The Fiat Punto 3-door is a small hatchback car with three doors. It’s designed for simple everyday driving and parking. The podcast mentions it because the speaker owned one briefly and then sold it quickly.
The Mazda MX-5/Miata is a small two-seat car with the roof that can open. It’s made to be easy and enjoyable to drive, not complicated. In the episode, it’s mentioned as a good fit for simple local trips like walking the dog.
An MGF is a small British open-top sports car. The host is talking about a head gasket problem—once that part was replaced, the car was fixed and put back on the road.
The head gasket is a critical seal inside the engine. If it fails, the engine can overheat or run badly, and replacing it can bring the car back to normal.
The Peugeot 306 convertible is a small Peugeot with an open-top body style. In this story, it’s part of the same chain of cars being moved around after mechanical issues.
“No reserve” at an auction means the seller isn’t setting a secret minimum price. If people bid, the car will be sold regardless of how low the final bid is.
The Jaguar X-Type is a Jaguar model from the 2000s. Here it’s being used like a parts donor: one car is “dead,” but the gearbox from it still works and will be swapped into another car.
The gearbox is the part that helps the engine deliver power to the wheels in the right gear. Here, they’re saying the gearbox still works, so it can be reused for a repair.
The MG ZT is a British MG model from the Rover era. In this segment it’s part of the story because the restoration needs parts, and the Jaguar X-Type gearbox is being considered as a donor.
In the UK, an MOT is a yearly check to make sure a car is safe and legal to drive. In this case, the car didn’t have the rusted “sills” problem they were worried about, so it didn’t fail on that point.
Sills are the metal parts along the bottom edge of the car, near the doors. They often rust, and the MOT can check them—so if there are no sills, there’s nothing for the inspector to assess.
They mention a car event called the Festival of the Inexceptional. They were looking for a car to take there, which is why they were talking about mileage and auction prices.
Pride of Longbridge is referenced as a recurring Rover/MG-related celebration in Birmingham. The speaker says they planned to attend it the week after being outbid, connecting the auction purchase decision to a specific local car community event.
BCA is where the car auction took place. It’s referenced to explain why they were bidding and why the final price included auction-related costs.
Term
monogram car
“Monogram” sounds like a specific version/label for the car that affects what it is. The important part is that it helps confirm the exact spec, not just the general model.
A “special order colour” is a paint color someone requested that isn’t the usual set of colors. Collectors often care because it can be less common and easier to confirm.
A “dealer demo” is a car a dealership uses for test drives or display instead of a normal customer delivery. The hosts are saying this Rover 75 wasn’t one of those.
Car
BX
The Citroën BX is an older Citroën that’s famous for having a special suspension setup. Here, they’re talking about using it for demolition-style racing because it can take hits and still keep going longer than other cars.
Hydrodynamic suspension means the car’s suspension uses pressurized fluid to control how the wheels move. The hosts are saying the BX’s system can keep the car sitting up instead of collapsing after hits.
The Opel Astra is a common compact car. It’s built for everyday use and is usually chosen for practicality. The podcast mentions a specific Astra model in a story about what happened to it.
The Ford Fiesta is a small Ford car. In this story it’s used as a racing/banger car, and later they even swap in a Fiesta radiator to get the BX back out.
A radiator helps keep the engine from overheating by cooling the fluid that runs through the engine. Here, they’re swapping radiators to stop the car from overheating so it can still race.
The Ford Edge is a family-sized SUV/crossover. It’s built for everyday driving and usually offers more room than a regular car. The episode mentions it in passing during a story involving a Ford.
The Ford Fiesta Active is a small car with a crossover-style look. It’s designed for everyday driving and is usually easier to handle than bigger SUVs. The episode mentions it in connection with a part being used on another car.
This means the shock absorbers are installed more upright than normal. Shocks control how the wheels move over bumps and how the car behaves when you turn. The hosts use this detail to figure out which Renault they’re talking about.
“Body roll” is the tendency of a car’s body to lean to the outside of a turn. When the hosts say it “roll[s] too much through the bends,” they’re describing a suspension setup that allows more lean than they’d like. That affects cornering feel and how quickly the car reaches its grip limit.
Renault is a car brand from France. Here, the hosts are guessing which car the old road-test excerpt was describing, and they land on Renault. It’s basically a brand clue from the suspension description.
The Renault Megane E-Tech is an electric car. It’s a compact model that uses a battery instead of a traditional fuel engine. The podcast mentions it while trying to identify the correct model name.
Electric windows are windows you can open and close with a button instead of turning a handle. The hosts are pointing out that older cars sometimes had them as a nicer option.
A driver’s airbag is a safety cushion that pops out during a crash to help protect the driver. They’re saying it’s standard now, but it used to be a more special feature.
The Rover SD1 is an older Rover car. The podcast brings it up because the speaker’s family had one around the early 1980s. It’s mentioned as part of a personal story.
An electric sunroof is a roof opening you can control with a switch or button. In the story, it lets the car stay open while they’re waiting or traveling.
The Rover SD1 is a classic Rover car from the UK. In the past it wasn’t always seen as a “winner,” but today people still talk about it and value it more than you’d expect.
A group test is when reviewers compare several cars together to see which one comes out best. The hosts are saying that some cars didn’t look great in those comparisons when new, but people later started liking them a lot.
The Alpina Z8 is a special version of the BMW Z8 that’s been modified by Alpina. Alpina focuses on improving how the car drives and feels. The podcast mentions it as one of several notable cars in a list.
The Honda NSX is a famous Honda sports car. The hosts are using it to show that even if a car didn’t win every test when it was new, it can still become highly respected later.
The BMW Z8 is a special, limited BMW roadster. The hosts are pointing out that even if it didn’t win everything when it was new, people later started valuing it a lot.
The Porsche 911 is a sports car made by Porsche. People talk about it a lot because it’s famous for performance and a very recognizable design. In the episode, it’s brought up as a car others were compared against.
The Fiat Cinquecento Sporting is a fun, sporty version of a small Fiat city car. The hosts are saying it became popular later because people who owned them when they were younger now want them back as classics.
A Volvo 240 is an older Volvo sedan that’s famous for being tough and easy to live with. The hosts are bringing it up as an example of a classic car that doesn’t cost a fortune to own.
An E36 BMW is an older BMW 3 Series (from the E36 generation). People like it because it’s a classic BMW that used to be cheaper, and it’s now more sought-after—at least in the host’s collection.
The Jaguar X350 is a specific generation of Jaguar sedan. In this discussion, it’s used as an example of a Jaguar that looks more “classic,” which they think helped keep its price from dropping as far as older Jags.
This is a Toyota Land Cruiser in the VX trim, and the hosts are talking about a 2003 diesel version. They mention that Land Cruisers tend to be expensive because they’re desirable and often exported, and they argue about the exact engine layout.
This means an engine that’s diesel and has six cylinders lined up in a row. The speakers are debating whether the Land Cruiser VX they’re discussing uses this layout instead of a V8.
That phrase is an engine description: it means a diesel with a 4.2-liter size and eight cylinders. The hosts are trying to confirm which engine the Land Cruiser VX actually has.
They’re basically saying the GTI name was being used as a sales trick. The car may not have been much different underneath, but the badge made people think it was special.
They’re talking about the engine size (2.0 liters) and how many valves it has (8 valves). More valves often helps an engine breathe better, so they’re implying this version wasn’t as sporty as the earlier ones.
Brake horsepower is a way of measuring how much power the engine makes. It’s usually measured on a test rig, and it helps you compare how strong different cars are.
The “Golf 1.6” refers to a Volkswagen Golf variant with a 1.6-liter engine, which the hosts say the wife had before the GTI. They use this comparison to argue that the GTI was only marginally quicker, making the GTI badge feel less meaningful at that point in the lineup.
“1.8 T” means a 1.8-liter engine with a turbocharger. A turbo helps the engine make more power from a smaller displacement, which is why they’re using it to explain why some GTIs felt better than others.
“16-valve” means the engine has more valves than an 8-valve design. More valves can help the engine breathe better, which can make it feel more lively.
Car
Rover Montego
The Rover Montego was a British family car from the late 1970s/early 1980s. Here it’s mentioned in the context of MG/Rover’s “sporty” versions and later turbo experiments.
The Toyota Carina E is a Toyota family car sold in Europe. The “GTI” label here is being used to mean a sportier version, even if the details vary by market and year.
The Ford Escort GTI is a sportier version of the Ford Escort. The hosts are using it to illustrate how the “GTI” label was often used to sell a more performance-focused image.
Car
MG Metro
The MG Metro is a small British hatchback. Here it’s important because MG used it as the basis for sportier versions, including turbo models that were meant to be quick but didn’t always handle the added power well.
“High compression” means the engine squeezes the air-fuel mixture more than normal, which can help it make more power. “A-series” is the name of a particular engine family used by MG/Rover.
Car
MG Maestro
The MG Maestro is a British compact car that came after the Metro. In this episode it’s mentioned because MG also made turbo versions, and the hosts think the car’s basic setup couldn’t properly cope with the boost.
Turbocharging is a way to make an engine produce more power by using exhaust gases to cram more air into it. The hosts are saying MG/Rover added turbos to cars that weren’t really designed to handle the extra power.
Car
MG Montego turbo
The MG Montego turbo is a version of the Montego that adds a turbo to make more power. The hosts argue that the car’s overall setup wasn’t really ready for that kind of performance.
The MG MGB is an older sports car from MG that many people collect. It’s known for being a classic that can be relatively affordable compared with some other classics. The podcast mentions it to make a point about what you can buy for a certain amount of money.
The Toyota Yaris iA is a small Toyota car. It’s meant for practical everyday use and usually focuses on efficiency. The podcast brings it up as a model the speaker worked with or launched early on.
Gran Turismo is a racing video game series. The hosts are saying the game made certain cars (like the Mazda Demio) more popular because players start with them and learn about them.
Car
Mazda Demio
The Mazda Demio is a small hatchback from Mazda. Here, the host says they entered one in a club-style race and learned how it compared to much bigger, faster cars.
The Ford Mustang is a sporty car from Ford. It’s known for having a powerful engine and a reputation for performance. The podcast mentions it in a driving story where it was clearly quick.
Brands Hatch is a well-known race track in the UK. It’s the kind of place where people run car races, including smaller “club” events.
Car
Citroen Balingo
The Citroën Balingo is a practical little van/people-mover that people often convert into tiny campers. In this segment, the big downside is that the driver’s seat can collapse, and the host describes how common that problem seems to be.
This means the driver’s seat can physically fail and fold or collapse. The host says it’s happened to many of these vans, so people end up hunting for replacement seats.
Car
Vauxhall Signum
The Vauxhall Signum is a family car from Vauxhall. It’s the kind of car you might see a lot in company fleets, and that’s why people talk about how easy (or hard) it is to find one today.
A “company car scheme” is when your employer provides a car as a benefit. It can make certain models show up a lot, and it can also affect what options you end up getting.
Here “tax” means the yearly cost to legally run the car on the road. The speaker is saying one particular setup would have been so expensive to tax that it likely got retired.
“19-inch wheels” means the wheel is 19 inches across. Bigger wheels usually change how the car rides and can be tied to higher trim packages—here, it even affected what parts they had to include.
Term
SRI spec
“SRI spec” means a particular trim/equipment package level. The key point here is that the company-car rules could force you into a higher-spec setup if you picked certain options.
The Vauxhall Zafira is a family-focused minivan/MPV from Vauxhall. It’s the kind of car people choose when they need more seats and easier day-to-day family space.
The Opel Zafira is a family-sized van-like car that can fit more people. Here, they’re talking about one with an automatic transmission and a diesel engine, which changes how it drives and how it uses fuel.
The Mercedes A-Class is a smaller Mercedes that’s meant to be easier to live with day-to-day than the bigger models. They’re saying that with the right version, it can feel like a smart choice rather than settling for something worse.
The Mercedes-Benz AMG One is an extremely high-performance supercar. It’s made in very limited numbers and is built to be special rather than practical. The podcast mentions it as a car that may not appeal to everyone, especially in standard form.
The Mercedes-Benz S-Class is a top-of-the-line luxury car. It’s designed to be comfortable and refined, especially for long drives. The podcast mentions it as a model the speaker thinks was especially good.
LIVE
Welcome to the Clangers Pod. This week we're looking at the cars we thought were a bit
meh, which have gone on to become highly sought after. Did we get it wrong or did they really
have hidden talents? Now if you're new to the pod we are three old road testers and serial
crap car collectors who wish we were on a back cast from the late 1990s to the early 2000s.
The models which are stuck between being classics and bangers, they are the Clangers.
I'm Mike Askew, I'm Tom Barnard and I'm Craig Cheatham. But as always we must start off this
by finding out what Craig has bought or sold this week.
So I mentioned last week that I bought a Fiat Punto didn't I and sold it again
about a week later. And part of the deal that came with that and the car that I wanted to buy
was a Mercedes C200 estate, 2003 C200 CVI automatic. Because a friend of mine told me that he was
looking for something cheap, reliable and ideal for walking his dog. And I thought this is perfect,
it's an estate car, it's going to be reliable, it's going to be cheap to run, cheap to buy,
plenty of room for the dog in the back of it. So I said to him, yeah, I'll get this then and you
can buy it off me. And yeah, he went and bought a Mazda Mx5 instead, which is perfect for dog walks.
The dog loves it. He likes his ears flapping the wind, it's much better.
So if anybody wants to buy a 2003 Mercedes C200 CVI automatic estate, metallic blue,
dark gray cloth interior, drives really well, it's done 158,000 miles but they're good for it,
particular engines really good. They used it in the W211, which is a great car, I think I've
mentioned on here before. But yeah, it's actually a really decent, it's a decent motor, it's not that
really that much used to me because I've got other cars. And if not, I'll just have to sell it to
somebody else for more than I was going to sell it to Tom for. Oh, okay. He's not guilt tripping
very well, is he? I'm not odd. I think we've heard about that car before, Craig. I'm disappointed
you haven't got more to tell us about. Well, that I bought. I probably have actually, I'm saving one
for next week because it's quite relevant to what we'll be discussing next week. What else I bought
recently? I've told you about the 306, the 309. You've got one of your head gaskets replaced,
haven't you? I've had the head gasket replaced on the, so yeah, the MGF, the lovely red MGF with
the blown head gasket, no longer has a blown head gasket. And it was brought back to me on Saturday
afternoon on the back of the trailer. And then the trailer took away the Peugeot 306 convertible
because the guy that has the trailer obviously really, really enjoys doing head gaskets. So
that's two red convertibles rescued and back on the road. And I'm never going to buy another red
convertible with a reputation for head gasket failure. Apart from possibly one. But we'll talk
about that in a future part. I've sold something. I've sold something because it is what's Craig
bought and sold this week, isn't it? So remember my Gold-X type of state? My Gold-X type of state
is off to passenger's new. My friend Paul and Cornwall's got it. His Skoda Fabio, which I supplied
for him six years ago for 319 quid. Six years, after six years at 60,000 miles, it's finally
given up the ghost. And obviously it's all part of the service. So he's now got the Jag for free
under warranty. No, he's not really, he's bought it off me. So that's one gone. Just one more
mid-sized compact executive diesel estate car to go now. And then I'll have cleared that corner of
the collection and I'll be looking to buy something else. I mean, that's the natural
progression, isn't it, from a Fabio to a next type? I think it's quite delighted because she's been
driving to work in back in this Fabio for six years with a rattly timing chain and keep fit
windows. So I think this is, it's almost like she's just been given a Rolls-Royce or something.
Excellent. It was a good car to be honest. It was a decent motor. Oh, did I tell you?
Have I ever told you about the other X-Type on here? The grey one?
Saying my other X-Type is a bit like me saying. Does it narrow it down?
Yeah, it does, isn't it? You can't count them on your fingers and toes, can you?
It's a three-litre SE that's really good apart from one problem.
Yeah, it went through the auction and it said on the windscreen, no reserve.
So I thought, oh, great, I'll have a bid on this. And I thought, if it connects to nothing. And then
I realised I hadn't actually read it properly and it said no reverse.
And you couldn't back out of the deal, Craig? I couldn't back out of the deal.
You know, it's like your X-Type Star Trekking Edition because it's always going forward.
So I do have, this will come as no surprise to you at all. I do have around the back of my unit
a dead X-Type and the gearbox in that works perfectly. So my friend Bob, who's currently
restoring my MGZT is really, really looking forward to dismantling a Jaguar X-Type gearbox
as his next trick. Why is one dead? You apologize. Sorry? Why is one dead? What's happened to it
that it's been officially classified as a dead by Craig? It has a factory-cruised silt delete option.
So it went to the MOT and there were no sills to inspect. So that was the end of that one.
Which shakes, it had been a good car but mechanically really good. It's an 80,000 mile car.
The gearbox is great and it's going into the otherwise superb and rot-free example
is the plan. So we shall see. So there we go. That's a bit better than just buying one car
that we've already mentioned, isn't it? Yeah. Tom was saying that last time we were on a pod,
it might have been the pod before. You were bidding on a car during the pod or something.
Is that right? And you didn't win. Was, yeah. Was it the last pod we did?
Yeah, it was. There was something Craig that went for like 325 quid and your maximum was 300
and you were a bit cross. Do you remember what that was? I can't remember what it was either.
Oh, it wasn't, it wasn't the Deulanos. 28,000 mile Deulanos that I thought I might buy for
the Festival of the Inexceptional. But no, it actually went for silly money. It went for about
800 quid, which can't get you that quarter of its new price when you add on auction fees as well,
isn't it? Yeah, no, there was something else that was definitely a bit more normal. Is it
something that was a funny color that you don't need seen once or something? Sure, there was something.
Was it? Oh, it was the... The tracks were from 275. There we go. Yeah, no, there's a great story
about this. So, so I was outbid by 25 quid and I was a bit gutted and I was going to Pride of
Longbridge, you know, the big Rover celebration that happens in Birmingham every year. I was going
there the following week and as I pulled into the field, I saw the very car that was at BCA
parked up, went over to find out who bought it and it's a mate of mine called Dan Hooper
and Dan had outbid me and, well, him and a guy called Gonzalo between them, they're both part of
MG Rover events that put MG Rover events together and they bought it between them as a project to
see what it was like. And do you know what the really annoying thing about it is? It's pretty
lovely. You have to explain to everyone else. Well, I'll explain it. You sent me a mail at kind
of like midnight or something ridiculous in the sort of state of excitement saying you'd found
this Rover 75 and I'm looking at the pictures thinking, and you're like, it's Chatsworth Bronze.
Yeah. And I'm like, yeah, it's gold. And you're like, no, it's Chatsworth Bronze. And you explain
that this is what, is it monogram? It's a monogram car. Yeah. Yeah. It's sort of special, special
order colour. And somebody has ordered this car in bronze, which looks like a shade darker than
the gold, which a lot of them were. So why someone would pay extra? They probably didn't,
it's probably just a marketing car or something. And I'm like, okay, well, I knew excitedly you
said, no, it says bronze on the registration document. Therefore, it's this bronze colour
and we're excited. I remember you being. I was talking to Arlo and Dan about it and they were
saying that they picked the car up. It wasn't a dealer demo or a factory car. It belonged to a
chap who'd had it. One owner until I assume he probably died because there was a date of birth
and an insurance certificate in the car for 1930 something. So the assumption was that this was
a we buy any car, you know, obviously, rest in peace purchase. And yeah, it done 171,000 miles,
but with one owner from you, obviously clearly well looked after. And while I was good enough
to win it, I'm actually really, really pleased that it's been bought by some Rover enthusiasts
rather than a backstreet car dealer who wouldn't necessarily know it's worth and value to the
British automotive heritage landscape or something.
Yeah, well, Cecil, Cecil could have bought it. So Cecil is a chap for the listeners who
ran a company. I don't know if it still exists, perhaps it does. I hope it does. It's called
had a lot of fun, but it was probably the most frightening thing I've ever done.
Absolutely. And what did you make me do the van racing in, Tom?
I made you do it in the BX because I knew you'd hate it because you would hate to see this car
die. And you went on one because it pumped itself up so that all the other cars pumped
itself up in the hydrodynamic suspension so that all the other cars couldn't smash it up.
I had a Mark III Astra. Mike, did you have a go?
You took, yeah, you got me a Fiesta. You got me the smallest person, the smallest car, thank you.
At least it didn't have a plastic bonnet like mine, Mike.
I'm going to be racing in a car with a plastic bonnet. That's what I was forced to do.
I think we have mentioned this on the pod in previous episodes.
I think we have, yeah. It's still worth revisiting because it was,
well, I'd like to say it was tremendous fun, but I'm not entirely sure it was.
No, I'm glad I've done it. I'm glad I've ticked it off the bucket list, but I'm never doing it again.
Didn't your radiator go to make Craig's BX live, Mike?
Yeah, that cannibalised mine because it was, the wheels had folded under itself,
so it wasn't going anywhere. I thought I wasn't going to go out for the third heat.
So to set my nerves, having been involved in quite a heavy shunt in the second one,
I went and got a beer to calm my nerves, and I think I had two because they're down the both
really quite quickly because I was totally on edge, and then came back to find them,
putting a Ford fiesta radiator on my BX upside down so it could go out for the final in which I
came third. It was terrifying. I mean, I've done a few bits of motor support before,
whenever there's been a problem in the service area and you think, oh, I really hope we can get
back out again. But with this, I was just when they said, that's it, it's not going any further.
That was the first time I thought, thank goodness. Because you leave, it's kind of
a lead of a charmed life with that, don't you? And all the regulars who would do
banger racing just knew that they were sort of like a red rag to a bull, these rookies,
weren't they? So it couldn't be any more obvious. 20 years ago this year, so it would have been
almost exactly 20 years ago. Yeah, okay, younger and stupider.
Shall we, um, shall we stick to the new feature? Before we go on to Clangor, the Clangors of the
week, I've got a new game. Oh, of course. And it's called, What Was Tom I'm About? And I'll give
you a bit of a background to it. So recently I had to buy some old copies of Auto Express to
research for some magazine features. I was writing about cars of the era. And in it are a number of
first drives and road tests written, well, written by both of you, but I don't know why I'm picking
on Tom, I just am. And I have taken excerpts from some of these road tests. I'm going to read them
out to you. And you're going to guess what the excerpt, what car the excerpt refers to.
But I think first that requires a jingle, don't you? It does.
Very bluesy. It does go on for a long time. So if you're ready, I'm going to read out the
paragraph of Tom's road test. And I want you both to guess what he was on about, okay?
So it goes like this. At the rear, it has vertically mounted dampers,
and it rides well over rough surfaces. But one drawback is that the slightly soft setup allows
it to roll too much through the bends, taking the edge of what would otherwise be one of the
sharpest cars in its class. Even so, in a market increasingly concerned with value for money,
and with the astonishing levels of safety kit, it's a remarkable package.
I mean, vertically mounted dampers isn't particularly special, is it?
A car that hasn't got vertically mounted dampers, to be honest. There you go.
So that's your frame of reference for everything.
Unusually, it has a vertically mounted dampers. You can ask for clues if you like,
or we can have a lesson. There's not a lot in there. I mean, it's beautiful pros, obviously,
but it's... Safety kit would suggest something like a Renault. Is it a Renault?
Oh, look, you're in. I think you're in. You are indeed correct.
Is it a Laguna? No. Smaller. Yes. That's not difficult, I suppose.
I think I'm being bigger than Cleo. It must be a Megane. Is it a Megane? No. Cleo, then?
Cleo, yes. But which one?
How many marks of Cleo there's been?
I don't need the specific spec and model. Just which generation, Cleo?
Oh, well, would have been Cleo's second three.
Not the Cleo three, no. Oh, two then. Second generation. Cleo two. It was 1998, the UK first
first drive. You said that even that irritating Nicole would be impressed.
If you said that... Nicole was irritating. She was lovely. In your words, you called her irritating.
I can't say she irritated me that much, but... Now, I met her once at a motor show and was charmed,
I can say. She called you father. I was a bit seedy.
She just looked a bit irritated that she had to be there and meet the likes of me.
For an irritating person, would you expect? It was 1.4RT, by the way, if you don't want to know
the spec, which is quite a posh one with electric windows. You also remarked on how it was impressive
that even the base model had a passenger... No, sorry, had a driver's airbag.
Really? You can't buy a car without a driver's airbag today, but yeah, it's...
Yeah. My dad reminded me the other day, talking of electric windows,
that when he got his first company car of electric windows, which was a Maestro Vanden
Pla, we went to pick up my grandma from church one Sunday morning, and when the people,
the crowds came out of church, I was sat in the car doing the electric windows up and down,
hoping people would notice because I thought I was posh.
I can tell you quite a funny story about my wife, actually. Her dad had a Rover SD1,
would have been about 1981 when she was sort of primary school age,
and that had an electric sunroof, and they'd gone to a garden centre or something,
and she didn't want to go around the garden centre, so they said,
if you behave yourself, you can stay in the back of the car and leave the sunroof open.
So they left the sunroof open, and she got a bit bored of sitting in the car and started
pressing some buttons and this, that, and the other, then decided to go and meet her parents
in the garden centre, but decided to climb out of the sunroof, pressing the button behind her as
she left, at which point the car locked itself, and Nigel, my father-in-law, had left the keys
in the car. So they were all locked out of their SD1, a garden centre in Cheshire,
because Tamsin had leapt out via the sunroof. I think she's very popular that day.
I'm surprised that was a story about a Rover SD1 not breaking. It sounded like it wasn't even at fault
here, so yeah. I suppose not. Notable as a story.
Well, talking of Maestro's and Rover SD1's, we should get to our Clangers of the Week.
That was a big segue, wasn't it?
Well, it was almost slick, wasn't it? So these are cars which were never winners at the time,
and I don't think they would ever run a group test, but since they've become kind of loved
and adored and valuable, I suppose, I think, Mike, you're going to be the ruler here and say,
of course, and remind everyone that we can only have ones from our era.
I only have ones from our era, indeed. Yeah, so we do tend to stray off sometimes, so I'm going to be
here with a ruling with an iron fist. And I think you'll also rule with an iron fist when I use
the examples that I did last week, which are the BMW Z8, the Puma Racing, and the Honda NSX.
Exactly, saying they're too posh, but it gives you the idea of cars which, you know, the Z8 was,
it never won a group test, did it against things like a 911, but now everybody,
the 911 would be worth, I know, 10 grand and the Z8's worth 150. Puma Racing's are, you know, like
very cool following, and at the time you couldn't really, well, I wouldn't say you couldn't give
them away, but they certainly weren't that popular. So I will start off cars which were seen as a bit,
at the time, but are now very valuable, with a Cinquecento Sporting.
I think it's the same one. Yeah, now I would say that those have become popular because they've
got that kind of classic car thing where people had one as their first car and now they love them.
And also for classic cars, ones that are small and cheap to run are increasingly popular because
if you're just dipping your toe into classic car ownership, you don't want to have to spend
£5,000 at each service, and one of those you can keep on the road for peanuts.
And also, there aren't that many of them left because they were all everybody's first car and
they were thrashed and crashed. 90s cars are really popular with the youth at the moment as well.
I think they like to break away from a permanently connected digital world and drive an old analogue
car. I've sold a lot of 90s cars because it's generally all they ever drive, and quite often
the people that buy the cars are younger than the cars that they buy. I've found that quite an
interesting thing over the past few years. And they're normally really nice people to deal with
as well, which is always a pleasure. So yeah, keep on going guys, because yeah,
always handy to sell some of my old crap. Yeah, not this isn't car related, but I was told the other
and I've now seen it everywhere that the kids, for want of a better word, are into wired headphones.
They all want wired because this is a generation that makes me feel old.
This is a generation that grew up with AirPods and AirPods. So it's a good total novelty to them,
have this cable that connects their earphones. It means they can't lose them. They love it.
They think it's a brilliant invention. There's a lot of things from that ear is coming back
there as well. Have you noticed that lots of the kids today have got 90s curtains as haircuts?
Yeah. Floppy curtains have made a comeback, which takes me right back to my uni years when
when I tried my best and look like I had a Weetabix on the head. But my 21 year old son has
two Walkmans, cassette Walkmans and a CD Walkman actually, a film camera and a mini disc player.
Loves it all. Loves all that stuff, thinks it's fascinating.
Amazing. I wouldn't go house. Would you like to buy a Volvo 240 to go with it? He would very much
like to buy a Volvo 240. It absolutely does. It's got some other power from our list,
doesn't it? Volvo 240. Because there was a point when they were, you know,
Bangor track regulars and, you know, cheap old sturdy cars that people would have proper clangor
material. And all of a sudden now, yes, I suppose it's 32 years since the last one was built,
which had a good old run. But all of a sudden now they're really quite collectible.
I've got one here, 300,000 miles. It's a wonderful old thing.
Yeah. Is that the one I drove to, first of all, the next episode?
Yeah, she had one from Noisy Rear Diffberry.
Yeah, it's, I've never driven one before, which is why I wanted to go in it.
And I loved it. I mean, a lot of those sorts of era cars, you get in now
with these kind of rose tinted specs. I can imagine lots of people who haven't had the chance to drive
them. And they go and buy one. And then they drive home and go, yes, it's lovely. It's great.
I really like it. But secretly they're thinking this is horrible, because it's not old enough
to feel classic and that kind of charming way. But it's not also got, hasn't got all the new
refinements that you'd want. But I thought the Volvo was charming and kind of classic in its way.
And also relaxing. You just had to completely recalibrate the way you drove. What it reminded
me of was an Arnaud, a Bentley Arnaud, or it's sort of that era Rolls Royce,
in that you just drove it in a relaxed way. And you didn't care. It's like an Arnaud,
but without the posh bits. So you've got plastic instead of wood and velour instead.
Yeah, I get that to be fair. I know what you need. You need to sort of sit there and lull up along,
don't you? Yeah. Yeah, I think it sort of brought my heart rate while driving down by about
10 beats per minute. It was really nice. I liked it. I'd quite happily rock around in the 240.
Well, you know, if one of your retro loving sons would like to buy it, maybe we can talk.
Yeah, you never know. My 18 year old, another car in my collection is, I've got an E36 BMW.
And that's another one, really, that probably fits in this list of having been a cheap car
fairly recently. But that's been replaced in the scruffy BMW stakes now by the E46, hasn't
it really? And the 36 now, most of the good ones, most of the ones that are left are good cars.
And Ben, my son, is his favourite car in my collection. He's more interested in that than
anything modern that I ever have. So again, he's a good example of that.
Okay, what's next on the list?
I've just lost my list, to be honest. While I've lost my script, should we do the Jaguar S350,
because I mentioned it earlier, and I'll try and find my script again. Literally bomb with a list.
We were hoping not to get to it.
Quickly, because there was a point when old Jags, they were all bought by, you know,
flat roof pub landlords and non-leaf football managers and what have you, and were left to go
to rack and ruin. But they've kind of, the last classic looking Jag, the X350, X358s, kind of
bypassed that. They got to the point where they were as cheap as they were going to be.
And I don't really think they ever hit three figures. I mean, astonishingly, I've still owned
one, because I was forced myself to spend four figures on one, but they've never really bottomed
out in the way that big old Jags have before, because I think there's this psychology that
all the Jags that came after, the sort of Ian Callum style of Jags, to your traditional
classic Jaguar fan just didn't look like Jaguars. And that's kept the prices for those a little bit
higher than they should be. That's my theory. I found my script now, so we can shut up about Jags,
if you want. Well, my dad's had one for 11 years and adores it, it's his pride and joy. And he's
still, because he keeps it in nice condition, he still gets compliments about it in car parks
and people trying to buy it from him. So you're right. I'd agree. I can't get on with it. It
doesn't fit me. It's just the wrong shape for an X350. You kind of have to put your legs out on the
steering wheel too low. So I don't enjoy driving it at all, but he does.
Anyway, I found my script now. And on it is Toyota Land Cruiser is the next one. That's a really
good one. Because they've always been worth a fortune. Yeah, well, I suppose they get exported,
don't they? That's the thing that if they do, it's a 4.2 V8 diesel or a straight six diesel. It's
4.2 anyway. Someone would correct me if I've got it wrong. I think he might be a straight six,
actually. It's a 4.2 TD Land Cruiser VX. 2003, 03 plate. He's had it about three or four years.
And when he bought it, I was chatting to him about it. And he said, yeah, he's actually got this one
quite cheap. I said, well, how much was it? He goes 17 grand. It's a 19 year old car at the time.
Sorry. And that apparently is cheap. They go for well over 20. And it's quite a nice one.
But I think because his is sort of metallic beige, which isn't the favorite color for them,
he probably got it a little bit cheaper than the going rate. But yeah, they're worth an absolute bomb.
Mike, we've got golf GTIs on the list. Yeah. But when we were kind of in our,
you know, Clangers era thing, the golf GTI was a bit lame, wasn't it? It was, it was
Mark four. four golf was a lovely car, but the GTI one was, I think it was a victim
of marketing overkill, hadn't it? It's so much as they thought, well, we're not going to spend a
ton of money developing the chassis or anything on this or making it particularly special.
You can imagine them say around the board was saying, you know, we could put a GTI badge on
anything and it'll sell. And it felt like that, didn't it? Because it was basically the same car,
but with different wheels. It's two liter eight valve engine in one of them, didn't it? The 115
brake horsepower, which is not really very golf. We had one for a while. It's my wife's car. And it
was all right. But before that, she had a golf 1.6. And there wasn't really any difference between
driving them. The GTI was marginally quicker. Yeah, that was it. I mean, I think they've kind of
made up for it since because I think they got stung by that. The fact that it didn't, you know,
throw away that heritage that they'd built so spent so long building. But I think, yeah, that
Mark 41 was was a real low air wasn't it? Because the other engine was what the 1.8 T wasn't
it? Yeah, yeah. It wasn't bad. It wasn't spectacular. And if you look at the previous GTIs, Mark
three was a bit rubbish as well, wasn't it? Mark 12 were great. And they they had the
1.8 eight valve and 16 valve engines. If I remember rightly, and again, I could be wrong, but
Mark two 16 valve that was probably the pinnacle of golf GTI isn't wasn't it?
With big golfers in a green. And there was that period where everybody seemed to put a GTI badge
on things wasn't it from the Elmira GTI Rover 25 GTI. There was even an escort. Montego
Punishment GTI. That was the best one. Rover Montego Punishment GTI. Elmira GTI was great.
We had a long term card. Apart from the upholstery, which is hideous, it was brilliant.
The friend of mine's dad, he was a pilot for British Airways and his company car was a Toyota
Carina E GTI. And that was brilliant. There was a Ford Escort GTI. Yeah, there was. And then
then they realized that anything with GTI, even if it was awful, it was going to be more to
you know, I think we should we should park this right now and do a GTI special pub because
we can talk about all these cars in more detail. Okay, we should move up. We'll
should move on to something else sporting then that's on the list, which we've compiled, which is
the Montego combination. When those cars came out. So they closed the MG factory in Abingdon in 1981
and people got a bit upset. And to kind of keep the MG badge on life support, the end metro came out
the end of 1982, a year after the metro had come out, they launched the MG Metro, which was
essentially a standard metro with a high compression A series engine initially.
1.3 with red seatbelts. And that became the theme in the MG Montego, the MG Maestro that came
after it. They had red seatbelts and gravele or upholstery and various bits and pieces.
And they weren't particularly good. And they weren't particularly popular in a, you know,
in the context of the era. Although Rover did go a bit mad and they started turbocharging everything.
So you can get a Metro turbo, Maestro turbo, Montego turbo, all of which were a bit lunacy
really, because they didn't have the chassis to handle the power. But they were, I don't know,
they weren't particularly popular for a very, very long time. And now if you're looking at a good
example of any of those three cars, it's 10 grand. That's more than a classic MGB for, you know,
essentially a Maestro with red seatbelts, a bit more power. They all got stolen, didn't they? So
of each left, which I think is probably why they, they command such premium. But I saw a Montego
turbo sell last year for 17,000 quid, which held a lot of money. Well, another one, not quite as
exciting. In fact, slightly tedious is the Toti Yaris Verso, which I remember testing and thinking,
what is this about? Because it was just like a Yaris wearing a very large hat, wasn't it?
But now, the gold dust, you can't, once they fall apart, people go out and find that it's one of
those cars that if you've got one, which is less than 100,000 miles of good condition for people
or pen, awful lot of money for it to replace that one, which is just broken. I think they're very,
very popular with people who have dogs and have rejected a good quality Mercedes C200,
they've been offered by a friend. They've got very tall dogs, maybe, maybe they've got
great Danes. That was the first overseas press launch I did for Auto Express, because I used
to always go because I was quite low down the ladder. You two were both a tier, tier or two
tiers above me in the, in the staff starter at the time. So I got all the press launches that
you didn't want to go on. And my first overseas launch was the Toyota Yaris Verso. And it had
that sort of converse effect where car manufacturers really push out the stops to, you know, be as
glitzy and glamorous as they can for the car that's the least glitzy and glamorous in their
range. And we went to the most spectacular hotel in the south of France. That's what I remember
about that. And I also remember I was, I was very new to the industry. I was right behind the years
and I didn't know who was who in the zoo. And I ended up pairing up with, I'm not going to name him,
but a journalist who was extremely unpopular. And I found out why within three hours of getting
off the plane. And another very well known national motoring journalist said,
you could die a hero by taking one for the team and driving that into a motorway bridge support.
That's my first story anyway. Yeah, on a similar tall Japanese car front,
the Mazda Demio, which was kind of forgotten, wasn't it? I don't think even the first drive
made half a page and then was never road tested. But is that really in demand now?
Yeah, because of Gran Turismo. So it's the car that if you started off in Gran Turismo as a
complete rookie, you were given the Mazda Demio. So then you had to get your way up. So they've
got like some, if you drive a Demio now, a certain age of person who spent years on a
PlayStation trying to get their way up the ladder. Well, you know, I did it live. I decided to relive
it with a real car in 2019. It's being a title called retro cars. Try to try to launch a magazine
all about cars of the Clangor Zero. Unfortunately, it never really took off. But one thing I did was
was enter a Mazda Demio in a Clubman race at Brands Hatch. Because I thought it'd be basically
living out my Gran Turismo dream. Did it get respect? I got lapped by a guy in a Mustang
about six times. But did people get why you were doing it? Yeah. Oh no, a few people actually in
the paddock actually knew exactly what it was. So they came in and said, it's the Gran Turismo
cars. That's why it's here. It was quite a popular feature there. I really enjoyed doing that one.
Hmm. Hmm. Well, I actually quite like the Demio as well. The interior was horrible. It was in that
90s Japanese way that only cars of that era can be. But it drove really well.
Any others? What about the Citroen Balingo? Oh, yeah. I quite like a Balingo. I don't think it
would be allowed on my drive. So I think I'd have to go and live in it, which wouldn't be that
uncomfortable. But a lot of people do use them for living in there. That's one of the reasons
it's so popular because they turn them into micro campers. Yeah. But incredibly practical rides
really well, cheap to run, what not to like. But I think there's a certain it's one of those cars
that again, like the Versa, whereas if you've got the right spec, then you're on to a winner. So they
need to have air con and they need to be a bright color. I think if they've got the sunroof, they're
popular. And generally not knackered, I think. Big problem with driver seats collapse. I have
one for a while. One point one point eight petrol is very rare derivative of it. And the driver's
seat had collapsed and I was trying to find a replacement driver seat for it. I found that
every single Balingo in Britain, the driver's seat had collapsed. I've got a friend who's in the
Citroen car club who's got a couple of Balingos of his own. When he goes on holiday in his Balingo,
he goes around French scrapyards buying passenger seats in the back of his Balingo and sells them
to Balingo owners back home. Very clever. Do they just make the passenger seat cheap out of cheaper
stuff then in France? You know, I don't think not thinking that that. No, I think in France,
probably all the all the left hand seats are knackered. Oh, okay. So it's a general thing
that interests them. Right hand drive seat on the left hand drive car and put it in your right
hand drive car. And then you basically get another 10 years out of it then before it collapses again.
I'm going to on Sunday, by the way, I'm going to the biggest scrap yard in the Netherlands.
So if there's anything that you can think of that you might need, particularly that might be worn
out on the right hand side of the car from driving it, do let me know because I'm going to be having
a good old rummage while I'm there. You could have a long list from people. I need to make a list
of stuff before I go just for my own fleet. I mean, fortunately, I won't have edited it this
in time. So they won't get some pieces. I'm hoping that's bravovo 240 saloon if I can get them.
A couple more than we must. A couple more. Okay, well, I'm going to suggest a car which Craig and
I know very dearly, which is the Vauxhall Signum. Now, I don't know if they're sought after yet,
but they will be very shortly, I'm sure, because when's the last time you saw one? I mean, we used
to see hundreds of them every day because on the Vauxhall company car scheme, they were about 20p a
year and everything else is very expensive to try and encourage you to have. How many do you have
on the car scheme, Tom? Do you have one or 24 You have four. I had two. I had a black one
and I had a metallic green one, which was a three-litre diesel automatic, which I think it's
probably dead now on the basis that if someone still had it, they'd have a sign that costs
760 quid a year to tax, which wouldn't be worth the effort. No, what was the green colour called?
Peacock, was it? Peacock Blue. I seem to remember you had a white one that you hit a fox in,
as well. Do you remember that? Yes, I do. I had a white one on 19.
It was a special order and because of the way that the Vauxhall company car scheme worked,
there were people who you went and saw who knew all the tricks. If you ordered 19-inch wheels,
which cost an extra £5 a month, they had to give you an SRI spec one. Even if you only paid for
the elegance one, so it was a cheaper way to get a better car, was just to have the 19-inch wheels
and various other nice little tricks like that, which meant that you got these very strange spec
backfired on me once, though, because I was getting out at the time of a young family,
so obviously Zafira became the car of choice and there was a new colour that had come out.
I can't remember the name of it. It was a horrible colour. I normally like green cars,
but this was a revolting green. It was like a really washed out spearmint green. I was told
by the people that we used to talk to that if I ordered one in that colour, it would have to
be a factory build and I could have whatever spec I liked because they didn't have any cars
in that colour in the UK. So, I ordered one in that colour and my order came back and they found
one that was the same engine and the same colour, but was the design spec, which was one up from
bottom. So, I tried to order an Elite and rather than do a factory order car for me at the right
price, they said, you've got this one and we're going to knock 20 quid a month off. So, for four
months, I was driving a revolting Zafira in a lowly spec with an auto gearbox and a diesel engine,
all because I tried to order one and fool the system. I think maybe they worked out and tried
to punish me. So, what's going to be our last car on the list?
What about the... We spoke about those quite a lot there, haven't we? We've already mentioned
Mercedes A-Class. Good one for both. I like an A-Class. I thought it was from a design point of
view, which is my kind of basis, isn't it really? I thought it was just so clever and I quite like
the way it drove. I thought they felt quite different. I think that's now on the up. Yeah,
really. I think so too. I think if you get the right spec, one of those, which is probably the
basic spec, isn't it? I mean, I don't think the AMG ones or anything would be particularly desirable.
My friend Chris had one fairly recently and his was really cool. It was an A-Class A140 Piccadilly.
Do you remember that special edition? And it was metallic black with like oxblood red interior,
oxblood red leather interior. And it was a really smart thing. And I think if you got in that,
you'd actually feel like you weren't really compromising over a bigger Merc. You were just
making a decision to own a smaller car because it suited your lifestyle better because it was
off the inside. Especially Mercs of that era because the rest of them were a bit crap anyway,
weren't they? I mean, an S-Class. I thought I took each 11th grade car. I'm here before.
Now, talking in special editions, you have an idea, Craig, for the next...
I do have an idea. Yeah. So I think that in the next podcast, we should talk about some of the
most unusual or daftest special edition cars that have been launched because they've died
of death, haven't they? It used to be that back in the day, you could go to a dealer,
you could dealers would have their loss leader special edition cars to get people into the
showrooms. And all they were were entry level models with extra stickers and pop-up sunroofs
and things. And that's something that I really miss about the car industry because now they just
don't exist anymore. So I think we should reminisce about the best special editions of the 80s and
90s. I think special editions do still exist, Craig. Do they? But they're all the same thing.
Oh, they're all black editions, aren't they? Yes. We'll come to that next week.
And I'll tell you what I will do. I will rise to a challenge here. I'm challenging myself,
but between now and the next time we jump on this podcast, I'm going to find a really silly
special edition car. And when we do what's Craig bought this week, we will start off the special
edition podcast with a special edition. Okay. Excellent. Joined up. Brilliant. Okay.
I like it. It's a good plan. If you are listening to this on the podcast platform, please subscribe
and leave a review if you can. It's not just for our egos, but it really helps with the algorithm
to make sure that the podcast is put into in front of as many people as possible. You can
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Let us know your thoughts on what cars you liked us to cover next. If you have been listening,
thank you very much. And we will see you all next time. Bye. See you next time.
About this episode
Craig and the hosts kick off with recent swaps and fixes, including a Fiat Punto buy/sell and a Mercedes C200 CVI estate chosen for being “cheap, reliable and ideal for walking his dog.” The conversation then bounces through auctions, head-gasket repairs on an MG MGF, and a dead Jaguar X-Type kept for parts. “Clangers of the Week” turns into the comeback theme—why overlooked cars later become loved and valuable—before the show widens to analogue 90s motoring and retro tech appeal.
This week on the Kilowatt Half Hour, Vicky, Batch and Tom tackle another packed week in the world of EVs, from rumours of a cut-price electric Škoda Citigo revival to Volvo’s bold claim that cars “wouldn’t be accepted” if invented today.
There’s chat about the stunning new Volvo EX60, the tiny Škoda Epiq, and whether the AMG GT Coupe is actually… good looking? Plus, the team discuss manual gearboxes and diesel engines potentially disappearing by 2030, and the latest cars added to the UK government’s EV grant scheme.
Also this week:
⚡ Could MG’s new parking tech cure Britain’s worst parkers?
⚡ Lee from Doncaster needs help choosing his next company EV
⚡ Barnard’s Bargain returns with a tempting Volvo EX30 lease deal
⚡ Your comments on battery degradation, charging, terminology nitpicks — and complaints that the podcast STILL isn’t long enough…
As always, expect news, views, gentle arguing and questionable tangents from the Electrifying.com team.
