THEGAYUK

Tag: Running w-Heals

  • The Good, The Bad and the Ugly. Seat Ibiza 2002 – 2008

    The Good, The Bad and the Ugly. Seat Ibiza 2002 – 2008

    The Good, The Bad and the Ugly : The Seat Ibiza Mk3. Type 6L. 2002-2008

    An irrelevant look at a certain car.

    This Ibiza was a bit of a revelation from Seat. Finally, they had a car on the British shores that you actually wanted.

    This was VW’s second attempt with the Ibiza. Compared to the rest of the family from VAG, It had a design flair all of its own. Ibiza 1 was sharp. That was designed by Ital. Ibiza 2 looked like a ripe butternut squash. And due to its shape, meant you couldn’t, sadly, lose it up your rectum!

    Ibiza 3 looked as aggressive as a Spanish taxi driver drove. I would have said a Matador but have you seen the embroidery work in their costumes? Quite exquisite and so delicate. Anyway, gone were those fat dumpy looks, the Polo dashboard and the general dead feel of the car. Look at it from underneath and you’d think this was a VW Polo. Or a Skoda Fabia. From the top, it was all Spanish, all Seat and all very Mediterranean.

    And that Mediterranean feel could also be felt through the ventilation system. Any car without a sunroof was incredibly hopeless in its ability to draw in fresh air. Aircon helped but what you really wanted was something that allowed the rush of air to pass through the cabin.

    Opening a window wasn’t always an option. Closed windows give better miles per gallon and the thing could fly. You see, if you were wise and a bit ‘tight’ with the pennies, you’d have opted for the 1.4 3 cylinder diesel engine.

    That’s right, a 3 cylinder diesel. Now VAG doesn’t have a good record with ageing 3 cylinders. The 3 pot petrol engines are crap. Remember the Polo? RUN! In diesel, it was great. 79 bhp felt like 179 and but that 195Ib ft of torque was most useful. These were diesels that didn’t sound too diesely and sipped the fuel like an introvert drinking a Babycham at a swingers party.

    It was that magic 195Ib ft of torque that made the Ibiza 3 fun. They came with big alloys and low profile tyres so handling was always fun. It was all slick and it all worked in the way VW, sorry, Seat made them work. The 5-speed gearbox snicked in and out of the ratios with reassurance. And come night time, the dashboard was ALL red and ALL sporty and ALL racy and, well not blue like a VW.

    Parked the right way, Ibiza 3 is a good car to look at with its big S as a nose. Park it so you can see those rear lights and your eyes are insulted by these ugly 4 pots in a baguette style slither of plastic like those from the dodgems of a 70’s Torremolinos funfair ride.

    Thankfully, in 1.4 diesel form, it’s pretty quick so those behind you don’t have to endure that visual fright and for that one thing alone, I am saying the Ibiza 3 is a good car.

    BUT ONLY IN DIESEL! with a sunroof. And aircon.

  • What’s it like to drive the Jaguar F Type Rally Racer

    What’s it like to drive the Jaguar F Type Rally Racer

    Along with Jaguar’s new F-Type ‘Chequered Flag’ limited edition run, Jaguar has also been busy turning 2 of their F-Types into rally cars and THEGAYUK were fortunate enough to be invited to have a play with the road going cars and trying this special build rally car.

    (C) JAGUAR UK

    The F-Type isn’t really a suitable rally car, and why have Jaguar done this? 

    Firstly it’s all about putting some fun into the celebration of 70 years of sports cars at Jaguar that all started in 1948 with the XK120. The XK120 spawned a number of victorious wins and being an open-top racer, it answers the second question. And that is, why the hell not! It’s a nice homage to the open top winners. 

    (C) JAGUAR UK

    So what has been done to the road going sportster to make it a rally car? A number of things had been changed or altered and all in accordance with FIA approval. Instead of the usual 19” alloys, 16” rims with a more rugged 205/55 16 gravel tyre are fitted. 2” suspension lift with 60N/mm Eibach springs and three-way adjustable competition dampers.

    Usual things have been added like a 5mm aluminium belly pan, hydraulic handbrake and the removal of luxury items. No side windows, no roof, no fancy door trims. Instead, the inside it plain, basic and filled with an FIA approved roll cage and full 6 point harness. Weight wise, the removal of such items has been matched by the race-spec items added so it’s pretty much the same as a road going car.  

    (C) JAGUAR UK

    So what is it like to drive?

    As you can imagine, it’s an open car so you are very much at one with your surroundings in as much as mud gets kicked around and that mud gets you and the interior. There is most certainly no need to wear your Sunday best for this Jaguar. Just climbing in leaves you covered in mud.

    Engine and transmission are the same 300PS at 5500rpm delivering 295Ib.ft of torque from 1500rpm 2 litre Ingenium power unit mated to the standard automatic gearbox. The only difference is the final drive has been adjusted for a better 0-60 time and putting down the power to the limited slip differential at the back. You never get to top speed, but top speed isn’t what this F-Type is about. 

    No, indeed it is not. It is about swinging it around the dirt and going sideways. Thankfully we were not driving solo. Instead, we had 2 rally experts with us. Finland’s 9 times winning rally driver, Minna Sillankorva as co-pilot, offering advice (she taught me the perfect handbrake turn) and the UK’s own Jade Paveley in the pits.

    This was the first rallying I have ever tried and to be honest, it isn’t as easy at it looks. I also wasn’t going hell for leather but instead, as Jaguar had said, I had fun in celebrating this 70th year with Jaguar. 

  • Taking A Toy Boy To Silverstone With Toyota GB

    Taking A Toy Boy To Silverstone With Toyota GB

    Toy Boy Toyota

    ‘He’s my toy boy, toy boy. I’m out with my toy boy, toy boy. And when I get to take him home, I know he’s gonna love me right’

    Now don’t worry, I’ve not lost the plot. I was fortunate one week in February to be given the keys to Toyota GB’s Mk1 MR2. It came with Toyota’s state of the art cassette player and I found a mixtape with Sinitta’s hit ‘Toy Boy’ and if ever there was a song that suited a car, it was this.

    It all started after I contacted Graham from Toyota press about a future article I was planning to write about the MR2 Vs Fiat X1/9. He suggested I come over, collect the car and take it to an event Toyota GB had organised at Silverstone with the Vintage Sports-Car Club (VSCC) called the Parallel Pomeroy Trophy. It dates back 70 years and was devised to find the best GT car. For Toyota, it consisted of 4 tests. I couldn’t really say no now could I.

    All that was needed was to collect the car and pay the £30 entry fee that was going towards Toyota’s chosen charity for the past couple of years, Guide Dogs for the Blind. Toyota has been sponsoring the training of 4 dogs and lifetime costs of one. That’s around £55,000. https://www.guidedogs.org.uk

    The MR2 was collected and a look around some of the heritage fleet Toyota keep was shown. The MR2 was a lovely little car and had undergone an extensive restoration that also came with some words of advise about being sympathetic to the newly built engine. So no pressure there then considering the weekend Toyota had planned!

    Tests centred around a slalom handling course, flat out short distance and a series of forward-backward-forward etc strip where you had to stop within the boundaries of some pre-set cones. Penalties were issued if you messed it up. Suffice to say, I did. Twice! Annoyingly. 

    In total, there were 38 Toyota’s ranging from a 1971 Corolla coupe to the 2018 Yaris GRNM with everything in-between included 4 generations of Prius and a Hilux. All this was made even more serious when we were issued with number decals to apply to our cars. All road going cars (the rules stated that ALL entrants must be road legal) were instantly turned into race cars. Applying numbers to a car just makes them racy. The MR2 had sharp looks, an engine making borborygmi noises behind you and sporting potential to start with. The immaculate 1973 Crown estate however didn’t. 

    That said, it didn’t stop Eddie Bellringer beating me and the MR2. His times showed commitment at EVERY level. If I’m honest, I got beaten by practically everything out there including Steve Cropley from Autocar magazine in an Mk1 Prius. That said, Alan Bradley from the Motoring Podcast, in his Yaris GRMN, also got beaten by the Crown Estate.

    This was the first Parallel Pomeroy event PR and social media manager, Scott Brownlee and his team had organised and it went very well, even down to the weather. There was however only two Toyota PR team members taking it for the team. Product and technical, Mr Richard Seymour in an iQ and PR student, Mary Nicholls in a Prius. She also beat me in a Prius.  

    Well, let’s not leave you in suspense. Richard in the iQ won. The smallest car with the smallest engine with the impossibility of positioning a car with a cone within the wheelbase won the event. Which went to show that Richard of product and technical either knew his stuff and the iQ or it was a fix? Either way, it’s a long way to fall when you are at the top, I’m wondering what Toyota could put him in next time.

    An MR2 perhaps?

    As for me, it was a blast and a really good day was had by all those who attended. So it is with great thanks to the Toyota GB team for letting me have the MR2 for a few days prior to the event. 

  • The Good, the Bad and The Ugly. Corsa C 2000 – 2006

    The Good, the Bad and The Ugly. Corsa C 2000 – 2006

    The Vauxhall Corsa C 2000 – 2006

    An irrelevant look at a certain car.

     

    You’ll be glad to have read that this Corsa was only available for six years. In the big scheme of motoring giants, six years is a pretty short notice and they only change the car that quickly if it just so happened to be crap.

    Well, dear reader, your luck is in. They were. There wasn’t much to recommend about the Corsa C and yet, in the UK at least, it was a big seller. From 2002 to 2005 it was always in the top 3 on the sales charts but that doesn’t mean anything. Celine Dion’s Titanic song spent way too long in the charts and that was shit. Thankfully our Cher kept it from being the top-selling single of 98. 

    Speaking of the great white hope of the ocean, one thing Corsa C did well was taking in water. These little Titanic’s of GM were exceptionally good at this, they let water in both at the front by the fuse box (water and electrics are such a good mix) and around the rear lights. Take that Titanic and your single gash!

    This did dampen Corsa C drivers’ spirits. Sorry, I couldn’t resist. Left unchecked, the water would pile in and the mould pile up and out. I’ve seen many Corsa C’s with all the penicillin you can eat on the seats! It’s like infection control on wheels. MRSA, dead in a Corsa C. C-Diff? Don’t make me laugh. Doesn’t stand a chance. You might get Legionnaires disease from all that stagnant water, but only one to six out of 20 die from that, so the odds are pretty good on survival. And remember, Corsa C is packed with antibiotics.

    To understand if your Corsa C has a water problem, you need to drive it with vigour. Here was the problem. It wasn’t very nice to drive. The interiors were pretty much all grey in colour and that sort of summed up Corsa C. 

    Engines were standard units of GM-type (I’m sort of losing the will to type now) but the three-cylinder did have a nice trick up its sleeve. It vibrated through the bloated body causing motion sickness to the point where you either stopped or chundered into the pool of sogginess in the footwell, adding something new to the cesspit that is also called the passengers’ footwell.  

    I suppose if I have to give Corsa C one selling point, it would be the boot opening. It was large and practical for a hatchback-cum-driveway skip. What followed with Corsa D was worse.

    But I’m talking Corsa C and it’s a bad car. Catch the bus.

    Liked this check out:

    Toyota Yaris 1999 – 2005: Good, Bad or Ugly?

    VW Polo 2002-2009: Good, Bad or Ugly?

  • The Good, The bad and the Ugly. Toyota Yaris 1999 – 2005

    The Good, The bad and the Ugly. Toyota Yaris 1999 – 2005

    The Good, The Bad and the Ugly.

    Embed from Getty Images

    An irrelevant look at a certain car.

    The Toyota Yaris 1999 – 2005

    The Toyota Yaris, the Greek goddesses of charm and beauty. Well not quite. According to Wikipedia, “Yaris” is derived from “Charis”, the singular for Charites. And this thankfully is as complicated as Toyota’s little toaster on wheels gets.

    Her beauty didn’t last long because you might have noticed that almost ALL Yaris’s have a dented panel below the rear bumper. You do wonder if they actually came from the factory like that.

    OK, I’m being unfair and what I am about to write pretty much gives the game away. The Yaris isn’t a bad car. And despite its oddball looks, it’s not ugly either. Here is a car that was miles away from the dull forgettable Starlet that it replaced. You might want to Google “Starlet” because you would have forgotten what it looked like by now.

    Walk around the Yaris and you’ll greet its cutesy looks with affection. Its rounded face and slabby sides were in keeping with the populous of the time in that we were all getting a bit portly. What we needed was to walk more. What you needed was a car that broke down.

    Embed from Getty Images

    The Yaris didn’t break down. You just couldn’t stop the bloody things. So reliable were they, that they won customer satisfaction awards all over the place. Here was a city car that didn’t cost much to buy, cost even less to run and could be abused like no other car. If ever there was a car that made the manufacture absolutely no money in after sales, here it is.

    Getting inside was a doodle too. Big wide doors on the 3 door, or slightly smaller doors on the 5 door, opened up the grey cabin. The driving position was high too. It gave good visuals and speaking of visuals, it also came with a far-out digital pod, slap-bang in the middle of the dashboard. This was a revelation. Digital displays were still alienating customers, others had tried and failed. Toyota gave a 2 finger salute and shoved it in there. It worked. It was crystal clear. You couldn’t wish for anything better.

    Embed from Getty Images

    And the ride wasn’t that bad either for a shopping cart. It all worked well. So you would expect this to be a massive sales flop. A little Toyota with a high driving position that’s easy to get into, surely only the granny brigade bought these. Absolutely not. It was universally approved by all.  

    There is no escaping it, the Yaris is a good car. 

  • Ford: Spending some time with the old gang

    Ford: Spending some time with the old gang

    Heritage is Everything

    THEGAYUK were invited to visit Ford UK’s heritage centre to check out the delights that lay hidden in Dagenham. Finally, the threat of a visit with Charlotte was finalised and l had the pleasure of spending a few hours at the site with the very informative Ivan who oversees the repairs and restorations of the cars.

    Classic cars account for quite a big market in the UK and the world. Indeed you only need to look at the latest car shows to see old bangers being given new leases of life buy some mechanics that to be quite honest are as much of the eye candy on screen as the cars are. I’ll spare their blushes, however, there are three that l professionally stalk on Twitter.   

    It was quite strange driving around the Dagenham site. The place isn’t what it once was with car manufacturing sadly being undertaken elsewhere but you get lost in a vast size of the site, the dreams that were made at Ford, the labour upheavals and who could forget the 1968 strike by the ladies of the sewing room who made the seat covers. Apparently, Vera Sime, Dora Challingsworth and the ladies were quite a handful but their strike action resulted in the Equal Pay Act of 1970.

    So to Ford UK, I go to check out their shed of dreams. I don’t mean to be rude when l call it a shed, the standing joke is that it is just that, found on the outskirts of the Dagenham site. I’d heard about the shed before and only seen pictures of what it was like. Entering the shed took me right back to the ’80s with an Mk2 Fiesta that greets you at the door.

    You then walk around the corner and there are the dreams Ford wished upon you back in the day. It was like looking into a box of Quality Street, all these gems hidden under plastic covers. It’s a sight to be seen and despite there being almost every Ford l grew up with being there, this is only a small part of the show. 

    It was interesting to see The Focus in almost all its generations being tickled with the polish ready for shipping to Germany for the launch of the new 4th generation Focus. Ford Germany don’t have what we have in the UK you might be surprised to know.

    Ivan and his team were more than happy to explain what was going on and despite the backing by the FoMoCo, they too also suffer from what every classic car fan does and that’s lack of available parts. You would have thought Ford could just make them up again, sadly that isn’t the case. 

    Thankfully for Ivan and his team, there is Burton Ford who specialise in Ford replacement parts and a good network globally that can help. And that’s what it all comes down to, enthusiasm and a support network. And it’s that network that has helped Ford GB create an enviable array of its past history and a part that I hope to enjoy over the next year.

    Trouble is, what do I want to savour first?  

    Many thanks to corporate affairs manager, Charlotte Ward and Ivan for the invite and time given.

  • The Good, The Bad and the Ugly: Volkswagen Polo 2002 – 2009

    The Good, The Bad and the Ugly: Volkswagen Polo 2002 – 2009

    The Good, The Bad and the Ugly: VW Polo

    An irrelevant look at a certain car.

    Volkswagen Polo 2002 – 2009

    VW’s Polo has just reached its Mk 6 status and the little Polo has gone from strength to strength, once being the smallest and cheapest way into VW. And then Polo became a proper VW and a new smaller car was available, thus pushing Polo to another stratosphere in VW ownership. It’s all gone well for Polo except.

    Back in 2002, the MK 4 Polo arrived. It was ALL NEW, all sparkly and dull as ditch water. Changing the front indicator was probably as exciting as it could get.

    It wasn’t a bad car, it didn’t necessarily achieve great showroom appeal, but it did sell in vast numbers with most being painted silver. The new colour for the millennium so I am lead to believe. And the Polo did what you needed it to be. It was a small car with large dimensions in as much as it just got fat as was typical of VW’s ethos back then. 

    Polo was well built. It carried the VW traditions quite well. Wasn’t know for falling apart, could take some serious bodily abuse and never see a welders torch. It was what Polo customers wanted. A quality car that stood for something even if it was lacking in entertainment on almost every level. You could also fool people by replacing the VW badge with one from Mercedes because it did look a little like the 2000 – 2007 Merc W203. 

    Sadly, the looks of Polo didn’t really change between model to model. To be honest, you’d have to do more than squint to spot the mild fire breathing 100PS 16v over the more humdrum three cylinder 1.2 with about half the power.

    And it’s this 1.2 engine that brings me here. The little 3 pot petrol was quite energetic in its power propulsion method and didn’t leave you with a strange feeling like that of sitting on a washing machine with a brick in it. It was quite smooth and liked revs. However, It was a ruddy awful engine and not one that I would, in its advancing years, recommend. EVER.

    Piston slap and burnt out exhaust valves are the main culprit and not always on engines with high mileages either. To get the good economy it ran weak and lean. The leaner they run, the hotter they get. The hotter they get, the likelihood is burnt broken bits. Find a Polo running rough and chances are it won’t be a coil pack for £20. It’ll be a new head for £700.

    The Polo 1.2, not a good car. Run for the hills, it’s that bad!  

  • The Good, The Bad and the Ugly. Ford Ka

    The Good, The Bad and the Ugly. Ford Ka

    The Good, The Bad and the Ugly – Ford Ka

    An irrelevant look at a certain car.

    Ford Ka 1996 – 2008

    If ever there was a small car that outstayed its welcome, it was the Ford Ka. K A or Ka which was probably short for khazi, was another word for toilet. 

    OK, so I might have been a bit mean to Ford’s city hopeful because when launched, it really wasn’t that bad. Oh hell, we all loved it and it sold in the millions. Ford made a lot of money from it.

    Handling of the little chunkster was quite entertaining too. It had the ability to be thrown around the streets with aplomb, helped greatly by Issigonis’s design philosophy of having a wheel at each corner. He was, in case you didn’t know, the father of the great Austin Mini. 

    Fitted with a decrepit old petrol engine in a youth hating 1.3cc capacity, meant that the young struggled to get insured on them for a reasonable price and this meant that many of them didn’t end up in ditches. The leisurely performance of the first generation models also contributed to this. It was vile. The 1.3 Endura engine that followed at least allowed for the cars handling to be more enjoyed easily. 

    That aside, the Ka was quite cute in its first incarnation. It was a hit with everyone. For three brief years later in its career, you could even get one with 2 seats, a fabric roof and to top it off, it was endorsed by queen Kylie Minogue. You couldn’t get much cuter or gayer if you tried. 

    That cuteness also had a plus side. Fitted with massive bits of plastic, it effectively made it a city dodgem. You could drive it at shopping trolleys, walls and even other cars and you still wouldn’t damage the plastic. It was special plastic. Overly engineered They contained a substance to prevent damage from UV rays. They literally outlive the car. Anyway, all this added to never needing to worry about the paintwork.

    What you did need to worry about however was the rear end dissolving quicker than an Alka-seltzer and just as noisy too. With the newest ones available being 10 years old, chances are the rear wheel arches would have let go and front sub-frame mounting areas rapidly following suit. 

    As a secondhand proposition, they really are bloody awful now. Rust is the main killer of many followed by those pesky young kids finally getting them and driving them into trees. 

    Trouble is, they are entertaining to drive. Give good mileage to a drop of petrol and they are easy to both fix and bodge or both and for that alone, I’m saying it’s a good car. If you can find one that is. 

     

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  • The Good, The Bad and the Ugly: Fiat Doblo

    The Good, The Bad and the Ugly: Fiat Doblo

    The Good, The Bad and the Ugly.

    An Irrelevant look at a certain car.

    Fiat Doblo. 2005-2009

    What’s boxy, rather wild on the limit, has to be driven enthusiastically and comes from Italy?

    No, not an Abarth something or other, we are talking about the Fiat Doblo van. A van that, despite its looks, won the 2006 “International Van of the Year” Admittedly that award came some six years after its launch with a facelift and like the Doblo, it’s a grower, not a shower, so eventually it gets there. 

    Shame about the facelift really because the 2000-2005 model had quite a nice purpose built front to it. And model maker Norev thought so too and made a nice 1/24th scale model of it that until recently, you could buy from Home Bargains for just £2.99 Probably not one of Norev’s greatest achievements because their models often retail for around six times that price.

    And so to the real van, and what a van and how very Fiat with some of Fiat’s idiosyncrasies missing. Namely, the rubbery gearshift that afflicted Fiats for so long. The gear shift in the Doblo, mounted high up on the dashboard, was within a flick from the steering wheel and selected gears as good as any race-bred machine from sister company, down the road in Maranello.

    And things got better with the engine. The lively FIRE (Fully Integrated Robotised Engine) 1.4 petrol was an absolute peach. It developed 76hp and my word, it feels like it has more. It’s 5 star award is its eagerness to please like a dog that has just thrown up your dinner that it stole from the coffee table. 

    And then things get even better for Dobby the Doblo. The handling is quite remarkable and highly entertaining, boarding on crazy, dangerous and downright outrageously good fun. You see, the rear end has a solid axle, suspended with some of those old fashioned leaf springs. What it would appear had been forgotten by the development team, was to soften it for the passenger carrying variety of the Doblo. Instead, it retained the stiff setup from the van. It made it highly entertaining.

    The bad thing about the Doblo, though thankfully still keeping with Fiat tradition, was the driving position. It’s not so much a position but a torture, especially for your ankles. Thankfully, your feet don’t rest for too long so they are always moving around. That enthusiastic buzz getting the better of you. 

    It’s no sports car and yet it thinks it is. And with that facelift, it moves it from an ugly car to a good car.  

  • The Good, The Bad and the Ugly: Citroën Berlingo

    The Good, The Bad and the Ugly: Citroën Berlingo

    The Good, The Bad and the Ugly.

    An irreverent look at a certain car.

    The Citroen Berlingo Multispace

    The 1998 – 2013 model was a step in the right direction when the Berlingo came out as a van. It raised the game in the CDV (car derived van) market. Instead of taking a humble hatchback, this was a purpose-built van on a hatchback chassis. In this case, the Citroën ZX.

    This meant it had van like space in the cabin and storage appropriate for its van moniker. And then Citroën added windows and seats to it and sold it as a cheap lifestyle vehicle and judging by their sales literature, it was aimed at the young get-up-and-goers. Truth is, it’s easy access and comfortable seats sold it to the silver surfers who bought it in their droves.

    They even fitted it was an optional electric folding sunroof that went almost the entire length of the vehicle. A sunroof, in a van! an ELECTRIC folding roof IN A VAN!! That’s the French for you.

    And it sold in big numbers. Nothing could match it for small road space and huge interior dimensions.  

    It’s not that bad to drive either and when it was launched, even Jeremy Clarkson had a soft spot for it. In fact, it was almost universally liked by every road tester.

    The Berlingo has one thing that it lacks and that is street cred. Despite being seen as a young active lifestyle persons transport for five, it was a box on wheels. It was easy for old people with arthritic hips to get in and out of and its floor pan was easily adaptable for wheelchair ramps. If ever there was a truly multipurpose vehicle, the Berlingo was it.

    Buying one is easy. Oil leaks are the main culprit and some will have seen the welding torch, though rust isn’t really the killer for the Berlingo. Lack of maintenance and collapsing rear trailing arm bearings are.

    About £600 to have that fixed. Also, driver seat foams collapse. It’s about £130 to replace that and this I know because I bought one for mine. I own one. And remember the old people that bought them? Safe to say they wouldn’t have thrashed them. To be fair, there is little to be gained from thrashing the 1.4 petrol or 1.9 diesel. The 1.8 petrol was far more spirited, it’s harder to find one.

    It does what it does very well. It will carry you over great distances comfortably and swallow huge amounts of cargo. It’s just that it’s not very attractive and that’s why it’s an “ugly car”

     

  • The Good, The bad and the Ugly: The Renault Clio

    The Good, The bad and the Ugly: The Renault Clio

    The Good, The Bad and the Ugly.

    An irreverent look at a certain car.

    The Renault Clio 2.

    The 1998 – 2005 Clio in almost all of its guises was a sensational little car. Even now, some 20 years later, they are still fun to drive.

    Nicole and her Papa were onto something with the pretty Clio 1. Clio 2 changed a few things like the fitment of plastic front wings and the use of materials inside to make it lighter and cheaper to repair.

    I’ll grant you that Clio 2 wasn’t as pretty as Clio 1 but then again it was still far better to look at than Clio 3.

    Borne out of Clio 2 was the crazy and short-lived, three litre V6 mid-engined monster using a modified V6 from the Laguna that was a part development engine with Peugeot/Citroën. Two seats and no luggage space in a widened shopping cart from France. Just 2822 road going versions were made.

    So I’m taking the 1.2 16 valve as the Clio 2 to get. It’s not a fireball to drive with just 74bhp but this enables you to be enthusiastic in your approach to where you point Clio 2 at and plough on. It’s still a fun car to drive.

    Admittedly, the clutch on a high mileage car will become heavy and city traffic will kill your left leg. Or it’ll encourage you to take up the gym membership and work on that right leg that in comparison would have become lazy and weak.

    And then there are the mechanical failures that are the Clio 2 Achilles heels. Ignition coils will fail and rocker cover gaskets leak. Simple fixes in the big schemes of things. My niece has one as her first car. I said it would breakdown. It broke down. It was a coil pack.

    Interior trim, made light to save weight, will by now, be rattling around with some, if not all, clips broken. You learn to live with it. What you won’t though is the rattle from the optional sunroof. Opening it usually solves the problem.

    And who could forget the “bonnets up” controversy where the bonnets would flip up at high speed! Lack of maintenance on the bonnet catch was the culprit here. So lubrication once again saves the day.

    So should you buy one? Yes. They are cheap cars, cheap to run, fun to boot around and are still pretty to look at.

    And that is why the Clio is a “good car”

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