Trafikjournalen (Test: 1955 TORSHALLA POESY KOMBI)

[Knugcab]

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!)

[Knugcab]

REPRINT FROM ISSUE #20 1993
CLASSIC CAR PAGES

RAIDERS OF THE LOST RAUKS

Who could believe that something like this would form the basis for a sports car brand?

Not all Swedish cars are the same. Some of them are the complete opposites to each other. Take Rauk as an example. A renowned sports car manufacturer, cool, fast and light cars, not very practical though. Or take Volvo. Dependable, safe, practical and…to be honest, a bit clumsy and boring. And the Volvo of Volvos must be the Duett. Built between 1953 and 1968, it was the company car of choice in the 50s and 60s. A pure box on wheels. No need for a sleek design or sporty engines here. When you opened its rear doors, there was a huge gap that could swallow everything, and it could probably survive two nuclear wars without taking notice, seldom has a car been more of pure practicality and sanity than the Duett.

Yet they have more in common than you may think. What if I told you that the first RAUK was nothing more than a rebodied and hopped up Volvo Duett? Having his 3 year old Volvo Duett written off in 1956, Rune Andersson thought that the intact chassis could be rebodied with something more sleek. Inspired by the Chevy Corvette, he had his friend Urban Karlsson to build a fiberglass sports car body. But after multiple people had asked if the car was for sale, they decided to produce a small series, this time using a couple of brand new 445 rolling chassis from Volvo (the same underpinnings as the Duett had, you could still buy them without bodies in 1957 directly from Volvo). And there is part of a huge problem.

The six first RAUK cars (the 1956 original RAUK and the five 1957 RAUK PM1 cars that was built) were actually registered as Volvos since they used a Volvo chassis. You can’t find how many 1957 Rauks that is registered in Sweden by searching through the automobile registry. There simply was no cars branded RAUK in 1957 in the paperwork. And the history of the earliest RAUK cars have been partly unknown for a long time, even for the factory. Until recently, when the factory museum and Trafikjournalen started to dig deeper into the history of them.

One thing that made things easier was that the VIN numbers were in the factory archives and that all the cars had their original registration on Gotland, in the old system before 1973 when the vehicle register was turned into one single unit for all of Sweden. Searching for them weren’t impossible, it just required some work.

The original

This was how it all started back in 1956.

The first car, the pre-production model, was no problem at all - it was owned by Rune Andersson until 1983, when it was donated to the factory museum. In 1983, he made a replica for his own use and decided to save the irreplaceable original for the future. And in the museum it stands, never restored, just a well kept original car. Being inspired by the Corvette, the paintwork was of course Chevrolet Polo white, and the interior red. Lots of details differ from the later PM1 cars, this was built on an earlier chassis, meaning B4B engine instead of B16, it had the 3 speed transmission from the Duett instead of the 4 speed from the Amazon used in the PM1, and lots of details did differ.

But the most remarkable one is probably the De Soto grille. An unthinkable thing on the production models, yet it transforms the look into something interesting. From the front, a Corvette from a parallell universe.

PM1 number one

Same body molds, lots of improvements, lots of different detailing. The PM1 was a thriving step towards a car for small series production instead of being just a home built plastic bucket.

The first PM1 of course went to Urban Karlsson. When new, the car was finished in the popular metallic maroon that was available on the Volvo PV444. Unfortunately Volvo suffered from quality problems with the paint and replaced it with their non-metallic Ruby red. Since PM1 number 1 also was faded in just a couple of years, it got a repaint in the Ruby red in the early 60s. The vehicle was used by Urban Karlsson until his sudden and way too early death in 1970, at only 38 years of age. By then, it was decided to build up a small factory museum and the #1 PM1 was one of the first cars in their collection. The Ruby red paint was once again painted over, this time with a paint similar to the original metallic maroon, but with more modern paint than the 50s nitrocellulose that stood the test of time better.

PM1 number two

The fate of the second PM1 was unknown for years. The customer ordered it in Bogliq blue (RAUK did not have any own paint recipes by then and left that choice to the customer) with a black interior. It was taken out of service in the mid 60s and all traces of it was ending there.

In the late 80s, it was found inside a barn not far from the factory, in a horrible condition, but complete. The plans by the new owner was to restore it to factory condition and specs, seeing it as an important part of both local and automotive history.

Unfortunately it was burned completely in a tragic garage fire in 1991. Nothing was left to save of the car, and PM1 number two is gone forever, no question about it.

PM1 number three

Could this even be called the real car anymore? It is the pride and joy of Olav Lange anyway.

The third PM1 was a little bit harder task. Appearantly it was still in use (even if it had moved from Gotland to Stockholm) when we got the new license plates in 1973 and was moved over to the new vehicle register system. But shortly afterwards it seems to have been exported to Norway. Luckily the last owner in Sweden remembered the name of the buyer, and where it went. He was still alive and living in the same place as he did back then. So were a bunch of later owners too, and we managed to trace it to Olav Lange in Hamar that bought it in 1978.

An interview with him shows that very few parts from the #3 actually remains. The car was in a horrible state when he got it, and the restoration is screaming 70s a long way. The chassis was rusted to oblivion and replaced with the chassis from a 1964 Volvo Duett. Numerous cracks in the fragile fiberglass body meant that they used the original body just to make new molds for a replacement body. The engine is a B20 from a 1976 Volvo 240, complete with the new for the year M45 transmission and its short gear lever. Sure, it is not a bad choice for a sports car compared to the B16 and M4 transmission that it came with, but…

The exterior is mostly a shadow of what it was. Instead of the 1957 Ford “Woodsmoke grey” that was on the body the car originally came with, the paint is now Hillstrom tractor orange with a satin black bonnet. The bumpers are long gone and much of the chrome was just painted over with black or removed altogether since the condition left much to be desired. The wire wheels disappeared already before the car came to Norway and it was rolling on rusty steelies when Olav bought it. Now it sports a set of Shelby slot mags. The wood steering wheel is replaced with a cheap 70s leatherette aftermarket wheel.

Olav says that there is no plans for an original restoration, since there is nothing of the original left anyway. He built it the way he wanted it and he has no problem in using it as a daily in the summer when it is not too nice to put miles on. And in one way, maybe he is right.

But of all the colours you could choose, Hillstrom tractor orange?

Crazy norwegians indeed.

And the question remains, is this the #3 or is it a replica? Or since the “replica” looks nothing like the original #3, is it something else than a replica?

PM1 number four

This was the car that we thought was going to be the easiest task. It is actually the only PM1 that is still registered in Sweden except for the PM1 on the RAUK museum. The only thing that was needed was to call the current owner, right?

A phone call resulted in a very angry man at the other end of the line, that says that he does not own a RAUK.

“Well, this is a very early RAUK, still registered as a 1957 Volvo 445…”

“I am not interested in talking to you, and don’t call me ever again, thanks!”

Being very surprised by the result, we tried to call the previous owner that sold the car to him in 1989. It turned out to be the son of a hoarder, that sold off the whole collection of project cars he had after his death, about 50 of them. He was not into cars himself and did not remember any RAUK.

“It was still registered as a 1957 Volvo, the license plate said…”

“Yes, now I remember that car. The papers said Volvo, it did not look like a Volvo, but I sold it as a Volvo. A very strange Volvo. Why is a RAUK registered as a Volvo anyway?”

After convincing him that it was all in order and that he did nothing illegal by selling it and that the papers was right, we got the answer that he indeed had sold it to the very angry man in Jönköping. So what was so sensitive about this then?

Well, we heard some rumours from vintage car people in that area, that we guess are true until we are convinced otherwise. It turns out that the man was restoring a Volvo Duett and bought it as a parts car. He was sure that someone had put some kind of kit car body on a Volvo Duett chassis. Since he had some aggressions against that “ugly kit car body”, he smashed it into smithereens with an axe.

In 1989.

There was still some possibility to save a very rare and very early RAUK only four years ago. Now, it is too late. And the same rumours says that the chassis parts he didn’t use is used as landfill.

When we told people that it actually was the fifth car that RAUK ever built (or fourth, if only counting the production cars) they got dead quiet and say that if he had known it, he would never have forgiven himself. And we somewhat get the idea that he had realized what he had done already before our phonecall.

According to the factory archive, it was painted Volkswagen Stratos silver. And probably it still had its original paint, due to the former owner remember it as being a dark shade of silver.

PM1 number five

While we could trace the first four PM1 cars very easy, we thought that number five was going to remain a mystery forever. It disappears from the registrations already in the early 60s. The former owners are all dead and their relatives does not remember any RAUK.

The only conclusion was that it was probably junked in the 60s. Long gone and forgotten by everyone. I was almost going to write this article up as a failure. Almost willing to convince to the RAUK factory museum that there seems to be no sign of the PM1 number 5 anywhere.

Then one day, the unthinkable happened, when I was least expecting it. Me and a friend was starting to get a bit nostalgic. We started going through some black and white photos of when he was visiting San Fransisco in 1973. And then, on one photo…

I did not believe it. Since there was no chance that any of the other PM1 cars should have been in SF in 1973, this was it. In a corner of a fuzzy B/W photo, I was able to identify that car as a RAUK PM1 and it really could not be anything else than the missing number 5 car. But what had happened to it the last 20 years?

The detective work was of course intensive. SF is big and there is more than one automobile club in the era. Let’s just say that after some intensive work as a bloodhound (and a vintage car enthusiast that have gotten some connections all around the world), we managed to trace it to Arnie Petersen, that has owned it since 1968!

The number 5 PM1 still exists, in an unbelievably good condition!

How it got to the US is something he has no clue about. When he bought it it was just a quirky european sports car among others, but it was well taken care of. And Arnie is a man that takes care of his stuff. It still wears the IP Ebony black that it was painted from the factory, and it still shines. Everything works, everything is there. And it probably have doubled in value many times. Arnie actually had no idea about how rare and early this car was, RAUK was largely unheard of in the US until the late 60s or early 70s anyway. But as always, expect to find the things you are looking for in the last spot you will be checking.

So, now the early RAUK history is more or less clear. They actually do exist (barely, though) even outside the RAUK museum. And the idea from Rune Andersson and Urban Karlsson is kept alive.

The idea to rebody a Volvo Duett into something fun, that grew into being a renowned sports car manufacturer.

(OOC, the article basically wrote itself in my head when starting up the RAUK brand, so sorry about the self-promotion but I just couldn’t let it be, and it is a bit of introduction to the brand too.)

[Knugcab]

REPRINT FROM ISSUE # 18 2019
TEST DRIVE OF OLSSON 1170 ORKAN AND 1170 ORKAN KP

THE EVIL OLSSON TWINS

The 1170 may feel like fast and fun, but…

Now try to visualize this. In front of you there is a brand new hot hatchback. Steel grey metallic with some red accents and it really looks the part. It’s all yours now. You grab the handle to open the door which leads you to a place where you will be cocooned in deeply contoured bucket seats. You get inside, fasten your safety belt, grab the chunky leather wrapped sports steering wheel, and press the button to the starter. You hear the growl when the turbocharged 1.7 litre inline four comes alive. 216 horsepowers. You put the transmission in drive, no conventional slushbox here but a modern DCT, which somehow makes up for the missing manual transmission. Now, the road in front of you is all yours.

You feel how the sticky 215 wide rubbers hugs the road, the car just corners and corners and seems to never lose grip, through the chicanes and hairpin curves you have to pass, to come out on a long straight empty highway, with no traffic in sight. There is no speed limit here, so what are you waiting for? Floor it!

In 6.2 seconds you’re already driving 100 km/h and the car just keeps accelerating and accelerating. Finally, you have reached 248 km/h in 7th gear and there is nothing more to give now, but the car feels fast, stable, planted to the ground. Life could not be better.

But something worrying is appearing in your mirror. It is like another version of yourself is approaching from behind. Another brand new hot hatch, surprisingly similar to yours. It starts flashing its lights, steers out in the fast lane and leaves you behind like nothing. You have lost against a better version of yourself. Game over. Now, slowly open your eyes and find out that you are back in this world again, where you are probably driving a tan 1982 Minerva Bullet anyway.

If you visualized yourself driving an Olsson 1170 Orkan you visualized right, and the car that passed you was the 1170 Orkan KP, a kind of special edition for the demanding driver that doesn’t get enough from a regular Orkan.

…compared to the KP version, it falls flat.

The KP adds a little more of everything to an already competent hot hatch. 245 hp instead of 216. A little more decor on the outside, with carbon fiber details. A little better cornering grip. 0-100 now takes only 5.6 seconds and a top speed of 268 km/h means that you can leave a non-KP Orkan behind you , at least on some streches of the Autobahn.

And the best thing of all is that it comes at a price premium of only $400 AMU, which makes one think if it is worth keeping the standard Orkan in production at all, since we guess most buyers will opt for the KP option anyway.

Otherwise, the cars are quite similar. A typical Olsson, one could say. Good allrounders that aren’t sacrificing important factors in the hunt for going fast or looking good. Semi-quirky design. Understeer when being driven very hard and kind of an 80s “horse-kick” in the back from the Turbo, which Olsson buyers tend to see as part of the charm of the cars.

The engine family is pretty new, from 2015, and it is rumoured to maybe be a last hurrah from Olsson when it comes to the ICE. If this is a last farewell it is a good one. Politically correct or not, it is still fun to drive a competent dino powered car once in a while when EVs are what all the rage is about. The 7 speed DCT that it’s mated to is doing its job well too, many buyers would maybe prefer a manual in this segment but fact is that the DCT will shift faster than you are able too. Overall, the rest of the cars are very well thought out. You don’t have to sacrifice much of the practicality as a daily, just to be able to drive fast.

But at $46300 AMU the Orkan is maybe not very cheap for a small car. And that is why we wonder if there is any good reason to keep it in production. At this money, most people will gladly pay the extra $400 AMU premium to get a KP, also better second hand value will even it out in the end.

(Thanks to @ACoolCrab for the cars)

[ACoolCrab]

I made a mistake somewhere, the KP should be more exclusive and more expensive but it’s not haha

Thx for the review, and I see that this body still has the morph reset bug on the front with the wipers

[Knugcab]

REPRINT FROM #19 1976
COMPARISION TEST - HOLBORN D1600 - DICKSON BASKER

WHAT DO I GET FOR MY MONEY?

We doubt that anybody is cross-shopping a Holborn D1600 with a Dickson Basker. Still, the unfair comparision is not without its points.

“What do I get for my money?”. In the end that is what every car buyer will be asking himself. What varies, though, is rather the amount of money he is willing to spend, and what he wants the car to do for him. And that’s the reason why so few people are cross-shopping the two examples of Britains finest engineering we are going to compare now. The $7970 AMU Holborn D1600, agressively priced to compete with cheap eastern block cars, and the $24100 AMU Dickson Basker 5.0 GTC, a gran turismo showing high levels of craftmanship and engineering. And there is no posters of Holborns on teenage boys bedroom walls, that’s one thing you could be sure of. But when thinking about it, it feels kind of hilarious that you can buy three Holborns for the same amount of money as just ONE Dickson, and still have some money left for gas, too.

If we start on the outside, one of the differences we are noticing is that the Holborn has four doors, the Dickson only has two. That means that for every door you want to remove, you have to pay $8065 AMU, that is more than the whole Holborn costs. Doesn’t feel very sane when thinking about it, right? Another difference according to most people we ask is that the Dickson is beautiful and the Holborn is hideous. But that is something we don’t review as an automobile magazine since beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

You can’t get this in a Holborn.

Maybe it evens everything out to pop the bonnet open. The V8 in the Dickson means that every cylinder costs $4032.50 - at least you get something for your money there instead of losing it. 68 hp and 1601 cc versus 214 hp and 5000 cc makes the Dickson look like a bargain - at least when it comes to the engine, it is more than three times as big and more than three times as powerful, for only around three times the price. The 230 km/h top speed of the Dickson sounds better than 159 km/h for the Holborn - but with today’s speed limits, we would say that they are even. But you reach 100 in 7.3 seconds instead of 15.8 - expensive seconds but still.

You also get one more gear in the Dickson gearbox, but you really have to like your fifth gear to be willing to pay $16130 for it. Especially since it seems like it is not helping fuel economy. You have to pay $2443.94 for every litre you are wasting per 100 km compared to the Holborn - and that is before fuel costs is added to the equation. The servicing is almost three times as costly for the Dickson, too.

The fact that the Dickson has 4 wheel disc brakes instead of 4 wheel drums like the Holborn and stops from 100 in 37.2 metres instead of 51.2 can of course be priceless if your life depends on it. And shoud the worst thing happen, you are protected in a Dickson while the Holborn is more or less trying to actively kill you in a crash. But one has to keep in mind that some cheaper cars also offer good crash protection nowadays. In the circle test, the Holborn is hopelessly shadowed by the Dickson too.

Power steering and an interior that is both more durable and using more fancy equipment than in the Holborn is another thing to consider.

So, except for practicality and economy, the Dickson is clearly the better car. But it is three times better? VERY doubtful, since both of them fulfill the same duties more or less. You won’t get wet when it is raining and it sure beats walking. Everything else is just a bonus after all.

We’re not suggesting that we rather would own three Holborns than one single Dickson either. But compering them have sure been interesting. Even if we are sure that we probably haven’t affected your next car owership with the testing.

(Thanks to @missionsystem and @agj38 for the cars!)

[Knugcab]

REPRINT FROM #13 2017
TEST DRIVE OF QUMA XCROSS MX FACELIFT

THE PIONEER STRIKES BACK?

Forea was kind of a pioneer when it came to build soft-roaders for the urban jungle. Do they still stand up?

Reverse the clock 21 years. We did a big comparision test of the most interesting 4 wheel drive SUVs on the market, and among all the heavy duty macho off roaders stood a humble japanese station wagon on stilts.

“The Forea HRC-4 is a concept we think that we will see more of in the future”
“The only car that is offering passenger car comfort here is the actual passenger car - the Forea”
“Sure, it is on a whole different level than the others when it comes to offroad capacity, but it is because it is a completely different concept - and it works like it is intended to do.”

Times are changing but after all those years we think that we were kind of right. The streets are flooded with cars built on the same concept as the HRC-4 nowadays. The HRC-4 got a little brother in the form of a Quma X-Cross some years ago, that now has gotten a facelift. And most people will probably say that the results at least on the outside wasn’t that bad. It looks nice and contemporary and will not stand out like a sore thumb in a crowd in any way at all. Then if you actually like the looks of it, well, it is up to you, but the first impression we get is that the looks of the facelifted Forea will probably be well suited for its audience.

And speaking about the outside it looks promising in other ways too. Panel gaps were even, trim was straight and appeared to be mounted solid, and the metallic orange on our test example was smooth without orange peel (no pun intended). The extensive use of aluminium and corrosion resistant steel means that the Forea rust problems from 20 years ago are only a distant memory now. But that’s the body, how about the soul then you might ask?

Stepping inside the car reveals an interior that could have been from more or less any car in its class, despite being some years old now it shows no alarming sights of age, especially not after some small tweaks that the facelift have brought with it. And there was no rattles or squeaks that annoyed, and the materials felt durable.

Starting up the engine shows that Forea can still be considered an innovative brand. A small 1 litre turbocharged 3-cylinder comes alive with something that starts as a silent whisper, but has a bold rasp when touching the throttle, one must say that it is running smooth for what it is and that you won’t miss that last cylinder that is lacking compared to many competitors. 115 hp is maybe nothing to brag about anymore, but it is a decent power output from that small plant, and combined with the 6 speed manual in our test example it even felt somewhat sporty.

Something that kills the sportiness a bit is the driving dynamics though. Handling is safe and predictable even if it doesn’t really excel at the high speed slalom course, but it starts to understeer relatively early and the fuel-saver tyres probably doesn’t do it any favours either. On the other hand, this is not supposed to be a sports car. Neither is it an offroader, despite its looks the standard equipment is only front wheel drive, though that’s not uncommon on entry level models in this class. The suspension is set up more for comfort, and that’s OK, it gives this small car a decent ride which its buyers probably will appreciate. Braking is fair and we felt no fade.

Better then is the fuel economy, 4.4 litres per 100 km shows that Forea are serious in their long-time devotion to build economical and yet frisky powerplants. Servicing will be cheap and extremely good durability means that you will probably stay away from costly repairs even after the warranty have expired. It also means that it will hold up its value well, the Quma XCross is a sought after model on the used car market and the facelift will probably just boost the interest.

21 years ago we took a photo of an HRC-4 on the top of this hill. History repeats itself.

So all in all, the XCross is by no means an exciting car, but it has an aura of sanity and quality that gives a special charm in itself. And despite being on the market for some years, only the mediocre 3-star Euro NCAP rating is a sign of its age. But 21 years ago Forea had an advantage of being one of the few choices for crossover buyers. Nowadays all the brands are flooding the streets with them, and the XCross is not necessarily the obvious choice in this class, it kind of disappears in the crowd.

But as we said earlier, that is better than sticking out like a sore thumb.

(Thanks to @vouge for the car!)

[Knugcab]

REPRINT FROM #2 1988
REVIEW OF AUXIO AQ500

THE CAR YOU CAN’T BUY

If you can’t identify the mystical car that is lurching in the night, there is a good reason for that. Auxio is something as unusual as a completely new car brand. You can’t even buy one in Europe until 1989.

Tanaka. Does that name induce thoughts of luxury and prestige to you? If it does, you are one of appearantly way too few. When it comes to producing luxury cars for the US market, the name “Tanaka” is not good enough, Auxio is their name now. In the asian markets, this car is sold under the name Tanaka Celesta, but in the north american market, as well as the european market where the brand is going to be introduced for the 1989 model year, it’s called the Auxio AQ500. And as one of the first magazines in Europe, we now have a test drive report of it.

DRIVING CHARACTERISTICS
The car is rear wheel drive, and you can easily make the tail swing out if you aren’t using the 269 horsepowers under the hood with care. A traction control system is said to be under development at the moment and may even come as standard equipment when we will recieve the first cars in Europe. But even if it feels a bit tail happy, it will understeer rather than oversteer in a very fast emergency maneuvre. It is said to do 0.87 G at the skidpad, not impressive in any way but certainly not bad. The power steering has variable ratio and felt like a good compromise between road feel and comort.

ABS is standard equipment and the stopping distances are fair, but we did not like the huge amounts of brake fade when driven hard. It might be acceptable on japanese and american highways with their moderate speed limits, but we think that Tana…ehm, Auxio, better has to come up with an upgraded braking system before this vehicle hits the german autobahn.

VERDICT: ***

PERFORMANCE
269 hp sounds like a lot but the car is heavy and has an automatic transmission, so how does it hold up? Actually, very well. A sprint to 100 from 0 takes only 7.62 seconds, the top speed is 272 km/h and since 80-120 takes 4.68 seconds, passing of other cars is never scary. This vehicle is fast, no question about it.

VERDICT: *****

COMFORT
The 5 litre V8 is reasonably smooth and very quiet and that is a good start, and good sound insulation makes the engine sounds feel more like a silent whisper, as well as road and wind noises are barely noticeable. The front seats are like your favourite armchairs at home, in the rear they have resisted to make two individual bucket seats like some luxury car manufacturers, there is a bench there that hardly feels like a “bench” though, but makes it possible to carry three passengers. The suspension is soft, but never wallowy thanks to adaptive damping, and makes the ride feel like if it is on clouds.

VERDICT: *****

ROOMINESS:
It offers decent room for its passengers, a trunk volume of 581 litres means that it is hardly a cargo van, even if adequate most of the time. The slanted roof takes up some valuable headroom in the back, but up front it is OK. It is easy to be fooled by the outer dimensions, but fact is that many small cars are much smarter packaged and therefore offers nearly as much room as many of the luxury cruisers.

VERDICT: ***

EQUIPMENT
The tested model is not even the most high end alternative. To a (huge) cost you can buy an “executive package” which our car didn’t have, but the question is almost why you should? ABS, alloy wheels, adaptive damping, variable ratio steering, 4 zone climate control, orthopedic heated leather seats with electric adjustment and memory, and of course simple peasant gizmos like electric mirrors and windows, you name it - it’s there.

VERDICT: *****

ENGINE AND DRIVETRAIN

The 5 litre, 269 hp DOHC 32V V8 is smooth, modern, powerful and responsive. Torque curve is high and flat almost from idle to the rev limiter cuts off at 6200 RPM. Nowadays, building an engine completely out of cast iron seems like a strange decision in this price class, but on the other hand, it is both cheap and durable, even if it adds some weight.

Behind it is a 4 speed autobox that is doing its job very well. It incorporates the latest technology with electronic control and lockup. Gearing seems to be sane.

VERDICT: ****

QUALITY

Fit and finish is impressive from the inside and out. Materials like the wood and leather in the interior seems to be chosen with care. Unfortunately, there has been some problems reported with the first cars, the advanced technology that is fitted to cars like this takes its toll.

The unibody structure is galvanized - no rust there in many years to come. But on the outside, there is just a regular steel body, where some competitors have made some of their outer panels out of materials like aluminium and plastic. Cosmetical rust might be an issue in some years.

VERDICT: ***

ECONOMY
A $41100AMU car may sound like insanity in itself, and it will not be cheap to tax, insure or service. Being a completely new brand, it’s hard to predict the second hand value, so we prefer to see it as questionable. In this class, the prestige in the brand is important and an unknown luxury car may have a lukewarm second hand market.

The gas mileage is somewhat better though. 11.7 litres per 100 km is not all that bad considering that the car has a 5 litre V8 and weighs over 1700 kg.

VERDICT: *

SAFETY
It is huge and it is heavy. The body seems to be rigid and well engineered, and has long crumple zones both front and rear. There is headrests and 3-point belts even in the back, and the seatbelts are adjustable in height too. The doors have side impact beams, the electric fuel pump a shutoff, there is anti submarining seats, and for the driver, there is even an airbag. The Auxio is probably one of the safest cars on the market right now.

VERDICT: *****

Not a sight as common as you might think, the V8 is economical for what it is.

FINAL VERDICT: 34/45
Let’s say it right now - this car deserves a better name than “Tanaka”. It has qualities that might easily get lost if it has the same badge in its grille as an Aventis. Of course, the Aventis is not a bad car, but this is a competent entry in the luxury car segment and let’s hope that the Auxio name has enough weight and prestige in it, because the AQ500 is as serious as a contender as any other luxury car on the market.

And on the US roads it was easy to fall in love with the car. Many americans have done so, too. And probably it is good enough for Sweden too. But when it comes to the european market, high speed driving at the autobahn is where a car in this class has to excel, and we feel that it needs some upgrades to mainly the braking system then. They are underpowered for a car that can reach 272 km/h.

Still, we can only wish Tanaka good luck with the new Auxio brand, because they really deserve it. They have done a great job with the car.

(Thanks to @Aaron.W for the car!)

[interior]

Cars still being submitted? Are these only able to be stock?

[Knugcab]

Yes, feel free to submit cars.

[interior]

Ah ok thanks.

[Knugcab]

And yes, this magazine is mainly for cars in original condition but I may throw in some content about modified cars once in a while. So my suggestion if you want an article about something custom built is that you ask me first.

[interior]

@Knugcab Submitted vehicle.

[Knugcab]

REPRINT FROM #5 2011
CLASSIC CAR PAGES: RAUK PM2 AND ITA CUTER

ONE IDEA, TWO SOULS

The RAUK PM2 is by no means a large car. But it dwarfs the tiny ITA Cuter like nothing.

Both the RAUK PM2 and the ITA Cuter has an interesting history behind them. RAUK, the low series sports cars manufacturer that started by draping humble Volvo chassis with exotic fibreglass bodies. ITA, the volume manufacturer that decided to make a sports car based on the engine from their failed family sedan project. None of them were volume sellers, but the 5700 examples sold of the Cuter sure makes it almost common compared to the 393 examples sold of the RAUK PM2. And it is interesting that you can draw some parallells between them. Low weight, an almost perfect weight distribution and an engine from a regular family car. But of course there is some differences. When the Cuter was released in 1962, RAUK had almost reached the end of the PM2 production. And probably they did not know much about each other when engineering and designing the cars. So, when stacked up against each other, how do the two souls compare?

Stepping into the ITA and closing the door, it feels kind of solid. An all steel unibody gave it good torsional rigidity for its era and you can kind of notice it. When the 1.4 litre flat four comes alive, it has a somewhat rough idle with a charming helicopter-like sound, but it is still smooth and gentle enough to send grandma grocery shopping with. The sporty tuning has not gone overboard.

You feel cradled in the tiny cockpit. The seats are hugging you (well, at least compared to most other 60s cars), the dashboard with its full instrumentation gives you a feeling that this is something that is supposed to fly up in the air rather than be rolling on the roads. There is a sense of quality, and if there still was anything to listen to on the AM band, we could have had some music. Oh well. The flat 4 is music enough.

The acceleration aren’t really quick by todays standards, almost any family sedan could beat 11.3 seconds to 100 nowadays, but in a vehicle this light and small, the sense of speed is something different. Going through the four gears with the accelerator more or less glued to the floor, we finally reach the top speed of 150 km/h. And it feels stable, the unusual for its era radials might be one of the explanations. And it takes the corners with grace, skidpad numbers is said to be around 0.93 G. But the understeering is a bit more marcant than we would have liked in a sports car, we would have expected a more neutral handling with this weight distribution. One surprise is that it actually has power steering. If that is a good thing is a matter of taste. In the 60s they seldom gave the feedback of the road that you would have liked, and the car is so light that it shouldn’t have been necessary. But on the other hand it reduced the number of turns lock to lock, and the size of the steering wheel.

For being a 60s sports car, the comfort is actually not bad. The suspension tuning seems to be a good compromise between handling and ride, the seats gives good support as said earlier.

ITA Cuter, understeering but secure.

All in all, it is a very easy car to live with. Even the braking is a pleasant surprise. Discs up front, pulling straight at panic stops and without any signs of fading, 41.2 metres from 100 to 0. Despite being a small and light (747 kg!) sports car, it is by no means primitive. One can well imagine that this probably could have survived into the early 80s, had the factory just wanted to.

And after a lap on the airfield track, the clock stops at 1.41.04.

RAUK PM2, faster at the price of…everything.

Stepping out of the cuter and opening the fibreglass door on the RAUK is a completely different story. There is no feeling of solidity here, a lightweight fibreglass body that was still sitting on top of a ladder frame. The whole car rattles just by closing the door and from the snug and relaxing cockpit in the Cuter, we arrive in something that’s more like a torture chamber. Only a simple rubber carpet on the floor that seems to be cut out with a sheath knife. No sports seats here, in fact they are straight out of a 50s Ford Popular. Yes, the surviving pre-war model that we used to call the 2x4". Switches and dials are scattered all over the plywood dash with its glued on mahogany veneer. There is not even a seat belt, not that we think that it would help much sitting in this fragile fibreglass eggshell, but still.

The sound of a tuned Volvo engine is familiar to most Swedes and evokes proud feelings of nostalgia. And even though having a hot cam and DCOE carbs, the 1.6 litre “B16” inline four is not as coarse as one may think. A blip on the throttle and it reacts quicker than the flat 4 in the ITA ever managed to. And 95 hp is more than 77, but on the other hand the RAUK is heavier at 828 kg. Hardly a heavyweight champion among todays SUVs though.

The acceleration test says that they are almost equal, the RAUK slightly faster at 11 seconds. But higher up in the register the ITA doesn’t stand a chance. The RAUK will keep accelerating until it reaches 182 km/h, but if the road is not smooth and nice, the driver will have a challenge to keep the car in a straight line then. The crossplies are probably taking its toll.

Despite rolling on crossplies, the RAUK corners better at 0.95 G. But it is not the most tame car for an unexperienced driver. It starts to telling you that you are going over the limit by understeering, at a uncomfortably high speed, and if you ignore that it will break loose with its tail instead. Probably they were a bit handicapped by using the more primitive Volvo Amazon suspension with a coil sprung solid rear axle, instead of the semi trailing arm axle used in the ITA. On the other hand, the Volvo Amazon (that borrowed all suspension components to the PM2) had a double wishbone front suspension compared to the struts used in the ITA, but it was never known to be the best engineered one on the market.

Having a steering box from the Volvo Amazon meant no power steering, but we can’t say that we are missing it either. There is many other things that makes the RAUK horribly uncomfortable, like the complete lack of sound insulation, stiff front suspension and total lack of comfort equipment. Radio? Forget it, you have the roaming DCOEs on the B16 to listen to.

Even though using drums all around, the stopping distances are identical to the ITA Cuter, and the fading problems seems to be even more non-existant. But the special semi-metallic brake shoes probably are one major factor there. Replace them with cheap no-name aftermarket parts and you will have more trouble with stopping the car.

And a lap around the airfield speaks for itself. 1.39.94.

I saved a little over a second in this rattling, unsafe, uncomfortable, more expensive,fuel gulping primitive beast.

If your only priority was to go fast, the RAUK was a better choice. On the other hand, if you wanted to be able to actually LIVE with the car, well…there is no question about which one that was the civilized choice.

One idea, the light and simple sports car.

But two completely different results.

(Thanks to @Prium for the Cuter and for the idea to compare it to the PM2!)

[interior]

When do other cars get published on the page?

[Prium]

Great analysis! I loved the level of detail of the comparisson. It also shows how people from different places can come with the same idea, even if they prioritized different aspects of their vehicles (performance in the case of RAUK, safety in the case of ITA). I wonder if any of those PM2 got imported into Argentina…

[Knugcab]

You know, this is not my full time job. Have patience.

[Knugcab]

REPRINT FROM #12 2006
REVIEW OF HAKUMAI CREST RS V6

WOLF IN SHEEPS CLOTHING

No. We don’t encourage this type of driving. Blah-blah-blah. You know.

“You only test boring cars. Why don’t you test something completely wicked once in a while?”. The letters are flooding us sometimes. Well, now you got what you did wish for.

Aluminium body, double wishbone rear suspension, rear wheel drive, DOHC turbo V6, limited slip differential, 384 hp…we are talking about a sports car, right? Sort of, actually. But japanese Hakumai have managed to squeeze everything inside a small hatchback. Why? Probably because they could, they aren’t really known for wanting to be the brand that disappears into the crowd, and it’s sort of nice that cars like this can exist in a grey and boring world of commuter boxes on wheels that more or less looks and feels the same. But let’s disconnect the heart for a while and give it a honest review from the brain, like we have done with other cars for almost 60 years now.

DRIVING CHARACTERISTICS
This is a powerful RWD vehicle with a relatively light tail and one would easily believe that the rear wheels would spin if not being careful on the gas. But the wheelspin is kept under control thanks to a torsen type differential and traction control. The cornering abilities are amazing at least to a limit, with impressive skidpad numbers of 1.12 G. But at really high speeds the heavy front end is starting to take its toll and there is heavy amounts of understeer.

The steering is not of the variable ratio type which feels a bit sparse in a car with sporty ambitions like this. A somewhat more precise feel on the highway would have been welcome, but that’s something you are able to live with.

The brakes are a bit questionable. The braking force is very much biased to the rear, and if it had not been for the standard mounted ABS, we would probably have experienced premature lockup in the rear. The stopping distances are short, but when driving hard there was amounts of brake fade that was concerning.

VERDICT: ***

PERFORMANCE:
This is fast. Not hot hatch fast. Sports car fast. 12.9 second quartermile times. 5 seconds to 100. A 293 km/h top speed. 80-120 times of 2.48 seconds. This is a bomb on wheels. We could come up with superlatives the whole day probably, but why? Just let the numbers speak for themselves.

VERDICT: *****

COMFORT
Seating comfort is about average, they do lack some side support that you would have liked in a car with this kind of performance. The sound insulation is sparse, to save on weight but the V6 is not overly noisy, tyre and wind noise are more annoying than the engine. Suspension is a bit on the firm side, as expected in a car like this, but we have experienced much worse, it won’t kill your back completely in the bumps. Tradeoffs are always done for the sake of sportiness in a car like this and no, the Crest is absolutely not a comfortable car for long distance traveling. But it still offers some basic levels of comfort.

VERDICT: **

ROOMINESS
It is small and it has a space consuming RWD layout. Cabin is cramped, but if you see this as a sports car rather than a hatch, it becomes a bit more forgiving. After all, the Crest has a back seat that is at least good enough for 2 people (legal for 3, but that is not comfortable). Also, 707 litres of luggage space is not bad for this class.

VERDICT: **

EQUIPMENT
The Crest offers what could be expected from a small hatchback, nothing more, nothing less. You don’t find any ambitions to make the car pseudo-sporty with things like contoured bucket seats, leather wrapped steering wheel or aluminium/carbon fibre panels on the inside that many hot hatch makers have squeezed inside, it looks just like any regular hatchback, maybe because the Crest has absolutely nothing to prove. Comfort wise, things like electric windows, central locking, CD player and a simple manual AC system are not considered luxuries even in this class anymore. This car does not sell on gizmos anyway and weight reduction is the word here. At least it has a much needed traction control system, but no variable ratio steering.

VERDICT: **

ENGINE AND DRIVETRAIN
This is where the Hakumai really shines. As stated earlier, this is more or less a sports car drivetrain. The 3.2 litre all aluminium V6 has all the technology you can think of, like direct injection, turbocharging, VVT and VVL. It puts out 384 hp at 7000 RPM where the rev limiter unfortunately cuts off immediately. The turbo kick feels like something from the 80s but that is easily forgiven in a car like this. The torque is an impressive 459 Nm. Despite all this, they have managed to keep the emissions from the tailpipe relatively clean, it passes all the upcoming regulations on the horizon. The gearbox? A 6 speed dogleg manual of course. Did you expect something else? And we really loved it. It could be shifted fast and abused about as hard as we wanted to, the best manual we have tested in a long time.

VERDICT: *****

QUALITY

The car appears to be quite well put together. You don’t really get the impression that it is carved out from a solid piece of metal but we found nothing that felt cheap or annoying. The driveline can take great amounts of abuse (which is probably needed) and the predicted reliability is actually very good considering the type of car this is. It is just not slopped together, it is well thought out to be able to cope with all the resources it has. Also, galvanized unibody with aluminium outer panels means that the rust will have huge problems with killing this car.

VERDICT: ****

ECONOMY
We can’t complain about the amount of car you get for $36100 AMU, however, calling it cheap is really a stretch. Insurance premiums will be completely bonkers for a car like this, and servicing is not cheap. 9.4 litres per 100 km is a bad figure for a small hatch, a good figure for a sports car with this performance, so it all depends on how you see it. The aluminium body means that collision damage can be expensive to repair. On the good side though, it will probably keep its value well if taken care of. There is always enthusiasts looking for a car like this on the second hand market.

VERDICT: **

SAFETY
Compared to the most modern competitors, it lacks some equipment. There is only a drivers side airbag, no ESC and the centre rear seat has no headrest and only a lap belt, to name a few things. Euro NCAP gives the Crest a 3 star rating, and so do we.

VERDICT: ***

Not as innocent as its looks may suggest, even if the hood scoop, wide arches and 3-piece alloys can make anyone suspicious.

FINAL VERDICT: 28/45
It is hard to justify a car like this from a rational standpoint. It is a pretty average small hatchback, not bad, just average, to a high price with high running costs. On the other hand, it is a very practical car if you compare it to other sports cars with a devilish level of performance like this. Hakumai will fill a very narrow niche with this car. It is certainly not intended to be a volume seller, and why should it? As we stated earlier, it is so uplifting that a car like this still can survive in a world of conformity.

May we predict a future classic?

(Thanks to @interior for the car!)

[replaY]

how can i submit a car?

[Knugcab]

Just PM me the car file and maybe some info you want me to know about it.

[Knugcab]

REPRINT FROM #15 2010
TEST DRIVE: AXEL MRS TURBO

DR JEKYLL AND MRS HYDE

There is more that shines than just the bright yellow paint, especially in crowded city traffic. But the horizon is not without some dark clouds here.

Axel is a young car brand, actually not even 30 years old. And because of their narrow model programme, they have continued to be a niche manufacturer, more or less. But they have their fair share of enthusiasts and we have decided to take a little closer look on the new MRS Turbo to see what the rage is all about.

At only 3.85 metres of length, the MRS Turbo is a small car, but by no means spartan. That shows already in the body construction with high strength steel in the structure and outer body panels in aluminium. Under the bonnet there is an unusual configuration of an 1 litre 3-cylinder turbo. Putting out 120 hp it feels kind of zippy but it has to move more weight than you expect. 1236 kg is not really extremely lightweight considering that it is a small car with an aluminium body. The luxurious interior for its class and the very high level of safety might be an explanation. The MRS Turbo is one of the best superminis ever tested by Euro NCAP.

11.7 seconds to 100 and a top speed of 180 km/h means that this is more of a fun little city car than a hot hatch, though, and as a such it does that job well, nimble and small as it is. Except for one thing - the fuel economy, an important part for almost any buyer of a car like this. There is no excuse for drinking 9.9 litres per 100 km for a 3-cylinder car of this size. $29600 AMU is maybe not a bargain either and the service costs are on the higher side.

On the other hand you get a car that feels much larger than it actually is. There is insane amounts of space on the inside, the interior has both materials and equipment that you usually only find in larger cars, but the lack of rear doors somehow hampers that a bit. Also, the comfort of the luxurious and spacious interior is a bit hampered by the firm chassis setting, that on the other hand gives great cornering abilities. The understeer is not as appearant as in some other torsion beam FWD cars either. The brakes are good but somewhat sensitive to fading. There is ABS and traction control, but believe it or not, no ESC despite the high safety ambitions.

No, frankly we believe that Axel stays a niche manufacturer. This car does not feel well thought out. It does not know what it wants to be. Hot hatch, city car, small luxury car? It is expensive to buy and run even compared to larger cars, it has an aluminium body and a 3 cylinder engine but is by no means light, and it drinks fuel like if there was no tomorrow. Still the performance is not anything to brag about. It is one of the roomiest cars in its class but that practicality is hampered by its 2 door body, it has high safety ambitions but is still missing some equipment, and it has strange engineering decisions like putting narrower tyres in the rear than up front, and in very weird dimensions.

This car shines on a few points, but there is way better allrounders out there.

(Thanks to @Frostquake for the car!)