Morris Minor Owners Club

Mogwai wrote: Thats a nice easy restoration job you've got there, a quick polish and an oil change it'll be good as new

Polish? Pah! It'll all T cut, good as new

Excellent - that's quite a Palace you live in - I expect the Coachman looks after the cars for you ?

One can only wish...

Worst car ever Allegro by a mile i had a 1750 sports special......whoopee was i lucky !

markc wrote:Worst car ever Allegro by a mile i had a 1750 sports special......whoopee was i lucky !

I had a 1500 & 1750 HLS versions. I thought they were great cars - really.
An auto estate my ideal Allegro.
Told you I had strange taste

Paul Humphries.

There's a LOT much much worse than the Allegro - Marina for a start just looking round the BLMC stable! I once got stranded at Birmingham airport due to fog - and the ONLY car they could hire me to drive back to Glasgow was a Marina 1800. What a screaming nightmare that journey was!! Ever so glad to finally reach Glasgow Airport - and sink gratefully into the blissful comfort of my Capri 1600 - it was like a Rolls Royce compared to the Marina cr@p -and faster too!

I would quite like another Allegro estate, despite what seems like a general distain for them, probably born of a 'better go with what everyone else thinks mentality' I found them pretty bullit proof, speaking for the A series models, and a pleasing shape.

Didn't like to say the same thing, so thank you

My pleasure!

I just didn't want to keep on telling people that their "worst car EVAH" was perfectly good

Probably my worst car was a Ford Anglia that apart from not being too reliable was able to wake up the neighbourhood in the morning while trying to start it always sounded like a batch of washers in a baked bean tin.
But from the same era I had a Ford Classic that was excellent.
Hillman Minx 1500 estate for being the most boring car I ever had and not having the power to pull the skin of a rice pudding.
As for Marina's I had a few they were cheap and cheerful and yes bits did fall off but they were reliable and cheap.
Had friends that had the aforementioned Talbots and they did seem to be awful.

We used to have a Allegro 1500 Estate (From brand new) and it was great,But for the pint of oil it needed every tank of fuel. But we did really like it cos it was comfy (in the back) and the dogs had plenty of space too .

Worst car I have ever driven is a Ford Explorer SUV 4x4 thing. Truly hidious and gave me back pain every time I got in the thing. Goodness knows what the yanks see in them, most unpleasent ride and cornering I have ever seen.

A Marina once tried to kill me, so I suppose I'm not the best one to ask about them. (Marina plus foggy day plus Black ice = unpleasent 780° spin and quick check of both sides verges)

Are we all going to come out of the closet now? My only experience of the Allegro was a 1500 top of the range job. Lovely comfortable seats, quiet, smooth, by 70's standards a great car. There, I feel quite liberated now!!

Most disappointing car I have driven recently (sorry bmc) is my daughters' new Meriva. Top of the range model, not particularly quiet, extremely hard seats, the rear ones very basic as well. Not possible to use the handbrake if you are short as the luxury armrest gets in the way!!(even in the stowed position). And 1400cc is not enough to pull it along, whatever hyped up output figures they quote!

Only one car sticks in my memory as being trully awfull and that was a 1992 Kia Pride! I had the misfortune to drive my pals Kia Pride once and to this day I still remember the occasion!! I cant remember what the interior was like but the performance and handling where awfull. You turned into the corner and then turned some more and then some more but it just kept running wide! It was like huge understeer but without the squealing tyres! and I dont know why they put 5 gears in it because as soon as you put it into 5th it bogged down and you had to change back to 4th! Must rate as one of the worst!

I was actually thinking I couldn't think of a truly awful car, with nothing to recommend it, then I remembered the Yaris I drove; which I have to say I hated.

It was a rented car I had in Ireland and I spent most of the time I was driving it bemoaning how attrociously dull it was. It wasn't that there was anything specifically *wrong* with it, it just had nothing at all to recommend it.

Mind, I'm sure some people love 'em.

Nissan Sunny (K reg) gets my vote. Perfectly capable vehicle I'd admit but the way it went about it was numbing. The sort of car that, by virtue of it's complete 'greyness' would make you burst into tears before you even got the key in the ignition.

Not possible to use the handbrake if you are short as the luxury armrest gets in the way!!

That did remind me - I had the great displeasure to drive a Megane with luxury front arm rest. I was physically unable to put my seat belt on whilst sitting in the seat (thanks to the dumbly located immovable arm rest). As I wanted my seatbelt, I had to resort to squatting above the seat and with a bit of contortion I could reach the belt clip. If I'd had a bad back that week I would have had to get a taxi or drive without my belt on.

I'd love a bit of video of that!

Nissan Sunny (K reg) gets my vote. Perfectly capable vehicle I.........., by virtue of it's complete 'greyness' would make you burst into tears

oi!
They have a redeeming feature. After 15 years the all round electric windows and central locking still works, and I have this magic button on the drivers door that prevents the kid in the back from being able to mess with his window... (and hence can't open the window and use the outside door handle).
One 'poor' feature is that the engine is much better than the european equivalents... it's unlikely to ever need working on and leaks no oil whatsoever and consequently the outside of the sump will go rusty until it's porous. Apparently that's common on 15 year old Nissans... something you don't suffer with an A-series.

I think most modern cars are mind numbingly dull. Not all, just most. Especially family saloons/people carriers.

Modern design teams seem to be excellent at taking the 'essence of the motor car' out of the motor car. It's like taking the flavour out of a meal. You are just left with a tasteless (but functional) gruel.

For me, the test is: if it can make you smile and enjoy the drive at less than 30MPH.

Cam wrote:For me, the test is: if it can make you smile and enjoy the drive at less than 30MPH.

Exactly the way I feel.
I'm not bothered about acceleration or top speed so trundling around at low speeds in a car that I enjoy driving is my ideal type of motoring.
In fact 99% of my driving is in 30 or 40 mph limit areas anyway so a car that will do 100+ or 0-60 on 10 seconds would be wasted on me
Other than the brakes, which hopefull will be sorted by the new drums when I get it back on the road, a standard 1098 Minor is almost perfect for me.

Paul Humphries