What's the slowest car you've owned?

[Zelandeth]

Was discussing the various issues with running classic cars in the world of today and the question of performance came up.

 

The Lada does just fine with its 75-ish bhp (not actually sure what it produces, that's a guesstimate based on the reduction in power the 1.7 engine sees between carb and injection, but with the drop in outright power, there's a big mid-range torque increase, so it actually feels quicker as more of the power is usefully accessible). As does the van, while it does require a bit of forward planning, and you do occasionally have to use a bit of brute force on really busy roundabouts.

 

Slowest thing I've owned by a country mile though was a VW T25 with the 1.6 CT engine in. It was a really early one, and one of very few to still have the original engine fitted. About 50bhp on a good day, and it really was dangerously underpowered. The expression "not quick enough to get out of its own way" definitely applied to it, as any time you turned into live traffic or entered a roundabout you'd be in someone's way long before you'd made it into double digit speeds.

 

On the flat, top speed was an indicated 50mph, absolutely flat out.

 

The Merc will happily sit at 60 on the level, and will do 70+ if you really need to and have a long enough bit of road, even though it's obvious that it's not really a fan of the treatment.

 

I can't imagine actually trying to live with the T25 on a daily basis like that. Really makes me wonder what they were thinking when the CT engine was chosen...shudder to think what it must have been like fully laden. Somebody has told me that the early diesels were actually worse though! Can't offer opinions there though as I've never driven another. Bit of a shame really as the van didn't drive badly at all, just desperately, desperately needed another 20bhp or so.

 

Beyond that it was probably a 1.9D 306. It was leisurely, but never really felt slow. Plus it didn't seem to matter whether the car was empty, had four passengers on board etc...it still accelerated at exactly the same rate. Likewise being gentle Vs thrashing it made no odds it seemed.

 

Don't think anything else I've owned really bears mention though.

 

So what's the most geologically slow car that you've actually used in the real world?

[Richard]

Mazda 626 2.0 12V. It was terrifyingly slow, overtaking was impossible, but still far too fast for its handling and brakes. 

[Tamworthbay]

Not technically a car but our bay window VW was so fucking slow it was unreal, the plus side was that you always had a perfectly clear road in front of you.

[Split_Pin]

I still own it. A Corsa B 3 cylinder 1.0 with a trembling 55 bhp. It will do the same figure in mpg though.

[tommotech]

I used to drive a 2.3d Sierra Estate, equipped with the short diff ratio, most of the horses had escaped I think. It wouldn't go past 60 up the hill, problem was I lived at 78..............

[LabRat]

The slowest car I've owned was a 1992 Toyota Hilux surf 2.4td automatic. It was one of the ones with an electronic set up for the boost, which some bright spark had disconnected and generally fucked about with.

 

It wouldn't do 60 and took an age to get to 30. I repaired the bastard and it promptly then set itself alight due to an unrelated earth fault on the autobox. Fastest it ever went was on the back of the AA wagon.

 

A special mention goes to the wife's 13 plate punto. It's got the old 1.4 8v fire lump in it and will not get its fat arse above 65 unless you thrash it mercilessly on a dpwnhill and wear earplugs. Apparently this is normal according to fiat and would we be interested in trading it in for a new one?

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

A 2010 1.25 Fiesta was disgustingly bad. 1300 Cortina Mark 5 - at least it was laughable. 

[RayMK]

My 2cv6 was low powered compared to almost everything else on the road back in 1975 when I bought it, brand new.  However, in town standing starts rarely caused frustration to other road users because energy could be stored in the flywheel for a rapid getaway.  On the open road its performance when driven flat out (i.e. most of the time) was perfectly respectable and its roll angles alarmed other road users which was fun.  69mph on the M1 was the best it could manage - more on downhill stretches with a following wind, but uphill against the wind often required 3rd gear to  stay ahead of HGVs. Later, I had a Dyane which seemed faster despite more or less the same engine and underpinnings.  Both Citroens were daily drivers and managed just fine.

 

My 17.5bhp 1961 Reliant Regal is definitely not a daily driver with its ever so gentle acceleration to 50mph (top whack is 62mph apparently) and vintage three wheeler handling on cross plies.  HGV drivers seem to be fascinated by it and are generally courteous.  Audis etc assume I'm parked even when hurtling along at 50mph.  I let them pass - being narrow and slow makes this quite easy. 

[Peter C]

[Six-cylinder]

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[Heidel_Kakao]

Slowest car I ever owned was also my first car a 1983 Suzuki SJ410 soft top, 970CC's of pure powah developing 45 BHP in conjunction with the aerodynamics of a small house brick meant it topped out at about 70MPH. Second slowest car was the Suzuki SC100 with the same engine but much improved aerodynamics.

[flat4alfa]

 

Heavy body with the old 3-bearing crank 18H engine.  Mr Borg Warner sapped most of that power.

 

But I loved it.

[dave j]

My old 1988 polo breadvan was really really slow, I reckon my vw camper was quicker!

[bramz7]

Xantia D. Slow in a reassuring way. But still slooooowww.

[UltraWomble]

Its possibly a toss up between the 2.7D Maverick and the 1.7 square port NA-D Citroen BX. Both were glacially slow to accelerate. Top speed wasnt great, in the Maverick 70 felt like you were going to implode and the BX had a cruising speed of 60. Doing 70 would make every bone in your body shake.

 

The BX was awesome on fuel - the Maverick was predictably shit.

[bigfella2]

Mine was a Benz 190d 2.5 auto, hideously slow but loveable, would definately have another, my mates 190d 2.0 manual was just as bad if not worse.

 

But my modern caddy TDI would give both a run for their money in limp home mode, that's what it seems to spend most of it's time nowadays.

[Saabnut]

Top speed? Probably my 1930 Morris Cowley - 48mph claimed when new.

 

Just slow? The Fiat 500 although if I ever get the Saab 92b on the road it will rival it, bigger and heavier but 27bhp...

[wuvvum]

I think I can win this one.

 

Ligier Ambra diesel.  13bhp and 45mph flat out.

[Crispian_J_Hotson]

Nope, my mk1 metro auto. Bought down the pub for £20 and didn't make it over 40mph before all the drive vanished and the gearbox tapped out.

[bigstraight6]

A 1971 VW Beetle 1200, it was even slower than a snail like 845cc Renault 4 I owned a few years later...

[vulgalour]

 

Slow and steady.  To this day I'm sure there was something wrong with it, we just could never figure out what.  Acceleration was terrible.  It didn't matter what you did, it just wouldn't get up to speed quickly.  You were lucky if you got to the end of a motorway slip doing more than 50mph.  You were lucky if the road was clear enough for enough distance to wind it all the way up to 70mph.  Overtaking was something you planned quite a lot in advance.  It shouldn't have been underpowered, the 1.3 A+ was a perfectly adequate engine to power a Maestro along.  Perhaps it was those big original steels, or the five speed gearbox, reducing the gearing to such a point that acceleration simply wasn't something it wanted to perform.

 

I've driven slower cars, I've owned ostensibly slower cars, I just haven't ever driven anything with such poor acceleration as this old Ledbury Maestro had.

[155V6]

The Hillman Hunter I had in the late Eighties.It had originally been a 1725,but someone had fitted a 1500 engine on the original gearbox 

[fordperv]

The slowest car I've ever had was a 1.6 emax sierra it was hateful, luckily it was only a car I'd bought to sell

[davocano]

Every car I've ever owned is slow 'cos I used to own a fast bike.

[N Dentressangle]

Xantia D. Slow in a reassuring way. But still slooooowww.

 

A mate had one of these - know exactly what you mean.

 

Another mate's Peugeot 405 1.9D Style estate was also epically slow. Joining motorways off shorter, uphill sliproads was tricky, I remember.

 

I had a W115 Mercedes 200D which was a real slug. Driven on German autobahns you had to be really careful overtaking lorries when you were not going much faster yourself, and you'd be guaranteed to have a Porsche clamped to the rear bumper, headlights flashing and indicator on before the overtake was completed.

 

A German friend worked for Deutsche Telekom and drove a yellow T25 1.6 diesel for work. Loaded with telephone gear it was worse than any of the aforementioned. Struggled hard to 60 and pulling out onto any Bundesstrasse was scary. He liked it though - I guess it was slow and relaxing in the way my Land Rover Series is. No point trying to hurry, so you don't.

[Zelandeth]

I think the big definition of "too slow" is whether you are regularly causing the general flow of traffic to back up behind you.

 

I expected that to be the case in my Merc camper (2.something tonnes, 78bhp N/A diesel and the aerodynamic properties of a shed) to be in that camp...until I'd spent a few days driving it and discovered that nope...I still invariably seem to wind up stuck behind something. Usually a Prius taxi with the driver's eyes glued to the MPG readout around here, doing about 40mph on a nice open road.

 

It *really* surprised them when a 28 year old camper van overtakes them.

 

It's really surprising how quickly you can pick up speed in it downhill (especially when I'd adjusted out the inch or so of free play in the throttle cable)...so overtakes are possible, albeit with a couple of minutes worth of forward planning!

[lesapandre]

A 1954 Wolseley 4/44. 0-60 in                  29 seconds.

[DVee8]

A 1994 Nissan Primera 2.0D LX.The first new car i bought 75bhp.

Once I learned how to drive it,it was ok.

.Great on diesel.

[overrun]

1.5D 106. Especially on a colder than expected morning when the veg oil had basically solidified.

[lesapandre]

I will put in a bid for the 1975 Mercedes 200D diesel...0-60...26 seconds...top speed 81mph if you could stand the noise. Dangerously slow.