The Poverty Spec Enthusiasts' Thread

[W00DY]

I've always had a thing for lowly specced versions of nice cars and having recently bought a Merc without such fripperies as rear headrests or an armrest, I'm rather enjoying the simplicity.

Discuss the greatest mingebag cars and their lack of standard equipment, post examples and laugh at the people who choose to spend a decent holiday's worth of money on additional trinkets.

Here's the option list for when my 230E was ordered



£989 is an awful lot of 1986 money for an Airbag.

And here's a beauty of a Range Rover without such "must haves" as a leather steering wheel or a box to change gears for you. Lovely.




http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1998-LAND-ROVER-RANGEROV...

[W00DY]

Just me then?

S280 ewith wheel-trims and cloth




http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1997-Mercedes-Benz-S-Cla...

Or this unusual X5 sporting a manual box, cloth and some rather understated alloys.




http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2015...

[jas xjr]

I had a mk1 fiesta that had rubber mats instead of carpets and only 1 sunvisor,
Think it was a 950 popular

[Max M4X WW]

Hmm, not sure on this one.

At least it makes the car simple, for maintenance etc in the future but when I ordered my Leased M135i I just couldn't spec a 30k car without sat-nav. If only for the next owner..

[W00DY]

jas xjr said:

I had a mk1 fiesta that had rubber mats instead of carpets and only 1 sunvisor,
Think it was a 950 popular

One sunvisor is properly mean, but rubber mats sounds ace.



I like a car with a massive clock where a rev-counter ought to be, just ticking away and forcing you to confront how cheap you were when you decided to get that base model.

[cptsideways]

My Lupo 3L is void of all luxuries, clockwork windows, no PAS, no a/c, no rear headrests, it also only weighs 780kg.

However it does have four "Jesus Christ" handles which seems A utterly pointless & B an oversight on the extraordinary weight saving details they went to, to get the thing to do 100mpg.

It's currently my fave car to drive, though I do have & itch & hankering for a 760iL to make up for the lack of gadgets

[RobinBanks]

No. I tend to think that poverty spec cars are a bit crap.

[Randy Winkman]

Max M4X WW said:

Hmm, not sure on this one.

At least it makes the car simple, for maintenance etc in the future but when I ordered my Leased M135i I just couldn't spec a 30k car without sat-nav. If only for the next owner..

Car mags have always said you need to get sat-nav for resale but how does that work? Sat-nav from the factory costs loads and will (I assume) be out of date in a year or two. And a future owner can get up to date sat-nav in Halfords for next to nothing. Please correct me if I'm wrong, buying new cars is a mystery to me.

[J4CKO]

I had a Saab 9-3 without Air Con, I called it a 9-3 Club Sport.

I suppose it is down to what you would miss if it wasnt there,

Sat Nav, for the driving I do a TomTom does the job

Air Con, could do without most of the time in terms of cooling but when you need it, it is a godsend and the rest of the time its great for managing condensation, essential really.

Heated Seats, marvellous, have used them more than I thoght I would.

Leather, meh, not all that fussed.

Decent Stereo with Bluetooth, pretty useful

electric seats, could do without

Xenon lights, the ones on my 350Z are brilliant, after the laughable ones on the 944 and the rubbish ones in the C1.

[W00DY]

Max M4X WW said:

Hmm, not sure on this one.

At least it makes the car simple, for maintenance etc in the future but when I ordered my Leased M135i I just couldn't spec a 30k car without sat-nav. If only for the next owner..

M135is have quite a bit as standard, don't they?


And I'm sure your lease cost will have gone up showing you that the next owner won't value those options quite as much as BMW ask for them.

cptsideways said:

My Lupo 3L is void of all luxuries, clockwork windows, no PAS, no a/c, no rear headrests, it also only weighs 780kg.

However it does have four "Jesus Christ" handles which seems A utterly pointless & B an oversight on the extraordinary weight saving details they went to, to get the thing to do 100mpg.

It's currently my fave car to drive, though I do have & itch & hankering for a 760iL to make up for the lack of gadgets

A car and nothing more. The purity is very appealing to my minimalist tendencies. I do love a fully laden Barge too so I reckon that'd make a fantastic combo.

[W00DY]

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/MERCEDES-BENZ-COUPE-CLAS...

Cloth and wheel-trims somehow make it classier. Air-con shows a discerning first owner rather than one who was simply cheap.

[lufbramatt]

I've run a mk3 Passat (1990) for a few years and at one point got quite matey with the parts guy at my local VW dealership as he was into his retro 'dubs. Once when I went down there he showed me another old Passat that was in for a service. It was a 1991 VR6, but in CL spec. He thought it was odd as all the VR6 ones he's ever seen were GT or GL with all the toys on. This was genuine though, he'd put it through the system- someone had specced a 190bhp 2.8 VR6, with cloth seats, keep fit windows, manual mirrors, plastic bumpers and steel wheels. Great sleeper!

[Spoonman]

I agree, although it depends on the type of car.

What first appealed to me about TVRs was the original S, which could be specced with keep-fit windows and crappy trim. But you wouldn't want a Tuscan like that.

Similarly, I think there's a place for utterly boggo stuff like Fiestas with vinyl seats, but povvy-spec Mercs are a real turn-off.

[Chris944_S2]

C63 AMG
http://www.autoscout24.ch/fr/d/mercedes-benz-c-63-...

With cloth interior. I think leather has been made standard on UK cars, but on the continent it's optional.

[mickyveloce]

jas xjr said:

I had a mk1 fiesta that had rubber mats instead of carpets and only 1 sunvisor,
Think it was a 950 popular

Yes, we too had a mark 1 Fiesta 950 with vinyl trim and one sun visor! Even Ford described it as "as Spartan as an SAS training camp" if I remember the brochure correctly.

I currently own (although it's for sale) a deliciously low spec W124 E280 with cloth and wheeltrims; it affords less distractions to allow the owner to concentrate on the quality of the engineering.

[Toaster Pilot]

W00DY said:

One sunvisor is properly mean, but rubber mats sounds ace.



I like a car with a massive clock where a rev-counter ought to be, just ticking away and forcing you to confront how cheap you were when you decided to get that base model.

My base model Kia Picanto went one better than that - MASSIVE fuel gauge where the rev counter should be!

[SidewaysSi]

My W124 is in full "Berlin taxi" spec so cloth, little engine etc and I love it. Small wheels mean a lovely ride, interior is perfect and it has plenty of charm.

Think I prefer it to a 300 which would probably have cracked leather and drink more fuel. It is no sports car so perfectly happy with lower power.

[wildcat45]

I wouodn't have agreed when I was 14, but back in 1984 my Dads black 2 door BMW 316 with steel wheel and windy windows would be a cool car to have now.

Oddly it had a manual steel roof and electric mirrors.

I saw my "dream" Range Rover the other day. 04 plate L322 with non flashy small wheels. Inside, a radio where the Sat Nav is on most.. In dark green it was modest and classy.

I used to love the steel wheel base spec Discos.

[Wacky Racer]

[Jim the Sunderer]

Door puddle lights as an optional extra?

Well the passenger door mirror seems to be standard at least.