The Poverty Spec Enthusiasts' Thread
Discussion
I've got a 1968 Austin 1100 in the garage witch is wonderfully free of any extra's or indeed anything really, although the original owner did tick the box for 2 speed heater and static britax seatbelts in the front. It is somehow strangly liberating when you think my wifes new Fiesta has more tech in the radio than the Austin in it's entirety.
NNH said:
I might be missing the point of this thread, but when I got my Cayman I went for the little 2.7 engine and full poverty spec except for the stuff that made it faster: 6-speed box, active dampers, and Xenon headlights. It's even got the super-base (definitely not super-bass) 2-speaker stereo system. I've still got it seven years later so I guess the resale value isn't so crucial now.
Exactly the same as we have done with the wife's new Cayman. 2.7 engine, PDK as drives in town (comfort thing), standard non leather, alcantara seats as when you wear a skirt you either get frozen or burnt thighs with leather! No phone stuff, No sat nav. Standard A/C as no need for dual zones if one up, standard size wheels. Basically no fripperies or weight adding motors. We realised it will be driven by a middle aged woman who just wants to stick two fingers up to those who expect her to drive a Jazz. She's never going to push the edge of the envelope so why pay for it.Had the usual hard sell about it'll be difficult to sell if it hasn't got leather & sat nav. We had to explain slowly that it was likely to be kept 10 years plus so why would we pay for equipment for someone else that we wouldn't use and would be obsolete anyway at the time of sale.
Had same policy with her previous TT, now passed onto me - 8 years old with no plans to sell. The manual has details of how to connect your Nokia phone - prob a 6310i. The sat nav would have been a big red arrow. Reading about 2nd & 3rd owners of fully spec'ed TTs horrified at the cost of replacing expensive twiddly bits. Sometimes less is more.
Still have memories/nightmares of mothers Renault 30 - a fully loaded 1970's behemoth which was prone to electrical hari kiri if the wind was in the wrong direction.
Erudite geezer said:
Erudite geezer said:
Like that Polo N. Bet it shaved a few kg off the better appointed models!
The hero of the poverty spec enthusiast:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/RARE-1996-PEUGEOT-106-RA...
In 1996 the decision was made to replace my mum's ageing Citroen 2CV with a Nissan Micra. After some ringing round, my parents found what sounded like a decent example at a dealer about 40 minutes away, so off they went.
When they got there, the car had either been sold or didn't exist in the first place.
I was pretty young at the time so can only remember sitting in the car and wandering about a bit. But mum and dad were in the showroom for what felt like an age. On the journey back home it sounded like they kicked up quite a fuss and ordered a brand new car for £7k, which I believe was a pretty good deal. It was for a Flame Red 1.0 5dr 'Shape' which did not even have an airbag, a rear wash/wipe or power-assisted steering. The most sophisticated gadget it had was probably the radio or two-speed windscreen wipers.
It was an absolutely brilliant car, though, that cost peanuts to run and both of my brothers and I learnt to drive in it and enjoyed our first few hundred miles on the road in it as new drivers.
Mum loved it to bits and was pretty gutted when it was sold to make way for a diesel Panda 11 years later. Still got £950 for it, though in fairness it was in pretty good nick. Didn't break down once.
When they got there, the car had either been sold or didn't exist in the first place.
I was pretty young at the time so can only remember sitting in the car and wandering about a bit. But mum and dad were in the showroom for what felt like an age. On the journey back home it sounded like they kicked up quite a fuss and ordered a brand new car for £7k, which I believe was a pretty good deal. It was for a Flame Red 1.0 5dr 'Shape' which did not even have an airbag, a rear wash/wipe or power-assisted steering. The most sophisticated gadget it had was probably the radio or two-speed windscreen wipers.
It was an absolutely brilliant car, though, that cost peanuts to run and both of my brothers and I learnt to drive in it and enjoyed our first few hundred miles on the road in it as new drivers.
Mum loved it to bits and was pretty gutted when it was sold to make way for a diesel Panda 11 years later. Still got £950 for it, though in fairness it was in pretty good nick. Didn't break down once.
Bill said:
My Disco2 is the base spec (cloth seats, windy sunrooves, leccy windows though) but the first owner added Active Corner Enhancement (ACE 
) and climate control. Now it's 13 years old I have less useless tat to go wrong. 
The TD5 E model was even more basic, with steel wheels and no sunrooves. I think that it didn't even have storage boxes instead of the 6th and 7th seats.) and climate control. Now it's 13 years old I have less useless tat to go wrong. 
Wacky Racer said:
ds!My first car was an Uno "Formula", which was an extra-basic edition of a car not famed for it's luxury in the first place.
No radio (although they did generously throw in speakers under the dash and the necessary wiring), no rear wash/wipe, it had the ancient 903cc OHV engine with mechanical ignition and a carb (manual choke too!), 4 speed gearbox, and not even a clock never mind a rev counter. You had to lean out of the window to adjust the wing mirrors.
Shouldn't have had a temp gauge either but mine did - not sure if it was specced as an option when new, or if a previous owner had the instrument pack from one another model fitted. Worth having, though, on an old Fiat with marginal cooling.
The seats were trimmed in a fairly dreadful grey cloth with coloured pinstripes, the wheels were of course steel, in a bizarrely narrow size (135/85 I think) and it didn't have any safety features whatsoever bar the seatbelts. Dread to imagine how it would have fared in a crash.
I'd love another. It was great fun to drive flat-out, so little power or grip that you'd do well to exceed any speed limits and it would even manage lift-off oversteer - at surprisingly low speed and with a not insignificant amount of body roll
By comparison, my Capri, which is 5 years older than the Uno, is positively luxurious with its 6 gauge instrument pack, alloys, standard radio/cassette (with electric aerial! - although that's long gone), sunroof, rear wash/wipe, internally adjustable drivers door mirror, auto choke (defunct, as usual) and of course the analogue clock in the centre console. It's also got the distinct advantage of not having been scrapped when it was 12 years old due to terminal rust!
No radio (although they did generously throw in speakers under the dash and the necessary wiring), no rear wash/wipe, it had the ancient 903cc OHV engine with mechanical ignition and a carb (manual choke too!), 4 speed gearbox, and not even a clock never mind a rev counter. You had to lean out of the window to adjust the wing mirrors.
Shouldn't have had a temp gauge either but mine did - not sure if it was specced as an option when new, or if a previous owner had the instrument pack from one another model fitted. Worth having, though, on an old Fiat with marginal cooling.
The seats were trimmed in a fairly dreadful grey cloth with coloured pinstripes, the wheels were of course steel, in a bizarrely narrow size (135/85 I think) and it didn't have any safety features whatsoever bar the seatbelts. Dread to imagine how it would have fared in a crash.
I'd love another. It was great fun to drive flat-out, so little power or grip that you'd do well to exceed any speed limits and it would even manage lift-off oversteer - at surprisingly low speed and with a not insignificant amount of body roll
By comparison, my Capri, which is 5 years older than the Uno, is positively luxurious with its 6 gauge instrument pack, alloys, standard radio/cassette (with electric aerial! - although that's long gone), sunroof, rear wash/wipe, internally adjustable drivers door mirror, auto choke (defunct, as usual) and of course the analogue clock in the centre console. It's also got the distinct advantage of not having been scrapped when it was 12 years old due to terminal rust!
DoctorX said:
Pit Pony said:
I learnt to drive in a Y reg beige 1.6 BASE estate. No radio, no head rests, no rear seat belts, nothing apart from a GL badge on the boot lid. Dad bought it new. Mocha dash, sand carpet, 50 shades of beige inside. Had my first shag in it though (on the beach at Ainsdale)
GL! Posh! I believe that one was just 'Sierra', didn't even merit an 'L'.Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff