@@jaggass True. Probably an indication how much more reliable they were than the others? Particularly considering the Fiesta was best selling small car of this time, and Metro and Clio were also doing better than Micra, yet it's Micra you see more now.
I love how everyone is saying that those shape micra's were crap, they were ugly but crap? I don't think so. They seem to be bomb proof and rust proof because I still see plenty of them driving around on L registrations.
Mine is an L reg haha. Bomb proof yes, but they do rust. They usually go in places that are easy to sort. How Jeremy managed to fit in the back I don't know.
Indeed, it weighed barely 700 kg, just like a SEAT Marbella of that time (BTW, both have been very popular in my country, Spain 🇪🇸) which was even a little smaller in size and also had a smaller engine (if I'm not wrong, a 0.9 engine with 45 HP). Which modern car is that lightweight? I can't think of any, really
Great to see some people still have them mate. I have a 90' 1.0 in pristine condition. My father bought it in 94 and i drove it for 6 years when I got my licence back in 2012. Amazing little car. What it lacks in performance and handling (massive bodyroll mostly) gains it in sheer character. I would have never tought that I would fall in love with a 1.0 but I am :)
I have a very early 88 AX GT. Such a wonderfully driving car. It still beats modern cars at the lights and on the small twisty roads almost nobody can keep up.
I have just brought my 4th nissan micra 20 years old and its still flying up the motorway at 90. Comfy to drive, never breaks down, brilliant car hardly any rust, possibly the best car ever made
john tucker i had a nearly new fiat uno. Had it 4 years. Great car, had a great engine AND once the distributor problem i had was fixed, it never let me down. Didnt even bother servicing it !
“What do you see as most important in a car?” Clarkson: Power! “But what about things like safety, fuel economy, value for money and - “ Clarkson: *P O W E R*
That Series Corsa was Australia's Barina the year after this test was done.What stunned me most is IT RANKED like in third or bottom of the test's here but in Europe it's one of the better cars.
I am drivin a peugeot 106 - and I must admit, they are very fun to drive and the later models are also very reliable - 170.000 km on the clock and avg. 6 l/100km. Lovely Car!
Micra is/was best. Still a lot on mk2 micras on the road today. Struggling to think of the last time I saw a mk3 fiesta, AX or Uno... Still see a few corsas about, usually chavved up with crappy body kit and loud exhausts.
1:28 - The Fiat Uno was known as the 'Fiat oh no it's broken down again.' And that Fiat stands for 'Fix it again Tony.' I will await responses from Fiat owners everywhere.
Used to work for a guy who owned the Fiat - what took it off the road was when the engine dumped it's oil right through the oil pan. It had rusted through... from the inside.
Nah the Citroen AX was 6 years old by then, the Fiat Uno came out in 1983 (with the facelift 2nd gen shown here coming out in 1989 as was the Fiesta mk3 here aswell). The Renault Clio was 1991 as was the Metro. The Peugeot 205 lasted from 1983-1998 or thereabouts so it was still produced at Ryton and could still have been included but it was getting long in the tooth I agree and the 106 looked more modern.
I find it more on expressive way of describing cars versus conventional way of describing it, reviewing boring cars like these cars doesnt have to be boring. Clarkson do it right!
Peugeot 205 has to be the best small car I've driven handling wise and even though it was a diesel it just flew because the car is so light and the engine was almost a 1.9 liter and mine had only 800,000 kilometers on it when the clutch went bad.
Bullshit about Uno reliability, I`ve been driving them for 20 years & only broken down once.. The one I use now as a daily has never broken down, I`ve not even had to change the battery in the 8+ years I`ve had it.
+Driftking11 I`ll admit the Fiats since 2003 havent been as much fun to drive, but they are still reliable. My brothers current Abarth 500 has done 155,000 miles in 4 years (he is a driving instructor) & its never broken down, neither did his previous ones. French & German cars are the most likely to leave you stranded now.
That same model is the one I learnt to drive in last year. Easily the longest lasting car my family has ever owned. We've had six micras but only that model lasted.
Basically, 4-speed automatic petrol versions of the Corsa B were available from 1993-2000, and all manual versions from 1993-2000 with a 1.4L engine or above (petrol or diesel) were 5-speed. But the manual 1.2L petrol is a bit more complicated - from 1993 to 1994/5ish 4-speed manual and 5-speed manual boxes were both available, but from 1994/5ish only the 5-speed was available.
Being an owner of a vivio and ax for 8 years. I can tell the vivio does 65mpg and the ax only 35mpg. And the ax can pull 700kg at the back on a trailer. Ax powerrrrr.
A good supermini should be capable of taking 4 adults and 5 at a pinch, manage the shopping and luggage, and have decent economy. A 5 door Vauxhall Corsa from this line-up would be the ideal choice in this respect.
The 2 best little hatchs of this era are not even here. The Honda Civic EG6 hatch & the Toyota Starlet !! Builtproof reliable & very quick !!! These lot were balls of scrap in comparson !! The Micra was the most reliable here in this bunch ,,,but ugly ..
recently sold one. that car material's are terrible, bad driving position and negative score to comfort. Only positives must be reliability and the engine is really sturdy.
You've gotta luv the MPG's of these cars , holy crap , that 106 has worse MPG than my 2002 CLK 3.2 v6 that i think has utterly awful mpg compared to recent cars. How?how???
God I used to hate Micra's... Until I owned one. We had a K11 and it was bomb proof but also very light and drove well, just needed a more powerful engine. The only real issues with them is rust, great first car though.
They missed out the Suzuki Swift, Mitsubishi Colt, the Honda Civic , the Cinqucento ,probably a good few others Lol. Just for a laugh they should've thrown in a few Eastern-bloc cars like the Yugo 45 or the Fiat Panda or Citroen 2cv for the really skint crowd Haha.
Of all the cars shown here the only two that still work perfectly after all these years and one can still see some of them on the road are the Clio and the Corsa.
+Daniel T. In Finland, the land of old cars, you see plenty of 106's, Micras, Corsas and the odd Clio every now and then. You would probably see more Micras and Corsas if they weren't so prone to rusting.
+Bumper3D You're right. When it snows they put salt on some roads to help melting the snow and avoid formation of ice and cars who are poorly built suffer even more from rust.
+Daniel T. Are you serious? Im struggling to remember the last time I saw a mk1 Clio on the road...I see loads of this shape of Micra still about though. Very seldom see any of the others, except for maybe the Corsa. The Uno, AX and Fiesta will have turned to a pile of brown dust many moons ago by now.
Brook Smith I do agree that in a general way french cars aren't the best but the Clio's Energy engine does seem to pass the test of time. It wasn't the fastest car in it's day but the engine was somewhat powerful (binary values).
