Modern Cars

[Black Sheep]

You need a Land Rover 90. Infinitely repairable with cheap, easily available parts, second-hand if you want. Simple rugged and reliable.

unfortunately the modern engines in them can be problematic, the 300TDI is regarded as the best for the defender

personally i prefer the SII A from about the mid 60's, my friend bought one in the summer, drove it out of the hedge it had been sat in for the past 10 years after a change of petrol and battery

a bit of fettling and hammering later and it was through its MOT!

 

[tyred]

There is no doubt a Land Rover is tough and will last indefinitely. They are also thirsty, horrible to drive, over priced, unrefined and the upkeep can get expensive. None of the diesel engines used down through the years are particularily long lived either.

A Land Rover is best kept for fields.

 

[Rhythm Thief]

I love Land Rovers. If my commute was shorter than, er, 75 miles each way I'd have a Series 2.
The 18 year old nephew of a friend of mine has just built this ...

(Sorry, it's not a great photo, but you get the idea.)

... from a Series 1. He's just fitted a Rover V8 engine, and he jacked the suspension up himself using bits from his local scrapyard. Clever chap.

Edit: for all you eagle eyed types out there, yes it is four wheel drive ... now.

 

[LLB]

There is no doubt a Land Rover is tough and will last indefinitely. They are also thirsty, horrible to drive, over priced, unrefined and the upkeep can get expensive. None of the diesel engines used down through the years are particularily long lived either.

A Land Rover is best kept for fields.

If used as a utility vehicle, these points are tolerated. A modern tractor is far more refined in the cab than an old landie.

 

[llllllll]

My only car is a 60's Reliant, love it to bits and use it year round, but to be honest it's not much fun at this time of year. It starts pretty well, but it's almost undrivable until the engine's warmed up, which means 5mins of sitting on the drive chewing up fuel before I go anywhere.
The heater and fan are pathetic which means I have to drive everywhere with all the windows open while constantly clearing the windscreen of steam. And there's always plenty of steam beacuse the windows leak, the water collects on the floor which is just thin fibreglass positioned about an inch above the hot exhaust.
The headlights aren't much cop either.
It makes up for it in summer though.

I did have a modern car for a while and hated it, but when the weathers bad I must admit I can see their appeal.

 

[Rhythm Thief]

If used as a utility vehicle, these points are tolerated. A modern tractor is far more refined in the cab than an old landie.

... but not as much fun.

 

[Black Sheep]

There is no doubt a Land Rover is tough and will last indefinitely. They are also thirsty, horrible to drive, over priced, unrefined and the upkeep can get expensive. None of the diesel engines used down through the years are particularily long lived either.

A Land Rover is best kept for fields.

true, the naturally asthmatic diesel engines fitted before the 90's aren't particularly great,

i personally have got milage out of an old petrol landy that was equal to that of a large estate car.

they aren't the best example of older vehicles that are usable today due to the nature of said vehicle being designed to be bodged as often as you like and drag twice its weight about etc.

 

[Piemaster]

My only car is a 60's Reliant, love it to bits and use it year round, but to be honest it's not much fun at this time of year. It starts pretty well, but it's almost undrivable until the engine's warmed up, which means 5mins of sitting on the drive chewing up fuel before I go anywhere.
The heater and fan are pathetic which means I have to drive everywhere with all the windows open while constantly clearing the windscreen of steam. And there's always plenty of steam beacuse the windows leak, the water collects on the floor which is just thin fibreglass positioned about an inch above the hot exhaust.
The headlights aren't much cop either.
It makes up for it in summer though.

Ever thought about buying a bike to replace it? Might actually be more comfortable. And drier. Takes me about 5 minutes to warm up on the bike. Still, couple of Tesco 3 watt LED torches and some duct tape and you're sorted for the headlights......

 

[domd1979]

I also have a air cooled VW camper. Great fun to drive, love using it, but trying to keep it on the road is a real headache. Try changing a clutch cable at the side of a road, no fun. As for the gear box, heater, seats, fuel consumption, lack of brakes, steering, etc don't get me started!!

They are top vehicles though! What sort have you got? I acquired a 1976 bay last year, brought in from Australia. On the whole its behaved itself so far - though I do keep a tool box and various spares in it just in case!!

 

[domd1979]

The insurance company have given me a Vauxhall Astra Billy Whizzer thing as a courtesy car

It's an SRI, is very quick and works well as a machine but is totally without character and has sooo many gadgets. There appears to be three different indicator functions

Vauxhalls are horrible. I've had two Astras (one was an SRi) and a Vectra from Enterprise as hire cars over the past few months. The controls are horrible and driving them isn't much to write home about. Last one I had the seat belt detection was jiggered and kept pinging at me when I was wearing the bloody seat belt. The springy indicator and wiper stalks are immensely irritating the way they spring back and centre but the indicator keeps going. Then you either can't cancel it when you want to (the other direction comes on) or it cancels when you don't want it to. Agh.

 

[Mr Pig]

Vauxhalls are horrible. The controls are horrible and driving them isn't much to write home about.

Tell me about it. How people stand it I have no idea. I borrowed a Vectra from work the other day to pop out to a parts supplier and they're still just as bad. The steering wheel feels like it's connected to the wheels via Mr Blobby! You get no feel or feedback from the road except for the car hopping off line over bumps. Safe car, you wouldn't dare drive one fast!

 

[domd1979]

Tell me about it. How people stand it I have no idea. I borrowed a Vectra from work the other day to pop out to a parts supplier and they're still just as bad. The steering wheel feels like it's connected to the wheels via Mr Blobby! You get no feel or feedback from the road except for the car hopping off line over bumps. Safe car, you wouldn't dare drive one fast!

Yep, I found that the steering on the Vectra was strange. No feel when cornering at all.

 

[longers]

I had a hired brand new Corsa for a couple of days to go on a course and the steering was one of my biggest gripes with it .

 

[Rhythm Thief]

Nice one - But did he manage to get an MOT?

Yes, it's completely road legal. He did all the sterering geometry and the suspension pretty much by eye, too. No drawings or measuring or anything like that.

 

[colly]

I don't own a car now but do drive a couple quite regularly.
One is a Daewoo (now Chevrolet) Kalos and the other is a Fiat Punto. Neither is amazingly fast but out of the two the Daewoo is far nicer to drive.

I drive a van most of the time and to be honest it is better than any car I have ever owned in that:

the heater works,
it starts first time every time,
it is amazingly comfortable,
you can talk without shouting at any speed,
the windows actually open,
the lights work,
it gives upwards of 45 to the gallon,
the gearbox works,
it steers in a straight line when you want it to,
body parts don't threaten to drop off,
the exhaust makes the noise it is supposed to,
the brakes really do slow me down,

Oh yes.......I can get my bike in the back with room to spare.

Of course that might be due to the fact I only ever owned totally beat up crap cars before.

I did drive a Peugeot 407 a while back for a week and it was the most un-predictable car I have ever been in. The throttle made no difference to engine speed until about 1/4 off it's full travel, the brakes snatched and grabbed, the steering was vague in the extreme, and you sat so low in the car even with the seat adjusted it was like being a midget. Horrible.