You shouldn't meet your heroes...

[danthecapriman]

The styling was revolutionary for Ford. Other manufactures had been doing aerodynamic cars for yonks and had managed to make them look good :)It's not all bad, that particular Sierra was written off after being rear ended by a Sherpa. Sherpa drove home (without lights).Sierra was replaced with a rubber band Volvo 343. I liked that

Fair to say your not into Fords then!

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

E34 5 Series. It has got to be a good one with tight suspension but I had one late last year. Only a 520i Automatic but they are still after 30 years, a superb thing to drive. So solidly built yet they don't feel heavy and big like a W124. The ride is firm  but compliant because BMW fitted their cars with dampers that cost more than 20 cents a corner. No M Sport shit, just long springs with lots of travel and really good damping. Worm and roller steering box - no rack. Yeah, and? It's amazing how accurately you can place it on the road. Plus a straight six M50 donk, logical controls, decent vision, good sharp brakes. And it was made to last 20 years which is what this one did, and more.

 

Ditto the E28. I drove a 525e manual 3 or 4 years ago and it was still just an excellent vehicle capable of pleasurable every day use. A good one just doesn't have any negatives for 15'000 miles a year driving. Because these are so good (also an E39) you question how far cars have really come.

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

That looks exactly the same as the MK1 Capri I owned. I thought it was an awful car to be honest. Just a Cortina with a long bonnet and no room in the rear.

 

 

That's what it was really, but with rack and pinion. Mark 2 Cortina rear axle and struts?

[Frogchod]

Fair to say your not into Fords then!

Not really. I just don't understand the love for them. I do like Jolokes Mustang though Ooo, and that Granada resto that's being documented on here.

Don't get me started on Vauxhalls

Each to their own

[sierraman]

Wasn't the E34 535i not thought very highly of? Every contemporary buyers guide seems to say avoid one. Theres a fairly tidy one a few doors up from me.

[danthecapriman]

Not really. I just don't understand the love for them. I do like Jolokes Mustang though Ooo, and that Granada resto that's being documented on here.Don't get me started on Vauxhalls :)Each to their own

I feel the same about French cars...

 

Can’t see the love for them...

 

Each to his own.

[TRW]

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 - 

 

 

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

[HillmanImp]

I did a temporary swap with my old Shag for Volksys mk6 Celica once. Had been wanting one of these for years. This is what I wrote about it last year:

 

I had wanted one of these since they were new. When Volksy got one I excitedly did a temporary swap for the Shaguar with him.

I was so disappointed with the Celica. Its not that there was anything particularly wrong with it, quite the opposite, it drove well, it was friggin rapid but it was just so normal.

I think I was expecting it to be more of a sportscar experience rather than a fast family car. Plus the interior wasn't that nice.

I'm not sure what I was expecting but it was like a more rubbish version of my Audi Coupe. The only thing it did better was fuel economy.

Not that I'm knocking it, especially at the money you can get them at now. It just wasn't what I thought it would be. It was perfectly good at what it did. I think i had built it up so much in my mind (and possibly Sega rally) that I shouldn't have met my hero.

 

 

[D Spares & Tyres]

Citroen XM

 

I so wanted to like the one I had but it was underpowered,unreliable and the suspension was not pleasant

 

Mercedes S class.

 

Luxury car?? I've sat on more comfortable park benches with better quality looking wood. Same goes for the 190

[fordperv]

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).

The orion 1.6i ghia is the thinking mans xr3i

[Hertz]

One thing I've learnt is that a car can be a good specimen or a bad one. 

 

Your right, but like a bad Ruby you never go back to the same establishment.

[PiperCub]

The best Porsches really were front engined and water cooled. A good 944 Turbo is immense and equally, a good 928S is lovely. I had one 20-30 years ago.

 

It's interesting you make this comparison as the 911 was always being referred to as the 'Yuppie's car' but it wasn't, very few yuppies had 911's in reality for a number of reasons.

 

This was outlined to me many years ago by a mate of my car saleman cousin who sold Porsches, he said that the true 'Yuppie car' (as in the one the city geniuses who got the big pay and bonuses had) was the 944/944 Turbo. The reasons were as follows:

 

Lack of supply of 911's meant they were getting sold for way over list price - something that pissed Porsche in Stuttgart off hugely.

 

The price which was still out of reach to almost all yuppies despite their bragging about money.

 

When they showed up for a test drive, almost all these either chinless, closet gay ex-public school types or loud-mouthed pikey chancers apparently scared themselves silly when they gave it the beans (they pretended not to be scared of course) and realised they were going to kill themselves. They went away, slightly subdued and returned later to order their Porsche........... invariably a 944 siting many & various BS reasons/excuses why they weren't getting a 911. 

 

 

I've only driven two 911's and not really pushed them so am unable to say if I like them or not but I've driven and worked on a few 944/944 Turbo's and agree, they are superb cars, well built and a blast to drive. I'll go out on a limb and say as a daily driver, they'd be better. 

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

Wasn't the E34 535i not thought very highly of? Every contemporary buyers guide seems to say avoid one. Theres a fairly tidy one a few doors up from me.

 

 

No reason to avoid any E34.

[sierraman]

It never goes anywhere its a permanent fixture at the side of the road, always taxed and tested but you never see it move. I'm guessing an old fella has it.

 

535i manual I can imagine it really shifts.

[MrBiscuits]

E34 5 Series. It has got to be a good one with tight suspension but I had one late last year. Only a 520i Automatic but they are still after 30 years, a superb thing to drive. So solidly built yet they don't feel heavy and big like a W124. The ride is firm but compliant because BMW fitted their cars with dampers that cost more than 20 cents a corner. No M Sport shit, just long springs with lots of travel and really good damping. Worm and roller steering box - no rack. Yeah, and? It's amazing how accurately you can place it on the road. Plus a straight six M50 donk, logical controls, decent vision, good sharp brakes. And it was made to last 20 years which is what this one did, and more.

 

Ditto the E28. I drove a 525e manual 3 or 4 years ago and it was still just an excellent vehicle capable of pleasurable every day use. A good one just doesn't have any negatives for 15'000 miles a year driving. Because these are so good (also an E39) you question how far cars have really come.

You're right about the suspension. I had a '95 525. A lovely old thing to look at and sit in, and I really wanted to like it. Never could however get rid of the front end wobble despite various new arms & bushes, that and a noisy hydraulic tappet really took the shine off and I got rid. Always had the feeling that a good one would be a great car though.

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

 Never could however get rid of the front end wobble despite various new arms & bushes, 

 

 

Sticky caliper.

[stuboy]

personally id drive anyold crap wever past or modern shite

[motorpunk]

I had a new Aston Martin Vanquish Volante once. OK, it was just for a few days, and I didn't own it, but I blagged it for some filming in London. I thought I would soon be like James Bond, shagging exotic birds and shooting baddies in the bollocks and suchlike, but alas; no. The electric handbrake kept seizing on, it was monumentally clumsy to drive quickly, strangers called me unpleasant things in traffic, the visibility was bad, it wasn't that quick and, above all, I felt like a massive knob-end when driving it. Never meet your heros, they say.

[chatsharris]

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!!

[Roobarb]

Westfield SE. It's weird, but the number of nice cars I've owned (and quite a few already mentioned) my x-flow Westie was about the best.

 

Not so much power that you killed yourself but made 45mph feel like 145mph. I daily drove it for over a year (with a towel on my legs on rainy days).

 

Just sold my second gen XK8 and that was a pretty amazing car too, but not one I could afford to own. Soooo comfortable with a big old lazy V8 until you put your foot down. A great car to own on lease - if only I had the money, but I'm sure that would be cheaper than owning a 10+ year old one with only the local Jag dealer being the only ones who would touch it.

 

Most of my favorite cars are unexpected. A '73 Toyota Corrola, a Citroen AX 1.0, a diesel Corsa - weirdly, under powered cars that you can drive the doors off!

 

I have big love for Imprezas, but you kind of expect them to be good.

 

I do have a 911 project in the garage and was underwhelmed in the past by them, but there is something about the engine note and the challenge of trying to drive them fast!

[cort1977]

Doesn't this come down to what you want an old car to do?  I know that objectively almost all old cars are terrible in comparison to new cars but that's not why I'm interested in them.  It's about the feeling you get from driving them, the memories they inspire, the reactions of other people when they see them on the road.

[Sudsprint]

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.

[Asimo]

Avantime. Weirdness needs to be more than just skin deep.

 

I wanted one from first sight of the "spyshots" in the press, signed up on Renault's pre-launch website , lapped up all the hype I could when it was launched, re-read LJKS' roadtest many times.......

 

Waited for depreciation to do it's thing (not long as it happened)

 

And bought a good one. Good in the sense that it was straight and clean and everything worked.

Easy to find in any car park. Lots of people stared. My daughter called it "Freddy Mercury's escape pod"

 

But it was hire-car dull to drive when it should have been special. Needed a special ride like hydragas or a Renault 20 and a seamless powertrain; special like a Prius or special like an old-school V8. Either would have been fine for me but not Laguna-dull as it was.

 

Very big for a four seater but not that spacious inside, lots of dead volume under the floor and the seats not special enough. Not easy to get in/out of. Despite the much vaunted virtual-pivot door hinges the massive doors did not open far enough and the floor was too high for the rear seat passengers.

 

But I still like the idea of them and love the look. If one were to become available in Java green I can imagine buying it in a flash.....and then being just as dissapointed all over again.

[HMC]

I've had a long love affair with classic shape Saab 900s. The manual gearshift quality seems to vary car to car; and it's something I've disliked the most on them- very off putting on an otherwise very likeable jalopy; they're often the first thing to blow on a cheap one ( most of mine were cheap and demanded and a sympathetic right foot off the line and in intermediate gears) especially if they were a T-16s.

 

I suppose the answer in meeting this hero is buy one where the current owner has had the pleasure of a transmission rebuild, after all the point of a performance car is to enjoy it and not have to go delicately through the gearbox.

[SierraMikeHotel]

I've had a long love affair with classic shape Saab 900s. The manual gearshift quality seems to vary car to car; and it's something I've disliked the most on them- very off putting on an otherwise very likeable jalopy; they're often the first thing to blow on a cheap one ( most of mine were cheap and demanded and a sympathetic right foot off the line and in intermediate gears) especially if they were a T-16s.

 

I suppose the answer in meeting this hero is buy one where the current owner has had the pleasure of a transmission rebuild, after all the point of a performance car is to enjoy it and not have to go delicately through the gearbox.

 

Love them too, but mine was an absolute dog.  I still hope to have a well-sorted one one day, but I bet the prices will have gone out of my reach by the time I'm in the position to think about it.

 

The manual gearbox in my 99 seemed to have a weird offset to it, so going from 1st to 2nd or 3rd to 4th wasn't quite in a straight line.  The 900 had a Borg Warner 35 auto so it just felt just like my old P6.

[They_all_do_that_sir]

Civic type R.

 

I know people rave about them but I just didn't gel with the one I tried. Maybe it was the roads I drove it on or whatever but I expected to be blown away and wasn't.

 

I do prefer cars with a good dollop of low down grunt so having to rev the nuts of it to make progress didn't do it for me.

 

Which is strange as I love inline 4 sports bikes which need to have the nuts revved off them to make progress.....

 

mk2 Mr2

 

Initially very very disappointed the first time I drove one but afterwards realised it was fitted with the asthmatic 119bhp lump from the Carina. I later drove a GT with the 165bhp 3s-ge which was more like it.

 

Mk7 celica

 

Brother had one with the 140bhp lump. Just wasn't a quick car and drank as much oil as petrol. To be fair his wasn't the healthiest example around

 

Sent from my F3211 using Tapatalk

[anonymous user]

Mine would be the Bond Bug, I had always wanted one but by the time I got around to buying one I was too old and not brave enough. It was not the best example, but even if it had been pristine that still wouldn't have made it any easier to get in and out of. I just didn't feel safe in it and even being bright orange it seemed invisible to other road users. If I'd tested driven it I wouldn't have bought it. It was also the only car I had that Bob the terrier didn't like going in.

[junkyarddog]

I feel the same about French cars...

Can’t see the love for them...

Each to his own.

That's exactly what I thought until I actually ended up with one.

 

Life is better if you approach everything with an open mind.

[danthecapriman]

That's exactly what I thought until I actually ended up with one.

Life is better if you approach everything with an open mind.

True, but lately on here a few people should probably take some notice of that and stop rubbishing other peoples choice of car?

 

There’s been an awful lot of anti Ford nonsense on here lately from some people. It gets boring and annoying.

[Timewaster]

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 )