Peter C Posted January 5, 2021 Share Posted January 5, 2021 Photos taken from a What Car? supplement that dates back to 1991. By using the immense wealth of knowledge that we all posses, which cars would you chose and wish to own today? My choices are: Up to 1400cc, under £7k - Proton Up to 1400xcc, under £9k - Citroen BX Up to 1800cc, under £10k - VW Golf Up to 1800cc, over £10k - Audi 80 Up to 2000cc, under £15k - BMW 318i Up to 2000cc, under £19.25k - Alfa 164 Under 2000cc, under £25k - BMW 525i Over 2000cc, under £29k - W124 260E (obviously!) Magic, horriblemercedes, JeeExEll and 8 others 11 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cento16v Posted January 5, 2021 Share Posted January 5, 2021 They did a 1.4 Cavalier! Bet that was a ball of fire! I'd have the XM V6, smooth, refined and quick. The Peugeot 605 must weigh a lot more than the XM, as its 2 seconds slower to 60 with the same drivetrain! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
horriblemercedes Posted January 5, 2021 Share Posted January 5, 2021 I think that most of my choices would be different, were this actually 1991! A lot of these choices were because of nostalgia/family links Up to 1400cc, under £7k - Had to think a bit. On balance the Metro just because I have a soft spot Up to 1400xcc, under £9k - Citroen AX GT Up to 1800cc, under £10k - Renault 19 GTX. Big soft spot for a 19 Up to 1800cc, over £10k - I kind of want the Onion Ghia Up to 2000cc, under £15k - Montego Up to 2000cc, under £19.25k - 190E Under 2000cc, under £25k - Rover 827 Over 2000cc, under £29k - I'm struggling between the Carlton GSi and the XJ6 4.0. I think it would have to be the XJ6, just Edit to add: This is a great game, Peter C! spartacus 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spartacus Posted January 5, 2021 Share Posted January 5, 2021 What a great find that magazine is, a complete splaff-fest! I'm viewing in 'phone-scope', so can't really make everything out but either of the Uno's, AXGT, BMW525i, Citroen BX, Carlton GSi, BMW 730i, Cosworth and Range Rover would be at the top of my list. I would genuinely be happy with a reasonable example of any of them now though, so nostalgic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
antony denman Posted January 5, 2021 Share Posted January 5, 2021 ford sierra all day long Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian_Fearn Posted January 5, 2021 Share Posted January 5, 2021 15 minutes ago, Cento16v said: They did a 1.4 Cavalier! Bet that was a ball of fire! Honestly these weren’t bad and certainly never felt as slow as the performance figures suggested. I thought the 1.4 8v engine was surprisingly torquey for what it was and if the car was unladen it was perfectly adequate. The 1.6 and upwards really felt fast and in my experience absolutely destroyed contemporary Fords. @Cavcraft you must have driven a billion of these things? Cavcraft, Six-cylinder, Cento16v and 1 other 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davehedgehog31 Posted January 5, 2021 Share Posted January 5, 2021 Up to 1400cc, under £7k - Peugeot 205 (Close run thing with Proton) Up to 1400xcc, under £9k - Clio 1.4 RT (Close run thing with BX) Up to 1800cc, under £10k - Honda Concerto Up to 1800cc, over £10k - Peugeot 405 (Audi 80 a close second) Up to 2000cc, under £15k - Toyota Carina Up to 2000cc, under £19.25k - Citroen XM (190e strong value!) Under 2000cc, under £25k - Jaaaaaaaaag Over 2000cc, under £29k - W124 260E Enjoyed that! Cheers for uploading. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sierraman Posted January 5, 2021 Share Posted January 5, 2021 Sierra 1.8 LX. Of course. Shite Ron 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colino Posted January 5, 2021 Share Posted January 5, 2021 Obviously the 525, just head and shoulders above the competition at the time. The vauxhalls of the era were always a step above the Ford "equivalent". A 1.3/1.4 vx was a match for a Ford 1.6, the 1.6 vx embarrassed 2 litre Ford's. The BX reminded me of a colleague at the time who had a flat red new one in 1991. A horrible, slow, ugly thing. His choice, as he made every three years, was to call up Arnold Clark leasing and ask what the cheapest 5 door lease car he could have. The Mighty Quinn and warch 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Asimo Posted January 5, 2021 Share Posted January 5, 2021 My choices are: Up to 1400cc, under £7k - Polo Up to 1400xcc, under £9k - Citroen BX Up to 1800cc, under £10k - Citroen BX Up to 1800cc, over £10k - Citroen BX + Automatic Up to 2000cc, under £15k - Citroen BX + Automatic Up to 2000cc, under £19.25k - Audi 100 Under 2000cc, under £25k - Citroen XM + Automatic Over 2000cc, under £29k - BMW 730 Last time I had a company car, I chose a BX! Macscrooge 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
St.Jude Posted January 5, 2021 Share Posted January 5, 2021 Where's the Renault 25? I don't want the sodding Renault 21, I'm not a child. The Mighty Quinn, louiepj and horriblemercedes 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Macscrooge Posted January 5, 2021 Share Posted January 5, 2021 Great post! Oddly enough I had to choose a company car in late 1990 - I went with a Rover 214GSi which had an insane list price of something like £12k. But not before I tried quite a few of the cars in the article. And the thing about company cars was that some other bu**er paid the bills and they went back after a couple of years or 40-50k miles. 1.4 7k - Pug 205 1.4 9k - Citroen BX 1.8 10k - Fiat Tipo (mmmm, digital dash....) 1.8 10k+ - Renault 21 2l 15k - Toyota Carina 2l 10.5k - Citroen XM 2l 25k Saab 9000 2l+ 29k - Jag XK6 Peter C 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shite Ron Posted January 5, 2021 Share Posted January 5, 2021 For me: Up to 1400cc, under £7k - Citroen AX Up to 1400xcc, under £9k - Citroen BX Up to 1800cc, under £10k - Vauxhall Cavalier Up to 1800cc, over £10k - Citroen BX Up to 2000cc, under £15k - Montego Up to 2000cc, under £19.25k - Citroen XM Over 2000cc, under £25k - BMW 525i Over 2000cc, under £29k - CARLTON GSi Above are my choices now, in 1991 it would have been Ford and Jaguar where possible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cavcraft Posted January 5, 2021 Share Posted January 5, 2021 2 hours ago, Ian_Fearn said: Honestly these weren’t bad and certainly never felt as slow as the performance figures suggested. I thought the 1.4 8v engine was surprisingly torquey for what it was and if the car was unladen it was perfectly adequate. The 1.6 and upwards really felt fast and in my experience absolutely destroyed contemporary Fords. @Cavcraft you must have driven a billion of these things? Just one! Briefly owned it about 4 or so years ago and sold it to a mate. Iirc it turned out to be the last carb'd one in the road Ian_Fearn 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bunglebus Posted January 5, 2021 Share Posted January 5, 2021 Up to 1400cc, under £7k - Polo breadvan Up to 1400xcc, under £9k - later Polo breadvan Up to 1800cc, under £10k - Golf Driver Up to 1800cc, over £10k - Audi 80 Up to 2000cc, under £15k - Passat Up to 2000cc, under £19.25k - Granada Ghia Under 2000cc, under £25k - same as above Over 2000cc, under £29k - Volvo 940 turbo. None of these let me chose the Sierra Cosworth! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Laurence Posted January 5, 2021 Share Posted January 5, 2021 What a great idea! Was this something What car did often? It could be fun to look at different years as well. It’s also interesting to see how cars compared price wise when they were new; it’s surprising to me how big the gap between some cars and their competition is. My choices: Up to 1400cc, under £7k - 205, but it was a tough call between that and the Metro Up to 1400xcc, under £9k - AX GT Up to 1800cc, under £10k - Concerto Up to 1800cc, over £10k - Sierra, but only just. The Rover 416 is a close second Up to 2000cc, under £15k - Cavalier SRI (I couldn’t see the BMW on this one - is there a page missing?) Up to 2000cc, under £19.25k - Alfa 164 Over 2000cc, under £25k - 525i Over 2000cc, under £29k - Sierra Cosworth (whether other not I’d choose this if it was still 1991 is probably another matter, though) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ProgRocker Posted January 5, 2021 Share Posted January 5, 2021 4 hours ago, Cento16v said: They did a 1.4 Cavalier! Bet that was a ball of fire! Probably not too bad with a 75 bhp engine. I think one or two on here have experience a 1.4 Cav. Although a mandatory catalytic converter would have turned it into a sloth. Vauxhall probably had the common sense to drop that engine at that point. I would have had that issue of What Car? magazine. They liked their supplements back then. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cento16v Posted January 5, 2021 Share Posted January 5, 2021 My dad's 1995 2.0 16v SRi one wasn't that quick, which I why I couldn't believe they did a 1.4 8v! Maybe it depends what you were used to 😂 Six-cylinder 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bitzer Posted January 5, 2021 Share Posted January 5, 2021 3 hours ago, The Mighty Quinn said: Fiat Uno 45. Such an enjoyable, fizzy thing to drive. 999 ccm FIRE was great in Mk1, but it seemed weak/unresponsive in Mk2. Dunno why, maybe because my Mk1 45 still had a proper carb (after all those years, I still remember its type - Weber 32TLF 😁), while my 45 Mk2 already had SPI. Or it may be that Mk2 was simply heavier. Anyway, Mk2 60 with 1108 ccm FIRE I had as my third Uno was, again, nicely nippy. The Mighty Quinn 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barefoot Posted January 5, 2021 Share Posted January 5, 2021 I had a Mk2 Cavalier hatch in 1.3/4 speed flavour. I traded it in for a Porsche 944S, which was noticably more brisk. Three Speed and Shite Ron 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dead_E23 Posted January 5, 2021 Share Posted January 5, 2021 I'm surprised that review doesn't mention just how comfy the Scorpio 2.9i would have been. I remember driving one at the time and not wanting to get out of it at my destination. I also don't remember the 2.9 being especially coarse or noisy - it was way better than the 2.8 that preceded it. The E34 5 series was probably a better car overall, but some of the seats they used to fit in BMWs of that era were like sitting on a park bench. ProgRocker 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Six-cylinder Posted January 5, 2021 Share Posted January 5, 2021 37 minutes ago, Cento16v said: My dad's 1995 2.0 16v SRi one wasn't that quick, which I why I couldn't believe they did a 1.4 8v! Maybe it depends what you were used to 😂 It was only the 16v red tops that went like stink, not the later Ecotec. The 1.4 Mk3 Cavalier went just fine. I drove a 1.3 MK2 Astra Merit, plain Jane dark blue with the paint going milky and it was so fast I had the service manage check it was really only a 1.3! The Mighty Quinn and warch 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dick Longbridge Posted January 5, 2021 Share Posted January 5, 2021 39 minutes ago, Six-cylinder said: It was only the 16v red tops that went like stink, not the later Ecotec. The 1.4 Mk3 Cavalier went just fine. I drove a 1.3 MK2 Astra Merit, plain Jane dark blue with the paint going milky and it was so fast I had the service manage check it was really only a 1.3! 16v redtop were bloody brilliant. I loved the soundtrack of mine housed in a mk3 Cavalier GSi shell. Six-cylinder and warch 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Six-cylinder Posted January 5, 2021 Share Posted January 5, 2021 16 minutes ago, Dick Longbridge said: 16v redtop were bloody brilliant. I loved the soundtrack of mine housed in a mk3 Cavalier GSi shell. I loved my company Calibra 16v red top, book said 150 bhp and it felt like 170 bhp. I started at the Vauxhall dealer when we still had a MK2 Astra 16v on the road, that was a mad car. The engine completely overwhelmed the chassis. Ian_Fearn, Dick Longbridge and beko1987 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vaughant Posted January 5, 2021 Share Posted January 5, 2021 5 hours ago, Ian_Fearn said: Honestly these weren’t bad and certainly never felt as slow as the performance figures suggested. I thought the 1.4 8v engine was surprisingly torquey for what it was and if the car was unladen it was perfectly adequate. The 1.6 and upwards really felt fast and in my experience absolutely destroyed contemporary Fords. @Cavcraft you must have driven a billion of these things? Can't argue with that, vauxhall made some great engines back then, loads of bhp per litre compared to the asthmatic ford's (and I'm a big Ford fan). However in the spirit of the thread : 1.proton 2.ax gt 3.tipo 4.orion 5.torn between alfa and 605 but I'll say alfa 6.saab 7.cossie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dick Longbridge Posted January 5, 2021 Share Posted January 5, 2021 26 minutes ago, Six-cylinder said: I loved my company Calibra 16v red top, book said 150 bhp and it felt like 170 bhp. I started at the Vauxhall dealer when we still had a MK2 Astra 16v on the road, that was a mad car. The engine completely overwhelmed the chassis. Torque steer galore? The Cavalier was prone if provoked. It had a habit of chomping front tyres too. I'd love another, or Astra. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NorfolkNWeigh Posted January 5, 2021 Share Posted January 5, 2021 The company I worked at in 1991, had a list of cars for each management grade, but you could choose a lesser car and add options to the value of your grade. This led to some odd spec cars , usually chosen by someone intending to buy the car after 3 years/60k miles . As the options were worth bugger all at disposal time. I remember one guy having a BX GTi with alloys, leather and aircon instead of a 2.0 GL Carlton/ Granada, the only BX I’ve ever seen with aircon. Me ? I had a BXTZi estate, that was a hand me down from the Heinz baby food poisoner, Rod somebody or other, when he was sacked and jailed. He worked at our company as security manager, an ex copper. Something Argos managed to keep out of the press. He specced a great company car , anyway. Although I was always expecting a tug as he used it during his crimes . Six-cylinder, Ian_Fearn, beko1987 and 2 others 4 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian_Fearn Posted January 5, 2021 Share Posted January 5, 2021 3 hours ago, Cento16v said: My dad's 1995 2.0 16v SRi one wasn't that quick, which I why I couldn't believe they did a 1.4 8v! Maybe it depends what you were used to 😂 If the ecotec 16v was your benchmark then I totally get why you’d think that! I had the 2.0 16v ecotec Cavalier (not the red top) and it was about as average as average gets. I was so disappointed with it after my 8v experiences. Give me a 2.0 8v or even a 1.6 8v anyday. Cento16v 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frogchod Posted January 5, 2021 Share Posted January 5, 2021 Choice? Astra or Vectra? Red white or blue? Hatch or estate? That's all the choice I had. Big international company driven from the US. Had to use AmEx credit card which was just as shit as those astras and vectras... Yeah, it was a free* car, but they were grim times. horriblemercedes and beko1987 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeordieInExile Posted January 5, 2021 Share Posted January 5, 2021 "equipment levels are reasonable (there's a stereo)" Be still my beating heart. The Mighty Quinn 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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