Lancia Motor Club

Refering to the Flavia driving lesson : http://www.lancia.myzen.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=5104.0

... and Chris's question how do I find the 1300 compared to the integrale : here's what I think. Please bear in bear I'm not the world finest motoring journo and haven't owned many cars :) (8 in all and I still own 3!)

About two months ago I had the chance to buy a 1300LX Delta. There were several reasons :
1/ I had the money
2/ I have two daughters that want to be able to drive but I don't want them driving my work car.
3/ It's a lovely car : 25,000miles , not welded , no rust
4/ It's cheap to maintain and easy to maintain : no specialists
5/ Cheap road tax

The insurance is a lot , but it would be anyway with teenagers! So I wanted a car that at least I'd want to drive too (ie: not a Clio)

Chris asked what it's like ? Well it's very nice it does everything a nice little car would do : I've told my eldest to think of it like an old version of the Audi A3/Golf.

It is slow. It is not that slow compared to other cars of the era (I guess) but it isn't anything like an integrale. However, once going it'll keep up with everything (although not a motorway) and feels very very light and nimble. Very light.

The steering has taken a bit of getting used to : no momo wheel here! It feels huge and I'd forgotten about leaving some space in front in order to move before turning. But it's not difficult. My daughter is coping fine , but I shall get feedback from her after this weekend (she'll have parked it by then!)

Parking is great, you can fit in any space , much easier that parking an integrale! and there is loads of visibility compared to a modern.

The seats are not so good compared to the recaros of the integrale. That would probably be a problem for me on a long journey as the integrale on standard springs is very comfortable (I find).

Weird things : having a sunroof (on the LX) , the speedo and revcounter are on the opposite sides, the air vents are slightly different colours (but the blower is really good). The economy gauge is great instead of boost guage and the boot looks completely odd (no vertical spare wheel). Let's not mention the engine bay which in an LX has the engine the car was designed for and looks tiny! At least I can see all the bits and pieces ... :)

Actually the LX looks odd, it just doesn't look the same car as the integrale, which feels a lot bigger on the road. The integrale is a lot wider and perhaps that gives much stability? Anyway, the reason it probably looks odd is because you don't see them about and I'm used to rally flares ....

The LX is also normal : I think just one person has noticed it go past! That in itself is a different feeling :)

In short , the integrale goes up to 11 and I don't think I'd ever enjoy a car more ... but the LX is certainly up there with the best of the rest

I once had a chance to take Steve Gales' Integrale for a short drive (brave man, he's still recovering).  To me it felt like a very fast, left hand drive Delta with power steering and decent seats.  The seats in a 1300LX are pretty flabby, and give you backache on a long journey, and the big, thin-rimmed steering wheel is no great joy to hold, but it does help with the heavy steering.  The secret to the slow bit is to rev the nuts off it.  The 1300 loves revs, and you have to forget the driving style you pick up with anything modern, turbocharged or diesel.  Once you get it revving, its only moderately slow, and can tank along the motorway at 70-80 pretty easily (albeit revving away noisily even in fifth).  Incidentally, I'll never officially be able to see 80mph here unless I head our of state - the fastest roads in Victoria are limited to 110kph.  Yes, and the visibility is great compared to any modern car.

:) - yes, revving the nuts off it is not a habit I've acquired yet ... I'm also wary of it having been sat in a garage for the past seven years so want to give a chance to be used used (belts have been changed). Disks and pads due for a change too - £50 a set :)

Eldest daughter used it last weekend (whilst we were at the Beta 40th) and apart from burning here hands on the steering wheel (it is that hot here!) she did fine.

We drove the 230miles back from Norwich via the A roads in 27degrees with no internal fan and the windows open. Hot but not uncomfortable ... experienced the delights of Milton Keynes roundabouts .... !

Yes, if anyone discovers the secret of how to keep cool in an Evo 2 even with the air con on please let me know....

Just to add to the comparison to the 'cooking Deltas v integrale ' theme , we had a 1600GTie a few years back , Margaret actually ran it as her everyday car for a couple of years. It coped with modern traffic with no problem .

We had great fun in it , ashamed to say we originally bought it as a spares car for my evo ( front doors , tailgate , plastic trim , central locking etc ,etc ) but once cleaned up and driven for a while it became clear it was much too good to break.

It felt a 'nippier' version of the 1300LX ( Chris and I swapped cars and yes we are still speaking !).

Impressions of the GTie were.. heavy steering although this was improved with a new set of tyres , the engine was nowhere near as smooth as my evo ( no balancer shafts ? ) and obviously didn't have the torque /power but once on the move could be rowed along quite nicely. It didn't have the fantastic steering feel or handling the integrale has and unlike Chris apart from the basic shape , fascia layout, controls etc I never felt they drove similar. This is no way a criticism of the car as I mentioned we had great fun with it and it was an enjoyable ' warmish' FWD hatch back in it's own right and with that certain Lancia something..... wished I had kept it.

Incidentally when the white bodywork was cleaned and polished we found it attracted a lot of attention. It had the usual rust spots when we bought it which I duly rubbed down and treated but after living outside and being used for a couple of winters it was becoming a chore to keep
on top of them so we sold it ( for a small profit !), it then changed hands again and the last I heard Zagato in London had it as a runabout !

Although two completely different animals and the integrale has taken all the limelight the original Delta is still a great car in it's own right.

Steve

As a futher note to the LX, and after having its picture in this month's VL! , it now doesn't need L plates any more as Claire has passed her test ... so I guess I should find some P plates ....

... it's coped pretty well with the floods and general bad weather over the past couple of months !

************Congratulations Claire*********

Yes, congratulations Claire.  You are still fondly remembered in our household.  My daughter Rhian turns 14 in a few days time, and that means she is herself only two years away from getting her Ls over here - they start at 16 here, but have to amass 100 hours of experience before being able to take their test.  Then they get their Ps for two years, red in the first year and green in the second.  And a zero alcohol limit for driving (we have random tests here...), as well as a number of other restrictions (no turbos for example, though a hoofing great 6 cylinder Falcon is fine...).

Just as an update both cars have just passed their MOTs - no problems  :)

The LX has been great and used throughout the cold spell - never in the rain or snow - and it seems to have been fine. The only problem is Claire has used up the 3,000 miles so can't drive it for the rest of the month when it renews!

It'll be at the Bristol Italian Auto Moto this weekend - just enough miles for that !

And my 1300LX will be making its Aussie big show bow on Sunday at the Flemington Classic Showcase (at Flemington Racecourse in Melbourne).  Looking forward to it!  ;D

Mine will be the 1st LX at Bristol since yours .... being first there means I get to choose the location (somewhere in Small Street) :D

And strangely enough, unknown to me until yesterday, my cousin, her husband and their two boys went to the Bristol show and would have seen your car.  If I'd have known beforehand, I'd have made some introductions...  Still, they had a great time and their eldest got to sit in a Ferrari (face was apparently a picture...).  Meanwhile, at Flemington racecourse, in the equivalent of mid-October, it was sufficiently sunny to burn my increasingly bald head (I'd neglected to remember my hat).  Great show though...

:) it was nice to get it side by side with Andy's Prisma as can be seen in the photos

The Delta has just passed the MOT and just managed to get in at under 30k miles ....

You need to drive it more!!!

That will be happening , got insured for work .....

Just a point on needing to keep the revs up. I started driving with Fiat 128's. The first really affordable racing over here was for 128 3P's and 128 SL's. This graduated onto Ritmos (or Stradas to some), then Unos,  Punto Mk1's. All using the basis of the Fiat 1.3 OHC engine. Same as in the Delta.
These engines can, and have been spun up to the 10k mark. The earliest were the best with a slightly shorter con rod. In Mondello for example, we never used 4th gear, always 2nd and 3rd, and to the floor. when I drove my first 4WD in 1988. I managed to outdrive one of our salesmen in a standard 1.3 Delta. Granted he was a bit hesitant as the car was new, but the secret to these engines is to drive the nuts out of them. You should just be able to touch 60mph in second, never mind what the rev counter says.
The only other thing I disliked about the Delta was the turning circle, which is bad. I was reminded of this only yesterday as we pushed a 1.3 Delta onto a display area at a local car show.

You're right Kevin.  Every time I get into the Delta I have to recalibrate, as the style of driving is utterly different from a modern turbo motor.  In the latter, don't tend to need to give it a bootful of revs to get moving (the low down torque of the engine is usually sufficient, certainly once you get to 2000rpm) but in the Delta, you have to rev to get action.  Its a much more engaged and involved style of driving...!

Ok, well I'm too used to an integrale ! But I actually like driving it at reasonable speed and not worrying to much ! It was really nice to do the AGM drive in a small car with the windows down , roof open , music on ...

You'll be pleased to know it was driven this morning ...

Kevin, I noticed that Delta on the stand - is it an LX ? in which case identical to mine

Car is (temporarily) my daily driver :) , even taking part in the lift share today ... with complements on the ride quality, seat comfort - but I did have to point out that 'those are the door handles - you don't want to lift that!'

.. anyway, it's no longer a sub-30k mileage Delta