Cars that made no impact or contribution to motoring

[Heaveho]

powerstroke said:

Can you have fun in a diesel 5 series ??? Taxi !!!!

I thought that, but I too was overwhelmed by a crippling wave of pity for the owner to comment! Then I realised he owned that bastion of excitement, the 520d model. Lucky sod!

[tomic]

Suzuki X-90. Can’t really think of any reason for it’s existence or any legacy it left.

[s m]

Pebbles167 said:

Limpet said:

I cannot think of a single thing it did better than the Cavalier it replaced, and was far less reliable, at least initially. Coolest door mirrors on the planet, mind.

Allow me to make a case for the Vectra;

I always rather liked them. A friend of my dad's had a GSI when I was a kid and thought it was a great looking thing, and even better in estate form. Not the best car ever, for sure, but they came out the factory with body kits, recaro seats and a V6. They even did a homologation super touring model, and had a pretty cool BTCC car. Some of the cars mentioned, ie: Mitsubishi Charisma (lack of), and the horrid Nissan Almera Mk2 had no effort thrown at them, no motorsport versions and no worthwhile special editions, but the Vectra surely deserves a bit of credit?

Would have loved a Vectra ST200 - they had a lovely exhaust burble plus all the good bits as well

[Fast Bug]

s m said:

Pebbles167 said:

Limpet said:

I cannot think of a single thing it did better than the Cavalier it replaced, and was far less reliable, at least initially. Coolest door mirrors on the planet, mind.

Allow me to make a case for the Vectra;

I always rather liked them. A friend of my dad's had a GSI when I was a kid and thought it was a great looking thing, and even better in estate form. Not the best car ever, for sure, but they came out the factory with body kits, recaro seats and a V6. They even did a homologation super touring model, and had a pretty cool BTCC car. Some of the cars mentioned, ie: Mitsubishi Charisma (lack of), and the horrid Nissan Almera Mk2 had no effort thrown at them, no motorsport versions and no worthwhile special editions, but the Vectra surely deserves a bit of credit?

Would have loved a Vectra ST200 - they had a lovely exhaust burble plus all the good bits as well

Would the good bits include cambelt rollers made of choclate that would break and result in a valve/piston/head interface issue? Or the build quality that would make Lada blush?

[s m]

Fast Bug said:

s m said:

Pebbles167 said:

Limpet said:

I cannot think of a single thing it did better than the Cavalier it replaced, and was far less reliable, at least initially. Coolest door mirrors on the planet, mind.

Allow me to make a case for the Vectra;

I always rather liked them. A friend of my dad's had a GSI when I was a kid and thought it was a great looking thing, and even better in estate form. Not the best car ever, for sure, but they came out the factory with body kits, recaro seats and a V6. They even did a homologation super touring model, and had a pretty cool BTCC car. Some of the cars mentioned, ie: Mitsubishi Charisma (lack of), and the horrid Nissan Almera Mk2 had no effort thrown at them, no motorsport versions and no worthwhile special editions, but the Vectra surely deserves a bit of credit?

Would have loved a Vectra ST200 - they had a lovely exhaust burble plus all the good bits as well

Would the good bits include cambelt rollers made of choclate that would break and result in a valve/piston/head interface issue? Or the build quality that would make Lada blush?

LSD, AP brakes, Konis,Speedline alloys, Recaros ...that sort of stuff

YMMV of course

[dbdb]

Jimmy Recard said:

Zad said:

Almost everything made since 1970 by Austin Rover / British Leyland? Barring the notable SD1 and 6R4

Range Rover?

Definately the Range-Rover - and what about the Jaguar XJ6 Series 2 and Series 3, the XJ-S and XJ40? - Four more really excellent cars developed under the BL umbrella. Or the the Triumph Dolomite Sprint? The Mini Metro was also a superb car at launch - and the Maestro was well regarded too.

BL developed a great many technologically interesting cars, some of which were very capable. I don't understand why they are forgotten.

[Heaveho]

dbdb said:

Definately the Range-Rover - and what about the Jaguar XJ6 Series 2 and Series 3, the XJ-S and XJ40? - Four more really excellent cars developed under the BL umbrella. Or the the Triumph Dolomite Sprint? The Mini Metro was also a superb car at launch - and the Maestro was well regarded too.

BL developed a great many technologically interesting cars, some of which were very capable. I don't understand why they are forgotten.

I worked for a Jag Indy when the XJ40 was a regular sight. When a company can't build a reliable door handle, I lose interest......

[dbdb]

Dodgy door handles only affect the early XJ40s though. Later cars were well made and reliable cars - including the door handles!

Mine has been superbly reliable and I have owned it a great length of time.

[Russian Troll Bot]

Fermit The Krog and Sexy Sarah said:

Everyone bought a 306 instead.

Got to disagree with that. They weren't pretty but very tough, sold well, and had one of the first diesel hot(ish) hatches

[Pig benis]

BarbaricAvatar said:

Born on rally stages, spend their lives farting up and down roads in the hands of imbeciles.

You have really misunderstood the point of this thread, and by a LONG way too.

These cars were the pinnacle of proper performance for Joe public when they were new. Plus their chassis and technology used was extraordinary for their time, epic cars! Just a shame about the owners

[Heaveho]

dbdb said:

Dodgy door handles only affect the early XJ40s though. Later cars were well made and reliable cars - including the door handles!

Mine has been superbly reliable and I have owned it a great length of time.

Are you basing your opinion on owning one car? I worked with these things for years! I haven't got space in my memory to list the litany of issues all of the Jags you mentioned regularly displayed, but it provided my wife ( who's business it was ), and me with a very respectable income generally.

As she used to say, the cars are unreliable and the owners are mad! No offence meant. Statement of fact in my experience.

Completely o/t though, I'm not saying they didn't contribute anything. They made me appreciate the reliability and dependability of Lexus, for instance!

Edited by Heaveho on Thursday 22 March 23:37

[Pebbles167]

Fast Bug said:

s m said:

Pebbles167 said:

Limpet said:

I cannot think of a single thing it did better than the Cavalier it replaced, and was far less reliable, at least initially. Coolest door mirrors on the planet, mind.

Allow me to make a case for the Vectra;

I always rather liked them. A friend of my dad's had a GSI when I was a kid and thought it was a great looking thing, and even better in estate form. Not the best car ever, for sure, but they came out the factory with body kits, recaro seats and a V6. They even did a homologation super touring model, and had a pretty cool BTCC car. Some of the cars mentioned, ie: Mitsubishi Charisma (lack of), and the horrid Nissan Almera Mk2 had no effort thrown at them, no motorsport versions and no worthwhile special editions, but the Vectra surely deserves a bit of credit?

Would have loved a Vectra ST200 - they had a lovely exhaust burble plus all the good bits as well

Would the good bits include cambelt rollers made of choclate that would break and result in a valve/piston/head interface issue? Or the build quality that would make Lada blush?

Yes yes, all true. But come on now, surely you're not suggesting a car has to be really reliable to be a bit cool? I know they had their faults, I've never even owned a Vauxhall, I was just giving it the credit it deserved.

[Fast Bug]

Pebbles167 said:

Fast Bug said:

s m said:

Pebbles167 said:

Limpet said:

I cannot think of a single thing it did better than the Cavalier it replaced, and was far less reliable, at least initially. Coolest door mirrors on the planet, mind.

Allow me to make a case for the Vectra;

I always rather liked them. A friend of my dad's had a GSI when I was a kid and thought it was a great looking thing, and even better in estate form. Not the best car ever, for sure, but they came out the factory with body kits, recaro seats and a V6. They even did a homologation super touring model, and had a pretty cool BTCC car. Some of the cars mentioned, ie: Mitsubishi Charisma (lack of), and the horrid Nissan Almera Mk2 had no effort thrown at them, no motorsport versions and no worthwhile special editions, but the Vectra surely deserves a bit of credit?

Would have loved a Vectra ST200 - they had a lovely exhaust burble plus all the good bits as well

Would the good bits include cambelt rollers made of choclate that would break and result in a valve/piston/head interface issue? Or the build quality that would make Lada blush?

Yes yes, all true. But come on now, surely you're not suggesting a car has to be really reliable to be a bit cool? I know they had their faults, I've never even owned a Vauxhall, I was just giving it the credit it deserved.

I worked in the parts department of a Vauxhall dealer when these were new, I know full well how st they were

We also had our ST200 unsold in the showroom for probably a year before my MD had it as a demo. It then sat in used area for another year before it got sold

[FN2TypeR]

Limpet said:

I cannot think of a single thing it did better than the Cavalier it replaced, and was far less reliable, at least initially. Coolest door mirrors on the planet, mind.

DELETED: Comment made by a member who's account has been deleted.

My dad had a 2.2 petrol in the same colour ad the above car, the handling and steering were pitiful, laughable even, it was shed money in fairness but still.

The car has made a fair contribution to the world of motoring though, IMO, even if it is absolutely rubbish.

[Evanivitch]

Heaveho said:

Ford Fusion. I mean, just why?

You could add the Renault Modus to that as well.

[dbdb]

Heaveho said:

Are you basing your opinion on owning one car?

No.

[Pebbles167]

I'm a massive Peugeot fan, but I think theot 307 deserves a place here. Worse in every way (apart from perhaps build quality) than the 306 it replaced.

And good god, just look at the state of it. What a piece of st.

[s m]

FN2TypeR said:

Limpet said:

I cannot think of a single thing it did better than the Cavalier it replaced, and was far less reliable, at least initially. Coolest door mirrors on the planet, mind.

DELETED: Comment made by a member who's account has been deleted.

My dad had a 2.2 petrol in the same colour ad the above car, the handling and steering were pitiful, laughable even, it was shed money in fairness but still.

The car has made a fair contribution to the world of motoring though, IMO, even if it is absolutely rubbish.

Yes, the cooking ones were just transport. Would have definitely wanted at least the GSi, MSD worked some magic there,they got very good reviews for handling compared even with the V6 Mondeos

Even EVO's photographer, Kenny P, who ran a Mondeo V6 was impressed.

Long geared but impressive when you stoked them through the lower gears

[Mr Tidy]

ciege said:

Blasphemy - I had a 325ti Sport for 3 years and it was a great car!



Unlike the Mazda 323f it replaced - underpowered white goods sort of car!

[anonymous-user]

ciege said:

Awful looking thing.