I've had a Zetec hire car, a C-Max with alloys (don't know the spec), and a Ghia from the Focus range.
I've also had Zetec and Titanium Mondeos on hire - last shape, obviously.
They were all hugely disappointing.
Nothing special to drive and some of the interior trim would embarrass Fiat. Especially the faux-Maserati clock in the MkIII Mondeo, which looks like it fell out of a Lidl Christmas cracker.
That was utter s**te.
Says the man who likes Alfas, famous for cornering with their door handles scraping the ground.
Still, I agree, *someone* in this thread doesn't understand handling, but it's not Tim. Or indeed anyone living outside Wales.
Did you never drive one? I drove an Elan SE and initially thought it was crap. Few miles down the road I entered a corner with a somewhat ambitious entry speed and seriously thought I was going to wrap the bloody thing. As it happens it shot around the bend like it was on rails. Most unexpected. After that I understood why people rave about 'em.. my Integrale would not have made that corner at that speed anywhere near as surefootedly. Lotus *know* how to do suspension.
Only one of those has the decent handling.
See above.
So you actually drove them very rarely and probably mostly motorway and whilst at work.
At least 120,000 miles later, the trim would look exactly the same as it did in the showroom.
Briefly. They came out when I was a corporate droid and a couple of people had one as a company car (stretching the definition of company car "quite a bit" I thought) Mind you someone else had a Panther Kallista so they really stretched the company car definition.
That was my reaction. Unlike you nothing happened to change my opinion. At that time I had just changed from a BX 16valve to a SAAB 99 and I was vaguely considering an Alfa 75 (all as company cars). I preferred each of those to the Elan-which-wasn't-an-Elan. Then I tried an MX-5 and thought "damn this is how the Elan should have been built".
One thing I do know is that grip and handling are two totally different things.
My old GT4 gripped like s*it to a blanket, and on roundabouts the front would almost feel understeering (but it didn't actually break away).
I fitted a front strut brace, uprated rear arb, some polybushes at the back and new shocks and springs, and suddenly roundabout that got light accelerating from 25 felt flat planting it from 40.
And it still hung on just as well, although the tyres at the back suddenly started to wear a lot quicker.
Almost every s**te old banger becomes a classic car once enough of them=20 have been bangered and it survives fairly original.=20
There was a Skoda Estelle 130 sport (genuine sport conversion with=20 documententation) on Ebay. Starting bid =A32500. Someone asked if it to=20 pricey.
Sadly no bids but I don't have spare cash for anything ATM. Being=20 careful now to avoid having none later.
If it was a high end factory approved conversion of any other marque,=20 and only 50 of any variant of that model still existed on the road,=20 never mind the rare at the time sport model, I'm sure it would have been=20 a damned site dearer.=20
--=20 Carl Robson Get cashback on your purchases Topcashback
Puma 1.7 VCT :-p
Mike P
Metro GTi?
My Capri is polybushed throughout. Just needs a front strut brace now as it does make a fair difference to them.
my mini is probably one of the best small hatch FWD cars i've driven!
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