Eight brilliant cars from rubbish car brands

Lada Niva

The ultimate less is more vehicle. The original Lada Niva is a stone cold classic of utilitarian motoring and a piece of Eastern automotive design potent enough to turn even the most authoritative car hack into a trembling mess of want.

Niva means ‘field’ in Russian and this blocky 4x4, otherwise known as the catchy VAZ-2121, was designed and produced by the former Soviet manufacturer AvtoVAZ. Specifically for the rural market.

Described as a Renault 5 on a Land Rover chassis, the simple Niva is now the longest running four-wheel-drive vehicle still in production in its original form. A fact that would surely make its soviet designers well up with pride. Cheap, bland, practical and able to tackle both town and country with ease, the Niva has hit anti-hero status despite the Lada badge. A bonkers, brilliant and somewhat brutal piece of engineering.

Daewoo Matiz

First launched in 1998 the disarming little Daewoo Matiz is a forgotten gem of the late '90s hatchback market. Economical and blessed with light yet sure-footed handling, even with a full load of passengers (after a re-design to stop it falling over that is), the five-door Matiz was a joy for any pensioner or first car owner lucky enough to be weaving it around their local town.

Despite not being blessed with any performance to speak of – the three-cylinder engine could manage 89mph with a decent tail wind and would take a colossal 17 seconds to reach 60mph – the bug-eyed little runaround was a much-loved offering from Daewoo as it delivered plenty of visibility, comfort and storage space.

So much so, the Matiz quickly won over the press and in 2000 alone, it notched up Best Small Car in Auto Express's Used Car Awards, Best Value Car in Top Gear Magazine and Best Small Car on BBC2's Top Gear. Despite its positive reputation, the Matiz alone couldn’t save the Daewoo from being renamed Chevrolet.

Daihatsu Copen

When the budget two-seat Copen sportscar arrived in 2004, the package took an awful lot of people by surprise, with its modern aluminium folding roof and lightweight characteristics available for just £11,000.

A bit underpowered, with a 660cc turbo-charged three-cylinder engine, the Copen still offered plenty of rewards for those who wanted a wind in their hair blast without the worrying price tag.

Low to the ground, stiff suspension and super narrow tyres all contributed to an involved driving experience. Add a decent bit of road and wind noise with the roof safely tucked into the boot, the sporty little Copen remains a genuine rival to the more established MX-5 or Audi TT. Especially if you can find yourself an example of the 1,300cc four-cylinder-engined model that arrived a few years later.

Delorean DMC-12

John Delorean left his position as the youngest ever GM executive to form the Delorean Motor Company in 1975. Blessed with engineering ability and an eye for innovative design, what originally sounded like an exciting new automotive business would soon suffer a well-documented fall from grace right at the wrong time.

Production of the Delorean ended in 1983, a mere two years before Back to the Future instantly boosted the desirability of a brilliant-looking piece of automotive engineering. Sadly not blessed with a wonderful engine, the Delorean never lived up to the original promise from a driving purist's point of view, despite Colin Chapman being involved in the chassis and handling. But that doesn’t really matter in this case, as it remains a certified head-turner to this day. Even if tinged with a hint of ‘what if’ regret.

Vector W8

Like we said, this list isn’t all necessarily down-right-bad manufacturers and in the case of Vector, some things just aren’t meant to be. Which is heartbreaking when you consider how menacing and modern the ridiculously-wedged Vector W8 was in period.

Designed by company founder Gerald Wiegert and David Kostka, only 22 W8s were produced before an aggressive takeover sent the company into the abyss. Built from 1989 to 1993 the W8 had all the Miami Vice '80s supercar styling with serious engineering to back it up. Kevlar and carbon-fibre used throughout and powered by a 6.0 litre V8 twin turbo, the W8 was a bit of a rocket-ship. Said to produce 625PS, it could hit 60mph in 3.9 seconds. And all pre-McLaren F1. An intriguing thought.

We’ve not been lucky enough to drive one, but the W8 is something we badly want to park up with pride in Festival of Speed presented by Mastercard performance parking one day.

Bricklin SV-1

The Canadian muscle car you might never have heard of, but would certainly want for a throaty blast down to one of our Vee-Power Sunday Breakfast Clubs. We present to you the brilliant Bricklin SV-1. Powered by a mid-engined AMC V8, the two-door SV-1, or ‘Safe Vehicle One’, was originally dreamed up to be the world’s safest most economical car.

Obviously a fat old gas-guzzling V8 and a weight to rival a battleship ended those musings, so SV-1 was re-marketed as a safe sportscar. Fitted with gullwing doors and boasting North American aesthetics with a purposeful wedged front end, the SV-1 is a great looking car and surely an awful lot of acoustic fun when you lean heavily on the throttle.

Sadly its cumbersome mass reduced the performance and early comparisons to the Chevrolet Corvette set the bar just too high for Bricklin to match. Low sales slowed production and a small matter of $21 million of debt saw Bricklin fold, despite creating what we believe to be one of the coolest looking sportscars ever built in North America.

Matra Rancho

This one is controversial. Matra made some incredible racing cars, but their road cars often left a little to be desired. Genuinely one of the most pioneering cars of the 20th century, the Matra Rancho was a vehicle ahead of its time. Long before the likes of the Nissan Qashqai or Kia Sportage came along, this ‘crossover’ utility vehicle was as brilliant as it was flawed.

Originally launched in 1977, the Rancho was nothing like the saloons the buying public had seen. Bizarrely advertised alongside tweed-wearing models in wellingtons and armed with shotguns, the Rancho completely lacked any off-road capability with its 1,442 cc, 80PS engine and front-wheel-drive configuration.

What it did do, rightly or wrongly, was to pave the way for the modern town-going SUV. Offering oodles of comfort and storage space for the school run or a nip to the shops, it looked like it could tackle the most challenging off-road conditions. In reality it would struggle with a bit of curb parking. Despite all this, the Rancho, if used correctly, was a modern and future-looking solution for a changing breed of motorist and a car whose influence remains in place today.

Reliant Scimitar GTE

Reliant, bless it, is not famed for producing standout vehicles, yet we often find ourselves pining over its gorgeous Scimitar GTEs every time we’re lucky enough to spot one.

Designed by Tom Karen OBE, of Chopper Bikes fame, this GTE was one of the first estate tourers and released at a time before wagons were fashionable. Fitted with an ever-dependable Ford V6 and a rust-proof glass-fibre bodywork the Scimitar looks, dare we say it, elegant. Well-maintained models still run like a dream today some 56 years after the first examples rolled off the production line.

Kitsch, classic, practical, easy to maintain and a hell of a lot of fun due to its power to weight ratio, the Scimitar GTE is most definitely a brilliant car, even if it will be forever linked to the less brilliant Reliant Robin.