Morris Minor Owners Club

And Morris Minors "trundle" beautifully!

les wrote: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.

My first car was an Allegro and I found it nice to drive, it was a 1500 super with cloth seats... wow! Everyone who knew me bemoaned it and said they were naff cars (ok they used stronger words than that)... until I took them out in it and they thought it was actually a good one I'd got. So from my experience I think it was more to do with the image of the company who built it rather than the cars themselves that were the problem. Just my opinion of course.

Worse car for me has to be my 53 plated MGTF 135, a cracking drive, a cracking looker a real head tuner.... but the quality was just awful!!! 25,000 miles saw me replace a head gasket, a wiper mechanism, four door solenoids, front headlight, rear lights and aerial. Everyone told me they leaked.. but mine didn't strangely enough.

Best car... erm sorry has to be my Yaris's, had three in total. Boring to look at, boring to drive, errr boring interior, but the things just go on and on. 80,000 miles on my current Yaris and I've just had to replace a rear break light bulb...

It's so sad because all I think the British car industry had to do was make a car that didn't rot and get everyone who bought one from A-B everytime.. all the time. If it had done that in later years I really do think it would still be here.

What about a Renault 18........diesel?

From experience, a mark 5b 1.6 16v escort. Looked dull, handled like crap, let water in and my god it was slow. I hated that car.

My mark 1 clio was boring in every way and some how even managed to have heavy steering at 60 mph. It also had a sun roof that would never stop leaking and the morning after a rainy night would hold enough water to soak you as you broke.

Mine are:

Toyota Pious (not owned one, never will) One of the least "green" cars you could buy.

Ford Escort MkIII - broke down and fell apart, despite having it from new. Terrible.

Toyota Pious

Yaris - hires a couple, hated them Incredibly slow, irritating and pointless electronic dash display, huge A pillar you can't see round, felt very cheap and tinny

Toyota Pious

Renaut Fuego - tinny cheap rubbish, and that's being polite

Toyota Pious

Fiat Multipla - sometimes there's just not enough vomit to go round, is there?

Toyota Pious

Granada Scorpio - see "Fiat Multipla"

Toyota Pious

Chrysler PT Cruiser - looks OK if you like that sort of thing, but an appalling car to actually travel in - even worse than the Neon it's based on.

Oh, did I mention the Toyota Pious? I think the designers and marketers of this car should be made to live in the middle of the desolate sterile strip-mines in South America and Africa that are created and sustained by the need to mine the chemicals required for its batteries.... And then all the old batteries that have needed replacing in a few years should be stacked up around their houses to give them a really nice view of what they've created.... [/rant]

There are many more cars I hate, but that's because I hate them, not that they are necessarily "bad" cars, e.g. BMWs, Chryslers, anything French etc.

Forgot to mention the 1.4 Escort MkV we had as company cars. Slow, mushy and dull. The worst aspect about them being the truly irritating and unnecessary tinkling sound from the exhaust that was audible inside the car at any speed.
I know somebody with a 1.6 and it is a completely different car.

Renault 18, eh? -I had one of them. My father sold it to me for... far too much.

The electrics were several days into dodgy country, and the wiring diagram occupied about thirty chapters in the Haynes manual so I never did get round to sorting out the refusal of the windows to open. It did things like spontaneously bursting into flames on the seafront in Weymouth (unfortunately I had an extinguisher on board and put it out, thereby extending the misery by quite some time). I was on first name terms with the AA recovery drivers of the South West.

Thank you, father, wherever you are

Dru wrote:Renault 18, eh? -I had one of them. My father sold it to me for... far too much.

The electrics were several days into dodgy country, and the wiring diagram occupied about thirty chapters in the Haynes manual so I never did get round to sorting out the refusal of the windows to open.

I think that's as much a (wholly justified) critisicm of modern wiring diagrams!! Having spent years in an electro-mechanical design environment, I once persevered with the Citroen BX ones, and finally made some kind of sense of them, only to realise they bore no resemblance whatsoever to what was in the car loom! Nowadays I just rewire from scratch any feature that plays up on my wifes Xantia!

There are many more cars I hate

Can't be many more left!