Fast Marina Magazine

Four drivers who have never driven a Marina or an Ital,give their honest opinion on which is the best car ...
The cars 1983 1300 SLX Ital,63,000 miles
1974 Marina 1800 mk 1(a) T.C saloon,59,000 miles

As anyone who knows Brian (marina brian) will tell you if he ever asks to leave one of his cars on your drive or in your garage for a couple of weeks,they might be there longer than you expect,a lot longer....be warned!
About the same time last year i started to babysit both of the cars above,both taxed and fully tested,on the understanding they would be there for a couple of weeks at the most,well nearly twelve months later there still here!!!
Ok so yesterday i had a few people over,and rather than do the old routine of setting fire to the gazebo or impaling a child while playing lawn darts i thought "let play top gear"
Both cars are started and moved about on a regular basis so i thought lest have a go.
The drivers were Alan the exocet,26 driver,Donna 24,Freddie boy,26 cashiers,and Ian "The Pod" 28 manager (ok the last three are my staff) but none of them had driven any of the Marina/Ital range before
The test route was from my house to Sainsburys and back again,a round trip of about 4 miles,the route took in a piece of dual-carriage way (national speed limit) a roundabout and the bulk urban town roads..
So all four did the same test (albeit in very different times,Donna on the first run got lost) each driver did the same route in both cars,then filled out a list of questions
Well on completion of their runs they all filled out a dodgey questionnaire,so here goes..


MARINA 1800 TC """"""""""""""""""" ITAL 1300 SLX

Comfort 5 ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, 7
Performance 5 ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, 5
Road holding 5,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, 7
Controls (ease of use) 4,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, 8
Steering 4,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, 5
Ease to drive 5,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, 7
Ease to park 5 ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, 5
Brakes 6 ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, 7
Quietness 5 ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, 8
Interior 3 ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, 7

TOTAL 47 ******* 66
**************************************************************
Power steering would have been liked by all as well as electric windows
So there you have it the completely unofficial Road test as performed by people who don't know a lot about cars and even less about marinas and Itals.. "Top Gear road test",rubbish mate,this is a real test.

Beckett Bros" here come Johnny Reggae"

:roll:

I am one to buck the trend and not follow the heard so to speak!!
So I will always go for the TC as MK2 / 3 and ITAL just don't do it for me! Sorry. But good test all the same

My old Marina Jubilee is the only Marina I have known with electric front windows by smiths servo glide!! Never seen another

OK - v interesting - question - what do people want in a car - easy to drive?

1. Reasonable handling Ital (lighter engine with less understeer, anti-roll bars front and rear).
2. Easy to drive Ital (Indicators on the "right" side of the steering wheel).
3. Familiarity - Ital closer to what they drive daily.

BTW what do each of them drive normally, because I think that's what they were comparing to?

The TC is/was a beast, being the first and quickest that's the one classic car owners go for.

Cars the testers drive are as follows..
:P Alan...Volvo 760
:P Donna ..Ford Fiesta 1.2
:P Ian.......Vauxhall Zafia 1.6
:P Fred.....V.W Golf 1.4

Got to agree Chris about your comment that the testers would more than likely be comparing their cars to what they were now having to drive,so a newer car as in the Itals case would do better,but again from my own view point the Ital is a far superior drive,with a vastly better interior to any of the mk1s,to be really honest i think the mk 1s/mk1(a) are pretty poor inside,i know they were a product of their time,but even against some of the competition in their day, the interiors were to say the least spartan,so sorry to say on a test footing i've got to go with the Ital,and not the T.C

Russ

Beckett Bros "Monkey spanner"

Yes I have to agre with Russ on this one, having worked in a British Leyland garage during the Marina / Ital era and witnessed all of the evolutions first hand it is quite obvious that the Ital was a far "Superior" car, and with the o-series engine was more than a match for the outdated B-series dinosour that chugged away in the t.c.Has for the ride and handling there can surely be no doubt has to the Ital being much better .Let's not forget either that in it's day the t.c. was a quick car when compared to any other BL car of the time, but even then it could be outpaced by a 1600 Ford,and totally outclassed interior wise by most of the Ford range or the Mk1 Cavaliers for that matter. Don't think from this that I am anti t.c. in any way, but the Ital was the last and in my opinion the best incarnation of the Marina
Cheers
Steve

From a ride and comfort point of view the Ital range had "IT" and I have to agree the difference may only be small but it made a lot of difference. My dad's 12k Ital 1700 SLX is a grate car to drive with it's well distributed steering thanks to the weight of the slimmer O series engine and it's telescopic dampers.

The interior is plush and comfy with good support both front and rear. I have never been a true fan like your good self Russ of the dash as it is an odd design by having the radio pointing the other way from the driver but then it is a friendly car that always requires a passenger to operate!

I think a 2ltr SLX with twin carbs would have been "interesting" to drive, I had an estate with this but really the old 4 speed suffered before it got too many miles under its belt. Maybe I would build a zetec Ital after SLK is done that would be a different car again!

For me though it has to be a TC, even after all is said and done the Mk1 is the original and the best even with it's early suicide suspension and no head rests. I'll always see the Ital's as the after thought but have to say they do get a bad rep even by there owners! I would own another but it would have to be my Dad's Ital 1700 SLX. It's just like it left the factory and that for this car is enough for me.

Ben

I do agree that the ITAL is probably a much better drive as some things had to improve with time, but as I have no emotional attachment to the Ital and the fact the whole dash board is cheap plastic (The MK1 may be simiple in side but I would not say the ITAL is better laided out).
The MK1 dash is at least metal covered in a vinyl / foam and the radio is positioned in a more sensible angle!

I would prefer if they had just up graded the ride and suspension on a MK1 interior and body shell rather than loose the character of the MK1. On the plus side all the suspension modes can be put on to a MK1 anyway and as I rebuild my MK1 I am fitting extra sound insulation and with a re-trim the seats will be great so I should get the best of both!

Indeed you will Paul! Have you got a set of roll bars for the Jubilee? What about some telescopic dampers for the front? It may be a modification but it does keep in line with the Marina range and from a safty point of view is a good one!

Ben

Must agree about the dash set-up for the radio,bizarre to say the least,when my farther took delivery of his brand new 1700 HL,he had asked for a radio-cassette to be fitted at a cost of £75.00 and although the unit worked great and sounded great,but the job never looked finished because the trim/cover plate was never fitted,because the dash set up had no provision for it,poor to say the least!
And to echo Paul's point the plastic used for the dash is not of the finest quality (just open the glove box to test this!)

But as we have said before,it nice to know we're all different,as variety is the spice of life

Beckett Bros "KING'S OF THE BEDROOM"

Indeed you will Paul! Have you got a set of roll bars for the Jubilee? What about some telescopic dampers for the front? It may be a modification but it does keep in line with the Marina range and from a safty point of view is a good one!

I got a tele damper kit for front and I have an ITAL anti role bar! So would not be to hard to fit.

It will be standard set up to start with, and then i will make the decision to improve.
My original car had no mods to the suspension and before anyone says it, it was not why it went off the road! I think some one pulled out and I went up a lovely bendy tree to avoide them which made me fly a short distance

Been cleaning my front loom all day and got sun burnt in the process :roll:
Also doing repairs where the optional extras where fitted badly - like fogs!! removing mains 250VAC fuses and such :roll:
Why the hell they used Scotch locks as these have damaged the wiring particularily where the repeaters were fitted. I lost one bullet socket as the Scotch lock had weakened the wire so much, so they are now gone!

Just as well I have a spare loom to help repair mine!

Only just found this subject,can remember driving both cars,the Ital was really good in comparison to the Marina,sorry to any tc owners but i was really disappointed the car was quite slow,since then i have driven another tc Marina this time though it was a gt one a lot better inside but still not fast either,the Ital was a lot quicker i think,and better inside,but the looks are a bit square.

Alan

Ah young Exocet,you need to drive the MK3 1700,and my choice as the best Marina/Ital and the car i think should have been the last of the range,you can see BL cost cutting but still for my money the car to go for,and cheaper to buy and run than the "B" series stuff,sadly the "A+" engine was never used great shame for a superb little engine.

Russ

Beckett Bros "funny but it's true" :roll:

the mk3 1700 combo is a bloody good car as exampled last wekend doing carlisle and back, never missed a beat and at that stage i rediscovered the joy of driving simply for enjoyment!!!!