Ican see that someone accustomed to modern cars with all their advanced gadgets may despise the Ital (and its contemporaries such as HA Viva, Sunbeam Avenger etc) as somewhat lacking.
Even back then, many of us thought the Marina/Ital as second-rate
Back in the 70's and early 80's I drove most of the cars that people despise today on a daily basis.
The HC Viva was a reasonable car. Rusted badly but mine was reliable for 2 years (bought 3 years old) and sold easilly.
Hillman Avenger was a great car to drive, way better than the VIva HC. It handled and rode really well but the 1.6 I had was revving at 4400 rpm on the motorway at 70 mph, made for noisy and thirsty progress. Rust was not a particular issue but mine went through a 3 month period when everything went wrong in rapid sucession. Mine was bought 3 year old off my dad and had been well looked after. All the repairs were done on the drive with a simple tool kit, dead easy.
Ford Escort was also a really simple car but as a whole was way better than it should have been. Even with cart springs on the back it rode and handled really well, on a par with the Avenger despite that cars much more modern rear set up. Had mine 4 years from new and it was totally reliable but for a wiper motor and radiator. Paint was carp, rusting really well when I sold it.
As for the Ital and Marina I must confess that I never owned one but drove several that they had at work. Without a doubt Leyland deserved all they got, the cars were poorly assembled, poorly developed, in summary the worst car I have driven ( and that includes 1960's Cortinas and Anglias). The ride and handling were truly appaling, they wallowed all over the place in a totally unpredictable manner. They did have one good point, the A Series and B Series engines were solid reliable lumps. And then what did they do, replace the B Series with the dreadful O Series.
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