car of the year awards...what do you think was a good or a bad car?

carchaeologist

Results: 1964–2008
1964 Rover 2000
1965 Austin 1800
1966 Renault 16
1967 Fiat 124
1968 NSU Ro 80
1969 Peugeot 504
1970 Fiat 128
1971 Citroën GS
1972 Fiat 127
1973 Audi 80
1974 Mercedes 450S
1975 Citroën CX
1976 Simca 1307-1308
1977 Rover 3500
1978 Porsche 928
1979 simca chrysler horizon
1980 Lancia Delta
1981 Ford Escort
1982 Renault 9
1983 Audi 100
1984 Fiat Uno
1985 Opel Kadett
1986 Ford Scorpio
1987 Opel Omega
1988 Peugeot 405
1989 Fiat Tipo
1990 Citroën XM
1991 Renault Clio
1992 Volkswagen Golf
1993 Nissan Micra
1994 Ford Mondeo
1995 Fiat Punto
1996 Fiat Bravo/Brava
1997 Renault Mégane Scénic
1998 Alfa Romeo 156
1999 Ford Focus
2000 Toyota Yaris
2001 Alfa Romeo 147
2002 Peugeot 307
2003 Renault Mégane
2004 Fiat Panda
2005 Toyota Prius
2006 Renault Clio
2007 Ford S-Max
2008 Fiat Nuova 500

Alfasudcrazy

I think by far the worst winner of car of the year was the 1981 Ford Escort. Utter crap and they rusted worse than any Fiat of the same vintage.

I think the car of the year competition has lost its relevance pretty much these days - if it ever had much influence in any case. I bought one of the first new Mk III Golf's around here in 1992 and it was declared car of the year later that year. What real difference did it make to me - not much.

I had thought the Chrysler Alpine was a car of the year around 1977 or so - is that the Simca 1307 - 1308?

carchaeologist

Alfasudcrazy wrote: »

I think by far the worst winner of car of the year was the 1981 Ford Escort. Utter crap

I had thought the Chrysler Alpine was a car of the year around 1977 or so - is that the Simca 1307 - 1308?

Agreed about the escort, they were fair scrap, my father had two, one had to be sent back because the rear wheels were out of alignment due to a manufacturing fault, couldnt keep tyres on it!

Not sure about the alpine, i got the list off wikipedia, and sometimes that doesnt tell the whole truth!!:D

PaulK_CCI

Alfasudcrazy wrote: »

I had thought the Chrysler Alpine was a car of the year around 1977 or so - is that the Simca 1307 - 1308?

Correct, the car was badged Chrysler Alpine in the UK/Ireland. I would say this car would beat the Escort Hands down on the worst car of the year of all times ;-)) .
I mean, you still see the odd escort around, but sure as hell you don't see any Simca 1307/8's /Chrysler Alpine's around nowadays, not even on the continent.

carchaeologist

PaulK_CCI wrote: »

I mean, you still see the odd escort around, but sure as hell you don't see any Simca 1307/8's /Chrysler Alpine's around nowadays, not even on the continent.

True, the last one i saw was smashed up in a demolition derby in rosegreen years ago!!

Max_Damage

PaulK_CCI wrote: »

I mean, you still see the odd escort around

If you're referring to the Mk3 Escort, they're probably the rarest of the whole lot of the Escort range. Last time I saw one was at the Moynalty show (it was a Ghia model, which were made in Germany and had slightly better quality steel).

Just looking at that list, on what grounds do these cars car the awards? I mean, there is some right heaps of scrap in that lists (Fiat Uno, Tipo, NSU Ro80 (Jaysus!), Chrysler Horizon, etc.)

TomMc

The NSU is hardly a heap of scrap. Yes it had its problems but the car even looks fresh today. The issue with the rotor tips was sorted by Mazda. It had excellent ride quality and handling.

carchaeologist

Yes, the NSU was a very advanced car for its time, its too easy to say it was rubbish just because the engine wasnt up to par.The design even looks fresh these days.

Max_Damage

carchaeologist wrote: »

Yes, the NSU was a very advanced car for its time, its too easy to say it was rubbish just because the engine wasnt up to par.The design even looks fresh these days.

I personally think it looks like a septic tank on wheels.

Dades

Max_Damage wrote: »

I personally think it looks like a septic tank on wheels.

What does that say about the people who drive it...

We had an Audi 100 in the 80's - and I though it was the business.

TomMc

Well I would gladly park one in my drive, as I think it is one of the most timeless car designs of all. James Hunt had a 450SEL 6.9 up on blocks, so I will settle for the NSU instead.

Which kind of reminds me of a neighbour of mine who had an Audi 100 5E in light metallic green. (SZN 416 ... I even remember the reg). It was a beauty with electric everything when pops was driving us round in a Renault 18TL, without so much as a clock. Those were the days.

Arthur Daley

I could never understand the Renault 9 getting the COTY award. NSU RO80 was deserving of it for sure. I think the likes of the Horizon and MkIII Escort winning was down to the weird and wonderful idea of FWD around about 79-80.

There's also plenty of good stuff that didn't win such as the Mk1 Golf, or the 205.

unkel

Only new cars can be elected, so factors like reliability / longevity are unknowns to the motoring journos who voted at the time

Apart from that one wonders how some sub-ordinary cars like the Escort and the Golf Mk III went all the way

Anyways, what's the only sports car ever to make the grade? It's mine

Arthur Daley

And of course the quattro didn't feature in the car of the year awards either.

macplaxton

unkel wrote: »

Only new cars can be elected

Yep. If you could sneak a ropey new model out in a year when nobody else brought out anything better you could stand a good chance of winning (as the Alpine proves!)

The voting could be a bit biased too, think of it as Eurovision for cars.

Dirty-Old-Man

They're all good (in some way) until 1979...from then there is a lot of suckage of the non-diesel variety. Mind you, the 504 would need to be a cabrio and the Audi 80 a GT.

PanhardPL

Max_Damage wrote: »

I personally think it looks like a septic tank on wheels.

If you ever get to drive an RO80, your opinions will change and such a shame that the model was left die by VW.

Blue850

Worst car on the list? The Fiat Bravo/Brava by a country mile, and I like Fiats.
Saw 4 Fiat COTYs today, 124 sort off, rebadged Lada:D,127,128 and a Tipo 16V

peasant

PanhardPL wrote: »

If you ever get to drive an RO80, your opinions will change and such a shame that the model was left die by VW.

They had no choice, I think. The warranty costs on the Wankel engine were astronomical.

Plus VW at the time was in anything but good shape. They only bought NSU to avail of their engine technology and good engineering department.

The NSU (VW) K 70 was what spawned the Golf, Passat and Audi as a whole.

Under preassure from one of the main stock holders, a large German bank, NSU was sold to VW/Audi in 1969. The Wankel cars had, simply put, cost NSU too much.

Much of the R&D work on the Wankel motor was done at NSU in Neckarsulm. Ro80 was produced as long as until 1977, in a total of about 33.000, unfortunaley without implementing any of the things they discovered during the developement process. One can put it this way VW/Audi choosed to kill the Wankel- project!

The fine technicians and constructors, the key to NSU:s succesful years, who VW previously had a total lack of, spread in the VW/Aud sphere. Some of them continued working on the new generation of cars: Golf (in the US: Rabbit), Passat and many more. The first to hit the streets was Audi 50, that more or less took over from the small NSU:s in 1973. One can clearly see it�s heritage, as with the Passat, that claims to have been on the NSU- drawing tables already in 1969! The 100 year- anniversary in 1973 wasn�t a happy one at NSU!

By 1984 the name NSU was discontinued within the VW/Audi concern.

But still today, Audi- Werke in Neckarsulm, were Audi A2, A6 och A8, are produced, has the address: NSU- Strasse! In 1998 Audi held the 125- year anniversary as a tribute to NSU. And as You probably know there is car that bears the name TT currently in production . Audi has now realized the value of knowing, and recognizing, one�s history and they have founded NSU- GmbH, a department serving under Audi Traditions GmbH.

Sadly though, the old NSU show room at the entrance of the plant in Neckarsulm in the corner of NSU- Strasse and Felix Wankel Strasse was torn down autumn of 2001.

from here:
http://www.nsu.nu/history1.htm

carchaeologist

An old lad once said to me that NSU stood for"No Shagging Use".I always liked the look of the RO80,never go to see one in the flesh so to speak though, i suppose it would be a long shot asking if any were on the road in this country.....were they sold here new?

PanhardPL

carchaeologist wrote: »

An old lad once said to me that NSU stood for"No Shagging Use".I always liked the look of the RO80,never go to see one in the flesh so to speak though, i suppose it would be a long shot asking if any were on the road in this country.....were they sold here new?

Yes they were sold here and there are still a number of them around the country, take a look at the Irish NSU website and you will see some photos.

ds20prefecture

carchaeologist wrote: »

An old lad once said to me that NSU stood for"No Shagging Use".I always liked the look of the RO80,never go to see one in the flesh so to speak though, i suppose it would be a long shot asking if any were on the road in this country.....were they sold here new?

There's an orange one in the blessington car club that was bought new here by it's current owner. A 40,000 miles one owner Ro80. It's in stunning condition. A fabulous, original and daring design, miles and miles ahead of almost everything (everything that wasn't a Citroen, that is )

carchaeologist

Its nice to hear that cars like that are still out there!Whats the url for the NSU website?

Ballykine43

From Kilbroney show 2005. There were two of them there with a few of the smaller NSU's, including the bat out of hell 1000TTS.

milod

Beautiful! from a purely aesthetic point of view, the RO80 was a masterpiece. You can see some of the same styling cues employed in the Citroen GS.

The 1000 looks very similar to the Hillman Imp too...

ianobrien

I remember seeing a few Ro80's after being re-engined with a Ford V4 (can't remember if it was an Essex or Cologne V4, but I thing Essex V4)

I've got some old car mags at home with ads for the engine conversion! I'll dig them out and try to put them here.

carchaeologist

Do, that would be interesting!, I think alot of them were re-engined with the ford v4, which wasnt exactly a much loved engine itself!

rotorhead

Have a look here ,lots of info on Ro80's including the cars designer who sadly passed away last week. after NSU he went on to work for BMW

http://www.ro80.nl

milod

ianobrien wrote: »

I remember seeing a few Ro80's after being re-engined with a Ford V4 (can't remember if it was an Essex or Cologne V4, but I thing Essex V4)

I've got some old car mags at home with ads for the engine conversion! I'll dig them out and try to put them here.

Was that the same unit they put in the Old Saab 96 V4?

ikb

carchaeologist wrote: »

An old lad once said to me that NSU stood for"No Shagging Use".I always liked the look of the RO80,never go to see one in the flesh so to speak though, i suppose it would be a long shot asking if any were on the road in this country.....were they sold here new?

Dont know about the Ro80, but the man next door to us had two NSU prinz, one after the other,same wankel engine. Used to sound like popeye blowing bubbles in a swamp whenticking over...(They eventually did tick over when he got them started.... Eventually..).

nmacc

I'm old enough to remember the NSU Prinz on the roads and I don't think they were normally fitted with a Wankel. Two cylinder air-cooled I believe.

As for the Car of the Year, I once had a Chrysler Alpine. More accurately I had three of them as I needed all three to keep the first one going long enough to sell it.

They were indeed an utterly dreadful car, but the problems were mainly down to careless mechanical design faults such as the lousy gearbox and the engine with the inaccessible oil filter that used to starve the camshaft - a Simca trait which reached it's peak with the 1500.

From a driver's point of view the Alpine wasn't bad and I can see why the journos voted it Car of the Year - after all, they didn't have to live with the consequences of their vote - they could give them back at the end of the test.

They were comfortable, very spacious and had a very laid back driving position, although the smaller-engined version was very underpowered and could be a bit thirsty. Mine ran on LPG and performed exactly like the petrol version until you hit 60, when it basically stopped accelerating. This sudden ceiling on the top speed could be very scary until I learned to switch back to petrol for overtaking!

I even had a GLS with tints, power windows, headlamp wash-wipe, deep pile carpeting, rear seat heating, etc. It might be described as a gold-plated turd.

I also looked at the Horizon, but one test drive of a new one back in 1980 was enough to put me off. It had terrible handling and parts of the dashboard fell off when going around corners.

Ballykine43

Yes the Prinz had a two cylinder derived from the motorcycle engines. The distributor sat just under the rear bonnet which had a large grill to assist the air cooling. When the distributor cover was lost, a regular occurrence, the distributor got wet. Hence the 'terrible to start' reputation of these little cars. The 100, Typ110 and the 1200 had OHC engines. A single wankel was fitted to a sort of fastback Prinz known as a Spider in 1964. There was one in Rathgar. A wonderful piece of engineering and an engine sound like no other. And then later the RO80. I think I'm right in saying that Mazda still pay royalties to NSU.
Brian