Hello? Anyone home?

Accompanied by the sound of a chisel on slate AstraVanMan, managed to produce the following words of wisdom

Probably, but the existing dead one has had 106k miles of turbo insanity through it.

By "uprate" I kinda meant "fully strip down and rebuild from scratch, basically having the main outer shell as the only bit you'd actually keep" :-)

Accompanied by the sound of a chisel on slate AstraVanMan, managed to produce the following words of wisdom

I'm looking at options, but for now I just need to get the replacement 'box in.

The original box will be getting a strip down to see exactly how it's got fooked.

I tried to build one out of a 65CL and a Mirafioro sport engine.

It didn't work.

There's a huge big surprise.

Did you have problems understanding 'transverse' and 'longitudinal'.....

I used to have that feeling when I drove a Citroen Dyane.

And that thing used to get parked in Govan.

RichardK

I don't like Integrales, either ;)

RichardK (but only because they rust).

Eh, the kind of people that talk about 205 GTis now recognise the qualities of the Strada 130 too. And FWIW, the Strada lacked one essential component of the seminal hot hatches - reliability.

There were hot hatches before the 130, after all - the Lotus Sunbeam and Chevette HSR for example - but they weren't really as reliable as their lower-performance siblings.

The Golf GTi and 205 GTi were as reliable (or in the case of the Golf, MORE reliable) than the boring hatchbacks they were based upon. That's the true reason for their success; they made a hot version of a normal car utterly easy to live with.

RichardK

Aside from the gap, how long have I been around here?

And yet, you say that as though this is news ;)

I drove one. It's comfortable, serene, calming. The perfect antidote to the M6, but without the blandness of almost every other car I've looked at. Also, I like the heads up display and the adaptive headlights, as well as how the car looks.

I think this is why I don't see many Mitsubishi Carismas. Except I realised I see more than I thought, I just forgot what they were ;)

Know anyone with a 2.3 16v who needs a heater to thermostat hose?

RichardK

Mine was pretty reliable, tbh. I did about 6000 miles in a few months in it, then flogged it to a mate who had it for a couple of years. He only flogged it on because the rear shocker made a break for freedom due to a very rusty shock turret.

Escort RS2000s were mega-reliable, and nicer than any prole hatch.

Even then, can't you find a demo or something? I was talking to a few lads who I trade to last week, bizarrely enough about C6s. Every one of them said "Nice car" but they all reckoned anyone who buys a new one is going to experience levels of depreciation on a par with that of a McDonalds Filet-o-fish meal.

Nope. The Scorp is in that weird bargain hinterland where they're worth bugger all but a nice one is worth keeping.. this means most of the freaks who own them want the 24v :-)

The 205 also had rather a significant advantage - it looked good. Something the Strada never did.

cheers, clive

Stradas look very cool, in an 80s retro way.

They also had the advantage of the Lampredi twin-cam with twin-40 DCOEs.

Did I mention that the bloke I got my Delica off had a few classic cars?

You'll like one of them.

I looked and thought "Lancia? No... Fiat... but I recognise it... Hmmmm". Then he explained that the pretty white convertible was a Fiat

Fiat 1600 Spider OSCA.

One of three surviving, or three in the UK - I can't remember now - but either way, very rare.

RichardK

That's a very rare car.

I think the car I miss the most out of everything I've had is my Fiat

Shame mine was a rusty shed and that nice ones are way beyond what I'd call sensible money for a car, though.

If I wasn't so tight with my money, I'd buy a Spider Volumex.

Oh, it'll be a demo! Didn't I mention this elsewhere, I thought I had. New price, £38K - 6,000 miles, 6 months to a year old - £25K. That's where mine will be, but I really am holding out to find one with a sunroof (it IS available) in black with ivory/cream interior (the two-tone dash is MUCH nicer than the all black, which looks a bit bland). After that, from an 07/6K miles at £25K the next typical level is £19K for a 20,000 mile 55-plater. Which is much less of a drop and much less of an appealing proposition given that the warranty is nearly out and it's had 20,000 miles of potential abuse.

At a certain point Citroen diesel depreciation isn't as horrific as I expected - as attempts to find a cheap C5 of reasonable quality have proven.

As far as I'm concerned, from dealer demo (or Citroen's fleet)=from new unless they've pranged it.

Eh, I thought the 2.3 16v was alright actually - decent enough performance with almost-bearable economy. I prefer the 12v V6 for reliability, but Scorpios have so much more than the engine to go horribly wrong on them (you forgotten I had one of the damn things under my care for nearly 3 years? I'm sure I ranted about how annoying it was)...

RichardK

You certainly did. Mine's a '98 Ultima 24v and other than the rad failing - they all do that, sir - the only thing that's given me any gyp in the 5000 miles I've done in it was the speed sensor on the gearbox, quickly repaired by giving it a thump and cleaning out a connector.. I quite like it.

They look, erm, "something" - but then my BX looks, erm, "something" too. The 205 gti actually looks good. Preferably white, unmodded.

cheers, clive

It's the only car I'd own in green. Sorrento Green... Or Miami Blue...

The perverse side of me would rather have a 309 Goodwood. With an Mi16 engine. And some nice 4 pots up front, and a little suspension tweakery. It would look totally standard, in and out. The engine would be fettled to