Running in new cars.

[FROSTYBALLS]

My first new car was a 1987 Nissan Micra. The factory fill oil was a very light oil which needed changing at, from memory, 600 miles. When the car was swopped for another new Micra in 1990, the first oil change had been dispensed with.

[Bper]

13 hours ago, Jimota said:

Believe it or not, I used to own a very reliable Morris Marina in the late 70s.  The engine was really good but the gearbox was a nightmare to use.  A fantastic car driving in a straight line but as soon as you turned the steering wheel it could end up anywhere.  I eventually sold it to a friend who didn’t listen to my advice regarding it’s limitations and he wrote it off 2 days later.  Thankfully he was OK and lived to purchase an Austin Allegro some weeks later.  Guess what happened to that car!

We used to own a Marina van and whilst this ended up a complete rust bucket the engine was unreal. It never broke down,started first time, hardly ever put oil in it, at the end it was like the flintstones car.😂

 

[Dylanfan]

My 1.8 Marina was definitely unreliable and as said above, okay going straight but corners were a problem. Again as above, sold to a mate who lost it on a corner so finished up where it belonged, in a scrap yard with its mates.

[Jimota]

It was a Morris Marina 1.8TC with the go faster stripes.  It had grease nipples everywhere but as long as you topped up on a regular basis it maintained it’s reliability.  Yes, you guessed right, the Allegro didn’t last long after ending up in a ditch.

[APS]

Not only is it no longer necessary, you can't actually run in a Toyota hybrid in the traditional sense. You have very limited control over engine speed and you can't (easily) switch from strong positive to negative cylinder pressure (i.e. accelerate / engine brake).

Instead, just drive, look at the world fly past and enjoy modern life.

[Hornet3D]

First car I ever owned was a black Hillman Super Minx, I was about twenty at the time and the Minx was second hand and about ten years old.  At a rough guess it must have been manufactured in early 1960s.

[TonyHSD]

First ever new car for me was a Vw Caddy in 2004 company van. Was built on the brand new Vw platform at the time similar to golf and Audi A3, we opted for 2.0sdi naturally aspirated diesel with only 80bhp. This car was brilliant, I took it to around 60k miles (100k km) in the first year and half. I was driving as much as I do now or even more. The car did brilliantly, during that mileage and my use we only changed brake pads, rear then fronts, a timing belt kit and regular service. A lots of light bulbs H7, don’t know why but these were going bad often. Nothing else, no oil consumption, no drama. Wonderful car, and I took care of as it was mine own vehicle. 

[Yugguy1970]

I had a 1.8TC Marina too, in beautiful beige.  Done a few leaf spring changes there.  Was relatively powerful for its day but no, not corners.

[AndrueC]

We had a brown Marina TC when I was a nipper. My brother and I used to refer to it as Top Cat 😄

[davidif]

3 hours ago, Yugguy1970 said:

I had a 1.8TC Marina too, in beautiful beige.  Done a few leaf spring changes there.  Was relatively powerful for its day but no, not corners.

Hmmm not sure beautiful and beige belong in the same sentence🤣

[Rhymes with Paris]

1 hour ago, davidif said:

Hmmm not sure beautiful and beige belong in the same sentence🤣

There were some very interesting colours for cars in those halcyon days of British Leyland in the 1970s.

Not forgetting the vinyl roofs and rostyle wheels and self dismantling trim and interiors.

Ah those were the days, strikes, power cuts, rampant inflation , petrol rationing and novelty 🥳 songs on top of the pops.

I suppose the biggest favour that the striking militants like red robbo,if I have his name correctly, was to spare so many from buying those heaps of crap, opening the market for Japanese cars and bikes .

Ok for a start, they did rust quickly until the makers got top side of it, but at least you could plan a journey without joining the AA.

 

[Dylanfan]

I remember having a Renault 16 in the early 70s that had a galvanised body, I ran it for about 5 years with no sigh of body rot. At the same time I think it was Ford who set up a similar system but soon took it out because it was costing um to much, said it all.

[Kental]

As a child my parents had from new a 1972 Harvest Gold Marina 1.8 that was written off in 1978. It got replaced with a Marina 2 1.8 Special.  Not sure what made it a Special as worryingly that meant 2 trim levels below!!!

[Nigelhj]

Quote

First car I ever owned was a black Hillman Super Minx, I was about twenty at the time and the Minx was second hand and about ten years old.  At a rough guess it must have been manufactured in early 1960s.

Hornet 3D, you are correct as the Hillman Super Minx was first produced in 1961 until 1967 and it was slightly larger than the Hillman Minx and believe it had the swept wings on the rear corners of the car if memory serves me right as that was the model my father had after the Hillman Minx.

After I was married for nearly 2 years we saved up to buy a new car and as there was a dealership just up the road from where we lived  went to have a look at their cars.  We saw one that would suit our requirments as we had 2 children and this was in the early eighties and bought it, it was a Talbot Alpine, driving it was OK but turned out to be the biggest mistake of my life, after a year of ownership it started to rust on the door pillars and just inside the boot lip so took it back to the dealers who examined it and found that they knew exactly where to look for the rust, they offered me a deal, part exchange it for a Talbot Alpine with discount!!  Had that for about a year before purchasing a Ford Fiesta.

Regards 

Nigel. 

[Dylanfan]

In the 60s most car manufactures started using thinner steel so although all the cars from that time rusted, the ones from the 50s lasted longer.

 I owned two 50s cars, a 56 Ford 100e Anglia and a 57 Hillman Minx convertible both when they were about 15 years old. Both were rusty but lasted for 16 & 17 years.

I owned a 1961 Ford Anglia 105e that was starting to rust at 2 years old while my Dad bought a new MK1 Fiesta when they first came out that was so rusty at its first mot that you could see through the paint from under the wings and the doors were like paper. The mot guy showed my Dad how bad it was, he px’d it for an 1100 and never bought another Ford.