Rare versions of common cars

[M1C]

I once briefly owned a 2001 Alfa 156 Sportwagon (1.8 TS Veloce).

That was a rare car then, even more so now, 115 in total according to Howmanyleft.

I passed it to my stepdad who had it for about a year before getting potential reliability wobbles...and he sold it on. He needn't have bothered, i checked some years later and it had been through several more MOT's and had 150k ish on the clock.

Very nice car, much nicer to drive (and generally a nicer car) than the 2002 BMW 320i that i had at a similar time.

[waynecyclist]

Rawwr said:

My Vauxhall knowledge isn't very good but weren't all of the mk3 Cavalier Turbos 4x4? Akin to the Calibra of the time?

Nope they made a 2.0 8v 4x4 in low spec trim, I had one for a short while but I doubt many were made

[Car-Matt]

What about the Mondeo ST220 Saloon

Quite a smart car and only 600 produced so must be pretty uncommon now

[Pommy]

cologne2792 said:

Pommy said:

I find it fascinating comparing what's rare in the UK to here in Oz for the same car - much more big 6 & 8 cylinder choice but mostly in bland spec such as (bearing in mind there are only 24m people)

Just for sale on carsales.com.au
15 x BMW 550
47 x BMW 540
115 x Audi A4 6cyl versions
52 x VW Passat R36
146 x Merc E Class 8 cyl
354 x C63 AMG
29 x RHD Chevy Corvettes
45 Lexus RCF
30 Lexus ISF


So if you want a fast rhd big engined car that has no rust issues and lived its life below 70mph buy one from here!

Is the RHD Corvette actually produced or is it a conversion ? Are we talking modern 'Vette's or classic ones ?

The last one I remember was;

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0077372/

Converted but very good by accounts.

In fact HSV (think AMG/RS/M Power for Holden) have been able to get Chevy to start importing US cars normally only available in the US to Oz and then they'll convert them to RHD and sell them as manufacturer type approved - the Camaro to name one


https://www.carsales.com.au/editorial/news/2017/Pe...

[vsonix]

schmalex said:

stuckmojo said:

DoubleD said:

I hadnt realised that anyone had driven one yet. Was it not nice to drive?

A FWD BMW saloon is like a woman with tits on her back. I'm not interested in driving or owning one. Again, very sad to see. No point in it whatsoever (other than selling it in China first, that is)

What poppycock. In 99% of driving, a regular driver would never know the difference between front and rear wheel drive.

that's simply not true.
Even where they don't know what the difference is, they can still feel a difference.
BMW themselves surveyed this a while ago and found that yes, some of their drivers didn't realise the car was RWD but they still knew something was not the same as their old Vauxhall or whatever.

IMO this FWD thing is going to work out badly for BMW.

[Pommy]

waynecyclist said:

Rawwr said:

My Vauxhall knowledge isn't very good but weren't all of the mk3 Cavalier Turbos 4x4? Akin to the Calibra of the time?

Nope they made a 2.0 8v 4x4 in low spec trim, I had one for a short while but I doubt many were made

I think he was asking if the Turbos were all 4x4 rather than were all Car 4x4s were Turbos. I think the Turbos all were 4x4

This thread is about rare versions of cars when new - talking about old cars and then saying they're rare now isn't really what this thread is about e.g 156 1.8 sportwagons weren't exactly rare in the late 90s. We might as well start claiming Mk3 Ford Fiesta 1.3s are rare...

[Vocht]

My old man had a Jaguar XJ Super V8 LWB (X350) which was pretty rare. The Super V8 was basically the 'standard' luxurious XJ but with the 400bhp supercharged unit from the XJR under the bonnet. Whilst 0-60 performance was the same as the XJR the only real way of distinguishing the Super V8 from a regular XJ6/XJ8 was this 'Super V8' badge on the boot and a small 'supercharged' logo on the rev counter.



They only made around 780 of these LWB models (and 1200 SWB) from 2003-09 making the Super V8 only 2% of the overall build figures for the X350 XJ of which around 84,000 were sold.

[94OD]

DoubleSix said:

Both our dailys are relatively rare versions of very common models;

BMW 130i

Audi A4 1.8T Quattro (b7)

Edited by DoubleSix on Wednesday 17th January 23:40

A friend bought a 1.8T B7. Nice car but quite underwhelming, and very heavy on the juice.

[djdest]

Pommy said:

waynecyclist said:

Rawwr said:

My Vauxhall knowledge isn't very good but weren't all of the mk3 Cavalier Turbos 4x4? Akin to the Calibra of the time?

Nope they made a 2.0 8v 4x4 in low spec trim, I had one for a short while but I doubt many were made

I think he was asking if the Turbos were all 4x4 rather than were all Car 4x4s were Turbos. I think the Turbos all were 4x4

This thread is about rare versions of cars when new - talking about old cars and then saying they're rare now isn't really what this thread is about e.g 156 1.8 sportwagons weren't exactly rare in the late 90s. We might as well start claiming Mk3 Ford Fiesta 1.3s are rare...

Cav Turbos were rare when new, there were only 1004 sold in the UK.
Yes, they were all 4x4, but some had "Cavalier Turbo" on the V5, and some had "Cavalier Turbo 4x4" but they were exactly the same.
Mine was a Polar Sea Blue one, one of only 12 known in that colour making it one of the rarest

[Charlie Michael]

I'd like to nominate my current car - A Mondeo Estate, but the 2.0T 204ps version - they only made it in a short window before the 240ps version was released. When I was looking through the classifieds, only 2 were for sale.

Lovely car but not without its flaws, which warms me to it.

[3yardy3]

Dannbodge said:

They are lovely. Shame the engine is terrible.

E90 335i and E91 335i are both rare, especially in facelift (LCi ) form.

I always see figures floating of only 15 manual E91 335i LCis and around 50 of the E90.

I own an e93 335i Convertible with the Dct gearbox... Im yet to see another one with the DCT and same spec (Highline). Also worth noting that it has been the newest, lowest mileage, highest priced car i've over owned and it has been the most problematic...

[8V085]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

And for a good reason.....................

[mcg_]

one of these

https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=14...

(p.s. there's been threads like this before)

[BuzzBravado]

The Peugeot 205 STDT was rare. Back then everyone went for the GTI.

[Agent XXX]

BuzzBravado said:

The Peugeot 205 STDT was rare. Back then everyone went for the GTI.

That was a cracking little car. FAR to big and torquey an engine for it! 1.9 td wasn't it? Same as in the 405.

[Fun Bus]

Levin said:

I read on these forums that they only seemed to come in the entry trim level and Ghia, eliminating a lot of possible sales. They seem to have been more popular in the Republic of Ireland as I occasionally see them on ROI plates. Of all the Focus saloons I've seen, the second-generation Focus (think 2005-ish) is the one I can only remember seeing once.



Vauxhall Insignia saloon. It looks pretty much the same as the hatchback but it isn't. Compared to some cars on here I'd guess a decent number of these exist but the odds of anyone actually noticing are bound to be low.

That reminds me of the Insignia saloon I saw once which was a 2.0T 4x4 Auto saloon in Elite trim.

[TIGA84]

s m said:

The 3 litre 200bhp V6 Mk3 Mondeo ( not the ST220 )

They didn't sell many ( far outnumbered by the ST220 )

That's because they were 2.5 litre and I think they sold about the same as the ST220 as you could have it in 3 different models, Zetec S, Ghia and Ghia X.

3 Litre V6 was ST220 only.

Edited by TIGA84 on Thursday 18th January 13:42

[Jimmy Recard]

Chimune said:

Common: 2004 Vauxhall Astra 5 door in grey as seen everywhere all the time.

Rare ish version: 2L petrol turbo. Same engine as the vxr - not seen another one ever. I think they get bought and broken for diy corsa vxr transformations!

I have a 2005 black one

[Fastdruid]

Charlie Michael said:

I'd like to nominate my current car - A Mondeo Estate, but the 2.0T 204ps version - they only made it in a short window before the 240ps version was released. When I was looking through the classifieds, only 2 were for sale.

Lovely car but not without its flaws, which warms me to it.

I was going to nominate mine... The Mondeo Estate 2.5T... but it's positively common in comparison to the 2.0T 204PS version!

[SpudLink]

Has anyone mentioned the Abarth 695 biposto? A very rare version of what is basically a Fiat 500. I’ve only seen one.



Edit to add a photo.

Edited by SpudLink on Thursday 18th January 17:00