The ones that grow on you....I was just about born when that advert came out.
Of all the many cars I have owned over the years, the vast majority have met my expectations, with only a few disappointing. The most recent acquisition really has grown on me though. Bought earlier this year, for the ex GFs daughter to use when she returned to the UK from the land of Far Far Away to give birth. I bought it purely on the grounds of practicality and cheap running costs, and when mother & new born returned overseas I took it on expecting to sell it on via AT or EBay within a few weeks. It would be untrue to say it has usurped the 330 ragtop, but I haven't driven the BMW for 3 weeks!
It is the lowest of the low in the A3 range, a weedy 1.6 Tdi five door, but on a thrice weekly 60 mile commute it returns almost 60mpg, cruises in lanes 2& 3 with the big boys and makes me think far more about making progress than the casual dropping into third gear of the 330 and booting it. I am making full use of its practicality with the current short term job, and it swallows quite decent load sizes. Otoh it is occasionally frustrating when mimsers, those driving at 40 in a NSL because it is dark type, and breaking for every gentle corner on the A65, mean that overtaking is not safe so I have to sit patiently behind, unlike in the 330. Grip is ok, the steering I find overlight, but the heated seats are nice and comfortable, and it goes better than the 105 horses would have you believe. I am almost tempted to keep it ( I probably would but it is the wrong time of year to sell the soft top). Lots of other goodies on the SE which I did not expect to find, and the wireless is pretty good too.
Anyone else bought something which exceeded their expectations?
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Yes, a Saab 900 in 1994; of all the cars I have owned, the one I enjoyed the most.
The family found the back a bit claustrophobic even though it was reasonably roomy - high backed front seats and a highish waistline probably the causes. But I could drive it in comfort for hours, it was quick enough and to me a good drive.
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Yeah, sounds good LL, only trouble is, driving a black Audi A3 lots of people will think you're a bit of a....
Oh wait a minute you're used to driving a BMW convertible so just ignore the above, it's fine...
;-)))
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Yes. Many will jeer, but it was a Skoda Estelle 120 LSE (I think those were the letters).
I was broke. It was cheap. I went to see it, drove it and it did what made it cheap: shunted violently with the engine going on and off. I looked in the distributor and saw that there was a sporadic short in there, so bought the car and did a temporary fix before driving home in triumph. The owner grinned, reckoned he'd done me.
Everyone laughed. It was a 4-speed early model in garish, bloomed burnt-orange with lots of ornate black coachlines, had a black vinyl roof with glass removable panel (incorporating the not-very-good radio aerial), carried its nose in the air and had the swing-axle back end which made the handling a bit sudden sometimes if you lifted off in mid-bend. But if you kept your foot firmly planted on the accelerator the swing axles squatted down and the thing went round brilliantly.
A bag of sand brought the nose down a bit, inefficient and wasteful but so what? The car was absolutely brilliant. It had an oil cooler and would do a raucous 85. I was a hotshoe in those days. But when I twigged, it would lollop along, droning nicely, at about 55, doing near enough 50 mpg I think. I wanted to kill the rich young Indian twit who wrote it off coming out of the street opposite our gaff, pressing too hard on his Toyota Supra's pedal and understeering the poor little Skoda against a high kerb, kaput comrade, a crime actually. I've had some excellent cars but that one was outstanding.
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I had an awful Chrysler thing, an Alpine I think, which I span the big ends out of. However, it looked good and had a decent stereo AND a [no doubt crap] equaliser and so a mate swapped it for a MkIII Cortina.
The Cortina was great and I did loads of miles in it. I cannot for the life of me remember what happened to it but I loved that car. I used to drive all the way down to Ottery St. Mary to see my parents, to Slough to see my girlfriend and to Bracknell where I worked.
It never let me down, it seemed really big to me at the time, and I loved the looks [still do].
I wonder what happened to it. Nobody else can remember either.
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>> a MkIII Cortina.
Had the use of one of those coke-bottle Cortinas, having imprudently offered to sell it for its owner, a friend of herself.
It was a horrid thing, a 1600 3-speed slushpump auto, slow and reluctant. It had rust holes along the top of one front wing and incipient ones on the other. It always seemed and was filthy, and when you sank into its noisome interior you felt like a really depressed Latino gangster who's forgotten his gun, switchblade and knuckleduster.
Sold it to a couple of South African communists for more than it was worth. Haven''t seen them for a while.
All of that said, there was a 3-litre V6 one called a Savage or something like that, looked tasty on paper.
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>All of that said, there was a 3-litre V6 one called a Savage or something like that, looked tasty on paper.
Those were produced by a guy called Jeff Uren, a fairly successfull touring car driver. What I've never understood is why he didn't import them from South Africa where they were already being built by Basil Green and called Perana. They were approved by Ford and came with a Ford warranty. Ford quickly adopted them as a standard production model in SA.
Basil Green also built Capris and Granadas with a Mustang V8.
I had three V6 Cortinas. A MkIII 3000GT, a MkIV 3000S and an XR6 Interceptor.
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Funnily enough, I'd put my S60 in this category. I loved my 93 (one of the first) and the 900 that preceded it and was disappointed that the new car scheme, though more generous in some ways, meant I couldn't have another Saab.
But by then (spring 2002) the 93 was a saloon and the estate had yet to appear. I tried a Golf PD130, which I liked but was a bit small even as an estate. Tried a Passat estate, which ticked the practicality boxes but was uncomfortable and no fun at all.
Volvo? Hmmm. V70 looks perfect but is out of budget - too expensive as a diesel, too tax-heavy with a petrol engine. S60? Saloon boot would be a pain but hey-ho. OK, let's have one of those.
And it took a while to bond, to get the seat set right, to get used to the ignition lock on the steering column. Objectively, I told friends, it's a better car than the Saab, but I really liked the Saab, while this is just very competent.
But it grew on me as it looked after us: our first holidays as a family of four, then driving home from difficult meetings at which it became clear that my job and many that I was responsible for were coming to an end. Two successive rounds of job hunting, a year apart, then three years of 170-mile daily round trips to the job I still have, until we relocated. The S60's comfort, cruising ability and all-round competence made the whole experience far more tolerable than it deserved to be. Even now, in a second-car role since the arrival of the LEC, it had the status of old family friend. I'll be very sad when we eventually bid it farewell - even if we can get a Golf GTE to replace it.
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>> Anyone else bought something which exceeded their expectations?
The laguna certainly met my 5* NCAP expectations.
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I have no idea re Runfers comment on people's perceptions of black Audi A3s?
As for my 10yo 330 convertible....might well be considered a girlie car in some quarters, but I can forgive that. Two words to those people.
Straight six.
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I have no idea re Runfers comment on people's perceptions of black Audi A3s.
Parus major, perhaps?
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I bought a Renault 20 for 150 quid, as a temporary motor, years ago. It came from a deceased farmer and stank like a stockyard in hot weather. Also the 'marron glace' metallic paint went white every time it rained. But it gave me a year's excellent comfortable, economical, reliable motoring and I sold it to a friend for a profit. I saw one the other day and remarked to myself what a rare sight they are now.
Last edited by: Mike Hannon on Fri 7 Nov 14 at 12:10
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Rustproofing in those days was not Renault's strong point, my 16 had visible rust when it went back to the lease company in 1981 at 33 months old.
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My 1929 Riley bought for £30 exceeded my expectations as it ran..
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I bought a Hillman Imp for £20 and then used it for more than a year between Reading and Clacton.
Got through several head gaskets though.
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I had one of those for a few months and it blew the head gasket too, but mine warped the cylinder head.
Do I remember it was made of aluminium?
Pat
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Yes it was. My finances at the time could run to a head gasket every month or two, but wouldn't stretch to the cost of a head-skimming without saving. But of course I couldn't save because I had to keep buying head-gaskets.
Bear in mind that this came from a time when I was aware and made use of the fact that a can of beans and a loaf of bread could last for three days. I didn't have spare money.
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No, me neither! I believe I swapped it for an Austin A35 van that I paid £30 for.
Pat
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Peugeot 505 saloon. It's not that it grew on me, it's that I already loved it because it was my first car and they were fantastic cars. It was a 1979 model, (electric front windows and sunroof) and I bought it in 86.
If I move back to Blighty or buy a weekend Manc pad, I'd try and find one and keep it till I drop dead. Complete the circle. The old man was an engineer, he made sure I was changing oil every 3k miles. He taught me how to me tune it, service it, he helped me to replace some perished rubber suspension blocks (whatever they were), replace hoses, PAS hoses, exhaust holes, bleeding the brakes, preparing it for winter, preparing it for the 3 week drive down through France. That was my learning experience, my mechanical sympathy. I had it for nearly two years but it had to go when I went to Uni. It was 93 before I bought another car, a 12 month old 605. Of course there was none of that self-service stuff with modern cars, you just fill the water bottle when the light flashes.
That 505 was an old lover. We were inseparable, I looked after her on a student grant and she gave me independence. She was Mrs Robinson.
My cars are just hookers now, I throw money at them and they'll do anything for me and do it very well too. Divine Brown.
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Excellent BBD. You're a true romantic.
In Africa the 505 with its independent rear end wasn't really favoured. It was comfortable but too complicated. Some 504 saloons had that back end too.
The 404 was greatly loved though and was very dogged, comfortable and fast on dirt roads. The 504 estate, with live back axle, was favoured as a long-distance taxi too, in North and sub-Saharan Africa.
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The chef at our local hotel/restaurant had a 505 GTI - lovely piece of kit. He outed it a few years ago and I don't think I've seen one since.
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>> had a 505 GTI - lovely piece of kit.
Yes, one saw those in France with their proud owners ... 'Une vraie Peugeot quoi...'
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There were still quite a few 504 estates doing sterling taxi service in Egypt when we were there a couple of years ago. So much more character than the Toyota boxes that are slowly but surely replacing them.
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I was at Uni when the car was sold so the old man took care of that. He said it was an African bloke and he was shipping it out. Very sad. The 505 is the first thing I look for when I'm perusing Classic and Car. There was a 505GTi saloon a couple of months ago, auto, black and in pretty good nick - and literally just round the corner from dad's house. It was £2200 as far as I remember, I should have flown over and snapped it up. But I would love to find a V6, rarer than dinosaur dung but everything I could want. Funnily enough I saw one in the Uni car park in 89. Now you're talking about a lovely piece of kit.
I learnt in the 504 family estate, what a big bus they were. Three rows of seats. He took me to an industrial estate a couple of times to practise my reversing. Hours and hours of driving round backwards. He taught me well - I can reverse the Lexus into the garage (and leave it snuggly tucked against the wall) quicker than I can drive it out forwards. A slight exaggeration of course but the old man is an obsessive reverser, he's passed it on to me, and I will pass on to my little boy. If I ever see him driving in forwards I'll disown him.
The 504 eventually had a whopping mileage on it so he traded it in for a 505 estate, an 83 year I think. So for a few months there were two 505s sitting in the driveway. Man and son, estate and saloon. I'm sure the old man was as chuffed as punch but he never let on. Oh those happy days.
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Cadbury's Roses cars - Manatee
