Reason's to Love your Sh1t Heap

[Zak33]

Hi people.

I feel for all the dudes with old nails, dull cars and shed's.

I've had one recently (18 months ago I was driving my beloved Cavalier 1.7 D ) and I got some stick.

But not as much as some of the others dudes on here, who feel they get grief for not driving a TT Quattro or a Skyline.

So......

Paint it Brown, get the velour upholstery cleaner out and spill it.

What's your heap/dull motor/shed .... and why do you love her? It doesn't need to be OLD....I bet someone's got a Nissan Almera here....and that aint old, but you might be shy of telling us. Well...don't be.

Hexxeh....this aint all aimed at you....but it is a bit, cos I know you feel oppressed Dont.

My Cavalier: I loved my Cavalier because it had a huge boot, did over 50 mpg, and cleaned up dead easy every time. The car re taught me to drive proper cornering, because it was so heavy to steer, I looked for the straight lie through every corner.

And I miss her a little

[arbitor]

306 gti-6: I love it because its the perfect car for where i live surrounded by brilliant a roads, its quite quick, has a lovely 6 speed box and a 167 bhp 2ltr engine. It handles better than the majority of things on the road and i love the colour (diablo red)

old car that i loved: ford fiesta 1.1 as it never faile dand when it did the part was garanteed to be less than 40 quid and it was amazing on fuel

[joshwa]

Nissan Sunny 1.3 - this car was great fun, because it had a green led stop-watch built into the dashboard!! I was going to submit it to "Pimp my ride" until it broke

[MadduckUK]

rover 420sli. i love it because recently it has started every morning. sometimes only just mind you

[GrahamGarside]

Renault Megane saloon

And I love her because the driver door doesn't lock/unlock from the outside so I have to open the passenger door, reach over and pop the lock.

I love her because when she's cold she jumps out of 2nd when taking corners.

I love her because I don't always have a radio.

I love her because the window wind down levers fall off all the time.

And most of all I love her because she's such a wreck I don't mind thrashing it from a set of lights to leave the beamers and such standing

[CocoPops]

Good post Zakky

My first shed...... lol
Was a mk1 rusty, oil blowing 13yr old volkswagen golf, and boy was she good!! My first car, I crashed her, abused her and she still kept going. I paid £175 for her and it was the best £175 I spent for a long time. YRC 832Y did me proud.

Then I sold the golf and bought a lovely mk2 Fiesta Ghia 1.4 from a granny, exactly the kind of car I'd love to buy a gain, 14yrs old, immaculately maintained. D22UGM, or Dug-em as we called her.

I part ex'd the fiesta for my first real hothatch, a 1994 (6yr old at the time) Toyota Starlet 1.3 GT Turbo. I loved that car, and tbh its the car I most regret selling Small, unassuming, yet very rapid! L46 MBL, my first and only foray into the Japanese import market.

Almeras you say? I had 2, a mk1 phase2 (with the nicer rear lights) 1.4 5dr and she was lovely, got me from a-b, didn't grab attention but did the job. S46 NBW was a good car to me

Then I p/ex her for a brand new 2.2 TDi Almera (current shape), one of my motoring mistakes First of all, someone drove into the back of it when it was parked and it cost 5k to fix (it was only 3months old) then when I got her back after 4months in the bodyshop, I lost control of her on a black icey bend and ended up in a ditch.. write off. I'm sure LC02CCX was jinxed.

Then I decided to be sensible and bought a 2.2tdi Primera, you know the one, current shape with the fancy satnav and reversing camera! I kept OE51UWO for a short while before becoming bored with sensible cars and part exchanged her for my first clio 1*2.

My first Clio 172 was a lovely flame red example, bought as a 1 owner car and I really enjoyed her... for the short time I had her. I think I owned her for 6months? before part exing against a brand new 182 that I got an offer on I couldn't refuse. So KY03TXG became...

KK04XLP, a brand new Artic Blue 182 Clio. I loved this car also, in 11months I put 33000 miles on the clock and loved every one of them.

I then bought a westfield, with the idea of having 2 cars, one sensible and one fun.

Unfortunately, the westfield only lasted 2 weeks from registation to write off! Q816 GFD was written off because of a little oik in a fiesta that came round a bend all crossed up and ended up tagging the rear of the Westy and spinning me 18degress down the road. I was unhurt, the westy with only 500miles on the clock was written off.

Using the money I got back from the westy, which was slightly more than I paid, allowed me to buy my pride and joy... HT51HLD, that later became V22LAC... A Lightning Yellow Ltd Edition VX220! That car taught me sooo much about driving, I owe her a lot.

Going back to the 1fun car/1 sensible car, led me to buy a brand new (with staff discount) Nissan Micra 160sr, RV55 NSY to complement the VX220. I put 27000 miles on this car in 18 months.

Then in the last month, I sold the VX220 and part exhanged the micra against my latest pride and joy...

A 2005 Honda S2000, 240bhp of screaming vtec 2.0 engine!! A stunning combination of Moonrock (Met grey) with Red and Black leather interior.

Next.... who knows.... Stay tuned, I'll be sure to post it on hexus!!

[TiG]

Ahh good old Zug, a beaten up A reg fiesta 1.1, got me out of my village and working during my time at home during my 2nd year at uni. Only ever put 1 foot wrong, Electrics stopped on the top of the M1 JCT 14 bridge (EEK!) on the first ever day of temping. (Cost me more to insure for 3 months than it did to buy the damn car)

After that, it did as it was told and really did me proud. Zak's right, first car is important, this is usually the one that nutures you through your first few weeks of driving.

TiG

[Zak33]

I had a lovely Allegro. Nick will remember it...I virtually killed him in it when I rolled it.

So much do I love Allegro's, that I had a second one. A Series 3 Eastate. And on that car Ilearned a lot about A series engines (like Mini's and Metro's) Tappets, Distributors, Brake Cylinders, Hydrualic clutches, oil changing etc

But my Cavalier D is where my hearts at. I HATED them when I sold them new...HATED. SO slow I was embarressed to test drive them, so noisy I died of blushing at start up. Such heavy steering I was amazed people evety came round the roundablout and back into the dealership.

But people DID buy them, I was happy to take their money, and also tried to upsell them to 1.6 Petrol versions. But I sold a few.

And 15 years later...I got one back

[Zak33]

Renault Megane saloon

And I love her because the driver door doesn't lock/unlock from the outside so I have to open the passenger door, reach over and pop the lock.

I love her because when she's cold she jumps out of 2nd when taking corners.

I love her because I don't always have a radio.

I love her because the window wind down levers fall off all the time.

And most of all I love her because she's such a wreck I don't mind thrashing it from a set of lights to leave the beamers and such standing

NOW THAT is a fantastic set of reasons to love a nail. I salute you. Fully

[Howard]

Well I've had a grand total of two cars.

First was a '96 Fiat Cinquecento which I loved. It was nice and simple, but did exactly what I needed it to, got me from A to B everywhere without fail! Had electric windows and centgral locking too which was a bonus. It was slow, especially with five people in! But it was fun

Next I had, and still have , my Megane. I like it. It doesnt' stand out, it's not particularly inspiring to drive but I like it because it's comfortable and keeps me warm on winter mornings and cool with it's air con in the sweltering summer heat THe elctrics have been known to be a bit quirky but some earth straps fixed that The fact that occasionally it might not start first time on a freezing morning is usually fixed with some persuasion too


Everyone should own Cinquecentos. The lack of safety features teach you respect, as does the body roll

[GrahamGarside]

Those little fiats are scary to be passengers in when you're in with a young driver who hasn't crashed yet.

Going round a roundabout at 50 you feel inches away from the road and acutely aware that that lampost will likely cut you in two

[steve threlfall]

Still on my first car. A 1.4gsi rover 100 (Metro). Its great apart from the rusting arches

[GrahamGarside]

I remember changing a wheel on a rover metro and the jack going straight through a rusted part of the chassis

Still I've never known a 1.4 pull like they did.

[menthel]

My first and only 'banger' was a g-reg austin metro in red. 1.3l with 5 doors. It was an absolute dog. Noisy, uncomfortable, too hot in the summer, too cold in the winter, BUT it never broke down! It did me proud at uni, taking me all over the south of england for attachments. I hated it, but was sad to see it go. My 306 was much better, but the breaks went on the junction 8 roundabout to get onto the M25. Scary.

[dkmech]

My first car - Pug 106 1.1

And I loved it for never failing to start or to get me where I needed to be (whatever did go wrong was never journey ending)

For being quite nippy (particularly when on my own, however i reckon with 3 people accelerating from 50 in 4th it would still outperform the stupid 1.8L Vectra (and it was a new one (current gen pre face lift) - Zak - you have more vauxhalls to be ashamed about ) (not sure how many brackets i've used now so here's a bunch to close this ))))

For being surprisingly roomy with the seats down (double bed anyone? - and yes it was folded in two but I did manage to close the boot!)

For teaching me to brake well in advance

And for lasting 4.5 years and counting (mum has it now)

[malfunction]

Well... I never really drove it but I do miss the old 306 - the first car my wife and I owned. 1.4, 8v XL. Slow as a dumper truck and made out of 2nd hand tin foil I think - it fell apart often and we spent more keeping it running for 2 years than we bought it for. But the thing is, with a reliable car you never really notice it. It starts, it goes and stops and it's just a tool. When you're never quite sure if it will start or make it the whole way it's a lot more pleasing when it does... Character!