Best car - Citroen BX
Worst car -Joint first place Ford Anglia- Hillman Avenger
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Best was an old build (1988) 320SL and the worst was a Ford Anglia 100E - side valve engine, 3 speed box and vacuum driven wipers which stopped when you went to overtake! I liked my Citroen SM but I wrote it off after 2 weeks ownership and hadn't come to a conclusion about it!
Edited by Armitage Shanks {p} on 03/10/2009 at 22:57
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best: current car Jag S Type ....bought it at 2.75 years old, still got it at 10 years old. Will keep it now for good, not worth selling it. Lovely car, only down side is fuel consumption, so use it as a second town car on 4,000 miles p.a.
worst: dark brown 1979 Rover SD1 2600 auto. Damned thing literally fell to bits around me. I have never in my life seen more leaks in any car, inc early convertibles. Strange thing is though, despite the fact I had to get rid sharpish after a year, I secretly quite liked it. It handled well enough (heavy... and neutral on the limit) and for the 2.6 went quite well as well, with a nice 6 cyl noise...there was so little holding the windscreen in, my mechanic laughed and said if i'd done a good emergency stop the windscreen would have popped out.. and you couldn't see the spare wheel, it was submerged in water, i ended up banging a couple of nail holes in the floor to let the water out
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Armitage Shanks; you owned a SM? I'm incredibly jealous!
I'm far too biased to say which car has been my least favorite but my best was either my CX or Xantia Activa.
Rob
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WP
You know you want to :-]
tinyurl.com/ya6k8q9
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Did either of you use one of these as job cars?
West Mercia police had quite a few and I think they were all 2600 autos.
I remember the high stall speed on the auto box, which meant if you booted it from standstill, the engine would race ahead, rather like a slipping clutch.
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No we only had a black 3.5. It was a machine and a half which required a particular driving stile.
But if you want to see a Rover 3.5 at it's best and a full history of what 'The Liver Run' was all about:
www.ukemergency.co.uk/information/theliverrun.htm
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I seem to remember the late Tony Pond driving one of these quite fast on the Manx International many moons ago. Entertaining to say the least.
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Didn't he stuff it early doors on an RAC Rally?
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Did either of you use one of these as job cars?
Yes. 2600 auto....... 'A780UJD' (how sad is that?)....traffic got the V8's...;-(
you could tell the difference, the area cars had only one feeble blue lamp in the middle of the roof (which used to revolve at every other lamp post)...whereas the trafffic ones got two either side of the roof
When the 'A' reg one was handed back, for a while we got an 'E' reg one, which was 2 years out of synch i.e. the last SD1's were on a 'C' plate....so Rover must have had it sitting around not sold and gave it cheap to the Old Bill. The car was re-sprayed white, but under the bonnet etc it was metallic blue...and was the Van den Plas version with 4 leccy windows and some cheap wood. The steel sunroof was jammed closed though
..and the VdP badge had been pulled off the back...rumour had it that someone complained that the police were getting upmarket cars, so they pulled the badge off it.
Weren't all that quick really, but looked the part, handled well and were built like a brick outhouse from the safety angle. Every now and again we'd take our Central London one down the M4 to blow the cobwebs out...and it needed it....i think they call that sort of thing an 'Italian Tune' don't they?
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You know you want to :-]
I do have an affection for them....the Ubergruppenfuhrer would throw a wobbly though
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I've only ever driven one SD1. It was a beige V8 auto, quite a decent example. Belonged to a black photographer, a Londoner, who was a colleague in my African journalism days.
Can't remember what car I had at the time but the Rover felt very big and unwieldy, like a Mk 3 Cortina, and I drove it gingerly in the traffic. Wasn't in it long enough to even begin to get used to it. The owner though booted it about very neatly and surprisingly well (I never expect other people to be good drivers so it's always nice when they turn out to be). I bet it drank a bit round town though. 15 mpg or so probably. Mind you that was twice what my Bentley did nearly.
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I agree about the SD1 Westpig. I had a 1984 3500 auto that had so much wind noise I couldn't hear my passengers. The autobox was too undergeared for the engine so it was revving its nuts off at 70mph (3 speed). I really wanted it to be well built because I loved the shape and the engine, but I got scared and decided to sell it after 8 months. When the bloke came round to look at it , it was raining and he opened the boot and well, I should have got my swimming trunks. But he still bought it without a worry and I made a profit. At least I can say I owned one. Still have nostalgic moments if I see one now.
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The worst car i have ever had the misfortune to own are two Mk1 (Face-lifted) Renault Laguna's
So many stupid things going wrong but both of then had constant problems with brakes, and then the second one I had constantly has ABS issues, - it got sacked off when I was told that the ABS has to be re-wired (after trying everything else in the book
they looked great (IMO) and very comfortable and lovely to drive - but terrible build quality and reliability problems
Best car ive ever had in terms of comfort and thought out design is my current face-lifted Vectra C - I love it
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they looked great (IMO)
I loved the nose of these. Still a very elegant design, I agree.
Classic Renault - brilliant, brilliant car, but built by monkeys. That was my conclusion after 2 yrs with a Grand Scenic. Even though it was distinctly troublesome towards the end of our ownership (PAS playing up, random STOP warnings on the dash, heater blower intermittently failed, clutch slave cylinder exploded (£1k worth), I can't bring myself to hate it because it was such a NICE car. Looked good, went well, gutsy, silky smooth, faultlessly reliable dCi engine, supremely comfy, effortless to drive, the best ride of any steel sprung car I've been in, every toy you could ever need, light, airy interior, excellent practicality etc etc.
If Renault could prove they'd turned a corner in quality terms, I'd be at the head of the queue for another. I liked the car itself that much.
Cheers
DP
Edited by DP on 04/10/2009 at 20:33
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Yes I agree I had constant abs problems. I had issues with brakes that used to ooze fluid out of the back drums everytime you pressed the brakes.
Abs would fail after constantly. After Renault replaced lots of bits eventually was told that water was getting into the power feed and this was shorting the lot out. Because the main power feed ran under that car and the whole lot would have to be replaced
Lights would default to dipped when you selected sidelights, why I don't know?
One of the heated mirrors failed (the one on the pasenger side where I could not reach it
If they could prove that they made cars that where properly engineered I would reconsider a Renault but until then never again.
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Worst.
Fiat 128 estate. Bought to transport 4 of us around the country following the RAC Rally.Sold within days of the finish. yuk.
Best.
Audi UrQuattro 20V. G646 JNV.Simply stunning. AND..my ex got me a video from Pebble Mill of JC driving it around the northern Dales in an early edition of TG before it came into my ownership. I would have it again tomorrow. If I could afford it!!
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