The year is 1985!!!

Saab Ed

Its 1985 and you are about to turn 17 years of age. By chance your mum is just about to buy a new super mini for herself and you are going to be insured on it . Which car do you really want her to buy for maximum cred with your mates.

Ford Fiesta L


Austin Metro City


Renault 5 L


VW Polo CL


Talbot Samba


Peugeot 205 XN


Fiat Uno

Drummerboy08

Fiat Uno

205 FTW...

EPM

Fiat Uno

205 without question!!

Where's the starlet though:P

partyguinness

Talbot Samba

The VW for that German quality...who could argue with that.

alias no.9

Renault 5 L

I picked the Metro because of the surprise factor, in 1985 our roads were crap and the hydragas suspension was the business. When you leave the rest in your trail, you get the street cred, especially at 17.

Notable absentees from this list are:

1. Nissan Micra
2. Toyota Starlet
3. Opel Corsa

All of which outsold the Samba, Metro and Polo by quite some distance in this country.

Max Headroom

Me..."Ma ,i think you should buy a 5 year old escort.. mexico ,rs 2000 maybe..i've a gut feeling they might be really worth something some day..."

Ma...."dont be silly son, i've heard that there will be a scrappage scheme some day to get rid of all those old bangers...."

peasant

Fiat Uno

none of the above ...this is what I bought that year




very useful space in the back, if you catch my drift

smash

Fiat Uno

Where's the Mini Cooper S?

Hal1

Fiat Uno

Where's the dolorean. That was the car everyone wanted back then in school, even if it was a piece of carp.

mike65

Fiat Uno

If the 205 doesn't win this poll by a skid through a hedge backwards I'll be amazed.

Drummerboy08

Fiat Uno

Hal1 wrote: »

Where's the dolorean. That was the car everyone wanted back then in school, even if it was a piece of carp.

It was made from Fish? :eek:

biko

Talbot Samba

The polo only because my fav is not on there

eire-kp

What about a rwd starlet early 85 they could still be got.

samsemtex

Fiat Uno

jesus christ, things were grim back then werent they? What an awful selection of cars...

Zube

Fiat Uno

My first car was in 88, and it was a 205

... but I stretched to the 1.4 XS, a bit cooler than the XN in the poll.

Eoin

Fiat Uno

Voted 205, but only because a mini wasn't there.

Davidth88

1985 I had my first company car

1.2 l Vauxhall Nova , the nippy nova , really nice little car I loved it.

fifth

Fiat Uno

205.. Who voted for the Samba?

Zonda999

Fiat Uno

funkyflea wrote: »

205.. Who voted for the Samba?

At a guess, they felt sorry for it!:D

the samba was based on the peugeot 104, which dates back to 1972!

bazz26

These two were pretty popular at the time and worthy of being included in the pole imo:

Toyota Starlet:


Nissan Micra:


While not as good to drive as a 205 or comprehensive as a Fiesta they were probably the most trouble free cars on the road within this range which was a novelty among small cheap cars back in the 1980s.

VolvoMan

Fiat Uno

alias no.9 wrote: »

I picked the Metro because of the surprise factor, in 1985 our roads were crap and the hydragas suspension was the business.

The Metro didn't get Hydragas until its 1990 facelift afaik.

I picked the 205 because it was the best of a bad bunch.

wing52

VW Polo CL

Was the renault 5 gordini available back then? Tres chic,no?:)

kuro_man

Fiat Uno

bazz26 wrote: »

These two were pretty popular at the time and worthy of being included in the pole imo:

Toyota Starlet:


Nissan Micra:


While not as good to drive as a 205 or comprehensive as a Fiesta they were probably the most trouble free cars on the road within this range which was a novelty among small cheap cars back in the 1980s.

Neither were cool, so not worth putting them in!

TomMc

VW Polo CL

wing52 wrote: »

Was the renault 5 gordini available back then? Tres chic,no?:)

It was in the original model along with the fantastic mid-engined Turbo 1's & 2's as well.

That model would have been around the same time as the GT Turbo. One of my favourite cars as a teenager. Had to vote for it for sentimental reasons.

alias no.9

Renault 5 L

VolvoMan wrote: »

The Metro didn't get Hydragas until its 1990 facelift afaik.

I picked the 205 because it was the best of a bad bunch.

It had hydragas from launch. It wasn't a new technology having originally been developed for but not used by the Mini and later used in the Austin Allegro and Princess.

DublinWriter

Fiat Uno? Fiat Oh-no more like.

The 205 was a nippy little beast.

alias no.9

Renault 5 L

DublinWriter wrote: »

Fiat Uno? Fiat Oh-no more like.

The 205 was a nippy little beast.

Rust was still a problem on the first generation Uno but could be sorted under warranty, other than that they were pretty bomb proof.

bazz26

kuro_man wrote: »

Neither were cool, so not worth putting them in!

Any less cool than an Austin Metro or Talbot Samba? :rolleyes:

Nephilim Wolf

Talbot Samba

partyguinness wrote: »

The VW for that German quality...who could argue with that.

Very true indeed. It's not as nice as the 90's models but still.:)

Fey!

Any chance of an Uno Fire?

Were the Fiat Panda and Nissan Cherry gone by then?

ep71

Fiat Uno

this baby would have been my choice

alias no.9

Renault 5 L

Fey! wrote: »

Any chance of an Uno Fire?

Launched in 1985 but I'm not sure if it made it to these shores that year.

colm_mcm

I voted Uno, as I really liked them at the time and my aunt had a red one which at the time was really cool.

In retrospect, I'd probably have liked the drive of the 205 best.

Mycroft H

Talbot Samba

Magnus wrote: »

The polo only because my fav is not on there

thats what you want......

i've a '85 one out back, still works perfectly except for the large hole in the exhaust :pac:

west german build quality rocks

Edit: that or a firetec UNO would have done nicely

VolvoMan

Fiat Uno

landyman wrote: »

thats what you want......

i've a '85 one out back, still works perfectly except for the large hole in the exhaust :pac:

west german build quality rocks

Edit: that or a firetec UNO would have done nicely

But the Golf is a bigger car from the class above?