What decade or era

[Junkman]

1970 - 1974

So much choice: front engine, rear engine, Fwd/Rwd or a proper Range Rover. Air cooled, wankel or whatever as long as it wasn't a turbo-diesel.

 

You had the same choice a decade earlier, with the exception of the Range Rover. A Jeep Wagoneer might have made up for it though, at least partially. What would have made more than up for it is that you also had - at least in theory - the choice of a car with a turbine engine.

[Barry Cade]

 

 

ny more.
When the W123 was replaced by the W124 is was just a logical development and customers flocked to change,similarly when the W210 came along. The fact MB screwed up on quality meant this was short lived, but by the end of the production run they pulled it back and already people are saying a late diesel estate is a better bet than the replacement W211.

 

I'd disagree with that- the W123 was straightforward and just a refinement of the slash cars that came before. The W124 was bang up to date and took aerodynamics and passenger safety into consideration, and along with the 190 started a completely new style for Merc. It was as much of a leap forward as the Fintails of the 50's, or Sierra was to Cortina. This happened a lot in the 80's and 90's, where radical changes started. Now,within the confines of NCAP and Emissions regs, manufacturers have to work within those parameters and can only make a big song and dance about the number of airbags or bluetooth technology. Remember the jumping wiper of the Mercs? Brilliant, but too dear. Thought to underbody encapsulation for sound deadening and aerodynamics. Standard ABS through the range on the Scorpio shape Mk3 Grandad. Heated windscreens on the Mk4 Escort. Remote locking on French stuff.. Useful stuff that actually solved a problem that needed sorted. Those days are gone I think. Now we get GPS assisted automatic gearboxes and adaptive cruise control.

[Jim Bergerac]

Another vote for the 80s and 90s for much the same reasons as have been outlined by others here.

 

With one proviso - Whilst there are many cars of the era I admire the looks of (as an example the 3 door ZX on the previous page, I had forgotten what a pleasing design I thought those were), I'd say that the 80s and 90s were best for how cars had reached their pinnacle in terms of usability and durability but not in styling. For me, design that is rooted in the period before (from say the late 50s up until the 70s) is the best looking and most liable to result in a yoghurt truck crash in my vicinity.
 

[nigel bickle]

I'm in general agreement with most here -but would add the proviso that current high mileage motorway needs, esp on the Continent requires something a little younger.

 

We use mid 90's motas, to keep up with the crowd.

 

I have/ do drive on autobahns with older schizz, but it can be a little 'uncomfortable'.

[Junkman]

I have/ do drive on autobahns with older schizz, but it can be a little 'uncomfortable'.

 

In what aspect?

I drove 1957-1963 Imperials throughout Europe, and I do mean everywhere. A 1960 Imperial I bought in Lebanon, then drove it home for sheer OMGCOLEKTSHUNTHREAT.

I have yet to drive better highway cruisers.

Also, if a MKII Ghia Granada leaves anything to be desired in terms of comfort while cruising along an Autobahn, then one should seriously harden the fuck up.

[nigel bickle]

Nice stuff Junkman, if you've plenty of time ,and out in reasonable conditions/ light.

 

When its an early hours foggy  hoon to Geneva, or suchlike, I find they just not up to current day requirements.  

 

Lights, wipers & brakes are inadequate, the 70's - 80's cars too similar (at a glance to a speeding foreigner) to get special treatment in poor weather/ viz,  and  they just rev too high to make rapid progress comfortable over a distance.

 

90% of all my mota's are pre 90, & preferred transport every time but the high mileage is covered by mid 90's to Noughties, chod sadly.

[Junkman]

I wouldn't have the slightest problem driving any of the cars I mentioned towards Geneva at 100+ in the early hours, have frequently done so, and simply can't imagine in which aspect a 90s car would be superior, since I've done it with these, too. To the contrary, I found my 94 Park Avenue to be not superior to my 84 Grandad and inferior to my 78 Caprice and I found the mid-Nineties Passat of a friend to be atrocious.

[nigel bickle]

Ah well, were all different. Thank God

[brickwall]

1975-1990. Just a personal thing for me

[NorfolkNWeigh]

I'd disagree with that- the W123 was straightforward and just a refinement of the slash cars that came before. The W124 was bang up to date and took aerodynamics and passenger safety into consideration, and along with the 190 started a completely new style for Merc. It was as much of a leap forward as the Fintails of the 50's, or Sierra was to Cortina. This happened a lot in the 80's and 90's, where radical changes started. Now,within the confines of NCAP and Emissions regs, manufacturers have to work within those parameters and can only make a big song and dance about the number of airbags or bluetooth technology. Remember the jumping wiper of the Mercs? Brilliant, but too dear. Thought to underbody encapsulation for sound deadening and aerodynamics. Standard ABS through the range on the Scorpio shape Mk3 Grandad. Heated windscreens on the Mk4 Escort. Remote locking on French stuff.. Useful stuff that actually solved a problem that needed sorted. Those days are gone I think. Now we get GPS assisted automatic gearboxes and adaptive cruise control.

Yes, i can see where you're coming from on the useful technology, but even then it wasn't always good. I remember the first 124 I drove ,a 300TE manual, that stupid parking brake didn't seem like an advance over the big dash mounted pull out handle or the 190e 'normal' handbrake. In fact at work,we kept a W123 230TE manual for ages as a spare pool car mainly because people hated the 124 parking brake (and nasty cheap seats).

I wholeheartedly agree about stupid modern technology, I had a Merc that would close the sunroof,tighten the seat belts and put on the hazards when you got a bit sideways on a crest or dodgy camber. Not useful as a saftey feature,because I used to think I wasn't trying hard enough if I couldn't make it do it!

[Justin Case]

I too would have said 80s/90s until I saw this wonderful Humber this morning

 

[Bren]

Personally for me it was late 80's and early 90's.

 

Lots of good cars around in RWD such as the granada and Sierra, and none of this EOBD shite we see on moderns.

 

Cars were mainly petrol engined, and you still get 70's fords for next to nothing - I paid £ 300 for a mk 1 1300 e escort.

 

Vauxhall building cars with SOHC and CIH engines, none of the shitty ecotec / fiat/ Alfa misery we have now.

 

Even Japanese cars were interesting - Nissan Silvia anybody?

 

I kept all my max power magazines because I like nothing more than a beer and a trip back in time to when owning a motor was a pleasant experience.

[Angrydicky]

From 1886 to about 1987 for me, with a few exceptions. My favourite decade is the 1950's of course. I love the styling and character of cars from this era, the bakelite and wood dashboards, the chrome, the leather, the column and preselect gearchanges. However, I am aware of their limitations in terms of performance and braking ability. For me, the pinnacle of simplicity and usability was something like a late Allegro 3. Disc brakes, bulletproof A series engine that can actually be worked on with no nasty ECU's to go wrong and certainly no rubbish autochoke like the Maestro had. Sure, cars from the 1980's rusted badly, but personally I'd rather have a car I can fix when it goes wrong, to one that doesn't rust.

[dangerousdave]

if were going on comfort its got to be 70,s for me when seats were made with proper springs my Cortina is a lot more comfortable than any newer car as of my formative years it has to be 6,s and 80,s America through watching dukes of hazard , knight rider and the a team

[Junkman]

The real pinnacle in America was around the time of the first Moon Landing. It was all downhill over there ever since. In Yeerup, the Zenith was reached in the mid-Eighties, when things started to become literally pear-shaped.

 

I'm a big fan of late-Fifties yanks, but admittedly, they are atrocious to drive. Updating them with radial tyres and gas shockers does help the world, but it doesn't make the brakes less useless.

Although a tad past their blossom performance-wise, the 70s yanks are the nicest ones to drive, and depending on your requirements, arguably the best cars to drive of EVAH. It's not without reason that the car I owned longest (8 years) and drove most (380,000 miles) was my 78 Caprice with the 350/350 and 2.41:1 "Export/Taxi/Police" (yank speak for NASCAR) rear axle ratio.

I also have very fond memories of my 1970 Eldorado, the first one with the 500 CI, which was probably the best car I ever drove.

 

Right after these comes my Rover P6 V8, which is coincidentally also a 70s car. Make no mistake, despite it looks like a four-cylinder P6, it's completely different, and the 3500S is yet a completely different car again from the bader spec. To this day, I can't believe I 'discovered' the P6 V8 so late in my motoring life. One was offered to me as early as 1983, but I passed on it in favour of a 1974 ex-State-Department Impala with the 454 and State-Department gearbox, State-Department shocks, State-Department tyres, etc etc. Back then, it was either yank, or tram for me.

Make no mistake yet again, Rover V8 ownership requires an unlimited capability of suffering. It's like being married to a completely bonkers supermodel. This is in stark contrast to the bulletproofness of the four cylinder models, which rival contemporary Ovlovs for ruggedness. Hence, the P6 V8 is like I went to a car maker in Savile Row, who took my measurements, and tailor made a bespoke car for me, yellow trousers and all.

 

As the 90s moved on, I drove more and more 80s stuff, first and foremost Granadas. This also was for a good reason, because the MKII Granadas are simply darn good cars. I even had two MKIIIs, called Scorpio outside Britain from the onset. One to try, and one to confirm. They are dismal pieces of shit in comparison, and best avoided. Honestly, they have frightening handling characteristics, and I challenge anyone who doubts that I'm not one of the easily scared.

 

The newest car I owned in my former life was a 94 Buick Park Avenue, and I detested it so much, I swore never again to buy a car this new. In fact, after only two years, I sold it and BOUGHT BACK the very 78 Caprice I had sold to make room for it !!!

 

Enter mid-Nineties Peugeot 405s. I had three of them, the newest cars I ever owned. All were 2.0 GTX baders and the first one was bought simply on the grounds, that we needed a 'new' car for SWMBO, and one turned up at the right moment, place, price, etc, etc. They are good cars, but lack any trace of personality or character. They are like having a good fridge, or a good dishwasher, but nothing more. I said I'm going to replace the last one with something older, and I put my money where my mouth was. SWMBO is happy too, because she also always found the 405s a tad on the dull side.

 

When I dream of cars today, I mean, the ones I would like to buy, predominantly 70s cars pop up. On top of the list is currently a bader spec dystopian ratlook R16 TX, but alas...

The day will come, when one of them is going to replace the current 80s J-tin. We also miss our Classic (that's the fancy word for 'backwards' you must know) Rangey, but unfortunately, we aren't even in the income group able to snatch a bader spec dystopian ratlook R16 TX, without becoming hire purchase slaves.

 

Apart from that, I want an 80s Turbo Bentley, and an Armstrong-Siddeley Sapphire 346 Four Light, before they finally push me underneath the lawn.

 

Oh, one more thing. Every car made in this millennium (I only ever drove them as hire cars) made me want to get out of them the moment I was inside. There are surprisingly many I didn't even want to enter in the first place.

[stuboy]

middle 80s to now

[gordonbennet]

Oh, this is great stuff, thanks lads.

 

Talking with a colleague about cars yesterday, he's a shiter as well, got several Stags and other stuff at his gaff.

 

He mentioned there's a new Focus pool car at work, i saw it in all its boring splendour this morning when i parked me old Benz beside it, just another boring black modern clone.

 

Anyway he was effing this and effing that about the thing, said when he gets in it takes him 5 minues to set the piece of shite up so he can drive it, turn the ignition on and everything fires up, fucking climate shite etc...the poxy stop start is apparently set to come on automatically and you have to phsically opt out by swtiching it off, what the fucks going on, why do people buy this crap with their own money, you couldn't pay me enough to have to put up with driving such shit every day.

 

On the subject of modern Fords, i used to deliver them and managed to stall every soddin modern Diesel they made, we have Ford pool cars as i said, i've driven the Mondy 3 and previous Focus Diesels (stalled the fuckin things dozens of times) and a peterool Fiesta (that brings new meaning to shite, wouldn't pull your foreskin back), but what stands out is just how fuckin awful they are to drive.

I've read glowing reviews of these Fords so expected better, but they must be completely different cars to our pool shiters.

 

I took one of our company Passats to another depot a few months back, underfuckinwhelmed is about as much as i can say for it, and that was ten minutes later when i sussed out the bloody electric parking brake.

And thats another thing, the poxy EPB...what bloody clown decided to provide an answer to a problem that never existed.

 

And why are modern Diesels such shit, i've owned Diesel cars since the early 80's and only 2 years ago sold the last one, i just don't want all the wallet emptying rubbish they are now fitted with, but apart from that i just don't like how they drive, with few exceptions.

[Formula Autos]

When this thing was in production wins it for me:

 

Something of this ilk is probably all most people would ever need in a car. I chose the R8 because it seemed to be the best in its class and, OMGHGF aside, a bit hardier than the competition and thus most likely to survive on into shite status.