Been offered 3 cars - Peugeot vs Rover vs Ford

PMKeates · 22 May 2006 at 19:04

[TW]Fox said:
What is this 'easy to drive' thing people keep mentioning?

I have yet to drive a car thats not 'easy to drive' and thats stuff which ranges in size from a Fiesta to a Jeep Grand Cherokee.

I would call 'easy to drive' something which to can be driven with the bare minimum of effort. MG Rover cars have a recognisable style of clutch - that I've noticed in every single one I've driven - that is very precise and bites from zero to lock in a short period of travel. Smooth operation was all about letting the clutch up the precise moment the revs matched and re-applying power. Anything else and the car would react.

The Escort's that I have driven feature something almost the opposite - a bit sloppy with a great deal of travel for the clutch to complete it's movements. This made the cars very easy to drive with perfect smoothness regardless of whether you shifted before or after the revs matched, whether you let the clutch up fast or slow, smoothly or not - it just sorta changed gear and carried on without making it seem like a gear change had occured at all.

The only Jeep Grand Cherokee I've driven was a 4.0 Auto, so it was really easy

My Citroen is similar to the Rovers I've driven, although that's probably because the clutch is on it's last legs, but meh...

Sirrel Squirrel · 22 May 2006 at 19:05

There you go, Keates summed it up nicely, saves me having to go into more detail lol

PMKeates · 22 May 2006 at 19:07

In fact, I remember on many occasions finding it impossible to make anything but a perfectly smooth shift from 3rd to 4th in my Escort, even when literally sidestepping the clutch at 3000rpm!

Sirrel, after having driven an Escort for some time, you're obviously on the same wavelength

axe · 22 May 2006 at 19:16

How Much for the Escort

look HERE

ajgoodfellow · 22 May 2006 at 19:21

PMKeates said:
I would call 'easy to drive' something which to can be driven with the bare minimum of effort. MG Rover cars have a recognisable style of clutch - that I've noticed in every single one I've driven - that is very precise and bites from zero to lock in a short period of travel. Smooth operation was all about letting the clutch up the precise moment the revs matched and re-applying power. Anything else and the car would react.

The Escort's that I have driven feature something almost the opposite - a bit sloppy with a great deal of travel for the clutch to complete it's movements. This made the cars very easy to drive with perfect smoothness regardless of whether you shifted before or after the revs matched, whether you let the clutch up fast or slow, smoothly or not - it just sorta changed gear and carried on without making it seem like a gear change had occured at all.

The only Jeep Grand Cherokee I've driven was a 4.0 Auto, so it was really easy

My Citroen is similar to the Rovers I've driven, although that's probably because the clutch is on it's last legs, but meh...

That's a very valid point about the clutch - didn't think of that!

I found the clutch in my MG far sharper than in the Vauxhall. You could be far more lazy and not really think about it in the Astra (Mk4) but you had to concentrate in the MG. This is a pretty common trait as my parent's Rover 75 has it too, as do their previous Rovers

You do get used to it though!

PMKeates · 22 May 2006 at 19:28

I found the same thing in a Cavalier 1.8 I drove for a while - all the driving controls felt very very spongy. This wasn't nice when pressing on, but for when just poodling down the road it was fanstastic.

You do get used to the Rover clutch, but after driving my friends Mk.6 1.8 Escort for a little while at the weekend, I found it a dream to get back to after the Citroen - you could operate the car digitally and it would be fine!

Locky · 22 May 2006 at 19:32

i just got my self a p reg mk2 ghia X with no mot for 250 quid

only needed a few niggles doing, car ows me 325 quid now and thats with 12months on it

also the AIRCON is ice cold :eek:

timbob · 22 May 2006 at 19:47

I'd go for that fourth car - the MOT'd 106. £300 sounds like an OK price as well.

As for people going on about "it's impossible to survive with electric windows this, plastic trim that, 14 years old the other..." How on earth did anyone cope with driving in the 70s or 80s? Surely they must have died of the horribleness that was winding their own windows up?

It's seriously not that bad. My mate drives an old 70s Cavalier - wind up windows, deep pile carpet, tacky plastic dash. My mum used to drive an old style (1980s) Y plate fiesta. Which was fine. You got in it, drove it somewhere, wound your windows by hand, and it got you there in one piece. For the sake of a £300 car that's meant purely for going from A to B, what more can you ask?