REPRINT FROM ISSUE #17 1983
REVIEW OF ESTRADA CARLOS
BARGAIN? UH, WELL…
This will not impress your neighbours, but will it impress us?
Sometimes we get complaints that we are only testing too expensive cars and that we don’t have enough reviews of cars in the lowest price class. Generally, we are not too keen about them though. Buying a slightly used example of any of the slightly more expensive superminis on the market is often a better idea, for about the same money you will trade up on comfort, quality and safety, while they still will give cheap car ownership for many years to come. But some people just want to squeeze a brand new car into a tight budget, and there is of course nothing wrong with the idea. The question is, is there something wrong with the car itself? To find out, we have tested a car that is quite typical for the lowest price class, the Estrada Carlos, that has been on the market since 1977, but recently recieved a facelift.
DRIVING CHARACTERISTICS
There will always be something fun about tossing around a car this small, light and nimble, especially when it comes to city driving. On the highway we are more doubtful, but that’s not the intended element for a car like this, it is a city car and should be treated and reviewed as such. Things like parallell parking and maneuvering in tight spots are of course a piece of cake.
But when driven hard, it becomes clear that you sometimes get what you pay for. While many superminis on the market actually has good handling, this is more mediocre. Front wheel drive cars often have understeering characteristics but this front end wants to go forward with squealing tyres even at low speeds, and there is lots of body roll. Skidpad numbers (0.8 G) aren’t that bad, even if not exceptional, but they doesn’t tell everything either. The lack of a rear anti sway-bar may be an explanation. Of course, it saves some money at the price of handling, sometimes you will have to do a tradeoff. The unusually high profile and narrow tyres doesn’t help either.
Braking is actually not totally bad, despite having drums all around, something that was dropped at least ten years ago on most cars. But considering the light weight of the car, they aren’t impressive either, it stops at 44.1 metres from 100 and there is some fading, which is hard to get around with drums. But considering that cars like this usually isn’t driven hard, they are probably adequate in most cases.
VERDICT: **
PERFORMANCE
Zippy is not the right words to use to describe a car like this. The 37 hp engine has to work hard to get the car up to 100 km/h, giving a 16.5 second acceleration time. However, a top speed of 158 km/h is more than enough even without taking our speed limits into consideration, it is much faster than you want to go in a car like this. Overtaking of other cars should be well planned too, or rather, be forgotten. Going from 80 to 120 feels like it is taking forever. As we said, the highway is not the right element for a car like this, and it doesn’t like to be driven hard.
VERDICT: **
COMFORT
Other than the seats being a positive surprise, with firm padding and good side support, there is not much positive to say. The growling from the noisy three cylinder engine (where money seems to be saved by having only one muffler!) is very present due to the lack of sound insulation. An overly hard suspension for a lightweight vehicle makes for a bumpy ride on bad roads and it is very hard to find a more uncomfortable passenger car on the market today. Of course, you can’t expect a Silver-York for this price, but truth is that anything but very short trips will be annoying in this car.
VERDICT: 0
ROOMINESS
The upright and square shape, combined with the space saving layout of a transverse engine does wonders. One may expect a car like this to be cramped, but squeezing in four adults is actually a task that is easily done. There is much larger cars that aren’t any roomier. 345 litres of cargo space is maybe not much, but still a positive surprise for a car this size. At least as a second car, it actually works for a family. So, in this case we can only say, don’t judge a book by its cover. But still, keep in mind that this IS a tiny car and there is a limit for the miracles you can do.
VERDICT: **
EQUIPMENT:
There is only a blank for the radio, so we hope that you are good at singing. There is no clock, no cigar lighter, not even a temperature gauge but an idiot light instead. The seats are covered with vinyl and there is rubber carpeting on the floor. The rear side windows are fixed and there is only one side mirror. Luxuries are limited to 2-speed wipers and a heater/defroster. Once again, tradeoffs are done to save money, but how far are you willing to go?
VERDICT: 0
ENGINE AND DRIVETRAIN
The 3 cylinder engine was released before Elvis did his military service and is getting a bit long in the tooth. It is noisy, unrefined and ancient and feels a bit underpowered even in this car. But at the same time, it has a flat torque curve considering how small of an engine it is, meaning that you don’t have to shift constantly, that’s a thing we appreciate. A 4 speed manual gearbox feels like the typical choice for this class and we could not complain about it. It feels like a gearbox, no more, no less. Shifting is by no means awkward as it is in some budget cars. Overall, even if we feel that the drivetrain is outdated, it still does it job in a car like this.
VERDICT: **
QUALITY
The interior felt very durable and will probably last at least as long as the rest of the car. The car has been on the market for some years and has proven to be reliable. Statistics from the annual safety inspection says that the 1977 model Estradas mainly failed on worn out shock absorbers, broken front springs and leaking steering racks. Also, it feels a bit worrying that some of them already failed on rust, and there is no sign of improved rust protection on the facelifted model. But overall, even if fit and finish looked a bit sloppy on the outside, it didn’t give the impression of being a badly built car overall, and its owners seems to agree.
VERDICT: ***
ECONOMY
$8350 AMU for a brand new car is of course what is tempting in this case. And since there is always a second hand market for cars like this (and since there was not much money to lose from the start), since the service and repairs are cheap, as well as the tax and insurance, this is absolutely a cheap way to own a new car. 6.4 litres per 100 km is maybe not an impressive figure for a car this size with such a tiny engine, but still low figures compared to most cars on the market. This is where the Estrada really shines.
VERDICT: *****
SAFETY
A car this size will never offer any high levels of safety. There is almost no room for a crumple zone and the light weight means that it will lose in a head on collision with a heavier car. There is not much distance to surfaces you may hit in a crash and they have no padding, not even the dashboard that is made of some rock hard plastic that doesn’t seem to have any energy absorbing capabilities at all. There is not even a collapsible element on the steering column, which probably have passed the regulations with small margins due to the placement of the steering rack very far behind, as usual in a front wheel drive car. It doesn’t even include headrests up front in the price.
It passes the current legislation and of course it has seatbelts, but that is about it.
VERDICT: 0
Here, the Carlos is in its right element. Using it for the highway commute may be more doubtful.
FINAL VERDICT: 16/45
We are sure that we will get angry letters from many readers now, that we have given this car an unfair verdict just because it is cheap. Truth is, we have tested it like we do with all other cars, and we came to the conclusion that it lacks in too many areas to be a car we can recommend.
We would be happy if we could say that it was as good as more expensive cars, but our opinion remains, buying a car with a slightly higher sticker price that is maybe one or two years old gives you so much more car for the same amount of money. But if you have a limited budget and for some reason can’t consider an used car, well, this is what you get. The Estrada Carlos is by no means worse than any other car in this price class. You have to accept lots of compromises for this money whatever you will choose. And it does its job as a car. It goes, it stops, it corners and you won’t get wet when it’s raining.
But if one wants to be salty, that’s about it, too.
(Thanks to @Mad_Cat for the car!)