Inflation is hurting us all right now, but thank goodness it’s not stagflation, as Britain suffered in the early 1970s: a spike in the cost of living and economic stagnation.
This meant that in 1972 even the Ford Escort cost a “remarkably high” £802 (although this equates to just £8062 in modern money).
So it was time for us to compare the four cheapest cars on sale: the Citroen Dyane (£637), Fiat 500 (£531), Honda N600 (£637) and Hillman Imp (£642).
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The Fiat was painfully slow, hitting 60mph a minute behind, at 83.2 seconds, although it was no longer frugal, with each car doing around 125 miles per £1 of petrol (78p a litre).
Still, “if you really want smallness in size and price, the Fiat trumps all its rivals,” we were told. The Honda impressed by being “compact enough to squeeze through city traffic and capable of beating cars twice its capacity”.
We couldn’t understand why the Hillman wasn’t more popular, “convenient and great fun to drive” as it was
But the Citroën was the only one that could “carry a full-size family and all its luggage” and better still was “a happy car, which you can laugh at the world about as you tumble past the windows”.
Excellent new Alfa sedan
The Alfasud family saloon broke with Alfa Romeo tradition by having a dead rear axle, and this continued on the Alfetta, which slotted in between the popular Giulia and the sumptuous 2000. yet easy to drive” and it had “some valuable points worthy of criticism,” we reported.
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Source: www.autocar.co.uk
This notice was published: 2022-05-18 04:01:23
