Recent-ish cars that were once ubiquitous but which you don't see anymore

Muckie

Escort estate rolling down the Belgard rd yesterday morning

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Black_Knight

artanevilla wrote: »

Hopefully will be bringing one into the country soon.

Really hope I provoked you into that. :pac:

artanevilla

Black_Knight wrote: »

Really hope I provoked you into that. :pac:

I have been looking for months, but a timely reminder.

galwaytt

James Bond Junior wrote: »

206, clio's, puntos, mk2 polo's. There are still plenty of mk1 yaris on the road which just shows how much of a good car they were.

Gotta disagree on the Clio's: lots' of 04-06's around here: even bought one ourselves a short while ago.

horseofstone

colm_mcm wrote: »

Skoda Fabia saloon.

I know a garage owner in athlone who drives one,spotless too.

StereoSound

Rover 600, still lots of them were about mid 2000's. Had a soft spot for these, they looked stunning in their day, I always seen Rovers as sheds but not the 600 series... Honda based. Havent seen a 600 in years now.

JohnBoy26

StereoSound wrote: »

Rover 600, still lots of them were about mid 2000's. Had a soft spot for these, they looked stunning in their day, I always seen Rovers as sheds but not the 600 series... Honda based. Havent seen a 600 in years now.

Rust was the main killer of them, especially on the rear arches but the newest examples are nearly 20 years old now so not surprising that they are rare at this stage.

They were a nice car in higher spec.

ofcork

W210s are still to be seen some look new but a lot are rusted to hell.

ED E

They weren't ubiquitos but you did see them for a while:
Fiat Multipla

Disappeared, thank fvck.


Now we've got the C4 Cactus to replace it....

Philb76

Great call on the Isuzu troopers they wer popular North and South bought a vectra years ago off a dealer in the North years ago and all his stock was troopers and the odd car they wer so popular

chicorytip

The Peugeot 406 saloon could also be classed in this category.
Very stylish design, looked great in navy blue metallic.

EPAndlee

Philb76 wrote: »

Great call on the Isuzu troopers they wer popular North and South bought a vectra years ago off a dealer in the iNorth years ago and all his stock was troopers and the odd car they wer so popular

I meet 6 or 7 troopers regularly where I'm living, farmers around here still using them daily

Gravelly

EPAndlee wrote: »

I meet 6 or 7 troopers regularly where I'm living, farmers around here still using them daily

Same where I am. At least 3 or 4 workhorse Troopers still going strong within a few miles of me.

EPAndlee

Gravelly wrote: »

Same where I am. At least 3 or 4 workhorse Troopers still going strong within a few miles of me.

The odd bighorn aswell, one of troopers I seen has the recaro seats in it

fancy pigeon

chicorytip wrote: »

The Peugeot 406 saloon could also be classed in this category.
Very stylish design, looked great in navy blue metallic.

Absolute king of a car, I won't be letting my one go again :cool:

EPAndlee wrote: »

I meet 6 or 7 troopers regularly where I'm living, farmers around here still using them daily

There is a passenger Bighorn residing near Navan racecourse. Apart from it, a lot of neighbours and relatives had them which have all but vanished off the roads, replaced with crewcabs or Land Cruisers. Even when the snow was about earlier this year where everything on the roads (and my Avensis) was a 4x4/AWD, there were only 2 Troopers I remember seeing, both were the 3.1's, one of which was the Bighorn mentioned above. It's only when I saw a 2005/6 (?) blue Trooper with Morette style lights outside Dunshaughlin I realised I hadn't seen one in ages, well this side of the island anyway!

road_high

Still lots of 406s about but of course the tax regime doesn’t help them. They were very reliable cars.
Lots of older Troopers still about too but not the circa 2000 ones where the engines blew up!
Check any cattle mart car park and you’ll probably see examples of each still on the go!

Filmer Paradise

filbert the fox wrote: »

Cannot agree more. I had a Rover 75 2.0 petrol which i deeply regret allowing it to go.
Current MG ZT190 is a great car - pity the government is so harsh on the bigger older engine.

We had one. A diesel estate. It was almost nearly a truly great car. Only let down by a few annoying niggles.

I often considered getting another one. Conoisseur spec of course.:cool:

road_high wrote: »

The older Peugeot 206 in particular still a regular sight. For all their terrible reputation they’re a great survivor

Had one of these until recently. 2001 model. Reliable little machine, did a good job for us.

Rear axle had to be changed in it at one stage, but other than that all good. Still loads of them about.


We also had one of them Scorpios. Very comfy car that handled surprisingly well. Pity about the look of it though.

Those Hyundai Accents mentioned earlier. Very few left now & they were very common a few years ago.

Sister in law had one back in the day. I don't remember much about it, except that the gear-lever looked very much like a Willy.:eek:

whisky_galore

road_high wrote: »

Must be twenty years since you’d see one here even then they were rare. Always a treat to go to the continent and see 80s 90s cars in regular daily use. Even 70s in France, they’re a thrifty nation and don’t believe in dumping something that’s perfectly fine. Our govt and betters build the system to do just that

Partly the Irish 'keeping up the Jones's' as well as throwing great wodges of money around, whether they can afford it or not.

Mary down the road buys a 4wd kid carrier, everyone else follows suit.

Filmer Paradise

Mazda 626. I drove one of these for donkeys years. 1.8 petrol.

It was nuke-proof. Hardly see any on the roads nowadays.

Eric Cartman

fancy pigeon wrote: »

Absolute king of a car, I won't be letting my one go again :cool:



There is a passenger Bighorn residing near Navan racecourse. Apart from it, a lot of neighbours and relatives had them which have all but vanished off the roads, replaced with crewcabs or Land Cruisers. Even when the snow was about earlier this year where everything on the roads (and my Avensis) was a 4x4/AWD, there were only 2 Troopers I remember seeing, both were the 3.1's, one of which was the Bighorn mentioned above. It's only when I saw a 2005/6 (?) blue Trooper with Morette style lights outside Dunshaughlin I realised I hadn't seen one in ages, well this side of the island anyway!

Isuzu Ireland went on a binge in 2010 offering 7500+VAT off a new d-max if you brought them a 3.0 trooper in any state , once the vin plate was readable, they went from being almost worthless with 'the bad engine' to worth a few grand overnight but the deal wiped most of them off the roads.

colm_mcm

Eric Cartman wrote: »

Isuzu Ireland went on a binge in 2010 offering 7500+VAT off a new d-max if you brought them a 3.0 trooper in any state , once the vin plate was readable, they went from being almost worthless with 'the bad engine' to worth a few grand overnight but the deal wiped most of them off the roads.

That was in conjunction with a bit of a stroke with the rear suspension that meant the VRT was only €50 though wasn’t it, so €3000 of the €7500 was a VRT dodge IIRC

Eric Cartman

colm_mcm wrote: »

That was in conjunction with a bit of a stroke with the rear suspension that meant the VRT was only €50 though wasn’t it, so €3000 of the €7500 was a VRT dodge IIRC

VRT was always 50 on them until the 2013 model, but it did have to have higher load rated tyres and one more suspension leaf to attract that rate. the 7500 was after that vrt deal. Its what let me buy mine .

17k+ vat it came out as base , mine was 22.5k+ vat with all the bits on it , but my christ it was savage value for a brand new 4x4 crewcab pickup truck

JohnBoy26

Filmer Paradise wrote: »

Mazda 626. I drove one of these for donkeys years. 1.8 petrol.

It was nuke-proof. Hardly see any on the roads nowadays.

Not surprising given that they finished up 15 years ago and had a tendency to rust, although not as bad as the 6 did.

ELM327

chicorytip wrote: »

The Peugeot 406 saloon could also be classed in this category.
Very stylish design, looked great in navy blue metallic.

A great car, have owned multiple in my time and am currently on the lookout for another.


My favourite one I had was a 1997 blue 1.9td model.


Had a great lament on here before:
Should not have sold that car (or my other 406!)

elm327 wrote: »

My two combined for nearly 500,000 miles so far.
I'm on my second now and I can't agree. I posted a silver one here in the bangers thread but I ended up going to see it, falling in love and buying it.
It had a hard life as a farmers car but it now gets treated to long motorway journeys every now and then, followed by a nice long rest in between.


It doesn't get driven much these days as I have a EV and that does most of my driving but it's handy to have a reliable car that I can put 70 litres in and it does the month at least, and even if I don't as much as sit in it for 2 weeks she starts to a beautiful cacophonic dawn chorus equalling only the finest aviary and will drive another 200 miles without a bother or sniff of a problem. It came with the original invoice, dealer stickers, dealer mudflaps and a service history. A beautiful juxtaposition of rough agriculture, clattering aural pleasure and comfortable refinement in equal measure. To some, my diesel tractor is a bag of bolts. An econowagon, built to the numbers to pass the emissions test and ferry 4 adults in comfortable french armchairs for 300 miles, only to turn around and come home completing the journey of 600 miles on one tank with fuel to spare. But to me it is love. Love and admiration of the french vintage beauty in front of my drive each and every day. Like a fine wine, she has aged beautifully. There are no marks or scratches - just beauty spots showing her experience of life.

My EV gets me cheaper motoring, but every time I get into the EV I look back at the 406. I admire its each and every curve and line, showing that, for a brief period in the mid 90's, we were at the pinnacle of motoring advancement, before computers and technology and emissions tests ruined everything.

As I set off for work now, I must bid adieu to my french beauty, but it will be bonne nuit later. and I know, if I needed to get somewhere urgently, it will get me there comfortably, quickly, and elegantly. And above all, with a smile on my face. .

wing52

Muckie wrote: »

Back around the late 90 and 00's there were plenty of classic Subaru Impreza and the Legacys about.
There was a make, think it was a Mazda i often used to mistake for the impreza.

It had a side vent on the bonnet, half the size of the classic imprezas.
Cant remember the name of it!

Was it a comprex diesel 626 by any chance?

colm_mcm

The 323 has a small bonnet vent too.

Muckie

wing52 wrote: »

Was it a comprex diesel 626 by any chance?

Think it was some sort of Mazda, used to see them coming, used to think oh cool
an Impreza ( I was about 15 at the time) then i'd notice the weird half bonnet vent, compared to the impreza ones.

(hope that makes sense )

colm_mcm

One of these?

Muckie

Hi Colm, that it

Havent seen one in years.

zilog_jones

Philb76 wrote: »

Still see 206s regularly and a few clios knocking round like the Mondeo mk 1 don't see any mk4 fiestas these days still see puntos

Mk. 4 Fiestas were one of the most scrapped cars when everyone was doing the scrappage scheme. I still see a few around, but the boot hatch and rear arches are usually quite crusty.

Noveight wrote: »

E11 Corolla's.

Am I right in saying these finished up around 2001/2002? Few enough on the roads now considering how bulletproof they were.

I know someone with a '98 (probably somewhere around 250k miles?) and it still lives, but he's been having trouble with the throttle body (poor idling, etc.) and it's proving hard to find good parts. They're not invulnerable to rust either (e.g. if the boot starts leaking). I think the early ZZ engines (VVTi) had problems with piston rings or something too.

Duke O Smiley wrote: »

...There was also the Isuzu Aska at the same time. They were basically an Opel Ascona. For a time when you bought a Hino truck you got an Aska free too.

I think I last saw an Aska about 20 years ago and it was rotten...

CorkMan_ wrote: »

It is amazing how quick not that old of a car becomes scarce in Ireland and the UK. But definitely Ireland. I spent a couple of weeks in rural France in August and it is absolutely amazing the amount of 205s, Renault 5s, Mk 1 Meganes, Lagunas, Saxos, Xantias, 405s etc still on the road there.

Whenever I see a French-registered car hanging around locally (students, I guess?) it's usually something that's totally vanished from here. There's a Citroen AX around Cork city right now.

JohnBoy26 wrote: »

The 600 was based on an accord and mostb had honda engines with no hg or reliability issues that plagued the rover engines. They were the best built and most reliable rover ever made.

Probably because Rover had the least engineering input into these compared to previous models - by then BMW had bought out Rover, so the Honda partnership was not in a great state, so it ended up being just largely a badge-engineered Honda. Compared to previous models, which could have had completely different suspension, etc.

chicorytip wrote: »

The Peugeot 406 saloon could also be classed in this category.
Very stylish design, looked great in navy blue metallic.

I had a '02 2.0 HDi in Monaco Blue, it was a grand car but needed looking after. Things like water ingress into the cabin (and into wiring) could easily be terminal if not watched. Few small spots of rust appearing. The lack of power (90 bhp), rattly old diesel (got sick of diesels in general), and the interior that was starting to disintegrate made me want to change in 2016. I sold it easily enough, but unfortunately records show no NCT since then...

horseofstone

Renault laguna mark 2 are getting scarce on the roads these days.on the other hand the mark 1 almera is still a common sight in particular the saloon model.I've seen 2 in black and a navy one in the last few days

ofcork

That's because they were piles of scrap had one worst car I've owned.

flazio

Any Opels. The Corsa and the Astra were quite popular cars not so long ago, pretty sure the Zafira was the best selling mpv for a time.
Very rare sight on the road these days.

Duke O Smiley

M7roadrunner wrote: »

Probably before the time frame your referring to,
But does anyone remember the Isuzu Gemini on our roads?
For a few years in the early nineties they were everywhere, every farmers wife had one, and the rattle from the Diesel engine was instantly recognisable (a bit like the transit).
Then, all of a sudden, there was none, it’s as if they all melted into the ground.

Duke O Smiley wrote: »

Yes!! We were the only country in Europe to get them. Pino Harris imported and sold them first in Dublin, then he started distributing them to his agents around the country in Cork, Athlone etc so they were common wherever there was a Hino Harris franchise. There was also the Isuzu Aska at the same time. They were basically an Opel Ascona. For a time when you bought a Hino truck you got an Aska free too.

There is still a blue 89 Gemini hatchback in use in north Dublin. I posted a picture of it on. the Oldest Car thread ages ago but I will have to go and find it.

Still going strong, Drumcondra

davidglanza

You don't see any BMW e34 anymore.
Used to be everywhere before.

BuboBubo

Daewoo Matiz, horrible little cars made from tinfoil and chewing gum. Chevrolet didn't improve them either.

Fiat Punto, an old favourite of the scrappage scheme in the late 90's/early 00's the country was littered with them - they were as reliable as a baby's arse.

Nissan Almera/Primera and the good old Micra, favourite car of nuns and yer granny. Rare as hens teeth nowadays.

Peugeot was very popular with young wans, not very common now.

Jap stuff - the Levin, Skyline, the ones that were Micras but had a different name - probably wrapped around trees by chap racers years ago.


Still see the odd Isuzu Trooper in these parts (rural Carlow), along with Pajeros.


But there are an awful lot of Hyundai Santa Fe's nowadays, will there be a thread in 10 years lamenting their disappearance? Doubt it - ugly looking things!

Yakuza

Opel Calibra, Frontera (short wheelbase). They mightn't have been that ubiquitous but I had a thing for the Calibra so maybe noticed it more.
Mazda 323F coupe was everywhere in the early/mid '90s, as were the JDM CRX's
E46 320i disappeared after the 2008 tax change, 2.2 petrol was mega €€€ to tax.
Nissan Tiida (insert vomit emoji here) was replaced by the Qashqai.
Going back again to the 90s, there were a fair few JDM 100NX's (esp the T-bar one) and 200SX's around (and the odd 300ZX) to be seen around.

Blue850

Mk1 Skoda Octavia , on sale from 1999 to 2010, they were everywhere but are disappearing quickly.

jpfahy

The Chrysler PT Cruiser, a real Celtic Tiger car, sold up until 2010 but you never see one now.

Vicxas

Werent they horribly unsafe?

Dravokivich

Yakuza wrote: »

.
Nissan Tiida (insert vomit emoji here) was replaced by the Qashqai.

I don't think so? They were sold alongside each other for about 3 or so years. Are you thinking of the Primera? Tiida was just run out because Nissan banked on the SUV/Cross Over market. With the likes of the Juke.

BuboBubo wrote: »

Nissan Almera/Primera and the good old Micra, favourite car of nuns and yer granny. Rare as hens teeth nowadays.

Peugeot was very popular with young wans, not very common now.

Jap stuff - the Levin, Skyline, the ones that were Micras but had a different name - probably wrapped around trees by chap racers years ago.

You don't drive in Dublin much?

Wibbs

Vicxas wrote: »

Werent they horribly unsafe?

to look at.

Arthur Daley

Dravokivich wrote: »

I don't think so? They were sold alongside each other for about 3 or so years. Are you thinking of the Primera? Tiida was just run out because Nissan banked on the SUV/Cross Over market. With the likes of the Juke.?

Think the Pulsar was in there since. Quasqui replaced the Primera really.

BuboBubo

Dravokivich wrote: »

I don't think so? They were sold alongside each other for about 3 or so years. Are you thinking of the Primera? Tiida was just run out because Nissan banked on the SUV/Cross Over market. With the likes of the Juke.



You don't drive in Dublin much?

I do, but all I see is busses, taxis and kamikaze cyclists

Old diesel

Car with a fault - 1500 to fix - but car only worth 1000 euros = going for scrap. No matter how good the car is on a wider level.

Thats pretty much the biggest issue - along with the insurance issues.

Someone mentioned P11 Primeras earlier - well the P12 is also very rare now - they were a bit crap so not really suprising. You still see N16 Almeras though which is a suprise given the timing chain issues (Primera P12s had that issue too afaik).

I drive a 1999 car to mass every Sunday, its one of the 3 oldest cars there - theres a 1994 Corolla diesel (looks an NCT failure away from the scrapyard) and a 1992 Golf van.

Everything else is at least 2004 on usually - even the E12 Corollas.

Yakuza

Dravokivich wrote: »

I don't think so? They were sold alongside each other for about 3 or so years. Are you thinking of the Primera? Tiida was just run out because Nissan banked on the SUV/Cross Over market. With the likes of the Juke.

Happy to be corrected, I just don't recall seeing many of them when the QQ came out, could be that I was just blanking them as they were hideous.

Noccy_Mondy

Late 90s pajero. There's only a handful of 1990 to 1999 on donedeal. The father has one, rare enough sight to see another one around.

Yakuza

Noccy_Mondy wrote: »

Late 90s pajero. There's only a handful of 1990 to 1999 on donedeal. The father has one, rare enough sight to see another one around.

On a side note, Pajero in Spanish means "[EMAIL="w@nker"]w@nker[/EMAIL]", so they called it the Montero here (in Barajas Airport as I type this!)

V8 Interceptor

Old diesel wrote: »

I drive a 1999 car to mass every Sunday, its one of the 3 oldest cars there - theres a 1994 Corolla diesel.

Plastic Jesus on the dash?

ba_barabus

Rover 25/45 are all but gone.

Mk1 Seat Leon and Toledo too.