Jump to content

Weird trim levels


Ghosty

Recommended Posts

I stand corrected. Thanks. The earlier models where pretty basic i recall though? Before the 1.6ls?

There was a 1.6 L, and the 1.6LX which were pretty miserable things (D platers). I think shoving on the toys was Datsun trying to give the cars a USP. The cars were nice but very dull to drive.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My A90 Westminster was a large car without PAS. It was bloody hard work. My Rover P6B didn't have PAS and wasn't too bad. 

 

Don't forget in the Polo incident that a car designed for PAS at the outset will have more direct steering. PAS failure in a BX so equipped feels very different to a BX that never had PAS as the rack gearing is different. In the early days of PAS, the gearing was often the same for both, so you had a light wheel but still had to do loads of arm twirling (Humber Super Snipe I'm looking at you).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Remember when around 1988, Datsun tarted up the Bluebird, and the base model became the 1.6 LS? Wasn't exactly poverty spec'd either, all round leccy windows, leccy sunroof, leccy mirrors, leccy aerial, and 4 speaker stereo, when the equivalent base Sierra & Cav were so poverty spec'd it was silly.

 

Yeah the 1.6 LS was the 2nd one up. My sister and her then husband had one in the late 1990s. As it was black, you couldn't really tell at a distance that it actually had matt black bumpers that were not supposed to be colour coded!

 

Despite the decent level of kit for late 1980s standards, it lacked power steering. You had to go up to the 1.6 LX for that luxury.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Saloon? Just got the hatchbacks in the UK. Probably an import?

 

 

It had a UK size rear plate and no external foglight, although I could tell if it was RHD, Kindof says something that I paid more attention to that than the McLaren MC12 I saw later that day

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Austin Maestro City (or should it be Shitty?) my dad an an 86 D plate in brown, still had metal bumpers with plastic corners, no rear wiper, hub caps instead of wheel trims, no PAS, no sunroof, nothing but a tape player and front head rests.

 

His '91 H plate Orion was weird too, metallic paint, power steering, central locking, factory alarm, factory fit tilt and slide sunroof, decent stereo but keep fit windows and no rev counter.

 

My sister had an X reg Corsa B 1.2 SXi, it had 14" alloys, colour coded bumpers and door mirrors, wrap around GSi rear spoiler, sports seats, CD player, leather steering wheel, central locking with deadlocks, rev counter, immobiliser, Arden blue metallic paint, electric and heated door mirrors, quite plush spec for a Corsa B but with the omission of electric windows.

 

I had a P reg mk3 Golf 1.4 SE 3 door, it looked like a GTi on th exterior with GTi bumpers, rub strips, smoked tail lamps, arch trims etc the only thin which have away it wasnt a GTi outside was it had 13" steelies with hub caps, inside it had central locking, power steering and stainless steel effect dial faces for the speedo, rev counter and fuel/temp gauges but nothing else and a horrid interior with cream carpets, light grey seat trim and light grey/cream trim/plastics.

 

My dad also had a P reg mk1 Chrysler Neon LE, base model but had a 2.0 16v 130bhp engine, auto box as a no cost option, and it had electric front windows, electric sunroof and heated electric folding door mirrors, remote central locking, on board computer, Panasonic face off stereo, twin airbags, rear head rests, electric bit release, velour trim, front centre armrest, all this when a base Mondeo Aspen or Vectra Envoy had pretty much none of this.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just driven the Rover 600 to give it a run and noticed that although loaded with aircon,electric roof,remote locking etc it's got manual mirrors and keep fit back windows. It's only got a drivers airbag too ,the original buyer obviously preferred a slab of walnut to saving his Mrs' life. If you have a passenger bag you lose the timber.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just driven the Rover 600 to give it a run and noticed that although loaded with aircon,electric roof,remote locking etc it's got manual mirrors and keep fit back windows. It's only got a drivers airbag too ,the original buyer obviously preferred a slab of walnut to saving his Mrs' life. If you have a passenger bag you lose the timber.

My Volvo 850 has all that and more-half leather, T5 alloys, cruise etc. It's by far the most toys I've ever had, but it's got keep fit windows in the back too.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Regards hendrys corsa being a weird spec,we had a x plate corsa b 1.0 envoy. Windy windows and no central locking and had hubcaps instead if wheel trims. Strangely though it had the electronic power steering and Vauxhall fitted CD multi changer in the glovebox with cassette deck in the dash. Worlds itchiest seats though and had to drive it flat out to get it to move. Always liked the base spec corsa steering wheel compared to the airbag wheel which reminded me of a cavalier

Link to comment
Share on other sites

About 15 years back when I was self employed I used cheapo hacks as my 'Company cars' mainly Mk3 Fiestas as I was paid a decent milage allowance and the cheaper the car I ran the more money I made on the side!

One of the best of these was a K-reg 1100 - no big deal except it was below the most basic spec that was available then, it had very basic interior, the carpets were like nylon carpet tiles (the ones used in offices), no parcel shelf, no intermittent wiper function, no cigar lighter, only a radio - no cassette, etc. Not that this was an issue to me, what aien't fitted can't go wrong/die/fall off.

Turns out that my car was one of a batch originally sold to the local authority for use by staff, all were white, all were ordered with as few features as poss to keep costs to a minimum. Never come across another though.

Seem to recall that many years ago various manufacturers used to do 'Fleet' spec cars which were like this. Doubt they do now.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Those early MK4 Astras were indeed weird specs. Envoy and LS both had steel wheels (in two different styles for some reason) yet Club trim in the middle had trims or alloys. After about a year, the LS got full wheel covers. Why they came with steel wheels I don't know as the LS had a few toys otherwise like electric windows and so on.

 

About ten years back, Lothian and Borders plod had a load of  Corsa Cs on full steel wheels as patrol cars. They definitely didn't come like that even in the most miserly civilian spec. All of them were silver too unlike the rest of the patrol cars which were (and for the most part still are) white.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Those early MK4 Astras were indeed weird specs. Envoy and LS both had steel wheels (in two different styles for some reason) yet Club trim in the middle had trims or alloys. After about a year, the LS got full wheel covers. Why they came with steel wheels I don't know as the LS had a few toys otherwise like electric windows and so on.

 

About ten years back, Lothian and Borders plod had a load of  Corsa Cs on full steel wheels as patrol cars. They definitely didn't come like that even in the most miserly civilian spec. All of them were silver too unlike the rest of the patrol cars which were (and for the most part still are) white.

BSMs fleet of driving tuition Corsa Cs were all Design spec which usually came with 15" steelies with trims but theirs had those 14" silver steelies with hub caps, they all also had electric sunroofs which were not standard on that spec usually

 

They then moved on to Club spec Corsa Ds (2 up from base, the Expression which is likes unicorn, and the Life spec) but had the big graphic multi function dash screen only normally fitted to Corsas with bluetooth or climate control to display the info for both as opposed to the TID screen any spec even SRi and VXR got if not specced with those options despite having neither)

 

Fleet specs still exist, Ford do a Mondeo Business Edition as do BMW and Vauxhall have the Tech Line, usually a midrange spec based car like Zetec or SRi but with sat nav, bluetooth, USB socket, cruise and alloys to appeal to the fleet and sales rep market.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think these days, 'Fleet spec' is all about BIK and low P11D ,not to mention Whole Life Costs and CO2 per centilitre cubed or whatever.

A BMW 518d is designed from the outset as a company car ,in much the same way as a Wolesely 1500 Fleet was ,just with more sat-nav and less credibility.

Very true. Various BMW diesels with the 'efficient dynamics' spec, 'Econetic' Focus and Mondeo, Passat Bluemotion all examples of this.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...