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The most under powered car you have driven?
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Ellis



Joined: 07 Mar 2011
Posts: 1386
Location: Betws y Coed, North Wales

PostPosted: Fri Jan 27, 2017 10:20 pm    Post subject: The most under powered car you have driven? Reply with quote

I wanted the title of this post to be which was/is the least or most lowly powered car you have driven over the years but it wouldn't fit or condense so as to make sense.

Over the years I have driven many "slow" vehicles, commercial vehicles mostly ranging from a clapped out 2286cc diesel engined Land Rover Series 2a, a diesel engined Austin J4 van to a Bedford HA van with a governor.

When it comes to cars however, I found a Renault 4 quite nippy, An Austin A30 enjoyable, an OHV Morris Minor okay and even 850cc Minis are fun but of all the many cars I have had the experience of driving, with the exception of a side valve Morris MM or Minor of which I have not, I can assuredly declare that the most underpowered or least powered car I have driven was one of these :

[img]

Yes, a Wolseley 4/44. The year was 1978 and my uncle had managed to buy a two owner from new example from an estate dispersal sale on Anglesey. It was a 1954 example in the same grey colour as this one.
Guess who had to drive it home? Yes, me.
I was no stranger to a column change but did not forsee how often I had to use it to make some sort of progress. Any adverse incline and the engine would struggle, 4th down to 3rd and often down to 2nd.

To think that it had basically the same engine as MG "T" series you would not have believed it. It was a very tedious 15 mile journey and I was glad to get out. The column change was as imprecise as stirring porridge.

Why my uncle wanted it I could not work out because he owned a nice Ford Escort Mk1 1300 Super but even he didn't keep the Wolseley for long.

What about an underpowered modern - look no further than one of these :

[/img]

A 954cc Talbot Samba LE.
At least the Wolseley 4/44 had some character.

Which car did you consider as underpowered?
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peter scott



Joined: 18 Dec 2007
Posts: 7214
Location: Edinburgh

PostPosted: Fri Jan 27, 2017 11:55 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Probably the 700cc Reliant Rebel Estate.



It could be kept at a reasonable speed 65/70 mph on A class roads by anticipating possible overtaking opportunities by accelerating up the back of targets when you thought there was a straight around the next bend such that you could always lose excess speed on the brakes if the opportunity was thwarted by oncoming traffic. Very good training for good safe fast driving.

I still use the same technique today with modern cars with very much greater power to weight ratios.

Peter
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Last edited by peter scott on Sat Jan 28, 2017 12:17 am; edited 4 times in total
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Uncle Alec



Joined: 14 Jan 2008
Posts: 734
Location: Manchester

PostPosted: Sat Jan 28, 2017 12:03 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I have had the misfortune to have owned a few that spring to mind.
Top of the list has to be a Trojan van with a P3 diesel. Painfully slow, cripplingly uncomfortable; at tickover the engine fought with itself, when you set off - well, the closest thing I can compare it to was a dumper truck.
Next I would put the Morris Oxford 1500 diesel automatic. Not exactly the dream combo.
For completeness I have to add the Paralanian. Built on a J2/JU150 van, it weighed just shy of two tons and had the gutsy little 1500 B-series petrol engine. It was as sluggish as, well, a slug.
Until I discovered that the gearbox gate is reversed in these, and I had been setting off in 3rd and trying to change up into top at about 5mph. Once I started using the gears as they were intended it was surprisingly nippy.
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Rusty



Joined: 10 Feb 2009
Posts: 278
Location: Bunbury, Western Australia

PostPosted: Sat Jan 28, 2017 1:09 am    Post subject: Re: The most under powered car you have driven? Reply with quote

Ellis wrote:
a side valve Morris MM or Minor of which I have not, I can assuredly declare that the most underpowered or least powered car I have driven was one of these :

[img]

Yes, a Wolseley 4/44.


Morris MMs and Wolseley 4/44s are no sports cars but I found both to be pleasant driving and actually own several MM minors, I think if the 4/44 was that underpowered there must have been something amiss somewhere.

My vote for the most underpowered, goes to the Triumph Mayflower !
I have liked the Mayflower for decades and rescued an old Mayflower ute body some years ago (its still on the farm) but they are certainly one of the most underpowered cars I have driven.

The other "modern" (1980s) that springs to mind is the naturally aspirated Holden Jackaroo Diesel fitted with the C223 Isuzu engine. I think you had a Vauxhall version in the UK and they are known as the Isuzu Trooper in the US
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Keith D



Joined: 16 Oct 2008
Posts: 1165
Location: Upper Swan, Western Australia

PostPosted: Sat Jan 28, 2017 2:58 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

IMHO nothing could surpass my 1932 Austin Seven Box! I live in a pretty flat part of the world yet this car slows down on hills that I didn't even know were hills! (I still love it though!)

In the 1980's I had a company car, a Holden Camira.

Holden manufacture the Commodore (until later this year when it all stops) which is a very good all-round large car.

Almost all other models are imported GM products from all over the world with a Holden badge glued on them. The Camira was such a car. I don't know where it came from, but it had a 1600cc engine, was front wheel drive and it's dreadful performance was only surpassed by it's build quality. Mine was an auto which made it's performance even worse.

Keith
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Rusty



Joined: 10 Feb 2009
Posts: 278
Location: Bunbury, Western Australia

PostPosted: Sat Jan 28, 2017 3:24 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Keith D wrote:

In the 1980's I had a company car, a Holden Camira.
Keith


Hey Keith, I know a bloke who still drives one !
He bought it new as his first car, has maintained it well and it still goes as good as it ever did. All the others seemed to die before the turn of the century but this one still keeps going and going. Just shows what you can do if you look after things properly.
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lowdrag



Joined: 10 Apr 2009
Posts: 1600
Location: Le Mans

PostPosted: Sat Jan 28, 2017 9:40 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

A loan car Renault 19 was dreadful but for its age and era nothing but nothing can compare to the Renault 5 non-turbo diesel. I never saw 60 on the clock. In the day the 1500 Maxi was pretty dreadful I recall. Op
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mikeC



Joined: 31 Jul 2009
Posts: 1809
Location: Market Warsop, Nottinghamshire

PostPosted: Sat Jan 28, 2017 9:52 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Having done my formative motoring exclusively in Austin Sevens, I think I can say, hand on heart, I have never experienced an underpowered car Laughing

Even a 948cc Standard Atlas had ample power in comparison!



and the Saxon was quite exciting up to about 30mph!



I suppose Old Smokey was my worst - a one-owner Ruby which was completely clapped out when I bought it. There was so little resistance in the engine that I could get it off the clock on a decent downhill, but I would be down to bottom gear to climb the following incline Embarassed


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baconsdozen



Joined: 03 Dec 2007
Posts: 1119
Location: Under the car.

PostPosted: Sat Jan 28, 2017 12:22 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I had a Samba,bought for fifty quid from an auction. If you put your foot hard down you were the only person who knew you were doing it.
Later the clutch started slipping and if the wind blew hard it would start going backwards.
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Ashley



Joined: 02 Jan 2008
Posts: 1426
Location: Near Stroud, Glos

PostPosted: Sat Jan 28, 2017 1:12 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

VW Beetles were slower than 2CVs

The 4/44s problem was that lovely Gerald Palmer body. It drove beautifully but was still gutless with the twin carb B series in it. It was too heavy for BMC engines of the day, which is why they rallied the later and much lighter Riley 1.5.
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Ray White



Joined: 02 Dec 2014
Posts: 7110
Location: Derby

PostPosted: Sat Jan 28, 2017 8:14 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

When I first got my Austin Swallow (A 7 in a dress) it wouldn't go faster than walking pace. It would start instantly and tick over sweetly. It would also rev quite well but although the clutch wasn't slipping it just wouldn't accelerate. Having adjusted the tappets, checked out the timing, carb and fuel lines, I did a compression test which produced a lowish reading so after I had eliminated the valves I took the head off. At first sight everything looked fine then it dawned on me that the pistons looked new and had STD on them. Cutting a long story short, what someone had done was fit new standard pistons to the worn bores.

An engineer friend fitted sleeves to the worn out block and matched the pistons to them. With compression restored, the little Austin had a willing engine. Hills are a struggle but if you can get up them (albeit slowly) in second gear I suppose it would be unfair to say the car was underpowered.

Probably the most underpowered car I had was my BMW Isetta 300 bubble car. Driving solo it was not too bad but two up it wouldn't climb some of the steeper hills of Guildford where I used to live.

Another car which was mechanically well maintained but still pretty hopeless was the Morris Minor MM. This had basically the same engine as it's predecessor, the Morris Eight series E. I have often wondered if the performance of the Minor was in fact worse than that of the eight? Does anyone know if this is the case? The Minor was a better handling car but I don't remember the Eight being quite as slow.

Does anyone know if this is true??


Last edited by Ray White on Sun Jan 29, 2017 9:22 am; edited 1 time in total
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emmerson



Joined: 30 Sep 2008
Posts: 1268
Location: South East Wales

PostPosted: Sat Jan 28, 2017 9:26 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Surely the Mk 3 and 4 1300 Cortinas must be the worst modernish underpowered sheds? And the transit with the push-rod 1600 was gutless empty!
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MVPeters



Joined: 28 Aug 2008
Posts: 822
Location: Northern MA, USA

PostPosted: Sun Jan 29, 2017 2:46 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hyundai Scoupe - loaner while my car was in the shop - three speed automatic.
Hum with one M.
Humm with 2 M's.
Hummm with 3 M's.
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BigJohn



Joined: 01 Jan 2011
Posts: 954
Location: Wem, Shropshire

PostPosted: Sun Jan 29, 2017 11:18 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

The Mk1 Vauxhall Cavalier with the 1256cc Viva engine in it was a big old unit for such a tiny engine. The plus side was you could almost sit in the engine bay to work on it and the Viva gearbox was a sweet shift for my wife to learn to drive with.
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Bitumen Boy



Joined: 26 Jan 2012
Posts: 1763
Location: Above the snow line in old Monmouthshire

PostPosted: Sun Jan 29, 2017 12:10 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Back in 2001 I bought an '89 Fiesta locally as a stop-gap when my Mini had just been written off by some yuppie idiot speeding along a back lane, and that would be my worst to date by a long way. Engine was bottom of the range 950-odd cc OHV with a 4-speed 'box and what must have been an over-tall final drive. Fine on the motorway but hard work around town and simply bad news when it came to hills. Every other car I've had to date has been able to climb hills - maybe slowly, maybe in a low gear, but always getting there in the end. The Fiesta, however, frequently couldn't manage even fairly moderate climbs and would simply cut out part-way up. It would restart after a while, and sometimes I could get it going on the hill again with a struggle but more often than not it was a case of rolling back to a safe place to turn round and trying another road. I've never been so glad to sell a vehicle on to another mug!
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