They are fun cars but not at that price.
not at any price can they be called fun.,
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I saw one rear end a real car a few months ago, not pretty, I would not let any of my family in one. How many NCAP stars do they have?
Edited by Old Navy on 16/12/2008 at 16:32
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NCAP stars? -5?
I saw one the other week trying to avoid speed humps. Driving in the middle of the road, straight towards another car head on. Reliant Robins are not cars and I for one would not want to be in one ever.
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There's a good reason they are rare, and I don't think their rarity makes them an attractive investment.
For the same price you could buy a very nice Rolex, and that's something I'd cheerfully hand on to my children.-
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I suppose a Rolex is quite a nickable commodity, but I don't recall ever hearing of a Robin being stolen!
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Colleague at work sometimes gave me a lift into centre of Brum in his new Robin. I preferred his former NSU Quickly. Far less humiliating:)
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There seems to be a lot of wimps on this forum lately.
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But Reliant Robins are not going to be very safe in an accident. Okay they are better perhaps than a motorcycle but nowhere near as safe as say a car.
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But Reliant Robins are not going to be very safe in an accident. Okay they are better perhaps than a motorcycle but nowhere near as safe as say a car.
Jumbo jets aren't too safe in an accident either, but most of you would fly in one.
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But planes tend to be a safer mode of transport and are well maintained. And it depends on the accident ;-)
What would I rather be in if say I was rear ended by an HGV? A Reliant Robin or say a Ford Fiesta? I know which one did hold up quite well in an accident. I normally drive something bigger than a Fiesta for this sort of reason too.
Someone asked about NCAP rating... I wonder what would be left if driven into the concrete block. But they cannot test because (a) ceased production before NCAP, (b) it is not a car so NCAP does not apply* and (c) what is an off-side collision for a three wheeler trike.
* I know it can be driven on a car licence but it's not really a car to me at least. You can also drive with a bike licence can't you?
Edited by rtj70 on 16/12/2008 at 17:02
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But planes tend to be a safer mode of transport and are well maintained. And it depends on the accident ;-)
>
Was actually watching something last night which said that (RoSPA I think!!) worked out that if you take it on a per trip basis car travel is actually 10 times safer then air travel!!
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But comparing safety in a large airliner to a car has to be compared on some common things. Even comparing the safety record of a 747 vs an A320 is different to a 737 vs an A310.
We'll be saying statistically, you are less likely to have an accident riding a unicycle to work than flying an AC130 gunship next.
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Quite. I owned a Rialto, far cruder than the later Robins and I bitterly regret selling it as I genuinely loved it. It was swift, cheap to run and so simple even I, a mechanical novice, was able to fix it in most circumstances.
All this utter rubbish about safety - most cars older than 10 years old are a certain death in many types of accident but doesnt stop people driving them. Its safer than cycling.
A ten year old Fiesta is a death trap even with airbags, they fall apart, ive seen the crash test pics - gonna recommend nobody drives them either? It has nothing to do with safety and everything to do with prejudice against non-conformist car choices.
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Quite. I owned a Rialto far cruder than the later Robins
That's odd stu. I thought that Robins came before Rialtos. My memory tells me that Rialtos replaced Robins, which had replaced Regals.
Anyone also remember Reliant Kittens? These were 4-wheeled Robins if memory serves. They were quite popular I seem to recall.
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That's odd stu. I thought that Robins came before Rialtos. My memory tells me that Rialtos replaced Robins which had replaced Regals.
Not quite - the original Robin replaced the Regal and was produced from 1973 to 1981, when it was replaced by the Rialto. The Robin name was revived for a new model in 1989. After that it gets complicated by various insolvencies and transfers of ownership, but Robins seem to have been produced sporadically until 2002.
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Ah ha! Thanks. I discovered beer and girls in 1988, so evidently missed the relaunch of the Robin name!
My Dad used to run Regals and Supervans in the 70s, hence my interest. All four of us and a very boisterous labrador/boxer cross used to travel from Windsor to Northumberland in our Regal every summer to visit relatives. Pandemonium. But fun.
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"There seems to be a lot of wimps on this forum lately."
Not wanting a R Robin is called taste, not wimpish-ness. A boob-job costs about the same, and SWMBO doesn't want one of those, either!
"Jumbo jets aren't too safe in an accident either, but most of you would fly in one."
But the fatality rate per miles travelled is way better in a 747, and that's what counts.
Edited by oldnotbold on 16/12/2008 at 16:57
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But Reliant Robins are not going to be very safe in an accident. Okay they are better perhaps than a motorcycle
I wouldn't even credit them with that. Plastic Pigs are inherently unstable ( to find out why, try racing one against a Berkeley or Morgan 3-wheeler), and the old Regals were notorious fire-traps.
Many years ago, when returning from the East Coast with me Mum and Dad, we overtook a Regal approaching Wragby. Our car started stinking of petrol; first of all the old man thought it was him, as he'd just filled up, but it cleared after we passed the Reliant.
We pulled up in the centre of Wragby, just as the Reliant struggled into view, stopped, driver and passenger jumped out and the car burst into flames. Within half a minute (the time it took for the local fire engine to cover the quarter-mile to the scene) it was a burnt-out engine and chassis.
Horrible things, even the more modern Robins; my ex father-in-law had one of those, and I only ever accepted a lift from him once. The only good thing about them was the engine, a remarkably lively and free-revving job for its time.
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I would call it choice, tempered by risk assesment.
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but who would spend £5k on one? - when you could buy something much nicer with 4 wheels or two (if thats what you like)
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but who would spend £5k on one? - when you could buy something much nicer with 4 wheels or two (if thats what you like)
Yes thats the point really. Two or four
three is a flawed concept. The romans knew that.
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seems like a complete waste of money to me, personally ive never seen the appeal of them.
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I think, though I may be wrong, that they were popular because they could be driven on a motorcycle licence.
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>>they could be driven on a motorcycle licence. <<
You need a B1 license for one if I recall.
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This sounds like a tale but I promise it isn't. I had an aunt who worked as a post lady. Part of her round included a very steep winding hill with severe cambers. It was a dead end and every day she had to climb the hill on foot to make her deliveries.
A man who lived at the top of the hill had a Reliant Robin. He worked a night shift somewhere and my aunt would often find him sitting in the car at the bottom of the hill when she arrived to make her rounds. He used to offer her a lift to the top of the hill which made her life easier as she could then walk back down distributing the post.
This went on for years and she imagined that he was just a kind hearted soul as he never said or did anything which she found untoward.
One day when he had not been there to meet her she eventually came to his door with his letters. He came to the door to apologise say that he had sold the car and would no longer be able to give her a lift.
Of course she told him it was not an issue and thanked him for all the years of lifts. He then smiled wryly and admitted that he prefered to have someone on board for "ballast" on the uphill stretch because of a particularly nasty camber on one of the bends!
Edited by Humph Backbridge on 16/12/2008 at 17:05
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Indeed they were very lightweight cars. On teh plus side, if you were feeling fit, you could push yours single-handed if it broke down, not that mine did, if you discount a ruptured coolant pipe :-)
I went to school in a rusty 1965 Mini automatic, which you could see the road through the floor in. Im still here to tell the tale. As I am from the day that I and my neighbours kids rode 'freestyle' in the back of their dads Renault Traffic van for 30 miles.
Life is an adventure, sometimes you gotta take the odd risk or two just to know your alive.
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Stu - I did plenty of things in my youth that I genuinely enjoyed, that were well out of the reach/ambition of many people. I can honestly say that driving a Robin would not come close then, or now, and I'm grateful that is so.
Edited by oldnotbold on 16/12/2008 at 17:17
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Sorry - Stu, just re-read that, and boy, does it sound pompous! Not intended, and I hope you get what I meant. Simon
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I'm surprised some of you lot have the cheek to call yourselves motorists. Take away your ESP, ABS, airbags, heated pedals and massage mats and suddenly you can't cope.
Four wheels is one more than you need.
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But I like to drive cars with metal bodywork that has inbuilt protection like crumple zones and side-impact protection. Not all of us want to risk driving three wheeled vehicles made of fibreglass.
If commend you for doing so - I know it is not on cost grounds as a Reliant Rialto is not cheap to buy second hand.
You have mail.. picture of the back end of a Fiesta I was in after an HGV hit us.... food for thought?
Rob
Edited by rtj70 on 16/12/2008 at 19:58
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Robin, I take it you still have analouge radio and tv and a mobile phone the size of a house brick. :-)
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I'm surprised some of you lot have the cheek to call yourselves motorists. Take away your ESP ABS airbags heated pedals and massage mats and suddenly you can't cope. Four wheels is one more than you need.
4 wheels is minumum in my book , and if the OP is right if im spending £5k on a car I want a lot more than a Robin Relient for my money
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