Shite Road Test Scans - Austin Ambassador HLS - Rover 2000 SD1 & Saab 900 GLS 1982

[RedSparrow]

That blue/greeny Marauder looks ace.

Any more pictures of it? I can't find any...

[dollywobbler]

Dear me. If that Marina/Marauder thing came up on Ebay, we'd slag it off as a shit job by someone trying to make a Marina look like a Citroen SM! Epically dreadful.

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

NOA269M:

 

Date of Liability 01 06 1985

Date of First Registration 06 09 1973

Year of Manufacture Not Available

Cylinder Capacity (cc) 1800cc

CO2 Emissions Not Available

Fuel Type PETROL

Export Marker N

Vehicle Status Unlicensed

Vehicle Colour BLACK

Vehicle Type Approval Not Available

Vehicle Excise Duty rate for vehicle

6 Months Rate £118.25

12 Months Rate £215.00

 

 

It's either still in one piece somewhere, or was raped for it's goodies in '85 and weighed.

[trigger]

 

 

 

[ProgRocker]

Oh dear, someone didn't proof read that VDP vs Escort Ghia thoroughly enough. In the 1st paragraph it reads: Although the Vanden Plas 1500 looks absurb...

 

Interesting that Car magazine wasn't too praiseworthy of either car - especially the newer Escort.

[trigger]

Here's CAR magazine test of the MGB against the Triumph, It's quite amusing seeing how much they slate the Sherpa Coupe!.
 

 

 

 

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

Great road test! I must be the only person who doesn't dislike the TR7 Coupe - I always thought it was a sharp looking car, but time has been much kinder to it than the MGB.

[red5]

I quite like the TR7, always have done....which is handy...

 

Since when did MKII Escort Ghia's have a OHC from a Cortina fitted to it?

[tonedepear]

That's fab. My folks had a TR7 and had to get rid when I was born cos it didn't have any seats. Sensibly, I've never forgiven them. Always wanted one, although they had it brand new and I gather it fell apart like a bastard in the 2 years they had it.

[Shep Shepherd]

When I was growing up in Kent in the early 1990s, one of my neighbour's sons had a yellow mark 2 Escort with a MAR---P registration as his first car. He replaced it with a series 1 Renault 5 Gordini Turbo

[Pete-M]

I quite like the TR7, always have done....which is handy...

 

Since when did MKII Escort Ghia's have a OHC from a Cortina fitted to it?

 

They didn't, as you know. Mexico and RS only.

[trigger]

I thought there might be interested in this on here...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[warren t claim]

Oddly enough they didn't test the Rover 2300 alongside the other three, it certainly would of been my choice.

 

(Awaits inevitable berating off Pete-M)

[dieselnutjob]

Thanks for that Trigger. I really enjoyed it

[eddyramrod]

Several potential contenders were ignored, it would seem. Audi 100, BMW 520/525, Citroen CX, Vauxhall Carlton/Viceroy, Lancia Gamma, Renault 20, Peugeot 505, Datsun Laurel... and those are just off the top of my head. I would expect the new-car buyer of 1981 to consider as many options as possible. This sector, that might be considered the lower end of the "barge" market, seems to have been pretty hotly contested at the time.

 

The equivalent buyer in 2012 doesn't seem to have anything near the range of choices available to him....

[warren t claim]

No British option.

[Pete-M]

Rover 2300? Pah.

 

Out of those three, I'd get the Volvo.

[oman5]

Reading that Volvo diesel/petrol comparison again, the diesel doesn't make any sense at all. I wonder who bought them.

 

After reading that, I've changed my mind about ever owning the diesel version, as it seems to be the much poorer choice, especially if you factor in things like the current price of diesel and more frequent engine oil changes - according to The Volvo's owner's handbook, the diesel 740s need an oil change every 3,000 miles, and an oil filter change every 6,000...

 

I owned a 1990 740 TD, manual saloon. I'd have another any day. 3000 mile oil changes not necessary, oil has moved on since 1986. a dose of semi synthetic every 6000 miles is fine. My average MPG was around the 40 mark, up to about 46 on long motorway runs. and that was on veg oil. That road test does not paint a very good picture of the diesel volvo, but in the real world they're ace. Performance is very strong when the turbo kicks in, 0-60 nothing special, but mid range pull is phenomenal.

The only real caveat is that the engine is a twat to work on. timing belt is a major undertaking and the rear two glow plugs are hidden behind the injector pump.

As a comparison the next car I owned after the Volvo 740 td was a 740 GLT 2.3 petrol, trust me, the diesel IS cheaper to run. Lots. Its probably why 740 petrols are all but given away free these days whilst diesels still command strong money on the rare occasions they come up for sale.

The later 940 has an intercooled version of the same engine, up to 122 bhp but has more electrics to go wrong in the fuel system.

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

Of the three, I would still have had the Granada. They did drive well, had a nice interior and a general feel-good factor as well as decent resale value. Whilst the Volvo had many good things about it, I thought they were bloody horrible things. The Tagora was 9 grand down the toilet.

 

But I wouldn't have bought the Ford - not when the Mercedes 230E was £100 cheaper and the Rover 2300S (with 5 speed box) was £1000 less.

[Luxobarges_Are_Us]

I am positively amazed by the high parts prices! 80 pounds for a clutch when a brand new car is 9 grand!

[Shep Shepherd]

Reading that Volvo diesel/petrol comparison again, the diesel doesn't make any sense at all. I wonder who bought them.

 

After reading that, I've changed my mind about ever owning the diesel version, as it seems to be the much poorer choice, especially if you factor in things like the current price of diesel and more frequent engine oil changes - according to The Volvo's owner's handbook, the diesel 740s need an oil change every 3,000 miles, and an oil filter change every 6,000...

 

I owned a 1990 740 TD, manual saloon. I'd have another any day. 3000 mile oil changes not necessary, oil has moved on since 1986. a dose of semi synthetic every 6000 miles is fine. My average MPG was around the 40 mark, up to about 46 on long motorway runs. and that was on veg oil. That road test does not paint a very good picture of the diesel volvo, but in the real world they're ace. Performance is very strong when the turbo kicks in, 0-60 nothing special, but mid range pull is phenomenal.

The only real caveat is that the engine is a twat to work on. timing belt is a major undertaking and the rear two glow plugs are hidden behind the injector pump.

As a comparison the next car I owned after the Volvo 740 td was a 740 GLT 2.3 petrol, trust me, the diesel IS cheaper to run. Lots. Its probably why 740 petrols are all but given away free these days whilst diesels still command strong money on the rare occasions they come up for sale.

The later 940 has an intercooled version of the same engine, up to 122 bhp but has more electrics to go wrong in the fuel system.

 

Thinking about it, I'd jump at the chance of a good 740 or 940 Turbodiesel, as such a car would be GR11 for my 50-mile round daily commute and I could run it on vegetable oil and used engine oil, but there are so few left nowadays - apart from the 940 estate owned by a friend of mine, I cannot recall the last time I saw one in the wild in the UK...

[Luxobarges_Are_Us]

Well, it's not a big problem. The French have always loved oil-burners, and Volvos are popular in the Netherlands, so you should be able to find something cheap and near enough!

[Shep Shepherd]

Well, it's not a big problem. The French have always loved oil-burners, and Volvos are popular in the Netherlands, so you should be able to find something cheap and near enough!

 

I think that France would be the best place to find one (I don't mind LHD) as used cars in the Netherlands go for stupidly high prices, even when knackered. For example, a Dutch friend of mine was looking for a series 1 Volvo V70 around the same time as I bought TV2, in order to transport his Alaskan Malamute, but he discovered that even the roughest 1997 cars were selling for the equivalent of £4000 - I paid £1180 for TV2...

[oman5]

If it was my own money I'd go for the volvo, the other 2 are way behind in the quality stakes, good though the Granada was.

The Rover SD1 2300 wasn't a very good car, had it been included I'd have placed it after the volvo and granada. I owned one of every sd1 version over the years and loved them, but the 2.3 six did not have enough grunt to pull the gearing (which was the same gearing as the V8) meaning that acceleration in 4th and 5th gear was glacial to say the least. it was worse on fuel than the 2600 from having to work harder and of course had the endearing feature of seizing its own camshaft without warning,thus requiring a whole new top end.

From memory the 2300 was around 9k in 1982, had 111 bhp, top speed of 113mph and 0-60 in the 11s.

sounds ok on paper, but you'd need to drive one to appreciate the shortcomings.

[Shep Shepherd]

If it was my own money I'd go for the Volvo, the other 2 are way behind in the quality stakes, good though the Granada was.

 

A mark 2 Granada with the build quality of a Volvo 240 would be something approaching my dream daily driver

[trigger]

I've been really hammering these road test scans lately as i want to get them out of the way.

 

 

 

 

[RoadworkUK]

Cheers Trig! I thought I'd comment on this before I read it. I just know it's going to be great.

 

Top Gear drove one of these, in '94/'95 and the name Tim Bishop, AKA Britains' official authority on Tatras, instantly entered my parthenon of automotive heroes. I remember him saying (and I almost quote): "you know the secret of a good gearchange? Weight in the knob. Ever taken one off a *****(Jag?)? Weighs a ton".

 

To some extent, that's true. All the shit gearchanges I've experienced have had really lightweight, flimsy gearknobs. I would absolutely love a 613/5 for the simple reason that nobody would know what on earth it was that just came burbling past them.

[wuvvum]

I remember reading that road test back in the day, but it was good to see it again. I love Tatras - if I won the lottery, an early chrome-bumper 613 and a late T700 would both be joining the fleet.

 

 

 

Stunning.

[garethj]

A great article, Tim told me it was completely spoiled by the headline writer’s sense of humour calling the feature “Czech crateâ€Â, anything for a pun even if it’s really insulting. In the days when the internet had one page on Tatras, I phoned up CAR magazine to see if I could get a back issue of this magazine, they said they’d run out but kindly photocopied this feature and sent it to me.

 

I had a few visits to Tatra GB’s headquarters in Towcester to have my 603 fixed and it was pretty chaotic as all small companies are; loads of stuff to do and not many people to do it. My car was there when Practical Classics visited and was photographed for the feature, even though the engine was in their workshop at the time! I think Martin Buckley was a frequent visitor there too, taking a visit to the factory and museum in a new 613. Very unusual to feature a new car in Classic & Sportscar magazine.

 

I met up with Tim at a Tatra club meeting a few years later when I had a 613/4 Mi (basically a test bed for most of the 613/5 features such as the fuel injected engine and the early 5 speed box with the funny gate) and he said the reason the 613/5 didn’t succeed was issues at the factory, not lack of orders here. Apparently the Czech mafia control of the factory was strict and they didn’t want to lose control with anything like expansion, so as the production line was stopped waiting for bare body panels the truck would arrive with alloy wheels on it. No explanation for where the missing bodyshell pressings were, nor when they’d arrive. You can’t run a factory like that, let alone get expanding markets with paying customers who’ve been given a delivery date so it all fell apart sadly.

 

He had a brief spell at Reliant (there was a TV programme where one of his ex-Jaguar colleagues took over management) and now he’s at Connaught. Sounds like it’s been quite a career so far, but the automotive industry is a tough environment.

 

Running a 613 now is probably more difficult than a 603, parts availability is tricky and all Tatras can suffer rust issues. I’d have another in a hearbeat because they’re such a good drive. The power steering feels great and it’s an intriguing combination of very rugged but smooth and the cornering power is very impressive. The injection system is adaptive so learns your driving style, that’s why it’s important to give it a thrash every so often. When I did that on a local twisty road I’d lose a hubcap from the lovely Borbet alloy wheels

[Mr_Bo11ox]

I’d love to know what that Tim Bishop is up to now, he seems to be a top-flight ‘shite engineer’. I’m sure that Connaught project is brown bread is it not?