nova's kick ****

[jimbob-mcgrew]

all the front wheel drive cars ive had .... they just dont come close to a nova.
there just great !
driveability, predictability, visibility, fuel economy, handling, turning circle, ease to work on and 80's cool.
i cant say enough good about em !

[Benn]

Erm.... Cool?

[turbojolt]

dont do drugs kids.

[Mike]

You must have driven some pretty dire FWD cars then...

Sent from Samsung Galaxy S using My Fingers.

[pie]

f lol TJ

[jimbob-mcgrew]

no love for the nova ?
guess ive come to the wrong place

[Connor]

I agree, there awesome to drive (for fun). And can handle brilliantly with a few choice modifications.

[Mieran]

I love Novas, but I ****ing hate them too!

[phunkynova]

Nova's, yes they are not bad BUT they fall a long way short of the best FWD car out there, and even from the 80's the MK1 Astra kicks it's butt. Sorry to bring you back down to earth.

[Andy]

205 gti is better.as is an xr2.
They are good though

[matthew172]

i love them, shame they dont build cars like they used to

[turbojolt]

i love them, shame they dont build cars like they used to

yer gone are the days of your 5 year old car rusting to death, what a shame

[BRoadGhost]

lol turning circle

Geometry: you're doing it wrong.

[Benn]

205 gti is better.as is an xr2.
They are good though

First one are nightmaeres to work on tho... XR2? Direr cars!

[paul james]

I think the Nova was the best all round little car of its time, and even now depending on what you actually want from a car of course. It may have rusted more than a 205, been less refined than a Golf etc, but its mix of low price, reliability, ease of repair, tuning potential and such made it a great choice.

[Andy]

First one are nightmaeres to work on tho... XR2? Direr cars!

Which bits? I find mine easy really.
Nah they're awesome.i loved owning one.
309 gti was best handling and allrounder in standard form.xr2 and 205 2nd and a nova gte 3rd

[Mieran]

Standard Novas handle ****, its only when you start playing with them they start handling good

[paul james]

Standard Novas handle ****, its only when you start playing with them they start handling good

I don't agree with this idea that the standard suspension is no good, it may have a fair bit of body roll as standard springs are so long, but I found it entirely predictable and good fun as standard. Besides the suspension upgrades done are usually just stiffer shocks and shorter springs anyway, thats just uprating whats already there.

[turbojolt]

anyone here ever driven a fiat chinq? the nova is much older then it and handled 10 million times better, driving the fiat at 10mph round a roundabout was terrifying

[staggy_gsi]

Haha yeah chinq's aint great like!

[Spudly]

Standard Novas handle ****, its only when you start playing with them they start handling good




Ill second that, the first time i drove one of my novas in standard trim, on a backroad i knew very well, when i took it from my ex's for mot, it scared me and i had to slow right down, if i wanted to get my knee down on the corners, i wouldve bought a motorbike lol

[Benn]

Which bits? I find mine easy really.
Nah they're awesome.i loved owning one.
309 gti was best handling and allrounder in standard form.xr2 and 205 2nd and a nova gte 3rd

My mate picked up a 1.9 gti cheap to try. Needed the metal water pipe under the inlet (pass side kinda place) changing. Was a nightmare from the start.. We gave up in the end as it was just pis$ing us both off. Everything we touched gave us greif. I've since only done small jobs and found them all a pain on them.

I've only driven one std XR2 and it was a utter bag of crap. Only had 50k on the clock too so wasn't a old sh*tter.
Like Novas, after a lil play with them i found them ok.

[BRoadGhost]

Trouble is when you start getting all enthusiastic driving a stock / basically modified nova (shocks & spring / alloys) as soon as the back end breaks away, your hands will be all over that steering wheel and you'll have a real time of it not ending up in a ditch / up a curb.

[nova_stee]

Trouble is when you start getting all enthusiastic driving a stock / basically modified nova (shocks & spring / alloys) as soon as the back end breaks away, your hands will be all over that steering wheel and you'll have a real time of it not ending up in a ditch / up a curb.
Quick racks are a must for them moment

[jimbob-mcgrew]

ive slid on small loose gravel round a bend before and managed to pull the nova back from an almost 180 to opposite almost 180 flick-flack, lock to lock type manouver before it carried on going straight, staying on the road but just narrowly missing a concrete bridge ! any of the other cars ive owned i think i woulda come straight off into the bushes or carried on going into the bridge. lucky it wasnt in my old ford capri, or my vauxhall cavalier. both of those cars were hard work to recover whilst fishtailing.

[mowgli]

sorry lads, but my first nova (it was my grandad's but he died & my gran couldn't drive, so she let my sis & i drive it) was a 1985 1.2 merit 3dr on 145r13's and no arb's.. the car had done something daft like 1600 miles since new... it was hilarious to drive.. i used to set it up for corners with the handbrake, 4 wheel drift it everywhere, except in the wet, as the original firestones were lethal in damp conditions... some 155r13 uniroyals were a vast improvement.. it was brilliant...

the trouble is that most people who have first driven a nova in the last 15 or 20 years have driven one with everything worn out already, so doing anything to them is a vast improvement.

[jimbob-mcgrew]

second that on the original firestones mowgli, lol, they are totally ruthless in the wet !