Cars that never sold well

[HTP99]

JohnStitch said:

mhurley said:

I'll start
MK 6 Golf R Convertible

Don't think i have ever seen one

I was parked next to one at work the other day - Didn't realise they once did a convertible version and wondered if the owner had just modded it with a bunch of 'R' bits. Looked quite smart actually, and I don't normally like convertible Golfs, they just don't look right to me.

I have seen a couple but I do remember when they were launched, thinking, who would sink near enough £40k into a convertible golf and why!

[mabosh]

HTP99 said:

JohnStitch said:

mhurley said:

I'll start
MK 6 Golf R Convertible

Don't think i have ever seen one

I was parked next to one at work the other day - Didn't realise they once did a convertible version and wondered if the owner had just modded it with a bunch of 'R' bits. Looked quite smart actually, and I don't normally like convertible Golfs, they just don't look right to me.

I have seen a couple but I do remember when they were launched, thinking, who would sink near enough £40k into a convertible golf and why!

I seem to remember not long after they launched them (maybe two or three months), they dropped the price by about £5k or £6k - they had sold less than 10 at that point but those owners got a refund. Mk6 Rs were never popular even in hatchback form.

[bad company]

motoroller said:

VW Phaeton (which is a shame)

It would have done a lot better if they badged it as an Audi.

[HTP99]

bad company said:

motoroller said:

VW Phaeton (which is a shame)

It would have done a lot better if they badged it as an Audi.

And made it look less like a large Passat.

IIRC from the initial reviews, the Phaeton didn't really bring anything spectacular or original to the sector and was also rather heavy.

Edited by HTP99 on Tuesday 27th June 17:44

[mabosh]

Willwors said:

Audi S1?

I've had mine for 2 and a half years and in that time I reckon I've seen less than 30 others on the road. And I live in central London!

I do wonder why as it's cracking.

Price must have a lot to do with it and the age of the design.

Local Audi dealer has had a red 5 door S1 in the showroom for at least four months. It has a few options to be fair, but it's still over £31k. The three door looks much nicer too (IMHO).

They also had a pink TT that sat for about six months, it's off now to one of the other branches but is still for sale I believe.

[peterattheboro]

The latest Renaultsport Clio. Seen about 5 max in total.

[Europa1]

MG SV

[white_goodman]

Jonmx said:

I know Rover were surprised that these didn't sell better, forcing them to 'upgrade' it after a couple of years before canning it altogether. Turd of a car.

I seem to remember these didn't come out until late in 2003 and Rover went bust in 2005, so they never officially canned it. On the contrary, I couldn't sell enough of these to the old folk "upgrading" from their Metros/Rover 100s despite my lack of enthusiasm for them and my efforts to get them into a Rover 25 or a Suzuki Alto from our other showroom next door (both vastly better cars). Despite usually breaking down on the test drive, they just couldn't get enough of them and were insistent that the City Rover was the car for them!

[HTP99]

white_goodman said:

Jonmx said:

I know Rover were surprised that these didn't sell better, forcing them to 'upgrade' it after a couple of years before canning it altogether. Turd of a car.

I seem to remember these didn't come out until late in 2003 and Rover went bust in 2005, so they never officially canned it. On the contrary, I couldn't sell enough of these to the old folk "upgrading" from their Metros/Rover 100s despite my lack of enthusiasm for them and my efforts to get them into a Rover 25 or a Suzuki Alto from our other showroom next door (both vastly better cars). Despite usually breaking down on the test drive, they just couldn't get enough of them and were insistent that the City Rover was the car for them!

Weren't they some Indian thing which was purchased for a pittance, "Roverised" with a bit of badging and then given a 200% + mark up?

I remember appraising one for a part ex valuation, it was a truly awful car.

[Jimmy Recard]

JamesRR said:

I don't think the last Civic Type R (FK2?) was helped by only being on sale for about a week before the FK8 was announced and everyone went ooh and ahh over it instead.

On the subject of the lesser spotted Rover 75 V8, was it RWD? I know the rest were FWD, but the MGs were RWD and it seems like it would have been a packaging disaster getting a FWD V8 in.

The 75 V8 was rear drive, yes. Same engine as the ZT260 but the ZTs were manual and the 75 was automatic.

There were also suspension differences as well as the normal differences between a normal 75 and ZT.

The 75 V8 got a different grille though (also used on late, long wheelbase 75s)

[white_goodman]

HTP99 said:

Weren't they some Indian thing which was purchased for a pittance, "Roverised" with a bit of badging and then given a 200% + mark up?

I remember appraising one for a part ex valuation, it was a truly awful car.

Yes. It was a rebadged Tata with an old 1.4 8v Peugeot engine in it (SFPI I think). I went to a dealership event where we got to drive the facelifted Rovers and MGs on track and they had a City Rover there. The top brass seemed rather embarrassed about it and told us that it was cheap entry into a Rover but that we had to explain to our customers that it wasn't a proper Rover! You could get a new 5 door Rover 25 1.4 for around 8k at the time and that's where I would try to steer my customers. It was a much nicer car! I think these started at around 6.5k but you got literally nothing for that. Top spec was around 9k. Alloys, AC but still, you can't polish a turd. Terrible car, although it did have a higher driving position, was fairly spacious and rode OK when it was working.

People do love a cheap new car though. If they're affiliated to a certain brand, they seem to forgive some sttiness on an entry-level price car. The VW Fox and original Mercedes A-Class are other good examples. Fortunately the VW Up is the car that the VW Fox always should have been.

Edited by white_goodman on Tuesday 27th June 19:01

[havoc]

Ninja59 said:

havoc said:

Sold +/- 450 in the UK over a 16 year run, or a little over 40 a year. vs >600 a year for the 993-model 911...which in standard (non-GT) form wasn't as good a car.

(The facelift NSX hardly sold at all...<100 over 4 years)

Hard one with the NSX, I always think the pre facelift is very "dated" now the facelift did bring it more up to date, but as said they are very rare. I do wonder how the new one will do.

What's looking dated got to do with it not selling well at launch.

Oh, and old-style wheels aside, most commentators seem to think the pop-up design has aged well...and better than the facelift...

[Justin Case]

Can we count rare versions of otherwise common cars? Friends bought an Insignia SRI Turbo new seven years ago,, but they have never seen another one since

[valiant]

LandRoverManiac said:

Fiat Stilo Multiwagon

Actually quite nice inside and out with a solid diesel option (parents had one for a while) - but they just never took off for reasons I could never fathom. Even the sportier hatches didn't shift as much as Fiat were hoping.

I owned one of these for 5 years and it was an excellent family wagon. Only let me down once with a flat battery and it was the first time the AA man had worked on one. Rare to pass one on the road which I liked.

Think it's main problem was it tried to emulate the Golf but never succeeded. The previous Bravo/Brava were much more interestingly designed especially against the competition at the time and had that Italian flair that people quite like. The Stilo dumped all that for a conservative design that simply didn't catch on, I mean if you want a Golf-like car you buy a Golf not an Italian version of a Golf.

Plus the depreciation was horrific. Mine had a list price if £16k. I bought it with 9 miles on the clock as a pre-reg for £9k and traded it 5 years later and got £1.5k for it! Still, it's the only car I've regretted selling.

[R36vw]

Passat R36 roughly 160 registered in the uk approx 90 saloons and 70 estates.





Quite a rare beast, uk sales tanked as it was released in 2008 at the start of recession, combined with £500 road tax. A real sleeper

[Frimley111R]

alorotom said:

Evoque convertible

Seen a lot of them in the hotter parts of Europe.

[Jimmy Recard]

Justin Case said:

Can we count rare versions of otherwise common cars? Friends bought an Insignia SRI Turbo new seven years ago,, but they have never seen another one since

Good one. They are pretty rare.

Also the Insignia V6 Turbo. Anyone who wanted to spend that much on a thirsty, high tax Insignia just went for the full VXR. And that wasn't all that many people

[spyder dryver]

[Leins]

spyder dryver said:

Never sold many XTs either I reckon

[Jimmy Recard]

I see an absolutely mint D-reg Subaru XT near me all the time. It looks absolutely perfect condition and I see it driving regularly. I'd love to speak to the owner.