The Car Thread

[Keef]

Harry’s and Iain .

Harry though, my god what a guy. Living the dream.

His Harry’s farm channel is good as well, I’m not a farmer, wouldn’t know how to start, but his channel runs you through crop pricing, harvest prices, machinery costs and other stuff you’d never thought about

 

[sycophantia]

Thing with concours cars is they end up being better than the factory ever made them, perfect paint, ridiculously chromed bumpers, date matching glass, yes that’s a thing, you used to be able to date glass by the digits and markings on the bottom of it, same with tyres so you know how old they are, only ever trailered to and from events, and then only if the weathers good.
Mine were daily drivers, scrapes, rust, dirty, never bothered me I was having fun driving them not polishing them

I'm more into the bike end of classics and something I've noticed recently is more people are looking at more sympathetic restorations rather than the better than original type with gleaming paintwork and chrome. I believe the word is 'patina' so people prefer a 50 year old bike to look 50 years old, albeit a very well cared for 50 year old bike.

 

[Jack Regan]

Obviously just a tad older I was obsessed as a child by the De Tomaso Pantera, the thing is I didn't actually know what one looked like but just the name sounded so exotic

I'm not a petrol head or a car enthusiast by any stretch (I've had my Corsa since 2009). But I've been playing a fair bit of Gran Turismo 7 on my PS5 recently and came across one of these in the used cars, bought it immediately solely based on how cool it looked (I've never actually driven it since though ).

If actual money was no object IRL I'd love a Lancia Stratos, such a cool looking car.

 

[Alan]

Stratos getting mentioned reminds me how much I love the look of whatever 2xx model Peugeot used to run in Group B rally.

I love a hot hatch. Shame they barely exist over here (hot hatches in general, not specifically Peugeots).

 

[EpsomWolf]

Stratos getting mentioned reminds me how much I love the look of whatever 2xx model Peugeot used to run in Group B rally.

I love a hot hatch. Shame they barely exist over here (hot hatches in general, not specifically Peugeots).

Hot hatches… what the Europeans did best.

The golden age, Golf Gti, 205 Gti, UNO Turbo, 5GT Turbo, XR2, early/mid 80’s heaven. Bloody quick for their time but so light and lightening change of direction. These things were only about 850kg and the blend of power, weight, road holding and British roads was perfect - I’m not sure even 40 years later that balance and engagement has been bettered despite modern cars being faster, safer and much more refined. Always going to reminisce fondly but that was the peak as far as I can see with improvements after that coming with big compromise (weight gain etc).

I couldn’t afford any of those when they came out was getting by driving the old RWD Fords spoken about earlier. They were fun to slide about but the new gen of hot hatches came along and absolutely murdered the old-skool RWD’s making them look Jurassic in the process. Missed the boat at the time and have craved one ever since. It’s an itch that need scratching

 

[Keef]

Hot hatches this one’ll do for me, and probably rarer than the others mentioned, I’m obviously odd with my choice of cars

 

[Alan]

Nearly a dead breed over here. Not just hot hatches but really hatches in general. Everything is a "Crossover" nowadays (I imagine this most be noticeable over there, too, but likely not to the same extent).

Really only four options for me if I wanted a new hatch: Hyundai Veloster (I do very much like the idea of getting the N version with a DCT), Volkswagen Golf (you pay for the damn VW badge, annoyingly), Mazda 3, or a Mini.

Desperately awaiting the day Mini release an EV with more than 100 miles of range. Would make it literally impossible for me to drive down to my parents if I got one of those as they are.

 

[Alan]

Hot hatches this one’ll do for me, and probably rarer than the others mentioned, I’m obviously odd with my choice of carsView attachment 7477

Give me a version of that with pop-up up-and-down headlights and I'm in.

 

[Jack Regan]

Nearly a dead breed over here. Not just hot hatches but really hatches in general. Everything is a "Crossover" nowadays (I imagine this most be noticeable over there, too, but likely not to the same extent).

Really only four options for me if I wanted a new hatch: Hyundai Veloster (I do very much like the idea of getting the N version with a DCT), Volkswagen Golf (you pay for the damn VW badge, annoyingly), Mazda 3, or a Mini.

Desperately awaiting the day Mini release an EV with more than 100 miles of range. Would make it literally impossible for me to drive down to my parents if I got one of those as they are.

Anything claiming to be a hot hatch is about twice the size of the originals these days in any case. There's not really anything that can class itself as a small car anymore unfortunately, it's a miracle that two cars are able to drive either side of a lot of streets over here any more with the proliferation of SUV's and "crossovers".

 

[EpsomWolf]

Hot hatches this one’ll do for me, and probably rarer than the others mentioned, I’m obviously odd with my choice of carsView attachment 7477

You’re an advocate for the outsider Keef, kudos for that.

Those Maestro turbos has terrific straight line performance. They were always a bit hampered by the Austin Rover badge though, a bit like the MG/Turbo metros. Shame it should be that way but it has a massive impact on sales.

Always thought the FWD Montego gave the MK2 Cavalier a close run for its money and certainly a better motor than the RWD Sierra but if struggled with the AR badge too.

 

[Alan]

Anything claiming to be a hot hatch is about twice the size of the originals these days in any case. There's not really anything that can class itself as a small car anymore unfortunately, it's a miracle that two cars are able to drive either side of a lot of streets over here any more with the proliferation of SUV's and "crossovers".

Tbf a modern Fiat 500 would feel too small to be safe for me.

 

[EpsomWolf]

Nearly a dead breed over here. Not just hot hatches but really hatches in general. Everything is a "Crossover" nowadays (I imagine this most be noticeable over there, too, but likely not to the same extent).

Really only four options for me if I wanted a new hatch: Hyundai Veloster (I do very much like the idea of getting the N version with a DCT), Volkswagen Golf (you pay for the damn VW badge, annoyingly), Mazda 3, or a Mini.

Desperately awaiting the day Mini release an EV with more than 100 miles of range. Would make it literally impossible for me to drive down to my parents if I got one of those as they are.

Had a 2016 Mini 1.5D.

The 3 cyl 1.5 engine was pound for pound the best engine I’ve ever driven. Smooth as silk and comfortably 70mg. Good performance too. Unreal handling it hung on like a limpet around the corners although I did do a set of front tyres in 8500 miles once though!

An EV has got to add some weight and affect the handling a bit but I’m sure would still have the essence of a mini. Just great fun to drive.

 

[AndyWolves]

You always used to hear stories of people wrapping 5GTT's round trees and lampposts and splitting in two.

 

[Lupo]

Tbf a modern Fiat 500 would feel too small to be safe for me.

Still plenty of 500s knocking about Italian roads and I love them. They are ideal on the island where my uncle lives as the roads are so narrow and all the buildings have scrapes, the cars do too! Had a modern 500 as a hire car last time I was in Italy in 2019, nice little motor but much bigger than its original. Same goes for the modern Mini

 

[Alan]

I was really taken aback when I realized just how much smaller old Minis are than their modern siblings. Tiny!

EVs tend to get all the weight sat on the bottom of the chassis from what I understand. Makes the handling much nimbler than weight would imply (low center of gravity and whatnot). Can’t personally speak to it but sounds plausible enough.

 

[North Shropshire Lad]

You always used to hear stories of people wrapping 5GTT's round trees and lampposts and splitting in two.

I had one and the drivers window used to bend and pop outside of the frame at speed.

 

[Keef]

You’re an advocate for the outsider Keef, kudos for that.

Those Maestro turbos has terrific straight line performance. They were always a bit hampered by the Austin Rover badge though, a bit like the MG/Turbo metros. Shame it should be that way but it has a massive impact on sales.

Always thought the FWD Montego gave the MK2 Cavalier a close run for its money and certainly a better motor than the RWD Sierra but if struggled with the AR badge too.

They were tarnished with the 70s reputation of BL, when the cars were supposedly unreliable rust buckets ( as were everything else in the 70s) and their fate was sealed from then on, road tests of the time were complimentary but the public couldn’t see past Red Robbo, then it was old people buy Rovers and so on, the last MGs the ZR/ZS/ZT were really good value and fun, but it was all over by then

 

[pagey]

The golden age, Golf Gti, 205 Gti, UNO Turbo, 5GT Turbo, XR2, early/mid 80’s heaven.

You've got me reminiscing now, first car was the nova Sri, had the xr2 and moved onto the xr3i and astra gte before meeting the Mrs and moving on to family friendly, safety 1st boredom.

 

[MARKakaJIM]

Had a 2016 Mini 1.5D.

The 3 cyl 1.5 engine was pound for pound the best engine I’ve ever driven. Smooth as silk and comfortably 70mg. Good performance too. Unreal handling it hung on like a limpet around the corners although I did do a set of front tyres in 8500 miles once though!

An EV has got to add some weight and affect the handling a bit but I’m sure would still have the essence of a mini. Just great fun to drive.

I had the petrol equivalent of the same year.

Great little car for what I needed at the time. Nippy about town, fun on the back roads and happy enough just chugging along on motorway runs too. Soon proved to be pretty impractical when we bought our house though, struggled to even get a weekly shop in the boot and if I ever took my mountain bike anywhere it became a single seater. Would definitely look at another one if I was in the market for a little run around though.

Followed it up with a Countryman PHEV, tried it's best to replicate the vibe but was just a bit too much of a lump to carry it off. Was fun off the line though with the electric motor giving you a kick up the arse on the rear axle.

 

[The Bear]

My dad had a limited edition version of the Mini called Jet Black.

It was the car I learned to drive in as he'd take me to a local disused airstrip and teach me himself when I was 15/16 years old.