety is more important than 0-60! Had an old Polo where the choke was held together with a coathanger, lasted ages did that fix! That made me laugh .. My first car was an original mini 1000. fun to drive despite the rust and a distributor right in front of the rad grill which meant big puddles caused it to stop. .. The choke pull lever had got broken at some point and been replaced with a symbol the same as the heater valve. I spent my first winter trying to coax it to start with the heater pulled out but the choke firmly shut - no wonder it was a bit reluctant. Then Eureka when my mate told me "the other ones the choke" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
angieram Posted July 6, 2017 Share Posted July 6, 2017 On 03/07/2017 at 21:15, dog said: Ok. Not something you don't like but something you spent decent money on before realising it was a pig of the first order. Vauxhall Bloody Zafira Spent more on repairs than I did on the car in the first place It even had "limp home mode" so they knew it was cack and it would go wrong and they even had an app for it So that's why it ended up at the side of the road in Calais - I always wondered. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Philmycock Posted July 6, 2017 Share Posted July 6, 2017 Yellow Austin Metro, or Sooty Mobile as it was nicknamed by the boyz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kash_a_ram_a_ding_dong Posted July 6, 2017 Share Posted July 6, 2017 Worst was probably a purple austin maxi,uneffectionatly known by my mates as the purple people eater... To be fair,it drove really quite well and had loads of room in the back.....which, unfortunately,was rarely tested due to it being a maxi and it's puke inducing colour. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gone Posted July 6, 2017 Share Posted July 6, 2017 Renault Scenic 2004, absolutely dreadful car that cost me loads every month in repairs. It had a digital dash, one day I was driving and it flickerd and turned off. I had no speedo or anything for about 3-4mins, it then flickered back on and the mileage had increased by about 30,000 miles. This happened 3 times during a journey from Spondon to Ilson, I did over 100,000 miles in the 8 mile journey. Worst was it was a known fault and cost me £100 for a new dash!!!!!!! I'll never but a French car again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PrivateDerby Posted July 6, 2017 Share Posted July 6, 2017 J reg Clio 1.8 16v Rapid car when it wasn't knackered, used to go through more clutch cables than fuel. Snapped once going up that big hill through Froghall going Ashbourne camping, four up and a boot full of beer... drove rest of the way in 2nd. When it rained you'd get a wet crotch going round bends from the sunroof. Ran so hot you'd need oil everywhere you went. Still, looked summat else. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RamNut Posted July 7, 2017 Share Posted July 7, 2017 Worst motorbike yamaha yb100 it would suddenly lose power so that the max speed would drop to 20 then 10 then 5 mph. drove home at 5mph from school once with my kegs sticking out like stabilisers in case it actually keeled over. my brother once wanted to borrow it, and i asked him how far he intended to go. He said Derby. This was a distance of approximately 5 miles. I said that i doubted that it would go 5 miles. He thought i was joking. After 1 mile it did the loss of power trick and he decided to detour to Little Eaton to abandon it at a mates house and borrow a Honda C90. Going up Eaton Bank he was overtaken by a girl on a horse. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
McRamFan Posted July 10, 2017 Share Posted July 10, 2017 Hillman Avenger. My first car, decided not to heed my dads advice and bought it for £100.00. Two weeks later brakes failed and shunted a fiesta, thankfully was only at 20mph or less in slow traffic. Police got involved and found out garage had given out a fake MOT! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TroyDyer Posted July 10, 2017 Share Posted July 10, 2017 Alan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LesterRam Posted July 10, 2017 Share Posted July 10, 2017 38 minutes ago, TroyDyer said: Alan. yes? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
McRainy Posted July 10, 2017 Share Posted July 10, 2017 4 hours ago, McRamFan said: Police got involved and found out garage had given out a fake MOT! Did you? Avenge her...? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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