You shouldn't meet your heroes...

[Timewaster]

Mk1 Orion Ghia Injection. Always wanted one as they were the in thing in the way back when growing up. Plus I cant always buy Rovers one after another, have to have a change every now and then.

 

Disappointment and money in equal measure. The exact car in question -

 

orion.jpg

 

Never again. Just as predicted the prices have gone through the roof the last 10 years (typical).

There was a guy called Simon who used to hang out with all us yobs in the town car park had one just like that.

I was only about 15 at the time but I thought it was awesome.

 

Sadly, just down the road from my house there is a line of trees by a bend in the road. One of them is missing and Simon and his Orion are no longer with us.

 

Well that was a downer wasn't it.

 

As you were..

[I_am_Diesel]

MG Metro,

 

I bought one a few years back as I passed my test in a Metro, I fixed them and drove them when I was in the RAF and remembered them as being fun. Obviously my idea of fun had changed since the late eighties. Sadly I didn't discover this until after I bought the car for probably too much money. I tolerated it for a year. It was slow, noisy, uncomfortable and not much fun at all. My Mk2 Golf GTi I was using as a daily at the time was in a different league, I know some folk may disagree but each to their own. In the end I put a years ticket on it and sold the Metro for a substantial loss. A couple of months later the prices started to rocket.

 

I wouldn't recommend buying a Land Rover Defender without trying one first and really wanting one. If you enjoy a cramped cabin, lots of noise and wet trousers when it's raining, it's the vehicle for you. They are massive fun though, but I'm bound to say that.

[John F]

I test-drove a V8 Bentley Continental GT a couple of years ago. It had loads of things wrong with it (e.g. power steering that did not firm up at speed) that I wouldn't have accepted in a car that cost a fraction of the price.

 

I genuinely thought that my 20+ year old V6 Calibra was the better car.

[danthecapriman]

I've not noticed any Ford bashing but I'm not likely to notice as i wouldn't be offended.

I think on a forum with a catchphrase "all Vauxhalls are shit" the Ford fanciers aren't badly treated.

(looks out of the window at three of the bloody things - Fords that is )

Nothing wrong with a bit of light hearted banter, which I assume the Vauxhall thing is meant as but there’s a point things either stop being light hearted or get said in a manner designed to be argumentative or insulting. I’m not going to go through the whole site quoting direct comments but the last few months from a small contingent things have been said...

 

Maybe I should I take my ‘inappropriately sprung cam snapping pieces of shit that ‘I’ wouldn’t give you 20p for’ and fuck off if my choice of cars are that bad? (Yes that is a combination of some of the posts I was referring to!)

It’s even to the stage where some random gets insulted for daring to have a soft top BMW 1 series! Admittedly it was parked terribly but still. Inverse snobbery??

 

There’s nothing wrong with not liking Fords or Vauxhall’s or French stuff but why post something in a way that I can only assume is designed to get peoples backs up? Why go out of your way, beyond the scope of the original subject to say basically ‘such and such is shit in comparison’?

Surely you can say what you need to say without slagging something/one off in the process?

 

If you can’t say something nice don’t say it.

 

 

Anyway, apologies for the thread hijack.

[Timewaster]

I was guilty of stiring up 1seriesgate. I apologise.

 

I missed those genuinely insulting posts.

 

I assumed it was a build up of ribbing that had narked you. That stuff is out of order.

[John F]

The "Orl Voxhalls ar shit, hur hur" thing is just childish.

 

I don't tend to like French or yank cars, but I don't feel the need to piss off their owners by constantly making disparaging comments about them.

[Supernaut]

I guess I could write about my Vauxhall Omega ownership experience in here.

 

I know a few people on here really rate them, and I understand the appeal. Big RWD luxo barge for bargain money. However, I just didn't get on with it. I got a black 2.6 V6 auto in early 2016. It looked the tits, it had the 5 spoke 17" wheels from an Elite, HID lights, and an utterly silly exhaust system that popped and banged on overrun.

 

The seats were shit. The most uncomfortable seats I've ever sat in. It never tracked properly and would always tramline and skip about, even after getting the tracking done. The HVAC on it was fucking shit. Even with a new pollen filter, it struggled to keep the windows clear in anything but bone dry weather with just me in the car. I ended up driving it with one of the rear windows open a crack most of the time. Kind of detracts from the luxurious image. Also, the auto box on my one had learned the previous owner's driving habits a bit too well. It was very keen to kick down.

 

The car gained a lot of compliments from anybody who saw it. It was very sinister looking and would have looked right at home in an episode of Road Wars. I really did enjoy looking at it. Hated driving it though.

 

 

The Mk3 Mondeo 2.5 V6 I have right now is just so much better in so many ways.

[danthecapriman]

I was guilty of stiring up 1seriesgate. I apologise.

I missed those genuinely insulting posts.

I assumed it was a build up of ribbing that had narked you. That stuff is out of order.

Exactly that. One or two silly comments or a bit of ribbing is fine. Repeats of it after a while gets irritating and completely unnecessary.

 

 

 

The "Orl Voxhalls ar shit, hur hur" thing is just childish.

 

I don't tend to like French or yank cars, but I don't feel the need to piss off their owners by constantly making disparaging comments about them.

I don’t even know why or where that Vauxhall thing came from tbh. Maybe it was before I came here? And yes, it is!

 

Anyway, sorry. Just had to get that off my chest. As you were.

[John F]

I guess I could write about my Vauxhall Omega ownership experience in here.

 

I know a few people on here really rate them, and I understand the appeal. Big RWD luxo barge for bargain money. However, I just didn't get on with it. I got a black 2.6 V6 auto in early 2016. It looked the tits, it had the 5 spoke 17" wheels from an Elite, HID lights, and an utterly silly exhaust system that popped and banged on overrun.

 

The seats were shit. The most uncomfortable seats I've ever sat in.

 

Now that is true... Vauxhall seats since the late 1990s are truly terrible.

 

A far cry from the excellent cloth-covered Recaros fitted to the mid-1990s sporty Vauxhalls... back in 2002 I drove my '94 Cavalier SRi from south of Geneva to Yorkshire in one stint, and felt fresh as a daisy upon arrival.

 

The leather folding seats in my '94 Calibra are almost, but not quite, as good.

[sierraman]

Plenty of people say Fords are shit.

 

Fortunately I don't depend on other peoples approval. If you like them you like them end of.

[danthecapriman]

Plenty of people say Fords are shit.

Fortunately I don't depend on other peoples approval. If you like them you like them end of.

True as that might be it soon becomes annoying keep having to read it. Especially somewhere that’s a so called ‘broad church’.

While it’s true you can avoid likely threads that cause shit it’s not always possible. ‘Cart sprung heaps of shit’ came from the eBay tat thread for example.

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

Sorry to say that a few 70's Alfas have disappointed.

 

I so wanted an Alfetta 1800 saloon in the early 1990s. Never got on with it TBH (prop-shaft judder and gearbox mainly).

 

Then I had an early Sud Sprint. Achingly pretty to look at but the driving position and seats were the work of Satan.

 

Even the Bertone GT Junior I had felt antiquated with its narrow rear track and would break away at the slightest provocation.

 

Much preferred my 156s and 159.

 

 

 

Old Alfas are like that. The transaxle cars need to be 100% on form to be any good and even then it's still a 1972 car. I've never driven a 105 car that I liked. The Sud was the only one I liked driving and I found the driving position fine.

[SiC]

MGB GT.

 

There. I said it.

[Supernaut]

MGB GT.

 

There. I said it.

[SiC]

I'm still going to give the old girl a chance though.

[Tamworthbay]

I loved the MGB Gt I ran as a daily. I think expectations are the key, expect it to be as fast/ comfy/ reliable as a modern and you will be disappointed, expect it to be slow, thirsty but a shit load of fun on a icey road at 6am and you will be pleasantly surprised.

[stuboy]

mondeo mk2 v6's, everyone raved on how great they was , and me only having a measly 1.8 was hoping for boom fizz pop, but found was slow pull away than my 1.8, and having to rev the gonads out of it to go vroom..

 

i still hanker after a st200

[2MB]

I'm going to be taking an R34 Skyline GT-R around the Mt Fuji mountain passes - I'm genuinely hoping that meeting my hero won't be a total disappointment. MrsHarris is even taking it for a drive for a bit. If she bins it in a hedge I'm totally stuffed!!

I would think/hope that you won’t be disappointed, as long as you can stretch the car a little bit. My R32 is everything I dreamed it could be, but at low speeds isn’t particularly special. On a mountain road, with a driver prepared to work with the car and let it help as it knows best, I would say an R34 GTR will feel pretty special

[Christine]

You know i bought all those Car and Car Conversion mags last week ? Well, I'm fucking gutted !

 

 You see..

 

Since 1971 I've gazed in awe at the Bond Bug . Airfix kits ,corgi toys ...doodles on me school  books.. and

 

 

1971 C C C article says ;   Gimmick.. Worst car (or non car) ever  we've  had the misforfune.. ,  Weird   , contraption , body sits like pannier pontoons on the chassis , strange glider like cockpit ,rattling and clunking.. unpleasant noises on gearchange., frightening lack of rear visibility  , must be a market ,but having tried it we haven't got a clue where   etc      

 

Bastards , I'm heartbroken                          

[Zelandeth]

Sure there are some cars it applies to... I've not really found one yet though.

 

De-Loran, everything I expected of it. Sure it's a GT car not a balls out sports car, and the interior is a parts bin special, but it drives nice enough, and still looks beautiful all these years on. If I could afford one I'd buy one in a heartbeat.

 

Ferrari F-40. How can I criticise it? Maybe that it's a bit noisy and has pants rear visibility...other than that, nope... everything it should be and then some. Just would love to give it a blast round a track as it's wasted on a public road. Again, lotto win would probably see one in the garage. Oh...and used. What's the point of cars like that if they sit in a garage forever?!?

 

Tatra T-613. What's not to love? You look out on the world from a gigantic luxobarge, with an air cooled V8 out back which makes a noise that will scare small children half to death as you drive past, and you are holding a Skoda Estelle steering wheel and recognise 80% of the switchgear and interior bits from the same and FSO parts bins...how can you not love the complete dissonance of the whole thing. It's utterly terrible in so many ways, yet is impossible not to love.

[dollywobbler]

The "Orl Voxhalls ar shit, hur hur" thing is just childish.

 

 

Says the man who gets as excited as a teenage girl at a One Direction gig about the C word...

[dollywobbler]

I would think/hope that you won’t be disappointed, as long as you can stretch the car a little bit. My R32 is everything I dreamed it could be, but at low speeds isn’t particularly special. On a mountain road, with a driver prepared to work with the car and let it help as it knows best, I would say an R34 GTR will feel pretty special

 

I've driven an R34 GTR on the roads, and it was hugely disappointing really. Then the owner demonstrated what it could really do, and it was very impressive. As long as you didn't mind doing 110mph on small country lanes. I think that's definitely the most scared I've ever been in a car.

[sam simmons]

mondeo mk2 v6's, everyone raved on how great they was , and me only having a measly 1.8 was hoping for boom fizz pop, but found was slow pull away than my 1.8, and having to rev the gonads out of it to go vroom..

 

i still hanker after a st200

I have had a couple v6`s (mk2 and 3) and with only 20 hp more than the 2.0 version and the extra weight of the v6 made 0-60 times similar to the 2.0 and the handling suffered too...both my v6`s suffered head gasket failure so i dislike them a lot,st200 maybe better though...

 

Im a fan of a cheap mk3 2.0 as a family hack and have been looking out for a mint late mk3 2.0 ghia for a few weeks...

[D Spares & Tyres]

MGB GT.

There. I said it.

Always disliked these. The current Mrs d has an heirloom one in the family. Babyshit beige but 80,000 miles. It drives really nicely. Tight gearbox, proper RWD handling and the engine is fine.

It changed my opinion of them.

[sam simmons]

Always disliked these. The current Mrs d has an heirloom one in the family. Babyshit beige but 80,000 miles. It drives really nicely. Tight gearbox, proper RWD handling and the engine is fine.

It changed my opinion of them.

I had a go of a friends BRG MGB GT a few years back and i always thought underpowered pretend sportscar but i was wrong...Loved the drive,sound and grippyness,a fan for sure...

[jonny69]

I don’t care what anyone says about them, I simply can’t see how I would ever dislike a Lamborghini Countach. I mean, I know they’re well recognised as being one of the worst, slowest, least reliable, uncomfortable supercars, but how bad could it actually be?

[John F]

Says the man who gets as excited as a teenage girl at a One Direction gig about the C word...

 

PM sent.

[Captain Furious]

mondeo mk2 v6's, everyone raved on how great they was , and me only having a measly 1.8 was hoping for boom fizz pop, but found was slow pull away than my 1.8, and having to rev the gonads out of it to go vroom..

 

i still hanker after a st200

 

The standard 170bhp 2.5 V6 is not that inspiring.  I have the Mk3 3.0 ST220 and the difference is night and day.  I have never driven an ST200

 

On the subject of which, said ST220 appears to have developed a catastrophic misfire this morning.  Bloody Fords, I tell thee...

[Tadhg Tiogar]

.....Tatra T-613. What's not to love? You look out on the world from a gigantic luxobarge, with an air cooled V8 out back which makes a noise that will scare small children half to death as you drive past, and you are holding a Skoda Estelle steering wheel and recognise 80% of the switchgear and interior bits from the same and FSO parts bins...how can you not love the complete dissonance of the whole thing. It's utterly terrible in so many ways, yet is impossible not to love.

I actually thought that the facelifted T613 had very clear hints of Simca/Talbot styling. It's almost like a massive cross between an Alpine and a Tagora. Shame the Czechs never saw fit to try it in RHD markets - would probably have undercut the usual Merc/BMW luxo-sector, and might have carved a niche for itself in municipal / undertaker / wedding limos.

[alcyonecorporation]

Triumph Stag/Rover P5B Coupe

 

Always thought they were cool - until I drove several.

 

The words 'bait and switch' come to mind. I wasn't even expecting a lot, and neither delivered. The examples I tried were supposedly glittering examples mechanically and bodily.

Both left me cold.