The humble Vauxhall Nova

Minardi fan · 3 Jul 2001, 14:12 (Ref:112508)

Your thoughts please, ladies and gentlemen.

**bella** · 3 Jul 2001, 14:38 (Ref:112513)

lads- the cultured lass will not find aforementioned monstrosity sexy. especially if it has been modified and is largely made out of plastic.
wit the money you spend modifying these soap dishes you could get insurance on a much nicer and cheaper and better value car. which us chicks will like more.

ps my friend has one. urgh. a bathtub on wheels.

woodyracing · 3 Jul 2001, 17:06 (Ref:112575)

Nova's are cool, you gotta like em.
Their potential is HUGE - a 3 litre V6 calibre engine fits in ! and that can be turbo'd

The skys the limit! well almost

this pic was from my website by the way.

WoodyRacin

Chris Y · 3 Jul 2001, 17:38 (Ref:112589)

M Fan, you're buying a Mini. Ok?

**Craig** · 3 Jul 2001, 18:44 (Ref:112602)

Don't do it! You'll be buying Max Power and calling yourself Barry if you do!

Follow Chris' advice - check out a Mini!

Carrie · 3 Jul 2001, 18:54 (Ref:112608)

Before getting the Corsa, I had two Novas. The first was an e-reg rather bright yellow 1.2 hatch, known to his friends as Barnaby. It had 95,000 on the clock when I got it and 145,000 by the time I sold it 5 1/2 years later - and I sold it for only £100 less than I'd bought it for!!! Great car, very fast and reliable apart from a tendancy to eat distributors and distributor caps - I always carried spares of both. Fantastic car and a very ditinctive colour, sometimes I still wish I'd kept it. I might see if I can dig out a pic of Barnaby

The second Nova was a saloon and was grey. I'd had it checked out when I got it and was told it had a new suspension arm, probably because it had hit a kurb a bit too hard one time. It didn't seem anything to worry about. It soon became obvious that the car must have had some much more serious damage to it at some time, basically this car liked going left, it didn't matter whether I actually wanted to or not. After a bit of rallycrossing (unintentional) and scaring myself half to death on the motorway I decided that car had to go, so I only kept it for 5 months and that was too long. The only plus point of that car, I sold it onto the Vauxhall main dealer and made a profit on it

I've also promised myself that whatever cars I have in the future will be bright colours and hatchbacks. My original Nova was very cheerful, the grey was just depressing and it was a pearlescent paint - oops, don't polish it, you rub the paint off it you do

Minardi fan · 3 Jul 2001, 23:09 (Ref:112720)

I'm just exploring all options although of course a Mini is what I really really want.

**bella** · 4 Jul 2001, 12:50 (Ref:112934)

novas really are terrible. just too common. perhaps it's because i've seen far too many badly done up jobbies in cambridge (there's one particular that just looks like poo). and i'm sorry, but i'm just not impressed at all.

a nova is not an alternative to a mini. a mini is a mini. no imitations or pants alternatives. novas are overpriced for what they really are.

woody, as we leant at donny, calibras are magnetically drawn towards toilets. that cannot be a good thing (although the thought of having a v6 engine in a bathub does sound quite entertaining..).

Minardi fan · 4 Jul 2001, 12:57 (Ref:112942)

Agreed - I'm holding out for the Mini.

AND MADAM CLEAR OUT YOUR MESSAGE IN-BOX... TSK...

**bella** · 4 Jul 2001, 14:02 (Ref:112964)

good. i'm pleased. hell hath no fury like a woman who doesn't like novas.

and i did clear my bloody in box out..

woodyracing · 4 Jul 2001, 23:30 (Ref:113173)

how about a Fiesta then ?

Minardi fan · 4 Jul 2001, 23:48 (Ref:113183)

Trouble is, I see a Fiesta and think...

Quote:

Originally posted by Minardi fan
That's a girl's car...

woodyracing · 4 Jul 2001, 23:58 (Ref:113189)

surely not a 300bhp RS Turbo ?

Minardi fan · 5 Jul 2001, 00:00 (Ref:113191)

300bhp... big number... that must be yours with funky blue lights Mr. Woody Racin' sir.

Ok, so it's not as much of a girl's car as a Peugeot 206...

Ray Bell · 5 Jul 2001, 00:04 (Ref:113193)

In Australia, where we've been denied the Vauxhall since the Viva. of which the latter (post 1966 or so) were sold as Holden Toranas..

Quote:

likely to be posted by any Australian
Viva the denial, Vival the denial!

there is a Holden Nova, a rebadged Corolla, quite a decent car by modern standards.

Though I don't understand how they get to be so heavy... have front wheel drive... all that modern stuff...

elephino · 5 Jul 2001, 10:45 (Ref:113299)

Ray, we did get the Daewoo 1.5/Cielo, which was essentially a Vauxhall.

woodyracing · 5 Jul 2001, 12:12 (Ref:113334)

Daewoo ??

u know that Vauxhall = Opel ?

**bella** · 5 Jul 2001, 13:23 (Ref:113357)

they're still pants...

Bennett Fan · 5 Jul 2001, 13:29 (Ref:113360)

Vauxhall Astra MKII = Daewoo Nexia = Pontiac Le Mans

I've got a Corsa, which is really just a Nova with a swooping curvy body on it. Mine is a 94 M 1.4i. Cost me £3000 for a 55k miler last year. Trouble is it's got the old Nova gearbox and 1.4 8 valve engine from the Nova as it's an early model. Expensive to insure too! It's not a performance model but it costs me £1500+ a year for it.

Also it doesn't handle too good in the wet. Tends to understeer very badly, but i've got 2 new tyres put on the front this week, so hopefully it'll cure that problem. Steering vibrates quite badly on the motorway as well, but it's a nippy little car. Not for people with long legs or big feet however, as i'm finding out.

**bella** · 5 Jul 2001, 13:46 (Ref:113368)

corsa's are really wierd. learnt to drive in one, and i kept on finding my very ickle feet were too big for the pedals. it got dangerous at one point - i caught the accelerator when braking a few times, and missed the accelerator on numerous occassions cause i caught the wheel arch.....

Bennett Fan · 5 Jul 2001, 14:00 (Ref:113373)

I've got size 11 feet and my right leg won't fit completely under the steering wheel. So my foot is sort of at an angle on the pedals. But i'm used to it now.

**bella** · 5 Jul 2001, 14:22 (Ref:113379)

as i remember, the gearchange was clunky, but relatively precise.
and i really hated that extra set of pedals on he passenger side...

makes heel-and-toe-ing a bit troublesome, does it not?

Bennett Fan · 5 Jul 2001, 14:28 (Ref:113384)

It's very clunky and a bit whiny at times. But it's a far better car to drive than the Astra 1.4 i learned in.

con-rod · 12 Jul 2001, 10:25 (Ref:116055)

i think the more significant problem with novas is that they're vauxhall's! honestly, if i had any sum of money to buy a car, it would not be a vauxhall (or most fords for that matter!).

i have to agree with bella, if you have any sense of style, you'd but anything else. buy a mini instead

james

3-Series · 16 Jul 2001, 17:27 (Ref:117832)

Back in the dark days of the 80's I owned two Novas (Novi?), a bog standard 1.2 and a 1.3 SR.

In its day it was one of the more desirable superminis, Car magazine at the time said "If you want your supermini to double as a street racer or motorway burner the choice is clear Uno or Nova." They were also pretty reliable, I can only recall one instance of unscheduled off road time in around 4 years Nova owning.

However would I have one now? Would I @*$%* !

Similar Threads
Thread	Thread Starter	Forum	Replies	Last Post
Chinese Humble Pie	hml2777	Australasian Touring Cars.	30	11 Jun 2005 13:43
Humble Pie or is it PIE'S	Pierre	Australasian Touring Cars.	3	31 May 2004 09:21
Humble Pye and Don Truman	Sheila M	Marshals Forum	9	19 Mar 2004 22:12
Humble pie anybody?	BBKing	Formula One	35	4 Mar 2002 01:28
F1manoz to eat humble pie	f1manoz	Formula One	4	21 Aug 2001 06:12