Faults:
I knocked the price down from £1000 to £750 as I knew from a test drive that there was a transmission problem of some sort. Bought it anyway and found out from my mechanic friend that it needed:
Needed new drive-shafts.
New Clutch.
New Gearbox, ouch I here you say!
Not all bad, cost £300 all in to sort and been fine for nearly 20k miles.
Oh, alternator packed in with no warning lights, all dash lights came on and then headlights turned 'dim', car eventually turned off, bless her!
£20 for a re con unit, fitted it with a friend and been fine since!
General Comments:
For a car that cost a pretty penny when new you can now have a cracking FSH car for less than a grand. Fantastic sounding engine, still looks good and always a pleasure to drive. I've had Mg's and at one point an RS Cosworth Sierra, and I usually keep a car for a year and get bored, not the Calibra! I'll own this until it gives up the ghost!
The good stuff:
Will scare the pants off most modern hot hatches and leave a lot of them behind, especially upto 60 mph. The only worthy rivals seem to be Vtec Honda's. You always get the boy racers in Corsas having a go, only to be blown into oblivion! And I'm 27 before you ask ;-)
Nice interior, all electrics still work after a little fine adjustments with certain wires and bulbs behind the fascia.
Good MPG for the weight the engine pulls, will do 40 on a run and averages 30 round town if driven steady.
The Bad Bits:
Arches starting to rust a little, can easily be skimmed and redone for not much money at all, wait til she really needs it.
Handbrake constantly needs adjusting.
Kept getting 'puddles' in all footwells bar n/s rear. Found out it was a blocked sunroof drain and pollen filter blockage! This really annoyed me, but cost absolutely nothing, but some time to fix :-)
Rear wiper doesn't clear all of the screen, aaargh!!
Headlights are like candles in the snow :- (
Tail lights always blow, you need shares in a bulb company, that's no joke!
1st Jul 2011, 19:27
Oh WOW! I owned this Calibra (L123MOO) for 10 years!!!
My mates used to call it the banana mobile, and it was one of the best cars I have ever owned (Have since had BMW's and Mercedes).
It's made me VERY happy to see that she's gone to a good home.
Look after now eh?
All the best,
Jose Lopez.