I have two
My first was not buying a Clio 1.2 Campus brand new for £4995 in 2008. It was a MK2 made in Slovakia, it was quite basic but had a CD player, central locking and electric windows. I just assumed I would never get a loan and I had only just passed my test so I didn't want a brand new car but in hindsight it would have been nso much cheaper long term than all the bangers I owned since 2008.
Second was my Corsa, people warned me on here not to keep spending so much money on it, but I had a fear of getting points (I was still on probation) so went a bad mad. By the time I had owned it for 10 months it had a complete new suspension front and back (shocks and springs), a new MAF sensor, new pads and discs, four new tyres, a complete new catback, the usual service items, and other minor things. Then at 11 months the head gasket went. That was the last straw. I sold it for £250, despite having paid £1150 for the car, and about £1000 in repairs.
I replaced it with my Panda, which I bought brand new, now on almost 11,000 miles and in terms of repairs it cost me nothing just servicing. The clutch pedal assembly needing rebuilding due to a lack of lubricant in the factory, and it needed a new exhaust flexy hose but both were done under warranty. Front tyres are getting down to 4mm so I may need to replace them by this time next year but hopefully that is it :).
Another minor regret was perhaps not getting a new engine for Rattle (my first car, bought long before I had passed my test). It had 105,000 on the clock but the piston rings were very worn. However the body work was generally sound (it flew through the MOT with stop smoke masking the worn piston rings!). Was probably a fire hazzard though as I made quite a few bodged repairs to the wiring loom!
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My biggest regret is never buying a Renault Fuego, or a Renault Aventime.
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My biggest regret was when I was young (19-28) buying old luxo barges cheap and then ploughing £1000 after £1000 into them to try and make them like new.
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Espace. It was both big and entirely regrettable. As for motoring, it was fairly reluctant to participate in that.
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Buying a modified 3.0 'S' Capri (like the professionals) when I was 19 and then spending loads more continuing to modify it.
It was fast but poor handling.
More importantly it was a rust bucket and failed the first MOT I out it through and was not worth repairing. I stripped it for parts.
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>> My biggest regret is never buying a Renault Fuego.
>>
A French Capri, that is desperation, why not buy a real one?
Last edited by: Old Navy on Sun 28 Oct 12 at 18:37
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>> >> My biggest regret is never buying a Renault Fuego.
>> >>
>>
>> A French Capri, that is desperation, why not buy a real one?
I had real ones, I stepped up from 1.6 to 3.1 litres in various stages.
The Fuego was still better looking tho.
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My biggest regret was not hanging on to my Audi 90 Quattro and buying an Opel Monza that I had to give away for free because the front suspension leg went through the inner wing. Money pits.
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6 year old brown Rover 2600 SD1....DLM290T
Went very well, when you consider it was the poor relation to the V8 and the straight six made a good sound...however, it leaked like you'd never believe, the windscreen had virtually nothing keeping it in place when I had it checked... and I had to have the top of the engine re-built.
All in 8 months.
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>> My biggest regret is never buying a Renault Fuego, or a Renault Aventime.
>>
It's never too late... www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2002-renault-Avantime-Blue-3-0l-Privilege-Auto-V6-/251170168340?pt=Automobiles_UK&hash=item3a7ae89e14
Just down the road from me, so happy to take a look for you ;-)
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My second favourite colour scheme as well, after the candy apple metallic red.
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I wrote off a 2 week old Citroen SM but seeing what mechanical grief they have had (timing chains) and what they are worth now I don't regret it much! The insurance paid out and I bought a 2500 BMW and cash in hand
Last edited by: Meldrew on Sun 28 Oct 12 at 19:38
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I'm with you on that Z; the metallic red really suits it. Must resist taking a look though - I'm sure £1,500 in cash would do it...
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I have two regrets about cars I've sold. In my early twenties, before the word of company cars, I had a string of hot hatches. I wish I still had the 1986 205 GTI (I could only afford the 1.6), which was already 5 years old when I bought it, and also the 1984 Escort RS1600i that followed it. iIRC each was sold for well under 2 grand.
I also have two regrets about cars i didn't buy, but should have. I was offed a big bumper Golf GTi (H reg) in 1994 with 120k miles on the clock, again for around 2 grand, but the mileage put me off. I wish I'd also bought my old company car in 2005, a BMW 330d touring, when I opted back out of the car scheme. Cracking car, and still miss it.
I only have one regret about cars I've bought, and that's the current one. Should really have bought a 350CDi - the 6 cylinder engine was only a couple of thousand more (funny how it's always been a couple of thousand...) and I think it'd have suited the car better.
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Not buying a 365 GTB/4 and a Pontiac GTO.
www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?t=81553
Some familiar names in that thread too.
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Think my regrets are more around cars I got rid of and should have kept.
Wish I'd kept:-
98 A4 1.8
04 A4 3.0 Cabriolet
09 C5 HDI - although my missing of this one is more around me not really "bonding" with the Volvo replacement
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Owned...Rover SD1 2300, you name it, it went wrong, the car from hell, closely followed by Austin 2200 landcrab, words fail me, but the 2200 title has some meaning, it took 22 pints for an oil change, that has to be some sort of record for a mass production 4/5 seater car.
Should've bought...2003 BMW M5, in Oxford Green with tan leather and wood trim, unusual specification as most were Blue or Black with sport interiors and of no interest to me, BMW approved used low miler too, really should've taken the plunge and i regret not doing so.
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>> Owned...Rover SD1 2300, you name it, it went wrong, the car from hell,
My dad had one when I was a nipper. I loved that car, but literally everything that could fail did. By the time he got rid of it I think pretty much everything had been rebuilt or replaced.
It all started with an engine rebuild at 30K.........sweet engine though
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I didn't buy an SD1 as, at the time, nobody knew how dire they were and there was a waiting list! Prior to that I had a 2200 auto; I don't remember much about it except the gear shift was in an up/down gate sticking out of the dashboard. I really don't think it had an almost 3 gallon sump but can't argue that point!
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I really don't think it had an almost 3 gallon sump
>> but can't argue that point!
The auto wouldn't Meldrew, remember being BL transverse the manual box and engine shared oil.
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dont forget it was leaking out almost as fast as he could pour it in.
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>> dont forget it was leaking out almost as fast as he could pour it in.
There's not enough oaths in my vocabulary, and thats quite a lot, to describe adequately just what a heap it was.
I removed engine and gearbox to fit new bearings and rings, the weight of the lump was unbelievable, lifting tackle sank in the tarmac, CV inner (plunge by then) joints were badly worn, i imported a bag of ball bearings from Germany and rebuilt them, 25/32" in real money, had to buy 50 minimum but only needed 12, saved about £300 on the cost of new drive shafts though.
Engine/box weight so heavy that van tyres (reinforced radials) were specified in the book, but in the heavy snow of that winter it simply went everywhere that a 4x4 could.
Its like a never ending nightmare recalling cars like that one.
Last edited by: gordonbennet on Sun 28 Oct 12 at 21:20
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>>There's not enough oaths in my vocabulary, and thats quite a lot, to describe adequately just what a heap it was<<
I tuned heaps (is that the right word) of 2.2's gord - 6 cyl. twin SU's, always tuned up okay ISTR.
I never fancied one myself though ;)
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Excellent point GB! I did trawl round some websites looking for sump capacity but gave up when I found one site that described the beast as RWD!
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Buying a brand spanking new Citroen BX 16TRS, hated it and sold it to a jew boy in Nth London within a few months.
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1984ish - Friend of my mother was selling a 3.0 Granada Coupe for a song. I got there an hour too late.....
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Chopped in my Mini Cooper 970S for something bigger. 1965 model BVT 662C. Went on honeymoon in it.
Rarest of all the Minis but I didn't know...it was just a fast Mini to me. We later had 1275S cars on the Manchester road patrol...too small for bobbies IMO.
Ted
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Daughter's Skoda Estelle. If it could go wrong, it did. Brilliant design, let down by materials and production.
What other car had a rear engine with semi-trailing arm rear suspension, IFS with unequal length wishbones and four-pot front callipers? (There was an obscure 911 something).
Great fun to drive though.
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Letting 8015 MD go with the sale of my Anglia Van.
Not owning a 3.0 Capri.
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Passing up the chance to buy a Jensen Interceptor for 1400 quid sometime in the late seventies. The potential running costs put me off, which looking back was stupid as I was single and earning very good money at the time.
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>> Passing up the chance to buy a Jensen Interceptor for 1400 quid sometime in the
>> late seventies. The potential running costs put me off, which looking back was stupid as
>> I was single and earning very good money at the time.
Friend of mine did that, you cant believe how much of a money pit it was.
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The fictional Quiller drove one of those Jensen Interceptors (much better "agent" than Bond in my view. Books are great.)
So I talked about it with Mrs C, once, showed her a picture, and she's hankered after one ever since. That or a "Scimitar like Princess Anne had".
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Buying a new Maxi 1750, when I could have bought a new Cavalier 1600 for £500 more.
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I stopped driving for a while and started to use a moped going to work.Missus wasn't pleased with me and kept nagging me to buy a car again.>:) She hasn't got a licence.Citroen for sale in the paper.(The Ugly Duck one.)Went to the house on my moped and the lady who owned the car took me for a drive.I struggled with the car gear changes and all she did kept giggling.The car was in nice condition but all I had was 600 pound which I offered.The car was for sale for 1500 pound.She declined and I left my tel.no.in case she changed her mind.Same night I got a phone call and the lady said I could have the Citroen for the 600 pound.I already bought a VW Beetle in average condition.Should have waited a bit.To inpatient is my problem.>:)
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Which Citroen was (is) the 'ugly duck one'. There's a lot of choice...
My biggest regret is losing my nerve four years ago and not buying the Bentley Continental R that is the nearest thing I have ever had to a 'car of my dreams'.
The guy who owned it also had a Conti T Le Mans, an S Type, a Merc 600SL and a BMW 850 coupe. I noticed the other day he is now in the old car business - all his cars were in a shed next to his powder-coating business when I met him - and the Bentley I didn't buy is on the front page of his website (although he sold it a long time ago). Heigh ho...
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Not buying a very nice, but slightly shabby, Jag MkII for the princely sum of 1600 quid in the mid-eighties. Nothing wrong with it that polish, elbow grease and the fitting of a Webasto roof in place of the godawful glass thing that some animal had foisted on it would not have cured.
Every time I see the price those things change hands for I swear.
Then again, the same Nissan dealership also took in trade an immaculate Lotus Eclat. In the years since I have grown out of regretting not buying that.
Greatest idiot moment was after spending two weeks lovingly rescucitating the rotten front wings of a Triumph 1300 FWD with fibreglass, wire mesh and filler. Went to the local Unipart for some other bits, only to be asked if I'd like new wings for it as they were flogging off the old stock for a tenner a pair. I'd spent more than that on filler alone.
On the upside, the greatest bargain I ever had was a Skoda 130 Rapid with dull paint and low miles on it. Bought for very little off a Renault dealer (who apparently didn't know the difference between "knackered" and "desperately overdue for servicing and a tune up") it went for five years, was dead easy to look after and was loads of fun to drive.
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Just before Uni, I was persuaded by a mate not to buy a pristine Triumph Tiger 500. So, I was led astray by a Scots git from some god-forsaken lino-manufacturing town in east Scotland (thanks Ronnie!) and bought a Morris Minor which turned out to be a real heap. Rust, rotten brakes and utterly knackered engine. So much for him being an ex car mechanic. I can see why he took up nursing:) After graduation I was pained to see the same Triumph bike being ridden in Brum city centre. Still immaculate! The MM had been scrapped after about 12 months when the sills gave up.
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40 years ago I was on the hunt for my 2nd car. It came down to a Fiat 1500 or a Rover P5 3-litre; both were £250. Dad told me the Rover was an 'old man's car'. The Fiat was shinier and I thought it would be more economical so passed the Rover by. The Fiat rewarded me by popping its head gasket within a couple of months and breaking out in rust measles through a cheap respray.
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Chickening out and not buying a 1935 Bentley sports saloon for £50 when a student.
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None really. I've always bought cars I like, mostly big unfashionable ones with high mileages, and then kept them 10 years.
My only regret is never having had stabling for a whole collection, just one or two (well, 6 at the moment).
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Regret number one: Not biting the bullet and stumping up the cash to take my HGV Class I test 17 years ago.
Regret number two: Selling my near immaculate 1983 Peugeot 505 2.5 GLD in 2006. I reluctantly decided that, as I had neither the expertise to keep it immaculate, nor a garage to keep it in, I should let it go to an enthusiast.
Regret number three: Part-exchanging my beloved Saab 9000 2.3 CDE for my very-much-unloved Renault Megane 1.6 Expression in 2009. The Saab was a lovely car, by far and away the best car I have ever had. It was a bit thirsty though and I was persuaded to chop it in for something more economical. I'd always liked the look of the Megane II but have almost consistently disappointed and annoyed by it since day one.
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Biggest motoring regret? - Zero
