Opinions

[BigStan]

Why didnt the Nova earn itself the respect that, say a VW Golf or a RS Turbo (and previous sporty Ecorts) ?

Those cars seem to have become more of a collectors item where as the Nova somehow has been stuck with a bad name !

Was it because it is a Vauxhall, overall just wasnt seen as a good car or just bought by ****s ?

All opinions welcome on the subject !

Thanks

[Mike]

Why didnt the Nova earn itself the respect that, say a VW Golf or a RS Turbo (and previous sporty Ecorts) ?

Those cars seem to have become more of a collectors item where as the Nova somehow has been stuck with a bad name !

Was it because it is a Vauxhall, overall just wasnt seen as a good car or just bought by ****s ?

All opinions welcome on the subject !

Thanks

Because there were too many made for it to become a rarity :thumb:

They didnt have the popularity and status of the escorts, and the Mk1 Golf IS what started what the world no knows as "hot hatches"

Although the nova's did do very well in the rallying in the early and mid 80's, but this still didnt really increase its sales! Due to insurance being a killer, and the ease of nicking a nova it earned a rep for being an unsafe motor.

The above resulted in nearly every insurance firm increasing the premiums on the Nova range thus young drivers didnt want them, and the ones that got nicked got torched or stripped thus again lowering the numbers of them!

And so on and so forth!

[Paul16v]

good ones are rare enough now!!

[Mike]

good ones are rare enough now!!

Later reg ones in good nick (J and K plates) and mint Mk1's fetch a right wedge, but its finding them.

My K plate SR set me back ?1500 in March '04 but was factory mint?

[draper]

and the fact they are/were mainly driven by cnuts !

the insurance industry collapsed killed off the hot hatches in the mid 80s anyway due to the increase in joyriding

maybe if vauxhall had built XE/LET powered novas they would be as desirable as RSTs etc

but then i wouldnt really want 1 as everyone would expect novas to be quick

[Jack]

Golf was one of the first of the current breed of "hot hatches" so thats why it earns respect, especially the Mk1s.

Most other things seem to have specific models that are the "valued" ones, the 205 1.9GTi, the R5GTT, the Fiesta/Escort RS's and Turbos, the March STR, the Uno Turbo, even the Metro GTi. In that respect the Nova has the Sport.

Think of it as how nobody would restore a 1.2 Merit back to factory standard, yet they would a Sport; in the same way nobody would restore a 205 1.8 Derv to standard but they would with a 1.9GTi.

[Adam]

Nova's never were a hot hatch, as they couldn't compete with Golf GTi, 205GTi's,Renault 5 Gt etc.

[Stuart]

oi my 205 1.8 TD is lovely :p

basically as said, too many made, too many morons driving them (but then again morons drive fiestas and R5's) and the luton chicken is the kiss of death for most cars

look at the VX220 and the S2 elise.. basically the same car, but the vx has the "better" std engine (N/A that is and compared to the K-series) and the elise holds its value better....

[Jack]

^ paying for the badge!

[Stuart]

more importantly your NOT buying a vauxhall.....

its brand snobbery. Ford and VX have NO class when it comes to the car world

[John]

Ok the nova has lots of respect, but in a totally different league!
the nova is more popular then you think, (just look how many of us are logged on now Lol!)
novas, collectors items? You seen how much a good example of a gsi will fetch on e-bay?
Ask everyone what their first car was? Most will give the same response as me, NOVA! cheap to run and insure when you're a lad, I'm 2* (nearing 30 Lol) now and all the 16yr old apprentices at work still want novas, not clios or similar, but why? something to do with it's status imho!!
Oh yeah, how many rs's and r5 gtts made it into streets lyrics?
(yes i know streets=chav txt spk etc etc, but modern culture nontheless imo!!)
This is all purely my opinion! My next car after my nova was a 210 bhp rs turbo, but which car do i still own now, yep a nov!!

[Stuart]

to be honest "the streets" isnt cav imo.. its a concept style of music that is genius.. but thats another topic in itself

[Geth]

Reading through this it all makes sense really. Ok the Nova never was quite as good as the 205 Gti and R5s etc as it lacked a few ponies and they were over produced, much like the Saxo today. But as time goes on, chavs will be running more and more Novas into the ground (or tree) making the nova a rarer car and probably more sought after.

Since my car was put back on the road in March and is now a tidy(ish) car I have actually had strangers in petrol stations and car parks tell me that it's nice to see well loved Novas still on the road.

I may be comparing apples and Pares here but one of the guys from Port Talbot Motor Club managed to put about ?5000-?6000 into a mk2 escort rolling shell and managed to sell it for ?12,000!!! Purely because good shells or becoming harder to find and because of that people will pay a lot more for them. Obviously the difference is that the Mk2 Escort was born a legend and always will be.

...Good things come to those who wait?

[draper]

well, im 22, my mum and dad laughed when i told them i bought (another) nova. i like the fact everyone else seems to hate novas...........

and no, the streets arent chav at all, in fact i think there god damm fooking clever !!

[Geth]

I think a lot of people who say they hate Novas have never actually driven one. Kinda like the people who ask "why spend so much time and money fixing up a crappy old car when you could buy a new one?". Usually the kind of question asked by someone who takes their car to the dealer to have new spark plugs fitted and don't understand the I made this factor that most of us love.

And no, The Streets aren't chav. They are very clever in their recording and Lyrics, and they can keep a crowd entertaind even on the big stage.

[Matt2107]

Not enough performance to compete.

[Mike]

I may be comparing apples and Pares here but one of the guys from Port Talbot Motor Club managed to put about ?5000-?6000 into a mk2 escort rolling shell and managed to sell it for ?12,000!!! Purely because good shells or becoming harder to find and because of that people will pay a lot more for them. Obviously the difference is that the Mk2 Escort was born a legend and always will be.

Yeah but people pay silly money for mk1 & mk2 escort shells as there proven rally winning machines, espcially in the BTRDA (British Tarmac Rally Drivers Association) and the Stars of the Future championships!

Same as 205GTi, commonly used in the cunningly named "205 Challenge cup" lol but with the liary T16 or even mega money Millington Engine!

Good shell = good qaulity car. Same when you reshell a nova! If the shells already been prepped for motorsport (weld in cage, fire walled, MSA Logbooked etc etc) then it will only go up in price!

Whereas Nova's, beleive or not, arent really that commonly used for ralllying anymore! Albeit in the 1600 Super Cup mind??

[BigStan]

Thanks very much !!

There are some interesting opinions here, its all starting to make sense !

I was disscusing with my friend aswell that will new sports cars of today still be fun like we consider ours to be when they are as old as ours ?

New cars today are starting to have an average 'Life' put on them, like say 3-4 yrs, when people are expected to go and trade them in for a new better models therefore sort of constantly having a new car !

Do you think people will keep these new sports cars, like the VXR, and in 20 years time roll it out of the garage for a lesuirely drive, quick polish and then tuck it up until next year, or maybe spend all weekend tinkering around trying to fix things like all of us have ?

[JSeymour]

Reading through this it all makes sense really. Ok the Nova never was quite as good as the 205 Gti and R5s etc as it lacked a few ponies


a gsi or gte would give both of them a good race.:roll:


also it doesnt sound that weird if someone tells you they have an immaculate nova sport/gte etc locked up in a garage that they take out on sunny weekends, i cant imagine a saxo,corsa or 206 owner now or in the near future saying that.
f

[Stuart]

a gsi or gte would give both of them a good race.:roll:

f


take a fresh out of the box 1.6 205 gti and put it against a gte/gsi and the 205 would wipe the floor with the nova. i dont just mean a gya graffic light GP i mean round the twisties etc where its FUN :) hell im sure if my 205TD was in decent condition it would give a std gte/gsi a run for its money lol but thats not what this thread is about.....

[Mike]

take a fresh out of the box 1.6 205 gti and put it against a gte/gsi and the 205 would wipe the floor with the nova. i dont just mean a gya graffic light GP i mean round the twisties etc where its FUN :) hell im sure if my 205TD was in decent condition it would give a std gte/gsi a run for its money lol but thats not what this thread is about.....

You got is Stu, theres not many out of the box hot hatches that'll beat the shear drivability and handling of a 205 GTi! Rated the best handling (in standard form) hot hatch ever apparently? :confused:


And it paid of pug still use the 205 GTi to market cars now! 20 odd years after its birth and about 10 after its death!

[BigStan]

also it doesnt sound that weird if someone tells you they have an immaculate nova sport/gte etc locked up in a garage that they take out on sunny weekends, i cant imagine a saxo,corsa or 206 owner now or in the near future saying that.
f

Exactly what i mean ! It just seems wierd !

Is it because people have lost the enthusiasm to do things with their cars and take pride in driving them ?

Most sports cars these days are fast enough when they come off the forecourt and if they are not up to someones standard they can quite easily take it somewhere and pay for it to be upgraded !

Another thing is how is anyone supposed to have a tinker with their new car as most now have to be linked up to a computer to be able to do anything, trying to do something on your own could possibly be quite scary if you accidently did something wrong it would cost loads to have it fixed !

Is the motor enthusiast a dying breed ?

[craig green]

IMO
The Nova (all models) were crap from the box as far as a drivers car goes. Sure it needed more power in GTE guise but it just didnt thrill like the french cars did. FORD sold there hatches through clever marketing & a catchy model names (XR etc) though they ended up being girls cars & suffering as a victim of there own success.

However the Nova responds really well to minor mods particularly the suspension & brakes. Thats why we love to tune them, ?300 on suspension will reap bigger gains on our Nova's than on any Pug or Renault 5.

Nova's are also easy & cheap to work on, predictably handling & in the hands of almost anyone, a joy & easy to drive quickly. That helped to make them popular for rallying etc. Not to mention the fact that the Dealer sport Nova's were capable of beating Cossies & other exotica in motorsport events.

Its a shame about the stigma that Nova's developed in the late 90's as being a boyracers tool but Ive always plodded on & ignored those comments, avoided fibreglass body additions & fought my corner that I have an enthusiasts car.

One final note on Nova vs French hatches. My friend has a highly tuned R5 Gtt with Avo's etc, I can overtake him when I'm off-throttle through twisty lanes in a car putting out nearly 90bhp less. (go figure)

CG