Jump to content
The mkiv Supra Owners Club

Other Vehicles you have that come with a love / hate relationship...?


Richie_k83

Recommended Posts

Odd title I guess, but does anyone else have another Car / Vehicle / Project they love & hate at the same time?

 

Me and the Wife decided a few months back that we were going to break our Camper Van cherry and leapt in feet first. We bought a 1987 Talbot Express Camper Van.

 

It still had a little MOT at the time and only covered about 76,000 miles.

 

It needed a little TLC, but now every time I touch it, something else goes wrong almost straight away..... :banghead:

 

I hate it, I hate working on it and has even come to dub the thing "Ugly Betty" as its the ugliest car on the Driveway lol

 

However, I absolutely cant wait to go out on long weekends in it, just to get away from the daily grind....

 

Anyone else have a similar experience...? lol

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Audi S2. The looks alone were a love/hate thing. Under normal driving it was horrendous on fuel, had a heavy clutch, no steering feel, and sounded like a wheezy diesel.

 

However, on the occasions when you could put your foot down, it totally transformed. Acceleration and grip were just brutal, the steering weighed up at speed, and the sound of the 5 cylinder 20v turbo engine on full song was just amazing.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I wish I had gotten to the point where i could drive the Talbot to know if i was going to make it to my destination.... lol

 

It had gear crunching problems, so we changed the Clutch, Clutch Cable, Gearbox Oil etc etc and still no joy. Ended up costing £1k in a Gearbox rebuild...!

 

Put the box back in all ok. No I cant get 5th or Reverse becuase of a worn linkage that now needs attention.

 

I then Stalled it when running through the gears on the drive the other week, turned the key and "Click" thought the gearbox had locked up as it was stuck in gear, turned out to be a stupid earth strap problem.

 

Fixed that and then manage to snap off what was left of a rotten metal coolant pipe that goes into the head... Its discontinued now so I had to modify the coolant system slightly in order to make it work.

 

I also changed the headlamps as they were full of water and deteriorated inside. Guess what? the lights wont work properly.... See why i am begining to hate it so much? lol

Link to comment
Share on other sites

For me it was my old RX7! Love the car to be fair and had it along side my supra, great handling car and so different to drive. Just a complete pain in the ass to look after, was a very needy relationship

 

Yep it needed a lot :D

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...
I wish I had gotten to the point where i could drive the Talbot to know if i was going to make it to my destination.... lol

 

It had gear crunching problems, so we changed the Clutch, Clutch Cable, Gearbox Oil etc etc and still no joy. Ended up costing £1k in a Gearbox rebuild...!

 

Put the box back in all ok. No I cant get 5th or Reverse becuase of a worn linkage that now needs attention.

 

I then Stalled it when running through the gears on the drive the other week, turned the key and "Click" thought the gearbox had locked up as it was stuck in gear, turned out to be a stupid earth strap problem.

 

Fixed that and then manage to snap off what was left of a rotten metal coolant pipe that goes into the head... Its discontinued now so I had to modify the coolant system slightly in order to make it work.

 

I also changed the headlamps as they were full of water and deteriorated inside. Guess what? the lights wont work properly.... See why i am begining to hate it so much? lol

 

Hey Ritchie,

 

Only just seen this as been away. You might remember when I collected the autobox from you I saw it on your drive and said I had some experience with them. They were a strange motor and I went through various shapes and models of them before I eventually gave up. I do feel your pain, you didn't mention drive shaft problems, you will :) As I recall the gear linkage issues were really common and there where a couple of knuckle joints that had to be changed and also in changing them it was very possible to get them the wrong way round resulting in missing gears. Cant remember if yours was is a petrol or diesel but one of mine was a petrol and I had a head problem, replaced the head and it kept cooking under load conditions, but otherwise ran fine, spent hours and hours on it only to discover when I had put it together at the roadside in the dark like you do, that I had managed to put the head gasket on the wrong way round and blocked a couple of waterways. Who would design an engine that would let that happen, a single locating dowel would have prevented it.

 

 

They were marketed as Talbot Express, Citroen C25, Peugeot J5 and Fiat Ducato, all pretty much the same but with market variations. Now here is an incredible but useless fact, did you know that you could remove the badly designed sliding door on the side and replace it with a pair of opening doors from the rear? OK you had the runner recess showing but that was easy to cover up. I discovered it when travelling somewhere and noticed that the J5 models sold elsewhere had variants with either a single or double opening doors at the side and the doors had the very unique look about them that the back doors had. At the time I was having nightmares with the sliding door on the LWB hitop I had and went for it, found a couple of back doors and their hinges, drilled a few holes and job done.

 

I moved on to Mercedes vans after this and would like to say I never looked back.....

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My MX5 believe it or not...

Bought the thing for £1.5k a year ago. I have since then had to spend the same again on just keeping the little #!?t running. Alternator, rear brake calipers + brakes all round, new mohair hood (I knew about that one when I bought it), new water pump and rad, new battery, new catalyst. List goes on.

I had promised the wife that after the initial outlay, it was going to run sweet (as has been said all over the internet about these amazing, reliable MX5s that just keep going with very little work) and it has been in and out of the garage every couple of months.

 

I dont mind waving a toolbox about, and getting to work, but I have had very little time to work on cars over the past year due to my PhD. So it has just been a right pain.

 

BUT. Every time I drive it, I get this beaming smile across my face. I drive it gently at first to let it warm up and get to temperature, and then drive it like I stole it. Love the responsive steering and poised feeling of the body. Just feels incredible. Worth every penny to me (albeit delaying my Supra fund) but the wife doesn't seem to see it in the same way :p

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My Alfa. When it's running right, it's great. When it isn't, it's a complete sod (It currently isn't). It eats front wishbones for breakfast, not helped in the slightest by being great fun to drive flat out everywhere...

 

Never had an alfa, apparently you aren't a true petrolhead unless you have owned one lol

 

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Restore formatting

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue. You might also be interested in our Guidelines, Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.