1980 Triumph Dolomite 1500 SE

Well, we have finally come to the most exciting car I have had the pleasure of owning in my name, which was a 1980 Triumph Dolomite SE. I bought it in 2005, and only had it for a couple of months, but those months left a deep impression on me.

Originally launched as the front wheel drive Triumph 1300 in 1965, what eventually became the Triumph Dolomite had something of an interesting history. In 1970, with Triumph having been absorbed into British Leyland (there is a name that speaks apprehension into the hearts of many petroheads) as one of their sporting marques, plans were afoot to 'update' the car for the new decade. Besides the obvious work to elongate the car a little by changing the front and back, which was a bit of a facelift, something extraordinary happened: the car was switched from front wheel drive back to rear wheel drive, which seems like an extraordinarily retrograde step now.

In 1972, the newly modified Triumph Dolomite emerged (at that time without the specific 1850 HL moniker that it would later adopt), with rear wheel drive, a plush interior and a 1.85 litre engine co-developed with Saab of all people... Despite the styling, which dated back seven years at the time, the car was quite successful, and was legitimately seen as a rival to the BMW 2002, the ancestor of today's 3-series.

In 1973, things got even more exciting. The Triumph 1500, the bigger engined front-wheel drive replacement for the 1300 was re-engineered to be rear-wheel drive (as the Dolomite was) and was now known as the 1500 TC, although this was not the real news of the year. The really big development was the Triumph Dolomite Sprint.

This had an all new 2 litre 16 valve engine, based on the 1.85 litre motor in the standard Dolomite, alloy wheels, around 127 bhp and it could do 0-60 mph in around 8.7 seconds. For the early 1970s, alloy wheels and a 16 valve engine were cutting edge technology, and the acceleration was very rapid indeed. The car looked amazing, and in the first series of 'The Professionals' (1977-78) Lewis Collins' character Bodie drove a white Dolomite Sprint. This was a perfect match of character and car.

My parents actually had a very similar car in the 1970s, as the 1300 had not just been replaced by the slightly larger 1500, but also the cheaper Toledo, which kept the 1300's shorter body. This was a Dolomite with the 1300 engine, but no luxuries at all, and rear wheel drive. My parents' Toledo, despite being a couple of years old, suffered from terrible reliability problems, and did not remain in the family long...

With such massive confusion among the range and terrible product planning, in 1976, all models were renamed as Dolomites, all with rear wheel drive, and all with the longer bodyshell. This meant engines from 1.3 all the way up to 2.0 litres and big variations in specification, but less complication.

A special 'run out' model came in around 1979, which was the Dolomite SE. All 1850 HL and Sprint models had standard quad round headlights, where the lesser models had twin rectangular headlamps. Being based on the 1500 HL, the SE had the twin lights, but many owners upgraded them to Sprint specification of quad headlamps and alloy wheels (not the standard steel ones). All cars were black with a grey velour interior and wooden door caps.

Mine had been upgraded in this way

, and had also been fitted with a wood rimmed steering wheel, whereas the originals had a black plastic rimmed one. The deep pile carpet, AM radio and beautiful styling were wonderful. The reliability was not.

When she arrived on a trailer from Scotland (yes, really), the brakes did not work properly, neither did the headlights and the choke lever would not stay out. I did manage to replace the battery on my own, and the problem with the brake hose was easily fixed by the nice man from the RAC, but as she took ages to warm up when she started, ran a bit rich and generally consumed money faster than a holiday in Singapore, she had to go. The final straw was finding the dodgy handling was due to incorrectly fitted ball joints.

I sold her to a chap on Ebay for £900, who drove her back to Derby, where amazingly she did not break down. I was very sad when she left, but being 23 and still living at home, I knew I had to wait until later in life to have my proper classic car fun.

1996 Vauxhall Vectra 1.8 LS

To start the working week, I have the (dis)pleasure of reviewing what must be one of the most hated cars of the last 25 years, the Vauxhall Vectra.

After its launch in 1995, it was famously reviewed by Jeremy Clarkson in early 1996 on Top Gear, and he spent six minutes desperately trying to find things to say and failing miserably. Even if you don't like cars, this is a very entertaining piece of television:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJ756HncddI

With the most exciting thing about it in the video being the door mirrors (which genuinely are rather nicely designed), and the little plastic tool inside the fuel filler cap to prevent people getting dusty fingers when removing the tyre valves, the Vectra got such a bad press from Clarkson that Vauxhall wouldn't lend him any more press cars for a time. The Vectra, in Britain at least, had such a terrible image problem following this report that General Motors (at the time Vauxhall's parent company) changed the name in 2008 of its large family car to the Insignia, and has not looked back since.

Launched to follow the celebrated MkIII Cavalier (which had been called the Opel Vectra in Europe), many drivers who had been happy with their Cavaliers up until 1995 started to desert Vauxhall in droves. As Clarkson points out, the Vectra and many rivals of the same era were looked the same, cost abut the same and they appealed to the same type of company car drivers. Only small differences (such as a biro holder, place to store sunglasses or the aforementioned tool for removing the tyre dust caps) set them apart. It was like buying a washing machine, not a car.

I had the pleasure of using one of these original Vectras back in 2008 when it was given to me by a local garage as a loan car. It was not the most pleasant experience. The car seemed far too large considering what it should be, and had a very uncomfortable driving position. Most of the pixels on the combined display above the dashboard no longer worked, and the mirrors (although they looked nice), were not very effective.

The 1.8 litre petrol engine was nothing more than average, which pretty much summed up the whole car. The ride and handling also suffered from the same sort of blandness and overall lack of character. I suppose it was spacious and probably better built than most, but that was about it.

The rear view was also poor, the interior was dark and depressing and there was no sense of character whatsoever. Unless the discerning sub £500 buyer gets hold of a V6 model, which were a bit more exciting, I don't think I can recommend this at all, but I don't think that is much of a surprise!

2014 Toyota Aygo 1.0

Today we continue to look at another hire car, in this case a 2014 Toyota Aygo, which I rented in September 2015. This example was just over a year old, and had done about 12,000 miles when I was handed the keys.

The Toyota Aygo was the first vehicle in a collaboration between Citroen, Peugeot and Toyota, which resulted initially in the C1, 107 and Aygo, and then the Citroen Dispatch, Peugeot Expert and Toyota Proace vans. (The Citroen was named the Jumpy in other countries, which was unsurprisingly changed for the British market.) Both the van and the small city car triplets have since been replaced with a new generation, but the collaboration continues...

The Aygo/107/C1 (there are only minor differences between them) was launched in 2005, and stayed in production in its initial generation until 2014. The most prolific engine used was a brand new 1.0 unit developed by Toyota and producing an incredible 67 bhp, supplemented by a 1.4 diesel supplied by Peugeot Citroen. The cars were facelifted in 2010 and 2012, so the 2014 example I drove was a very late one indeed. The Aygo (which I will refer to on its own for the rest of this post, as it is too tedious to type out the other model names as well, but 99% of what I write is applicable to them too) is a textbook example of how to make a car on a budget.

Inside, the rear windows do not roll down, but just pop out. There are only two electric window switches, one on the driver's door and one on the passenger door (the driver does not get two as on most cars). The tiny little tailgate has just one little strut supporting its weight, and only the upper specification cars were supplied with a rev counter, which tacks onto the instrument cluster like an afterthought. There is just one massive windscreen wiper, like something from a 1980s Citroen, which does add a bit of character, it must be said!

The 1.0 three cylinder engine is far from refined, although in such a light car, the performance is perfectly acceptable in the city. Out of town, however, the engine is low on torque and needs to be worked hard to make any decent progress. The handling is also hardly sporty, which is not helped by skinny tyres, only average steering feedback and a driving position which is difficult to adjust to one's every whim. I also found the gearbox rather difficult and far from smooth, which is not what I would expect from a Toyota at all.

The equipment, as one would expect, is also pretty basic. There was no sat nav or Bluetooth, but most versions do at least seem to get air conditioning and an auxiliary input for the stereo. The digital clock on the dashboard, again, looks like something from a 1980s Citroen...

The boot space is absolutely tiny at just 150 litres (smaller than that on a Fiat 500), but at least folding the seats down is easy. Rear space is also quite limited, and with the front seats being of one piece without removable head restraints, it can feel claustrophic in the back, particularly as the rear windows do not roll down.

The Aygo's raison d'etre, however, is not luxury or driving pleasure, but low running costs. This is where it scores very well. The insurance is low, the fuel economy is excellent, and the Franco-Japanese trio (built in the Czech Republic in case anyone is curious) scores well in reliability surveys, probably because there is not much to go wrong. For only £2,000 or so for an early example in reasonable condition, many would say that there is little wrong with one of these cars.

The first problem is that since the launch of the Aygo, 107 and C1, the city car class has massively moved on. Cars like the Seat Mii (another silly name), Skoda Citigo and Volkswagen Up! trio, which still show signs of cost cutting, but are light years ahead on build quality, refinement, safety, styling and space. The newer models of the Franco-Japanese trio, despite being launched three years after them, still aren't as good.

The second problem is the growth in budget superminis which have been launched in the last five years, which are the same price or even undercut the Aygo, with equivalent specification. They often even have similar running costs, and again offer more space and a more mature feel for less money. Typical examples of this are the MG 3 and the Dacia Sandero, and whilst neither is the last word in technical sophistication, I would take either over the Franco-Japanese trio (even the new models) any day of the week.

For a couple of days as a hire car, the first generation Aygo was fine, but for any longer period of time, I would recommend looking elsewhere, unless low running costs are the top priority.

2011 Chevrolet Cruze 1.6 LT

This is the 2011 Chevrolet Cruze 1.6 LT I bought in 2012 to replace my 2004 Rover 45. It had done just 5000 miles when I got it, and was an 11 month old demonstrator. It had lost over a third of its value in the first year, and so was a classic case of wonderful car: terrible depreciation.

In black, it looked super, and was well specified with air conditioning, an AUX input for the stereo, cruise control, six airbags, ESP with EBD, ABS brakes, parking sensors and all kinds of other refinements. I missed the direct steering feel, the comfortable seats, the wood on the interior and adjustable lumbar support from the Rover 45 (and also the size, as the Cruze is a much bigger car), as it has electric power steering and no adjustable lumbar support, but in every other way it was better.

For some reason, General Motors, who own Chevrolet, took it up on themselves to remove the spare wheel, and so it only came with a tyre inflation kit. A space saver (not full size) spare wheel was £300, which I thought was ridiculous, and apparently it robs boot space too.

Apart from that, and slightly disappointing fuel economy (one of the reasons I eventually swapped her for a diesel version of the same car), she was better than the Rover in virtually every respect. The cruise control made her better on motorways, there was more rear legroom, a better stereo, a bigger boot and vastly superior switchgear and build quality.

Most of all, especially as she was so new, the reliability was vastly improved. I had virtually no problems with her at all, apart from the driveshaft oil seals failing (which is a common fault with all Cruzes, apparently, as my 2014 Turbo Diesel had the same problem) and it had a recall to have the brake hoses replaced. Apart from that (and some self inflicted damage I undertook in a car park in Hatfield in 2014), I would have kept her, but a friend of mine needed a car like mine, and so I sold her to him in 2015 eventually with just 37,000 miles on the clock.

I had paid around £9,000 for her originally, but I sold for for just over £4,000, which was a heinous loss. He also sold her for not much money when he got a company car, which is why these cars are absolute bargains these days!

The fuel economy and performance are merely average, and the steering is over-assisted, but for comfortable, well-equipped family transport that is reasonably stylish, a Chevy Cruze is pretty hard to beat... I hope to own another some day!

1998 Volkswagen Polo 1.4 CL

Let us take things right back to the start of my automotive history. This is a Volkswagen Polo 1.4 CL from the late 1990s (this is a 1999, and mine was a 1998), which was my first car.

My mother, my sister and I bought her from the local Volkswagen dealer in St. Cross, a very affluent area of Winchester, in May 2001. I had her before I passed my test, and took lessons from my mother in her. She even appeared in the school magazine, I think!

My sister and I passed our tests in quick succession in the autumn of 2001, and for four and half years afterwards, the Polo remained a faithful, yet uninspiring, companion. The build quality was a strange mixture of Volkswagen typical solidity and cheapness. For example, the Clarion stereo had a barely fitting face off front, which was very difficult to manipulate, the central locking kept sticking, the electric mirror motors sounded horrible, and the electric window switches were in the centre console so that they did not have to be modified from left to right hand drive, and felt really cheap and nasty. However, there was always a good amount of weight to the doors, the seats were very supportive and there was a general solidity to the way that the car drove.

With just 60 bhp, the Polo is not fast, but she was more difficult to stall than my driving school car (a Citroen Saxo), which is probably down to having much more torque, so she was easier to drive in traffic. The pedal box, however, was quite small, so it wasn't always comfortable for everyone. I think she got reasonable economy, but it was a long time ago now!

The handling was safe and predictable, which is excellent for younger drivers and the rear window was entirely vertical, so she was quite easy to park. In the end, despite giving my mother, my sister and I good service for four and half years, she just became a little dull for me, so she, along with another car, was sold to make way for a 2003 Seat Leon, which was more suitable for my needs. I sold her to an antique dealer for his wife, and by the time this happened, the central locking was very sticky and the radio barely worked, but he seemed pretty happy nevertheless. He knew Volkswagens, and he said it felt like a miniature version of his Passat. I couldn't have agreed more.

2003 Seat Leon 1.4 S

One of the cars with the longest personal history I have (which is around seven or eight years) is a 2003 Seat Leon 1.4 S. After I bought it in 2006 with 33,000 miles on the clock, I kept it until 2009, and then sold it to a friend. He kept it three years, and then it was finally sold onto another friend in 2012, and I think it lasted (with well over 100,000 miles on the clock) for another two or three years.

The Mark I Seat Leon was based on the Mark IV Volkswagen Golf, which had the same platform as all these other cars:

-Skoda Octavia Mark 1
-Audi A3 Mark 1
-Seat Toledo Mark 2
-Volkswagen Bora
-Audi TT (yes, really)

It is not surprising, therefore, that there were certain common elements between all of them. My bottom of the range Leon 1.4 S had an engine from the Golf, the dashboard from the Audi A3 and air conditioning controls from the Octavia. It didn't quite handle like an Audi TT, though...

Rather like the car it replaced, a Volkswagen 1.4 Polo, there was a strange mixture of surprisingly poor materials in some places, but general Volkswagen group quality in others. I had numerous problems trying to get the rear wash wipe to co-operate, the lighting for the air conditioning control panel kept being intermittent, and the door pull was extremely cheap and nasty.

Later on in its life, the car acquired various 'battle scars', such as a missing bonnet badge (which was knocked out by a terrified badger), dents in both wings and scratches on the back (it was a little hard to park), and a CD got stuck in the stereo, but overall it did keep on going for quite a long time. The 75 bhp engine was a bit underpowered (bit of a theme going on here), so the car wasn't fast, but she did get around 40 mpg on average, and the fuel range was around 450-500 miles on a tank.

The handling was better than on the Golf, and the interior was tactile and smart (despite one or two poor quality bits of trim). It also looked more stylish than the slightly dumpy Mark VI Golf, especially with the tailgate release button doubling as the Seat badge. I believe that she has now been scrapped, but she certainly gave all three of us good service over a number of years, and you can pick up a decent Mark I Leon now for under £1,000.

2004 Rover 45 1.4 Club SE

Back with one of my favourite subjects today, which concerns the 2004 Rover 45 Club SE I had from 2009 to 2012. Sporting the same 1.4 litre K-series engine (designed in Britain, of course) as the Rover 214 I had immediately before this, she developed around 103 bhp.

The car was never exactly fast, but it had an urgency about the way in which the 16 Valve Twin Cam K-series. This engine was used in MG Rover cars right up until the bankrupcy of the company in April 2005, and a modified 1.8 litre version was used in the MG 6 model from the revived MG Motor UK from 2011 to 2014. As for the Rover 45, it had a complicated history and gestation period.

In 1992, Honda and the Rover Group (as they were at the time) were in a partnership which had been going on for over 10 years and had largely been quite successful. The joint venture Honda Concerto and Rover 200/400 (known as the R8) models had been well received, and the replacement for these would again be co-developed by both companies. However, before Rover had any say in what would happen, Honda launched their 1992 Domani saloon in Japan, and decreed that their joint venture product would have to be based upon it.

The dumpy little Civic-related saloon (which has exactly the same doors as the Rover 45) was quite inelegant, and proved a headache for the British designers. When the new Rover 400 hatchback appeared at the end of 1995, the press were singularly unimpressed with its drab styling and high prices (it was the same size as an Astra, but priced to compete with the Vectra), which was not a good start.

The saloon was better received, but when compared with the British built Honda Civic five door from their Swindon plant, the Rover looked embarrassingly expensive, despite the typical lashings of wood and chrome. Eventually, Rover reduced their prices, but damage had been done. BMW, new owners of Rover from early 1995, didn't much know what to do with all their Honda derived models, and so eventually reduced prices and lightly facelifted them, which did not do much to stem the tide of falling sales.

In March 2000, BMW sold Rover to a management buyout bid known as the Phoenix Consortium, having just facelifted the 400, which became known as the 45. It had some positive changes, and was priced directly against the Astra, where it always should have been. Some elements from the recently launched 75 were also incorporated into the new design, such as new seats and some nice new instrument dials.

By 2004, the Phoenix Consortium (aka MG Rover) had both MG and Rover models on sale, and had managed to somehow not go under, but when they wheeled out mildly facelifted versions of the Rover 25, 45 and 75 as well as the MG ZR, ZS and ZT (essentially three different cars with one sporty version each), the press and public were underwhelmed. It was all over less than a year later.

The 45 by this stage was still a decent car, but it suffered from a terrible image and was by now a very old design. My 2004 Mk2 version had the following equipment:

-Wood inserts
-Climate control
-Parking sensors
-Steering wheel mounted controls
-Traffic Master congestion early warning system (yes, really)
-Alloy wheels

This was not bad for a family car of its age, and the facelift smartened up the design considerably. Part of this was to revise the suspension settings more along the lines of the MG ZS, which meant that the handling was not bad at all. The car was comfortable, with a big boot, reasonable fuel economy, strangely handsome styling and a pretty stylish interior (also revised in 2004) with white dials and a bespoke dashboard. Sadly, it was not all positive.

I lost count of the maintenance bills I had to spend, but by the time I bought in 2009, it had already had a head gasket replacement, and needed even more work. I loved driving it, and the ambience, but it did break down several times and eventually the head gasket went again (along with the exhaust), and so she was put out to pasture for just £350 in 2012. For an eight year old car, which cost around £18,000 new, that was pretty poor depreciation.

2016 Renault Captur 0.9 tce

Last year, my lady wife and I went to Sheffield and the Peak District, and hired a car from Enterprise, who I have always found to be universally excellent. Having been upgraded from a Clio sized car to a small crossover in the shape of a Renault Captur (pictured), we set off in search of adventure in the rolling hills of Derbyshire.

We had not gone very far, however, when I discovered a problem with the 900cc turbo petrol engine in this particular car. It seemed permanently underpowered. I have driven little three cylinder turbocharged petrols like this before, and was singularly unimpressed with the acceleration. I thought nothing of the little green light marked 'Eco' on the dashboard, and carried on with the reduced power, slightly irritated that at every hill (and there are plenty of them in the Peak District), then car would do a very good impression of a milk float. There were other problems too.

The credit card shaped key was deeply annoying for some reason, there were no parking sensors or reversing camera, despite satellite navigation, a touch screen, Bluetooth and a whole 'Eco' display to tell me how good (or bad) my driving was. This is fine in some cars, but the Captur does not have the best rear visibility, and is quite wide. The build quality was also not particularly good, which is perfectly fine on a £7,500 Dacia Logan MCV, but not so good on a Captur which costs double that amount.

Overnight, I looked up some reviews online, and found out that I could de-activate the 'Eco' mode. The performance then returned, and the little three-cylinder turbo was far more spritely. If I owned one, I would definitely not use the 'Eco' mode for anything other than town driving. With these new performance capabilities, I searched for the cruise control activation switch, only to find it was buried at the bottom of the centre console, whereas the other controls for it were on the steering wheel. Very strange... Looking more into the 'Eco' mode display on the touch screen also revealed that the car was getting just 38 mpg on average, despite Renault's claims of 55-60 mpg.

As this was a hire car, I realise that it may have been driven a little more swiftly than usual, but as most people probably had not worked out the niceties of the 'Eco' mode, thus it had been on all the time, I imagine it was not as economical as one may have thought. Mind you, I did get a £15 rebate from Enterprise from having overfilled it at the end to put towards my next hire, so that was good.

In summary, particularly as my uncle and aunt own a Captur, I would not say it was a bad car at all. However, having recently driven some of the competition such as the Suzuki Vitara and particularly the wonderful Ssangyong Tivoli, it does come across as a little average.

2001 Vauxhall Corsa 1.0 Expression

The final post on this series about driving school cars is about another Vauxhall Corsa. This 2001 Corsa 1.0 Expression is identical to the one I learned to drive in towards the end of my learning career, except it has a different numberplate...

The 1.0 litre three cylinder Family 0 engine produces just over 60 bhp, but as the Corsa 'C' weighs so little, the car never seemed underpowered. The other amazing thing at the time was the electric power assisted steering, a real novelty on cars at the time. It meant that it lacked a bit of road feel, but it was really easy to park, and could be twirled with one little finger from lock to lock (although one would never do such things on a test).

The other revelation was the difference in interior quality between this and the older Corsa. These days, a Corsa 'C' interior seems quite tacky, but in 2001, it seemed high quality and well assembled. The ride and handling were probably OK (it was a while ago now), but the gearbox was typically vague with quite a long throw in the finest Vauxhall tradition.

I passed my test in the Saxo in September 2001, and have driven a fair few cars since...

1994 Vauxhall Corsa 1.4 GLS

Continuing with the driving school cars theme, this is a 1994 Vauxhall Corsa 1.4 GLS (ignore the SI badge on the back, as this refers to the type of engine, not the trim level). A very similar burgundy-coloured one was the other car I learned to drive in back in 2000-2001. My sister's driving instructor had two cars during the time we learned to drive with him, this one and a brand new Corsa later on (more of that in a future instalment).

In contrast to the Saxo that I also drove, the Corsa very substantial, and of a much higher quality. The dashboard was split, with the display set high up far above a unique fit radio (something very new at the time), and then the chunky heating and ventilation controls underneath. The power steering made light work of parking, and all round visibility was excellent.

Despite no standard driver's airbag (this was not the case until a facelift in 1996), the car was definitely safer than the Saxo. It was also faster, thanks to an amazing 82 bhp (as opposed to the 60 bhp from a 1.1 Saxo) from the 1.4 SI engine. (There was also a 60 bhp so called 'Hi-Torq' variant, but this was the more powerful one.) Amazingly, for such a relatively high-powered car, I don't recall it being fitted with a rev counter. The gearing was such that it accelerated fast, but reached 60 mph a bit too quickly, as it seemed to be far too noisy when cruising on the motorway at 70 mph in fifth gear (a trait shared with my housemate's 1.2 SXI Corsa from 2006).

The gearbox was, in truth, not very good (like many Vauxhall gearboxes of the era), but it seemed much better than the Saxo, and it was at least difficult to put it in the wrong gear. The handling probably was not as sharp as the Citroen, but it was hard to tell when one car lacked power steering, and one was so equipped. After around six years of use to teach people to drive, it was sold and another Corsa took its place. This was somewhat differently powered...