The Automobile Thread.

[aaron]

Just ordered the new Fiesta yesterday, I unfortunately have to wait till the end of September for it! Good news is I'll have the new number plates by then.

Was wondering what everyone (who can drive) drives?

Anyone owned any great cars before?

[Hafnia]

I drive a 10 year old Ford Mondeo 2.0 diesel. Bought it for £4500 5 years ago at 75k mikes.... 123k miles on clock now. Aside from brakes, tyres and services I had to pay £70 for some random job on steering column.  Not the most exciting car but great for motorway driving and pretty good all round. 

Prior to that I had a vw golf 2.0 tdi which I bought for £7k at 4 years old 83k miles.... had that for 7 years. Loved it. Great car. 

If I'm honest I'm not a car person.  Huge expense when you look at brand new ones and depreciation. I see people in work who change cars all the time and they are never happy.  I'd sooner spend money on securing family future and maybe after all that I may treat myself one day but I doubt it.... the 4-5 year old car market does me just fine.

Enjoy your new wheels.. New car day is very nice. 

[johnh]

58 minutes ago, aaron said:

Just ordered the new Fiesta yesterday, I unfortunately have to wait till the end of September for it! Good news is I'll have the new number plates by then.

Was wondering what everyone (who can drive) drives?

Anyone owned any great cars before?

Ah!  Ford Fiesta.   Back around 1990 I was buying 3,000 Ford Fiesta's a year for the company I worked for.  Fiesta has been going for a long time (should have ironed any problems out by now!)  Best car I 'owned' (company car) was a Citroen Pallas 2.4 GTi.  Fantastic car to drive, particularly on long runs.  The bodywork rusted after only 3 years though, so glad I didn''t own it.

[markjazzbassist]

1 hour ago, hafnia said:

I drive a 10 year old Ford Mondeo 2.0 diesel. Bought it for £4500 5 years ago at 75k mikes.... 123k miles on clock now. Aside from brakes, tyres and services I had to pay £70 for some random job on steering column.  Not the most exciting car but great for motorway driving and pretty good all round. 

Prior to that I had a vw golf 2.0 tdi which I bought for £7k at 4 years old 83k miles.... had that for 7 years. Loved it. Great car. 

If I'm honest I'm not a car person.  Huge expense when you look at brand new ones and depreciation. I see people in work who change cars all the time and they are never happy.  I'd sooner spend money on securing family future and maybe after all that I may treat myself one day but I doubt it.... the 4-5 year old car market does me just fine.

Enjoy your new wheels.. New car day is very nice. 

i am the same as you Haf, not a car guy either and i also buy Used and drive them into the ground.  have a 15 year old Toyota Camry with 283,000 miles.  i will continue with it till it dies.

[Hafnia]

56 minutes ago, markjazzbassist said:

i am the same as you Haf, not a car guy either and i also buy Used and drive them into the ground.  have a 15 year old Toyota Camry with 283,000 miles.  i will continue with it till it dies.

I can tolerate £1000 a year loss to own a car.... the thought of losing £5k the second you drive it out the dealership is a bit of a sickener for me.   Don't get me wrong - I'm made up for people who have new car day - but I don't deserve nice new cars.... after 3 days there will be empty coke cans and haribo wrappers in the passenger footwell. 

 

[Johnsy]

My first car was an F reg Fiesta 1.4 ghia! I wanted to put an XR2 bodykit on it but I never got round to it in the end - would love an original XR2 now!

I do quite like cars, and when I was in my 20's and single I had one of the original Focus RS's, then an imported twin turbo Toyota Supra, which was ridiculously fast. Both didn't lose very much depreciation-wise which is one of the reasons I bought them - the Supra cost me £6500 for a '94 reg in 2006, and I sold it to somebody in Germany in 2010 for £5500. Didn't cost too much to run either really - insurance and servicing were surprisingly low, and it was 100% reliable, but petrol cost a LOT! I should have kept it for longer in hindsight - they go for more than £15k these days!

When I hit 30 I decided, like Haf, I'd rather spend money on securing the future for my family, so I got a Skoda Fabia vRS, which was still a bit sporty but really practical & cheap to run, and now I'm married with a little one I have an extremely boring, extremely practical diesel Nissan Qashqai +2!

Living in London I quite fancy a small electric car like the Renault Zoe as a run around too.

[EFC-Paul]

Currently have a Honda Civic 1.8 V-Tech good nippy and reliable car (touch wood) decent on fuel and a good sized boot etc

We are hopefully moving towards the end of the year into our second and probably last house so once that's sorted and I know how the finances stand I'll dip my toes into the market for something better and newer 

[EFC-Paul]

10 minutes ago, hafnia said:

I can tolerate £1000 a year loss to own a car.... the thought of losing £5k the second you drive it out the dealership is a bit of a sickener for me.   Don't get me wrong - I'm made up for people who have new car day - but I don't deserve nice new cars.... after 3 days there will be empty coke cans and haribo wrappers in the passenger footwell. 

 

Mines a nightmare to keep clean 

Give it a proper going over and say to the missus and kids no eating in the back, two days later I'm scrapping maoams off the seats and picking up half eaten crisps 

[markjazzbassist]

Just now, EFC-Paul said:

Mines a nightmare to keep clean 

Give it a proper going over and say to the missus and kids no eating in the back, two days later I'm scrapping maoams off the seats and picking up half eaten crisps 

that's why i have my car and she hers.  hers has the kids seats and is trashed like you said, mine is clean as a whistle   

[EFC-Paul]

26 minutes ago, markjazzbassist said:

that's why i have my car and she hers.  hers has the kids seats and is trashed like you said, mine is clean as a whistle   

We only need the one at the moment as I work permanent nights 20:00/08:00 so I'm home for when she goes to work and the kids go to school/nursery 

If circumstances ever change then I'll be in my Ariel Atom don't you worry

 

[Palfy]

1 hour ago, EFC-Paul said:

We only need the one at the moment as I work permanent nights 20:00/08:00 so I'm home for when she goes to work and the kids go to school/nursery 

If circumstances ever change then I'll be in my Ariel Atom don't you worry

 

Range Rover Autobiography Sport more the handbags than mine and I drive a Nissan Navara pickup twin cab, both automatics and both just a year old now oh how time fly’s when you get older. 

[johnh]

The most ridiculous high powered road car I ever drove.   The director of a company we dealt with phoned me one day and asked me would I look after his car for a month as he had been banned for speeding.  It was a Ford Escort RS with a 2.9 Cosworth engine turbocharged.  He said to use it as much as I wanted.   When you accelerated, you actually went back in the seat.  As I didn't want to lose my licence I kept within the speed limit but used the acceleration which was phenomenal. Never got held up as I could overtake everything!   Happy with my Nissan  Qashqai now, plodding through its 3,000 miles pa!

 

[Palfy]

The fastest and hardest car to drive that I’ve owned was a BMW M3, I’m not what you would call a racer that car use to scare that shit out of me, it was like I’d filled up with Kangaroo juice for the 1st few weeks I had it, the throttle was so sensitive I’d put my foot on slightly to hard and it would shoot off I’d shit myself and first reaction was foot off the gas then you would jerk and bounce along. 

Also rear wheel drive which in Swindon with all our roundabouts was a nightmare kept flipping the back out which in the wet wasn’t very good for the heart or anyone near me. 

[johnh]

58 minutes ago, Palfy said:

The fastest and hardest car to drive that I’ve owned was a BMW M3, I’m not what you would call a racer that car use to scare that shit out of me, it was like I’d filled up with Kangaroo juice for the 1st few weeks I had it, the throttle was so sensitive I’d put my foot on slightly to hard and it would shoot off I’d shit myself and first reaction was foot off the gas then you would jerk and bounce along. 

Also rear wheel drive which in Swindon with all our roundabouts was a nightmare kept flipping the back out which in the wet wasn’t very good for the heart or anyone near me. 

Palfy, I have never owned a rear wheel drive (deliberately) , they are a disaster in the snow and ice too.

[Johnsy]

2 hours ago, Palfy said:

The fastest and hardest car to drive that I’ve owned was a BMW M3, I’m not what you would call a racer that car use to scare that shit out of me, it was like I’d filled up with Kangaroo juice for the 1st few weeks I had it, the throttle was so sensitive I’d put my foot on slightly to hard and it would shoot off I’d shit myself and first reaction was foot off the gas then you would jerk and bounce along. 

Also rear wheel drive which in Swindon with all our roundabouts was a nightmare kept flipping the back out which in the wet wasn’t very good for the heart or anyone near me. 

Which M3 was it Palfy? I've been thinking of getting a nice car for me as a second car to do just a few miles in (in addition to the family qashqai) as sort of an investment too. Would love an original E30, but prices are through the roof now! I've always likes the E46 & you can get a decent one for about £10k now, and prices seem to be rising....

 

 

3 hours ago, johnh said:

The most ridiculous high powered road car I ever drove.   The director of a company we dealt with phoned me one day and asked me would I look after his car for a month as he had been banned for speeding.  It was a Ford Escort RS with a 2.9 Cosworth engine turbocharged.  He said to use it as much as I wanted.   When you accelerated, you actually went back in the seat.  As I didn't want to lose my licence I kept within the speed limit but used the acceleration which was phenomenal. Never got held up as I could overtake everything!   Happy with my Nissan  Qashqai now, plodding through its 3,000 miles pa!

 

 That must be worth an absolute fortune now!

(if it's still in one piece!)

[MikeO]

I'd never spent more than about £2500 on a car until last year and always ran them into the ground but then came into some money last year and broke the mould. Got a 2011 Audi A3 2.0 TDI S-line cabrio, absolutely amazing fun! But not overly practical with the grand-kids so then got a 2014 Nissan Qashqai 1.5 DCI Acenta as well, much less fun but amazingly cheap to run and great for distance driving, was getting close to 70 mpg on some slowish drives in Scotland recently. I think we'll probably sell both of them in the next year or so though (wife doesn't drive so having two is a bit OTT); quite fancy an Audi Q3 next, think that would be a decent compromise between fun and being sensible.

[MikeO]

5 minutes ago, Johnsy said:

I've been thinking of getting a nice car for me as a second car to do just a few miles in (in addition to the family qashqai)

Haha, you posted while I was typing, fancy an A3 Cabrio? I'll give you a good deal.

[Palfy]

2 hours ago, Johnsy said:

Which M3 was it Palfy? I've been thinking of getting a nice car for me as a second car to do just a few miles in (in addition to the family qashqai) as sort of an investment too. Would love an original E30, but prices are through the roof now! I've always likes the E46 & you can get a decent one for about £10k now, and prices seem to be rising....

 

 

 That must be worth an absolute fortune now!

(if it's still in one piece!)

We bought it off our neighbor in 1988 it was 2 years old and red, the neighbor was Swindon Town captain called Ross McClaren,  to be honest Johnsy  I haven’t got a clue what number it was and even when I owned it I wouldn’t have known, to be honest mate I buy cars for there looks and haven’t got a clue about the technical data. 

It was the last of the squarer shaped models but your probably know more than me and could tell me what model it was. 

[Palfy]

4 months ago done my CBT and 6 weeks ago bought a new Honda CB125F to ride around to get a bit of Road sense and hopefully in a couple of months I will be ready to take my test for a full bike licence. 

Then the plan is to get a chromed up Harley and do a bit of touring with members of the family who have doing Road trips in Europe for a few years now and they have a great time. 

[Johnsy]

2 hours ago, MikeO said:

Haha, you posted while I was typing, fancy an A3 Cabrio? I'll give you a good deal.

Haha, that does sound like a nice car Mike, but sadly it's not one that is likely to appreciate in value so it doesn't fit my criteria! 

 

19 minutes ago, Palfy said:

We bought it off our neighbor in 1988 it was 2 years old and red, the neighbor was Swindon Town captain called Ross McClaren,  to be honest Johnsy  I haven’t got a clue what number it was and even when I owned it I wouldn’t have known, to be honest mate I buy cars for there looks and haven’t got a clue about the technical data. 

It was the last of the squarer shaped models but your probably know more than me and could tell me what model it was. 

That was an E30, the first and probably the most desirable M3! They were notoriously hard to handle in the wet too, as you noted. Can you remember how you found the gearbox? It's a dog leg, so the gears are in a different place to a conventional 'box.

This is the cheapest E30 M3 on autotrader at the moment! You could have bought an awesome Harley for that if you still had it! 

[Palfy]

5 minutes ago, Johnsy said:

Haha, that does sound like a nice car Mike, but sadly it's not one that is likely to appreciate in value so it doesn't fit my criteria! 

 

That was an E30, the first and probably the most desirable M3! They were notoriously hard to handle in the wet too, as you noted. Can you remember how you found the gearbox? It's a dog leg, so the gears are in a different place to a conventional 'box.

This is the cheapest E30 M3 on autotrader at the moment! You could have bought an awesome Harley for that if you still had it! 

Nothing comes to mind about the gear box to me but the Missus remembers that she use to struggle finding reverse, I can't believe that price and that was exactly like ours colour as well, but the wheels on that one don't ring any bells.

[Johnsy]

40 minutes ago, Palfy said:

Nothing comes to mind about the gear box to me but the Missus remembers that she use to struggle finding reverse, I can't believe that price and that was exactly like ours colour as well, but the wheels on that one don't ring any bells.

Those are the standard BBS wheels - maybe being a professional football player your neighbour got a special edition or something? (Probably worth even more!)

As for the gearbox, it's a bit weird as reverse is where first is on a normal 'box, 1st is straight back where 2nd usually is, 2nd is where 3rd usually is etc etc.

 

Good luck with your bike test by the way - I did mine a couple of years ago & really enjoyed it!

[Palfy]

1 minute ago, Johnsy said:

Those are the standard BBS wheels - maybe being a professional football player your neighbour got a special edition or something? (Probably worth even more!)

As for the gearbox, it's a bit weird as reverse is where first is on a normal 'box, 1st is straight back where 2nd usually is, 2nd is where 3rd usually is etc etc.

 

Good luck with your bike test by the way - I did mine a couple of years ago & really enjoyed it!

Cheers mate 

[MikeO]

1 hour ago, Palfy said:

4 months ago done my CBT and 6 weeks ago bought a new Honda CB125F to ride around to get a bit of Road sense and hopefully in a couple of months I will be ready to take my test for a full bike licence. 

Then the plan is to get a chromed up Harley and do a bit of touring with members of the family who have doing Road trips in Europe for a few years now and they have a great time. 

Did my CBT three years back when my lad bought a bike; he never took to it so I rode it (when the sun was shining), lovely looking thing it was, Chinese company but the bikes were built in the same factory that builds a lot of Harleys so very good build quality.

I'm toying with the idea of doing it again (CBT now expired obviously) and then going straight down the DAS route to get my A licence and then buying something serious. I rode bikes from when I was sixteen to about twenty-six (stupidly never passing my test) and getting back on again was easy and fun.

This was my "mini hog" only did 60mph downhill with a following wind but fun on small roads.

[aaron]

I'd love a bike just for "sunday driving/riding" what's the insurance like on them?

 

[MikeO]

14 minutes ago, aaron said:

I'd love a bike just for "sunday driving/riding" what's the insurance like on them?

For a 125cc mine was tiny, under £100pa fully comp from memory; obviously age plays a part but you're not a kid anymore so shouldn't be too much.

[aaron]

9 minutes ago, MikeO said:

For a 125cc mine was tiny, under £100pa fully comp from memory; obviously age plays a part but you're not a kid anymore so shouldn't be too much.

nope, not far off 29 now! kin ell ive been on this site for 13 years now then! ha.

I'll wait till my 30's before I look into a bike, wait till the little one is older.

[MikeO]

1 minute ago, aaron said:

nope, not far off 29 now! kin ell ive been on this site for 13 years now then! ha.

I just looked that up, sixteen when you joined, ridiculous.

[EFC-Paul]

17 hours ago, Johnsy said:

Haha, that does sound like a nice car Mike, but sadly it's not one that is likely to appreciate in value so it doesn't fit my criteria! 

 

That was an E30, the first and probably the most desirable M3! They were notoriously hard to handle in the wet too, as you noted. Can you remember how you found the gearbox? It's a dog leg, so the gears are in a different place to a conventional 'box.

This is the cheapest E30 M3 on autotrader at the moment! You could have bought an awesome Harley for that if you still had it! 

That's a seriously nice motor! 

Mate at work has the new M2 DCT and had it's already decent spec tuned again, sounds and shifts like a rally car 

[MikeO]

5 minutes ago, EFC-Paul said:

That's a seriously nice motor! 

Mate at work has the new M2 DCT and had it's already decent spec tuned again, sounds and shifts like a rally car 

I could never drive a BMW, wouldn't be able to look at myself in the mirror.