RobiNZ Personal Blog

The mighty Fiat Uno to make a comeback!

Fiat are to revive the Uno (will it be Mk3?) as a midi-supermini. The Uno Mk1 set new standards when it arrived it sounds like they are attempting to do that again. Is that an admission the Punto has... Read more →

Grande Punto, the big little car gets Fiat back on track

Yet again it’s the little cars that Fiat falls back too when the going gets tough. The Grande Punto, and new Panda, joins the Topolino, Nuovo 500, 128, 127, Uno, Punto and other great little Fiats whi... Read more →

The Uno lives, will it make 250,000 km?

When you own a fifteen year old car the six monthly Warrant Of Fitness, road worthiness inspection, means a little apprehension. Anything major means the sums don’t add as the repairs rapidly exceed t... Read more →

The "Diana crash mystery white Fiat Uno" found?

I’m very unterested in the whole “Diana Conspiracy Thing” but as the driver of a white Uno must admit that this caught my interest. I can say one thing for certain, it was not me! Found: The mys... Read more →

Fiat Uno vs Holden Monaro…

5.7 Litre V8 Monaro vs Uno Turbo… No Contest Read more →

Morris Marina collectible, I'm driving a "rarity" - Who'd believe that?

I never thought I’d read the words “Morris Marina” and “collectible rarity” in the same sentence! The Morris Marina is on my “Cars I’ve Owned, Driven” list with the comment: “This is very possibly the worst car I've ever driven. The sort of product that made the British motor industry what it is today...” I learnt to drive in a Marina and still remember it was not a rewarding experience! Now I find it’s not only considered rare, it’s even collectible. If you have one, if you like them, that’s fine but I don’t want to drive it! Then I... Read more →

Cars I've Owned, Driven, Rented

Inspired by Jack Yan's much more exciting list...but with comments & memories. Like my own version of CAR Magazines:The Good, The Bad and The Ugly (GBU). Explore the map (below) by expanding/collapsing the branches, clicking the link icons will show the wikipedia post for that model/series. The icon is cars I’ve owned. Note: The map embedded in this post requires the free IE Mindjet MindManager Viewer Control from http://www.mindjet.com/viewer_blog/ For those without i.e. the text export follows; BMW http://www.bmw.com BMW 318i http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BMW_E21 A couple, courtesy cars from my mechanic mainly BMW 320i http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BMW_E30 A old courtesy car from my mechanic,... Read more →

LJK Setright - Goodbye to a Genius

I started writing this post after hearing the sad news back in September 2005 but couldn’t finish it then. I wanted to write about one of my favourite authors and now I’ve finished reading his last book the time is right. It was going to be a review of the book but in the introduction, LJK Setright outlines his motivation for writing Drive On! : A Social History of the Motor Car: Extract from “A Preamble”, Drive On! LJK. Setright "We need a book to show us - especially those of us too young to remember - what good and... Read more →

A tale of two Fiats

In a week of milestones (kilometer’stones?) two involved Fiats; My mighty Uno achieved “All the Two’s – 222,222” (km) In a moment I made my Mum's Uno a bit shorter than it oughta be. Thankfully nobody was injured, just a bent car & bruised ego . Never pranged a car before. I don’t believe in “fate” but must admit it’s something of a coincidence that only days earlier posted a link to an Uno article with the line: “This [Uno] makes for an exciting drive because you live on your wits, but a lingering doubt always hangs in the back... Read more →

The Uno lives - 240,000 km here I come

When you own a fourteen year old car the six monthly Warrant Of Fitness, road worthiness, means a little apprehension. Anything major means the sums don’t add as the repairs rapidly exceed the value of the car! The Mighty Uno got thru requiring only front brake hoses in addition to it’s scheduled 220,000km service. Barring accidents, I’ll be pedalling it for another six months at least… Read more →