Why did you buy the car that you drive?

[Stoo]

Looked at new Clio's, wanted something more pokey than a 1.2.
Dealers completely uninterested in selling anything other than a 1.2..
On the way home from garage popped into local decent 2nd hand cars place.
Mentioned that if I had my way I'd have bought the nice silver/grey new mini they sold the previous week.
Dealer chap said he had another one coming in soon.
Dealer chap rang when said car was in.
Went down and bought it

= Proud driver of 51plate Mini Cooper in Red

(not owner as it's actually my dad's, but I tend to drive it the most)

Only a couple of niggles with it (slight pull to the left when hands off the wheel and the OBC has a glitch and needs updating to latest software) but those are covered on the Warranty so will be sorted fairly soon

Brilliant fun to drive, just have to watch your speed in the car as it'll quite happily do 90 in 4th without batting an eyelid..

[cv65user]

i saw all these people with 206, i wanted a 206 too!!!!

bought a 206 GTi , w reg ,, due to the love for it, looks so nice .... in golden brown gun metal rare to get it like this with half lethers, auto windscreen wipers, climate control, a/c., electronic windows , k&n filters, dead locks which was new for me , gti alloyss, gti alloy petrol cap. with original cd player and pioneer cdr player , metal polished pedals ,,...

i didnt know what a GTi was but i bought it due to the colour and looks ,,, and after the sales guy took me in for a spin doing wheel spins in second gear !!!! didnt tell my parents and took 500 deposit in cash in a crumpled brown evelope next day to hand over . lol . i was a poor student then ....

paid 5k for it on credit cardd.... 47k miles , new 1 yrs MOT , alloys not much kerbing.......took it home ..... got insurance qoute ,..... 7000 fully comp !!!!!! %$^%$^"$£"&&^ becase i was like 22 years old , no NCB , lived in london with high terorrist threat alert wen the tube /bus bombings happend at that time and it was a modified 2 litre engine pushing 147 bhp from 137 bhp stock... my parents beat me until my shoulders was bruised for the next two weeks .....

then they forced me part exchange it for a bloody 1100cc peugeot 206 on bloody finance wihch then had 1 yrs free insruance offer ,, i will always hate my parents for this for the rest of my life ,... i thoght they were ment to help me .not punish me for someting i didnt even know about cars .... so crap ... no alloys or climate control .....

[cv65user]

Brilliant fun to drive, just have to watch your speed in the car as it'll quite happily do 90 in 4th without batting an eyelid..

u kiddin me , what model is it ? s sport? n engine cc size

[5lab]

holy resurection? this the spammer at work again?

then they forced me part exchange it for a bloody 1100cc peugeot 206 on bloody finance wihch then had 1 yrs free insruance offer ,, i will always hate my parents for this for the rest of my life ,... i thoght they were ment to help me .not punish me for someting i didnt even know about cars .... so crap ... no alloys or climate control .....

how are they punishing you? you made a very stupid decision to buy a car (with a credit card of all things) which was always going to be expensive to insure.. what else could they have done?

[Butcher]

And the moral is, check insurance quotes before you buy.

[Shorty]

Ironic this thread comes up as I just got rid of my 7 month old Fiesta for a Focus Titanium

Why the Focus Titanium ..? I love the shape, the drive, the comfort, the performance and the insurance is still reasonable for a driver with less than a years driving under my belt

Having finally passed my test @ 31 years old (I know.. I know!) in a Focus Titanium... it was time to get a car..

I started with a horrible V reg Fiesta. That lasted 8 weeks before I binned it. Test drove a new Fiesta and thought it was great (I even did a thread about it!)... 7 months in, I was sick of it. I went for a cheap basic model instead of the higher spec I test drove. No power, no aircon, uncomfy seats and so many things that I just didn't like.

A bad purchasing decision and a disappointing lesson learned! So I paid off the couple of grand finance and started looking around for something else....

Test Drove:

316i BMW
Vauxhall Astra
Mazda 3
Citroen C4
Peugeot 207
Honda Civic (old and new)
Volvo S40

and finally (almost reluctantly) .. a new shape Focus.

Getting into the Focus, I just felt home. It was the same model as I did my test in and everything I loved about it was right there. Had it now for a month and I can honestly say it's awesome. Smooth for cruising, lots of punch when you need it, looks fantastic (I prefer the new shape to old shape) and all the toys are actually useful (auto dimming rear mirror is amazing!).

I decided to get the top spec model. I made the mistake of being the base model last time with the Fiesta and I hated it so quickly after I had it. I wanted a few nice toys and luxuries (without spending a fortune).

So here she is.. my pride and joy.

[chriswood_7]

Last January I was given a G reg Corolla Executive which I thought was excellent! Then, one day, the steam started... then the water p***ing all over. So that went within 2 weeks, radiator needed recoring which was a shade over £200. So I decided that I was going to buy a new car, I just had a few grand pay rise and thought what the hey.

Then thats when I made a huge mistake. A 1.2L brand spanking Corsa in Ultra blue, cost me over £9k and I was so happy with it, until it started going wrong. The central locking would work, then wouldnt, problems with the handbrake, oh and the fact it was so goddamn slow (the amount of times I nearly got crushed for having zero power).

Anyway after 6 months of that, I was extremely happy until I went to the BTCC Croft meeting in July and seen a car I fell in love with. I dreamed that one day I would own it, so I asked the nice lady how much it cost, to which I got the reply £13995 for that particular facelift model. I turned away wth my tail between my legs and promised myself I would buy one in a few years once the insurance was under £1k (3 years driving but no NCBs, plus im 23!).

A week later and im seaching the internet and decide to se what these babies go for 2nd hand, nearly new etc and I see the exact colour and model I want. For £9500 on the nose. I promise myself a "proper" look at it and a test drive. Then comes the insurance card. One quote was over £4500, and with one popular online broker I got it for £900 fully comp! 5 days later I was driving my shiny ex-demo model out of the showroom, and it still brings a turbocharged grin to my face. But only when im not filling it up!

Cheers for listening,

[Tarffie]

^^^ what car is it though?

[Taz]

I just wanted one of the best-handling sports cars that money could buy. Erm...actually I wanted a mid-life crisis car! It's great to drive at slow or fast speeds on the road and even better on a track.

[chriswood_7]

^^^ what car is it though?

Seat Ibiza FR

[dave87]

I just wanted one of the best-handling sports cars that money could buy. Erm...actually I wanted a mid-life crisis car! It's great to drive at slow or fast speeds on the road and even better on a track.

Yup, soo true of most of the Porsche Range (even the Cayenne). Dad's boxster was a mid-life crisis car - already had the motorbike, wanted something sporty but comfortable for his daily drive - the boxster was perfect.

[ww1]

Bought my car as it seemed ok for a second one. I'm surprised it's lasted more than a year too.
It's a Ford Escort mk6, now with 126,000miles!

[frazered]

bought her cos

- quiet smooth ride
- understated yet powerful to shift
- turbo fun
- have a local audi servicing specialist

[Vini]

Ford Ka, because noone would insure me on a 1.6 Escort I had, so went down the garage and PX'd it.

I've had it 2 years from new, will look to change it next year when the finance has cleared and i have 3 years ncb.

Let it be said, I'm never buying new again.

[kalniel]

mkII golf gti - because I was working in the states, had very little floating cash and for 750 dollars I knew it'd put a smile on my face. It did

mkIV astra 1.7dti - because I was working in the UK, had a little bit more floating cash, and wanted a car that was economical, good to drive on country lanes, had enough space for moving and adult passengers, was comfortable on long journeys, and would last a while. I was initially looking at things like a 206 HDI but the test drive put me off. One car supermarket later and I found my match - I didn't actually think I could afford an astra so it wasn't on my list at first.

[wilksj01]

I have an Audi A3 3.2 Quattro 55 reg at the moment. Insurance is not to bad (£900 fully comp and I'm 23 and live in one of the dodgiest parts of Manchester)

My target is to get something along the lines of an Aston Martin before I'm 27 though. Long way to go before I get to that!