Cavcraft 2k18... Alto Passo Testo

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

Whoever designed and signed the Golf 3 off went to the Mark 5 Escort school of car design. Why are they crap?

 

They're dog slow. 75 bhp from a 1.8? Or 90 bhp from the good version when a 1.3 Corolla had 85 and was better on fuel.

 

They were a byword for premature corrosion and endless trim rattles.

 

They handle like a double bed, underdamped and wallowy.

 

There were many very good cars around 1991-97. The Rover R8, Peugeot 306, Renault 19, Citroen ZX, Corolla, Mitsubishi Colt, all vastly better than this underdeveloped, poorly made turd.

[Timewaster]

I had a 16v mk2 and it was proper quick.

Much quicker than the 1.6 205 Git I had before and faster than the Mi16 that I traded the Golf for.

(because the Golf fell to bits on a daily basis. The 405 was 100x more reliable!)

 

I had a gf with a 1.4 Golf mk3. My God. - Really slow.

 

The car wasn't particularly quick either.

[vaughant]

They are awful really they are IMO. Mine had the suspension changed as mentioned above and actually looked quite nice in 3dr format and shiny red after many hours of G3 buffing.

 

They were just so much worse than the MK2 and I had all variants of GTi, from a rusty A plate 1.8 8v (which was a fabulously torquey engine) with 190K on it to a later 16v which was a solid bus of a car and handled great, superb top end and a delight to drive. I also had a MK1 GTi which was a lovely car but I still felt the MK2 was a step forward, yet the mk3 was:

 

Slower

Heavier

30mpg as opposed to 40 in the others even with spirited driving.

Rattled like mad.

Rusted more.

More parts failed.

Wooden brakes.

Asthmatic engine.

Horrible gearbox.

Looked pretty gash compared to the others.

 

Mine was also early on a j plate and fuck knows why I swapped an Audi coupé 2.3 for it, regretted it an hour after swapping. To my amazement after 2 hideous months of ownership the boy offered to swap back!!! I was starting work at 6am and this was 10 at night but I couldn't get it over there fast enough. Moments into being back in the Audi I realised that despite being a different generation of car everything was better than the golf about it and I was relieved.

 

The golf never really did much wrong apart from a clutch ratchet or something like that but neither did it do anything right.

 

Perhaps it's just me, who knows?

 

Certainly felt like the beginning of the end for VW to me, the only saving grace of the MK4 was the 1.8t engine but I did also have the use of a MK4 non turbo for a week or so and it felt a lot better put together than the mk3, same shit slow engine but quite a nice place to be sat.

[Guest Hooli]

I had a gf with a 1.4 Golf mk3. My God. - Really slow.

 

The car wasn't particularly quick either.

 

LOL

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

I reserve the 1994 1.8CL Passat as being the very worst car I have ever driven and the car that convinced me that VW's were cynically designed crap.

 

I used to hire a Mondeo from Hartnell Ford to take me from Oxford to the North East. a 1.8 petrol LX, it was nippy, handled like a dream, was well built, punch engine, superb ride - just a really really, really good car. The occasional 1.8TD wasn't bad either, great motorway warrior.

 

The Passat - a new car on an M - was so utterly dreadful. Tinny, painfully slow, heavy on fuel and just so dull and characterless. Best hatchback car of that era was probably the 306, an absolute joy to drive. The 1.4 petrol really was a cracker.

[yes oui si]

 

I used to hire a Mondeo from Hartnell Ford to take me from Oxford to the North East. a 1.8 petrol LX, it was nippy, handled like a dream, was well built, punch engine, superb ride - just a really really, really good car.

...if only there was one for sale on here...

 

I like MK3 golfs. Three door and estate versions only pls.

[sierraman]

They weren't that bad, plenty on the road. Not many Escorts and Astra's from that era still going.

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

They weren't that bad, plenty on the road. 

 

 

There's one in Meersbrook. I haven't seen another one.

[Cavcraft]

No work's do last night, Chester Races was on and CBA with all the Matalan suited gobshites. So, countless (mostly fruitless) hours spent separating the chaff from the not quite as chaff, and today we're onto a winner.

 

Target no. one: Spotted on Gumtree, leisurely email exchange, said I was going out and out I went. 45 mile ride on the scooter soon cleared the cobwebs away. Arrived home L8RZ and there's another email. Trip to visit my beautiful grand daughter, son and partner, lift cadged off son and it's game on.

 

 

 

 

 

Bit later, it's round two and one of my saved eBay searches came up trumps. In fact (due to the distance) it came up even trumpier than trumped, as it transpired the vehicle in question was a catapults launch from my son's house, where I'd just stopped to collect the Vectra. Be rude not to go and look really, wouldn't it?

 

 

In the cold light of day, and very probably the hot light of night, the latter was perhaps not the most sensible idea. But you live and learn. 

[Timewaster]

Go to the pub next week.

[Cavcraft]

Soz, couldn't hear you over my ELECTRIC ROOF

 

 

 

More about the ST in a minute.

 

 

[Cavcraft]

 

3.0 V6 manual. Strange story of suspected head gasket (losing water), the seller discovered he'd been had off by the lad who sold it to the garage he bought it from. Transpires MOT expired yesterday, can see this ending up in bits to be honest, but I'd like a crack at driving it first.

Probably paid too much for it tbh and I haven't even heard it run, yet.

[beko1987]

That vauxhall is fit...

 

The mondeo? Well you've ruined it there...

[vaughant]

Astra running a bit warm?

Mind you the ambient temperature has been pretty hot the last few days.

 

Always liked those st's as well, love the estates.

[dougiefourspeed]

I’d say 95 deg was okay considering the weather today.

 

Anyway, that’s one hell of a shopping trip. I went shopping today and came back with twenty fags a pint of milk and a pack of value sausage rolls. Good work Billy.

[Rave]

There seem to be plenty of non-head-gasket related ways for the 3.0 V6 to lose coolant. I'm hoping I've just resolved one on mine after a bit of faff and 8 months prevarication.

 

It'll look nice when you've ripped those red badges off .

[Guest Hooli]

It'll won't look quite as chavvy when you've ripped those red badges off .

 

FTFY

[Cavcraft]

There seem to be plenty of non-head-gasket related ways for the 3.0 V6 to lose coolant. I'm hoping I've just resolved one on mine after a bit of faff and 8 months prevarication.

 

It'll look nice when you've ripped those red badges off .

 

Ooh, could you elaborate further as to possible causes, please?

[eddyramrod]

I will admit to liking the look of that Astra...

[Inspector Morose]

I will admit to liking the look of that Astra...

You do know that's classed as a sale in the world of Cavcraft...

[Guest Hooli]

I will admit to liking the look of that Astra...

 

You've not recovered from the surgery yet have you?

[Cavcraft]

Obvs. like the best news of the lot is that I no longer own a Golf.

[Pillock]

What engine is in the Astra? I thought they were all 1.8 but that looks worryingly like a 1.4 SPI.

 

I've consulted the British Union of Rice Pudding Skins (BURPS) but their advice to members is not to worry, and I quote "he's got no fucking chance"

[Rave]

Ooh, could you elaborate further as to possible causes, please?

http://autoshite.com/topic/29041-raves-motors-time-to-get-some-more-cars-on-the-road-overheating-st170-first/?p=1314443

 

I've finally got round to replacing the straight pipe I used originally with a bit of silicone reducer, and touch wood it's holding. I'm pretty sure that pipe was weeping for a while before it properly let go.

[dome]

My S-Type had the same(ish) engine and a fucked expansion bottle caused coolant loss

[Cavcraft]

I think the Astra is a 1.6, by God it’s slow though. Still, quite a nice place to be with the roof down though.

 

Went to the Mondeo before work to see what would happen when a non-knackered battery was fitted. It fired straight into life and sounded ace. Left it running 5 or 10 minutes, couldn’t see a water leak, but will see what happens when I attempt to drive it.

[gadgetgricey]

Went to the Mondeo before work to see what would happen when a non-knackered battery was fitted. It fired straight into life and sounded ace. Left it running 5 or 10 minutes, couldn’t see a water leak, but will see what happens when I attempt to drive it.

 

That just means there is no water in it

[Bren]

That astra belongs on the cover of a Leonard Cohen LP - a 1.6 auto convertible is about as desirable as a picnic on Saddleworth moor.

 

Well bought Billy.

[Six-cylinder]

Astra convertible

 

I was taken back to August 1993 then for a moment when I used to drive around in a new one!

 

2.0i went well enough.

 

Mrs6C hated the patten of the interior trim. The other thing Mrs6C disliked about it was I was only allowed to have it if I garaged it and Mrs6C Triumph Herald had to move outside when I used it.

[sierraman]

Mondeo, stick some steel seal in it then run it till it falls to bits. These break quite well, calipers on back got to be worth £50 for the pair on their own.