It's great to drive. The controls are nicely placed, especially the lazy gearstick on the dashboard. Unfortunately, it's got the power of a Scalectrix car without the power-weight ratio.
Christian.
Or the same little V4 lump in a Mk1 Transit.
Steve
A bit . I've got an old Cargo 1011, 10 tonne originally although it's downplated to 7.5t, and an awesome 110bhp.
Steve
I've driven one of those. It could just do about 60mph. Downhill. You certainly have my sympathy!
Christian.
How about the Skoda Estelle 105.
1 litre engine, size of an Orion/Focus/Impreza 30 something horses.
Citroen GS with a 1049cc air cooled engine. They weren't to bad though.
Duncanwood ( snipped-for-privacy@dmx512.co.uk) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :
The original 1015 was 55bhp - it just needed a few revs to get it moving. Even the later 1299 never got above 65bhp.
The first 1015s were AWFUL when they were cold - the manifold "hotspot" to help the fuel vaporise properly was heated by the engine oil. After a year or two, they moved to heating via the exhaust gas, and improved immensely.
You want DOG slow? How about the G-van that Citroen suggested in the 50s?
3/4 scale H-van (so about the size of a Transit Connect) with a 475cc version of the original 2cv's 375/9bhp...Glacial, I'd imagine.
The French always had a thing about small engines. Car & fuel taxes I suppose. The ultimate large miser was the Panhard PL17, quite a largish salon car at 4.58m, about the length same as a 2005 Vectra. The engine was only a 2cyl 848cc, yet performance was on par with many 1.5L cars at the time. The secret was the extremely light weight of the aluminium bodied car. Unfortunately, the aluminium often rotted away.
It was slowish, but not seriously underpowered, because the body was so light. And it was 44bhp.
Ever tried a 1.0L Skoda Estelle ?
It redefines the saying of "skin off a rice pudding"
Speaking as someone who had a "Skoda Owners Club" sun visor strip, I can agree with this whole-heartedly.
A very heavy car - the metalwork is as thick as an old Mercs'.
My recently departed Renault Safrane 2.0litre 12 valve model - incredibly underpowered up to about 3000 rpm but, once at 70mph it would sit there all day and give you 40 mpg - crap drive around town though - couldn't cope with fourth gear at any speed under 40 mph
GT
I beg to differ; they can definitely pull more than the skin off a rice pudding. In my student days I used to pull my disco trailer with it - that was a 6' x 4' box on a bedford van chassis full of heavy sound & light gear. Without the trailer I used to commute 20 miles each way to uni, and it could manage the overtaking on the suicidal A46 Newark-Saxondale section.
I honestly can't think of any car I've owned which was underpowered for normal driving while the engine was in good condition. My A40 Farina probably comes closest, with its 948cc A-series strangled by a 1.25" exhaust. It will make 70mph, but only just (75 downhill!)
In news: snipped-for-privacy@smash-spam-sizefitter.com, Johannes decided to enlighten our sheltered souls with a rant as follows
The 2.0 Mk2 Granada was pretty awful to drive, but I imagine far from the worst offender.
The slowest thing I've ever driven was a 1100cc Fiat Strada with a misfire.
Volvo 144 DL Auto (1972) 80 BHP 1.5 ton tank. Went about as fast and quick as a Nova 1.2 but did low 20 mpg. With hindsight, the car was worse than we realised at the time.
Holy crap - overtaking ! - they were so prone to side winds they were dangerous to drive at any more than about 55mph !
The 105/120/130 series cars are not light (not for their time anyway). The steel is very thick. It had to be to make up for corossion resistance or lack of.
And as someone who owned a 120L4 (and motorway commuted in it), a Favorit Forum 136, and who convinced the missus to buy a Fabia 1.4 classic, I have experience to match too.
Even though I'm playing with Saabs and other turbos at the moment, I plan to get either a Fabia VRs when I want a "near new" car, or a decent Estelle 130GL (with 136 conversion), or Rapid 136. There appears to be under 50 of each left taxed on the road. I've let my Skoda club membership lapse this year.
The early models with 14" wheels were. The later ones with 13" wheels were much more stable, and a much nicer drive all round.
We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember "Christian McArdle" saying something like:
Worst underpowered van I had was the Bedford CF with the mighty thundering power of 1600cc.
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