1981 Opel Kadett 1.2S Luxus review from Netherlands

The only real trouble I had was a broken accelerator cable, for which I had to call in the road assistance, because I forgot to take my toolbox with me.

A cooling hose started to leak because of age. Took me more time to get to the parts store by bicycle than the replacement itself.

The light bulbs in the dashboard went out, also because of age.

I replaced the front shock absorbers, which relieved the feeling of sea-sickness when driving on bumpy roads.

What finally killed the car, was rust. I had already done welding on the front suspension mounts and the bottom sills, but the wheel arches rusted tremendously and when the bottom started to rust as well (the passenger floor got wet when it was raining), it was time to say goodbye.

It was my first car, I bought it when I was a student.

There is virtually nothing what can go wrong on this car and should anything go wrong, you can fix it yourself with simple tools. It is amazing how accessible all mechanics are. If you look under the hood, there's so much space, you can almost mount a second engine!

The car was designated "Luxus", this meant there was a clock and a windshield wiper with interval setting. However, I could not find anything else what could be called luxury, as the car is extremely basic. On the other hand, there isn't really much what can break down.

There is a lot of space, due to the boxy, square design of the car. Fold away the rear seats and you'll be surprised how much you can carry.

The 1.2 liter OHV engine is not very powerful (54 bhp) and definitely not fuel-economic (drinks 9 liters of leaded 98 RON every 100 km), but unbelievably reliable. It never let me down.