Influence of the car mag.....

[andy-integrale]

Fast Lane, Performance Car and Car were the car mags for me during the 80's and 90's. The integrale was one of the darlings of these publications over an extended time hence there was regularly an integrale road test, pitting it against anything from a Nissan Sunny GTiR to Testarossa. Years later, when I finally got one, I started to collect those same magazines and it soon became apparent that many of those road test pictures had been etched on the brain like song lyrics......

Here's one from Car in 1997 that I remember from the time as a "got to drive / own one of those some day."

So followed a car avidly through print, and latterly via the Internet, for over 20 years before finally getting one.

Tell us about yours.....

Edited by andy-integrale on Sunday 14th December 22:57

Edited by andy-integrale on Sunday 14th December 22:59

[DrTre]

Funnily enough, I remember getting the Autocar you mention, with the integrale vs the Testarossa piece. Instant favourite car. It still is. I want one again.

The only other time something like that's happened was the first review of the Griffith, in Car I think.

[s m]

I think the David vs Goliath Autocar cover is quite a well-known one.

I tend to buy a few and having tried some of the cars reviewed you can get a 'feel" for what writers have similar motoring tastes to your own.

[Ari]

Performance Car raved about the Prelude VTEC.

Got one, amazing thing to blast about in, absolutely awful to go any distance in due to deafening road roar and dreadful seats.

Important to remember that journos often have these cars for a day or two, thrash about at full chat and award the score based on how much fun they had rather than much consideration for whether it is actually any good as a whole.

[RB Will]

That and a lot of them have no real clue about how the car feels and just repeat what the press pack says

[MattyB_]

I always remember cooing over the Audi RS2 when I was younger.

Especially this one, "MJB" as it was my initials. It was fate, I tell ye!



Many years later, it appeared for sale, so I had to do the sensible thing:

[0a]

Great to hear MJB (the car and the poster)!

[0a]

Great to hear MJB (the car and the poster)!

[williamp]

i hope the advert said something like "never driven in anger, always garaged" etc and you turn up with that magazine!!!

[anonymous-user]

And yet when you drive an integrale, even the last of the EVO's they are fairly average to drive imo. Probably ok by the stds of the time, but by the mid/late 1990's the Scoob's n' Evo's had left them way behind as "drivers" cars. Fast forward another 15 years, and a typical "fast" diesel hatch will give one a very good run for it's money (and a tepid hot hatch would simply disappear off into the distance). But they do have "Character" my EVO1 i owner for 5 years was a terrific car ;-)

[zeppelin101]

Max_Torque said:

And yet when you drive an integrale, even the last of the EVO's they are fairly average to drive imo. Probably ok by the stds of the time, but by the mid/late 1990's the Scoob's n' Evo's had left them way behind as "drivers" cars. Fast forward another 15 years, and a typical "fast" diesel hatch will give one a very good run for it's money (and a tepid hot hatch would simply disappear off into the distance). But they do have "Character" my EVO1 i owner for 5 years was a terrific car ;-)

Does anyone buy old "hot hatches" and the like anymore because they genuinely think they're fast though? Similar discussion going on somewhere else at the moment and most people agree the pace is not the point, but the driving experience most definitely is!

[Pothole]

I still have my copy of C&SC with the big feature about the 308gt4. One day....

[andy-integrale]

zeppelin101 said:

Max_Torque said:

And yet when you drive an integrale, even the last of the EVO's they are fairly average to drive imo. Probably ok by the stds of the time, but by the mid/late 1990's the Scoob's n' Evo's had left them way behind as "drivers" cars. Fast forward another 15 years, and a typical "fast" diesel hatch will give one a very good run for it's money (and a tepid hot hatch would simply disappear off into the distance). But they do have "Character" my EVO1 i owner for 5 years was a terrific car ;-)

Does anyone buy old "hot hatches" and the like anymore because they genuinely think they're fast though? Similar discussion going on somewhere else at the moment and most people agree the pace is not the point, but the driving experience most definitely is!

Absolutely. There is a bit of a trend to get rid of any "go faster" bits and get the cars back to how they left the factory. If you wait 20 years plus to get to own something you hankered after in your late teens and 20's then outright performance is probably not your primary motivation.

[daveofedinburgh]

EVO has taught me that the 911 is the greatest thing in the history of all things.

Now want a 996 because I want to say I own a 911 and its the only one I can afford.

The idea of the engine hanging out over the back axle doesn't seem right to me, not even sure I'd get on with it. If EVO hadn't bombarded me with propaganda for years, I probably wouldn't be half as keen on them...

[av185]

daveofedinburgh said:

EVO has taught me that the 911 is the greatest thing in the history of all things.

Now want a 996 because I want to say I own a 911 and its the only one I can afford.

The idea of the engine hanging out over the back axle doesn't seem right to me, not even sure I'd get on with it. If EVO hadn't bombarded me with propaganda for years, I probably wouldn't be half as keen on them...

Evo is right......just buy one......you will not regret it.

[s m]

av185 said:

daveofedinburgh said:

EVO has taught me that the 911 is the greatest thing in the history of all things.

Now want a 996 because I want to say I own a 911 and its the only one I can afford.

The idea of the engine hanging out over the back axle doesn't seem right to me, not even sure I'd get on with it. If EVO hadn't bombarded me with propaganda for years, I probably wouldn't be half as keen on them...

Evo is right......just buy one......you will not regret it.

Although car magazines used to tell you to avoid the 964RS - as much use as a concrete skateboard......

The fanboys have gone berserk on that one now though!

[pwd95]

It was 1983, I was 16 & TVR introduced this......



I read the article over & over. Had a few over the last 10yrs or so.

[Leins]

s m said:

Although car magazines used to tell you to avoid the 964RS - as much use as a concrete skateboard......

The fanboys have gone berserk on that one now though!

Except Brian Laban in Performance Car. I always wanted one just from his reviews, along with the many other cars he rated over the years

Strangely, he wasn't as happy with the E34 M5 and I've ended up with one of those anyway!

[av185]

s m said:

av185 said:

daveofedinburgh said:

EVO has taught me that the 911 is the greatest thing in the history of all things.

Now want a 996 because I want to say I own a 911 and its the only one I can afford.

The idea of the engine hanging out over the back axle doesn't seem right to me, not even sure I'd get on with it. If EVO hadn't bombarded me with propaganda for years, I probably wouldn't be half as keen on them...

Evo is right......just buy one......you will not regret it.

Although car magazines used to tell you to avoid the 964RS - as much use as a concrete skateboard......

The fanboys have gone berserk on that one now though!

Ah.....its the rarity factor though that can often influence true judgement about a cars qualities .....with only one years production of just 55 cars in 1993 it is one of the eight rarest 911 models ever to be produced....hence the price tag.

[s m]

av185 said:

s m said:

av185 said:

daveofedinburgh said:

EVO has taught me that the 911 is the greatest thing in the history of all things.

Now want a 996 because I want to say I own a 911 and its the only one I can afford.

The idea of the engine hanging out over the back axle doesn't seem right to me, not even sure I'd get on with it. If EVO hadn't bombarded me with propaganda for years, I probably wouldn't be half as keen on them...

Evo is right......just buy one......you will not regret it.

Although car magazines used to tell you to avoid the 964RS - as much use as a concrete skateboard......

The fanboys have gone berserk on that one now though!

Ah.....its the rarity factor though that can often influence true judgement about a cars qualities .....with only one years production of just 55 cars in 1993 it is one of the eight rarest 911 models ever to be produced....hence the price tag.

What?

Not just the 3.8s