I always had the impression that BL etc were technologically about a decade behind their main rivals when it came to new models. Look at the Metro for example. It was about 2 to 3 years too late, still used 1950s engine/gearbox combos and the build quality was not the best.
The basic designs were generally quite good - it's just that there were so many budget constraints and so much political infighting that most of the good ideas were shelved. I also think that the "power" wielded by Issigonis in the 60s meant that many half decent designers had their suggestions binned for fear of upsetting the boss. By the time of the early 70s the money problems were well in place and Issigonis was gone by then.
My Dad didn't have a car in the 80s so he hired cars when needed (quite regularly due to 2 kids at boarding school). Despite living behind an Austin Rover dealer, it was rare that we hired one of their cars. Instead we popped to the local Ford dealer, borrowing numerous Escorts, Sierras and on one occasion, even a Transit minibus when the car we'd been allocated was broken into. The "bad" hire cars were as follows: A Vauxhall Chevette with a heater stuck on hot (in July!), an Escort which leaked in heavy rain (ruining Mum's coat in the footwell), a Sierra with a leaky exhaust which made us all feel sick and, worst of all, a Morris Ital which gave my Dad such horrible backache he needed to seek medical help.
That said, we had some marvellous cars. An early Sierra diesel with the Peugeot 2.3 engine which we got an indicated (& probably rather optimistic) 116 mph out of, a Turbo Technics development Sierra diesel (not set up properly but quick with SO much torque), the first of the 1.4 Escort Mk4s which was a very well put together car despite being beige, numerous Sierra estates, hatchbacks and Sapphires and, when we had to get a Vauxhall, a 1992 Carlton 2 litre estate which was simply excellent at mile-munching.
They were of course, mainly basic models we hired. However it showed why Ford were streets ahead of anything that AR had to offer. They could play the fleet market perfectly with well engineered, if basic models that did exactly what was asked of them. When you use a hammer, you don't want the head to fly off. Fords simply did the job asked of them. Austin Rover had no clue by comparison.
Edited by MrBounce, 05 August 2016 - 04:23 PM.
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