Real Road Test: NSU Ro80 - Radical Rotary Revolutionary!

in this video I'm a Volkswagen HQ to drive the car but Volkswagen did not design i've not sponsored by lancaster insurance yes it's arguably the best car of a Volkswagen never actually designed it's the NSU ro 80 and yes it really does look daft odd there are a very strange thing let's start with a little bit of company history NSU was a company that stopped making cars in the 1930s and moved into scooters instead but in the late 1950s they developed the NSU Prince a little rear engined called a pink overhead cam engine the NSU Prince very smart little thing that developed into a full range of little rear engine cars all with transverse engines but then they decided to put a Wankel rotary engine in one of the those cars the to create the Prince sport which was a little convertible and buoyed by this success even though it wasn't a success of that car they developed this the ROA T it's a bit like a manufacturer of sheds suddenly breaking into mansions or sewing it's yeah it was one heck of a technological leaf the power plant was designed by dr. Felix Wankel and so van called were our van Wankel and yeah here's some footage of how the engine works in principle it's a twin rotor design and that you can see got triangular rotor which goes around in a sort of triangular housing the weak point of the engine being the apex seals which is vital for compression and these engines were so advanced they led to marry warranty claims and issue ultimately in big financial trouble because they honored their warranty Volkswagen stepped in and bought the company that was largely because they actually wanted to k70 which had been developed alongside the NSU ro 80 was a much more conventional car an overhead cam four cylinder engine and front-wheel drive and given Volkswagens from wheel drive ambitions even though it owned OD yea they fought it made sense to buy an issue as well which men meant Dayton had to honor the warranty claims but they did finally get to the bottom of the apex sealed problems the problem is it's not a very user-friendly engine it doesn't tolerate neglect it doesn't tolerate quick running it's best to get a uncle engine up to full operating temperature whenever you use it there are some things you definitely have to bear in mind you don't over-rev them either but yeah the styling was done in-house by a chap whose name I've most to forget entirely sorry mr. na hue ROA T designer but he moved on to BMW and I think you can see more than a hint of P and W in the styling here because of that it's a very strange shape very low nose very curvy humped area they kind of set the scene of the modern car and the NSU ro 80 was launched just one year after the Audi 80 came to market yeah 65 is when these died production 66 when the 80 came along and my fingers 67 the RO 80 came into production I think it had been so blunt effectively in 66 so it's not just a van called rotary engine we've also got a semi automatic transmission uses a torque converter to do away with the clutch quite common at times Citroen GSAC Matic uses the same principle and it's a manual gearbox with an automatic operation of the clutch because you still need to separate engine from transmission to affect the gear changes elect electro switch in the gear leaver it detects when your hands on it so never ever leave your hand on the gear stick in an NSU ro 80 got all independent suspension look at this enormous boot at the back and yeah just wonderful wonderful styling I wish the something wasn't quite so strong today nice and if you plate on it as well but I think we'd better at start with a nose under the bonnet frankly so forward tilting bonnet if we go oh now I'm gonna have to try and operate that stand am i how C okay so that's good there and the way you're meant to rest that Oh possibly in that slot there there we go so there is the rotary engine see a twin rotor design so that's a rotor there and that's a rotor there nominally regarded as one liter but given the combustion changes chambers move around the engine as it rotates a bit difficult to get an accurate meaning but there's a little NSU logo and here's the gearbox with its inboard brakes you know in the 70s inboard brakes were not that uncommon Jaguar xj6 had them at the back e-type adding them at the back were over p6 and other cars had them at the front to see vgs AEDs alpha surd because it kind of makes sense it keeps your unsprung weight to a minimum and it makes it much easier I'm going to bother with flexes because everything is just there yeah a remarkable little engine over the other side we've got the carburetor twin carburetors look one for each rotor later Mazdas would have twin spark plugs per rotor chamber as well as they discovered but a slightly offset time signature just helped get a better combustion we've got a fixed fan to the radiator here at the front servo breaks this drum as well so nice and powerful McPherson strut front suspension and semi trailing rear I believe the wipers remain in a left-hand Drive pattern regardless of which market the car was designed for you knew I was gonna talk about wipers y'all never look in the boot actually if the boots open it looks like it should be hugely capacious oh and it is rather look we got the spare wheel is upright plenty of space in here got some NSU ro a to display plates they're quite nice aerial located there no folding rear seat I shouldn't drink all no no no for a moment okay so some reassuring clunk jump inside lovely textured seats rather smart and lots of pluck the black plastic I mean in many ways this is kind of setting the scene for all modern cars we've got a reminder of the gear positions here because it's a dogleg first so there's a park position reverse opposite first and then second and third over here and you can force the torque converter to slip and pull away in second but we're gonna use the gearbox properly I've got air that's always useful to have presumably allows more air frooties vents not sure what I want is up for posting your mail who knows cigarette lighter oh that's a fantastic logo properly zip oh look we've got our little Blaupunkt radio here might see if that works in a bit lots of little lights and switches all over the place in fact so we've got lights here and parking lights as well oh yeah there we go that's nice yeah make of that which you will well we go over here wipers there oh that's interesting got indicators on the left hand and the wipers on the right obviously we'll test the wipers come on this is hub nut box yeah quite spacious I like the fact that some extra spark plugs in there and look it even gives you an arrow to show you which way to open and it must be said again German Carr beautifully engineered window winders I don't know what it is about the Germans but they do like the nice window wiper we've got obviously pedals look automatic there is no clutch nowhere to rest your clutch for Eva fresh air vent down here as well yeah so far so curvature but it just feels it feels quite modern it really does feel like a modern car right something that into neutral and it's probably time to get the main setup and go for a drive but let me do that no I haven't got the main setup yet but I have got the key in the ignition oh there we go everything comes in to life fuel than everything and let's see how she starts the noise most unlike any other car not really does sound like the future and what's quite interesting is I've driven a Mazda rx-7 and the engine sounded entirely normal in that was concerned heated donor do not want heaps thank you very much but maybe notice it's time to do wiper test who else does a wiper test with an in baqara' in the background that sounds like the porn as interesting I was introducing that it's a way for wash Oh I'm not doing very well lately with wipers and washers am i and look there's a triangle of doom look it doesn't meet disappoint right get the main setup we'll get on our way hold on we've got the seatbelt to consider look no seat belt buckles they just go in here and then just lock the latch down and that's you seat belt done what a neat solution I'd like that put the crazy seatbelt on it's hard it in there we go and I went for the clutch not necessary okay braking first is a good idea apparently power-steering quite unusual for a smaller carpenter time [Music] to reverse and I think there we go this is all all unedited of me trying to drive a car oh there we go now we've got the situation sister well if she goes whoa don't get out of this crazy car park we just feel like driving the future I've driven mother knees for a long time must be a good 10 years Oh strange having a clutch activate we won't be doing anything select crisis going on there makes to flatten about you on the phone I'm slightly alarmed by the high revs which might explain why it's funking into drive a bit but away we go so yeah no clutch but a manual gear leaver and you can't touch the gear lever at all because if you do the clutch disengages that's 60 pompadour is not sure properly okay that's a good time to discover it up this tests going really badly well guff nose breaks a powerful sighs better sore thumb slightly worried about that rattling sound that's not good no bit of roly-poly in the handling there that was 17 second of the top issues going on with a window here fine yeah goes well enough yodeler seems ridiculously hard it's trying to idler about 2,000 rpm [Music] that's a very annoying vibration somewhere but turbine smoother speeds very little sensation there's actually an engine at work those uncanny and this is a 1960s design he's our amazing cars back in the day before word throaty engine away and Fitz a Ford v4 which sounds like madness [Music] first had the advantage what they actually worked whereas these rotary engines could be a bit of a pain oh wow nice um impressive body roll [Music] it just seems remarkable looking back NS you were able to develop a car like this at all and it's a shame they ultimately paid the price because then as you got swallowed up by Volkswagen the k70 became a Volkswagen k70 and the ROA T impressively Volkswagen let it linger until 1977 but it never lost a reputation have been a troublesome car yeah so futuristic so ahead of its time it's only the suppleness of the suspension but stops a feeling like a 1980s design it's extraordinary I mean I'm not really a fan of a semi-automatic it seems the worst of all worlds you can have a talking bird so why not just have my conventional automatic gearbox but steering is very nicely weighted and nice and Acura the fill / assistant but it must have seemed quite unusual for the time because most family cars did not have power steering no needle seems to have settled down to about a thousand but my thought it might be an idea to do a acceleration test because this is one car you can definitely drive quite hard actually so here we go first gear selected - quick on the change not sixty climbing yeah a little flying machine so lots of manufacturers actually investigated the ban called rotary engine Citroen was one of them Citroen even built a rotary engine helicopter because that's just how mag de word and I wonder why he went bankrupt entirely unrelated I'm sure but yeah Mazda was the only manufacturer of a match to make the rotary engine work and even then eventually find a sweet spot for a gear leaver it eventually had to give up because the rotary engines always tend to burn a bit of oil it's kind of good for them to lubricate the combustion chamber lubricate even the combustion chamber so yeah they're not always the greenest of engines and they tend to be quite thirsty [Music] yes not ever so much down in dirty talk it's it doesn't necessarily feel the very rapid car it doesn't shove you in the back any point it just seems to have a speed quite deliciously well yeah it is a very soft and wallowy in the bends even for a Citroen man yeah you can get quite illegal in second gear that's hilarious to be honest yes what impresses I mean this car is talked about because of the engine but the whole package is futuristic this interior is like from another world I can't really believe it was in production in the 1960s self constant indicators are a bit overzealous see [Music] just confirmed it will do 50 miles an hour in first at 6000 rpm I think that's why it doesn't feel so quick ease the gearing is very tall most cars don't do 50 miles an hour in first gear so yeah it's gaining pace but it's fighting against the gearing really just so astonishingly smooth what a car what a complete GameChanger I wish I bought one of these when they were still cheap I'm relatively plentiful I say that about almost every car but then it's true but this really is something else they do need a bit of specialist love and attention to keep them going but yeah hard to compare and that's why I love older cars it's the sheer variety at the time you could buy this car in the late 60s you could buy an Austin maxi a renault 16 for front-wheel drive Citroen ds3 complete bonkers or maybe you'd like to buy some smaller and rear engine door so mid-engine door yeah go for room second gear for cruising through villages now front wheel drive rear wheel drive four-wheel drive yeah and different types of engine this one has no Pistons which makes it unusual yeah it's amazing times for a variety which you just don't get with modern cars every manufacturer makes the same facsimile at the same car magic I'm breaking off properly so smooth well an extraordinary car and it must get better as the familiar familiarization grows you start feeling more and more comfortable with this car and misters get more and more enjoyable superb genuinely gutted to be taking this car back I could spend all day in it but I've got to get my in bakov to Buzzle Dhin so there is no time to linger but yeah I still can't get over how this car came out of nowhere for NSU and how well develop the entire car is the whole thing is a pleasant car to drive yeah truly astonishing I've been very glad to reacquaint myself with one so there you go that's the NSU ro 80 a quite astonishing vehicle if you ever get the chance to drive one you should definitely make the most of it and that concludes my visit to Volkswagen and the test of two non Volkswagens it's been a very interesting experience I hope you've enjoyed both videos so I shall say thank you very much for watching don't forget to subscribe before you go and I shall see you in a future video farewell you

Channel: HubNut

Views: 160,705

Keywords: nsu, rotary, wankel, on board sounds, drive, test, road, Milton Keynes

Id: dIfV804Kjgw

Length: 25min 54sec (1554 seconds)

Published: Thu Jun 13 2019