Ford Tauranus - was NEVER seen! (must be talking bull). You mean the Ford Taurus.
samthesituation,
Nov 25, 3:47pm
I had two of those. The very early one, and then the facelifted "Royale" version.
Both great cars. First one I traded on the second . second one was killed by a mechanic who got the timing wrong on a cambelt change. Sad times - it was a brilliant car to drive.
Daewoo Nubira (IMO, Good riddance - ugly, unreliable and unsafe)
fxx99,
Nov 26, 1:23pm
Lancia Beta
dublo,
Nov 26, 2:21pm
Ford TAUNUS - named after a German mountain range. Look up Wikipedia to find out all about this long-lived German Ford range! Not sold in NZ, shared Cortina structures in later years
saxman99,
Nov 26, 3:28pm
I saw a really tidy one yesterday on the motorway and I actually did remark to my wife that it was cool to see one as they now getting pretty uncommon.
richardmayes,
Feb 18, 12:48pm
The W8 VW Passat from the early 2000s.
When I first started work in Auckland in 2003, VW Passats seemed to be THE car to have for Auckland professionals. Young sporty people liked the 1.8t and upper middle managers liked the W8. They were everywhere.
One pulled out of a side street in front of me in Greenlane and stood on the gas. acceleration was impressive but so we're the two big diesel-like plumes of exhaust smoke!
To this day I still can't quite picture what a W8 engine looks like or how it works. People have tried explaining it to me but it usually involves lots of arm waving. They sound very complex and difficult to work on. maybe that was the issue?
meow_mix,
Feb 18, 1:07pm
The Passat W8 is one Euro that Jazz would not recommend, they are very hard to work on, the cam chain is at the back of the engine and I think drives eight camshafts, making it an octo-cam. They were really an experimental car that VW never replaced. The gearboxes were weak and very rare, a poster on here spent $10,000 on a replacement 'box.
buyit59,
Feb 18, 3:28pm
I see a R12 in CHC being used for daily transport . Brother had a loan of a R16 years ago as the V8 Belmont that was used for the Amberley to Hanmer Springs commute with 5 burly woodsman and saws had broken down. They laughed like heel when it turned the corner to collect them but all loved it after a week .
mimik3,
Feb 18, 4:24pm
Holden Commodore. or is that a bit soon
nzoomed,
Feb 18, 4:40pm
Can add holden to this list soon lol
rbd,
Jun 20, 2:49pm
Was chatting with a friend about cars that have disappeared. Not disappeared into enthusiast's hands (like the Holden Torana), but just gone to the scrapyard in the sky, extinct.
Cars that were common on our roads once.
How about: 1982 Toyota Corona Coupe (rwd Celica based) 1981 Honda Prelude (early Civic based one) Holden Camira Peugeot 405 Alfa 145 1981 Nissan Leopard
Anyone else think of any?
apollo11,
Jun 20, 3:00pm
Austin Maestro/ Montego? I had a Maestro van, it was a piece of junk- but I loved it. Cracks would open in the block when it was hot, and it would drip coolant, but it never let me down.
meow_mix,
Jun 20, 3:05pm
You don't see many original 1989-1993 Subaru Legacys anymore, they were once quite popular, it's a sight for sore eyes when one of those beauties rolls past.
Another fave is the old late '80s Honda Accord with the pop-up headlights, at a glance it can look a bit like a Prelude, again you just don't see them around anymore.
2sheddies,
Jun 20, 3:09pm
Most of the early 80's Jap stuff is in the scrapheap and rarely seen now due to rust mainly. Things like:
Pulsars Civics/Hondamatic (always gave me a chuckle) Sunnys 323' and 626's Cressidas Coronas Accords Telstars
Plus quite a few early 80's vans like Hiaces, Nissan/Datsun C20's, Liteaces, etc etc. All rusted to buggery by now.
franc123,
Jun 20, 3:09pm
Could be here all night.
Holden Gemini (the FWD one) Mitsi Sigma Mitsi Tredia/Cordia Ford Telstar/626 first generation. All Ladas (there was a time when they were common) Subaru Leone Swift/Barina the early ones. ALL Preludes and the pop up headlight 80's Accords and also Civics of the 80s Pre VL Commodores are very rare now in road going order. Ditto XD-XF Falcons Nissan Sentra Nissan Bluebird RWD and Widetrack FWD. Ford Sierra wagon
They were a horrid mix of old and new technology that Ford had a lot of problems with. but sold they did. It was the top selling car overall in NZ for a period in 1987.
2sheddies,
Jun 20, 3:21pm
Going back a bit further and trying to think of cars that were once fairly common but not really seen by many as really true appreciating classics now, (but it's a matter of opinion) might possibly be:
Mazda 929 Mirage Datsun 1200's (used to be everywhere!) 180b's Lasers Subaru Justy Honda City Early V3000's (Old MOT used those)
2sheddies,
Jun 20, 3:23pm
I remember someone years ago who had the misfortune to own one, likening the handling to rolling down the road in a 44 gallon drum!
franc123,
Jun 20, 3:31pm
Virtually all of those had a horrible life from brand new as company cars, the odd Ghia that was privately owned by loving people survived a lot longer. They got very smoky, rattly and leaky in the body and suspension after a few years, they were not as robust as the late Cortina was.
stornello,
Jun 20, 3:33pm
They ran out the last of the Cortinas as station wagons, then had to get the Sierra wagon in as there was no 626 wagon to slap a Ford badge on.
franc123,
Jun 20, 3:40pm
Thanks I did realise that. It's easy to say here that the first Telstar wagon was a much more popular car with buyers than the Sierra. it wasn't. Early sales were poor and the Sierra got reintroduced again for a few years to supplement it until it was dumped in Europe in favour of the HA Mondeo that was not sold here brand new. Obviously the Telstar soldiered on for years until VANZ got shut in 1997 but it was not in the same league as Cortina and Sierra with fleet buyers.
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