Cars that I thought would be shit but weren't.

[Vince70]

For me it must of been my base spec N/A 1.9 diesel xantia with keep fit windows.
Although it wasn’t fast by any stretch of the imagination with the LHM suspension and armchairs for seats it really was a nice way to travel with the added bonus of no speeding tickets so you just sat back and took the scenery in wafting along.
Also as it was so basic it never went wrong as there wasn’t much in the way of French electrics to deal with and I kept it for around 3 years and every member of my family wanted to borrow the car for holiday trips as it was so comfortable.

Also another car that surprised me was a 4 year old Lada Riva which I bought for £100 and for that money it even came with 6 months tax and In the year I had the thing I never put a drop of oil or coolant in the thing and I really abused it and I could leave it unlocked outside the pub and no one would touch it.
I was always skint back then and running out of petrol and the fuel primer was a godsend and it even came with a nifty little pump and a toolkit.

[cros]

280px-Vauxhall_Ten_Saloon_1938.jpg (20.96 KiB) Viewed 4979 times

Not a very promising looking heap, but actually a revelation compared to most of its peers in the late '30's. I drove one for the first time a couple of years ago and was struck by how much of an advance was hidden by the staid looking bodywork. Independent suspension, monocoque construction and a smooth economical engine along with light steering and above average all hydraulic brakes were only spoiled by the car being very rust prone. Only Morris offered anything comparable when in 1938 Issigonis borrowed what the Americans had achieved with a solid front axle; the 'xpag' engined unitary construction M, though even uglier, achieved some unlikely success on the race track. At 80 years old a decent example can still be entertaining to drive.

[BenHar]

280px-Vauxhall_Ten_Saloon_1938.jpg

Not a very promising looking heap

What is it, please.

Ben

[Vince70]

Another Car for me would have to be the Ford Cougar after hearing all the negative press about the car.
I have had two real nice examples over the years which were both 2,5 litre manuals and on a run you could achieve 30mpg out of them as long as you don’t get to addicted to the 6 pot soundtrack but they made a brilliant grand tourer.

At the time I had mine about 7/10 years ago I was looking for a Puma when these motors popped on my radar and the reason the Puma was put on hold was I couldn’t find a rust free example yet both the Cougars were rust free and very well screwed together but it seemed when buying them that you could have any colour as long as it’s silver.

[christine]

Fiat Cinquecento.. never have I had so much fun with a car .

[AutoshiteBoy]

Mazda 323, the last of the pop-up head lamps and the first of the slatty headlamps. Great drivers cars.

[Sri05]

Fiat Cinquecento.. never have I had so much fun with a car .

I had a Seicento "Sporting"" a couple of years back, I'm sure it had 54 hp but weighed the same as a tin of beans so was a hoot to drive about in. The only drawback was I looked ridiculous in it which hastened it's departure

[Sloth]

gm did a 1.6 dizzler in the mk2 astra and mk2 cav. they then used the 1.7 izusu dizzler in the mk3 cav and some mk3 astras. they then bored the og 1.6 to 1.7 and called it the low blow and wedged it in mk1 vectras and some astra mk3s.

meanwhile the izuzu got thrown into the later vectras and then had a 16v head and common rail munted on top. it saw out life in the mk1 post face veccys and the mk4 astras and some corsa c's

the 1.5 td was a smol 1.7 isuzu, and you can wedge one where the other was. a mate did a 1.7 tdi nova, went very well

[Junkman]

Renault 10 Major.
Just by looking at it and computing the layout and figures in my head it appeared woefully shit to me.
Imagine my delight when I got one assigned as a hire car in what was still Yugoslavia at the time. I was sure it's going to confirm all my prejudices in a hilarious fashion.
Imagine my surprise when it turned out to be really nice to drive and doing a sterling job at just being a darn good car.

[quietside]

Renault 10 Major.
Just by looking at it and computing the layout and figures in my head it appeared woefully shit to me.
Imagine my delight when I got one assigned as a hire car in what was still Yugoslavia at the time. I was sure it's going to confirm all my prejudices in a hilarious fashion.
Imagine my surprise when it turned out to be really nice to drive and doing a sterling job at just being a darn good car.

A 10 Automatic was my first car.