MORRIS MARINA 1.8

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 33094, 8 December 1972, Page 16

MORRIS MARINA 1.8

A roomy but economical car of conventional design, with attractive lines, good boot-space, well-proven engine and transmission, easy and relatively cheap to service and maintain: this sounds the ideal family-car formula to many motorists.

It was to fit this formula that the Morris Marina was designed, and generally it meets its designers’ aims. The car is available with a 1500 c.c. or 1800 c.c. engine, and as a four-door saloon or a two-door fastback coupe. The Marina has been seen in New Zealand in small numbers since it was announced in Britain last year. In that country, the car is now well up the list of top-sellers, and the model is also a good seller in Australia. The four-door test car ($3478) was one of the first of New Zealand production (the Australian version is being assembled here). Its finish and design was below standard in several respects, and early production cannot be accepted as a reasonable excuse for this in the case of any car: surely the man who buys number one off the line is as entitled to a good job as he who buys number 1000. Well-proven The Marina is neither sophisticated nor refined. It is promoted by British Leyland as a conventional model built from wellproven components, and this is clearly a formula which appeals to many potential buyers. The car has been described as an updated Morris Oxford, and it is hard to quarrel with this verdict. It is also worth mentioning that if it emulates the Oxford’s enviable record of reliability and longevity it will make many friends. The car is roomy, has good performance from its overhead camshaft engine: a unit which delivers an impressive flow of power from low revs. The seats are comfortable, the visibility generally good, boot room generous, and all service points under the bonnet easy to get at. Servicing should undoubtedly be simple. The driving position is good, the pedals — especially the clutch — light and smooth, and the gearbox, as far as its forward ratios are concerned, one of the best in any Austin or Morris yet: their standard has long been behind their competitors. Reverse requires a lifting movement of the lever: in the test car this was some-

times difficult enough to require two hands, and it was also possible — perversely — to slip into the reverse detent when moving the lever between third and fourth gear if one used any sideways pressure. The finish of the Marina’s body was good, although the metal seemed thin and “cigarette-tinned” easily. The doors fitted well, but the door-locks were very awkward to use: some women could not open the doors from the outside, and anyone was likely to get sore fingers. The driver’s door-lock occasionally jammed. The instrument and minor-control layout is generally good, with the dials clear and easy to read. Stalks on the steering column control washers, wipers (two speeds), indicators, dip-switch and horn. The driveris-side eyeball fresh-air vent had a poor output, and produced little air at less than 25 miles an hour. The passenger’s vent was more effective. One of the plastic knobs came off the sliding heater controls. Interior details The instruments were, in at least two instances, wildly inaccurate: stopwatching timing showed the speedometer was about 15 per cent optimistic, although the odometer was accurate. The fuel gauge showed about threequarters when the tank was full, and less than onequarter full when there were still six of the 12 gallons left. Several interior trim details leave much to be desired, but by far the most obvious is the carpet, which fits badly, and looks most untidy because none of its edges are bound: they are just left roughly cut, even around the base of the gearlever. Add to this odd pieces of carpet flopping down from the footwell bulkheads, and the general impression is of cheapness and slipshod work, not in keeping with the car’s price-tag. The Marina’s front ashtray is in the centre of the dash, at the lower edge. Woe betide anyone who tries to change into first or third gear with the ash-

tray out, for the clearance between the gear knob and the edge of the ashtray is less than zero — an incredible design gaffe. Visibility was generally good, but the large rearvision mirror is mounted so low that it badly impedes vision to the left: the taller the driver, the worse the effect. The wipers left the screen at anything more than 55 m.p.h., which is quite unsatisfactory. An excellent feature of the wiping system, however, is that there are three positions for the control lever, one of them giving a single-sweep of the blades for each touch: a useful feature in light rain, or when using the screenwasher. The test car had one novel fault: pressing the windscreen-washer button caused the radio to cut out. The comfort of the seats and the amount of room in the car did not compensate for the harshness of the ride: something of which all passengers complained within a couple of miles.

It appeared that the front suspension was too soft — there was quite a lot of roll on comers—and the rear too hard. Although there was no axle tramp during a rapid take-off, the rear wheels would hop off the road on bumpy sealed comers, and even when accelerating hard in first or second on a bumpy surface. Good brakes At speed, bumps would easily throw the car slightly off line, although never to an alarming degree. In addition to this, there were loud creaks and groans from the rear suspension whenever the car was moved from rest or braked to a halt. It was also noisy on bumps. The brakes are good: they have no servo assistance, nor do they need it. The steering is less satisfactory. With four turns from lock to lock it is too indirect for the size of the car, and it also lacks selfcentring action: on many comers it is necessary to turn the wheel back to straight-ahead. The steering column and wheel vibrated very badly on any bumpy surface, enough for the plastic

shroud behind the wheel to contact the edge of the dash and cause tnumps and rattles. The agents say a modification has been introduced to cure this fault. The rear parcel shelf was not fastened down, the lower edges of some of the door trims similarly did not appear to be secured, the rubber seal for the driver’s quarter-vent did not fit properly. The engine is one of the best features of the car, and gives the Marina better performance than one would expect from the capacity, The car will pull strongly from little more than 20 m.p.h. in top, and will easily start off in second gear on a level road. Third is a good overtaking gear, and the gear ratios are well-matched to the engine. The car’s handling and roadholding are marred by the steering and the suspension, and Morris would do well to give these aspects of the car urgent attention. Were this done, and the standard of trim, finish, and fittings improved, the car would be likely to have wider appeal. SPECIFICATIONS Engine.—Front-mounted, rearwheel drive. Four cylinder water cooled, belt-driven overhead camshaft. 1485 c.c. engine has 78.2 mm. bore and 81.28 mm. Stroke, 1746 c.c. engine baa 78.2 mm. bore and 95.78 mm. stroke. Power outputs 62 b.h.p. at 5500 r.p.m. and 78 b.h.p. at 4800 r.p.m. Transmission. — Four-speed all-sycromesh with floor change, automatic transmission available on Australianassembled TC coupe. Suspension.—Front: torsion bars; rear: semi-elliptic leaf springs. Steering.—Rack and pinion, 15in diameter wheel. Brakes.—Disc front, drum rear, unassisted. Dimensions—Length, 166. lin; width, 64.31 n; height, 55in; weight, 20291 b; boot, 20 cu. ft; turning circle, 31.5 ft; fuel tank, 12 gallons. Price and availability.—Fourdoor saloon, 1746 C.C., $3478.28; four-door 1500 c.c. saloon, $3384.28; 1500 deluxe saloon, $3289.28; Aust, assembled TC 1748 c.c. coupe, $3690 manual, $3934 automatic. Automatic transmission available on 1748 c.c. saloon in February. Walting time at present three to four weeks.

(Test car made available by New Zealand Motor Corporation, former Dominion Motors division.)