(Likeable) Scooter with four wheels madness. MICROCAR

[R9UKE]

This is one turd I've never seen spoken of on these pages.

 

Is it just because it's TOO hateful? That's what I thought until I ended up with one.

 

A few months back one turned up at my local auction and curiousity got the better of me. I did a quick search and cheapest one I saw was £1200 for sale online. This went through the ring that evening with 28k miles, almost a full test and ended up being mine for £400.

 

Now if you're expecting a decent CAR, that isn't really going to happen.

 

When you compare it to the alternative of a public bus at rush hour on a rainy evening with condensation and bodily fluids inching their way down the window towards you, or a rickshaw, it becomes almost credible.

 

So this one, according to the tax book, weighs 368kg and has a 505cc engine beneath that bonnet that could be lifted by the strength of a newborn kitten.

 

They have a 16 litre fuel tank, an entirely plastic body and literally no credibility.

 

 

 

 

They're French built and quite a bit of the cabin is borrowed from the 90s PSA parts bin. It's got a decent heater, CD player, power steering and electric windows.

 

 

 

 

This was the four seater version. Well, the back two "seats" are basically two foam slabs wrapped in fabric and mounted horizontally and vertically.

 

Thankfully I never had to try it with four people on board. Having one passenger in the front is, well, snug.

 

 

 

Now the drive. Fire it up and you can tell the engine is lifted from a scooter. It's coarse, noisy and rather unpleasant. The gearbox is a CVT with a simple process of pushing the lever forward for D, the middle is N and back for R.

 

With no passengers, acceleration off the mark is actually really nippy. The whole car vibrates at a more alarming rate the faster you go and I have absolutely no reason why it's got a radio, because you can't hear yourself think above 20mph.

 

The top speed is apparently 88, I wouldn't really want to do any more than 40. Road tax is a surprisingly high £145, probably because the engine feels like if was designed in the 60s.

 

There's a LOT of body lean in the corners and the wind does tend to have more effect on its direction than the steering wheel. You are always aware that the only thing separating you from the elements is about half a centimetre of poundland plastic.

 

I am ashamed to say that I've gone from laughing at the thing when seeing it at auction, to genuinely being sad at seeing it leave this evening (albeit for a rather healthy profit) to an absolute head case who now has three of them.

 

It always made me smile and was a subject of great laughs from my mates (for its outright pathetic attempt at existence) - and surely that makes for good shite.

 

I'd FAR rather have this than a Daewoo Matiz or a Kia Rio. At least this thing fails at being a car so badly that it's actually hilarious, and you know the designers and everyone involved probably had a right old chuckle throughout the entire process.

 

Plus the previous owner has christened this one "Tubby"

 

 

[hairnet]

ridden bikes for 20 years and im scared of them

[strangeangel]

Having sat on one of those rear seats I can confirm that they are every bit as grim as they appear.

[vulgalour]

I have harboured a secret desire to have a go in one of these for quite some time to see whether or not my nerves could take it.

[Cavcraft]

Didn't Wuvvum have one of these?

 

Anyhow, pretty sure I tried to drive one once and couldn't get in it, but I'm well up for a few numbers if you raffle it.

[dollywobbler]

Excellent. Misery.

[Lacquer Peel]

Didn't Wuvvum have one of these?

 

Anyhow, pretty sure I tried to drive one once and couldn't get in it, but I'm well up for a few numbers if you raffle it.

 

It's already been sold. The diesel ones are usually veg-friendly, get on it.

[Joey spud]

 

My dad used a diesel one untill recently (he has now traded up to an 8mph mobility scooter).

It seemed to use 80% of its modest engine power to vibrate the dash board and the rest to propel it down the road.

 

The picture shows it minus its front bits after he misjudged the stopping speed of a Micra,but we glued it back together ok and continued using it till the mot expired then it was parked up in the front garden where he uses it as his pipe smoking room.

 

 

 

Saw this the other night a Twizy doing about 40mph down the nearby bypass.

[Station]

I'm sure these are the same/similar to Aixams.

 

 

If they didn't make them look so out of proportion and ghastly, they'd probably sell better.

[vulgalour]

They're so small they sort of have to be ghastly and out of proportion.

[djimbob]

Oh my, I am a man who started four wheel life in a three wheeler, and many more abominations such as bike and sidecar combo's, but the day I bought me a cheap Microcar was the day I found my limit!

 

They are a massive pile of poo, and you can break them by leaving them in (I think) Park, or was it in gear, I forget, on a sloping driveway   (Which I did, as the handbrake was of course rubbish).

 

They are admittedly quite fun to drive in their own underpowered, fragile, rattly kind of way, for a very short time, but then they become the sort of drive which raises the heart rate, blood pressure and overall temperature, a little like a near death experience without the street cred.

 

I gladly sold it at a massive loss to Michael's of Selby (who ironically have moved to a nearby village not called Selby), and I'm sure it was torn down to it's component parts for the common good

 

When I look back at the many, many shite vehicles I have owned over the years, this little fucker was the very worst, and I include Allegro's, Robin's, Metro's and all manner of crap small motorcycles and scooters I would have been better off pushing than riding.

 

In summary, go for it lads and lasses if you see one cheap, they should make excellent dog kennels, chicken coops, wheelie bins - you name it

[plasticvandan]

A large number of B1 bandits previously driving Reliant were seduced into these,and many went back to three wheels,need I say more? Incidentally the importer of microcars is the man that saved Reliant c.1996,who left in 1999 when he saw the writing was on the wall.

 

Extortionate spares,gearboxes explode,wheel bearings and brakes pack in very quickly,the chassis* for quicker than a Chinese BBQ,and panels crack and come unstuck etc etc. Too shit for autoshite IMHO,as they can't be run on a shoestring.

[Tayne]

I have always wanted to have a go in one of these (wouldn't have given £400 though) and would have been chasing Luke down for a burl had he lived closer to me.

[R9UKE]

You'd have run back home twice as fast!

 

Yeh the eccentric guy who bought it today was telling me his tales of woe with them. His first caught fire a few days after MOT and melted down like a wheelie bin in a matter of seconds. Apparently the cooling fan sucks in some of the insulation around the engine and the electrics melt down. His insurance company sourced him another and it is out of MOT in a few weeks and he has little faith in it passing, hence him buying mine.

 

He has a motorcycle license only and so is pretty much stuck to them if he wants four wheels.

[Lacquer Peel]

Surely getting a car license is easier than dealing with these sans permit shitheaps.

[Eddie Honda]

If you're stuck being a B1 bandit, then the only credible quad that fits the licence class is the Reliant Kitten.

[Junkman]

Are these beer tin holders?

If the cigarette lighter works, too, everything is fine.

[wuvvum]

I had a couple of Ligier Ambras.  They make the Microcar MC2 look like a fugging stretch limo.

 

Here's the first one I bought - this was a diesel, and was absolutely dire.  Top speed was 45 on the flat, and the noise and vibration at that speed had to be experienced to be believed.

 

It was the top of the range model though - it had leather seats and shiz.

 

 

 

[wuvvum]

The tax on these things is surprisingly high because it's a fixed-rate thing - quadricycles don't have CO2   based bands in the way that modern cars do.

 

Oh, and trust me, those things will not do 88.  Might just about do 66 with a long enough straight and a favourable wind.

[wuvvum]

Here's a shit video of me attempting a 0-60 run in my second (petrol) Ambra.

 

SUNP0009.AVI

[garethj]

Why does a car weighing 368kg need power steering?

 

I like the oddness of these very much, but as I couldn't imagine using one and spares prices are bonkers, I'm glad the rest of you buy them

[Tamworthbay]

These are an acquired taste it seems, but I would love a peel p50 or similar

[PiperCub]

There was a Ligier(?) one where I used to live, it had the engine note of a straining lawnmower and was about as quick.

These things are a nice idea in theory but......

 

Incidently, are these the type that are popular in France as they can be driven without a licence etc.? (Sans Permit??? or whatever the expression is) Hence, popular with drunk drivers who've been banned. Or are these bigger than that.

[Matt]

What I want to know is whether these are better or worse than the other plastic shitheap that appeared in my area recently; a Reva G-Wiz. There is a Microcar around here too and at least it sounds funky when it drives past. I really want to have a drive in both for shits and giggles.

[Eddie Honda]

Or are these bigger than that.

I think they are POWAH spec. I think VSP spec ones are 45km/h slow.

[dave21478]

There was a Ligier(?) one where I used to live, it had the engine note of a straining lawnmower and was about as quick.

These things are a nice idea in theory but......

 

Incidently, are these the type that are popular in France as they can be driven without a licence etc.? (Sans Permit??? or whatever the expression is) Hence, popular with drunk drivers who've been banned. Or are these bigger than that.

 

Yes, there are a lot here and most dont need a licence of any kind, (the under 50kph ones) hence are popular with drunks and the elderly. This makes them incredibly expensive to insure.

 

I have told the story before, but my brother inlaw and I snagged a couple to make a kart for my nephew. They are shit, and I mean proper shit. The chassis from the one we used is made of 30mm box, which is flimsier that the stuff I made my garden gate from. The workmanship and basic design is terrible with piss poor triangulation and shoddy build quality. The heating ducts are 40mm pvc plumbing fittings, the wiring is laughable and we found the seatbelts were pop rivited to the plastic shell with penny washers to spread tthe load.

His is a single cylinder diesel that even without the plastic body is so slow I could probably outrun it uphill and I am a fatty.

 

The new generation all look they were designed by the folk who design kids trainers.

 

Underneath, its the same old shit though mechanically, but the options list boggles the mind.....

in car CD / DVD with reversing camera

reversing radar, 

daytime running lights, remote central locking

electric windows

fog / spot lights 

leather interiors

electric seats......no wonder the are so bloody slow.

 

starting prices are about 12k euros or leasing for 250 ish per month!!!

 

You can get older ones used for about a grand for a runner or a few hundred needing work, and some of the older ones are truly bizarre.

 

 

Yes, thats a three wheeler with stabiliser casters so it wont* tip over.

 

have a look...

http://www.leboncoin.fr/voitures/offres/midi_pyrenees/occasions/?f=a&th=1&pe=5&q=voiturette

search "sans permis" too.

[barrett]

If you're stuck being a B1 bandit, then the only credible quad that fits the licence class is the Reliant Kitten.

That's not right, is it? A Kitten is just a normal car, and much too heavy to meet B1 regs

[barefoot]

That is truly dire, reminds me of my Trabant, another piece of plastic shit you'd not want the tiniest of bumps in.

Well done on making a profit.

[hairnet]

if yer stuck to 3 wheels or bikes

 

fuk all dat shit do dis

 

[plasticvandan]

That's not right, is it? A Kitten is just a normal car, and much too heavy to meet B1 regs

Completely correct.after b1 stopped being issued in 2001,the regs were changed,anything under 550kg can be driven on b1.Kittens are around 510-520kg. Mate of mine drives a kitten estate and rebel saloon on B1.