RE: Chris Harris video: Citroen 2CV
Discussion
crankshaft said:
Really don't understand why, with such a narrow-minded view, anyone would even bother to post such comments.
Anyway, I seem to remember an article in CAR about 20 years ago where in an interview, somebody high up in Jaguar said something along the lines of:
'A 2CV does 99 per cent of what a car needs to do - the rest is bullsh!t.'
True though, isn't it?
No, the quote itself is bullsAnyway, I seem to remember an article in CAR about 20 years ago where in an interview, somebody high up in Jaguar said something along the lines of:
'A 2CV does 99 per cent of what a car needs to do - the rest is bullsh!t.'
True though, isn't it?
t. I meant to say 100bhp/ton by the way. Current car scrapes over that by 2bhp/ton but it's still frustratingly slow sometimes. The 2CV is a charmless death-trap with dangerously little performance. If you can't accelerate out of a situation, you have no business being on the road.chopper602 said:
Sorry but in reply to this, if we were in a pub, would be fk right off!
You mention 'old Rover' which means you no longer have it, so how can a car you no longer have (rusted away?) be better than someone else is having fun in?
It required some restoration that I, with an 18-month-old son and no job (having been made redundant from British Aerospace), could not afford. It also lacked rear seatbelts. So, I put it off the road, intending to deal with it in a couple of years' time, which became more like fifteen, at which point I decided to get rid of it. By that point the rust had taken hold and it became a mechanical donor for a knackered but structurally solid example. The corrosion was the downside to so many great cars of that era - and 2CVs as well, which is why Harris' has had a replacement chassis. If replacement base units were available for P6s, I'd have reshelled mine and kept it going.k right off!You mention 'old Rover' which means you no longer have it, so how can a car you no longer have (rusted away?) be better than someone else is having fun in?
Edited by RoverP6B on Friday 18th April 00:37
RoverP6B said:
chopper602 said:
Sorry but in reply to this, if we were in a pub, would be fk right off!
You mention 'old Rover' which means you no longer have it, so how can a car you no longer have (rusted away?) be better than someone else is having fun in?
Yes, basically, it did rust away...k right off!You mention 'old Rover' which means you no longer have it, so how can a car you no longer have (rusted away?) be better than someone else is having fun in?
Unlike many 2CV loathers who have come out of the woodwork I have driven many thousands of miles in 2CVs and can safely say that the only cars I have owned in 40 years which were more fun to drive were Caterham Sevens. I'd hate to have an accident in either a Seven or a 2CV but that fact alone makes you drive with far more awareness than in the typical 2014 car. And the little Citroen is just a joy to punt down a winding road - don't knock it till you've tried it
RoverP6B said:
crankshaft said:
Really don't understand why, with such a narrow-minded view, anyone would even bother to post such comments.
Anyway, I seem to remember an article in CAR about 20 years ago where in an interview, somebody high up in Jaguar said something along the lines of:
'A 2CV does 99 per cent of what a car needs to do - the rest is bullsh!t.'
True though, isn't it?
No, the quote itself is bullsAnyway, I seem to remember an article in CAR about 20 years ago where in an interview, somebody high up in Jaguar said something along the lines of:
'A 2CV does 99 per cent of what a car needs to do - the rest is bullsh!t.'
True though, isn't it?
t. I meant to say 100bhp/ton by the way. Current car scrapes over that by 2bhp/ton but it's still frustratingly slow sometimes. The 2CV is a charmless death-trap with dangerously little performance. If you can't accelerate out of a situation, you have no business being on the road. 
RoverP6B said:
If you can't accelerate out of a situation, you have no business being on the road.
Hmmm, I've heard this reason/excuse for speed/power many time before, yet the only situation I can foresee Millenium Falcon like acceleration getting you out of is one you have got yourself into. I.e. attempting an overtake with insufficient visibility and/or space.I note also the endearing "Top Trumps" attitude of mr/mrs RoverP6B in quoting 100bhp/ton as some kind of benchmark. Motoring satisfaction is rarely guaranteed by a spec sheet no matter how exciting you find a particular statistic.
I've no desire to own a 2CV, but they do bring a smile to my face when I see one and it will be a sad day when the last one farts its last.
toyotapilot said:
Judging by this and the youtube suggestions I get, this appears to be a sexual fetish thing where skimpily dressed ladies are in distress due to an old small car.Nooow I get it. Mr Harris, you dirty...
( This not being about cars also explains the usual lack of reference to Porsche in the vid... I'll get my coat
)Rumblestripe said:
RoverP6B said:
If you can't accelerate out of a situation, you have no business being on the road.
Hmmm, I've heard this reason/excuse for speed/power many time before, yet the only situation I can foresee Millenium Falcon like acceleration getting you out of is one you have got yourself into. I.e. attempting an overtake with insufficient visibility and/or space.I note also the endearing "Top Trumps" attitude of mr/mrs RoverP6B in quoting 100bhp/ton as some kind of benchmark. Motoring satisfaction is rarely guaranteed by a spec sheet no matter how exciting you find a particular statistic.
I've no desire to own a 2CV, but they do bring a smile to my face when I see one and it will be a sad day when the last one farts its last.
No camera phones etc when I was a kid.
Shame as it would have been great to take a pic of the roof (if you can call it that) lying in a field next to the road, having been ripped off after an artic had gone past whilst my dad was getting everything out of that 600cc motor.
It was my mums car, she loved it we hated it.
Shame as it would have been great to take a pic of the roof (if you can call it that) lying in a field next to the road, having been ripped off after an artic had gone past whilst my dad was getting everything out of that 600cc motor.
It was my mums car, she loved it we hated it.
I watched that video in the pub, knowingly killing the remainder of the battery in my phone. It didn't matter, I was sucked in. Smiling and chuckling to myself all the way.
It brought back the cornering abilities and roll reminiscent of my mk1 r5 and the performance of my Fiat 126 sporting a leaky head gasket.
The patina and model/condition of the old girl is perfect. As for coolness, I have no idea what you paid for this and the new shooting brake Ferrari.
The 2cv is way way cooler. I think this could out cool just about any other new and many old supercars.
Still smiling. Really brilliant video.
It brought back the cornering abilities and roll reminiscent of my mk1 r5 and the performance of my Fiat 126 sporting a leaky head gasket.
The patina and model/condition of the old girl is perfect. As for coolness, I have no idea what you paid for this and the new shooting brake Ferrari.
The 2cv is way way cooler. I think this could out cool just about any other new and many old supercars.
Still smiling. Really brilliant video.
coppice said:
Unlike many 2CV loathers who have come out of the woodwork I have driven many thousands of miles in 2CVs and can safely say that the only cars I have owned in 40 years which were more fun to drive were Caterham Sevens. I'd hate to have an accident in either a Seven or a 2CV but that fact alone makes you drive with far more awareness than in the typical 2014 car. And the little Citroen is just a joy to punt down a winding road - don't knock it till you've tried it
Ah, that little film brings back many memories. One of my first cars was a Bijou (a UK assembled fibreglass coupe - bodied 2CV, then a Dyane, the much uglier, boxy one with the same mechanicals. One of my favourite drives was late at night, in deepest Kent, chasing a pal who was hustling his 2 litre Lancia Beta HPE downs the lanes. The Dyane kept in touch for 20 minutes or so, until we came to hill - an uphill, alas! What a blast it was to eek out every scrap of momentum from 602c.c ....you could really get that thing to maintain ridiculous speeds once you got the hang of it. A couple of years later I was driving a Lancia Stratos in the Dolomites, on deserted roads and, to be honest, it's hard to say which drive was more satisfying. Funny things, little old Citroens - you either get them, or you don't. Good to see that Chris Harris is one who get's them.
Rumblestripe said:
Hmmm, I've heard this reason/excuse for speed/power many time before, yet the only situation I can foresee Millenium Falcon like acceleration getting you out of is one you have got yourself into. I.e. attempting an overtake with insufficient visibility and/or space.
I note also the endearing "Top Trumps" attitude of mr/mrs RoverP6B in quoting 100bhp/ton as some kind of benchmark. Motoring satisfaction is rarely guaranteed by a spec sheet no matter how exciting you find a particular statistic.
I've no desire to own a 2CV, but they do bring a smile to my face when I see one and it will be a sad day when the last one farts its last.
100bhp/ton used to be considered a bloody quick car but it just isn't any more, not when your average 1.6 litre shopping trolley meets that figure. When someone comes roaring up behind you, or you need to make an overtake quickly and safely, spending as little time as possible on the wrong side of the road, especially when the car you're overtaking decides to play silly buggers by putting their foot down (as I've encountered untold thousands of times), or you need to slot into traffic at a junction and there's not a massive gap... that's when you really need power, and 100bhp/ton is only just enough. It's not about satisfaction, it's about safety. A 2CV is dangerously slow - modern-day traffic simply doesn't expect to encounter something so slow and you and your Tin Snail will end up crushed to a pulp in short order, as another poster above pointed out.I note also the endearing "Top Trumps" attitude of mr/mrs RoverP6B in quoting 100bhp/ton as some kind of benchmark. Motoring satisfaction is rarely guaranteed by a spec sheet no matter how exciting you find a particular statistic.
I've no desire to own a 2CV, but they do bring a smile to my face when I see one and it will be a sad day when the last one farts its last.
As for my Rover, yeah, 15 years or so in a leaky lock-up will turn most cars to iron oxide. A 2CV is certainly no different, nor is any PH Hero car of the 70s or 80s (an E28 M5 will do exactly the same, for example). Rust-proofing really was not well-developed in that era and major manufacturers have had rust issues far more recently than that - e.g. W202 and W210 Mercs. That didn't stop it being a wonderful car in the eight years for which it was my daily driver - the beautiful ride quality, the simple, easy-to-use controls (e.g. each rotary switch differently shaped so, even in the pitch black, you could still find them and know which was which), the torque of the V8, the fact that it was a V8 saloon within the footprint of an MX-5, the excellent seats (no car I've had since has had seats half as nice), the secure but chuckable handling, the high-speed stability (would happily sit at 120mph for as long as you had fuel, totally undramatic)... I miss it all the time but lack of dry storage prevents me having another...
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