What Do We All Drive/car Stuff

Discussion in 'Taylor's Tittle-Tattle - General Banter' started by PotGuy, Jan 28, 2021.

  1. PotGuy

    PotGuy Forum Fetishist

    Just serviced my car after a month spent looking at possible replacements.

    It's a majestic 2012 Hyundai i30 estate, 1.6 diesel, bought for a bargain £3200 at the end of 2018 with 115000 miles on the clock, one previous owner and full Hyundai history. At 155000 miles now with zero problems, and no rust so far.

    I almost pulled the trigger on a 2017 Civic Tourer last week, but in the end it just didn't seem a good use of the money while the Hyundai chugs away happily.

    What do you all drive? And/or, what do you have your eye on?
     
  2. BigRossLittleRoss

    BigRossLittleRoss First Team

    Zipcar for when I leave central London and a classic Vespa in town .
     
  3. NathWFC

    NathWFC First Team

    I bought a 2012 Mercedes C250 AMG Sport Edition 125 - which has all the major optional extras included - in the summer. Paid £7150 with 83,00 on the clock.

    Love it. A great mix between a bit of fun, tech and surprisingly decent economy.
     
  4. Diamond

    Diamond First Team

    A diesel.
     
  5. Filbert

    Filbert Leicester supporting bloke

    I had an absolute touch a few years ago when Volkswagen did a trade in deal on old diesels. I had a completely knackered 02 plate Beetle, got it for about a grand as a first car. Traded it in with the local VW garage and they gave me a three grand deposit on a new Golf in 2017. Love it to bits. We picked up a 16 plate Mini last summer as a second car/runaround from availablecar.com. It’s my commute car now, goes like stink, great fun to drive.
     
  6. hornmeister

    hornmeister Tired

    Bit of a petrolhead. I've had other cars but ones I've paid for:
    Meistermobile 1 was a 94 Mini cooper in classic british rscing green. I miss Alice dearly.
    Meistermobile 2 was a VW Polo GTI. Lovely car and kicked the arse of many that were quicker on paper. That is, when it worked. The twin super & turbo charged engine was fragile and after multiple breakdowns and threatend legal action VW bought it back, theres a thread somewhere about that. I vowed never to spend money with VW again.
    The current meistermobile is a Merc A250 tuned by AMG. Love it but bloody expensive to run. My first 4wd and 2nd semi automatic. Given my covid enforced reduced pay & mileage it'll be going in the summer unfortunately as I really can't justify keeping it.
    Meistermobile 4 will be a 3 cylinder 1.2 VW Fox taken over from my dad who no longer drives. That'll be fun then but free.
     
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  7. Diamond

    Diamond First Team

    Called mine Andre. It keeps missing.
     
  8. Filbert

    Filbert Leicester supporting bloke

    How is the Fox? They had a brief stint of giving them away at our place to the winner of the half time penalty shootout.

    *penalty joke* Anthony Knockaert had to get the bus to training....
     
  9. hornmeister

    hornmeister Tired

    If you rev the nuts off it and chuck it about a bit, it can entertain but ultimately it's a bit of a let down.
    I've had 3 Metros in my history, BL through to a late edition Rover and they were all better. Wuld lovea 6R4. At one point yu could pick them up for £20k but they're 10x that now.
     
  10. hornmeister

    hornmeister Tired

    I quite like the idea of an electric motorbike but don't fancy having to take the tests. I passed my driving test back in the days when parallel parking was a new thing.
     
  11. Bwood_Horn

    Bwood_Horn Squad Player

    Interesting, I noticed that no-one's recommending going down the 'leasing route'...
     
  12. a19tgg

    a19tgg First Team

    I tend to yo-yo with cars, I tend to have something interesting (to me) and potentially ruinous then eventually get tired of it being an expensive/time consuming part of my life and then go for something I never have to think about. I then eventually get bored and repeat the cycle.

    I have had a 116D BMW for the past two years, completely bland, ridiculously cheap (£20 tax, only on my second tank of diesel in about 6 months but that’s lockdown related) ridiculously reliable.

    Prior to that I had a limited edition prodrive Alfa Romeo Brera. In my opinion an absolutely beautiful car, unfortunately written off by an old lady at the top of my road who decided to drive into the side of me while I was waiting to turn right.

    Prior to that I had an Audi S4 V8, sounded absolutely incredible, did 15mpg, was nearly £500 to tax and chucked up regular bills for a couple of grand here or there.

    Due to the way the world has changed, being self employed and likely working from home indefinitely and not actually using my car for weeks on end I now fancy a cheap useable classic. It’s going to be harder and harder to run them and now represents the perfect opportunity. Even before Covid I commuted into London but I had to drive to a decent station, so even then I needed something reliable. If I break down now, so what?

    I did fancy something like a classic Range Rover but they’re getting out of hand price wise, likewise I was looking at a 996 911 but they can throw up some monstrous bills. Also an old SL merc but they’re going up by the day.

    I don’t actually want something pristine, because I do want to use it and my feeling is if you buy something old and in mint condition you’ll constantly worry about keeping it that way. So I’ve been thinking of something like a classic mini, I like the E28 5 series BMW, an old 3 series convertible, a mk 1 or mk11 golf, something along those lines. Basically something at least 25/30 years old that isn’t immaculate.
     
  13. domthehornet

    domthehornet Moderator Staff Member

    Dacia Sandero, bought new a couple years ago. Fantastic car for the price and does what you need it to do.
     
  14. a19tgg

    a19tgg First Team

    Also, as an aside to my post above there is now big business in converting classic cars to electric. It’s still ridiculously expensive but hopefully will come down in price over time. The performance stats out of these cars once they’re done is mind blowing:



     
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  15. hornmeister

    hornmeister Tired

    I can see us going back to the old coachworks days where somene produces an electric system and chassis for small manufacturers to build on.
    Quest has a program called Vintage Voltage that do conversions. They tend to use recovered Tesla parts.
     
  16. a19tgg

    a19tgg First Team

    Yeah definitely. All these classic cars use crashed Tesla’s for parts at the moment, but as you say no doubt they’ll be ready made solutions on the future. The main issue with these classic cars in terms of cost isn’t so much even the direct conversion to electric, but because Tesla motors have so much power literally everything else on the car needs to be upgraded to cope. On the beetle vid above he kept snapping drive shafts until he found some that were strong enough.
     
  17. Moose

    Moose First Team Captain

    Oh dear. Bet the running costs are shocking.
     
    CYHSYF and The undeniable truth like this.
  18. Currently an RS6 and completely at the other end of the scale a 20 year old RAV4.

    The RS6 is an incredible bit of kit. It’s going though, I’ve put less than a thousand miles on it since covid as we use the Rav for buzzing around town and supermarkets.

    I’m toying with putting the proceeds towards a campervan. Never had one of those so interested in any experiences?
     
  19. a19tgg

    a19tgg First Team

    I’m super jealous of the RS6, although I completely understand the reasons for selling it.

    Ultimately performance cars (especially in the current climate) are the most irrational purchase most normal people can make. To an extent that goes for most cars, when you weigh up the amount of time you actually use it vs the cost, when you compare it to something like your house, they make no sense whatsoever.
     
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  20. nornironhorn

    nornironhorn Administrator Staff Member

    A 2009 Ford Fiesta which is just about to cross 100,000 miles (petrol) with some signs of rust too. Bought it while I was at uni and never bothered about changing it until now.

    MOT was extended until October 21 at least and I've just had the timing belt changed so I should get £1,000+ for it at least. Hopefully pick up something nicer and a bit more up market in the summer.
     
  21. Aylesburyorn

    Aylesburyorn Academy Graduate

    Have an alfa romeo stelvio as the sensible car, when i say sensible its the 240 bhp diesel version with flappy paddles and does go like stink for a SUV which really doesnt feel like driving one.

    Also have a 2004 BMW 330ci convertable with its 3l straight six is lots of fun and makes a lovely noise. Missus has a mini clubman which is also quite fun to drive.
     
  22. Moose

    Moose First Team Captain

    Mrs Moose has a Polo ‘bought’ on lease buy. It’s an auto, which naturally I look down on until I actually drive it and discover that its seven speed box is amazing and the thing is smooth and nippy.
     
  23. Moose

    Moose First Team Captain

    Is there really such a supply of crashed Teslas? Worrying if true, but confirms a prejudice.
     
  24. Bwood_Horn

    Bwood_Horn Squad Player

    I needed a big car (3 kids and adapted equipment takes up a lot of room) so I ended up with a C4 Grand Picasso VTR+ with their version of auto the (hated) EGS. It took some time to 'learn' how to use it at low speeds/highload (very clunky) but when it was used to the open roads with the cruise control the 6 gears really made it shift.
     
  25. Bwood_Horn

    Bwood_Horn Squad Player

    I *thought* you leased the batteries on Teslas - how do you get round that in the 're-builds'?
     
  26. My full list of cars through my life (that I can recall) -

    74 plate Mk1 3.0 GT Capri, what a first car!
    Morris Marina
    Opel Manta 2.0
    Ford Fiesta XR2
    VW Beetle
    VW Beetle with a Rover V8 under the bonnet
    Ford Capri 3.0 S
    Ford Capri 280 Brooklands, mint, kept under a dust sheet and only saw the sun
    Ford XR3i cabrio
    Ford RS2000
    Rover 600 company car - amazing technology never needed oil or water :)
    Tuned Mitsubishi FTO - howled like a banshee
    Golf GTi - one of the greatest cars of all time, it did everything brilliantly
    C class
    AC Cobra replica
    Freelander 2
    Tuned Mitsubishi GTO - 4 wheel drive, 4-450 gee gees, totally mental
    Range Rover
    E350 saloon
    Rav 4
    E400 coupe
    A6
    RS6

    If only I could have some of these back.... ):

    edit: forgot a couple of my wife’s cars - Audi TT and MG TF
     
    Last edited: Jan 29, 2021
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  27. a19tgg

    a19tgg First Team

    I had two of those, probably my favourite cars I’ve had all things considered. I was about 20 at the time, anyone who didn’t know what they were (a relatively cheap jap import) thought it was some sort of super car!
     
    La_tempesta_cielo_68 likes this.
  28. They sounded incredible
     
  29. Lloyd

    Lloyd Squad Player

    A man's car reflects his penis, which is why I drive a little red mini with two flat tyres
     
  30. Jumbolina

    Jumbolina First Team

    Yep. I’ve got a 5 litre F-type and it just sits on the drive as bought it just before lockdown.
     
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  31. davisp2

    davisp2 Reservist

    My first car looked like this. K reg Hillman Avenger. Couldn’t fail to pull driving this bad boy. Currently driving BMW 3 series but not the same
    4E7B1EB5-2F34-4597-8FCD-E80929B4B036.jpeg
     
  32. PotGuy

    PotGuy Forum Fetishist

    What size/for how many?
     
  33. Just 2, my wife and I. Plus a dog. My vision is finishing work on a Friday afternoon, loading up and spending weekends away.
     
  34. I Blame Pozzo

    I Blame Pozzo First Team

    I had an Avenger as my first car.
    It had an erratic starter motor so my Dad kindly painted a red cross on it and left me a mallet to hit it with when nothing happened. It worked a treat!
    Convertible Abarth in yellow now.
     
  35. The undeniable truth

    The undeniable truth First Team Captain

    Sensible accountant's car, none of these over-priced prestigious marques.

    Lovely reliable Mazda CX5 which I leased through my employer for 3 years and then bought outright for £14k at the end of the lease. 5 years old now and no plans to change - love it.

    Wife has the latest silly pretty little flat-as-a-pancake sports car. Takes me 15 mins to get in or out of it.
     

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