RE: Opel Manta GT/E | Spotted
Discussion
732NM said:
I had a white GTE Exclusive coupe, great car for its day.
It was an understeer biased car at the limit with the heavy lump up front, which made it far less edgey than a capri.
Interestingly, the front/rear weight distribution is almost exactly the same as the GT86 where the design team steered away from 50/50 balance as they believed a slightly nose heavy coupe offered the best response to steering, throttle and brake inputsIt was an understeer biased car at the limit with the heavy lump up front, which made it far less edgey than a capri.
stinkyspanner said:
I remember working in a Vauxhall dealer in the 90s where we had the occasional one in for a service. There was a coupe exclusive that I really liked the look of, but when I drove it down the road it was a bit underwhelming and did this weird thing when you moved off from stationary and the rear end went upwards rather than squatting.. Anyway, I still really like the look of them, but I've also just bought an old 911 of similar vintage for not much more than this (although it's rough, not mint like the Manta)
They always did well in the road tests compared to their peers at the time - usually coming out as overall testers choice. Over the years in between they have slipped down in the ratings Often tested against the Corolla AE86 too which is much more in demand now thanks to the engine and Initial D effect
Edited by s m on Tuesday 7th May 00:59
s m said:
They always did well in the road tests compared to their peers at the time - usually coming out as overall testers choice. Over the years in between they have slipped down in the ratings
Often tested against the Corolla AE86 too which is much more in demand now thanks to the engine and Initial D effect
Thanks for posting the scan. The format doesn't look familiar, so I'm guessing it's not autocar but whatcar or something? Often tested against the Corolla AE86 too which is much more in demand now thanks to the engine and Initial D effect
Edited by s m on Tuesday 7th May 00:59
But those side profile images and stats taught me my first car enthusiast lessons. As a naive young 'un I naturally thought top speed was the only important consideration, but soon learned that 0-60 time is the only thing that matters!
s m said:
stinkyspanner said:
I remember working in a Vauxhall dealer in the 90s where we had the occasional one in for a service. There was a coupe exclusive that I really liked the look of, but when I drove it down the road it was a bit underwhelming and did this weird thing when you moved off from stationary and the rear end went upwards rather than squatting.. Anyway, I still really like the look of them, but I've also just bought an old 911 of similar vintage for not much more than this (although it's rough, not mint like the Manta)
They always did well in the road tests compared to their peers at the time - usually coming out as overall testers choice. Over the years in between they have slipped down in the ratings Often tested against the Corolla AE86 too which is much more in demand now thanks to the engine and Initial D effect
Edited by s m on Tuesday 7th May 00:59
sege said:
Thanks for posting the scan. The format doesn't look familiar, so I'm guessing it's not autocar but whatcar or something?
But those side profile images and stats taught me my first car enthusiast lessons. As a naive young 'un I naturally thought top speed was the only important consideration, but soon learned that 0-60 time is the only thing that matters!
Nope, it is actually Autocar from when all the cars were available new - just over 40 years ago to be fairBut those side profile images and stats taught me my first car enthusiast lessons. As a naive young 'un I naturally thought top speed was the only important consideration, but soon learned that 0-60 time is the only thing that matters!
What Car is slightly different format
I was going to buy a 2nd hand GTE Coupe back in 1991 as my first car, but after a test-drive I drove a used 1984 Alfa Romeo Sprint 1.5 Cloverleaf ... and immediately bought that instead. Manta GTE was a nice car, great looks etc but the speed, responsiveness, handling, feel, steering, delicacy and sound of the Sprint put the Manta in the shade especially in engine terms and made it look like a last-generation car.
Alfa rusted as badly as a Manta did, but never regretted my choice.
Alfa rusted as badly as a Manta did, but never regretted my choice.
LotusOmega375D said:
Blimey £30k for a Manta GT/E hatchback! Over the years, I paid only two grand more than that for a Subaru 22B, Renault 5 Turbo 2 and Delta Integrale 16v combined! All were mint low milers too.
that said a lowish miles 16v today is somewhat pricier 
https://www.autoscout24.com/offers/lancia-delta-20...
s m said:
They always did well in the road tests compared to their peers at the time - usually coming out as overall testers choice. Over the years in between they have slipped down in the ratings
Often tested against the Corolla AE86 too which is much more in demand now thanks to the engine and Initial D effect
surprised by how non-sprightly the Volumex Coupe is - loved the look and idea of them (supercharged Lancia lump Often tested against the Corolla AE86 too which is much more in demand now thanks to the engine and Initial D effect
) never got round to owning one 
No mention of its Vauxhall cousin, the Cavalier Sportshatch? My dad had a green 1600 GLS I think it was, just about the time me and my sister were early teenagers. We put up with squeezing into the back via the folding front seats because it was a definite improvement on the Chrysler Alpine GLS that went before it 
I love Manta's, they are my favourite car of all time.
I've currently got 2 exclusive coupes and myself and my wife nearly always prefer to take the Manta over any of our other cars when going on a fun road trip/holiday.
However, £30k is mint exclusive coupe money, I don't think that a hatch has ever sold anywhere near that.
I've currently got 2 exclusive coupes and myself and my wife nearly always prefer to take the Manta over any of our other cars when going on a fun road trip/holiday.
However, £30k is mint exclusive coupe money, I don't think that a hatch has ever sold anywhere near that.
Daveyraveygravey said:
No mention of its Vauxhall cousin, the Cavalier Sportshatch? My dad had a green 1600 GLS I think it was, just about the time me and my sister were early teenagers. We put up with squeezing into the back via the folding front seats because it was a definite improvement on the Chrysler Alpine GLS that went before it
Vauxhall had their own go at heating up the old Sportshatch with the 1980 Silver Aero concept with a 150bhp 2.4-litre turbocharged 4 by WBB Racing with a Rajay turbo, plus an updated body kit and leather Recaros. 1 was built and it's in private hands.
https://www.aronline.co.uk/concepts/vauxhall-conce...
simonsti said:
I love Manta's, they are my favourite car of all time.
I've currently got 2 exclusive coupes and myself and my wife nearly always prefer to take the Manta over any of our other cars when going on a fun road trip/holiday.
However, £30k is mint exclusive coupe money, I don't think that a hatch has ever sold anywhere near that.
That looks in great nick Simon I've currently got 2 exclusive coupes and myself and my wife nearly always prefer to take the Manta over any of our other cars when going on a fun road trip/holiday.
However, £30k is mint exclusive coupe money, I don't think that a hatch has ever sold anywhere near that.
I had a white coupe too
Yeah, nah, yeah... but on reflection, probably not.
Had 3 Mantas on the trot back in my youth in the mid 90s. At the time me and my peers were all tooling about in the '>£1500 with slightly suspect MOT' category of Capris, Mantas, Suds, XR3/2s, etc. Of that lot, the Manta was by far the nicest thing to spend time in and do distance with. It's easy to forget just how tinny and crap cars were in through the 80s, and whilst hardly an S-Class, the Manta felt considerably more solid than the rest.
However, from a restomod perspective, the Manta B has some problems. Foremost of these is that despite the nice body, much of the underneath is previous generation stuff from the Manta A: live axle rear, stupendously heavy double wishbone front with springs in the wishbones, and surprisingly limited arch space. You don't want to be doing anything with a CiH anvil these days (or indeed back in the day), although being derived from an all iron 60s GM diesel six truck engine it can take supercharging to some fairly hairy levels of boost... but you'd have to ditch the hopeless K-Jetronic and you're quite quickly down a very deep rabbit hole.
So, ideally you'd be wanting an 1.8 as the gearbox/bellhousing on that accepts Vauxhall Family 2 bottom ends. In which case I'd be going for either a C20LET from the Calibra/Cav turbo, or a 3.0/3.2 V6 from an Omega. But then you're going to need to do something serious to the back end to stop it axle-tramping itself to bits. And the brakes will need upgrading to something from this century. And the lights. And electrics for the engine loom. And probably electric power steering from a Corsa so you've got half a chance of catching it when it does step out.
And. And. And.
Wherein lies the issue with this kind of thing now - to drag it into the 21st century would require ridiculous sums of money and a lot of time, so you're best off leaving it as is and just enjoying the late 80s mildy warm (tepid?) Vauxhall vibe. And in that case of just having it for high days and bank holidays, this kind of money could get you into something a lot more interesting, exotic, or fun.
Nice, but not £30k nice - that's late Exclusive Coupe money.
Had 3 Mantas on the trot back in my youth in the mid 90s. At the time me and my peers were all tooling about in the '>£1500 with slightly suspect MOT' category of Capris, Mantas, Suds, XR3/2s, etc. Of that lot, the Manta was by far the nicest thing to spend time in and do distance with. It's easy to forget just how tinny and crap cars were in through the 80s, and whilst hardly an S-Class, the Manta felt considerably more solid than the rest.
However, from a restomod perspective, the Manta B has some problems. Foremost of these is that despite the nice body, much of the underneath is previous generation stuff from the Manta A: live axle rear, stupendously heavy double wishbone front with springs in the wishbones, and surprisingly limited arch space. You don't want to be doing anything with a CiH anvil these days (or indeed back in the day), although being derived from an all iron 60s GM diesel six truck engine it can take supercharging to some fairly hairy levels of boost... but you'd have to ditch the hopeless K-Jetronic and you're quite quickly down a very deep rabbit hole.
So, ideally you'd be wanting an 1.8 as the gearbox/bellhousing on that accepts Vauxhall Family 2 bottom ends. In which case I'd be going for either a C20LET from the Calibra/Cav turbo, or a 3.0/3.2 V6 from an Omega. But then you're going to need to do something serious to the back end to stop it axle-tramping itself to bits. And the brakes will need upgrading to something from this century. And the lights. And electrics for the engine loom. And probably electric power steering from a Corsa so you've got half a chance of catching it when it does step out.
And. And. And.
Wherein lies the issue with this kind of thing now - to drag it into the 21st century would require ridiculous sums of money and a lot of time, so you're best off leaving it as is and just enjoying the late 80s mildy warm (tepid?) Vauxhall vibe. And in that case of just having it for high days and bank holidays, this kind of money could get you into something a lot more interesting, exotic, or fun.
Nice, but not £30k nice - that's late Exclusive Coupe money.
s m said:
They always did well in the road tests compared to their peers at the time - usually coming out as overall testers choice. Over the years in between they have slipped down in the ratings
Often tested against the Corolla AE86 too which is much more in demand now thanks to the engine and Initial D effect
Low/mid 20s MPG. Most people would run away screaming from a car that did that these days...Often tested against the Corolla AE86 too which is much more in demand now thanks to the engine and Initial D effect
Edited by s m on Tuesday 7th May 00:59
My grandparents had a B plate white Manta Berlinetta booted version and I did many miles sitting in the back of it (probably without a seatbelt). Remember the separate oil and volt gauges in the cluster and the headlamp wipers.
They gifted it to me when I furst passed my test but couldnt afford to insure it at the time. Should have kept it given what they go for now
Dunk328 said:
Yeah, nah, yeah... but on reflection, probably not.
Had 3 Mantas on the trot back in my youth in the mid 90s. At the time me and my peers were all tooling about in the '>£1500 with slightly suspect MOT' category of Capris, Mantas, Suds, XR3/2s, etc. Of that lot, the Manta was by far the nicest thing to spend time in and do distance with. It's easy to forget just how tinny and crap cars were in through the 80s, and whilst hardly an S-Class, the Manta felt considerably more solid than the rest.
However, from a restomod perspective, the Manta B has some problems. Foremost of these is that despite the nice body, much of the underneath is previous generation stuff from the Manta A: live axle rear, stupendously heavy double wishbone front with springs in the wishbones, and surprisingly limited arch space. You don't want to be doing anything with a CiH anvil these days (or indeed back in the day), although being derived from an all iron 60s GM diesel six truck engine it can take supercharging to some fairly hairy levels of boost... but you'd have to ditch the hopeless K-Jetronic and you're quite quickly down a very deep rabbit hole.
So, ideally you'd be wanting an 1.8 as the gearbox/bellhousing on that accepts Vauxhall Family 2 bottom ends. In which case I'd be going for either a C20LET from the Calibra/Cav turbo, or a 3.0/3.2 V6 from an Omega. But then you're going to need to do something serious to the back end to stop it axle-tramping itself to bits. And the brakes will need upgrading to something from this century. And the lights. And electrics for the engine loom. And probably electric power steering from a Corsa so you've got half a chance of catching it when it does step out.
And. And. And.
Wherein lies the issue with this kind of thing now - to drag it into the 21st century would require ridiculous sums of money and a lot of time, so you're best off leaving it as is and just enjoying the late 80s mildy warm (tepid?) Vauxhall vibe. And in that case of just having it for high days and bank holidays, this kind of money could get you into something a lot more interesting, exotic, or fun.
Nice, but not £30k nice - that's late Exclusive Coupe money.
I’m pretty sure my GTE was L- JetronicHad 3 Mantas on the trot back in my youth in the mid 90s. At the time me and my peers were all tooling about in the '>£1500 with slightly suspect MOT' category of Capris, Mantas, Suds, XR3/2s, etc. Of that lot, the Manta was by far the nicest thing to spend time in and do distance with. It's easy to forget just how tinny and crap cars were in through the 80s, and whilst hardly an S-Class, the Manta felt considerably more solid than the rest.
However, from a restomod perspective, the Manta B has some problems. Foremost of these is that despite the nice body, much of the underneath is previous generation stuff from the Manta A: live axle rear, stupendously heavy double wishbone front with springs in the wishbones, and surprisingly limited arch space. You don't want to be doing anything with a CiH anvil these days (or indeed back in the day), although being derived from an all iron 60s GM diesel six truck engine it can take supercharging to some fairly hairy levels of boost... but you'd have to ditch the hopeless K-Jetronic and you're quite quickly down a very deep rabbit hole.
So, ideally you'd be wanting an 1.8 as the gearbox/bellhousing on that accepts Vauxhall Family 2 bottom ends. In which case I'd be going for either a C20LET from the Calibra/Cav turbo, or a 3.0/3.2 V6 from an Omega. But then you're going to need to do something serious to the back end to stop it axle-tramping itself to bits. And the brakes will need upgrading to something from this century. And the lights. And electrics for the engine loom. And probably electric power steering from a Corsa so you've got half a chance of catching it when it does step out.
And. And. And.
Wherein lies the issue with this kind of thing now - to drag it into the 21st century would require ridiculous sums of money and a lot of time, so you're best off leaving it as is and just enjoying the late 80s mildy warm (tepid?) Vauxhall vibe. And in that case of just having it for high days and bank holidays, this kind of money could get you into something a lot more interesting, exotic, or fun.
Nice, but not £30k nice - that's late Exclusive Coupe money.
Stuff like the Capri 2.8/GOLF GTI of that era was K -jet
Edited by s m on Tuesday 7th May 16:51
LE62NDE said:
I had an E-reg gunmetal hatch. Big lump of an engine, went well in a straight line but a bit hefty/agricultural in the twisties. Lovely velvet plush seats, sunroof; lots of happy memories, including continental holidays. Traded it in for a sensible Citroën when our firstborn came along...
They needed the following :A set of Bilsteins.
A set of PMC Group A lowering springs.
The torque tube front bush replaced with bobbins.
Then they became something altogether different.
s m said:
Dunk328 said:
Yeah, nah, yeah... but on reflection, probably not.
Had 3 Mantas on the trot back in my youth in the mid 90s. At the time me and my peers were all tooling about in the '>£1500 with slightly suspect MOT' category of Capris, Mantas, Suds, XR3/2s, etc. Of that lot, the Manta was by far the nicest thing to spend time in and do distance with. It's easy to forget just how tinny and crap cars were in through the 80s, and whilst hardly an S-Class, the Manta felt considerably more solid than the rest.
However, from a restomod perspective, the Manta B has some problems. Foremost of these is that despite the nice body, much of the underneath is previous generation stuff from the Manta A: live axle rear, stupendously heavy double wishbone front with springs in the wishbones, and surprisingly limited arch space. You don't want to be doing anything with a CiH anvil these days (or indeed back in the day), although being derived from an all iron 60s GM diesel six truck engine it can take supercharging to some fairly hairy levels of boost... but you'd have to ditch the hopeless K-Jetronic and you're quite quickly down a very deep rabbit hole.
So, ideally you'd be wanting an 1.8 as the gearbox/bellhousing on that accepts Vauxhall Family 2 bottom ends. In which case I'd be going for either a C20LET from the Calibra/Cav turbo, or a 3.0/3.2 V6 from an Omega. But then you're going to need to do something serious to the back end to stop it axle-tramping itself to bits. And the brakes will need upgrading to something from this century. And the lights. And electrics for the engine loom. And probably electric power steering from a Corsa so you've got half a chance of catching it when it does step out.
And. And. And.
Wherein lies the issue with this kind of thing now - to drag it into the 21st century would require ridiculous sums of money and a lot of time, so you're best off leaving it as is and just enjoying the late 80s mildy warm (tepid?) Vauxhall vibe. And in that case of just having it for high days and bank holidays, this kind of money could get you into something a lot more interesting, exotic, or fun.
Nice, but not £30k nice - that's late Exclusive Coupe money.
I’m pretty sure my GTE was L- JetronicHad 3 Mantas on the trot back in my youth in the mid 90s. At the time me and my peers were all tooling about in the '>£1500 with slightly suspect MOT' category of Capris, Mantas, Suds, XR3/2s, etc. Of that lot, the Manta was by far the nicest thing to spend time in and do distance with. It's easy to forget just how tinny and crap cars were in through the 80s, and whilst hardly an S-Class, the Manta felt considerably more solid than the rest.
However, from a restomod perspective, the Manta B has some problems. Foremost of these is that despite the nice body, much of the underneath is previous generation stuff from the Manta A: live axle rear, stupendously heavy double wishbone front with springs in the wishbones, and surprisingly limited arch space. You don't want to be doing anything with a CiH anvil these days (or indeed back in the day), although being derived from an all iron 60s GM diesel six truck engine it can take supercharging to some fairly hairy levels of boost... but you'd have to ditch the hopeless K-Jetronic and you're quite quickly down a very deep rabbit hole.
So, ideally you'd be wanting an 1.8 as the gearbox/bellhousing on that accepts Vauxhall Family 2 bottom ends. In which case I'd be going for either a C20LET from the Calibra/Cav turbo, or a 3.0/3.2 V6 from an Omega. But then you're going to need to do something serious to the back end to stop it axle-tramping itself to bits. And the brakes will need upgrading to something from this century. And the lights. And electrics for the engine loom. And probably electric power steering from a Corsa so you've got half a chance of catching it when it does step out.
And. And. And.
Wherein lies the issue with this kind of thing now - to drag it into the 21st century would require ridiculous sums of money and a lot of time, so you're best off leaving it as is and just enjoying the late 80s mildy warm (tepid?) Vauxhall vibe. And in that case of just having it for high days and bank holidays, this kind of money could get you into something a lot more interesting, exotic, or fun.
Nice, but not £30k nice - that's late Exclusive Coupe money.
Stuff like the Capri 2.8/GOLF GTI of that era was K -jet
Edited by s m on Tuesday 7th May 16:51
The Capri 2.8i was indeed K-jetronic and had a fuel 'distributor' and simple poppet valve injectors, whereas the L-Jetronic has electric solenoid injectors.
Having said that, my GT/E struggled to pass the MOT emissions test even after having it all tuned by a Bosch specialist.
Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff