because my old Nova could be fully serviced with £25 and a couple of hours on the drive
and the timing belt was a DIY job too
oly Thread revival!
Update.....
So the Honda S2000 last from Feb 2007 until Dec 2007 when I sold her Was a great car, took me plus "MobyDick" to Le Mans and back. Think I did around 10k miles, of which they were quite varied.
To tide me over from the S2K to the next car, I bought a shed... £100 bought me a P reg
Fiesta 1.25 What a machine. It had already had a fairly hard life... was a friends girlfriends car who clearly applied makeup in the car... as the controls were coated in it.
P553 MOP aka PI$$ MOP lasted me well, from Dec 2007 until March 2008 when my current rocketship arrived.
KU08GNN, affectionately known as Cougan. I was after a new MK5 golf, spec'd up to what I wanted 18" wheels instead of the standard 17s, Xenons, Centre Armrest, Highline computer etc. However, I had the chance at a Silver Edition30 on staff purchase (15% off) so I jumped at the chance. Only thing I went without (it was already spec'd and on the production line) was the Xenon headlights.
So fast forward until now and she's running somewhere in the region of 320-340bhp with quite a few torques She's been remapped, had a turbo back exhaust fitted, an ITG Intake System, Sachs full coilover suspension (that I won in a magazine competition!).
I started putting quite a few miles onto the Ed30 around Janurary... was working in Chester so had some weeks where I was doing 700-800 miles a week. This has slowed down now... I bought a 2nd car to share the load...
So, In July 09, I bought GY54UPK.. A blue smart roadster.
A complete difference to the golf. 80bhp of 3 cylinder turbo power.
With a gearbox system you either love or hate, it's a manual box controlled by computer and servos. A semi automatic if you will. This means it changes the same speed as a manual gearbox, but because it's "automatic" you get complainers saying it's not instant enough.
However, drive the car and lift the accelerator at the same time you would in a normal manual car and its very rewarding.
Great spec, central locking, leccy windows, leccy roof with lift out side bars.
And thats me right now, my Ed30 and Roadster.
Should see me through for now. Don't quite know what the next car is gonna be, but I do quite fancy the VW Bluesport Convertible as and when it arrives...
As its thread revival time I thought I may as well finally contribute....
I love my Sh*t heap because in the three years I've owned it, i've washed it once. And when you own a car that looks like you really don't care about it, people in car parks seem less inclined to ding your doors - In fact they tend to park AWAY from you!
I love it because despite the quarter of a million miles on the clock, it still does 40mpg and doesn't burn oil, or require constant maintainence.
I love it because it absolutley none of the dash lights work, so I've never any idea how fast I'm going at night
I love it because I still believe front alloys are actually still silver under the 3 years of baked on brake dust.
but most of all, I love it because it's everything a daily hack should be and despite being abused within a inch of its life, it soldiers on, never complaining.
Zak33 (15-10-2009)
My Rover 1.8VVC 200 Coupe (it depends on how you view Rovers I suppose, as it's far from a #!@& heap, want one before I could even drive). It handles great, sticks to the road surface and looks quite different to just about any other car on the road (the Tahiti Blue pearlescent paint job probably helps, goes a lovely turquoise when the sun catches it and looks great under the car park lights of the local college as well). Best moment was oo... a month or so after I bought it, pulled out of a junction (from a standing start) on to a fast road only to look in the mirror to see a fiesta coming up at sixty, by the time he caught up I was already starting to pull away from him, I can still see the look on the drivers face.
While it's had a hard life in the hands of previous owners (I'm the 11th) I've tried to keep it in top condition. When ever I buy a second hand car (which has been always) it goes to my grandfathers to get a service, we got it there and did a quick look in the engine - it was all but out of oil (the previous bloke never opened the bonnet ) and I got a nasty shock when it came to buying new (platinum tipped) spark plugs. Since then it's had two head gaskets (the second one was down to us not tightening the bolts down enough, the first went nipples skyward on the day of my grandmothers funeral), and a right crappy exhaust (with it having broken baffles since it was fitted, it's never been the same since). Right now I'm trying to nail down someone who's capable of making up a custom stainless steel exhaust for it. The price difference isn't massive between the crappy mild steel one and the custom made jobbie neither (and the alloys are starting to corrode quite badly as well ).
As for previous rust buckets, I loved my second Austin Metro (E388 ATY), handled great and was clean as a whistle. Spotted it in the local scrapyard a couple of years later when I went hunting for some parts (can't remember for what for now). Then there was a D reg 205 diesel, great handling around corners and on snow. That was followed by a Mk 1 Clio diesel, what a pile of crap that was (except for the mpg, got around 60 to the gallon) and that was followed by a 214SEi, 116,000 miles on the clock when I bought it, most reliable car I've ever owned, never burned oil (it was clear as a whistle) and only ever needed to stick tyres on when needed (this was followed by the Coupe).
Next up is a second car, more performance orientated, you'd have to prize the keys of my coupe out of my cold dead fingers before I'd give that car up.
T-reg Xsara Coupe. More dings than Tubular Bells. Still going strong and goes quite well despite the abuse.
Society's to blame,
Or possibly Atari.
I've been tempted with one of these; it's nice to hear some good feedback for them. My brother, a mechanic, always complains about working on them due to their fiddly nature (I think he means everything is so damn compact!).
Edit: plus, at six foot four, I don't think I'd fit in it...
I LOVE my 2002 MX5 Roadster... sadly It has to go I only have a couple of weeks left with it. For an 8 year old car it still shines and its so much fun to drive.
I will be getting another one at some point though I have no doubt.
□ΞVΞ□
Well here's a list of my old terds, the ones I miss the most.
First car was a Mk2 Golf, G117 CAF. I paid £800, and at the time I was out of work but needed a car having just passed my test. It was rusty, it was rather slow (1.3 Polo engine with 4 speed box) it leaked oil like it was a collinder, but I went everywhere in her I could, interviews for new jobs, off to see friends. When I first got her she cost me £260 for a new exhaust and 2 new tyrs but that was down to the dodgy garage I took her too, never went there again.
It was around Christmas 2003 that some moron drove into the side of her in a car park and I was gutted. although nor written off I could not bring myself to look at the damage everytime I got in the car (first car and all that), so on the way home from work I bought a new car.
So that evening F469 BKC - a 1988 Nissan Bluebird black 1,6 LS became my weapon of choice for £250. Again it wasn't fast, it was in fair condition and it was a comfortable cruiser. Electric Windows, it had a Sun Roof (which leaked) and whats more it was £80 a year cheaper to insure than the Golf.
Again I drove everywhere in it, when I bought it had 122,000 on the clock, when I passed her on she had 147,000 on the clock (in 10 months!)
I had 6x9's on the parcel shelf, a 350 watt bass box in the boot and a JVC mp3 CD player up front, a comfortbale, low down (those cars were very low to the ground when you sat in them) big bass cruiser. I miss that car to this day. I even called it KITT lol
Almost bought a black Turbo version of the above car off ebay a few weeks back but thought better of it.
I had a Rover 216 GTi DOHC in British racing green which I loved. It had a small bash (caused by someone not me) and they insurance company wrote it off. Now I have a Saab 95 Estate, which is more like driving a sofa than a car, much better equiped than my Rover was, but I still miss it. I guess I was lucky with my rover, I appear to have a tradition of never have to pay for a car, so I was very lucky I got one I liked so much.
My original old turd was a mk2 golf gti which I sold for the same amount I bought it for with 236k on the clock.. still ran amazingly well and the handling/power-weight ratio was Took me a month before I could get out of the car without slight tremors (or maybe that was muscle fatigue from the lack of power steering and fat tyres ) But the look on people's faces when it blew away their heavy yank tanks at the lights was worth it (1.8 litre engine?!! They had bigger lawnmowers! Still, I probably wouldn't have even got insurance over here, but over there they thought it must be a weedy pensioners car).
I'm currently turning my current car into an old turd - mk 4 astra dti nearly 10 years old and still running perfectly.
I forgot to mention that my 205 diesel dated from 1986 and about six months into my ownership the engine died (it had over 250,000 mile on it when it happened). When we got it to my grandfathers we took the engine apart to find out that a piston had hammered a hole the size of a £2 coin through the casing. We replaced the engine with a 1.8 diesel from a Citroen C15 Van we found in the local scrap heap.
Pug 306 Turbo diesel, costs peanuts, but gives you so much moree! fully electric, windows, sunroof, mirrors, remote central locking. Good amount of torque power and fuel consumption and keeps going and going....
had it for almost 3 years .. banger and proud!
My shed still outside, 2k into it so far and its not back ont he road yet, mind you it has been reshelled since its been out there
I have upgraded my heap... 1.2 L reg Renault Clio Oasis has been replaced with a 1.2 T reg Fiat Brava 16v 80SX damn fine little car so far *touches wood* but as with FIAT tradition electrics don't work properly, electric sunroof??? forget it! and my drivers side leccy window either stays up, or sticks down, dependant on it's mood a lot to be said for good old fashioned windy window handles!
But I like it
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