Someone from work who doesn't share the passion of volksies emailed this around today. It's from the BBC webpage. This coming from someone who drives a Camira
VW Beetle is named 'crappest car'
An author has risked the wrath of thousands of Volkswagen Beetle fans by naming the popular car as the "crappest" in Britain.
Richard Porter, author of Crap Cars, says of the iconic car: "It's slow, it's noisy and it's uncomfortable".
The Austin Allegro, Suzuki X90, Morris Marina and Lada Riva make up the rest of Mr Porter's "top five".
He said he knew putting the Beetle top was controversial, but the car was "a triumph of expectation over reality".
"In 1948 it was reasonably well built and reliable and sturdy and all those things people needed, which is fine - that was 1948," he told BBC News.
TOP 5 'CRAP CARS'
1: Volkswagen Beetle
2: Austin Allegro
3: Suzuki X90
4: Morris Marina
5: Lada Riva
(Source: Richard Porter
author of Crap Cars)
"I think the mangle was a good way to dry your clothes in 1948, but you wouldn't use one now."
But London and Thames Valley VW Club chairman Trevor Wilson said many people would jump to the car's defence.
"I suppose it's a bit funny, but a bit stupid - the Beetle was the biggest selling car ever," he told BBC News Online.
Mr Wilson, 37, the proud owner of a 1977 Beetle cabriolet, said he liked the car's design, the way panels were bolted on rather than welded to make them easier to replace.
"They were built to last and built to be easily maintained - that's a good design" he said.
"It's individual - you can make the car your own, certainly if you are going to restore it you can do what you want. Modern cars are quite boring to look at and to drive."
Publisher BBC Books describes Crap Cars as "a celebration of the shoddy, the inept and the downright ugly".
Other cars it lambasts include the Trabant: "Had an engine so lame even the people who made electric carving knives deemed it feeble" and another motoring icon - the MGB - described as "spectacularly rubbish".
Also check this out
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_pictures/5352482.stm
[ Edited on 17-9-2006 by Stanley ]
😬 EXTERMINATE EXTERMINATE EXTERMINATE..
:o well all that pommy weather has to cause some brain damage.. 😁
fractal geometry; the inner most limits of mind altering abuse
Fantasy
http://seventhchronicle.com
Z = Z2 + C1/r = 1/0 = infinity
Barrels
www.barrelman.com.au
VW Workshop - aircooledgarage.com.au
allcooled.com.au
so he has generated a lot of worldwide free publicity, the book should do well
Please, I need drivers side window regulator (winder mechanism) for my '54
I always thought any sort of Lada was a crap car. I know alot of people hate them but I love Citroen Frogs!
What a freak, time to buy a life.
Sounds to me like this author was trying to sell books using that subtle old tool, controversy.
Now we all know that england is crap.
The weather is crap,
The roads are crap,
Their beachs are crap,
Their royal family is crap,
Their cars are particularly crap,
Even their idea of sport is crap (sorry all the cricket and soccer lovers).
They've got bad teeth, trashy celebrities and almost no chance of ever owning a house or getting a decent job because,
Margaret Thatcher was crap.
The only decent thing they have is topgear and their pubs. And their pubs are going up the chute coz their going the way of all things, franchising.
They have too much time on their hands and still want to rule the world.
And before any pommies get stuck into me, I'm married to an English girl and we all know you moved here to get away from all of these things. Any pom in their right mind is trying to move to Australia.
So the best way we can deal with this is to totally ignore this book. Don't even mention it. That way it will die a quick death and it's bored, English author's career will die along with it. 😉
[ Edited on 18-9-06 by pete wood ]
Uncle Pete
dont be so hasty ALL their cars arnt crap,i wouldnt mint a shed full of rollers or daimlers or aston martins or older jaguars or morgans:beer or---i'll stop now ,there are more but you get the idea ,BTW some of the page 3 chicks are ok too:beer:beer
Don't argue with an idiot; people watching may not be able to tell the difference.
ok, I'll allow you two. The Escort MkII RS2000 and the mini cooper S 1275. Everything you just mention is either big, heavy and rusty, and/or powered by nasty, weazy old english pushrod motors.
English motors (bar cosworth stuff) = 👎 :puke
Now I know you're gonna say, "but what about all the late model stuff?"
But we all know all the late model motors are either cosworth ripoffs, or they are made somewhere else.
And the page 3 girls fall into the trashy celebrity category.
English rock is the only thing that saves England.
Zepplin, Floyd, Purple, Cream, The Stones, Sabbath, Dire Straits and the Beatles...well some of the Beatles anyway.
Ok, I'll give them some points for old fashioned pommie cooking too...mmm, Yorkshire pudding and apple crumble.....:thumb
[ Edited on 18-9-06 by pete wood ]
i thought it was a lada niva not riva
I don't like Niva's :puke
As for pommy cars tho... I agree that Jaguars, Morris 1100's etc are rusty unreliable crap. But as for the MGB, the Austin-Healey Sprite, the Triumph GT6 etc... dissing them is swimming in dangerous waters... 😂 🥷
Sure.. the electrics are crap regardless of what pommy car ya buy, I'll give ya that.... but that aside some of the nicest cars ever made came from the UK...
Hmmmm... I now am feeling the need to own a Morris J2 and a Vanden Plas Princess 4L and a Triumph Dolomite and an MG Magnette and a Morris LC5 and a Leyland Panther and oh dear I am feeling feint! 😂
1976 Kombi Trakka camper, "Buttercup"... driver.
1976 Beluxe Microbus, "Saphir"... resto.
1974 Kombi panelvan, "George"... shed.
1974 Superbug, "Schmeetle"... resto.
[img]http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b366/cif you go back far enough nearly all cars came from there in one way or another
What do you expect from a country that sent their criminals to Australia as punishment! Half of them ended up quite well off land owners in paradise!
Rob....
Boxer Power
Member of DMLRK.....Die Mittler Lebuns Resto Komeradschaft
hey i owned a camira once ...........................for 3 days .......please dont hurt me ......im only little
i`d prefer the mk1 RS esky or maybe a mk1 lotus cortina, i must love the old pushrod engine👍
meetings 1st sunday of the month
check wbsite for location
All Welcome
http://www.flatfour.org/
and on Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/FlatFourOff to watch TOPgear now, another pommie who bags cars. I wonder who Clarkson'll hammer tonight?
hey the niva wasnt that bad for what it was and anyone who could drive one of those can drive anything.
“We all pay for life with death, so everything in between should be free.” Bill Hicks
the chaos project - click me
mmmmm nitrous into a chev and walking on water ---different,, the 2 door phaeton with a different badge was nice and quick and the oily bmmer was a surprise
go jeremy:beer:beer:beer
Don't argue with an idiot; people watching may not be able to tell the difference.
On the bright side, there not as bad as the Americans HAHA! 😀😀 😂
(ô_!_/ô) (ô_!_/ô)
69' baja: kombi box, thing spindles, irs, disc front, type 3 rear drums, 2 inch lift kit, 31x10 rears. 👍
New engine in process: 94mm p&bs, 74mm C/w chomol Crank, 35.5x39 SP heads, turbo. Wierd combo, hopeful torque monsta!
Sorry Mr Wood, but as an office bearer in a british car club, I can't have all Brit cars be tarred as one. I have two Triumph TR's - a 58 TR3A and a 64 TR4. Both are bullet proof, and one one hell of a lot of fun, especially the 3A.
Oh, and I thought aircooled VW's had pushrods.
I agree on Purple, Stones, Beatles, Cream,Straits, by the way.
6 Volt Swinger
beelzebug wrote:Sorry Mr Wood, but as an office bearer in a british car club.... and I thought aircooled VW's had pushrods.
I knew there'd be at least one on here :o
And I'm sure you know how much I love pushrods....My VW is Subaru DOHC powered. :P
So tell us why you own a VW if brit cars are so good?
BTW, I'm just having a poke and stir, no real offence intended.
No offence taken Pete. I didn't get back into a beetle after 30+ years for the speed sensation. It was more for the sensory sensation.
There is room for all kinds of cars in my life, they have different attributes and functions. Try not to be too tunnel-visioned, there ARE other things than VW's. hehehehhe 🤓😏😏
6 Volt Swinger
beelzebug wrote:Try not to be too tunnel-visioned, there ARE other things than VW's. hehehehhe 🤓😏😏
Well If there is....
I'd like to see One.... :P:P:P
If Beetles were so bad...
Why did so many people buy one/two/three etc etc...??
Its natural -- they are a great car....
LADA NIVA
there is one locally with a turboed engine - really flies...
I could hear the pop off valve yesterday...
I'm told the parts are dirt cheap too....
a bit like Brazillian VW parts ....:P:P
Lee
http://community.webshots.com/user/vw68autobug- Helping keep Air Cooled VWs on the road - location: SCONE in the Upper Hunter Valley - Northern NSW 320 kms NNW of SYDNEY---
Guess who co-authored that book...Jeremy Clarkson from Top Gear...As you should know this is pratically endimic of Top Gear to pull out perfectly good cars and ridicule them because they dont break world speed records. Saw the book in Dymocks a week ago, and decided the book was crap!
H
Volkswagen ist der strassekoning - Vergnügen fahren finden!
pete wood wrote:beelzebug wrote:Sorry Mr Wood, but as an office bearer in a british car club.... and I thought aircooled VW's had pushrods.
And I'm sure you know how much I love pushrods....My VW is Subaru DOHC powered. :P
now if i recall correctly it seems jaguar had its bump sticks placed on the top of the engine :P:P:P
Don't argue with an idiot; people watching may not be able to tell the difference.
"wow"how weird.Im writing a book called top 5 'crap people' and richard porter is no 1 spot,followed by 4 other crap poms,freeeaaky huh.On a more serious note,if i lived closer i would run him over in my so called crap beetle(if i could only get it back on the road).
