Techzle has been around for 30 years, so that’s why we look back every week at this week’s edition in 1990. As of today, Techzle 23 is in the shops with a trio test between the new Skoda Octavia, our endurance Astra and a Kia Ceed and you read everything about an Impreza from 1999 with 400,000 kilometers on the clock. But what exactly was in Techzle 23 thirty years ago?
News
When you see the first news pages you would expect that the news of week 23 in 1990 was very thin. The Dutch Toyota importer is given prominent space in the magazine to tell about the camels grazing near his building. The new baby camel is still looking for a name … Fortunately, a little further on soon follows more real news in the form of the successor to the Alfa Romeo 75. The beautiful Italian is in need of replacement and his successor, in the form of the Alfa 155, already camouflaged through the snow. Techzle managed to get photos of that. We are not yet aware of the new name. The sheer amount of camouflage on the back is more than special. It gives the sedan a rear of the Fiat Tempra Station Wagon: that’s camouflage again! The Alfa Romeo 155 eventually appears on the market two years later.
Tests
Where Techzle 22 from 1990 was bursting at the seams with the number of tests, a week later it is a lot quieter. Number 23 opens with a test of the “very luxurious, fast, whisper quiet and very expensive Jaguar XJR-S”. For a quarter of a million, the Brit is known for its impressive torque and a top speed of 250 km / h. This is followed by a slightly less fat test, although it is still two special cars. The Daihatsu Applause can prove itself against the Subaru Legacy. Their agreement? They are both four-wheel drive! Although the Subaru is clearly a size bigger, the handling is surprisingly close together. Both cars hold up well on a real skid track and get across without any problems.
In a third test, the Toyota Starlet 1.3 XLi takes on the larger Corolla in the exact same 1.3 XLi trim. Where exactly are the differences? Especially the suspension appears a lot softer with the shorter Starlet. In the poster story another Toyota passes by: the MR2. It also gets “a good pass mark for road holding”.
Reports
There are many different reports in Techzle 23 of 1990. For example, editor Don v.d. Continuing with the Isuzu Trooper to the harsh Iceland, they visit an exclusive Dutch auction and Trabantjes that never went into production, such as the P610 (1974), the P603 (1979) and the P601 (1982), are reviewed. Another report shows that, unlike in America, there is no data in the Netherlands about the number of times a car type is involved in an accident. But why not? In addition, the difference between the tiptronic automatic transmission and the manual five-speed gearbox from the Porsche Carrera 2 is highlighted.
Advertisement
It is now unimaginable, but in the 1990s it was the most normal thing to advertise cigarettes in magazines. This also applies to Caballero, which promotes its ‘adventure cigarettes’ in full-page format. “There is still so much to experience”; a special text to promote cigarettes.
