Best saloon car ever made?

[classicswede]

1st Volvo Amazon, iconic 50's styling with 1990's mechanicals. Does everything you can want way better than you would expect from a car of the era.

2nd 140/240 Tough, reliable and for a long time the car that made the Volvo name

3rd The Mini, great car and one of only a few FWD cars with the gearbox correctly positioned for balance.

4th Lexus LS400 one of the few modern non Volvo's I would consider owning. Very advanced and well screwed together

5th London Taxi



Worst cars?

VW beetle. Loved teh look of them but not great to drive and just crap engineering

Any modern small engined Audi. Worse oil consumption then the old BL A series and just very unreliable

BMW M5 - very disapointing drive. Indicators do not work, horrid satnav, doors auto locking and not exactly fast either unless you hammer it. Combine that with the typical crap BMW seats and plastic interior for one irritating car

[VroomVroomClonk]

Saab 9000 with the 2.3 litre full pressure turbo and manual gearbox, built from about 1994 to 1997 to get the best ones. Fast enough for any real world situation, as safe as any car was at that time, subtle enough not to attract unwanted attention.
Go for the Aero version if you like rock hard suspension, but I had the CSE for a much better ride.
In the 14 years I had the car I took it from about 80,000 miles to 286,000 and it was without doubt the best car I have ever owned, and probably the best I will ever own. Smooth, powerful, extremely comfortable seats, spacious and reliable.
I did all my own servicing and maintenance on it, and it was always a pleasure to work on due to well thought out design, layout and quality materials. I do not recall ever swearing at it during any work on it, ... something that I most definitely cannot say about my current V70 T5.

[biggbn]

With regards above two posts, I think the beetle engineering was wonderful. It was a car of the thirties and forties remember. Spacious cabin, low power, decent torque almost maintenance free engine, fitted it's design brief perfectly (incidentally Volkswagen lately paid tatra a huge sum as Porsche had clearly cribbed Ledwinkas designs of the time...so the father of Porsche is a domiciled Austrian engineer, he is just not ferry Porsche, he is Hans ledwinka!!)

In re quick BMW, I have never driven an m car that felt as fast as its figures, always out that down to the lack of drama as they are so well built and can't say I have ever found any BMW seat uncomfortable, out of the dozen or so we have owned...maybe am just traditional fat German shape!!

...and I didn't rate my 9000...each to their own, although you did many more miles and my ownership was brief so the undeniable attributes you list may well become indispensable over time!!

[phil1968]

Originally Posted by biggbn

The humble alfasud was voted car magazines car of the decade at the end of the seventies.

I had a face-lifted '83 'Sud 1350 5-door in the late 80s, with the hatchback it should've had on the original. Remember it being a sweet handling, charismatic thing with an engine that punched well above it's weight.
I'd like to add the W211 Mercedes E-Class as a contender. Had an '03 E320CDI about 10 years ago, it had a 3.2 litre straight-six turbodiesel that made more torque than their 5.0 V8 at the time & an interior that was a very pleasant place to be. Still the best car I've ever owned. And thousands of continental taxi drivers can't be wrong

[volvo always]

I have a Volvo 940 and Lexus IS220D but quite fancy the equipment in the LS430. Probably go Hybrid though.

James.

[biggbn]

I owned a series one Citroen cx2400gti as my third car. It was like something from an other planet compared to the mk1 fiestas and the like they had. I would love a good cx today!! Citroen c6 is worthy successor, getting cheap, but maybe ultimate oddball, and an itch I WILL scratch, Renault avantime, strictly a coupe for this discussion but surely one if the most eccentric designs offered in modern times!!

[Harvey1512]

I've held back for so long but can not any further. The best saloon car would be.................one with a hatchback boot

[I-S]

Originally Posted by Harvey1512

I've held back for so long but can not any further. The best saloon car would be.................one with a hatchback boot

I'm going to take that as a vote for the model S :-)

It's strange how it's thought of as a saloon and yet is a big hatchback!

[Harvey1512]

Originally Posted by I-S

I'm going to take that as a vote for the model S :-)

It's strange how it's thought of as a saloon and yet is a big hatchback!

It's a vote against the impracticality of the saloon boot opening. I've had 2, vowed never to have another. Only got the 2nd as it was a S40 special edition that was so sexy inside I lost all rational judgement and went for it. It was a lovely car but the boot opening drove me nuts. Boot size is irrelevant if you can only fit certain shaped objects into the vast space inside the boot.

[sye73]

W124 Mercedes 500E/E500. Quality, Power, Comfort, Rarity.. Class.