Nearly a Frontera owner...

[mystic fred]

Hi folks - i have a sad tale - are you sitting comfortably..?

i had been secretly looking at Frontera Sports for some years but my old Carlton kept passing her MOT test every year with flying colours, she seemed happy enough in her twilight years, few real problems, comfortably living out her semi-retirement accompanying me to work, shopping and taking junk to the dump, but all good things come to an end they say, and following a recent visit to my garage i heard those words i (sort of) dreaded - a deep intake of breath, then "sorry mate, she's had it.." After twenty years (and nine with me) and no more parts available from Vauxhall, i meekly ordered a tin of spray paint from Germany to make her last days a bit more respectable, the golden days long over - tours of Cornwall, Devon and Yorshire just memories, rust creeping sneakily into her creaky, leaking body...

So here i am finding out about Fronteras, never mind a suburban estate, a sedate saloon or a hoot hatchback - these things rock! after seeing the antics on youtube i am sort of getting the bug (not Bond!), but those online reviews reveal the model of my dreams is like Marmite, and so many things to watch out for - worn wheel bearings, lying cheating fuel gauges, leaf springs, drum brakes...? i thought i'd left those behind years ago, but never mind i'm not afraid of a leaf spring, and you never know when you may need to rely on them!

So in the next couple of months, or when her tax disc expires and my old girl finally goes off to the great parking bay in the sky, i am in the market for a new lady to fuss over, and maybe have a little fun with on a dirty weekend ...wherever

The Frontera Sport takes my fancy, an image transplant wouldn't go amiss after nine years - i even drove one a couple of years ago but was outbid. My practical requirements are simple, commuting during the week but for the weekend a car that has those little extras - four wheel drive, high driving position, big tyres, removeable roof, dodgy fuel gauge, leaf springs, drum brakes, doesn't mind getting down 'n dirty - ...help me guys!

[furball]

The most important thing to remember is that there is a world of difference between reviewing a car and living with it. This is best illustrated by the recent (ish) experience Clarksonius had with the Ford GT.

The very early fronties did have a few niggles and problems, but there is very little that can't be fixed with the knowledge and help available on here.

The best thing to do for now is keep an eye on the for sale section There are a couple in there for sale at the moment I think

[Drift]

Fantastic first post, made me smile Welcome

What budget do you have for the Sport, you might end up with a coiler

Ignore the reviews they all mimic each other, Im sure one person found the faults in the early versions and never checked the later versions to see if the faults had been rectified and the rest of the so called reporters have just piggy backed the one review

[cheekychick]

2nd that Drift, brilliant first post

Hello and welcome to the world of FOG, even if you don't have a fronty yet, this is a good place to start

Hope to see more of your posts in the coming weeks

CC

[N1ova]

Hi and welcome to fog.Good luck with finding a frontera.

[ghosthunter]

This story sounds familiar. I had a Carlton before i entered the world of FOG.
Mine was a 93 estate and was fabulous. I did in excess of 50000 miles in her before some idiot hit me in the side at 40 plus!. After i had extracated the handbrake from my butt, feet from the pedals and glass from my teeth ,eyes and hair, i escaped via the passenger door. I nearly cried!,there was my old girl folded in half by some #$@** in a transit, lying there like some mortally wounded whale. All he could say was i couldnt stop. Part of me died that day with that Carlton.
Anyway onwards, what next? a Frontera beckoned. £500.00 off ebay for a 2000 w reg lwb bseries 2.2 petrol with blown head gasket and 7 months mot.
Seemed like a good buy and so it was mine. Couple of days work on the drive and we were away. God what have I bought!, terrible ride, thirsty, crude
and dog slow, and this was a B series. I loathed it, despised it , couldnt stand it , but it was all i had.
As time went by I grew to like it, dont know why, but I cant bring myself to sell it. Its still the same as before, compared to the Carlton its a trolley. You cant get anywhere near as much stuff in it. but i've grown to LIKE IT!
Saying that if a Carlton 24v diamond estate came along i'd throw the fronty in the skip.
So at the moment i'm happy.....ish.
I'd say go and get one, but i'll bet you will reget it at first and several months later you'll love it!

[Grim_reaper]

Hi and welcome , good luck with finding your 1st fronty i'm sure you wont rgret it if you buy a good one ..... prior to my 1st frontera i'd owned modified mk3 and 4 supras and although the accelleration takes a bit of getting used to i find the ride in my 2.0 sport a lot nicer than feeling every bump in the road .

[horses45]

hi and welcome

[mystic fred]

Thanks Guys! Ghosthunter - scary crash story, same thing happened to me in '73 in a Vauxhall Viva !

I did get the chance to drive a Frontera Sport as a prospective buyer once, i found it an enjoyable vehicle to drive mainly due to the high driving position - i occasionally drive an LDV minibus for my College taking the Football and Basketball team to games and generally running about and is a world away from a Carlton, feels weird when i get back into it. The name of the College is emblazoned on their fleet of LDV's and i feel this helps out in the cut and thrust of rush hour traffic - other drivers keep well out of the way!

My Carlton isn't the fastest away from the lights either - i had a free hire of a brand new Astra this year when the old girl was getting her death sentence from the insurance assessor (only a broken light) and though it accelerated like a bat-out-of-hell and braked like superglue i hated driving it - much prefer to take it slowly and not bothered about being a Jensen Button wannnabe....

I had a look at many members' jam jars, some brilliant vehicles and such proud owners, hope to be a bona-fide Fogger soon!
will keep scouring the sales thread, very tempted with flea bay but would rather trust members on this site, if not too far away.

Here are a couple of pics of the "old girl"...spares or repair, anybody..?

[Krusher]

Hi and welcome to FOG.

You could do alot worse than buy a fronty from a Fogger, not only would you be getting a motor that has probably been tried and tested but
also has a sort of work in progress or history documented on the forum. Good luck in your search, hope you find yourself a little cracker

[furball]

If you do end up getting your first fronty from somwhere other than our for sale section it's worth pointing out that some of our more knowledgable members are sometimes available to come with you to have a look at a truck. It obviously depends on where you are and when people are available, and you should remember that aside from any arrangements made between you and your 'consultant' it is considered good form to make a donation to the site.

Apart from the advantages of a knowlegable eye you would be amazed the effect an owners club type tee shirt has on your average second hand car salesman, not to mention the acting skills of some of the FOGers (Andy)

[mystic fred]

^ Thanks Furball, will bear what you say in mind, i have a few months to window shop though i f anything i can't say no to comes up i could do a lot worse than seek the advice of knowledgable experts on this site, as long as it is something they don't want to "bag" themselves , but snapping up a good bargain is about speed, and dithering may let the cat (or turkey if one is not careful) slip out of the bag, i have been suitably primed by the information on FOG regarding pitfalls, and i hope 40 years of experience buying and selling cars commercially and privately will stand me in good stead.

As for dealers, nothing changed there - high mileage models are tarted up and 500GBP slapped on the true market value - they have overheads to pay, and three months is not much of a guarantee period.

I am open minded but seem to have been concentrating on 96-99 models, i don't believe in buying expensive cars then watching them get beaten to a pulp in the nation's supermarket car parks - there seem to be a lot of them around and they seem to hold their price - the benefit of low mileage is rare, people love using their Fronty's, but shouldn't a well-travelled model of 120,000 + have had all its bits done - head gasket, timing chain etc, and a 60,000 model would be entering the repairs-needed-danger zone?

[robbie]

hi bud and welcome
you wouldnt belive were mine came from so here we go the local scrap yard for under £500 no tax but just short of 6 months MOT
needed tires al round,got them from there as well for £ 80 and it still goin strong just an oil leak 2sort out. All in all am well
Hope you enjoy yours wen you get 1.
Robbie

[mystic fred]

this is fairly representative of what i'm looking for, not too far away and conveniently includes a bit of tax and mot, could go for 700 GBP -

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... :MEBIDX:IT


not sold, bidding up to 600GBP

[furball]

[andysd1]

my old girl was a J reg, and is still going strong and geting stonger in the hands of headbanging, that had a milage of about 160k

[mystic fred]

i have noticed the market is not very brisk at the moment, cars are going unsold on ebay, reserves are not being met - roundabout now may be the time to get a bargain

[Grim_reaper]

[Alfie]

Hi and Welcome to fog. I bought mine off a grass vergefor£280 and alot of grief. Love it to bits. Hope you find what youre looking for soon.

[Sir-Doris]

Hi and Welcome to FOG!