My auntie had a gold one. It was so futuristic having it tell me to fasten my seatbelt. And the digital Speedo too. People have to realise this was released whilst we were all watching knight rider so this was like Kitt for the public.
No canal barge that. In its day it had good handling, a great engine, superb ride and loads of space. If Issigonis was kept away from the styling, who knows.
My Nan owns one. We loaned it off her to use it at Christmas time to carve the bird and it’s so much more powerful than our crappy and wimpy Cookworks china pride garbage. Ours is a UK model with a 3 pin plug with no safety shield on it. 1 thing though it’s very loud and I actually was scared of it when I was younger. Lovely vintage knife with a strong brushed motor & is just a beast when cutting up stuff.
So was the talking dash for people with vision impairment? You’d be able to see all of the gauges if they’d have fitted it with a square steering wheel.
No, speech synthesis was all the rage at the time. The brand new Co-op superstore where I lived had “talking tills” when it first opened. The till would announce each item as it was scanned. Kids loved them but they were unreliable and completely pointless. Predictably, they didn’t last long.
What's with the crappy speak and spell voice? 🤣🤣🤣 Didn't Renault have a 11 model with digital dash and voice back then as well called the TXE Electronic when it was all the rage...
I had one of these VDP spec maestro in the same colour, A900 RSR Sunroof leaked, dashboard rattled & electronic choke was a joke. It rusted badly round the wheel arches like all BL cars of that era. How has this one lasted so well? Garaged and waxed regularly? Would love to drive this one.
I agree with most of those points, except oddly the automatic choke on mine works perfectly but I did replace the crappy thin BL vacuum hoses with thick silicone ones that don’t leak. And mine had been off the road for 15 years before I got it, and before that the first family had garaged it all its life. It has only done 39K..
I learned to drive in my dads VDP. 30 years ago. Clutch was a nightmare and every time I stalled the thing the lady would announce “warning. low oil pressure”!
My Friends dad had one of these brand spanking new back in the later 80's .. My mate wanted me to see it and on the way to his house it's all he talked about. 'The Talking Maestro'. He actually compared it to KITT from Knight Rider... His dad was already in it with one of their neighbours when we arrived at his house. We got in. His dad played through the buttons. "So what do you think?" I was asked...... Was that it?! I exclaimed. I realised it was best I didn't make any sudden moves from that moment on.
I've got Uniroyal winters on my '87 'E' Granada Scorpio. I too was out in this deep snow in March 2018. It got through snow drifts and up steep hills. I went past a number of much newer cars that were just spinning away. 😆 I'm sure this Fiesta would have been even better as mine isn't the 4x4 Granada.
I love how Austin-Rover fitted plush seating, tons of wooden inlay and a digital dash, but kept the cheapest, nastiest plastic fittings and switchgear they could find.
I agree with you! The seat fabric is fine quality as are the wood veneers, but some of the plastics are awful. Some are so thin you can see light through them 😂 and the whole dash rattles and shakes. I have tried to improve things with foam strips etc....
I think that’s because they used the same parts as the basic models, they weren’t going to manufacture different higher quality parts for the air vents etc.
