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Annoying car & driver combo memories

Posted: Fri Jan 26, 2024 9:35 am
by mik


I never really desired an Astra 16V - by all accounts their handling was poop - but they were the fastest (in a straight line) hatch of their day.

I can't see one however without being reminded of a mate. We weren't super close but we hung out in the same group.

He hadn't been gifted it, but his dad let him drive his new white 16V around whenever he wanted it. He had zero interest in performance cars or driving. I had an old 85bhp SuperStrada at the time (with panels in 4 different colours due to rust "management"). I did p-ride in it once - he never went over 3krpm, and he pushed the clutch in and let it coast at every opportunity as his dad had told him it saved loads of fuel. It was such a tragic waste..... :evil:

Re: Annoying car & driver combo memories

Posted: Fri Jan 26, 2024 9:49 am
by Mito Man
Kinda similar story, although a closer friend about a year after school. He bought a Mk 5 Golf GTI, although it was already about 5 years old at that point. He had the most infuriating driving style where he always drove in the highest gear possible so the engine was labouring. Get to a steep hill, still doing 35 mph in 6th gear, car now kangarooing, finally he changes down a gear. He didn't know when to change down gear and just took the car dying as his signal that he should probably change gear.
Smart guy academically but dense as a plank when it came to something so simple.

Re: Annoying car & driver combo memories

Posted: Fri Jan 26, 2024 10:12 am
by dinny_g
A work colleague of a mate of mine had a Calibra and "Nothing on the road could keep up with it"

Think this guy:

Image

Re: Annoying car & driver combo memories

Posted: Fri Jan 26, 2024 1:21 pm
by Beany
What is it about vauxhall owners, and being utter cunts?

A school friend offered me a lift home in his Cav SRi in the pissing rain once, back when I was still in high school.

Didn't realise until too late that he was day drunk, and he was doing 90mph all over the road. Got him to pull over and I walked the rest of the three miles home in the rain, because recovering from a nasty cold is easier than recovering from a fencepost to the face at 80mph.

Oddly enough he went into a sheep at 70mph - probably pissed - not long after and wrote the car off. Bought it back from insurers, tried to fix it himself but never got rid of the smell of rotting flesh from it.

I hope it made him fucking puke.

Re: Annoying car & driver combo memories

Posted: Sat Jan 27, 2024 4:53 pm
by McSwede
mik wrote: Fri Jan 26, 2024 9:35 am

I never really desired an Astra 16V - by all accounts their handling was poop - but they were the fastest (in a straight line) hatch of their day.

I can't see one however without being reminded of a mate. We weren't super close but we hung out in the same group.

He hadn't been gifted it, but his dad let him drive his new white 16V around whenever he wanted it. He had zero interest in performance cars or driving. I had an old 85bhp SuperStrada at the time (with panels in 4 different colours due to rust "management"). I did p-ride in it once - he never went over 3krpm, and he pushed the clutch in and let it coast at every opportunity as his dad had told him it saved loads of fuel. It was such a tragic waste..... :evil:
Great engine and nice seats. Other than that they were a turd from what I remember. No desire to ever own one in period. My best mates Uno turbo would spank another mates GTE16v in a straight line and in the bends. That was a fun little car.

Re: Annoying car & driver combo memories

Posted: Sat Jan 27, 2024 11:04 pm
by jamcg
iirc as easy to nick as modern keyless entry stuff, except the technology required to get into them was- half a tennis ball

Re: Annoying car & driver combo memories

Posted: Sat Jan 27, 2024 11:32 pm
by mik
jamcg wrote: Sat Jan 27, 2024 11:04 pm iirc as easy to nick as modern keyless entry stuff, except the technology required to get into them was- half a tennis ball
The steering column key on my above noted SuperStrada felt really loose. You needed the key to open the door, but I joked one day that I reckoned I could start the car with a 10p piece. And. I could. :shock:

Re: Annoying car & driver combo memories

Posted: Sat Jan 27, 2024 11:49 pm
by McSwede
mik wrote: Sat Jan 27, 2024 11:32 pm
jamcg wrote: Sat Jan 27, 2024 11:04 pm iirc as easy to nick as modern keyless entry stuff, except the technology required to get into them was- half a tennis ball
The steering column key on my above noted SuperStrada felt really loose. You needed the key to open the door, but I joked one day that I reckoned I could start the car with a 10p piece. And. I could. :shock:
Was the 10p in question stretched in to an elongated, almost key like shape by 2 Scotsmen fighting over it?

Re: Annoying car & driver combo memories

Posted: Sun Jan 28, 2024 7:48 am
by 240PP
jamcg wrote: Sat Jan 27, 2024 11:04 pm iirc as easy to nick as modern keyless entry stuff, except the technology required to get into them was- half a tennis ball
Mates Mum had hers nicked, was used in a robbery.

First car I knew to have a digital speedo. Very Knight Rider 😎

Re: Annoying car & driver combo memories

Posted: Sun Jan 28, 2024 9:32 am
by Jimexpl
Beany wrote: Fri Jan 26, 2024 1:21 pm What is it about vauxhall owners, and being utter cunts?

A school friend offered me a lift home in his Cav SRi in the pissing rain once, back when I was still in high school.

Didn't realise until too late that he was day drunk, and he was doing 90mph all over the road. Got him to pull over and I walked the rest of the three miles home in the rain, because recovering from a nasty cold is easier than recovering from a fencepost to the face at 80mph.

Oddly enough he went into a sheep at 70mph - probably pissed - not long after and wrote the car off. Bought it back from insurers, tried to fix it himself but never got rid of the smell of rotting flesh from it.

I hope it made him fucking puke.
A uni acquaintance with a recently purchased Cav SRi decided to race me over the Bow/Stratford flyover (East London). I was making progress, but not really racing (why bother, even as a 19 year old, when you're 4 up in a 1.1 Mk3 Fiesta). He drove straight into the stationary traffic outside the Porsche dealership and totalled the car...

Re: Annoying car & driver combo memories

Posted: Sun Jan 28, 2024 2:19 pm
by Beany
Cavalier owners were a 'special' breed.

Re: Annoying car & driver combo memories

Posted: Mon Jan 29, 2024 12:32 pm
by scotta
My uncle is a bit of a petrol head and had a white 8v identical to the one posted. It replaced his Mk2 Cav Sri that he had kept for years. It was fast but never handled as well as the cav. I remember when he was pushing it on abit the damping was a bit shit. It was a bit floaty as if the dampers weren't strong enough. His was almost brand new when he bought it so i presume its a case of TADTS.

He ended up getting a company car so it was sold to my cousin to replace his Astra Sri. He kept it for a few years and didn't really look after it. Started getting a bit crusty. He then needed a van for work and sold it to my mate...Who hand painted the wing...Yeah...

On a saturday evening when my mate was in the pub his younger brother decided to take it out...and promptly wrote it off. Not his fault as someone pulled out a junction in front of him. My mate as you can imagine was not best pleased.

Re: Annoying car & driver combo memories

Posted: Mon Jan 29, 2024 3:23 pm
by Jimmy Choo
scotta wrote: Mon Jan 29, 2024 12:32 pm My uncle is a bit of a petrol head and had a white 8v identical to the one posted. It replaced his Mk2 Cav Sri that he had kept for years. It was fast but never handled as well as the cav. I remember when he was pushing it on abit the damping was a bit shit. It was a bit floaty as if the dampers weren't strong enough. His was almost brand new when he bought it so i presume its a case of TADTS.
My Mk2 might have been a lowly 1.3 "Tiffany" but the handling was definitely, definitively shite while also being unable to pull the skin off a rice pudding. They also had a weird dead spot in the steering around the middle.

Re: Annoying car & driver combo memories

Posted: Tue Jan 30, 2024 1:42 am
by scotta

Re: Annoying car & driver combo memories

Posted: Thu Feb 01, 2024 7:05 pm
by nuttinnew

Re: Annoying car & driver combo memories

Posted: Thu Feb 01, 2024 8:56 pm
by Beany
Yeah, but it's still an Astra.

Imagine, you could have put 1250hp into a car that wasn't a pathetically put together, baggy handling heap of shit owned almost exclusively by dribbling retards.

Re: Annoying car & driver combo memories

Posted: Thu Feb 01, 2024 9:22 pm
by nuttinnew
Beany wrote: Thu Feb 01, 2024 8:56 pm Yeah, but it's still an Astra.
Fair enough.

Beany wrote: Thu Feb 01, 2024 8:56 pm Imagine, you could have put 1250hp into a car that wasn't a pathetically put together, baggy handling heap of shit owned almost exclusively by dribbling retards.
A bit too much protesting there :lol:

Re: Annoying car & driver combo memories

Posted: Thu Feb 01, 2024 9:40 pm
by Beany
Eh, any excuse to rag on Vauxhall fans :lol: