Mk3 Cavalier Owners Club | Vauxhall Cavalier Dot Com

It seems to be that something out there does not want me to go to work.

I have had one full week in since Christmas.
Problems with a courtesy car lost me two day's work three weeks ago.

A problem with the completed repairs to the Vectra lost me a day last Thursday.
(Only went to work on Friday because I hired a car).

And now today, I cannot get off the hill where I live due to thick snow.
I managed to get 100 yards before having to abandon the Vectra in a lay by.

Is someone trying to tell me something.?

Hopefully not as bad as five years ago when I got snowed in for 4 days.

Hopefully, the white stuff will be gone shortly - along with this crappy cold spell.

Seems like the white stuff is coming down heavier than ever...

Starting to eat into the last 5 days worth of annual leave which I was saving for early March - bugger!!
New allocation in April - Yippee!!

Well compared to just about anywhere North of us, we got a minuscule dusting of the white stuff, nonetheless I had to buy some performance modifications for my sedan: £0.99 Ebay jobbies...

At least I got that trunk spoiler I've always wanted.




Along with a rear window decal:






And why not some Scooby touches up front?









Just have to colour-code them to the car and job done

Nice touches...

Plonker

Ye I know, the roof scoop isn't totally level...

Cavalier342 wrote:Ye I know, the roof scoop isn't totally level...

I fall back on the Cav when the 1992 BMW diesel estate gets stuck. If you've yet to experience BMW-RWD in the white stuff then you've still got some living ahead of you. I was taking it extremely gently over Carter Bar some years back and still almost managed to end up as a new addition to the Forestry Commission's roadside planting scheme. It would have had to have been quite a bit worse for the Cav to take to the fields.

I have always found the Cav to be a competent car in the snow.
The Vectra-C is more like a lumbering sledge.

Although having four tyres with "just about legal" tread depth didn't help the Vectra to grip last week.
4 new tyres have been fitted, so we are now safe and legal again.

Used to love drifting in the snow in my old rear wheel drive Toyota KE70 back in the late eighties.

I can vividly recall driving the Cav just behind a RWD Cortina on a straight road @ 30 mph past a Northumbrian housing estate years ago. Really nothing to write home about except that the Cortina suddenly just lost it and ended up sideways on in the snow. I doubt if I could have got the Cav to emulate that even if I'd tried. In the circs it didn't look as if the other driver shared your liking for drifting about all over the Queen's highway, but everyone to his (or it might have been a her) taste.
(I'd have guessed that all Cavaliers and Vectras were the same, given a modicum of tyre tread for traction)

The Vectra has much wider tyres 215s compared to the 175s on the Cavalier.
The Cavalier tended to "slice" through the snow, whereas the Vectra sledges about on top, and loses traction quite easily.

Regarding drifting - that was only around the local Fine Fare supermarket car park after closing time (5pm on a weekday night in those days) in the snow.
I felt it was a good idea to learn how the car reacts in less than ideal driving conditions without being on a public road.

I have never lost control of a car in the 26 years since then, but the Vectra does lose traction quite easily in the snow climbing the hill to my home, with the accompanying Blackpool Illuminations flashing on the dash as the ESP / TC and ABS all throw their hands up and surrender.

The glitzy lights and whistles are a common enough experience with the BMW - I can't complain about lack of practice in less than ideal conditions, but mostly involuntarily on public roads now that Fine Fare no longer offers the facility.

Contrast that with the Cavalier (ABS but no flashing lights + music). I remember once going on a company-sponsored safe driving course which aimed to show students what it was like to lose control on a skid-pan. The stupid thing was that they had a Cortina or some other RWD Ford (what was the name of the successor?) rigged up for the demo which of course had totally different handling characteristics compared with the Cav. So I remain in ignorance. Since then the odd request for "police driving experience" in phone calls over the years to Durham Constabulary met with no response. Health & Safety and insurance considerations are no doubt to blame.

Sadly Fine Fare don't offer anything anymore, as that supermarket chain closed down, or got bought out about 25 years ago...

Regarding the successor to the Cortina, you probably mean the Sierra or Jelly Mould as the missus calls it.

Mrs Robsey is spot on.
I'll suggest to the local Tesco that they take over where Fine Fare left off. One way of boosting customer loyalty.

Robsey wrote:Regarding the successor to the Cortina, you probably mean the Sierra or Jelly Mould as the missus calls it.

Or the 'want one' as I call it.

My first car was a white D-plate Sierra. If I squint a little, these pics aren't far off my ol' bus (in my dreams, ha!)

humbucker wrote:My first car was a white D-plate Sierra. If I squint a little, these pics aren't far off my ol' bus (in my dreams, ha!)

Bloody hell you must have poor eye sight I had an E plate sierra sapphire 1.6 slowest car I ever owned.

humbucker wrote:

I'd be interested to know how you got on with that one in your local (frozen up) Fine Fare car park?

Hmm - don't think they (Jelly Mould Owner) would be daft enough to let me find out...