A car that no one here has owned or driven?

[Spiny Norman]

5 hours ago, MiniMinorMk3 said:

Here's another forgotten early '80s car that I had a drive of, the Renault Fuego GTX

I had a boss who had one and I got to drive it a couple of times. It felt like the future after only experiencing aging VWs and Fords at the time. I can not remember the last time I spotted one in the wild or at a show. They are probably just as rare as a Renault 15 or 17, the '70s forerunner to the Fuego. 

The banner pic on my profile page is the tatty one my mate owned way back when. IIRC it was a  basic TL, maybe even a 1.4.
I test drove a bells&whistles GTX once, lovely thing with all the electric toys and leather seats. From memory the auto gearbox was a bit fucked so I left it.

[Wibble]

On 5/4/2023 at 9:18 PM, Justwatching said:

Kia Shuma.

Haven't seen one in years. 

I’ve been reluctant but must come clean. We had one of these miserable shit boxes. It was around 2004/5 and Mrs W had not long stuffed her Hyundai Accent into the back of a Granada, with our baby son in the front.

Anyway, Accent was repaired but she wanted airbags and found one of these, in black with slush box and the dealer offered a crazy cheap deal. She took out a loan from work and bought the bastard thing. On collection the dealer wasn’t happy as the salesman had sold it too cheap but went ahead, then a few months later, I got a call. I was in a meeting with directors but took the call and she was in tears. “The cars blown up!” It was recovered home and I thought what the fuck do we do now. We were proper skint but I had the Senator sat in the garage, where it had been for a couple of years. So, got it started and it passed the MOT next day😁. Shuma was pushed into garage and left or about a year before I fixed it and Dad paid it off, gave it to my sister and then gave us his 1998 Accord 2.0 Vetec ES auto! 
To cut a short story long, all was well again and Senator was put back to rest. Sorry for long post but that’s why I hate the Shuma!

[wesacosa]

On 5/4/2023 at 7:02 PM, motorpunk said:

Am I the only one to have owned a Sinclair C5 on here? I like desperate crap, but this was utterly hopeless. 

I restored one over lockdowns but have only ridden it about 100m so far

[wesacosa]

Mahindra Indian Chief/Indian Brave

[DVee8]

8 hours ago, J R Hartley said:

Asia Rocsta?

We hired a Suzuki Vitara in Tenerife around 1996, they delivered a Rocsta, you know what it was ok and possibly better than what we wanted. 

It took us around the island and up Mount Teide, probably cost 5 pesetas a day.

[georgeinabz]

Here's another forgotten early '80s car that I had a drive of, the Renault Fuego GTX

I had a boss who had one and I got to drive it a couple of times. It felt like the future after only experiencing aging VWs and Fords at the time. I can not remember the last time I spotted one in the wild or at a show. They are probably just as rare as a Renault 15 or 17, the '70s forerunner to the Fuego. 

I had one 1.6 , would knock spots of my mates xr3 both in performance & fuel economy, dodgy 2nd gear common on the 4 speed and the built quality of the plastic interior was crap , I'm sure I've posted a pic on here but will dig it out.

Sent from my SM-G991B using Tapatalk

[406V6]

Nissan Tiida anyone ?  Had this one for a few days in Ireland in 2010. OK to drive without being memorable in any way. They weren't sold officially in the UK as far as I know but a few were imported and sold by Arnie Clark.

 

[loserone]

2 minutes ago, 406V6 said:

Nissan Tiida

It's only a matter of time before @davehedgehog31 or @sdkrc buy one

 

[dozeydustman]

11 hours ago, J R Hartley said:

Asia Rocsta?

When I worked at Brands Hatch there was a fleet of them for the off-road driving school. Drove one around the grounds and service roads but not on the actual road as I seem to remember they weren’t road registered.

Pretty nondescript generic cheap 4x4 but reasonable capable in the mud.

[castros_bro]

Datsun Sado.

 

[horriblemercedes]

I've driven a Tiida in Russia. There were loads there

[MJK 24]

Audi 90, anyone?

 

[83C]

1 minute ago, MJK 24 said:

Audi 90, anyone?

 

Yup. A6 GLL, a 90 with the 2.3 10v lump. Sounded great, drank fuel.

[MJK 24]

8 hours ago, wesacosa said:

Mahindra Indian Chief/Indian Brave

I’ve driven one, but thankfully not owned.  What a pile of shite.

[MJK 24]

Alfa Romeo 90

Volkswagen Taro

Dacia Dropside

[Markeh]

On 5/4/2023 at 3:30 PM, ProgRocker said:

Peugeot J9 van?

 

I've been a passenger in several in Turkey over the years where they were commonly used as minibuses.

[Clunk]

Talbot Tagora?

Or a Daihatsu Charmant?

[Schaefft]

1 hour ago, MJK 24 said:

Audi 90, anyone?

 

I test drove a 35k miles example last year only to find out it probably had about 100k more, and drove accordingly. At least I had a nice day out.

[RichardK]

9 hours ago, wesacosa said:

I restored one over lockdowns but have only ridden it about 100m so far

I had one when I was 14-17, used to use it most days, including getting the shopping in it and taking it to school (one day we held the doors open through the corridors and our physics teacher took it for a high-speed race through). Chain used to pop off the tensioner tackling pinnacle hill in Kelso and the control box failed - I had single battery, early controller, white boot and full weather gear, hi-vis and mirrors but no indicators. Always thought the mirrors were a real high point of the styling, the way they blended in.

Too expensive now but as a former fan of recumbent bikes, owner (and borrower) of some decent-spec eBikes and fan of Sinclair's story I would love to get a C5 and fix the many issues, including a proper bike-style geared drive, adjustable pedal or seat relationship, crank motor and high-power Li-Ion packs (or even AGM/lead acid gel) with energy recuperation.

And a brake light and indicators.

Problem is I can't afford a good one now and I really would be sad with an incomplete/scuffed one.

[RichardK]

1 hour ago, MJK 24 said:

I’ve driven one, but thankfully not owned.  What a pile of shite.

My equivalent to that is an Asia Rocsta. Same conclusion, too.

[RichardK]

23 hours ago, castros_bro said:

Munga? 

Was that ever affordable shite anywhere? May as well seek an Iltis...

[RichardK]

On 5/4/2023 at 9:44 AM, inconsistant said:

Talbot Samba Convertible?

Late 1994. Roger Fish in Kelso had a brown 9,000 mile C-plate example, can't remember how much but it was affordable to me when I went on to buy a £1200 Beetle so let's assume under £4K.

It was brown, and they let me loose with it for an extended test drive (it was replacing a Renault 5 Cleveland Cabrio in spirit and a Fiat X1/9) but I thought the miles I did then plus Kelso's cobbled centre would kill it prematurely 😕

[CreepingJesus]

As an aside, the 'Toast' companion podcast to Radio 4's 'Sliced Bread' did a really good program about the failure of the Sinclair C5 recently. Well worth a listen for a bit of dive into the famously chaotic launch.

[RichardK]

38 minutes ago, CreepingJesus said:

As an aside, the 'Toast' companion podcast to Radio 4's 'Sliced Bread' did a really good program about the failure of the Sinclair C5 recently. Well worth a listen for a bit of dive into the famously chaotic launch.

Maybe Toast should do Daewoo - the whole concept of no dealers/Halfords servicing etc.

[Justin Case]

Has there been a mention of the Yugo 1100 yet. I went with father in law when he test drove a new one.  I also drove it for a short while but the only thing I remember of it was it was impossible to shut  the passenger door as the handle bent when you tried to. 

 

[red5]

You mean a 311 ?

 

😁

[Spiny Norman]

I once had a Fiat 128 so wanted to see how the Yugo compared. Not very well was the answer.

[puddlethumper]

Austin Champ anyone ? What about a Vauxhall Magnum ? or a Ventora ?

[eddyramrod]

15 hours ago, 406V6 said:

Nissan Tiida anyone ?  Had this one for a few days in Ireland in 2010. OK to drive without being memorable in any way. They weren't sold officially in the UK as far as I know but a few were imported and sold by Arnie Clark.

 

When we went to Cyprus in 2009, to live, this was our rental for the first month.  Perfectly acceptable in many ways but also, very ordinary.  In other words, nothing special.

[Spiny Norman]

I'm sure someone on here will have had a Colt Sapporo but a mate's girlfriend had one back in the day and I had the pleasure* of driving it once or twice. It was an auto and it stalled every time it came to a stop.