0-60 for your first car?

[generationx]

Mk2 Escort 1.6 Ghia 4-door: an earth-shattering 10.3 seconds apparently. Or, as it felt like to a 17-year-old me, Porsche-baitingly super-quick...

[Strudul]

Gad-Westy said:

I know it is crass to ask but I have to know, a few people have mentioned some quite spicy cars as their first, Impreza, 350Z, Supra, S6 etc.. Were these bought and insured as 17 year olds and if so, how many 0's on the insurance premium?

Can't speak for everyone else, but personally I waited and didn't get my first car (350Z) til I was 22.

As much as I love cars and driving, I couldn't justify the cost as a student living over the road from uni (literally a 2 minute walk). Insurance prices are ridiculous for younger drivers and I refused to pay £4k+ to drive some piece of crap worth a fraction of that.

That being said, the "spicyness" of a car has little impact on the premium you pay. It's all about claim stats, hence when I was searching I found that I could insure 6.3 litre V8 Mercs for less than typical "first-car" small hatchbacks.

[GeordieInExile]

9.2 seconds for my Ford Puma 1.7. What a car.

[hornmeister]

11.2 1994 Rover Mini Cooper.
Felt a darn sight faster than the car I have now that does it in just over half that.

[InductionRoar]

Surely this is a first? PH competing to see whose car is slowest.

1.3 KA - 14.1

[Uncle John]

10.2 seconds MG Metro, red seat belts worth 0.5 of a second.

[bigandclever]

Vauxhall Chevette 1.4 'fanny magnet special edition' in sky blue

0- 60 mph 14.9 s
top speed 87 mph

and reg was ETU61X for the completists

[AW111]

59 hp in 720 kg of 1967 Corolla =?

It ended up with 80 or 90 hp, and sounded faster still.

[sinbaddio]

1984 Polo 1.1 Formel E

I would reckon around 16 seconds, but it hit 62mph in 2nd gear IIRC(regularly).

[lucido grigio]

Ford Cortina MK2 1600 ,with 1300 engine fitted.

Not sure I drove it very fast at all ,it really wasn't very good.

0-60 ,who knows ?

Over excitable gear changes resulted in the lever pulling out of the box sometimes too due to the silly plastic threaded fitting they had.

[Tomy90]

Fiat Grande Punto Sporting 1.4 16v Starjet - 10.9 seconds

[fido]

Metro HLE 1.0 - 18s

sinbaddio said:

1984 Polo 1.1 Formel E

I would reckon around 16 seconds, but it hit 62mph in 2nd gear IIRC(regularly).

14.6 actually. I know it was a lot quicker than the Metro because I used to dream of a Polo :-(

[Biker 1]

1973 Mini 850, 0-60 quoted here at 24.9 seconds: http://www.carfolio.com/specifications/models/car/...
However, it was knackered, guzzled oil, was very high mileage, & had almost no brakes. I'm sure the 0-60 time was probably considerably more than advertised.
I had a Renault 4 after this, 0-60 quoted 34.2 seconds: http://www.carfolio.com/specifications/models/car/... the engine on this beast was utterly fked, so the 0-60 figure quoted is wildly optimistic
My worst car, by far, was a Morris Marina 1.3; cream with brown vinyl roof & brown velour upholstery There was something wrong with the compression, I think, as I never actually managed to get to 60.....
Other claims to fame:
1980 Fiat 127
1979 Fiat Strada
1989 Citroen BX
1997 Vauxhall Astra Estate

[feef]

Citroen 2CV... a face-melting 31.7 seconds.

Or never if you were going uphill

[GrandAndrew]

17.7 seconds - 306 1.9 d

[trails]

mkI XR2 9.4

[rucky544]

8.9 seconds. 1985 JDM Civic Si 1.6 DOHC. I lived in New Zealand at the time and it cost me about £140. Used it for a year with almost no money spent on it and sold it for about £500 to some backpackers.

[Track Rod]

16.9 -Lada Riva 1.3. 16 seems to be fairly average, don't feel quite so embarrassed now!

[sinbaddio]

fido said:

Metro HLE 1.0 - 18s

sinbaddio said:

1984 Polo 1.1 Formel E

I would reckon around 16 seconds, but it hit 62mph in 2nd gear IIRC(regularly).

14.6 actually. I know it was a lot quicker than the Metro because I used to dream of a Polo :-(

I reckon the Golf 16v roof mounted aerial I installed probably knocked a second off that

[simonrockman]

12 Sec. Mk III Cortina 2.0. Drove it into the pond in Hamspstead.