RE: Vauxhall Cavalier time capsule for sale
Discussion
I can remember my mate telling me about how he pulled up at the traffic lights in his early 90's 1.3 Fiesta and in the other lane was something similarly asthmatic driven by another yoof.
My mate revved his engine, and the other lad looked at him and grinned and did the same and then when the lights turned green they both went for it in the manner of two snails going along a footpath.
He said they were both laughing their heads off. It made me chuckle too.
My mate revved his engine, and the other lad looked at him and grinned and did the same and then when the lights turned green they both went for it in the manner of two snails going along a footpath.
He said they were both laughing their heads off. It made me chuckle too.
Worth nothing that while circa 150bhp-170bhp may seem like nothing nowadays (many modern diesels will make that kind of power), it was also the sensation of speed that was a factor in the likes of Cavaliers and 90s Astras and so on. They didn't have anything like the amount of soundproofing, airbags and all the other insulating materials and components you find in a modern car - things which utterly dull the sensations being felt by a driver (or passenger....)
Cracking 60 in 7-8 seconds may not sound that quick, but the noise, tactility and general sensations being relayed to the car's occupants all amplified that much more than modern cars.
Cracking 60 in 7-8 seconds may not sound that quick, but the noise, tactility and general sensations being relayed to the car's occupants all amplified that much more than modern cars.
BigMon said:
I can remember my mate telling me about how he pulled up at the traffic lights in his early 90's 1.3 Fiesta and in the other lane was something similarly asthmatic driven by another yoof.
My mate revved his engine, and the other lad looked at him and grinned and did the same and then when the lights turned green they both went for it in the manner of two snails going along a footpath.
He said they were both laughing their heads off. It made me chuckle too.
Reminds me of the slowest car I ever drove, a Fiesta 1.0 Popular which an elderly lady owned from she - she left at my family's garage to get some work done. I had to take it to the tyre centre near us to get 2 front tyres fitted. 45bhp of pure, unadulterated power and I don't think the engine had ever been opened up past 3k rpm even once.My mate revved his engine, and the other lad looked at him and grinned and did the same and then when the lights turned green they both went for it in the manner of two snails going along a footpath.
He said they were both laughing their heads off. It made me chuckle too.
I think I could have towed it faster than it could ever move under its own power.
My ex had a 1994 M registered five door Fiesta with the 1.1 engine and a catalytic converter, last one before the fish face ones, it was very very very very slow. 50bhp apparently and 17.6 seconds to 62MPH, and that was a factory fresh one.
Engine shat itself in the end, because it needed to be thrashed absolutely everywhere and even then you were a menace on slip roads and the like.
I honestly thought they'd stopped making cars that slow long before the mid 90s, trust Ford to go that extra mile to create a truly s
t car.
Engine shat itself in the end, because it needed to be thrashed absolutely everywhere and even then you were a menace on slip roads and the like.
I honestly thought they'd stopped making cars that slow long before the mid 90s, trust Ford to go that extra mile to create a truly s
t car.GeniusOfLove said:
My ex had a 1994 M registered five door Fiesta with the 1.1 engine and a catalytic converter, last one before the fish face ones, it was very very very very slow. 50bhp apparently and 17.6 seconds to 62MPH, and that was a factory fresh one.
Engine shat itself in the end, because it needed to be thrashed absolutely everywhere and even then you were a menace on slip roads and the like.
I honestly thought they'd stopped making cars that slow long before the mid 90s, trust Ford to go that extra mile to create a truly st car.
My Mum had a K plate Fiesta 1.1LX when I first passed my test. Granted it looked fairly smart with the grey lower sections and fog lights but it was biblically slow... as a new driver, I think I ended up in dodgy situations due to a lack of speed rather than too much. Joining on an upward motorway slip with four big lads in the car was not a nice experience. Engine shat itself in the end, because it needed to be thrashed absolutely everywhere and even then you were a menace on slip roads and the like.
I honestly thought they'd stopped making cars that slow long before the mid 90s, trust Ford to go that extra mile to create a truly s
t car.Davie said:
My Mum had a K plate Fiesta 1.1LX when I first passed my test. Granted it looked fairly smart with the grey lower sections and fog lights but it was biblically slow... as a new driver, I think I ended up in dodgy situations due to a lack of speed rather than too much. Joining on an upward motorway slip with four big lads in the car was not a nice experience.
Was that one of the old pushrod engines?My mum had a W reg Fiesta that had a 1.3 pushrod engine with some sort of single point fuel injection grafted on, presumably the same as the Ka. The engine was horrible. The Zetec 1.25 was available alongside at the time, but Ford must have had a warehouse full of the old Anglia engines to use up.
GeniusOfLove said:
My ex had a 1994 M registered five door Fiesta with the 1.1 engine and a catalytic converter, last one before the fish face ones, it was very very very very slow. 50bhp apparently and 17.6 seconds to 62MPH, and that was a factory fresh one.
50 bhp? Luxury. Lucky b
d.My first Fiesta had 45 bhp.
MC Bodge said:
Was that one of the old pushrod engines?
My mum had a W reg Fiesta that had a 1.3 pushrod engine with some sort of single point fuel injection grafted on, presumably the same as the Ka. The engine was horrible. The Zetec 1.25 was available alongside at the time, but Ford must have had a warehouse full of the old Anglia engines to use up.
I'm sure it was, some Googling (and a memory test!) would suggest it was the 1.1 HCS engine, so just a slightly improved (in very loose terms) version of the Kent? So yes, pushrods and a whopping 49bhp. Some more Googling would suggest said car weighed 826kgs so factor me and three mates, so there's an extra 300kgs... so call it 1150kgs all in and that's a whopping 42bhp/ton. That's assuming it even had 49bhp by that stage, which I suspect it did not. I keep banging on about the good old days but that thing was definitely not the good old days! My mum had a W reg Fiesta that had a 1.3 pushrod engine with some sort of single point fuel injection grafted on, presumably the same as the Ka. The engine was horrible. The Zetec 1.25 was available alongside at the time, but Ford must have had a warehouse full of the old Anglia engines to use up.
Jon_S_Rally said:
Forester1965 said:
Good luck getting to 150mph with something the size and shape of a Cavalier and 170bhp. I bet they felt comparatively quick with the extra torque over the smaller engined cooking models. In reality they weren't that quick at all.
Compared to what though? When the Cavalier was new, most people were driving around in cars with less than 100bhp. The Vauxhall V6 was about 170bhp, 20bhp more than the 2.9 in the Sierra and about the same as the V6 in the Mondeo, so it was on the money for the time. While they weren't quick compared to a Ferrari, they were relative to most other cars at the time.
t Sherlock) better on a motorway. The later one had 130 bhp and was obviously a bit quicker than that. Uninvolving but OK to row up and down a motorway.When I had to "chose" the first one, what I really wanted was a hot hatch one size down with 140 BHP (R19 16V). By 1996 my company car allowance had gone up considerably and now I could set my sights on a RWD coupe with 200-odd BHP. Which is exactly what I did (S12 200SX). The one that got away was the 328i Coupe.
MC Bodge said:
Davie said:
My Mum had a K plate Fiesta 1.1LX when I first passed my test. Granted it looked fairly smart with the grey lower sections and fog lights but it was biblically slow... as a new driver, I think I ended up in dodgy situations due to a lack of speed rather than too much. Joining on an upward motorway slip with four big lads in the car was not a nice experience.
Was that one of the old pushrod engines?My mum had a W reg Fiesta that had a 1.3 pushrod engine with some sort of single point fuel injection grafted on, presumably the same as the Ka. The engine was horrible. The Zetec 1.25 was available alongside at the time, but Ford must have had a warehouse full of the old Anglia engines to use up.
You are reminding us the Ford were still using wheezy engines, which Vauxhall gave up when the last Chevette and Viva left the showrooms. The "new" range started with the Astra 1.3 in about 1980, which was a delight in comparison, and the Cavalier Mk2 and 3 built on this regime.
M4cruiser said:
Strange to have a Fiesta thread buried in a Cavalier one!
You are reminding us the Ford were still using wheezy engines, which Vauxhall gave up when the last Chevette and Viva left the showrooms. The "new" range started with the Astra 1.3 in about 1980, which was a delight in comparison, and the Cavalier Mk2 and 3 built on this regime.
The old Viva ohv engine was used up until the late 80's in the mk2 Astra and early 90's in the Nova.You are reminding us the Ford were still using wheezy engines, which Vauxhall gave up when the last Chevette and Viva left the showrooms. The "new" range started with the Astra 1.3 in about 1980, which was a delight in comparison, and the Cavalier Mk2 and 3 built on this regime.
M4cruiser said:
Strange to have a Fiesta thread buried in a Cavalier one!
You are reminding us the Ford were still using wheezy engines, which Vauxhall gave up when the last Chevette and Viva left the showrooms. The "new" range started with the Astra 1.3 in about 1980, which was a delight in comparison, and the Cavalier Mk2 and 3 built on this regime.
Yes. When my Dad first got an early Cavalier MK2 1.6, he was very impressed with the "2.0 performance and good economy". I have vague recollection that the early ones had a claimed 90bhp, but it seemed to accelerate quite well. Ford Escorts and Sierra engines were quite primitive in comparison.You are reminding us the Ford were still using wheezy engines, which Vauxhall gave up when the last Chevette and Viva left the showrooms. The "new" range started with the Astra 1.3 in about 1980, which was a delight in comparison, and the Cavalier Mk2 and 3 built on this regime.
When he bought his nearly-new MK3 Cavalier 1.6 unleaded it was using 82 much smaller horses.
M4cruiser said:
Strange to have a Fiesta thread buried in a Cavalier one!
It's sort of relevant, sort of... when you think we were running about in 50bhp Fiestas around the time of the MK3 Cavaliers, makes you realise the V6 with 170bhp and the 204bhp Turbo must have been quite a step. Four times the power so could be like saying 120bhp hatchback today compared to something with 450bhp. A friend has a B plate Nova Merit. Absolute poverty spec in white with a brown interior. No NS door mirror, 3spd (?) fan, 4spd gearbox, don't think it came with a radio... or rear seat belts. Just checked and the 1.0 had 45bhp, though was only 725kg but even still. Makes you realise why dropping a 2.0 16v into a Nova was mind boggling back then. Or a 2.0 turbo!
One poster was correct in saying things felt faster back then as cars were lighter,smaller, less insulating... I can confirm that a 16v Nova felt like a very quick car and a turbo one, that was just madness back then. Still is now!
njw1 said:
M4cruiser said:
Strange to have a Fiesta thread buried in a Cavalier one!
You are reminding us the Ford were still using wheezy engines, which Vauxhall gave up when the last Chevette and Viva left the showrooms. The "new" range started with the Astra 1.3 in about 1980, which was a delight in comparison, and the Cavalier Mk2 and 3 built on this regime.
The old Viva ohv engine was used up until the late 80's in the mk2 Astra and early 90's in the Nova.You are reminding us the Ford were still using wheezy engines, which Vauxhall gave up when the last Chevette and Viva left the showrooms. The "new" range started with the Astra 1.3 in about 1980, which was a delight in comparison, and the Cavalier Mk2 and 3 built on this regime.
But most were in the new style, completely different. Did anyone actually buy the wheezy ones?
Davie said:
M4cruiser said:
Strange to have a Fiesta thread buried in a Cavalier one!
It's sort of relevant, sort of... when you think we were running about in 50bhp Fiestas around the time of the MK3 Cavaliers, makes you realise the V6 with 170bhp and the 204bhp Turbo must have been quite a step. Four times the power so could be like saying 120bhp hatchback today compared to something with 450bhp. A friend has a B plate Nova Merit. Absolute poverty spec in white with a brown interior. No NS door mirror, 3spd (?) fan, 4spd gearbox, don't think it came with a radio... or rear seat belts. Just checked and the 1.0 had 45bhp, though was only 725kg but even still. Makes you realise why dropping a 2.0 16v into a Nova was mind boggling back then. Or a 2.0 turbo!
One poster was correct in saying things felt faster back then as cars were lighter,smaller, less insulating... I can confirm that a 16v Nova felt like a very quick car and a turbo one, that was just madness back then. Still is now!
But my employer bought an economy special 1.1 litre push-rod MK3 Escort in 1983 in poverty spec. Vinyl seats, rubber mats on the floor, no rear wiper, no HRW, no N/S door mirror and amber and red "Economy" lights you had to ignore to get up any sort of incline. It was a hateful POS!
Early MK2 1.6 Cavaliers did have 90bhp and went pretty well for the 80s (Girlfriends dad had one), but MK3 1.6s did only have 82bhp because they were tuned for unleaded that was lower RON.
That might be why my 1990 1.8L came about. It ran on unleaded but had 90bhp.
Mr Tidy said:
Davie said:
M4cruiser said:
Strange to have a Fiesta thread buried in a Cavalier one!
It's sort of relevant, sort of... when you think we were running about in 50bhp Fiestas around the time of the MK3 Cavaliers, makes you realise the V6 with 170bhp and the 204bhp Turbo must have been quite a step. Four times the power so could be like saying 120bhp hatchback today compared to something with 450bhp. A friend has a B plate Nova Merit. Absolute poverty spec in white with a brown interior. No NS door mirror, 3spd (?) fan, 4spd gearbox, don't think it came with a radio... or rear seat belts. Just checked and the 1.0 had 45bhp, though was only 725kg but even still. Makes you realise why dropping a 2.0 16v into a Nova was mind boggling back then. Or a 2.0 turbo!
One poster was correct in saying things felt faster back then as cars were lighter,smaller, less insulating... I can confirm that a 16v Nova felt like a very quick car and a turbo one, that was just madness back then. Still is now!
But my employer bought an economy special 1.1 litre push-rod MK3 Escort in 1983 in poverty spec. Vinyl seats, rubber mats on the floor, no rear wiper, no HRW, no N/S door mirror and amber and red "Economy" lights you had to ignore to get up any sort of incline. It was a hateful POS!
Early MK2 1.6 Cavaliers did have 90bhp and went pretty well for the 80s (Girlfriends dad had one), but MK3 1.6s did only have 82bhp because they were tuned for unleaded that was lower RON.
That might be why my 1990 1.8L came about. It ran on unleaded but had 90bhp.
GeniusOfLove said:
My ex had a 1994 M registered five door Fiesta with the 1.1 engine and a catalytic converter, last one before the fish face ones, it was very very very very slow. 50bhp apparently and 17.6 seconds to 62MPH, and that was a factory fresh one.
Engine shat itself in the end, because it needed to be thrashed absolutely everywhere and even then you were a menace on slip roads and the like.
I honestly thought they'd stopped making cars that slow long before the mid 90s, trust Ford to go that extra mile to create a truly st car.
It wasn't just Ford in fairness. There were loads of cars around with tiny engines and miniscule outputs. In fact, I'd say it was the norm. I remember my friend's parents buying a Fiat Punto in about 1996, and that only had 55bhp and was dog slow. Speaking of Fiat, the Cinquecento was sold with a 900cc engine with about 40bhp. Another friend had a 1.2 8-valve Corsa B as his first car, which I think had 45bhp.Engine shat itself in the end, because it needed to be thrashed absolutely everywhere and even then you were a menace on slip roads and the like.
I honestly thought they'd stopped making cars that slow long before the mid 90s, trust Ford to go that extra mile to create a truly s
t car.In fact, the guy whose parents had the Punto lived two doors down from me, and the neighbour that lived between us had a 1.8-litre MK1 Mondeo which, at the time, was considered a pretty nice car. We both looked at it longingly as it was better than the cars our parents drove, especially when he fitted alloy wheels to it.
My best friend's older sister was seeing a guy and his dad had a Carlton GSI 24V, which seemed like a spaceship, as no one I knew at that time had anything we'd consider even vaguely fast by modern standards really. As others have said, I think a lot of people have forgotten just how different things were in the '90s. Sure, cars like the F40 and McLaren F1 existed, but only on posters or on Top Gear. Even seeing things like Escort Cosworths and the like in the wild was jaw-dropping, as they weren't very common at all.
Most people were driving cars exactly like this Cavalier, which is why I wouldn't be at all surprised if someone buys it. It's a nostalgia hit, even if it seems a bit pants compared to anything vaguely modern.
Davie said:
A friend has a B plate Nova Merit. Absolute poverty spec in white with a brown interior. No NS door mirror, 3spd (?) fan, 4spd gearbox, don't think it came with a radio... or rear seat belts.
My first car was a B reg Nova - although it was a garage special edition, it was based on a Merit and I can confirm it actually had a 2 speed fan!Fortunately mine had the more modern OHC 1.2 engine with a terrifying 55bhp, so I went everywhere sideways in a cloud of uncontrollable tyre smoke...
Jon_S_Rally said:
It wasn't just Ford in fairness. There were loads of cars around with tiny engines and miniscule outputs. In fact, I'd say it was the norm. I remember my friend's parents buying a Fiat Punto in about 1996, and that only had 55bhp and was dog slow. Speaking of Fiat, the Cinquecento was sold with a 900cc engine with about 40bhp. Another friend had a 1.2 8-valve Corsa B as his first car, which I think had 45bhp.
I had a 1.1 Punto 55s .. it was a great car,like a tardis inside I don't recall it being "dog slow" though sure it wasn't the quickest thing. My wife used it to commute round the M25 and I drove it several times from London to Lancashire and back
It was perfectly good
I'd imagine the number plate it had would be worth a few quid now but back then never gave it a thought .. M911CLM it was
We replaced it with another Punto the 85SX and that had a sunroof
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