longest running model

Ardennes1944

whats the longest serving version of a car you know? i dont mean model as in the focus from 1998-present i mean as in the focus mk1 was 1998-2004.

no1beemerfan

I'd think the beetle or mini but I may be wrong!

alias no.9

The original beetle remained largely the same through it's life, just some styling changes, as did the original mini. The land rover defender has to be up there too. More recently the original ford ka was on sale for more than a decade.

Anan1

The Porsche 911 made it from 1963 to 1989. Morgan +8 was around for a long time too.

E39MSport

MGB 62 - 80.

Ardennes1944

yeah the one that shocked me for lasting so long was the ka....never liked it!

Landrover Defender.

CiniO

Fiat Seicento - from late 1997 to 2010.

bazz26

Merc G Wagon has pretty much been unchanged since 1979. Still only a baby though compared to the original Beetle and Mini.

RobAMerc

weren't toyota claiming the corolla to be the most sold car ever - despite the car had actually changed 20 odd times during the lifetime of the name Corolla. reminds me of this from only fools and horses....

"In this classic scene, Trigger claims that he's had his road sweeper's broom for 20 years. But then he adds that the broom has had 17 new heads and 14 new handles.

"How can it be the same bloody broom then?" asks Sid the café owner. Trigger produces a picture of him and his broom and asks: "what more proof do you need?"

mailforkev

Of things you could buy up to this year (just about, if there's any left in dealers), the VW Sharan/SEAT Alhambra came out in 1995 and has only just been replaced.

mumblin deaf ro

The outgoing Saab 9-5 has been around since 1997 or so.

bmw535d

the Toyota hiace? mitsubishi canter?

VolvoMan

The just replaced Volkswagen Sharan/SEAT Alhambra were in production since 1995, with only one major facelift in 2000.

Nforce

Another one was the VW Golf Mk1...1974 until 2009 (in Citi Golf SA guise)

shamwari

Micra K11 from 1992 (in Japan, 93 here) to 2003

colm_mcm

The smart car has been largely unchanged since 98. New beetle around similar length.

Blue850

Hindustan Ambassador still in production, since 1958

VolvoMan

Nforce wrote: »

Another one was the VW Golf Mk1...1974 until 2009 (in Citi Golf SA guise)

Blue850 wrote: »

Hindustan Ambassador still in production, since 1958

As mentioned before, these cars are exceptions to the rule. There are many old cars still in production in third world countries such as the Peugeot 405. We're talking official production runs here.

Blue850

VolvoMan wrote: »

As mentioned before,

Where?

markoire

Mazda Mx5?!

zilog_jones

VolvoMan wrote: »

As mentioned before, these cars are exceptions to the rule. There are many old cars still in production in third world countries such as the Peugeot 405. We're talking official production runs here.

What's not official about these? The Ambassador has been produced by Hindustan since 1958, that's not including the original Morris Oxford III (1955-59) production or anything. The VW CitiGolf was produced by Volkswagen South Africa - excluding the original VW Golf I production it was still produced for 25 years (1984-2009).

Only half a car, but the Nissan Sunny Truck (B120, same generation with minor facelifts) was in production from 1971 to 1994 in Japan and 1971 to 2004 in South Africa as the Nissan 1400 "bakkie".

Balbriggan mechanic

The Lotus Esprit ran from 1976-2004. Although it had a few design reworks over the years the look of the car apart from a bit of rounding off remained largely the same. Citroen 2cv ran from 1948-1990 largely unchanged too.

VolvoMan

Blue850 wrote: »

Where?

In several threads similar to this that have been started before.

zilog_jones wrote: »

What's not official about these? The Ambassador has been produced by Hindustan since 1958, that's not including the original Morris Oxford III (1955-59) production or anything. The VW CitiGolf was produced by Volkswagen South Africa - excluding the original VW Golf I production it was still produced for 25 years (1984-2009).

I don't count any of these cars that are no longer available to the rest of the world. The likes of the Rover 800 (1986-1999) and SAAB 9-5 (1997-2010) are what I would count as having long official production runs. Most of the above cars are built in CKD kits in various different factories by different companies and even have different mechanicals in some cases.

Blue850

VolvoMan wrote: »

In several threads similar to this that have been started before.

But not stated by the OP in this thread

I don't count any of these cars that are no longer available to the rest of the world.

New Citigolfs were available here and the Ambassador is available in the UK
http://www.merlingarages.co.uk/home.htm

VolvoMan

Blue850 wrote: »

But not stated by the OP in this thread



New Citigolfs were available here and the Ambassador is available in the UK
http://www.merlingarages.co.uk/home.htm

So you're telling me that both the Citigolf and Ambassador were cars that were consistently sold in the UK and recognised by the UK car buying public?

Blue850

Deutschlandfürimmer7 wrote: »

whats the longest serving version of a car you know? i dont mean model as in the focus from 1998-present i mean as in the focus mk1 was 1998-2004.

VolvoMan wrote: »

So you're telling me that both the Citigolf and Ambassador were cars that were consistently sold in the UK and recognised by the UK car buying public?

What has the fact that the cars weren't consistent sellers in the UK got to do with the OPs opening question? They were/are pretty consistent sellers in their countries of manfacture and more or less remained the same throughout their official production runs.

VolvoMan

Blue850 wrote: »

What has the fact that the cars weren't consistent sellers in the UK got to do with the OPs opening question? They were/are pretty consistent sellers in their countries of manfacture and more or less remained the same throughout their official production runs.

You couldn't walk into a UK dealership in the 90's though and come out with a brand new Mk1 Golf. You really reckon the likes of Peugeot include the figures of the 405's still being made in with the original British and French produced one? Not a chance.

There are many old cars still in production in China, India and Africa today but that does not mean they are still produced on their original production line and are stated in the official production figures. They are vastly different cars in most cases and sometimes only share the same design with the originals.

L1011

The longest still going now must be the New Beetle; I never noticed that the Mini had had a major enough refresh until I went and checked there, oops.

How unchanged does a car need to be, though? The 2CV went through 42 years but had quite a number of minor changes over time, building up to something that looked very similar but probably hadn't a compatible panel on the entire car.

bongi69

Morgan 4/4

1936 to date

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morgan_4/4

colm_mcm

Here's a thread I started a month on pretty much the same subject

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=68394838

Ardennes1944

colm_mcm wrote: »

Here's a thread I started a month on pretty much the same subject

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=68394838

hey! stop hijackin!:D

L1011

bongi69 wrote: »

Morgan 4/4

1936 to date

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morgan_4/4

That's been heavily revised, repeatedly, since then.

ianobrien

MYOB wrote: »

That's been heavily revised, repeatedly, since then.

And the original BL Mini wasn't updated during it's production run, or the proper Beetle (not that Golf wearing a fancy suit). The 2CV was updated as well.

For me, it's a good thing that the design gets updated. Would you drive a new Morgan everyday and take the little sprog to school if it still had '30's brakes and crash protection?

L1011

ianobrien wrote: »

And the original BL Mini wasn't updated during it's production run, or the proper Beetle (not that Golf wearing a fancy suit). The 2CV was updated as well.

For me, it's a good thing that the design gets updated. Would you drive a new Morgan everyday and take the little sprog to school if it still had '30's brakes and crash protection?

They were updated. The 4-4 was completely redesigned externally multiple times.

Its just a name, not a specific model. A '36 4-4 is to a '10 4-4 as a 1979 Fiesta is to a 2010 one.

G Luxel

Fiat Panda 1981-2003....Lincoln Towncar 1998 - 2011?....Fiat 600 1955-1986..
Toyota Century 1967-1997/1997 - date.......

Mycroft H

landrover defender.


1983-2012

GTE

It would seem the Octavia tour is now no longer the Mark 1 facelift thing.
http://new.skoda-auto.com/com/model/tour/look/Pages/look.aspx

colm_mcm

OCtavia tour:

Vehicles sold in EU countries*can be fitted with the 1.6 MPI petrol engine with a power output of 75 kW or 1.4 MPI/59 kW. Customers outside the EU can choose between the 1.6 MPI/75 kW and a 2.0 TDI common-rail diesel unit ( 81 kW). The engines*provide the driver with a sufficient power reserve and also stand out thanks to the low consumption and the fact that*they meet the EU 5, resp. EU4 (2.0 TDI),*emissions standards.

So diesels only available outside of Europe.
Same old petrol engines from the 90s.

GTE

colm_mcm wrote: »

OCtavia tour:

Vehicles sold in EU countries*can be fitted with the 1.6 MPI petrol engine with a power output of 75 kW or 1.4 MPI/59 kW. Customers outside the EU can choose between the 1.6 MPI/75 kW and a 2.0 TDI common-rail diesel unit ( 81 kW). The engines*provide the driver with a sufficient power reserve and also stand out thanks to the low consumption and the fact that*they meet the EU 5, resp. EU4 (2.0 TDI),*emissions standards.

So diesels only available outside of Europe.
Same old petrol engines from the 90s.

So the 1.9TDI which was still available with the old Tour is now gone! There cant be any models still using it now?

Nforce

VolvoMan wrote: »

You couldn't walk into a UK dealership in the 90's though and come out with a brand new Mk1 Golf.

During the 90's you actually could buy a brand new Mk1 CitiGolf or air cooled VW Beetle from many dedicated dealers (not official VAG dealers,however) in the UK and Ireland. New VW T2 vans were also on offer.

Leonard Hofstadter

colm_mcm wrote: »

OCtavia tour:

Vehicles sold in EU countries*can be fitted with the 1.6 MPI petrol engine with a power output of 75 kW or 1.4 MPI/59 kW. Customers outside the EU can choose between the 1.6 MPI/75 kW and a 2.0 TDI common-rail diesel unit ( 81 kW). The engines*provide the driver with a sufficient power reserve and also stand out thanks to the low consumption and the fact that*they meet the EU 5, resp. EU4 (2.0 TDI),*emissions standards.

So diesels only available outside of Europe.
Same old petrol engines from the 90s.

The Octavia Tour is now the current gen model, but the pre-facelift version!

What about the Audi A4 that was introduced at the end of 2000, it's still going strong in the form of the Seat Exeo?

GTE

captainspeed wrote: »

The Octavia Tour is now the current gen model, but the pre-facelift version!

What about the Audi A4 that was introduced at the end of 2000, it's still going strong in the form of the Seat Exeo?

Yeah, I think he was commenting on the engine lineup for the "new" tour. On the old one you could still get one of the aul 1.9 PDTDI's.

I like the look of the Seat Exeo. Apparently all the machines to build the old A4 were shipped from Audiland to Seatland for the Exeo.
A pity about rear legroom on it though which is meant to be quite bad all though that version of the A4. Something I can understand on an A3(Golf, I dont have good rear legroom in my Mark 4 Estate being a tall fella) but the A4/Exeo is meant to be a step up. Wrong thread for a rant though!