Which Car buyer's guide 1984

[Leyland Lawrence]

My parents used to buy Which? (Consumer's Association publication so pretty exhaustive and reliable) and the car buyer guides were a big deal for me every year. I have most from the 1980s.

 

Here's a few choice reviews from 1984's guide but if you want to see a particular review for a particular year let me know.

 

The prices in the 1988 edition at the bottom are surprising to say the least. Cars have got cheaper it would seem.

 

H

 

 

 

[EssDeeWon]

The Pick of which in 1984 did not consist of ONE British car, even back then?

 

Where the heck is the Metro, Maestro, Montego, SD1 and Range Rover Vogue???? meh! 

[Leyland Lawrence]

BL and Ford.

 

Vauxhall Cavalier is well rated in this magazine (much higher than the equivalent Ford) yet isn't as revered today

 

 

[UmBongo]

Fiat Strada: Not Recommended.

 

Say what???

[Jim Bergerac]

And the Renault Fuego is summed up solely as 'pleasant'. I like that.

[warren t claim]

The average Which? reader doesn't give a flying fuck about performance or handling, they only care about reliability and ease of use. The k10 Micra was probably voted their car of the 20th century.

[HH-R]

It's comedy how they comment on the steering and visibility, as well as dashboard controls. Seems none of that matters nowadays when most cars have numb EPAS steering, absolutely crap visibility forwards and back, and controls hidden in touchscreens or awkward to use climate control systems.

[PiperCub]

Fiat Strada - oh god, I drove those when they were actually new in the early eighties, the company I worked for (casually when I was a student) used them as company hacks and while they were quirky looking they were pretty bloody awful things to drive.

[gtd2000]

The Pick of which in 1984 did not consist of ONE British car, even back then?

 

Where the heck is the Metro, Maestro, Montego, SD1 and Range Rover Vogue???? meh! 

Isn't the Chevette a British manufactured car?

[laser wheels]

The Pick of which in 1984 did not consist of ONE British car, even back then?

 

Where the heck is the Metro, Maestro, Montego, SD1 and Range Rover Vogue???? meh! 

 

I don't know what you mean - the Bluebird had 'BEST OF BRITISH' right next to it!

 

On another note it was interesting to see how the Audi 80 was thought to have 'top class road holding, perhaps at the expense of hard ride'.

[scooters]

240 and BX no surprises....nor is the amount of Japanese tin.

[dollywobbler]

Isn't the Chevette a British manufactured car?

 

Indeed it is. Opel platform, but Viva engine and built at Ellesmere Port. Found the comments about ride odd. I've driven Chevettes and found the ride surprisingly good!

[EssDeeWon]

Isn't the Chevette a British manufactured car?

 

I was referring to the 'Pick of Which' page, there is no Chevette on there from what I can see.

[AlabamaShrimp]

It might just be me but their "reviews" don't make much sense and the one for the escort mentions 3 engines and the estate, so which one did they "test"?

[barefoot]

It might just be me but their "reviews" don't make much sense and the one for the escort mentions 3 engines and the estate, so which one did they "test"?

The 'reviews' are just the summary of a more extensive test done previously.

[Skizzer]

I like that 'ventilation' and 'getting spares' are scoring criteria.  You won't see that in OMG TOP GEAR YO or its ilk.

 

I also like that the ventilation in the Horizon is 'usually good'.  The electric windows in my Rover are much the same.

[EssDeeWon]

I like that 'ventilation' and 'getting spares' are scoring criteria.  You won't see that in OMG TOP GEAR YO or its ilk.

 

I also like that the ventilation in the Horizon is 'usually good'.  The electric windows in my Rover are much the same.

 

I assume you have the same SD1 optional extra I had of non working rear windows and fronts only on a Sunday once a month.

[Leyland Lawrence]

1983 car summary on rear page with remaining reviews from the 1988 edition. Rover slips market share, Renault rust improves. See where your car sat in reliability and safety tables.

 

[brickwall]

Fiat Strada - oh god, I drove those when they were actually new in the early eighties, the company I worked for (casually when I was a student) used them as company hacks and while they were quirky looking they were pretty bloody awful things to drive.

 

 

Built by robots, driven by......

[warren t claim]

Which? makes Auto Express look like Max Power. 

 

I remember the editor David Tench being quoted extensively by Esther Rancid on That's Life! ad nauseum in between the bits about dogs that say sausages and potatoes that look like genitals. 

[Skizzer]

Which? makes Auto Express look like Max Power. 

 

True.  Although for the absolute opposite end of the EVO scale, even below Which?, you want to get hold of a copy of the CSMA magazine from the 1970s.  I may have a copy or two somewhere, which I'll dig out one day.

 

It was brightened considerably by having George Bishop as a columnist, though, writing mainly about what he drank for lunch.

[brickwall]

My uncle used to pass the CSMA magazine to me after he had finished with it. It was aimed at the leisure side of stuff and days out along with what type of car is good to pull a caravan.

 

The help and letters pages were hysterical.

[Pillock]

I used to read CSMA as a nipper, an elderly relative (who in his time had a beautiful blue Montego Mayfair, and a late Maestro) used to pass it my way.

 

As such, growing up I believed the way I would need to choose a car depended entirely on how well it would tow a CI Sprite, and how hardwearing the seat trim was. The sportiest car I ever saw in there was a Montego Si

[inconsistant]

Excellent thread, thanks for scanning and posting.

 

 

'Crude by today's standards'... brilliant. I like that more than 'Your Motoring is our concern'.

[trigger]

^ I've got that issue and I think I've scanned it all into Flickr.

[forddeliveryboy]

My uncle used to pass the CSMA magazine to me after he had finished with it. It was aimed at the leisure side of stuff and days out along with what type of car is good to pull a caravan.

 

The help and letters pages were hysterical.

 

 

These people obviously hadn't read it.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7q7K1bBhjkY

[PiperCub]

Built by robots, driven by......

 

Didn't like the car but loved the TV commercial. Look it up on YouTube, it's well worth a watch, very Italian.

[brickwall]

I saw a programme about the power of advertising and the cars were sold on that advert. Nothing else. Dealers were poor, quality was poor, resale values were poor and so it went on.

[brickwall]

[PiperCub]

Not the one I was thinking of but good old Not The Nine O'Clock News stuff nonetheless.

 

The other one they did was 'Built by Roberts'  (Got my torque wrench Bob?  No, Bob's got it...........)