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Used Car Reviews – Fiat Barchetta
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Having driven a friend’s Miata before I took wheel time in the Citroën VTS, I wanted to see what the obvious European counterpart, the Fiat Barchetta would feel like. The Barchetta hasn’t been embraced by any counterculture, unlike the racing-inclined Miatas; on the contrary, it hints of fancy seaside living and tennis rackets. The Barchetta…
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On Sad Reunions – 1997 Opel Vectra reunited with a former owner
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Whenever you sell a car that hasn’t been a complete, barn-burning disaster to own, you kind of wish it to have a good life after you hand over the keys. It’s a given: you’ve provided the car with at least basic maintenance for some time, and it would be at least expected that the next…
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Used Car Reviews – 2001 Citroën Xsara VTS
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Some automotive facelifts give an ageing platform a new lease of life. Some manage to completely ruin the car’s appearance, sentencing the facelift models into derision and universal dislike, no matter how capable the car behind the mask is. The post-facelift Citroën Xsara falls into the bodged category. The original 1997 car was a very…
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Beat down in Kouvola – Junkyard Condition Chrysler LeBaron Sedan
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Like I mentioned in the Southeast Finland Roadtrip article, I’m originally from that region. I spent my formative years in Myllykoski, today only known for its soccer team as the paper mill was shut down last year. That town is nowadays part of a larger municipality amalgamation, as the neighbouring towns got usurped into the…
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Finnish Line – Roadtripping in Southeast Finland
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[Disclaimer: The high-quality photos you see here are by Lauri Ahtiainen, and he owns the Miata in the shots] This past Friday was certainly one of the harder driving days I’ve done. 11 hours of near-constant twisty-road driving, preceded by a cross-country jaunt the previous night just to get to the starting point, and three…
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Used Car Reviews – What about the Opel Omega?
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Due to the incompability of Opel paint processes and Finnish weather conditions, coupled with the effects of road salt, Opels have often been deemed as rust traps. It doesn’t take long for a Vectra to score its flanks with rust marks, and to rot out its wheelarches. ’80s models have faced the crusher in swarms.…
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Fastback Friday – Inspecting a used Porsche 924
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In the Lumina Euro article, I referred to a Porsche 924 in the last paragraph. In this article, I show you the one we went to look at, a 1981 car that had been imported from Sweden in 1988. The two-three grand price range is such a wide scope, that you can practically buy anything…
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The Heartbeat of America – 1990 Chevrolet Lumina Euro 3.1 Coupe
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In some respects, Finland is kind of like a small America. In other respects, it’s the polar opposite. Even if we have a deep affection for American cars, the model portfolios do not make it here complete. We got the Corsica, we got the Beretta, we even got the Trans Sport with a bowtie badge.…
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V.I.S.I.T. – Hot Red: 1975 Chevrolet Camaro RS Sport Coupe
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This is the kind of stuff you want to see parked across the street. A 1975 Camaro RS in arrest-me red. 5.7 litres of the good stuff behind that chrome-bumpered nose cone. Fat tires, chrome wheels. And then you see the child seat in the cabin. Someone’s raisin’ their kids right. You know, it’s either…
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Truck Thursday – Land Rover Defender 2.5 Td5 keeps on trucking
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Our own Kamil has oftentimes mentioned how he’d really like a sturdy Land Rover Defender for himself, so when I happened upon this green example on a Helsinki side street, I really had to document it for him. Most of the Defenders or older Land Rovers you see here are the short wheelbase 90:s or…
