Be Excellent To Each Other

The metro chat got me thinking, what was your first car and what happened to it....

Mine was a lovely x reg (x was the suffix not prefix), Light blue Astra Mk1, 1.2 manual choak..

Some thing similar to this but a two door:-


I loved that car, cost me £250 and I did it up over a sumemr, and then some fucker in a van crashes into it when pissed and wrote it off...

I ended up getting a 1.3 gold version after...

This is my second one, the first one was identical but red.

Ford Escort 1.3. Not even a L. Did a lot of miles in it, blew an engine. Eventually the rear brakes broke and the rear subframe collapsed. I'd killed it, but like a faithful dog, it forgave me for it.

After eight years of driving I got my first car this April. An 'N' reg 1-litre Polo, which goes from 0 to 60 in, ooo, the course of a trip. If I ever get a speeding fine, I'll be impressed.

First car:

A Ford Fiesta that my Dad bought me for £50 before I turned 17. I never actually drove this, partly because it was clearly a deathtrap and because I didn't start learning until I was 18 and by then I'd got rid of it.

Then came:

A 1997 Seat Ibiza. 1.4l of goodness, and it was a bloody good car. Never had a single problem with it, but I sold it because I couldn't get my gun in the boot and I didn't like leaving it on the back seat in plain view, so it had to go.

So it was replaced with:

A 2.0l 1996 Vectra CDX with all the trimmings. Bought this off eBay for £450. Started out good but slowly turned to shit, with an oil leak eventually meaning my pump went and I had to be towed back to Shrewsbury by the RAC on my first day of working in Wrexham. I deemed it uneconomical to fix.

So I bought this:

A 2001 Celica 140 - 1.8l of loveliness, but unfortunately this was plagued with oil consumption problems that eventually managed to fuck the (refurbished) engine up, a design fault with that particular engine in that particular year of Celica.

So now I'm on:

A 2003 Celica 190 - A slightly different 1.8l of loveliness, and so far (touch wood) have had no problems whatsoever. Nice.

Surely I'm not the only one that keeps a complete pictorial history of all their cars?

I had a G reg Festa 1 litre when I passed back in, ooooh, 1996? Cost considerably more than 50 quid mind.

I passed in 1992.... I have been driving 18 years... wow I do feel old

205 GTI, still got it now

My first car was a 986cc 1986 D-reg Renault 5 TC Rio. It was similar to this, but had cool 80s zig zag stripes down the side:


I bought it in June 2000 for £450 with money I'd won on the Premium Bonds back when I was a baby. It was a decent little car, but every now and again the starter motor would jam and I'd have to hit it with a mallet.

Eventually someone crashed into the back of me on the M4 eastbound somewhere outside of Bristol when some cock decided to emergency stop in front of me for no reason. I managed to stop in time; the guy behind me was not so fortunate. This was around Christmastime, so I'd only had the car about six months.

I didn't get another car until I'd been in Nottingham for a couple of years, mainly because I'd been totally skint until that point. I then bought a 1.4 1992 J-reg Mk3 Vauxhall Astra, like this but silver:


It cost me what felt like a fucking fortune, as there was always something going wrong with it, but actually wasn't that bad in hindsight. I ended up selling it to a mate for peanuts in June 2005 as I'd decided I wanted a new car (as in brand new - I know, I'm an idiot). I was earning a hell of a lot more money by that point and thought, 'fuck it'.

Anyway, after test driving quite a few cars I decided on an 05-reg Renault Clio 1.6 Dynamique:


It was a fucking brilliant little car, and for the 18 months I had it almost nothing went wrong with it whatsoever. I ended up having to get rid as I'd taken a new job with less money. So, to replace it I decided I wanted something quite classic, but yet fairly cheap. I ended up paying £750 for an F-reg Mk2 VW Golf GTI 16v (actual car shown):


In great nick for its age; drove like stink and I got a lot of approving looks from other VW drivers. However, all was not well as I took it for a service to my local VW specialists and they found lots of rust damage that had been covered up with filler. So I ended up having to spend £790 on my £750 car getting it roadworthy. Pretty annoying seeing as the MOT had only been two months before - it really should've failed on that.

Anyway, to cut a long story short I abused that car and the engine seized up due to lack of oil, despite the fact I was topping it up on an almost weekly basis. It can't have been right, thinking about it. Such a shame as the bodywork and interior were a fine example on a car of its age. It sat in my garage for six months and as far as I know it's now sitting in someone else's garage awaiting a new engine.

After that debacle, I decided to go back to modern cars, and as I was on the up again salary-wise, I was tempted by the Honda Civic Type-R. However, the insurance costs were prohibitive (upwards of £2,000), so I plumped for the Civic Sport instead. An 05-reg Milano Red 1.6 VTEC. It's not as fun to drive as the Clio or the Golf, but it gets the job done and looks good (imo):


And that's it - I've still got the Civic now. I was intending on getting rid for something cheaper due to the fact I only use it at weekends and to go shopping now, but as car prices have fallen through the floor I'm stuck with it for a while.

I've got bits of a 205 XS that will probably fit it if things go wrong.

You can have the whole thing of you want to come collect it.

Nearest I've ever had to owning a car was a Sinclair C5.

Had a Hoover™ washing machine motor as it's engine, no real battery life, the turning circle of 12-wheeler, and one gear, making peddling an exhausting experience, and led to me getting odd looks when I rode it to the beach.

1st car = Talbot Samba.

300 quid (was old as hell). four days of driving and it gets stuck in 3rd. was other side of London. got it home and then it went into neutral and stayed there. another 300 quid later (engine/gearbox replacement) and I'm good to go.

lasted 2 years.

2nd car = Fiesta. written off by a cunt. head on collision in my lane.

3rd car = Fiesta. rust got it.

4th car = Ford Escort. gash.

5th car = Corsa. reliable but weak as a kitten.

now = Laguna (V-reg). Love it.

My first ever car was a W reg Metro in cream. It was never driven, the whole thing was ripped out and had a 18" Cerwin Vega Stroker (1600w competition woofer.. a REAL competition woofer) in a 15,000 cubic inch box was put in, along with a Rockford Fosgate Punch 500m amp. It was trailered to 2 competitions IIRC and both were won hands down in amateur SPL.

That was back in '96.

I didn't have a license then, and didn't bother. I lived in Brixton in London and tubes and buses sufficed. Then I had my Taurus, then my beloved Tiburon.

The Tib was the best car I have owned. I know I have only owned two, but it was beautiful, fast (enough) and immaculate. Mind you, I did take impeccable care of it.

In two years and 28,000 miles of driving it never, EVER once broke down. The closest it came was when a hose split for the air of the Turbo during an 850 mile drive from NJ to OH. This caused dirt to get sucked in and wrecked the MAF sensor. It still ran, but it didn't run very well, lacked any power and guzzled gas. Quick fix, $15 at a junkyard in Ohio for one off an Elantra.

I just absolutely and utterly loved this car. It was mine, from front bumper to rear bumper and everything in between. At some point every single last nut and bolt on this car had been either removed and redone, or touched with a spanner.

Interior? standard one was completely gone, right down to the belts and carpet. Pedals, wheel, dash, ceiling. All completely custom. Boot, custom. Paint, custom. Wheels custom, brakes, spoiler, tires, suspension.. The whole nine yards.

It had the most evil menacing look at night. Pic -



Rear end was nicknamed 'evil eyes' by pals in the car club.

Then there was the fact it was just spotless. You could have eaten your dinner off of any part of that car.



But none of that matters without pace, and noise. And the Tib made a fucking unearthly noise. I had an incredible stereo system in there. But with a pound or two of boost and an open road the Stereo didn't get a look in. Going through a tunnel in this fucker with the windows down was just pure heaven. What made it even better (because I'm lazy) was it's wonderful auto trans. I know I know, they're never going to be as good as Manuals. But this car redlined before shifting so there really wasn't any point in shifting.

*bliss*

Yeh Gods! He dragged the Tiburon pics and video out again!!

We didn't have a car at my parent's, as we were in cycle-city amsterdam. My now-wife, comes from a little village (Linne), and therefore car-use was in the veins. She had bought her first car when she went working, a peugeut 106ACE. and naturally when we went on living together, i drove along. I didn't have my driver's license yet though, as being a poor student without the need (amsterdam), or the money (it has cost me around 4000 poinds to get it), i never tried to get it

(same colour, but not the actual car)

But when my wife changed jobs, and had to spent more time on the freeway, we wanted to get a new one, we liked an Opel (Vauxhall) corsa 1.4 elegance, although we now regret it, as we had many problems with it. We had the choice of buying it this colour with 5 doors, or for the same amount a more popular colour with 3 doors (all second hand)

(actual car, in front of my house)

Because of the problems, and we wanted more space, because of having childeren, we now bought a 206SW 1.4

First car was a 2 door renault 19 ('a' reg) and it cost me £450 which i saved up for about 6 months for so i could stop using public transport to get to work each day.

It ran for a while then one morning on the way to work water started pouring out of it over my feet , turned out to be a problem with the heater - a friend sorted out the pipes to bypass the heater but it did mean that it didnt get warm at all in the car , i ran it like that for another 5 or 6 months till it started to get too cold to use then sold it for (i think £150) , and moved onto my next car - i did hear that it was still on the road and being used by a little old lady to go to the shops about 3 or 4 years later - she just kept it in the garage over winter.

My other cars where then :

An Astra Belmont which failed an MOT after someone shunted it from the back and drove off
A Rover 200 which i drove till the engine died after about 180,000 miles
A 'brown' Volvo which I got cheap when the rover packed in and ran up to the 180,000 mile mark before its engine went
A shiney silver dual fuel Astra which I bought with only 25,000 miles on the clock , and i drove it till the engine died on it at 192,000 miles
And again i had to pick something up quickly so i'm currently driving a citroen picasso (again LPG) which although it looks 'strange' works fine and is quite a comfortable drive

I've only been driving 2 years and have never owned a car. You bastards

I had a white Escort estate. Was lovely, except that on the gearbox first and reverse were in the same place, so it was random which one you actually got. Fun was had when people came and sat right behind me at lights.

Nova 1.2L (Mine was in metallic brown)


Mk2 Golf GTI 8v (This is similar)


Hyundai Coupe 2.0 SE (Looked just like this one)


Lotus Elise (This is my car in the photo, still have it)


Landrover Lightweight (Mine was much rougher than this, and had a V8 conversion. now sold)

you're not wrong!

I had a 998cc J-Reg Mini City for 4 years, then the subframe snapped in half. Fantastic car.

I then had a 1.6l B-Reg Toyota Carina II for two years, then the engine exploded. Fantastic car.

I then had a 2.0l T-Reg Peugeot 306 Rallye for two years. Fun but shit car.

I now have a 2.0l Mazda 6 TS. Comfortable car.

I really want a lightweight Landrover... or any of the older ones

S1? S2? Interesting in selling/swapping?

S1. Don't think I'll ever sell it, as its worth more to me that I'd get selling it. I bought it when it was 10 months old, 7 years ago now, and amazingly it's been the most reliable car I've owned.

I'd say the Golf was the next best car I've owned. The Hyundai was nice, with all the toys and full leather etc. it just wasn't much fun to drive, and certainly not worth the 10 times the value of the Golf I traded in for it.

I'd love to get another Mk2 Golf GTI 16v, but I think Ange would kill me.

Mmmm, tempting:
http://www.pistonheads.co.uk/sales/769852.htm

Disclaimer: Not my pics but bang on to what I had/have.


My first car was a 1.5i Honda Concerto. Built like a brick shit house and very comfy. Only got rid of it because I saw this:
1.5GXi Mazda 323f. Awesome car all round. Had it for ages then traded it in for a:

1.6vtec Civic with electric everything and leather interior (great for baba sick)
Due to writing off my wifes Nissan Almera I gave her the Civic and now I'm driving this piece of shit:

1.4s Seat Ibiza with Possessed head unit, non working aircon, and general spanish craftmanship. Drives ok though.
Looking at getting another Civic, Corolla or similar next year to replace it.

Bought my first car this time last year - little Polo, cost a grand. Six weeks later drunk child in stolen car gets chased into it and my wife's by coppers. No more car, no more grand. I've a 306 now, specifically so I can't become in any way attatched to it.

I'll accept BACS or a cheque. You know the address.

Fantastic, aren't they? I really want another one.

PM sent.

The man has taste

I can't see the image. Is it the Mk2 or Mk3?

The melted jelly mould one.

Bleurgh. Hyundai Coupes have only been good since the last revision. Before then they sucked great big floppy donkey dick.

It's the RD1. The good one. The one that Porsche designed.

The good one is the new one. I don't know what the RD1 is (apologies for my lack of knowledge of Korean cars, btw).

*geek mode*

The RD1 is the first gen. It's the one you want, basically.

The reason is/was that Porsche designed it. The swooping body lines and solid chassis were all down to them. The shocks and springs are german made too and the car has hidden treats.

On the Auto RD1's the gearbox is switchable. So you can set it to econ or sport. Putting it into sport mode allows it to redline @ 7200 RPM before shifting, thus not being that different to a manual (also why they used them in the dual engined car for better traction and 1/4 mile times..)

The first gen ones were very expensive, for a reason. They had tons more options and were much better quality. For the second gen Hyundai wanted to get out of paying royalties so they lessened the quality of the parts and changed the front and rear end. To me the front end was a quite welcome addition but the back was just yack. They took the smoothness out and put in ugly back lights.

IMO the mk3 (GK Tiburon/coupe) was pretty sucky. They drove lovely and the Elisa V6 was pretty good, but the body was just a total copy of the Celica and other cars that cost more money. The new one, however (Genesis Coupe) is just utterly gorgeous, and has identical side profiles to the RD (or rider's delight, the codename for the first 2) Tib.

Someone else here has owned one too, and loved it apparently

A friend of mine had a Mk2 and said it was a great big floppy donkey dick.

Still a hairdressers car

Poorsche

I cant say I liked the Hyundai that much. I think I fucked the engine, by letting it run out of oil It cost a lot (at the time) and I lost about £6k when I traded it in for the Elise having owned it for little more than a year.

Of the cars I've owned, it's probably at the bottom of the list, but only because the nova was my first car and have lots of happy memories with it, rather than it being a better car.

My first car was an ancient, 1976 vintage 'R-reg' Mk1 Golf, a 1.6LS no less - in puke yellow and rust/big holes colour. Woohoo!

Cost me the grand total of £80, and I was robbed... it had about a month left on an MoT with no hope of ressurection after that - it was a bleedin' deathtrap that wouldn't be allowed anywhere near a public road these days. The 8-inch diameter rust holes alone would've certainly generated unwanted attention from the constabluary.

Shocks, tyres and brakes were all shagged - especially the shocks... that thing bounced all over the road. Engine was still good though and being the 1.6 it had a fair turn of speed, especially considering all the weight loss afforded by the significant corrosion issues. But the worst thing about it was the lack of correct flexible coupling from the exhaust manifold downpipe and the primary exhaust silencer - someone had considerately fitted a smaller diameter "friction fit" length of bellows in place of the correct part. This meant that whenever you went over a bump at speed the exhaust system would become disconnected, and the whole plot instantly sounded like the loudest bear's fart imaginable, popping and banging on lift off to boot. Mega embarrassing... the only cure was to instantly stop the car, quickly crawl under it and burn the fuck out of your hands whilst trying to coax said undersized bellows back into position. The more this happened the weaker the friction fit became, until in the end a slight breeze could pretty much do the job of dislodging it.

The worst time was when my boss was in the car - sure he was impressed with my '<ROAR, BANGBANGbangopopopopopop...> er, excuse the noise and exhaust fumes a second please Roy, I've just got to fix the exhaust now'.

Oh happy days... I personally arranged to get it crushed.

My longstanding love affair with the Ford Capri started immediately thereafter, meh.

Your parking is rubbish in that one.

I've only owned one car - a 1.4 Astra 'California'. Cost me £400 and in the year I've had it, I've done ooh, about 500-600 miles in it.

My first car is currently sat in the garage at work, it's a mk5 2006 Golf TDI in metallic grey.

I can't drive though, should get round to doing that some point.

'My' first car was actually the missus's's's, her parents bought it for her as an incentive to learn to drive. It was a moderately terrible F-Reg Micra, in festering pus green with post-curry diarrhoea interior. Only two doors, 1.0 engine, and a steering wheel so large I could swear it had been stolen off a bus. Fun to drive, though, and I remember going off the speedo on the M4 I was flying down that hill at such a speed towards Malpas. It also taught me a fair bit (with myfinger's help) about maintaining a car, as it needed new plugs and things. Alas, I don't have a picture to hand, though DrGlyndwr may be able to scavenge a copy of it up from somewhere (it's fallen off the EW site into nothingness)

After that, my first car that I personally actually owned was an M-reg Volvo 440. It felt jolly huge and fast (2.0 engine) compared to the Micra, but was excellent right up until I smashed it up. Unfazed, I bought an identical but tattier L-reg 440 and a mechanic used the bits off the smashed one to fix it up for me. This then ran 99% flawlessly until I sold it.

I also had an 04 Peugeot 206SW as a company car for four months. Ugh.



I then had a windfall and bought my current car, a 51 Skoda Octavia, which I am very happy with.

Why the hell do people bother photoshopping their numberplates. Think people are going to use them to set up direct debits?

My entire car history:

J reg Volvo 440 1.6l engine. Written off due to someone stealing my steering wheel
M reg Volvo 440 1.8l engine. Goes vroom lots.