Cars Where The Reality Failed To Live Up To The Expectation

[Hooli]

Pugrot 205 Gti.

Everyone raves about handling & power. It was shit slow, didn't handle, felt like it was going to fall apart & worse in every way than the 205D I'd driven previously.

Me too. Bought a low miles 1.9 GTI off my then Mother in Law.
It was fucking awful in almost every way.
Not fast, very short travel suspension, crap.

Allow me to question normal convention.

The 205GTi is a far better car in 1.6 form than 1.9.

It was a 1.6 I drove.

[NorfolkNWeigh]

I test drove a 205GTi , with a view to having a lease one as a company car in 1985. I had been an avid reader of car for almost 10 years by this point, so was expecting greatness...
Admittedly I only drove it round Chiswick and a quick (ish) blast out to Heston services and back to Warwick Wright, but I thought it slow and tinny and this was compared to the 3 year old MK1 XR2 , I’d been given as a stopgap to use.
As a fully mulleted chav Ford Licker cunt of 21 I chose an XR3i, obviously in white. Story of my life up till then ( and since) buy something Car approved; R17, Beta Coupe etc then get fed up of foreign flakiness and replace with a Granada or Cortina!

Many years later I bought aCTi for Mrs N , it was OK , apart from when I was driving it home I rested my right hand at the join of the door and screen on a bumpy road- ended up with a big black mans pinch, due to the body flex.

[Bangernomics]

I remember my dad buying banana yellow tr7 when I was about 11-12 years old. He took me for a spin and I recall being pretty underwhelmed after the mk2 Capri 3ltr that he sold to a guy a few doors up. He must have been too as he chopped it in within a couple of weeks for an xj6 that got written off on his way home by a hit and run type or he had too many and the auto pilot failed as was the way in those days.

I guess he took a real hit on that as he had some right BL dross for a couple of years including a wedge and a maxi ffs with the odd boxy Volvo thrown in until he went all sane and started buying jags again.


Less annoying tag line.

[Tetleysmooth]

During the 80's I was a yard shunter for a container company in West Thurrock. Some afternoons they'd chuck me a set of keys out of the office and I had to go to Tibury Docks to pick up collection notes for the night drivers. I used the transport managers XR4i, which didn't impress me at all. It just didn't handle like I thought it would. Ditto for for the transport clerks XR3i. The car that did impress was a Cortina Crusader. Thoroughly enjoyed driving that one.

[Warren t claim]

This is a tricky one as I really shouldn't have had high expectations in the first place.

1986 Rover SD1 2000.

Far from the stripped out 1982 launch model, this was a run out car that they screwed all the toys to before the Rover 800 launch, it was a swell kitted out as a 1982 Rover 3500SE with 4xEW and central locking. The problem was the O Series engine, it really was a harsh bag of wank that didn't even have decent economy.

[Warren t claim]

1986 Mk3 Granada Ghia. 2.0i.

I'm probably being a bit mean here as there's nothing fundamentally wrong with the Granada in itself. The problem is I couldn't believe Ford didn't fit power steering as standard to such a high end car! I suppose it's my fault really as I should've learned my lesson buying a Capri II 3.0S at auction assuming that it'd have PAS. I did wonder at the time why it had the larger two spoke steering wheel.

[mercrocker]

The Mk3 was the Granada that finished me with big Fords. I'd gone through Mk III Zephyr and Zodiacs, skipped the aircraft carrier by jumping to Mk1 3.0 then a run of V6 Mk2s. My Mk3 was the 2.0DOHC and was just fucking dull. It was as if Ford had dialled all the Sweeney out of it - no charisma, none of the earlier cars' chunky yet urbane styling, predictably dull handling and a godawful interior.

[Warren t claim]

The Mk3 was the Granada that finished me with big Fords. I'd gone through Mk III Zephyr and Zodiacs, skipped the aircraft carrier by jumping to Mk1 3.0 then a run of V6 Mk2s. My Mk3 was the 2.0DOHC and was just fucking dull. It was as if Ford had dialled all the Sweeney out of it - no charisma, none of the earlier cars' chunky yet urbane styling, predictably dull handling and a godawful interior.

I thought the 2.8/9V6 was OK in the Mk3.

I briefly had a 2.0 DOHC Mk3 hatch as a stop-gap company car and it disgraced itself by locking its gearbox in the 5th/reverse plane.

At another job I was told to go and rent a Mk1 Mondeo 1.8LX diesel until my permanent car arrived. The rental company offered me a late Granada Executive 2.5Di hatch for the same money so I thought I was getting a good deal. Fucking hell! It drank fuel, was as rough as hell and had a 500RPM powerband! It went back the following week and I insisted on changing it for the Mk1 Mondeo as originally planned.

[AutoshiteBoy]

That 2.5 in the 800 was a terrific engine.

[Warren t claim]

That 2.5 in the 800 was a terrific engine.

Honda or KV6?