Lert's Talk About Cars (other people can join the discussion, I suppose)

[Rubick]

What did you expect ? its a cheapo B-segment car. Even merc B-segment was frankly nothing to write home about in fact worse since they are overpriced shit.

And the Turbo ? Well it's a low pressure turbo and early one at that for the Japanese. As Saab was the only one really that got on that bandwagon a head of others starting in early 90's if I remember correctly. And once again even Saabs low pressure turbo's were frankly in 2008. meh even in their specific band range. As I've happened to have driven one as a rental for a week.

Edit

Never mind the turbo bit. Is see yours is a diesel and not a petrol.

Edit

Probably, if my health Is up for it going to be looking with a female friend of mine several cars on Saturday. But it's probably going to be either a second hand Volkswagen golf or Škoda Octavia as they are the most sensible in price second hand, fairly reliable and cheaper in terms of repair especially this days compared to Japanese stuff.

 

[Marek_Gutkowski]

What did you expect ? its a cheapo B-segment car. Even merc B-segment was frankly nothing to write home about in fact worse since they are overpriced shit.

I expect a good car.
Peugeot, Renault, hell even Opel, offers in the B segment are tailored more to the driving experience. a ten year older Honda in the same segment is better.
Fiat offers a good driving experience in cars a segment lower.

As for turbo bit. Saab 99 had a turbo since 1977.
I had a Saab 99 but mine didn't have a turbo.

As for a car for your friend. I am not a fan of VW, but gen 6 Golf is a nice car. My friend at work has a one and I get to drive it a lot.
I think even if the Octavia is technically the same chassis the Golf is a better choice.
You can also look at Ford Focus C-Max. The tall focus.
Or Golf Plus.

Those taller cars do offer more comfort. And to me, the selling point is that the visibility is better.

 

[Rubick]

I expect a good car.
Peugeot, Renault, hell even Opel, offers in the B segment are tailored more to the driving experience. a ten year older Honda in the same segment is better.
Fiat offers a good driving experience in cars a segment lower.

Don´t know about current gen. But Peugeot 207 and 301 where frankly dreadful cars and far from drivers cars. I could barely believe they where Peugeots. Equally i don´t think I've ever driven a Opel´s. that one would call a drivers car. Kadett B´s perhaps. But they also had lackluster engines even for their time. In fact i don´t think opel ever made a car that quite ticked the boxes they were aiming to tic off. They always fell short.


Renault, I can´t talk about since i haven´t driven anything newer of theirs past the 80´s.

Fiat always had a knack for making drivers cars It´s really the other aresa they weren´t always successful..

As for turbo bit. Saab 99 had a turbo since 1977.
I had a Saab 99 but mine didn't have a turbo.

Yes, I know. But those where relatively high pressure or `normal` turbo´s. low pressure turbo ´s are somewhat different as they are well low pressure, They don´t give the same power boost are cheaper, have longer life span and meant to operate in more limited rpm range. Saab where the first once to introduce them back in 1992. The Japanese started to use them in 2000´s in mass in their `city cars` , sub compact´s and compacts.

As for a car for your friend. I am not a fan of VW, but gen 6 Golf is a nice car. My friend at work has a one and I get to drive it a lot.
I think even if the Octavia is technically the same chassis the Golf is a better choice.
You can also look at Ford Focus C-Max. The tall focus.
Or Golf Plus.

Those taller cars do offer more comfort. And to me, the selling point is that the visibility is better.

Yeah, a friend of mine still has mark 6, 2,5 liter straight 5. Reliable car more then 500000 km´s on it. Don´t think he ever had to do a major repair on it and is fun to drive.


And yeah, It will probably be a Golf. She kind of wants a Giulietta but those on average a more expensive and for the same price you can get a mark 6 golf with lower mileage.

 

[Marek_Gutkowski]

Don´t know about current gen. But Peugeot 207 and 301 where frankly dreadful cars and far from drivers cars. I could barely believe they where Peugeots. Equally i don´t think I've ever driven a Opel´s. that one would call a drivers car. Kadett B´s perhaps. But they also had lackluster engines even for their time. In fact i don´t think opel ever made a car that quite ticked the boxes they were aiming to tic off. They always fell short.

I was thinking about Corsa actually.
It shares the chassis with Fiat Punto.
They drive about the same. But the engines are different.
Another nice Opel's is the Vectra and the Insignia.
And no matter how I despise Astra in any iteration, they were ok to drive.

A friend has a 301. Said friend is 70 years old.
Yeah, the 301 is an old man's car.
Another friend has a 207, and she has nothing but good things to say about it.
But she is an idiot and that Peugeot was her very first car.
We had a 308 as a work car.
It was lovely.
Other than that I know of Peugeots by reputation.
406 and 205 being so hyped up, I think if I get my hands on one it can only be a letdown.

Renault, I can´t talk about since i haven´t driven anything newer of theirs past the 80´s.

I have a first gen Laguna.
It is a disaster on wheels.
Half of the doors don't close the other half doesn't open.
But the thing sticks to the road like it's glued.
I also have found recollections first gen Clio and Twingo.

Fiat always had a knack for making drivers cars It´s really the other aresa they weren´t always successful..

That is a polite way of saying FIAT is the world's champion at dropping the ball at almost everything.
They used to be the biggest car maker in the world.

Yes, I know. But those where relatively high pressure or `normal` turbo´s. low pressure turbo ´s are somewhat different as they are well low pressure, They don´t give the same power boost are cheaper, have longer life span and meant to operate in more limited rpm range. Saab where the first once to introduce them back in 1992. The Japanese started to use them in 2000´s in mass in their `city cars` , sub compact´s and compacts.

Hmm, I did not know that.
Thanks.

And yeah, It will probably be a Golf. She kind of wants a Giulietta but those on average a more expensive and for the same price you can get a mark 6 golf with lower mileage.

Giulietta is a Stilo if I remember correctly.
I actually would like to have a Stilo.
But frankly, a more Sporty and luxurious Fiat sounds like a bad idea.
All the problems of a cheaply built fiat the added complexity making it even less reliable.

 

[Rubick]

We had a 308 as a work car.
It was lovely.
Other than that I know of Peugeots by reputation.
406 and 205 being so hyped up, I think if I get my hands on one it can only be a letdown.

What gen 308 ? The second and third gen I've heard positive stuff about. The first gen 308 was a ugly , cheaply made, falling apart straight out of the factory pieces of shit, please let a train hit me while i drive through this railway crossing type of car.

90's Peugeot genuinely had good cars across their entire range. Well thought out cars bar some body styles.(306 cabrio). From 106 to 205 and 305 to 405, 406 and the gem that is the 605. The only minus is Ze French never had the ability it seems post war to make a great petrol engine and Peugeot is not the exception. Their stuff is also usually underwhelming lackluster and or unrefined. The high performance variants especially for 106 and 205 were fairly unreliable.

I have a first gen Laguna.
It is a disaster on wheels.
Half of the doors don't close the other half doesn't open.

Generally regarded that Renault took a sever nose dive in quality of manufacturing past the early 90's. So, i can believe that

Speaking of Renault. Would love to get my hands on R16. But the cheapest variants are only to be found in France. And well you'd be crazy to buy a second hand car in France and from a Frenchman.

That is a polite way of saying FIAT is the world's champion at dropping the ball at almost everything.
They used to be the biggest car maker in the world.

FIAT 130 is I think emphasis this. It's a such great car and u can tell FIAT went all out on it. But then that V6 engine,.. its reputation for having tepid output is a bit overstated, non the less its an anemic engine both in response and output. The torque fluctuation of a 60's tractor engine and the grotesquely annoying sound, is what kills it for me. And for unexplained reason what feels to be an engine that hits it's peak twice akin to one of the 3L Alfa Romeo's Busso v6's

When we took the engine out and took it apart. My friend pretty much noted it was a strange design ..like they went out all the way possible to choke it with that port exhaust and combustion chamber setup.

A shame really, wonderful car. And the coupe variant is a beauty

The proposed coupe based 4 door variant and the break even more so.

Giulietta is a Stilo if I remember correctly.

I believe it is. One of the designer which is this guy https://www.youtube.com/c/RoadsterLifeVideo/featured

Whom said, I believe they went into great effort to hide the fact it was stilo inside and out.


Edit



Heh, she ended up getting a 2015 BMW 1 series.

 

[Marek_Gutkowski]

What gen 308 ? The second and third gen I've heard positive stuff about. The first gen 308 was a ugly , cheaply made, falling apart straight out of the factory pieces of shit, please let a train hit me while i drive through this railway crossing type of car.

I keep forgetting that there was a 308 before the second gen. As idiotic as this sentence sounds.
We had the second gen.

-snip- Fiat 130 -snip-

I still say this is one of the best-looking cars ever made.

Heh, she ended up getting a 2015 BMW 1 series.

Hope she has luck with it.

 

[Rubick]

I still say this is one of the best-looking cars ever made.

Yeah, very understated, abstaining from touches of design indulgence that decade had. And it works.

Fun fact.


There was a Gaz Fiat Volga 24 prototype. It used the 130 chassis and the engine while having retaining the rest of innards and body of the 24.

 

[Marek_Gutkowski]

Fun fact.


There was a Gaz Fiat Volga 24 prototype. It used the 130 chassis and the engine while having retaining the rest of innards and body of the 24.

Interesting!
They put a 24 body on a 130 chassis?
Sounds like far to much work for to little benefit.
If they just got the license and called the thing a GAZ 25 or something, Wołga would have been my favorite car ever.

 

[Rubick]

Interesting!
They put a 24 body on a 130 chassis?
Sounds like far to much work for to little benefit.

Yep., well one correction the interior was a mesh of Italian and Soviet.

Gaz-Fiat 24 Volga (prototipo)

Quest’auto, a molti sconosciuta, è una variante della Gaz 24 Volga realizzata in collaborazione con la Fiat, che fornì la base della 130: il pianale, gli interni e il motore V6 erano infatti …

fiat130.nl

Russian sources indicating also that there where also plans to put perhaps put a different engine in their and make other changes.

 

[Marek_Gutkowski]

I got another car.
A 1999 Škoda Felicia 1.3MPI
The last Škoda the Czechs did all by themselves.

I used a small photo because it is nothing really to look at.

This is a car that I have very little to say about.
The driver's position is weird, but not bad, just that it is sort of low and the gear shifter is a little far from where it usually is.
The turn radius is not great, not terrible. The heating is sufficient but a little loud.
The suspension is fine I guess. The performance is mediocre.

The whole car is just so generic.
I had a Škoda 120 now that was a terrible car. So bad it was exciting. This thing is just dull.
But not an old Volvo dull just dull.

So my review of the car is:
If watching paint dry is something you consider entertainment this is a car for you.

 

[Dylanredefined]

Drive a huyundi i10.
Want a landrover
Till I drive one. Look cool great off road.
On road going to a dominatrix would probably be more fun.

 

[t-dugong]

Drive a huyundi i10.
Want a landrover
Till I drive one. Look cool great off road.
On road going to a dominatrix would probably be more fun.

Couldn't imagine the repair costs. I'd say you're better off with the Hyundai.

 

[Dylanredefined]

Couldn't imagine the repair costs. I'd say you're better off with the Hyundai.

I know. I know. Still the heart says do it.

 

[Marek_Gutkowski]

Drive a huyundi i10.
Want a landrover
Till I drive one. Look cool great off road.
On road going to a dominatrix would probably be more fun.

Which Land Rover?

 

[Dylanredefined]

Which Land Rover?

110 safari or double cab rather than soft top.
90 would be slightly more practical though.

 

[Marek_Gutkowski]

110 safari or double cab rather than soft top.
90 would be slightly more practical though.

oh, the first gen defender.

Personally, I would encourage you to get a Discovery. It is a far more civilized vehicle while offering the same offroad ability.

Then again the old saying goes:
The better your offroad vehicle the farther you will need to walk to a farm to ask the farmer to pull you out with his tractor.

@t-dugong talked about repair costs. I disagree about the high cost. Those things are cheap as dirt to run. You get spare parts in every scrapyard, you only need tools and time to keep the thing working.

 

[t-dugong]

oh, the first gen defender.

Personally, I would encourage you to get a Discovery. It is a far more civilized vehicle while offering the same offroad ability.

Then again the old saying goes:
The better your offroad vehicle the farther you will need to walk to a farm to ask the farmer to pull you out with his tractor.

@t-dugong talked about repair costs. I disagree about the high cost. Those things are cheap as dirt to run. You get spare parts in every scrapyard, you only need tools and time to keep the thing working.

It might be cheap where you are, but here the Toyotas are cheaper and they broke down less often.

 

[Marek_Gutkowski]

It might be cheap where you are, but here the Toyotas are cheaper and they broke down less often.

If we are talking offroaders there are no brands. The parts are interchangeable.
Unless you want to make a numbers-matching display piece.

Other than that parts of a random farm tractor can be fit on an offroad car.
If the gearbox you got is too long you get a shorter drive shaft, if the wishbones are of the wrong size then your wheels will be off-camber. That is not a problem. The car is for rolling around in the mud. You are not taking it to win the Paris-Dakar, or overtake on the highway.

 

[Marek_Gutkowski]

Fixed my Fiat Punto today.

Turns out that fixing the short circuit in the left rear lap made the engine run smoothly in the low rev range. Commented to my mother, who used to make guided missiles for a living, about it. She said that it made sense.
Fix one problem in electric power distribution and somehow magically two other problems disappear.

I also sold my Renault Laguna two days ago, I am still happy that the pile of misery is no longer my problem. The guy that got it is a car dealer -slash- salvage yard owner. I asked him does he have any cars to sell.
He said something about a Ford Mondeo. I said "no no no, small simple low number of parts" He said Nissan Micra. I guess I will be posting a short review of a Nissan Micra in a week or two.

Now I only have to fix my Skoda Felicia, and my Toyota Yaris.
But I still have my trusty Fiat Uno, the only thing ever wrong with it was that I crashed my Skoda into it, and the right-hand front light was broken and the indicator had to be duct taped in place.
Now I know how Fiat managed to sell over 8000000 of the things.
They don't break, you have to break them.

 

[Dylanredefined]

Last time driving a land-rover for the army. Engine self destructed. Just back from service. Fan belt possibly not tightened came off damaged other bits.
Result 5 hours waiting for recovery. Vaccinated against buying a land-rover. Not sure how long lasts.

 

[Rubick]

Last time driving a land-rover for the army. Engine self destructed. Just back from service. Fan belt possibly not tightened came off damaged other bits.
Result 5 hours waiting for recovery. Vaccinated against buying a land-rover. Not sure how long lasts.

Well, land rovers been a butt end of jokes since the 70´s. I´m not really sure what you expected! Weirdly enough the rover brand itself could have and was a decade or 2 a shining example of good car brand before jaguar and Leyland strangled the fuck out of it. I had a pleasure driving a Rover P6. It felt like a car designed in the late 60´s for the 70´s. Rather then something designed in the 50´s and went to market in the 60´s.

 

[Marek_Gutkowski]

Yet another installment of I got another car.

Toyota Corolla
This gen

I have to say I really like her. You can that by the state of the inside of this 25-year-old car that there was care put into making it.
Unlike the Yaris I got two cars ago this is a drivers car. It corners well and has respectable performance.
The problem with that is that the car sits low to the ground. You have to be careful driving over potholes and speed bumps.
You sit very low inside, getting in is not the best.
Considering the Yaris that came after it is the opposite, I think Toyota took the user input and overcorrected.

Still a lovely car.

One thing I cannot understand is why the Corolla and the Yaris don't have light indicators light. Only thing that changes is that the dashboard lights up. In day light it is hard to notice and you best look at the stock and check what position it is in.
A strange thing to have cost cutting measures put in.

 

[t-dugong]

One thing I cannot understand is why the Corolla and the Yaris don't have light indicators light. Only thing that changes is that the dashboard lights up. In day light it is hard to notice and you best look at the stock and check what position it is in.
A strange thing to have cost cutting measures put in.

What the fuck? This sounds less like Toyota and more like Toyota East Europe (insert relevant country) execs monkeying around with cost cutting measures. Who the fuck doesn't turning indicators these days?

Edit: looks like an Eighth gen Corolla, post facelift. You sure the previous owner didn't lower the springs?

 

[Marek_Gutkowski]

What the fuck? This sounds less like Toyota and more like Toyota East Europe (insert relevant country) execs monkeying around with cost cutting measures. Who the fuck doesn't turning indicators these days?

I was referring to the headlights, it has turn signals indicator light. There are two of them and they even blink.
I actually checked online manuals. Neither the Yaris nor the Corolla has a "headlight" indicator anywhere. It has foglights and hi-beam indicator lights.

So to add pictures into words.

Those two symbols are not found anywhere.

Edit: looks like an Eighth gen Corolla, post facelift. You sure the previous owner didn't lower the springs?

It is an E11 made in 1998 according to the internetz.
I know for a fact that the springs were not lowered.
I am not 100% certain those springs are as long as they were when the car was new. One Corolla I have seen on the street sat visibly higher, others look to sit about the same as mine. But 25 year old car so people may not replace the parts if they still pass inspections.
But the difference is 1-2cm 3cm at best. Even when I put in new springs the car will not get that much easier to get in. And here I do not compare the Corolla to a minivan or a Rolls-Royce. I am comparing it to a Fiat Uno.

Still, I look forward to owning and using this car for a foreseeable future. It is not mechanically pristine, but I will over time get it there.
My cars look bad but mechanically they run like Swiss watches. any creak any grunt I hear and the part gets replaced.

All five of my cars work for a living. They have to be mechanically in top condition.

Edit: I am currently in talks for an Opel Astra first-gen and a Peugeot 605.

 

[Rubick]

Edit: I am currently in talks for an Opel Astra first-gen and a Peugeot 605.

What engine on that 605. Auto or manual ? What year ? And what's the mileage ? Mind you 605 is not a easy car to fix. Even spark plugs and spark plug wires are pain in the ass to replace. Biggest issues with 605, especially the first years 605, have the Alfa Romeo quality of electric wiring almost. Later years produced cars are better on that front. And 1996 and later models don't have those wiring quality issues.

Water pump and thermo sensor failure is another problem. Mainly for the 93, 94 and 95 models.