On a lighter note

[Peter Christy]

I bough my wife an Astra in the mid 2000s. I think it had been a demonstrator, as it was less than 12 months old and fairly low mileage. At the time, her parents were quite ill and she was regularly traveling between the Watford area and South Devon in her Peugeot 106 - which had all the structural integrity of a Coke can!

Being rather concerned that her "shopping trolley" was being used for motorway work, I bought the Astra - a 1.6 4-door.

It was actually a very good little car! Economical, easy to drive and park, and it felt reasonably solid. We only sold it shortly before I retired when it developed the common fault of steaming up inside all the time! We never did find out why, despite many attempts!

By now, her father had passed away, and we were on the verge of moving back to Devon, so it was replaced by a Fiat Panda. My son had assured me that my prejudices about Italian car reliability were misplaced, and that modern ones were as reliable as anything else. Well, he was wrong and I was right! It was the most unreliable car I've ever owned!

For the first few weeks, it was great. Then it dropped on to 3-cylinders. The garage diagnosed a faulty coil pack and replaced it under warranty. 2 weeks later it was back in 3 cylinders! Again, the computer diagnosed a faulty coil pack, and it was replaced again! This went on for a couple of months, until nearly every component in the ignition had been replaced, and STILL it kept dropping onto 3 cylinders!

At this point the garage lost patience with it and sent it to the main dealers! They replaced all the ignition parts again, wiped and reprogrammed the engine management computer and returned it to us a week before the house move.

My wife set off with her sister and a car load of possessions for the journey to Devon, with me - taking a slightly different route - in my car, again with a full load. They arrived a couple of hours after me!

As soon as they hit the M3, it dropped on to 3 cylinders again, and was barely able to maintain 30 mph on the motorway!

We sold it as soon as we were settled in! She now has a Hyundai i10. Boring, uncomfortable, but reliable! She loves it, I hate it!

--

Pete

[Martin Dilly 1]

+1 for Peter's comments. I've had three 1.4 petrol Astra Estates ( two of them Opels bought from Ireland at a considerable saving) and before that an Astra van. No problems with any, apart from discovering that if you tried the screen washers when the liquid was frozen it blew the fuse, which also controlled the tailgate lock. Where was the replacement fuse kept? Just inside the tailgate...

They were ideal for carrying model boxes to contests as well as the chase bike, and the top-hinged tailgate meant you could work on things in the rain without getting soaked. My last Astra managed 104 on the way to Budapest; I passed it on to a friend's daughter and when last seen had done 178,000 on the original clutch.

[Martin Harris - Moderator]

Worst car I've had?

After changing jobs within my company, I needed to provide my own transport and having been running my Reliant Scimitar on classic limited mileage insurance for a number of years, my NCB had expired. The daily commute involved about 15 miles each way of mostly rural lanes, so the 3 litre engine in the Scimitar would have emptied the 17 gallon tank rather too frequently. I really needed to rebuild an NCB [although introductory discounts turned out to be fairly generous] so looked at the cars in the lowest insurance group and lighted on the Fiat 126 - an air-cooled 650cc twin cylinder "powered" Polish built example.

I tracked down a likely candidate, had a short test drive and got my wife to drive it home - at that time insurance cover extended to other vehicles without their own insurance - while I followed her home in her [ironically for this thread and much loved] Astra. During the next month, I spruced up a few items and set off to work the day after handing back my company vehicle, not having driven the Fiat since the Mrs had parked it in my yard. A mile or so down the road, I started to wonder just what I'd done and started rethinking my plans. It was noisy, gutless and inspired no confidence.

However, after a couple of days getting used to it, I started to find the occasional grin appearing as I explored the handling around those little lanes. Over the next few months, Abarth suspension and a rebuilt engine with an Abarth camshaft, exhaust and gas-flowed head found their way into it. The decent roadholding turned into go-kart style handling and it surprised a few other drivers in the lanes - including on one memorable occasion where I was following one of the IT contractors I worked with as we left work in his Porsche 911 who had put his foot down when we'd hit a stretch of open road. Of course, it disappeared rapidly but there was a twisty bit before we came into the next village where I kept up my accumulated speed and rejoined his tail as we came into the 30 mph limit. The next day, he made a point of telling me that he had a newly found respect for the Fiat [which he'd had fun abusing in the past] and how surprised he'd been to look in his mirror having thought he'd seen the last of me for the day when he floored it and then to see me still behind him as he slowed for the village!

In conclusion, it was by far the worst [4 wheeled] car I've owned - noisy, uncomfortable, slow [in A road/motorway conditions], rust-prone, with a pathetic heater and awful electrics but despite this, I think I had more pure driving fun in it than in any other car I've owned - hard driving producing less than instant licence threatening speeds. It was particularly entertaining on an empty wet roundabout where the rear engined layout gave it the wayward handling of a Porsche 911 but at speeds where you could safely wait until the back end eventually got back into line.

[Toni Reynaud]

First car was a Ford Anglia 100e - 1 litre sidevalve engine. It was second hand from my soon to be parents in law so that I sould ferry my wife to see them at weekends. Enquiring as to performance at a garage one day, I was told it would do 45 all day long - a very conservative driver! However, the big ends went shortly after purchase, so after the repair I did a steady and sympathetic running in period (remember RUNNING IN - PLEASE PASS stickers?) and with my wife driving one day soon after we found it would reach about 80 mph no bother at all. This was the early 60's. We sold it when I was posted to Germany in 1967, where I had in turn a big old Mercedes, a 1300 Beetle (top speed 72 mph, cruising speed 72mph!) then a VW Fastback. That was a nice car, smooth, quiet and comfy. I did have a Reliant van at a later stage as a cheap second vehicle to get to work, and also a little Daf - that was interesting with its variomatic rubber band transmission! Worst car ever was an Austin Allegro Estate, bought new on the second posting to Germany. It leaked like a seive and wouldn't pull the skin off a rice pudding. Horrible thing.

Edited By Toni Reynaud on 02/02/2020 07:11:05

Edited By Toni Reynaud on 02/02/2020 07:44:35

[Peter Miller]

Toni

I now drive an Aixam Crossline (French Micro car) THis uses the belt drive similar to the DAF.

Slow but I don't do long drives these days and you can drive on a motorcycle license.

And yes, it slows right down if you go through a deep puddle to fast

[Brian Cooper]

The most hateful car I ever knew was an ancient Morris Minor with a convertible roof, bought by a friend. This would be a much sought-after car nowadays but as an impoverished student in 1972, it was a pile of junk. But it seemed a good idea at the time, so four of us clubbed together and forked out five quid for the thing. . . £1.25 each.

It was "road weary" having covered an untold number of miles (the speedo didn't work so we never knew how many miles it had done). It was bought with about six weeks MOT remaining, and it was doubtful that any previous MOTs had been "straight" when issued. Nothing worked properly and it was mostly a pile of rust on four wheels.

It drank more oil than petrol and went everywhere in a cloud of smoke. . However, its redeeming quality was its lowly price. Putting two gallons of petrol in it created a significant increase to its value. We were probably robbed, but it did provide a bit of humour one day when four of us decided to see how fast we could get it round the one-way system in Watford.

So, roof down, hair blowing in the wind, the throttle was floored and we set off. . . The performance was dire and, at about 25mph, achieved on the Exchange Road Straight, the steering wheel shook so violently it felt like we were doing 150. After two smokey laps of the one-way system, a police car stopped us. The policeman approached, with a huge smile and tears running down his face from laughing too much. He said, "I just had to stop you to congratulate you on eventually getting your car to go over 30mph. You have given us a great laugh, please keep it up".

Not wanting to attract any further attention from the law, the "liability on wheels" was sold the next day and our syndicate made 50p profit.

B.C.

Edited By Brian Cooper on 02/02/2020 09:34:17

[Jon Laughton]

Posted by i12fly on 31/01/2020 23:41:21:

Lots of people hated the Montego, but I had a 1.6 litre one and it was a much loved car. Bought it half list price at 10 months old, kept it for 9 years. It could cruise all day at 90mph if you wanted. But at normal speed would give 32 to 40 mpg. It was comfy, handled really well, a nice drive (but lacked power steering when parking). Pulled my caravan at the time with 26mpg. Loved it. Only trouble I had was failing fuel pump and sticking fuel overrun cut off -both very difficult to diagnose.

Hmm - I had a number of 'Montenogos' as 'company cars' in the mid 80s......windows that operated themselves usually when raining / windscreen wiper motors that failed / a mysterious bit of trim that appeared and disappeared in the footwell! Did I hate it - no, but was it a pain - yes!

[Martin Harris - Moderator]

Posted by Toni Reynaud on 02/02/2020 07:09:31:

Worst car ever was an Austin Allegro Estate, bought new on the second posting to Germany. It leaked like a seive and wouldn't pull the skin off a rice pudding. Horrible thing.

I suspect that I was very fortunate to never have any first hand experience of an Allegro but I do recall that they were mostly referred to as an Allagro...

[Phil Brooks]

I went to work on Ascension Island in 1972. I bought a brand new Cortina MkIII, sans purchase tax, planning to bring it home after two years, and to use it as little as possible whilst on the island. To this end, shortly after arriving we acquired a Fiat 500 to use as a runabout. Among its peculiarities was a tendency to shake the exhaust manifold studs loose. This then meant that I had to get the cortina out of the garage and retrace my route to find the missing studs. This was essential as there were no spares available, and metric taps and dies were just non existent. Remarkably, I always found them. No amount of threadlock would keep them in. On returning to UK we bought our first house, then the bills started coming in and the cortina was traded in for something cheaper to release some equity! I learnt my lesson, on returning to the Island in 76 I took a MkI cortina that cost me £50. At the end of my tour I had it resprayed at a cost of £90, then sold it on the island for £450!

[kc]

Could Peter show us a photo of how he gets his models into the Axiam? That might convince some people that they don't really need a large car.......

Have you noticed how the weight of cars has increased since the 1970's? The 1966 to 71 Vauxhall Viva HB was 1704pounds weight ( 776kilos) and very lively on 1072cc while modern cars weigh much more. The Toyata Auris for example is 1235kilos as petrol/ manual car, and rises to 1425kilos as a hybrid/auto in Touring Sports version. That is nearly twice as much weight as the Viva! But the Hybrid Auris does about twice as many MPG even with twice the weight..... All modern cars are so much heavier too.

The thing about cars is all you need is a reliable, affordable vehicle with enough space. The reliability seems to be down to the design but probably more to how well trained the local dealers mechanics are and how much time they are allocated to the job.

[Peter Christy]

The best car I've ever owned is my current "new" car, a 25 year old SAAB 9000 Aero (the quick one! My "old" car is a 1972 SAAB 96!)

I always thought of the 9000 as a large car - until I stopped at the lights alongside a new "Mini"! They really should have called it a "Maxi".

Nonetheless, the 9000 makes a great modeller's wagon! A couple of years ago I took it from South Devon to Pontefract for the retro meet:

In there is my "KingPin" (5ft span), Frog Jackdaw (5ft span), MicroMold Lark, Sub-Mini (half-size Super 60), and a Veron Mini-Robot. Plus all the support kit! And I only had to fold one seat down!

I can also get a Schluter HueyCobra in there without de-rigging it - though that doesn't leave much room for anything else!

On the Pontefract trip it turned in 46mpg - not bad for a big petrol engine - despite doing the speed limit wherever possible. When not carrying a delicate load it is quite capable of seeing off any BMW short of an M series, and even the odd Porsche - but it won't do 46 mpg if you drive it like that! It is superbly comfortable, everything works, and burns no oil, despite the 216,000 miles on the clock! And the best part? I gave £1250 for it, 7 years ago!

Bargain!

--

Pete

 

Edited By Peter Christy on 02/02/2020 13:27:51

[Peter Miller]

Posted by kc on 02/02/2020 12:33:11:

Could Peter show us a photo of how he gets his models into the Axiam? That might convince some people that they don't really need a large car.......

Have you noticed how the weight of cars has increased since the 1970's? The 1966 to 71 Vauxhall Viva HB was 1704pounds weight ( 776kilos) and very lively on 1072cc while modern cars weigh much more. The Toyata Auris for example is 1235kilos as petrol/ manual car, and rises to 1425kilos as a hybrid/auto in Touring Sports version. That is nearly twice as much weight as the Viva! But the Hybrid Auris does about twice as many MPG even with twice the weight..... All modern cars are so much heavier too.

The thing about cars is all you need is a reliable, affordable vehicle with enough space. The reliability seems to be down to the design but probably more to how well trained the local dealers mechanics are and how much time they are allocated to the job.

I have no trouble betting my models in the car, The Ohmen goes in in one piece as does Moon Dancer 2. Balerina, Little MIss Honky Tonk and the Super Scorpion go in with the wings off.

With the back seat down there is loads of room for my size of models and tool boxes etc

[kc]

Thank's Peter - I didn't expect that car to be Right Hand Drive.

[wingcoax]

Over many years of service work around the UK and Europe I have covered many thousands of miles in Astra estates, both petrol and Diesel and not had many problems. I have also owned two Astras myself with no problems.

[Piers Bowlan]

Peter, I always regretted selling my late father-in-law's Saab 9000 Aero. I had two 'good' cars at the time which both let me down subsequently in a big way. (Disco 3 engine threw a big end! - RIP). The build quality of the Aero was fantastic and it was fast . I previously had owned a Saab 9000 CD which was uber reliable and built like a tank, so I should have known better than to 'dispose' of the Aero.

[gangster]

A great nostalgic thread for old modellers. Over the years, particularly in my younger days , I have driven a number of real dogs often with vital parts rusted away or clapped out But one car,albeit only a few years old and in perfect working condition stands out as the only car I have been scared to drive.
After an office equipment rep tested the crumple zone of my top of the range 2l Primera it had to go to the body shop for an insurance repair. A word of advice, don’t damage your car in the winter the repairers are too busy. Anyway I got their last loan car , a horrid little Citroen AX. The inner wheel arch is where the accelerator pedal should be and the others far to close to each other. The only way to drive that car, even for a little short guy like me was to ride side saddle on one cheek. Scary, had to have that thing for 5 weeks. Oh I would have loved an Astra in its place.

[Keith Evans 3]

My 17 year old Astra Estate is still going strong after 159,000 miles and lugs all want up to the flying field with ease .

[David Davis]

You all need one of these.

22 years old, nearly 400,000 kms, 30mpg, what's not to like?

No not the little one, the big un!

[Peter Christy]

Posted by Piers Bowlan on 02/02/2020 17:29:43:

Peter, I always regretted selling my late father-in-law's Saab 9000 Aero. I had two 'good' cars at the time which both let me down subsequently in a big way. (Disco 3 engine threw a big end! - RIP). The build quality of the Aero was fantastic and it was fast . I previously had owned a Saab 9000 CD which was uber reliable and built like a tank, so I should have known better than to 'dispose' of the Aero.

There aren't many good ones left! Most of them have been "tuned" to 300BHP and beyond - though how they manage to get that on the road is a mystery to me! Mine is stock, and its very easy to spin the wheels up, even in second and on a dry, sticky surface! Some have even had their engines removed and transferred into Astras! The mind boggles!

I was very lucky to find mine. A young-ish lad had it, and hadn't owned it long. I suspect the insurance was a bit high for him! The previous owner to him had been a mechanic at Haymills - the front for SAAB GB - and all the odd jobs that need doing at high mileage had been done by him.

You are right about it being built like a tank! Barring accidents, I think it will outlast me!

And NO! I have no intention of parting with it! Just as the only replacement for a DC-3 is another DC-3, so it is with a 9000 Aero too!

--

Pete

[Bruce Collinson]

Had an Anglia back in the early '70s, firm's car when I was an articled pupil. !00,000 on the clock before I drove it, 117,000 when I refused to fight with the asymmetric brakes any more and it was scrapped.

Replaced with a Hillman Avenger, which it transpired was built of relatively thin steel so it was light for its size, as per the Vivas referred to above. Unfortunately the boot contents, estate agent For Sale boards, used to slop around and punched dents in the rear wings from the inside, until they were fitted with chipboard liners.

Then there was a Marina with a 1.8 L B series motor, seemed quick in a straight line. Resprayed at 2 years old. They don't make them like that any more, thank goodness!

Then an Astra, except it wasn't, it was an Opel Kadett, if I remember right it was the identical car to a Mk 1 Astra, 1.2 L Vauxhall engine, 4 speed but really solidly built, great fit and finish throughout. Quite lively by comparison, ace in snow. Apart from a problem to do with the timing shaft/belt (OHV) at c. 55,000 which was apparently a design fault of the Vauxhall engine, it ran pretty seamlessly for 115,000 at which point I'd bought it from the firm when I left, given it to the wife who'd had a couple of miscalculations at low speed and binned it out for not much cash.

A mate's dad had the 1300 5 speed version which was a much livelier car.

I don't miss any of them compared to my housewife BMW 1-Series and its straight six.

BTC