Why not, It had less chrome so less places to rust (o:
socram,
Mar 4, 8:08am
1300cc Morris Minor maybe but with the A Plus engine (which is basically the same anyway), but with Turbo and disc brakes. Upmarket version, the Riley 1.5 also brought up to date.
MG Magnette V8 anyone?
rob_man,
Mar 4, 10:13am
Datsun 1200 with five speed and some comfy chairs would be good.
richardmayes,
Mar 4, 11:09am
My old 1971 Triumph PI used to get about 22MPG - but it was a fast-ish car, and I tended to put my foot down :-)
Part of my long-term restoration plan is to remove the old Lucas mechanical injection system and distributor, and give it a brain transplant using a Link G4 ECU, electronic injection, and wasted spark distributorless ignition using a coil pack from a Nissan Skyline.
Mainly I just want to be free of the orphan Lucas mechanical injection system, while retaining more or less an original look under the bonnet.
But I am curious to see if a 1960s technology engine will become any more efficient, if it is given what is effectively 1990s or 2000s era throttle body injection EFI control systems.
If I ever get this done, will report back here with the before and after results.
intrade,
Mar 4, 4:01pm
just get the base model dacia sandero imported from uk new . www.dacia.co.uk the sandero only has a engine controller. it is getting slowly filled with usless junk also and you can buy it fully craped up with electronics crap also. sandero base model does 5.8 liter to 100km if you can actuarly drive a car economical my brother said he uses 7.0 dont know how he does that as when i drove the german autobahn it only used 6.2 for me 1.2 liter petrol with 115 newten torque at low rpm not like the toyota petrols with absolute no umpf unless you wind the crap out of em- i keep telling you people since ages the more crap there is the more can go wrong. Nz new car must have frontal impact airbags. must be euro4 and must have stability controll the uk sandero has euro 5 emission stabiliti control airbags and power steering. our 2010 one has not power steer and i would rather have it without that crap also. rest is manual like windo winders no central lock junk and headlight adjustment is a number 8 wire attached to a knob you twist to make the mechanism up on headlights shift from inside the car. dont select crap http://www.dacia.co.uk/vehicles/sandero/configurator/
tamarillo,
Mar 4, 4:39pm
Dacia. agree, selling really well in Europe I believe. It's a cheap Renault offshoot I believe? More interesting and here (I think) is Citreon cactus. Basic but funky, light, so economical and reports are, quite fun to drive. If it leans like crazy, but has outstanding ride and road holding (a la 2CV) it could be great.
elect70,
Mar 4, 4:53pm
Why dont they sell a new basic shopping basket 1litre engine 4 speed no electronic auto , without the bells & whistles , wind up windows , a radio ,no cliamate control just fan & heater , keep the cost under 15G$ probably those Dacias would be close . the women dont need a remuera tractor for shopping /school run .
brapbrap8,
Mar 4, 5:04pm
Because several brands can sell you a 1.2-1.3L car with a modern CVT transmission, electric windows, A/C and a fancy stereo for $15k. You would have to significantly undercut that, and really you would struggle to make any money by the time you actually built the thing. Profit margins on small cars are wafer thin or non exsistent as it is, with some manufacturers even selling small cars at a loss to offset emisions from their larger and more profitable vehicles,
gammelvind,
Mar 4, 7:11pm
Why would you spend money of something like that, sounds like a old ford Prefect.
sr2,
Mar 4, 8:23pm
LOL, +1. We appear to have a few Luddites (or should I have said technophobes) on this MB!
elect70,
Mar 5, 1:48pm
hey bloke down the road gave his mrs a 75 mtsi mirage as a shopping basket he bought for $250 & he has a new ish BMW535 . the mirage never sees over 50 kph & does 30 kms a day. plenty good enough
tamarillo,
Mar 5, 2:00pm
Tata nano, yet it never hit the sales volumes even in India it was predicted to get. Status is a very powerful thing.
sr2,
Mar 5, 2:02pm
LOL; and to think some people claim true romance is dead!
dave653,
Mar 5, 2:59pm
And it weighs the least of the model range. better performance/economy.
mohaka,
Mar 5, 5:42pm
Still prefer the older from a cheaper/easier repair angle.In the old days if my car stopped was able to sort out the problem pretty quickly on the side of the road and continue,just took a few basic sundries & electrics a spare electric fuel pump to get me out of a situation.Thus never had any holidays ruined by breakdowns.It used to be triumphs then,now my basic Fiat uno.Meanwhile my friend came down to visit in his Merc e320 and it's still sitting here since,dash all lit up with faults,guessing a crank sensor(starter turns but motor won't fire),but haven't got the gear to check the codes.
intrade,
Mar 6, 4:28am
Where Does It End? The list of energy saving automotive HVAC technologies seems to just keep growing. If you think energy conservation technologies are just affecting the automotive industry, think again. Changes are happening everywhere. Who hasn??
rob_man,
Mar 6, 5:22am
But what is an advance in aircon technology to someone who doesn't actually want aircon in the first place? I'm quite happy to remove the belt from any vehicle I buy and save all of the energy, not just some of it.
mrfxit,
Mar 6, 7:21am
Not always. My 88 2.4T Surf was getting a regular 9L /100kms (no computer anything /mechanical pump) The average 90 to 96 2.4T Surf runs at about 11L /100 to 14L /100km with computers all over the place
mrfxit,
Mar 6, 7:25am
Some ppl almost seem afraid to use the aircon even on a real stinking hot day. On a full tank of petrol & the aircon on full speed, it would only cost about an extra $5 at most BUT you would be feeling far more alert /AWAKE & aware of whats going on around you by being cooler. Not blimin sweating either, so that saves more on the clothing washing/ bad smells/BO etc
daryl14,
Mar 6, 7:40am
Yep, aircon on all the time here. Jump in the car after a day's work and you feel hot, humid, tired, grumpy. after a 20 min drive home with the aircon on you feel fresher and don't have to beat the missus up so much.
Aircon in Winter is essential too for getting the screen demisted. Face it we live in a disgustingly humid country.
socram,
Mar 6, 7:53am
Two points. Far from being a Luddite, not all the bells and whistles are essential but some are now demanded by law. So airbag sensor lights that are faulty are a WoF fail and often well beyond the ability of the home mechanic to fix. Stability or traction Controls are being made mandatory on new cars, so something else that will ultimately be tested and in the event of a failure, may mean no WoF, even though some of us have driven quite happily for 50 years without needing them.
If air con saps power or pushes up fuel usage and that worries you, then only use it when going down hill or slowing down with your foot off the loud pedal.
brapbrap8,
Mar 6, 8:12am
Same thing is happening in other industries too. Just getting a new water pump system installed on my farm at the moment. Back in the day pumps were controled by a pressure switch that switched the pump on whenever the pressure got too low in the pressure tank. Now there is no pressure tank at all, and everything is controled by a little computer unit attached to the outlet pipe. It does essentially the same thing as it is pressure controled, but also has flow control to make it stop if it starts running dry, and also has a timer that makes it wait for a certain time after the pressure switch hits a certain level before it starts again.
The speed of pumps is now controled by a programmer with a laptop, none of the old changing pulleys and belts to speed up or slow down the pump, some pumps even can automatically speed up or slow down according to the load requirements.
I have an old positive displacement pump that I still use occasionally to pump water from the river, I can pull that to bits by undoing 6 studs and see what is wrong straight away and fix it. The new pumps require a couple of technicians to come out with their computers to see what has gone wrong.
daryl14,
May 15, 8:56pm
Well you bought the pump. So you must have decided (or been convinced) that it works better and is more reliable and efficient.
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