For me not in my blood as such but I have always loved FIAT but always been a bit too scared to buy one until now. I did recomend my dad bought a Punto in 1998 to replace the Lada and that was a terrific car.
I just FIAT because their designs are always interesting. From the original 500, the 124 and quirky cars such as the Tipo.
I have also always liked Ford because everybody has been bought up with Ford in some way or another.
I also have a soft spot for Lada and keep up to date with their developments.
Last edited by: Pugugly on Tue 4 May 10 at 16:40
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Not a make in particular, but I feel an affinity to genuine japanese cars because they pay attention to the things I like. Engineering excellence seems to be in their blood.
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I'm right with Rattle regarding FIAT: had a 1990 Uno 45 FIRE as a first car and loved the unburstable little 999cc engine despite its measerly power output. I used to be a lover of Peugeots and had a 106 but have turned away from them now since they have lost their ability to make drivers cars that also ride well (their chassis engineers run off to Ford?). Now though very enamoured with Skoda and will stick to them: so much quality of build for such a reasonable price, total lack of pretention and a great bunch of people on the forum.
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>> I used
>> to be a lover of Peugeots and had a 106 but have turned away from
>> them now since they have lost their ability to make drivers cars that also ride
>> well (their chassis engineers run off to Ford?).
I owned several Peugeot 306's, superb suspension, but the designers didn't get anywhere near the suspension of the MK2 Focus that I owned.
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I've predominantly had Fords because I like the cars, I find them reasonably priced and reliable, and there has always been a Ford dealer close to where I live.
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Anyone with a car brand in their blood is a victim of marketing.
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I wouldn't say in my blood, but I've always had a certain affinity with Fords because my family have always driven large numbers of them, and their feedback has always been extremely positive. From the launch of the mk1 Mondeo in the early 90's, they also became class leading drivers cars. I remember driving a humble Mondeo 1.8 GLX in 1993 and being blown away by just how good it felt.
I was a huge Peugeot fan, and have had two 306's (one company, one privately owned). As good as FWD chassis get, largely reliable (odd electrical glitch aside), and still quite a pretty car IMHO. But all the newer Pugs I've driven have been a massive disappointment.
If I were buying a brand new daily driver, today, it would probably be a Ford.
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Cut me and I bleed Ford. Examine the cells under a microscope and they look like white capriocytes, and red mk1escortocytes.
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Used to be Ford but suffered violent allergic reaction to C Max from which my wallet only now recovering
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i fell out with ford over my cmax about 3yrs ago. i really like my citroens now as had 3 new in a row.
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I've never really had a luv affair with any particular make of car.
I have been a car fanatic though for nigh on 40 years and that included an automotive career.
I've had my Almera for 3 years now and if I was to change it, I'd be looking at the Qashqai so,
perhaps I do need a blood test after all.
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Citroen... as some would guess. I remember as a kid reading Dad's Which magazines in the late 60s and I was fascinated by the DS when they tested it...the looks... what it could do... it was so different. Dad said they were weird and he wouldn't go near one.
Then just before I could drive we were at Tewkesbury auctions and there was a GS Estate in the sale. In those days they left the keys in and you could start the cars. I did and spent a happy period lifting the suspension up and down. Dad said he wouldn't touch it... they were weird.
Then when I was about 20 I found myself looking at a DS Pallas as a trade sale in the Citroen dealer.... a quick test run and I just had to buy it.
I've had loads of other makes as well but the Citroens have always been there... 17 so far since that DS.
The most important thing is that each time I've come back to a Citroen it's been on merit not blind loyalty... so marketing isn't a factor here Old Navy :-)
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I'm not a victim of anybody's marketing. I have owned many makes (marques) - or 'brands' if you insist - but I had my first Honda nearly 44 years ago and I have yet to be disappointed.
Mind you, these days I am very hesitant about buying another one. If you believe what you read, they just don't seem to be made like they used to be...
Last edited by: Mike Hannon on Tue 4 May 10 at 11:50
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>> If you believe
>> what you read they just don't seem to be made like they used to be...
>>
If anyone says to me "They don't make cars like they used to" I always reply "Thank goodness for that!".
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If I cut myself, I bleed green LHM!!
No real brand loyalty since out of the 20+ the family have owned (see the Cars your Dad had thread...) since the mid 70s, only the last 3 have been bought new. I just know where I am with them, and they are CHEEEEEP!!
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BMW without a shadow of a doubt....had a lift in FiL's 325 petrol the other day and it made me realise what I was missing - smoothy smoothness.
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FIAT and Alfa.
In three years when I replace our Golf and Touran, a 159 Sportwagon may well become a possibility, with a newer Golf for the lady wife (VW is in her blood).
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I actually quite like Fiat because they have made some god damn awful cars. I guess it is the same reason I find British Leyland fasinating.
VW to me just make decent cars, there are some very nice VWs and I will probably buy one one day but they don't get me excited like a Ford or FIAT does.
I think FIAT really is the ultimate love or hate brand. I love Alfa's too and have always wanted a 156, the problem is they are too expensive to run.
Last edited by: RattleandSmoke on Tue 4 May 10 at 14:35
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Oh No ! I forgot about my Alfa transfusion !
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For me it started with an Italian girlfriend who used to let me drive her Mum's Sud. I was 17.
Why I broke up with her I'll never know. Oh yeah, hang on. That blonde who turned out to be a psycho hose beast. Drat.
But even so, after that error of teenage judgement, Italian Dad put the Sud up for sale, and I offered my life savings of 400 pounds in exchange. He wanted 600 and stuck to that. Then the girl in question drive it up the exhaust pipe of a Ford Granada, and that was it. Brown bread.
I loved that little car, and I've never loved any other car as much. I just "fitted" it. A white, 1.5 Ti. Magnificent on every level.
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Don't believe it's just marketing, it's character. Those old Citroens had it as did the little Sud. It was a travesty that car was so badly made and very few left now :( Not driven a Modern Panda but like it: hope the engine still growls, responds well to the throttle and revs to high heaven: Rattle you must tell me!
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My mates revs very freely and my mates felt much faster than 54bhp. I was expecting it to be slow.
From what people say who own one it feels a lot like the Unos with the FIRE engine. The engine kind of races ahead and makes you put your foot down. It is on the motorway you realise all the power has gone.
When I do get the car I shall write a full review :).
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>>If anyone says to me "They don't make cars like they used to" I always reply "Thank goodness for that!". <<
So do I - I'm an old car fan but rooted in realism.
However, I can't help thinking that cars were put together better and were seemingly more reliable when they weren't quite as technically complicated as they are now - maybe the early 1990s?
From what I read and hear, Hondas aren't as bulletproof as they used to be, sad to say.
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I'll no-doubt incur the wrath of other posters but can someone please edit the title to use the word "there" rather than "their" so that it is grammatically correct, I apologise for my apparent pedantry.
As for "cars in the blood", Citroens definitely count for me, as do Audis (A4 B5 to be precise), Fords (Focus, Mondeo, MK1 Escort) and BMWs (3 and 5 Series since the late 1970s). I think that I am possibly allergic to Vauxhalls......
Last edited by: idle_chatterer on Tue 4 May 10 at 16:40
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>> I'll no-doubt incur the wrath of other posters but can someone please edit the title
>> to use the word "there" rather than "their" so that it is grammatically correct I
You could have corrected it in your own post... :)
EDIT: voila
Last edited by: Focus on Tue 4 May 10 at 16:44
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I wasn't going to change every one - life's too short.
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Citroen for me, especially when I googled a bit and found the Citroen Michelin PLR
(sorry I don't know how to do short links)
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>> (sorry I don't know how to do short links)
I think the site software handles long links ok now, but to keep it short you can use tinyurl.com/
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Thank you Focus.
www.ridelust.com/michelin-plr/
Like my C5 I think I will have my PLR in black please.
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>> www.ridelust.com/michelin-plr/
You've only got a short one! :) 'Long' links are the ones that spread over multiple lines and used to cause problems for the software, but now just look a bit messy.
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My answer to the question is also a short link:
www.ford.co.uk/
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Its Alfa and Fiat for me aswell. Just love nearly all of them, hard to say why. I've had 1 Fiat and 3 Alfas, and don't tell anyone, but they never let me down sshhhhhh!
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I drove Nissan cars for 17 years, and was extremely happy with them. However, when the time came to replace my Primera, I realised that Nissan was now a collection of "niche" cars - all very admirable in their own way, but none of them really "me".
I don't particularly associate with any brand now, but I rather like Ford, Audi and Skoda. I definitely don't want another BMW, that's for sure!
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Just thinking, in the last 15 years swmbo and i have had 3 Toyota's and 4 MB's, so probably one of those brands, still got one of each. Not loyal to any marque really.
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When I was a student old Rovers were dirt cheap - think £50, reliable and very comfortable and chassis mean rust was unimportant.
I had:
a 1953 Rover 75 £40
a 1947 Rover 16 (immaculate) £80 for 4 years.
A Rover 100 £100..
But then Rover started with the 3500 SD1 and the 26000 ruined the reputation for reliability and the 2000 was rusting as a model and BL was pants.
SO I gave up.
And of course Austin became Austin Rover and killed the name. So that was it.
I loved my 16 although the steering was very heavy and the axle tramp on bad potholes was alarming... We went on honeymoon in it...
Nostalgia..
BL ruined the brand ; moronic. Idiots.
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It's Jaguar for me.
It will have been my step-father that started it off when I was a nipper, he had loads, from Mark X's to E types, inc a brand new series 3 in 1973. 'WUO3K' where are you now (well I know actually, last year Jaguar World Monthly did an article on it).
I managed to persuade my wife to have one as well, so we're the Prestcotts at the moment.
I'm rather hoping they'll do an XF estate, because as they've dropped the X Type it'll be the only way I persuade her again, as her criteria is Estate and diesel.
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I really hope they do an XF estate. I'd be prepared to stretch to one of those... and 'er indoors has sort of agreed to it, mostly, ish.
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I used to have a thing about BL vehicles - probably because at the time they were cheap and every breaker had enough spares to keep anything BL going - I had a string of Minis, a couple of Marinas, an Allegro, Sherpa, and a Landie. Can't remember ever spending more than £500 on any of them, several cost less than £100.
An expanding family meant a dose of reality on the car front - no brand loyalty, a few Fords and Peugeots, a Vauxhall, and a Nissan.
Last four cars have been Renaults - we still have two, and their replacements will almost certainly be Renaults. Oddly enough my father had a couple of Renaults and his experience makes him question my judgement and sanity on a regular basis.
I still fancy an old Mini as a weekend toy though....
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Like millions of other people I presume, I gre up in the 70s with Fords in the household and I still have an affinity for them, even though I've never (yet) bought one myself.
Over the last 12 or so years my favourite brand became Volvo. Hard to explain why. If the XC60 was a bit better-designed around its rear three-quarters (where it looks all wrong to me) I'd be lusting after one today to replace the X3, even though most people would say that the BMW is the "better" car...
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>> I managed to persuade my wife to have one as well so we're the Prestcotts
>> at the moment.
You have a bit on the side and you punch people?
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>> You have a bit on the side and you punch people?
>>
er, no...i have a paunch not a punch....and a face that is ideal for radio
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Vauxhall, Opel, Holden.....
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Citroen; there have been 19 through the family. Mrs H's C3 is no. 16, my C8 is no. 17. 18 and 19 were AXs; one sold and one written off.
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Oh and Mercedes too: just something about 80s Mercs and it's good that the modern ones seem to be being built properly again but the old gaffer in his newpaper column say injector issues on 4 cyl Diesels, but solid!
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Not sure why, but for me its VW all the way.
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VW group for me for decades. I'd a brief fling with a glamorous Hyundai Coupe but saw sense, after SWMBO got stroppy, the exhaust dropped off and rust appeared underneath all within 18 months of brand new.
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I've usually bought something that has an interesting engine, and produces a good sound. So, Rover V8, Opel Monza (straight six), Audi 90 (straight 5), Alfasud (flat 4), Granada (V6), and a few 4 cylinders cars, Montego Turbo and Escort Mk2 (with a 2.0 Pinto conversion!). So I don't think I've had a particular fondness for any make, they all have their good and bad points.
I've never really been very sensible with my choice of car (probably why I'm still skint!), and I suppose buying an Alfasud as my first car sums it up really. And if I think about it, Alfa Romeo would probably be one of my favourite brands (although I'm too scared to own one now!). Some of their current efforts (Brera, 159), are just stunning. Now if they could mate that body shape with German or Japanese reliability we would be getting nearer perfection. But then, of course, they would lose their soul...
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If I had £20k to spend I would buy a 159 without a doubt. OK I wouldn't be stupid enough to buy a brand new one, but maybe a 1 year old one.
If you enjoy the car then does it matter if it costs a bit more than say a sensible choice like a Mondeo.
That said a 159 still needs to be reliable.
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I go back further than most, and when I was growing up it was always Austins - my parents had them and I think that in the 50's they were the best mass-produced cars that you could buy. They started in the morning, unlike many Fords, Vauxhalls and Hillmans of the time, and ours never let us down.
My first car was a much-loved Austin A50 (bought at 14 years old when I left university in 1969), then two MGs and two Maxis. It wasn't unreliability that turned me away from British Leyland: sadly they couldn't afford to correct the design faults on the Maxi.
So it was 7 Renaults after that - all reliable, and there was always one to fit the growing family. But since 2001 (new job, higher salary but buying my own car) it's been, with one exception, VAG. All good to drive, reliable and they hold their value, which is what's important.
Edit - just to add to Rattle's good point about the Mondeo - according to most road tests the Mondeo is better to drive than the 159. As is my Octavia vRS. So let's be sensible AND enjoy ourselves.
Last edited by: Avant on Sat 8 May 10 at 12:52
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MG. My first car was an old TC, the first post-war model. It caught fire after a couple of days and burned to a crisp. Second was another TC, then a TD. After that, a large gap until an MGBGT. Then another, much larger gap and an MGtf (not the MGTF, which was the last of the Midget series and one of the prettiest cars ever). A man involved in the design of this told me the company had grossly underestimated pent-up demand among enthusiasts and my R-reg car must have been rushed through production. There were loads of things wrong, some, such as a defective hood and defective headlights, must have cost a bomb under warranty to replace, but I loved the ride. These 5 cars were interspersed with another 22 of various makes, including 3 Mitsubishi Colts, but I remember the MGs best.
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That is not the point of this thread so much. The Mondeo and Octavia may well be much better cars to drive than the 159, but there is something about the 159 that really excites me, a Mondeo or Skoda dosn't no matter how good the car may be.
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Y'see I've always loved Alfas. They stir my very soul with their smouldering looks and more so probably than some more exotic brands. The very fact that I could easily buy one makes them even more appealing. I can convince myself that I shall one day but just haven't yet.
And yet, the reality is that I probably won't buy one. It would almost certainly be the ruin of a dream, having been built up in my mind to be such a delightful experience. If the reality was that it turned out to be just "quite good" it would have failed to live up to my rose tinted expectations. In some ways I prefer not to put my little Italian fantasy to the test.
Conversely though, when one comes across a car such as a Mondeo or Octavia, which comparitively speaking is something of a wallflower, and then it goes and does delight you it can be such a pleasure.
Can't speak for the Skoda but the Mondy can be placed on the road with pinpoint accuracy and feedback when pressing on, the ergonomics are outstanding and yet it is after all nothing more than a mass produced workhorse....... I quite like that.
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This thread just shows how all of us are different in terms of what 'stirs the soul' and thus puts a car brand into the bloodstream, as it were.
It might be looks, or image, or engineering excellence; for me it's a lot of things but mainly the driving experience. Yes, if money were no object I would have an Audi rather than the Octavia (I did, six years ago; it was lovely, but expensive), and it suits my style of driving. There is for me a sort of feel-good, feel-right factor about an Audi that many others have about BMWs (I can see why).
But the fact that Skodas, like Humph's Mondeo, exceed expectations, is good enough for now. Am I right in thinking, Humph, that the Qashqai simply meets expectations - which is fine, but not special?
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This is quite interesting. I wonder if the Panda will exceed my expectations? I simply want it to drive better than the Fiesta and Corsa.
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I'll bet you will be delighted with it Rattle. It's the sort of car which makes me wish I needed one like that.....if you see what I mean ?
Tried to get 'er interested in a Qubo today. Unsuccessfully. I tried retorting that Noddy never drove anything like that but it fell on deaf ears.
They're cheap enough too. Aye....
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I consider myself quite lucky that my needs make a car like that perfect. I just need something with enough room for computers and something to make getting stuck in traffic lights a little bit fun.
It is a bit emberassing that the registration plate is something that a pimp would pay good money for though!
I've always used to joke on HJ a while back if I had a brand new car if I didn't crash it it will last for ever as I will make sure it is serviced to book standards and a little extra.
There will be no Tesco oil or Wanlis for my car.
The Qubu looks like a great car if you need large basic transport, it is certainly a nice alternative to the Kangoo or Berlingo.
Last edited by: RattleandSmoke on Sat 8 May 10 at 19:46
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I was trying to persuade her it was a modern funky SUV which she would find ideal for her needs. Nothing to do with it being about 5 grand cheaper than anything she fancies of course.....cough.....
Wasn't happening.
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Rav, Qashqai, Yeti, CRV....something like that.
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Ford.
My Dad has never been into cars, and his father never drove - at least not in my lifetime. But my mother's father would never have contemplated buying anything other than a Ford. He was a man with a strong sense of loyalty, and for that reason I have a soft spot for Ford. Curiously enough, none of his own offspring now drive Hondas and Toyotas. However 4 of the 5 cars that I have had have been Fords.
However, I must confess that I also have a soft spot for Citroëns, largely as a result of the Berlingo experience.
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Is their a car brand in your blood? - Stuu
