RE: Vauxhall Calibra: Time for Tea?

[AREA]

My best being-pulled-over-by-the-police was in a Calibra. Was going a tad rapidly. He offered me £30 fixed penalty rather than going to court.

Not the greatest motor in the world, but for a tarted up rep mobile had good looks and for a coupe was v. practical.




Second best being-pulled-over-by-the-police was in a Merc when the officer thought that I looked too young to be driving an eClass (at just shy of 40 years old ???!!!)

[Gary C]

bakerstreet said:

I suspect the current lot know exactly what turbo lag is.

So why do they keep getting it wrong then. The bit on the fq400 is an example where they confuse off boost with lag.

Not the same !!!

They probably think bov's, dump valves, (call them what you will) are fitted to reduce lag too !

Edited by Gary C on Friday 19th July 17:30

[crossy67]

But the price £17k+ back in 1990 was a hell of a lot. I was only on £100/week.

[hman]

that guy literally just sent me to sleep

[IanJ9375]

Gary C said:

So why do they keep getting it wrong then. The bit on the fq400 is an example where they confuse off bost with lag.

It's an entertainment show, there's no point looking to it for technical nous - those days are gone I'm afraid. Too busy looking for a sensational twist to make a good car look bad or a bad car look good.

Evo/Chris Harris is where it's at for actually buying advice, or to try and understand the finer differences of a car you might never drive.

Had a Calibra Turbo, was always worried about the transfer box destroying itself under the 800psi of pressure or whatever it was.
Reality was that it went well, quicker in a straight line than a regular Scooby back then and was quite comfy, sure it wasn't going to be a hard edged handler but it didn't embarrass itself and some beefier brakes would have helped greatly.

Living near Snowdon we tend to get the snow quite bad, remember someone waving me down that there was no way the Calibra would get up the hill and to turn around, much to my amusement it just chugged happily up the hill with minimal fuss

[Gary C]

IanJ9375 said:

It's an entertainment show, there's no point looking to it for technical nous - those days are gone I'm afraid. Too busy looking for a sensational twist to make a good car look bad or a bad car look good.

If you read my first post I was pointing out that chris goofy had just as much clue as the current lot.

[tomoleeds]

I hate top gear now cant stand any of the presenters, the car reviews just go between million pound supercars or a 3 day race where there is 2 minutes between them, I still record to forward through to bits of interest, the American shows are better now,
my top shows,

fifth gear
counting cars (history ch)
Fast N Loud (Discovery Ch)
Wheeler Dealers
Chasing classic cars (sky ch"s)

In my view Top Gear is just a entertainment show, I remember clarkson "S firs series he could not drive round a track at all and did not know much about cars

[tomoleeds]

crossy67 said:

But the price £17k+ back in 1990 was a hell of a lot. I was only on £100/week.

How old was you, I was earning £350 take home aged 25 in Bradford, west Yorkshire, in 1990

[IanJ9375]

Gary C said:

If you read my first post I was pointing out that chris goofy had just as much clue as the current lot.

I don't disagree, my point is the old show was about the cars and aimed at people who had an interest in them, now TG is watched by millions who we wouldn't consider "petrolheads" therfore facts are less important

[Gary C]

IanJ9375 said:

Gary C said:

If you read my first post I was pointing out that chris goofy had just as much clue as the current lot.

I don't disagree, my point is the old show was about the cars and aimed at people who had an interest in them, now TG is watched by millions who we wouldn't consider "petrolheads" therfore facts are less important

I agree, I was not 'looking into it for technical nous', they are both ste technically, but the current one is much more fun.

[crossy67]

tomoleeds said:

crossy67 said:

But the price £17k+ back in 1990 was a hell of a lot. I was only on £100/week.

How old was you, I was earning £350 take home aged 25 in Bradford, west Yorkshire, in 1990

I was 21 and in training

[Gary C]

crossy67 said:

I was 21 and in training

And if u have a family, bet you had more money then than you do now.

I was on about £130 a week in 87 on my final year of my apprenticeship and could not spend it fast enough. Now 26 years later and on a take home of over 10 times that a week, I'm broke !

How does that happen !

[crossy67]

Gary C said:

crossy67 said:

I was 21 and in training

And if u have a family, bet you had more money then than you do now.

I was on about £130 a week in 87 on my final year of my apprenticeship and could not spend it fast enough. Now 26 years later and on a take home of over 10 times that a week, I'm broke !

How does that happen !

You buy a flashy car to attract a woman.

You get a flashy woman.

You sell car for children then you spend all your time talking about flashy cars.

Simple ;-)

[Papa Hotel]

Two point seven five inches will be forever bored into my mind now. What a dull contemporary review of a car that was supposed to set hearts ablaze with desire.

[manitou]

Loved my calibra owned it for 7 years it went well was well built (in the russielheim plant in Germany) & looked the part, I think Vauxhall hit the nail on the head with this one forget about the ultimate handling & treat it as more of a cruiser & you cant go far wrong.

[DKS]

Keep Top Gear as it is, after all it is good entertainment.

But I also think there's room on the telly for a more technical program such as the old TG style.

Also I think the Calibra drag had something to do with an undertray as well as skinny tyres.

[Twoshoe]

Limpet said:

I still think the original Calibra is one of the prettiest mass produced cars of its era.

+1. Still looks good even today imho

[4rephill]

DKS said:

Keep Top Gear as it is, after all it is good entertainment.

But I also think there's room on the telly for a more technical program such as the old TG style.......

Whilst there may be room for an old style Top Gear, is there really enough demand?

Plenty of other programmes have tried to replicate what the old Top Gear used to do, and just about all of them have fallen by the wayside due to a lack of audience share.

The most obvious, Fifth Gear, tried to revive the old Top Gear style, complete with the old Top Gear presenters, but in the end it faltered due to decreasing viewing figures.

It then tried to make a comeback as a modern Top Gear pastiche, which again, was not very successful.

It has since made another comeback as a mixture of old style Top Gear and current Top Gear, and has now gone from Channel five to the discovery channel. However, it's hardly generating the kind of national or international interest that Top Gear does!

Here's the problem, shows along the lines of the old style Top Gear only appeal to petrolheads, the general viewer is not that interested in them. To a TV company, this is not good! It's too much of a niche market and there's no real opportunity to sell the show anywhere else.

The new Top Gear has been a massive success because you don't have to be a petrolhead to enjoy it because it works very well as an entertainment show based around cars, and as shown by its Worldwide success, it works on an international level because it's not just aimed at British consumers.
Now that is TV gold to a TV company!

[Paul v8]

Calibras still Looka good today the later n plates more .
Turbo 4/4 with few mods were lightning

[dibblecorse]

Great car, my first grown up car was a L reg black Calibra 2.0 16v with leather, had it lowered which helped, only 30mm or so, dropped a 12 sub onto that huge rear shelf, 3 years I had it, put 45k on it and all it needed was a water pump ....