Any - Spotting rare cars from mass-market manufacturers

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Tue 14 Jun 2016 13:18
Any - Spotting rare cars from mass-market manufacturers - craig-pd130

Yesterday, I followed a Passat W8 for a couple of miles on the motorway, which has to be one of the very rarest variants of an otherwise mass-market car.

Have any other Backroomers spotted any vanishingly rare or quirky models recently?

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Tue 14 Jun 2016 13:51
Any - Spotting rare cars from mass-market manufacturers - Cyd

A chap in our town has a gorgeous metallic blue MG ZT-T V8. I think it only comes out to play in the dry and I suspect the engine is "tweaked" (you should hear it! awesome!). My Saab is no slouch, doing 30-110 in 10.3 with it's 380Nm (and on to a genuine 149), but this Rover leaves it for dead!

well jel

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Tue 14 Jun 2016 14:06
Any - Spotting rare cars from mass-market manufacturers - RT

VW only produced the W8 for 3 years, only fitting it to the Passat as their "halo" car before the Phaeton.

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Tue 14 Jun 2016 14:40
Any - Spotting rare cars from mass-market manufacturers - RobJP

I've owned two incredibly rare cars in my time.

Lotus Carlton

Volvo 850 T5-R (yellow manual saloon)

Ahh ... if only, as they say !

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Tue 14 Jun 2016 15:08
Any - Spotting rare cars from mass-market manufacturers - daveyjp

When I commuted regularly I used to see a W8 parked outside a property.

Most recent rarity is probably the Volvo XC90 V8 I saw last year.

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Tue 14 Jun 2016 21:20
Any - Spotting rare cars from mass-market manufacturers - DirtyDieselDogg

Well if MB is accepted as a mass manufacturer, every time I look outside our back door I see a very rare 1998 290GD "G" Wagen Van, one of only 2 imported in RHD spec, amongst a batch of 30( heavier duty versions) sold into Suffock fire Service et al.

As equally rare as the 1 of only 2 surviving (of a total 4 no prepared for the Army bid, the other 2 being written off/scrapped by the Army) RHD Steyr Daimler Puch 290 Army spec trucks, entered in a British Army bid to usurp the Land Rover, which I saw at our club meeting in Donegal the June bank holiday weekend past.

So 2 very unusual RHD 290GD 461 model SDP "G" Wagens in our wee small sparsley populated island.

Quite something, I imagine.

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Tue 14 Jun 2016 21:57
Any - Spotting rare cars from mass-market manufacturers - John F

VW only produced the W8 for 3 years, only fitting it to the Passat as their "halo" car before the Phaeton.

Not as rare as my A8 'sports saloon' SWB W12. Only about 60 RHDs made it to the UK around 2005. An astonishingly nimble lightweight Phaeton.

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Tue 14 Jun 2016 23:23
Any - Spotting rare cars from mass-market manufacturers - RT

VW only produced the W8 for 3 years, only fitting it to the Passat as their "halo" car before the Phaeton.

Not as rare as my A8 'sports saloon' SWB W12. Only about 60 RHDs made it to the UK around 2005. An astonishingly nimble lightweight Phaeton.

The A8 and Phaeton were quite different, lighter because it had an aluminium chassis

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