The Competition

[reanimation]

Interesting thread, obviously i'm slightly blinkered tc , but the S***** was the first big car i really liked. and thats why i have invested in 2! Locks - crap yeah, brakes on my sapph are great, cant fault em, goes ok. if i wasn't hoping for a BX for my next, i'd be attempting to buy that GLS off your garage for sure, infact i'm still tempted!

I think like Citroen, ford were brave bringing out the futuristic Jelly mould in 1982 following the humble Cortina non standing out peoples car. the risk did pay off eventually, good on em. I think even though lover of retro, the modernised and normallised Sapph shape is my favourate with the right styling touches, i'd show a pic of mine as example but i'd better not. much less dated than a mundano mk1

they did get tatty quick and i think a lot of cars that vintage do.



PS i wonder how this would go if i did an equal opposite thread on the S***** club, compare the BX as a competitor etc, I might try that for amusement tomorrow....

[tim leech]

Ive done thousands of miles in BXs and Sierras as my mum had one which she gave to me after wards, 1.6L estate 4 speed in beige, never went wrong but it fell apart and was scrapped.

[Mike E (uk)]

Main contenders: Sierra , Cavalier & Pug 405.

The MK2 1.8 Cav SRi did not have the performance of the BX GTI 8V, both in handling or power. Cav was a older design, and far simpler.
Sierra felt somewhat stodgy.

The Pug 405 was the best alternative to the BX for handling and driveability, felt like a real sports car. I should have bought one.

The MK3 2.0 Cav SRi with 130hp is similar to the BX GTI in performance,
but the Citroen was still superior, with far better ride quality,steering & brakes.

Having owned both these cars for 16 and 8 years concurrently, the biggest difference is the Cav, (which I still own) has needed hardly any mechanical attention, but the Citroens have had loads.

It must be fun driving that Sierra though, proper time warp driving.

Mike

[cavmad]

Interesting post Mike, and I couldn`t argue over your list of main contenders.
Again I think it`s down to personal experiences. I`ve had four 405`s now. Two have been up there with the greatest cars I`ve driven in terms of economy and reliabilty plus comfort (all were petrol engined by the way) and the other two were about the worse cars I`ve ever had the misfortune to own and in fact did enough to persuade me to never buy a Peugot for long term ownership again.
The handling of the Mk2 Cav SRi wasn`t too clever to put it mildly (unless lowered) but in a straight line I honestly think the 1.8 would blow the BX GTi out of the water.
The SRi 130 was another fantastic engined Cav, though too big perhaps in terms of `cc` to compare to the GTi?
The later Mk2 Cavaliers and all Mk3`s were Vauxhall`s finest hour as far as I`m concerned.
Entirely agree about the ride quality and brakes being miles better in the BX, I`ve never driven a car with such responsive brakes and the ride quality is superb, though I know I`m preaching to the converted here!
Another thing the BX really suprised me at is cornering: I can chuck my estate round some quite twisty roads and roundabouts at much higher speeds than I thought possible, and have often showed much more modern cars a trick or two. Combine that with good acceleration in nearly all of the models (including n/a diesels) and it`s all part of the suprise factor. I think the BX is at it`s pinnacle right now: dirt cheap to buy, dirt cheap to run, still loads of parts available, almost untouchable in the value for money stakes and a ride quality unheard of in cars as cheap as these nowadays.

[reanimation]

I have started my experiment

Is this lovely S***** for sale? how much? out of interest...

[cavmad]

Reanimation, alas the answer is no. (In best Michael Caine voice) I know this because I`ve asked Tim and someone bought it.

[reanimation]

thanks,

Thats good:
1. so i'm not tempted!
2. I have a hope in selling mine without too much pain!

[cavmad]

I`ll have a shufty at that tomorrow, Mark. Might be leaving a little earlier than planned (10.30 instead of 11.00am), will let you know in morning.

[cavmad]

I wonder if the very last of the Cortina`s were ever classed as a rival, last ones sold were 1983 reg`d?
Reanimation has just today bought a very solid example of such a car. Cheers for the brew, Mark, went down a treat!

[jeremy]

The last of the Cortina's were regarded as archaic and well past their sell by date years before they finally expired. _ after all pushrods or a single OHC and a solid rear axle was hardly at the forefront of technology in 1971 when the thing was introduced.

To me the Sierra was killed by its looks and some apallingly drab colours - and by its old engines carried on from the Cortina. I seem to recall great play being made of the improvements - which were new piston rings supposed to give 2 BHP more. You must remember that a 1.6 Sierra gave about 75 BHP and a BX about 90 - and would use less fuel doing it -

[Mike E (uk)]

Anorak on, glasses to tilt....

The story goes that Ford increased the standard Sierra L rep-mobile ( in dark blue) from 1.6 to 1.8 litres, because the 1.6 Cavalier L (in glacer white) gave a respectable 90hp.

That decision must have been made the very day Ford got a copy of the ' all new Cavalier' brochure.

Hoods up everyone!

Mike

[stuart_hedges]

Let's chuck my oar in, just for a laugh!

We had an A-reg (I guess around 83?) Sierra, when it was maybe five years old. Bear in mind that I turned 4 in 1983 so I was still a kid then! It was brown (sexy colour) with a brown velour interior that I remember as being fabulously luxurious. I do remember it as being quite admired by the other kids at the time.

My Dad hated it, and we didn't keep it that long. We'd had a Mk1 Passat (which was an older but more technically advanced car) before, and he'd borrowed my uncle's Mk 1 BX GT in the time between the Passat dying and finding a replacement for it. He says the handling was awful, and the behaviour on motorways in windy weather downright scary. Bear in mind that this was a Mk 1 with single headlamps and a grille, and apparently they were much improved during the model's life.

My mum, on the other hand, says it's her favourite car that she's ever had. She says it was comfy and easy to drive.

Some paradoxes here; when I bought my first car (a 1973 Rover P6) she couldn't believe how big it was and refused to even move it off the drive if it was in the way of her car. Now, I know for a fact that the P6 is smaller than the Sierra because I've parked it on my Grandma's driveway, where the Sierra wouldn't physically fit.

She know has a Pug 106 because she likes small cars.

Mum also claims never to have driven anything with power steering... wasn't it standard on a Mk 1 BX 19 GT?

[tim leech]

It was standard on the GT afaiaw.

This thread has really gone mad!

[Baldbazza]

Mum also claims never to have driven anything with power steering... wasn't it standard on a Mk 1 BX 19 GT?

Mine's certainly got power steering

[reanimation]

This thread has really gone mad!

i don't think its gone mad but i must be! The cortina really does feel bloody ooolllld! live axle is a blast from the past and the pinto wont do much to the gallon i bet. However people are still tuning these engines, money spent, but they can make some reliable horses.

Plan for the tina was to slap on wide steelies and lower to hell, which is where the livey comes in handy to avoid camber. its the GFs now though, so its moderate mods for now

I think Citroen can always pride itself with crazy looking cars, i always loved the early BX dash, futuristic, wheras the Sierras isn't far off a vans in basic form

oh how cool would a best of early and late BX's cobbled together be, nice... *goes back to fantasy island*