Vauxhall Carlton Mk2 goes for a drive
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- Опубліковано 23 лют 2023
- The Mk2 Vauxhall Carlton was a big, luxurious saloon rivalling the Ford Granada and shared a lot (well everything) with the Opel Record E2, but what was it like?
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I know there are all sorts of safety improvements that mean that car interiors have become more restricted for space and visibility. But...blimey! What space and visibility there is in this car, something I really miss in today's vehicles. Top review, thanks Matt!
I honestly feel safer in old cars because I can actually see around me and can avoid getting hit easier than a new car in the first place.
Well that and I drive ancient base models so I can't even go dangerous speeds most of the time.
They sure don't make em like they used to (thankfully): ua-cam.com/video/CgjtSilW8yM/v-deo.html
Older cars are far more comfortable and visibility in a modern car? What's that? Hate them.
That clutch spring squeak takes me back! I think every 80s and 90s Vauxhall I had had a squeaky clutch pedal (that'll be 2 Belmonts, a MK2 Astra, A MK3 Astra, 2 x MK3 Cavaliers, a MK2 Carlton, a Nova and a Senator although that was auto)....they ALL had the clutch squeak. 🤣
Oh yes … if they didn’t squeak something was wrong, it was the norm for old Vauxhall’s 😅
Yep! Always had that squeak in my Astras!
Same here lol!
When I was sat in traffic my mk3 Astra clutch pedal was clipped by my toe and pinged up underneath the dash. I hadn’t noticed until I went to pull away and it simply wasn’t there.
I knew it wasn’t there because I didn’t hear a squeak.
My 63 reg Vauxhall Mokka has the obligatory clutch squek. They all do it apparently. Curiously my previous Astra J had a perfectly silent clutch.
Down below in Australia, the Opel Rekord/Vauxhall Carlton became the Holden Commodore VB (introduced October 1978), using the bigger front end from a Senator to accommodate the archetypal Aussie GMH straight six or V8. Rack and Pinion steering was adopted in place of the Opel/Vauxhall recirculating ball set up to help clear the engine bay for the V8s, that, along with Radial Tuned Suspension (RTS), helped improve the Holden Commodore's ride and handling compared with its European cousins. All in all, the Commodore was a revelation after Holden's bigger, less sophisticated fore-runner, the Holden HQ through HZ series...
The entire front end of the VB had to be beefed-up for Aussie conditions, as the development cars were cracking at the firewall; cost $110 million, almost the same as designing a new car from scratch. As you say, RTS was a revelation compared to the previous Kingswood models!
The only thing the 1st gen Commodore didn't have (that the later Rekord/Carlton/Senator did) was the semi-trailing rear end.
Well that was until Mr P. Brock imported and stuffed the semi-trailing in his Director, much to the displeasure of Holden. If they weren't already pissed off about the Polarizer.....
It's amazing how familiar that is. Drove that era Holden Commodore and it was very similar except the one I drove was the dire 4 cylinder 'Starfire' version. It had the ancient Aussie six with two cylinders sawn off*, barely produced enough power to turn the engine over never mind move the car it was attached to.
* They probably did more than that but not much...
They were great with a 5 litre V8 option!
I remember how impressed i was as an 9 yo in 1984 when our local school taxi driver bought a new opel rekord 2,3 TD Berlina, maroon red with a lovely light brown velour interior, sunroof and all the options.. it felt so big and luxurios to us kids being driven home from the village school. One of my first stark car memories.
Hello I'm watching from the US and enjoying the tutorial on the difference between Opel & Vauxhall. One common thread is the 70's 80's BROWN. It seems GM Ford & Chrysler all drank from the same brown pond. This car is much more trim and clean design compared to our stodgy over the top rust buckets we had here. Fact is I can find better examples of cars from the 60's then the 80's rust and bad engines shortened there life.
“their life”
Vauxhall's are just production line variations of the equivalent Opel model.
Vauxhall hasn't designed or engineered a vehicle since the original Viva.
@@e28forever30 Ialwaysdodat!
When I attended my college mechanics course in my younger days, there was a dark red Carlton CD which we used to remove and replace various parts of it for training - B400 AFV was the plate and it was only on the road for about four years before being bought by the college. Great cars.
Not a Family 2 engine. The 1.8 was, but the 2 (and subsequent 2.2) were the old Opel cam in head engine. Loving this review. My old man had one as a company car in 1983, in Silver Moss with grey trim (including all the exterior trim). It was a cracking car, slightly smaller than the Granada, which suited him, and very very well equipped, as well as being a really good drive.
My dad had a Opel Rekord 2.0 in South Africa, no velour seats and manual windows. Many kms on South African roads, what a car. Shipped to Portugal in the early 90’s and it even went to Spain looking for spare parts. Major change to LPG, because of petrol price in Portugal. After many Kms and joy of driving, scrapped and changed for German cousin, a VW Golf mk3.
I love these. Somehow, in 1993 my 18 year old mate managed to insure a Carlton for next to nothing while I was paying £650 to insure a 1.0 metro…it was an 1800 GL estate auto in pale metallic green with brown interior. Not very fast but extremely smooth, plush and comfy. We could get about 10 of us in it which was always fun at the McDonald’s drive through when we went out on lunchtimes at college! Did you notice the central Vauxhall emblem on the wheel is also a horn push? Three buttons to toot the horn. A feature Vauxhall carried over to the 1994 Carlton my dad had as a company car….
Didn't notice the 2nd horn push! Insurance was surprisingly affordable back in the 90s
What a car!!!
Old Vauxhall's are so solid it's a credit to old school mechanics.
To Paul Gregory. Although I haven't driven for 20 years ( less sharp eyesight) , the last car I drove was my Carlton mk2. Like you said - VERY SOLID! IF I could see better and get another car, it would be a FRACTION of the size, but STILL just as solid! A modern day Fiat 500!
I owned many an old banger in the 90's during my late teens and early twenties, but never was an ownership so short than with one of these. A 1983, on a Y plate, in the same colour combo as the car featured. I needed a car quickly, but was broke at the time, so a guy I worked with at the time offered me his old tow car, he'd used for ages to take his scramblers to race meets all over the country, for £50 as he needed to free up some space. He'd driven thousands of miles in this thing without it missing a beat, but it didn't even get me home. It was only a 15-20 min journey, and the oil pump failed about half, the oil pressure light came on, but before I could safely pull over the engine seized solid. So the very next morning it was sold for scrap. I did get a nice after market wood rimmed steering wheel out of it though!
When you mentioned the lack of compressor for the rear shocks, there actually was one available back in the day as special option! My father has 1980 Rekord E1, and he found that optional compressor from one rotten Ascona and then he found original old new stock Monroe air shocks for the car from Netherlands. He serviced the compressor and installed it to engine bay, installed those shocks and the airlines, and bought stylistically correct switch to the cabin to use the compressor with it. With press of a switch you can lower or raise the rear if needed.
This car is just beautiful. Angular, acres of brown plastic and velour and just pure 1980s. My first car was a 1987 Vauxhall Nova so that dash and dials unsurprisingly look so familiar. The stalks are quite unusual- I had the chunky square items. Those speaker grilles are just fabulous! Up there with the 740 for straight edges and angles for sure. Brilliant review as always Matt!
This car is more 70's then 80's! All the rear end drive cars had the singel stalk, for lights and wipers, the Manta was the last one ending in 1987.
My Pop ordered a brand new VC Commodore Starfire 4cyl with 4 speed manual.
It was the slowest thing to drive (made maybe 60hp on a downhill stretch) and used more fuel than my Aunties VK Commodore.
Both front seat floor mounts cracked in the floor pan, and ended up getting crushed finally.
God that thing was a heaper- no horsepower, no aircon, a tempremental carby, braking that bordered on almost zero, and blue on blue interior & paint.
I later bought an ex Cop Car VH V8 Auto- damn that thing went (cop mechanics used to tickle the carby & maybe from some headers on). Also owned a Ex police Hwy Patrol XD 351ci with 4 spd single rail- same year as Pops VC (1981)- and it was lightyears ahead of the Commodore in space, handling (even though the XD was leaf spring)- everything
May Dad had a 3 year old 2200CD 100000 miler in 1989. Blue Green with matching interior. It was the best car he ever owned and seemed way above our council estate status. It was beautiful and my Mum felt like royalty when she got in. Such memories. Headrests were the only difference and maybe the deletion of all interior chrome. I remember it like it was yesterday. You have made my day.😁
Fun to see these again. When I was a kid, my dad has first a late 70s Opel Ascona, then an early 80s Opel Commodore 2.5, and then a 1987 Opel Omega 2.0 CD. The Omega CD had a trip computer which was uncommon in cars back then. I've later had an Opel Vectra which was a great car, might have a look at Opel again. But these days they're basically a Peugeot?
The Engine was an Opel CIH (Cam in head) engine. The Family II (2) was released after it and in J series cars. Holden Commodore was loosely the same but with major engineering changes so they would not break, literally fall apart, on Australian roads. We also had a variety of engines from the 1.9 litre Starfire 4 (2 cylinders cut off the 2.85 litre 6), the 2.85 litre 6, the 3.3 litre 6, 4.2 litre V8 and 5.0 litre V8 (304 and 308 cubic inches).
My father here in Bristol, England owns a 1992 Vauxhall Carlton, almost 300,000 miles now on it's second engine, such a rare car to see now days here it's his favourite daily as it was previously owned by his father (so it means a lot to him and he'll never get rid of it)
The Australian version known as the commodore was a much stronger vehicle having been developed to accept 6 & 8 cylinder variants while the body was reinforced to cope with much rougher road conditions down under.
Same engine as the Manta of the same era. Great looking car this Carlton is... Hard to imagine it's now 39/40 years old here in 2023 and I remember when the A reg and B reg came out when I was a kid watching Block Busters and Grange Hill after junior school lol
Opel continued in the uk until the late ‘80’s with the Manta and Monza. The 2.0 cih injection is the same as the manta, Hardy torquey unit. This was also available as a 2.2 and a 2.4, and dates back to the mid ‘60’s. The carb 1.8 models had the ohv engine derivatives of which were is the FWD astras/cavaliers etc.
When I was about 6 years old, I was taking a good look at one of these, parked in a street. In 1982 its sleek front certainly looked very modern. It was a white Caravan model, the driver, noticing my interest, then demonstrated a feature of the car to me that I had never known to exist: the lights buzzer! I don't know but my guess is it must have been one of the first cars ever to feature this.
My brother had a 1981/2 Mazda 626 (X-plate) - they had just dropped the 'Montrose' name and that had a lovely little two-tone chime to tell you that you'd left your lights on. I struggled to find one of those chime units in a breakers to fit to my Datsun Sunny. It also inspired me to buy a buzzer and wire it into my first car, a Renault 16.
@@HowardLeVert So the Rekord (as I would call the Carlton) ws not first! Good to know, maybe it was even a Japanese invention?
Mercedes had a buzzer for the lights by that time.
@@Marklin15 interesting, which model? It was ofcourse Mercedes that introduced many new inventions
@@HowardLeVert I had a Mazda 626 Montrose. That light buzzer caused me problems on a number of occasions. I'd go to a petrol station at night and the buzzer would remind me to turn off the headlights. Then nearly every time I'd drive off forgetting to turn them back on. I'd have loads of cars flashing me until I realised what was going on.
Lovely review Matt. I was very much in the Vauxhall camp growing up with a lot of Novas, Carltons and Mk2 Cavaliers in the family so a great trip down memory lane. Keep up the good work
In Holden Commodore guise, these were a top seller in Australia and New Zealand. Most Commodores had a 6 cylinder engine with auto transmission and airconditioning. There was much less velour because it wasn't exactly a luxury car. In taxi form, the interior was vinyl. Later versions had an optional V8 and some unpopular poverty packs had a dreadful 4 cylinder engine.
Scorching vinyl and seatbelt buckles on a hot summer day.... ah the 80's
Just watching you drive around, and I’m thinking “hang on, that looks familiar’. Welcome to Essex, you just drove past my house!
Fantastic review of a superb car. Comfort and space. Everything we seem to have lost in modern cars.
These cars were just wonderful in their day. I owned two, a 1985 1.8 litre L auto and a 1986 2.2 litre CD manual. The auto was actually very good in the 1.8 it still had decent acceleration and economy for the motorways. The 2.2 was just superb, good economy and very flexible engine around town. On the motorway the 2.2 really shone I regularly got almost 40 to the gallon whilst sitting at 70mph for hours on end. I do so like seeing the love being given to these old Vauxhalls.
Opel Rekord 2.0S in Malaysia
I've had many cars over my motoring life and one of these Carlton's (even browner than this one) was part of that history. I remember it fondly and note that it was exceptionally high geared - which certainly made for some pretty relaxed motorway cruising. I'm dead jealous Matt because I'd just love to get behind the wheel of one again and try to recapture my youth - not that you ever can of course.
If you can find a big 'Egg Crate' Senator next then you will have recaptured my entire Vauxhall period!
Enjoyed this review of an underrated car! One pedant point: The rear suspension is live axle and coil springs, not semi-trailing arms. But that is one reason it goes where you point it and holds a nice line in the corners. No cheap irs rear steer effects at play.
Dad had a chocolate brown one he brought from the firm he worked at, C90 HTT, had it many years, never missed a beat apart from a failed battery, he was stuck under a bridge on the a435 dual carriage way, in snowy poor visibility conditions, I had to go and tow him, how we survived not getting hit when hitching the tow rope I’ll never know, also heater matrix and a couple of wings as the car got older, he always says it’s the best car he had ever had, I had it for a short period after I think it was on around 159,000 miles still a lovely drive, great memories of us going fishing in it on a Sunday when I was a kid
Great video Matt, takes me back to mine, C853 YPW a 2.2 CDi auto which I thought went quite well. That was a fawn/brown colour with the same interior (all the brown) and front fogs. Its mirrors were black as well but my MK2 CDi Cavalier A900 VNO, identical colour to your Carlton did, strange, the Carlton was great for sitting our young kids in the back so they couldn't annoy each other, still have the photos. Love watching your videos along with Hubnut's. You didn't mention headlight wipers :)
I always liked the big Vauxhalls, the Carlton, Royale and go on further back the Cresta. I think GM Europe really made a big boob, when they stopped making the big Vauxhall/Opals. Enjoyed the trip down memory lane thank you. Keep up the good work, vauxhall’s were always slightly more refined than Ford much more comfortable to drive
I sometimes look at an era and try to decide what was the optimal combination of tech, aerodynamics and price for that era - and for the early 80s this hits the spot. A lot more advanced than the Cortina of the time, this was sold as the Opel Rekord / Commodore / Senator in South Africa ( different trim levels ) . The sweet spot was the Commodore with the 3.0V6 and manual gearbox which, if you look at the specs, did 0-100 in 9 seconds and outperformed the Cortina XR6 ( even though the Cortina had the performance image ). Later this was sold in SA with the 3.8 liter Buick V6 as the Rekord 380 GSi ( with manual or auto )
Way back in 1986 I washed the pitch cars at my local vaxhaull garage there was a mk2 carlton in yellow ,!!! I often thought who'd have a yellow car!!! History repeats !!
And now my uncle has two vaxhaull senators,
Thank you for producing another great video. I used to work on these back in the day! I’m sure the looks have got even better with age. These 2.0 litres were CIH (cam in head units). I remember adjusting the tappers on the 1.6CIH engine fitted to the Mk1 Cavalier…with the engine running!!!!! The 1.8L, fitted to the Carlton, was an OHC and I believe was the Family 2 engine. Keep up the excellent content. Cheers.
Adjusting tappets with a running engine seemed to be a Vauxhall 'thing' - I seem to recall you did the same thing with the FB Victor.
As an Australian, the big rear-drive Opels and Vauxhalls are just weird. They’re like Commodores but a little different. This particular one is like a mashup of the signet gold VH and red VK Commodores my parents had in the 80s
The Australian Commodore was an amalgam of the Opel Rekord and Senator modified for Australian conditions. Holden even produced front panels for Daewoo Royale as the same panel was used in our Commodore. I remember first seeing an Opel in China and it just looked like a shrunken Commodore.
The main difference was under the bonnet.
Our choices were
2.85 L I6
3.3 L I6
4.2 L V8
5.0 L V8
MEMORIES!
I had a Y reg 2.0 GL Carlton, an early one with the more rounded off body. It was in the same metallic blue as in the brochure. A brilliant car and in the fifty thousand miles I had it, only once did it let me down when a tappet broke and that was an easy fix. In fact it was easy to work on and parts were pretty cheap...back them. Only got rid of it as it was over 100k miles and rust was becoming an issue in a number of places.
One funny memory is that the wipers made a funny whirring noise. Took it to garages to investigate, but no one could fathom out what it was and I just lived with it.
As a kid who was a teenager in the late 90's, I love these videos because I remember seeing these cars back in the day. 2 decades later and I suppose it shows that we lived in a relatively developed country where you barely if ever see proper 'old' cars anymore.
Is it just me or does the front actually look very much like a Peugeot?
For those who only know the Opel Rekord CD, the experience is a little different...
The clutch is silent, the steering is ZF servo and fast and precise, it is a completely different steering than the one without servo, trip computer is standard as well as adjustable leather-covered steering wheel and CD has two-tone paint in two colors.
The automatic transmission is fast, fun and surprisingly good.
A unique detail is that the entire console between the seats to the back seat is heated or slightly cooled.
And the sunroof is electric with a manual emergency system if the electrics stop working - a much better emergency system than the Merceds have in the W123.
Also, the electric central locking has a sensor that in an accident automatically unlocks the doors if they are locked, (1982) Volvo didn't get that until after the year 2000...
The front seats have built-in seat belt buckles and crash bars that prevent the seat from collapsing in an accident (1983).
My experience with Ford Granada is that they have much poorer quality and much poorer interior design and cheap thin materials, cheap feel, and this also applies to the Focus 2012, which is the newest Ford I've driven - Ford feels like an American car with American build quality.
Oh that is just beautiful, especially in gold. Seriously unappreciated so many have been scrapped I cant recall when I saw another.
Vauxhall Opel just had the best range of cars in the mid 80s. Our whole family ran Monzas and Senators for years, but I seriously should hasve dipped downmarkey just once or twice for one of these........hard to go back from a silky six to a four banger though!
When Opel sent one of there cars over to Australia for testing in 1978 , for the car that eventually became the Commodore , the test Opel snapped in half on the outback roads . Needless to say much work was done on the Australian and New Zealand built Holden Commodore .
@@cameronelliott9709 😂😂😂
@@cameronelliott9709 If you drive a car that falls to pieces whilst being driven over a few potholes you'll discover that the yarn isn't mythical. Toyota and Nissan do all field testing for the Landcruiser and Patrol here in Australia. Why? Because we are close to Japan to make it a cheap exercise for them and you won't find rougher roads anywhere else in the world. Basically, if it will hold together here, it will everywhere.
The offical colour was "hearing aid beige" 🤣
I had one of these - it was around 8 years old when I got it. Mine had the 3-speed auto. Unlike you I prefer automatic, but I can confirm your suspicion that progress was what one might call "gentlemanly." Was a lovely and comfortable car to drive but bigger than I really needed at the time. I replaced it with a Rover 216 Vanden Plas.
I used to have a 2.2 Carlton facelift, looked just like the one you tested but in white. Lovely car for just cruising on motorways and for going sideways at times 😂 had such torquey motor
Awesome. My grandfather had two Opel Ascona's of similar vintage. (Vauxhall Cavalier?) One was gold and looked exactly like a shrunken version of this car. He only sold it recently. The other one he had bought new and had put over 400 000km on it before passing it on to my uncle some years ago.
When the Holden Commodore was being set up for Australia in 1978, Holden had no choice but to tack on the Senator's front end rather than the Rekord's because Holden offered more engine choices. A 2 litre four was only offered in 1980 and few people bought them because they went against the big country - big engine philosophy. Apart from that short-lived choice there was a 3.3 litre six, 4.2 litre V8 and 5 litre V8. As a trade off, the Commodore was never built in the 2-door version and our blinker stalks were on the right side because a lot of cars in Australia came with column shifters and this was always on the left here. It would have been a hard habit to break for many even though early Commodores only had floor shifters.
As for the three speed auto, we Aussies had those too but the high gearing wasn't a problem with the larger engines. The only real bugbear Australians had with the car was that it was not wide enough, a problem solved in 1988 when Holden widened the Senator platform and offered bench seating in both front and back, like the old Kingswood had. Some people also fussed about the handbrake lever being on the left side of the centre console, another issue also solved in later models.
2:50
"Opel stopped selling cars in the UK. The Rekord became the last car to wear an Opel badge and be sold in the UK"
The Opel Manta and Opel Monza continued in the UK until 1988 & 1986 respectively. Long after the last Rekord was sold in the UK.
It's similar to the contemporary VK model Holden Commodore (1984-86) which could be had with either a 3.3-litre straight six, or a 5.0-litre V8. The 1.9-litre 4-cyl Starfire engine - commonly referred to as the Misfire - of the previous VH model (1981-84) was deleted from the Australian market (as was the 2.85-litre straight six and the 4.2-litre V8), though the New Zealand market retained it. Body-wise, the Mk II Carlton is almost the same as the VH, so the Vauxhall would appear to be a model behind the Holden.
OOH, very nice, Matt! Thank you! It would have been interesting if GM Europe had more input on the US market cars. My opinion is that the best US GM full-sized cars sunsetted after the 1977 to 1979 Chevy Caprice (and siblings/cousins) and the General struggled here trying to come up with so desirable (selling in the 100,000s). I liked these cars not only for their clean styling, but the solid, straightforward, proven engineering that made the vehicles durable if properly maintained. The wholesale transition from RWD to FWD along with trying to meet safety, environmental, and fuel economy standards put a huge burden on engineering and costs. My perception is that this resulted in less than stellar vehicles. Now, the US mainstream passenger car market has almost been entirely ceded to Japanese and Korean makes with US makes focusing on the ginormous SUVs and pickup monostrosities that people try to drive like sports cars. The Calton / Rekord would have been much more interesting to me had we been fortunate enough to get something like this in the US. Another fun choice for presentation! Many thanks!
Matt, I had one of these in 1994 (A116 RFE) which was the 1.8 in GL trim and it was in the same colour. It started running like a bag of spanners and I was much less knowledgable back then so I ended up trading it in for a Fiat Regatta (saloon version of the Strada/Ritmo). I wish I'd kept the Carlton a bit longer. This is one of the cars I'd have again in a heartbeat along with the Ford Sierra, MK3 Granada & MK2 Cavalier.
In Australia it was a Holden Commodore. Of course, Aussies wanted bigger engines. They came with 2.8 litre six cylinder engines, and a 4.2 or 5.0 litre V8. There was a1.9 litre four cylinder version as well, but they were not popular.
I think you will find that the lever you said you need to get the key out,is in fact used to lower the steering column ( if my memory is correct ) I had one same year and colour but i had the auto, the steering column failed on mine, you could still drive it but it would move around whilst cornering. Vauxhall said the whole wheel and column would need to be replaced ,so i bought a second hand unit £375 which also failed several months later around the same time the auto box started slipping,sold it to a taxi driver for £200 ! This didn't put me off as i went on to buy a later one with the 2.2 engine and manual box, both cars were great to drive !
The steering column adjuster is on the left side of the column.
Different front and back lights but that’s an Australian Holden commodore to us. The commodore was based on this car. The main difference being engines.
We could choose a 4,6 or v8. The 4cyl didn’t sell well. The straight 6 was 3.3l and common but it was the two v8s everyone wanted. A 4.2l or a 5.0l v8.
It’s funny to see a little 4cyl one. So cute. Hehe
I had one vertially identical a few years ago . Same colour and trim and the seats are a joy! Best interiour i've ever known !. Mine had electric mirrors but manual windows? . It also had a stack of cassette holders in the centre console . A fabulous thing and the styling isn't that far away from modern cars ?. I only sold it for i had too many cars .
I used to have, many years ago, a 1982 Senator (3.0L straight 6, auto (4-speed with lockup, thank goodness), with that mad digital dashboard display). It's quite interesting to see the similarities and differences with the Senator.
I remember the lovely velour (except mine was black). I remember the little lever, to get the key out of the igntion. I remember the single stalk, but I remember the Senator's being on the right (if I recall correctly - a long time ago).
I also remember - ahem - the 17mpg . . .
I had numerous 80`s & 90`s Carltons, Senators & even 70`s FE`s back in the day, I liked them all, & found them a lot more comfortable than the few Granada`s I had, which I never felt comfortable in, with their long, angled seat bases & odd (to me) seat/pedal/steering wheel position. I had the same problem in Sierra`s & Cortina`s I had around the same time. The engineering was also more sophisticated than the Fords as far as I`m concerned, & details like more corrosion resistant fixings/bolts etc made working on them less of a bolt fighting/snapping affair than the Fords too. I`d happily have another big Vauxhall again now.
OMG. This is the review I've been waiting for! I had Opel Rekord Berlinettas from 1980 (XFR 743V in amber gold - brilliant aside from the lack of power steering) and 82 (FLG 383X in white gold - dreadful, unreliable and strangely noisy) and they were followed by a series 2 Carlton - C737 CVS 2200i cdx (fab car but you're right about the lousy auto - my dad had B reg version of the same car but with the 5 speed manual - much better in every respect. Mine was black but his looked identical to the blue one in the brochure). Followed these with a later 2.0i CDX and ultimately a last of the line Diplomat. Really adored most of these cars and covered mega miles in them. The bottom hinged, long accelerator was a great feature and I thought the alloys with star shaped inserts looked brilliant. Really wish I still had one now.
Nice car the carlton.worked on 100s of them.i owned a manual 3.0 gsi proper hooligans car 🤣,taxi drivers loved them ,they were big but economical. Only downfalls were diffs were weak on them and the adjustable steering height Columb would work loose and woble and be an mot failure.
I love how it has the typical old skool Vauxhall clutch pedal squeak!
This brings back memories - I had one that was the inverse of this, dark metallic brown paint with a cream velour interior. I got it for free in the late 90s as the owner was going to scrap it, I ran it for a while until it failed an MoT test on rusty inner wings around the strut tops, and a brake pipe burst on the test. I drove it home from the test station using the handbrake. When I noticed that the rust holes were next to existing patches, I ended up scrapping it. A shame really as it was a nice car, and especially since I'd just replaced the exhaust!
My first carlton failed eventually on rusted out front top mounts.. Despite a talented welder I knew welding in what can only be described as the forth Bridge reinforcements to prolong it... Probably didn't help I had lowered it so far on such hard springs those front strut mounts stood no chance.. Rust or not lol
Aah, Vauxhall clutch squeak. The sound of every minicab in Luton until the Prius took over. 🤣
Couple of things - The Manta and Monza stayed on as Opels in the UK, so the Manta was the last Opel sold here up to 'E' reg, so '87ish, and the Opel Omega A was still badged as a Vauxhall Carlton up until the Omega B launched in '94.
My uncle had an '86 1800i GL with the 3 speed auto, and I just remember that being smooth and quiet wherever it went, including the motorway.
My uncle had one of those, a 1986 dark chocolate brown one with a 2.2 litre and a dark brown velour interior, think it was the run-out model as it was loaded with stuff as electric windows, a sunroof and power steering, that was one executive looking car, but no match for our Granada 2.8 auto, happy days 🤗
Another brilliantly informative video!!! Do love me a Granny but the Carlton does look a good alternative as well. Although the bigger engined Granada was probably aimed to compete against the Senator especially when in Police Traffic uses so Ford kinda covered two bases with one model over Vauxhall's two if that makes sense.
I had a 2.0 gls A150PEO 3 speed automatic crused at 115mph all day long did modify the engine for extra grunt . I had a busted left knee so had to enter into the world of automatic cars this was my first big car moved my pals flat in the boot alone. Your comments about the 3 speed box were wrong as it was geared down in the box and up in the axle Miss this car my uncle had the 2.2 then the next and last shaped Carleton 2.0.
I used to have a 2.2 CD in blue as in the brochure. It had heated front seats & ABS, and as you say apparently very rare along with factory self leveling rear suspension. It was my first auto & I've not looked back in 30+ years 😉
A symphony in brown! I miss velour interiors, looks so classy. Lot's of interesting details on this car. Great review Matt, enjoyed it.
I have a Opel Rekord 2.2i GL. Haven't been on the road for decades, but I still often think of it. It is going back, even before the Granada 2.3 V6, which I also have, because the seats, the overall feel of driving it surpasses the Granada!
I miss seeing big saloons like this . They are better looking and more useful than any SUV.
Great video, and a lovely trip through Stock! My Dad had a Cavalier of this era, and the clutch made exactly the same noise. It took me straight back to my childhood!
Already mentioned in the cars and coffee video but my parents owned a 1986 D reg 2200i CD between 1993 and 1997 in navy blue. It was well worn by the time they bought it. I remember the cigarette burn in the rear seat. It had the 3 speed automatic gearbox that Matt doesn't like. However, I think the auto suits a car of this size. The 2200 engine replaced the 2000 on the CD spec in 1984, offering more torque.
It had around 80,000 miles when they bought it and it was sold nearly 4 years later with 122,000 miles. I passed my driving test in January 1995 and my dad generously let my 17 year old self drive it along the A47 in Norfolk. Absolutely loved it. Was a named driver on the insurance for a time and I cherished my time with the car when I had the chance to borrow it. Those velour seats are as comfortable as Matt described.
Their 1986 CD lost a lot of the chrome interior touches that this 1984 model had. Chrome really seemed to have gone out of fashion by the mid 1980s only to return in the early 1990s with the facelifted mark 3 Carlton and R17 Rover 800 series.
The mark 3 Carlton is a much more refined version of this with it's split fold rear seats, more glassier appearance and height adjustable seatbelts. My dad aimed for an early used mark 3 over a later mark 2 (or a Rover 820) but nothing came up within his budget.
In Australia 🇦🇺 were l live you could get this with a 5L V8.And if you bought a HDT car (Holden dealer team) which was a company started by Australian racing driver Peter Brock. You were able to get many extras including a limited built number,glovebox cover signed by Peter Brock and performance enhancements such as extractors,Cold intake,bigger carby, and a 0_100 (62 mph) of under 7 seconds.!!!
Trip down memory lane, as I had one! It IS well EQUIPPED, but unlike today, equipped with things that actually ARE useful! Seats the size of a 3 - piece suite! Gold? A favourite colour of mine. My car was Bronze - very nice also. And NOT just black or grey like today's rubbish unappealing cars. Due to my eyesight not being so sharp in recent years, I don't drive now - this was my last car. And frankly, with the unappealing interiors now - I couldn't care less! In theory, your dismissal of the automatics is fair enough - all automatics would be better with at least 4 gears, but honestly my automatic really wasn't bad! And slow? Not a bit of it! So nice to revisit the driving experience in your video! Almost like being a passenger! If I could see more SHARPLY, I'd have one again in a heartbeat!
What a beautiful Carlton and I love the wheels too. Great review as always.
Nice car! I remember my old school headmaster in the later 80’s had a metallic green C reg Carlton 2000, I can’t remember if it was an injection version, I remember it having steel wheels with plastic centres though.
I can imagine people who went for the automatic version probably never went beyond the edges of town or their city or they were an older driver who for some reason couldn’t drive a manual version.
Great vid Matt anyway thanks.👍
Ah, happy memories of my old 1.8GL, A833OUD! Bought 2nd hand for commuting to work, it was a comfy old barge. Being a 1.8 it had a carburettor, but was a smooth drive all the same. I had my Phillips radio cassette stolen out of it, they smashed the small triangular window and opened the doors, sad times 😱
Lovely cars, I had x2 later Carlton’s a 2.0L auto saloon it was 3 speed but it went into OD and took rpm to around 2300rpm @70 and I had an 2.3TD Estate, I noticed while you were Driving the signature clutch spring squeak of 80s/90s Vauxhall’s , you got used to the noise, it was part of Vauxhall/Opel manuals trans quirks
That clutch spring sound!!!! Takes me back to childhood! All vauxhalls in the 80s and 90s seemed to do it. What a lovely car, if I had the money 💰 I'd certainly buy it!
The pulling of the headlamp switch to turn on the interior light -that must be a Vauxhall thing because it was exactly the same in the 1963 Vauxhall Cresta PB I had in the late 80s. And then I had a Vauxhall Vectra as a company car around 2000 -and to my amusement that had exactly the same method of turning the interior lamp on. Don't know if Vauxhall still employ that set up?
I love these cars to bits. Truly legendary.
There was also the viceroy with the 2.5 straight six, which was a model placed in the middle between the carlton and senator, vx didn't half make the line up confusing, then you also wonder why the carlton body was effectively the same body as the senator, why didn't they just offer one body with all the different engines. I owned a late D plate senator (last before the facelift in 87 to the Senator B) which was the 3.0 CD and something I really miss, those seats you could not beat, even today, and you could throw it about a bit even though it was buillt for long distance cruising more than anything. Absolutely underrated cars for the time.
My dad had the GL trim so missing some equipment compared to the CD. I only drove it once, & you're right about the seats they are like armchairs. 👍 So comfortable & supportive you could fall asleep in them, well obviously not when you're driving though.👎😀 He had the smallest engine the 1.8 you would think it wouldn't have enough power from a 1.8 in a big car, (but cars wasn't weight down by safety features like cars of today) But it was enough power for my dad as he was a Steady Eddie driver. & That was from the era when Vauxhall's were known for their smooth & quiet engines as well.
Hi there, I had one these years ago, it was blue in colour it was on a B plate with the 1.8 engine. I really like it but it did eat camshafts and the heater matrix did explode. But apart from that I loved driving it .unfortunately I was rear ended wichted killed it off ...cheers Phil form Newark
When I was much younger I always would've prefered a Ford above its Opel/Vauxhall-rival, but with the passing of time, I've come to realise that the Opel/Vauxhall-offerings were often equal, sometimes even the better cars. Here in Belgium, Opel, including their bigger models, used to be such a common sight: comfort without even the slightest pretence of sportiness and still with some vague American influence. Back then, you could find that a little sedate in a world with also the BMW 5-series and some appealing British, French and Italian rivals, now I miss those cars for family men who wanted something solid and a little luxurious, without being too ostentatious. Like a Volvo, but in a lower price range.
This car was also produced in former Yugoslavia by a company called IDA KIKINDA. They also assembled Asconas and Kadetts back in the eighties.
Had a 2.0 one of these I ran to 180k miles was slow imo but as family car 3 kids in back and huge boot. The seats were better than any other car I had. Only sold as was consuming lots oil and smoking badly. I bought at auction as ex reps car at 60k. Massive sunroof and felt very Germanic solidity and drive.. bought next model after just 1.8 but still very very fine car indeed.. every bit as good as bmw quality wise just not the performance. Very very fond memories of these.
If we could buy this type of car now I would have one in a heartbeat.. easy maintenance reliable and visibility incredible.
Changed the rear pump up shocks as were rubbish. Replaced with non air ones but did not tow. The steering wheel was like a boats.
Also bring back 5 speed gearboxes. Pull from 45- 100 no effort.
Also RWD pleeeeeze.
I thought was a different league to Granada quality wise
I had one of these years ago, the seats were just so comfortable nothing like the hard modern ones. I could hear in your video the typical 80’s Vauxhall clutch pedal squeak, every one I had made the same sound. Memories.
Well done!!
this familiar squeaking sound of the clutch pedal.... My Opel Ascona sounded exactly the same.
I had an Opel Rekord 2.0S Berlina back in 1983. Colour...yep, two-tone gold over the side trim and brown below it.
Absolutely beautiful car.
Great video Matt, you did the car proud. Looking forward to your next visit!
Very interesting. You had the PERFECT chance to do a back to back comparison of very much comparable cars. This would have been in direct competition with the Volvo 740 2 litre, which you already own. Personally I would stick with the Volvo 240 Estate, but I'm biased, since that is what I drive daily.
About the 3 speed automatic, though. Our 81 Volvo 240DL wagon was a 3 speed automatic. Ma had a 58 Vauxhall Velox and the gear shift would freeze in cold weather, so after that bad piece of engineering she wanted no part of a manual. I'm sure there is a GM automatic that would bolt in if someone wanted overdrive.
This is a very well-timed video - for anyone who might want something similar, there's a 1980 Opel Rekord E1 on Auto Trader at the moment. Maroon, and with a RED VELOOOOOOOUUUUURRRR interior that looks like it was made out of Zapp Brannigan's old uniforms. I want it... but I can't afford it, I have nowhere to park and store it, so it'll have to go to someone else. A word of caution, though - it's a two-litre with the three-speed slushbox that Matt warned us about, but if it's only for taking to classic car shows, it should be bearable. Someone grab it and take it to Festival Of The Unexceptional!
Happy memories. Thank you.
In my native New Zealand 🇳🇿, we got the almost equivalent VC Holden Commodore ( also in Gold ), in my case, my late Dad's company car with the "blue" ( starfire ) engined 4 cylinder.
An australian car assembled from a CKD kits exported across the tasman.
Ever seen the towbar kit ?
Its a two part affair with an in boot 👢 frame.
Not a car you ever want to be in if you are hit from behind 😢
The whole car folds across the roof between the two b pillars.
Both my parents were lucky to be alive.
A drunk driver whom hit and run completely abandoning the scene from a mk5 Cortina estate.😢
Thanks for your Carlton CD ( Vauxhall ) review.❤
Wonderful. My dad had a very, very similar one but 'B' reg and in white. It was really comfortable, spacious family transport. That Philips 741 radio is the original - ours was exactly the same.
Opel's last cars in the UK were the Monza (up to 1986-ish, last ones on a D-plate), and the Manta, the last of which were 87/E plate. Vauxhall and Opel were merged by GM, and for most of the 1980s , the dealers were Vauxhall/Opel. Vauxhall was kept in the UK because buyers were more familiar with the brand, likewise Opel in Europe, so not really that they were withdrawn, the cars, badges apart, were the same anyway.
Also, fuel injection was still rare in 1983. It waa only the early 1990s when catalytic converters became compulsory fitting, that fuel injection became standardised (end of 1992 IIRC), because it worked better with catalysts.
The engine in this Carlton is the same as found on the Opel Manta GTE. It's from the 70s, and has an odd cam-in-head (not overhead cam) design. The GM 'Family Two' engines were proper OHC and used in FWD Vauxhall/Opels e.g. M1 Astra and Mk2 Cavalier onwards
And again - 116 mph top speed, 0-60 in about 10.5 seconds!
Takes me back to 1985, had to drive to Letchworth office from Manchester so was looking fwd to getting mileage and taking my 9mth old Strada 130 for its first proper long drive and an overnight on the company. Sadly as a 2 litre, that meant had to use a pool car - A silver Carlton CD 2.0 !?! Best described as a bit tired and leggy. On the way back due to heavy rain had to ring office for expenses authorisation as wiper blades shot and no screenwash. Didn't like Vauxhalls much before, this didn't improve things.
I had one of these and it was one of the best cars I ever had. Certainly at the time. It was the most luxurious car I'd owned and even now, one of the most comfortable
Wow, it looks like a giant version of the Nova of that time! Great review Matt.
That clutch squeak has just taken me right back to my childhood being driven around in my grandad's Vauxhall Cavalier Sports Hatch!