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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Choosing between this and a MK2 Granada is a choice I hope I never have to make. Both are lovely old cruisers that modern manufacturers seem to have forgotten how to make. Oh how I miss comfort in cars. And brown actually. Looks so much better than standard grey everything. Lovely old thing.
No v6 version? Or was that onl availible inte thecommotdore or senator or whatever they called the actually executive version that day.
I miss the 1980s ALL the time.
I could swear that you have a duck held hostage in the car.
The Carlton was also available with the big 3 litre six which was a fast car even more so with the 24v engine. It would leave a Scorpio for dead!
Holden Commodore SL SLX or SLE in Australia with 4 cylinder 1.9 starfire engine or 2.8L 3.3L & V8 Chevy older designed leaded fuel engines.
Australia model make year 1986 became mandatory unleaded fuels on new cars which used Nissan skylines 3.0L unleaded engine .
Thats a champagne car
Looks like galleywood Chelmsford
Had an Opal Rekord Berlina… lovely car
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
Another car I dreamed of owning, but never had the money at the time
Sorry to report this but there is a typo in the tile. It should read Carlton.
Driving from Billericay to Chelmsford via Stock there.
Maybe the worst era for the Carlton. The Cavalier CDi was way more appealing. The next gen was a mile step with the Omega B platform which had an incredibly low CD and went on to the GSi and Lotus. The Granada was a much better car and that was obvious from the sales figures and company car hierarchy. I still remember my dad having a Granada and Uncle John having a Carlton. The Granada was a much better place to be, as a passenger.
Seeing this reminded me that I hadn't seen a Vauxhall Royale for a long time, loved the coupe so if you ever get a chance of one of them or an Opel Monza, that would be a nice review.
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)
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Excellent video! This car was also produced in Brazil by GM under the name Monza. Several Opel cars had their variants in Brazil.
I'm a little confused because I don't see a sunroof outside the car yet I see a switch on the inner roof.
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!
I had a Vauxhall Carlton Diplomat! Large heated leather seats, cruise control …..you name it. I loved it but it wasn't quick.
This is clearly the body for the early commodores (Which is a rwd, 6 cyl or 8 cyl car)
Yep Gone Is The Smell Of An Engine Running On Choke,Carbs Gone,Slipping Belt Gone So We Cant Go Back Vorsprung Durch Technik
sold in NZ as the holden commodore, came in V6 and V8!
Hello furiousdriving i have a problem with my alfa 146 i want to change the shift knob do you know how can i pull it off. I have searched the forums some say you have to pull it off some say you have to twist it off i dont wanna try it and brake something. If you can help me with thay ill be extatic. Thanks in advance.
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…
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.
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.
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.
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!
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