Austin A35 fuel economy test

[Richard A Thackeray]

I wouldn't mind an A35 van to be honest. Lots of character, should be a simple and inexpensive classic to look after and it ticks the most important box in Tyred's car buying criteria - room for a bike. I only do a few thousand miles per annum nowadays and it can't be any less reliable than my stupid Fabia.

We had no real/major problems with our Fabia (admittedly, it was new on 2004, & owned for 4 years), nor my Octavia (9+ years)
Only had the Kodiaq 2 years, too soon for long-term reliability

Re; A35 vans; when I got home from work, at 22:30, whilst drinking tea, I watched some of 'Richard Hammonds Workshop' (on Quest?), he was at the RAC Club, in their museum was an A35 van, painted in their blue of the 60's & fully sign-written as one of theirs


View: https://www.flickr.com/photos/tom_balson/49368369698/

 

[tyred]

We had no real/major problems with our Fabia (admittedly, it was new on 2004, & owned for 4 years), nor my Octavia (9+ years)
Only had the Kodiaq 2 years, too soon for long-term reliability

Re; A35 vans; when I got home from work, at 22:30, whilst drinking tea, I watched some of 'Richard Hammonds Workshop' (on Quest?), he was at the RAC Club, in their museum was an A35 van, painted in their blue of the 60's & fully sign-written as one of theirs


View: https://www.flickr.com/photos/tom_balson/49368369698/

My Fabia had about 120k on the clock and the engine management light kept coming on. I had it at about 8 different garages, spent more on it than it worth. All of them said the 1.2 and 1.4l VW engines just don't do mileage. It also suffered a lot from niggly electrical faults Then it started burning ridiculous amount of oil. I also found it noisy on most road surfaces, had a poor ride quality and the steering had a horrible disconnected feeling. I sort of inherited it and didn't want to seem rude by getting rid of it almost immediately. Definitely the worst car I ever had.

 

[Richard A Thackeray]

@tyred
Fair enough, ours was the 1.4Mpi petrol, but, to all intents & purposes, driven out of the showroom, so it ought to have been good

 

[rogerzilla]

The 1.4 non-turbo VW Group petrol from the 90s was "throwaway" as no spare parts were made for the main engine. I suppose it's doubtful that many modern cars ever get a rebore and new pistons, or new bearing shells and a regrind.