1995 Oltcit 12 TRS 1.3 litre from Romania

Summary:

Great car for the money

Faults:

Keep in mind that I purchased this car with "fun" in mind and I've "raced" it more than I've driven it.

The gearbox had to be fixed, it jumped out of reverse sometimes (too many backward 360s :) ).

The alternator had to be fixed several times (it's still working at 60-70% of its nominal output).

Camshafts changed (were noisy when I got the car)

General Comments:

I purchased the car with the intention to have cheap fun with it, do things I wouldn't normally do with a more expensive car. I paid $500 for it which is a VERY low price here in Romania. Any *decent* second hand car starts from around $4000 so it's a bargain.

It has a boxer engine (180 degree V 4) like a Subaru Impreza or Porsche 911 (not that I'm comparing it to the aforementioned cars hehe) so it's very good at high rpms.

It can easily do 6000 rpm, I usually never drive it under 3000 since it's the ideal rpm for the car.

Despite the relative bad reliability, I really enjoy the car, it's amazingly fast for its 61 HP, it can actually beat cars with 75-90 hp on a 400m drag race (with some small modifications to the carburetor).

Handling is great for a car of it's class and year of design (~1980s), I lowered it a bit and added some wider tires than standard (175 as opposed to 145) and it sticks to the road.

Brakes are one of its highlights, disks on all 4 wheels, it brakes better than a lot of modern cars, even ones with ABS.

Despite it's age, it's an extremely comfortable car, you can drive for 18 hours and still no fatigue.

Please remember that I might be a bit subjective since it's such a cheap car and I'm amazed at how much it has to offer.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 23rd May, 2004

3rd Jun 2005, 09:17

I have a tuned Oltcit 12 TRS, manufactured in 1996, and I am really proud of it.. I bought it two years ago for 1200 euros. Before that I had an oltcit 11R, but the difference of only 200 cc is great. I wouldn't separate from this car for anything... e-mail me at halfmoonempty@yahoo.com for details about it.