what to buy AX 's may have to go

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gardenpeas
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what to buy AX 's may have to go

Post by gardenpeas »

twenty year old male student seeks car that can go round corners quicker than his pair of AX's is pretty and forgiving (would be nice if it stopped quicker too lol sorry mr bmw, mr rover, mr hedge twice, mr ditch)
at the moment have two ax's both 1 litre 4 speeds killed one so far so i need a car which is built like a brick outhouse has sweet handling is quicker than current motor got a couple of thousand to spend but don't mind spending alot less. [:)]practicallity not high on list can be comical.
insurance is the killer any ideas welcome cheers
Stinkwheel
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Post by Stinkwheel »

Buy an old mini, Its only 1 litre, will handle like a go kart and seem like you are going fast all the time. Spares are plentiful and cheap.
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gardenpeas
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Post by gardenpeas »

mini would get destroyed by me i'm not the smallest person in the world tempted by a punto sporting but they have all had a hard life and the panels are even thinner than on ax lots of dents on all the ones i've seen the ax is a hard car to replace had alot of fun in them embaressed lots of better cars on papper, the four speed mean i have to change gear less [:D] could get an axGT
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Post by Stinkwheel »

Yes get an AX GT i had one, a good one, very fast and huge fun, handle very well, brakes still rubbish though.
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Post by CommY »

You want proper sporty performance at bargain prices go for a true Alfa Romeo (before the Lancia merger then the Fiat takeover) the 33's are exceptionally nippy and handle the twisties like nothing you can buy for that money (that's the beauty of the boxer engines low centre of gravity). Go for a Mk 2 1.7 8v the later 16v'ers and 4*4's are faster but less torquey and more fragile. The 8v lump is indestructable but avoid the single point injected 8vers (less power and hard to tune up) go for the two twin choke 40 Webber/dellorto setup(120bhp standard) these can be rejetted/tuned with the standard intake exhaust up to 135bhp easily and that power in an 800kg car makes for a quick ride. If you want something larger the 75 is a fine car with brillaint balance perfect 50/50 weight distribution with it's transaxle design. The earlier AlfaSud(My favorite) handles even better than the 33 but is less powerful(1.5ti 105bhp boxer with two twin choke 36 Webbers the best choice) and a tad rust prone but can be easily fitted with the 1.7 33 lump. The 33's/75's are not at all bad for rust contrary to popular belief. They are infact a hell of a lot better than the Escorts/Astra's of the same period.
If you consider one of these cars let me know and I can tell you what to look out for as I am a bit of an anorak about these cars.
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davek-uk
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Post by davek-uk »

It might be a bad idea to get a faster car - particularly if you cannot anticipate the traffic enough to stop or follow the road enough to stay on it! Get something a bit bigger and more comfortable to drive and practice driving a bit more. Or stay with the AXs and spend some money on advanced driving courses. Or get into racing and crash off of the road.
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TomH
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Post by TomH »

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by gardenpeas</i>


sorry mr bmw, mr rover, mr hedge twice, mr ditch)
killed one so far <hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">
hmmm... and you want something quicker?
which roads do you drive on? I shall avoid! [B)]
gardenpeas
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Post by gardenpeas »

just like to say not a bad driver haven't crashed for a while just a case of young and old road users not mixing so if you are over 70 and drive like a startled one legged goat i'll be the pushy young person in your boot not as bad as i used to be just don't like people that do 30 in a 60 etc in fact most my crashes are on roads unsuitable for motor cars said nothing about ax's
not thought about an old alfa as a keen reader of RETRO car magazine can see potential their bit eorried on the rust and parts suply side of things
cheers for all your comments more much appreciated
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Post by Thompatruck »

Well if I read you right, you'll want something cheap to run, cheap to maintain, reliable (student cars tend to sit alot) and got a reasonable amount of poke to it whilst being built tough.
Don't buy an Alfa, they don't like occasional use, parts aren't cheap, are a hell of a lot more complicated than an AX, any prangs will cost a fortune and the insurance for a 20 yr old with 'history' will be stupid. Awesome cars though![8D]
I'd suggest a ZX TD, Sweet on fuel, easy to maintain, cheap to buy and fix, The Volcane looks the business AND COMES WITH ABS!!![:D]
Bargain bin choice,
Indestructable, Volvo 340, costs £50, insurance £50, big mechano set and built better than a sherman tank, rwd which gives great fun and donut potential [:p]top end brakes and available up to a 2.0 beast usually well maintained and contrary to image wind up to well over the ton! Only problem is the image, that said who cares if you scratch it and who's gonna nick it?
I'll keep thinking[;)]
Thompa
Alfa 155 1.8 16v
Citroen ZX 1.9D
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TomH
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Post by TomH »

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by Thompatruck</i>

Well if I read you right, you'll want something cheap to run, cheap to maintain, reliable (student cars tend to sit alot) and got a reasonable amount of poke to it whilst being built tough. <hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">
how about a Nissan Micra? [;)]
<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">
Bargain bin choice,
Indestructable, Volvo 340, costs £50, insurance £50, big mechano set and built better than a sherman tank, rwd which gives great fun and donut potential [:p]top end brakes and available up to a 2.0 beast usually well maintained and contrary to image wind up to well over the ton! Only problem is the image, that said who cares if you scratch it and who's gonna nick it?
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">
no no no, worst car I have ever driven! Slow, very very heavy, unreliable, thirsty, and dodgy handling!
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Post by oilyspanner »

ZX TD
Thompatruck
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Post by Thompatruck »

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by TomH</i>


no no no, worst car I have ever driven! Slow, very very heavy, unreliable, thirsty, and dodgy handling!
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">
Interesting observation, reason I mentioned it is because I bought one as a student for two hundred pounds then gave it to mother when I got my ZX TD, it was only the 1.4, had acceptable acceleration , would happily cruise at a ton, topped out at 115mph (obviously you have to allow for speedo inaccuracies), yes it's heavy but what do you expect for a cast iron car? unreliable? in three years I only changed the exhaust, tyres, starter motor and a couple of fuel pipes, it only failed to start a couple of times but it took some real stick, thirsty? 30ish mpg and the handling was fine as long as you can handle being w/out PAS.
Obviously chuck 3 grand into the equation you'll get something better but for the money it's hard to fault, maybe I just got a good one but I was happy[:)]
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Post by gardenpeas »

no diesels they are diseased
no lots of miles even thou student drive 35 mile round trips to uni 4 times a week and have been known to randomly drive anywhere in country on a wim [:)] just love driving
other prob is it has to like cold weather work nights on weekends so fair bit of cold starting in winter
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TomH
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Post by TomH »

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by Thompatruck</i>


Interesting observation, reason I mentioned it is because I bought one as a student for two hundred pounds then gave it to mother when I got my ZX TD, it was only the 1.4, had acceptable acceleration , would happily cruise at a ton, topped out at 115mph (obviously you have to allow for speedo inaccuracies), yes it's heavy but what do you expect for a cast iron car? unreliable? in three years I only changed the exhaust, tyres, starter motor and a couple of fuel pipes, it only failed to start a couple of times but it took some real stick, thirsty? 30ish mpg and the handling was fine as long as you can handle being w/out PAS.
Obviously chuck 3 grand into the equation you'll get something better but for the money it's hard to fault, maybe I just got a good one but I was happy[:)]
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">
OK so they weren't that bad at the time, but they are all very elderly now. I admit for the price if you get a good one it should be fairly cheap motoring.
My parents owned 4 between them at the time, three 1.4's and one 1.7. One of them was written off nearly new... but I have to say was very strong! came out much better than the transit van in a head-on!
The last two (the 1.7 and a G reg 1.4) were pretty unreliable when older. Total brake failures, cutting out due to fuel pipe blockages, carb problems and other stuff. And went rusty much sooner than expected. Having driven it I didn't like, perhaps because I was used to driving a little Peugeot 205 which was much lighter and easier to drive!
You certainly couldn't do 100 in the 1.4, was shaking all over the place at 80 (maybe wheels needed balancing!)
The 2.0 360GLT on the other hand I have to say I always fancied! [8D]
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