I had a much later 'Rover' Metro - 1.4 diesel, which was woefully underpowered and thanks to the giant boat anchor up front had a tendency to go straight on at corners. Although it caught me out one day by not doing so, and I found myself driving up the grass verge on the inside of a bend (and being a new driver promptly shat myself, stamped on the brakes, shot across the road and ended up in the opposite ditch .. accident investigation concluded that the front subframe had rusted in half some time ago resulting in a major loss of wheel control - the car was only three years old!)
Mrs TB's had had a new subframe, due to her brother wrapping it around a lamppost a few days before I met her (and she'd had her Honda scooter nicked the same week - no wonder she was a miserable cow
)
Had a Rover 218D, the boxy one with the NA Pug engine too - but that doesn't count as it was basically a Honda with a crap engine slung in. Did the same thing in corners, though - straight on.
Had a 216GSi, great car, not exactly prone to masses of understeer (it handled like a FWD car), but what a gorgeous engine! Every bit as quick as the Astra GTE it replaced, and was able to handle bends reasonably well. It had a 3rd gear that was ideal from about 30mph to about 110mph (no rev limiter). Its biggest downside was no PAS, and 25mpg
. I bought it at 40k, had it for ages (although didn't use it much once Mrs TB started getting company lease scheme cars), gave to my brother at 80k, he did
nothing other than put some tyres on it for an MOT, and scrapped it just shy of 140k, after using it as a pick-up truck when rebuilding his house. I borrowed it just before it was scrapped, and it still went like the clappers - although 3rd gear had developed a whine
When I say nothing, I really do mean nothing. Not even an oil change.
And of course the Austin Allegro .. though despite that being a woeful car I still love it to this day. First car n'all that.
As you say, woeful!
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Topic: If you had £495 for a cheap car...... (Read 2533 times)