The Best Cars You've Owned List

[focuscolin]

My first car was a vauxhall nova 1.2 flair or the Rick flair as i called it i loved that car it was in light blue with a yellow strip lowered big wheels the usual Lol I sold it to my cousin who drove into a guy pulling out ,I felt sick when i seen the pictures. Then I moved to a nova gsi in silver same again lowerd huge sub in the boot ecu remap that thing went like a stabed rat.. then i moved to a rover 216 coupe in charcoal.I covered over 150 k in that thing and it never let me down great car but very slow and it was like a whale in the corners so comfy mind.then i got my first Ford a mk1 focus 1.8 zetec in dark blue, I bought the car with 40000 on the clock and sold her with 165000 again apart from oil sparks a back box and two new shocks and a battery she passed every mot never failed to start hot or cold a fantastic car I was so sad to see her go.then i went back to a vauxhall an astra 1.6 turbo mk5 Sri in black that I think was my best car so fast I had the ecu remapped so she had 235bhp the down side was the fuel I was lucky to get mid 30s from it and the insurance was a group 16 even tho I'm 32 it still cost a fortune I sold her two weeks ago and I'm now back in another focus a 1.8tdci mk2.5 in black. again I love the car very comfy great to drive and I'm getting over 50mpg as i do 30000 miles a year It's the perfect tool for the job. I'm Defo thinkin about getting the car remaped mind and takein some of the guides from here to improve it.

[alex801]

1989ish ford siera xr4--------- amazing

1994 astra sr-------------------- not so amazing- lasted 30 miles after buying it

1997 rover coupe 1.6--------- was good to me this car

1998 ford escort GTI---------- never had a problem with this one, was heavily modded

1996 pug 306 2.0l cabby----- great exept roof didnt work and it was taken for being a cut and shut!

1999 vectra 2.5 v6 gsi-------- nothing but trouble. expensive repair costs too

1998 rover coupe 1.6--------- excellent

1999 volvo s40 2.0l :/--------- terrible mpg but it did have 255k on the clock

1998 BMW 320 coupe-------- decent enough

1996 whilliams clio------------- lots of fun indeed

1992 toyota celica------------- not as good as id hoped

1992 ford fiesta xr2i----------- so so so so much fun

1998 toyota avensis 2.0l----- comftable family car

1999 seat alhambra-----------absolut dog- only bought to sell

1998 pug 406D-----------------not pretty but good mpg

2002 fiat punto 1.2------------ again bought to sell

2000 ford focus 1.6 zetec---- Seems very good so far-fingers crossed

quite a varied selection for the past 7 year im sure ud agree

would love a Siera saphire cosworth..... maybe later in the year

[Z3 MON]

1998 reg Citroën Saxon 1.1 - wrote off

1995 reg pug 106 1.0 - scrapped

1995 reg Ford Granada - repaired and sold

1998 reg Rover 214 - sold on

1998 reg rover 416 - sold on

2000 reg Ford Focus 2.0l ESP - gave back to brother

2000 reg Nissan Almera 1.5s - written off

2004 reg Ford Mondeo 2.0l tdci - got now

The Nissan almera was the most reliable. The focus was the best for giving beans and going round corners. Mondeo is the best for long drives and economy.

[Magenta]

If we narrow it down to cars with four wheels (therefore excluding the rubbish Reliant three-wheeler I had in the 60's - nowhere near the only three wheeler I have owned) ! Taking an even longer deep breath (I will no doubt miss some out anyway and not necessarily in the right order) :

1962 Morris 1000 - Quite good in its day but rusted badly.

1960 VW Beetle - Love them or hate them. I loved it, very reliable.

1959 Morris Oxford - Good comfortable car.

1956 ? Ford Popular ("sit up and beg")- Quite a curiosity even in the 60's

1965 Mini 850 - Great car

1970 Mini 1000 traveller,just a minivan with windows, rattled too much

1971 Mini 1000 saloon - Great car

1972? Morris 1000 - bit of a curiosity by now.

1971 VW Beetle - Good but not quite as good as the earlier one.

1973? Wartburg Knight saloon,three cylinder two stroke - very underrated car.

1972 Fiat 127 - bit boring

1973 Vauxhall Viva - easily the worst new car I have bought,needed new engine after 3 days.

1971 NSU 1200TT - Great car.

1970 NSU1000 - ditto

1971 NSU1000 - ditto

1980 VW Golf Mk 1

19? classic Fiat 500 - something to play with !

Company cars

1977 - 2009

Chrysler Alpine 1 - Rattled quite a bit

Chrysler/Talbot Alpine 2

1.6L Ford Sierra#1 - liked it

2.0L Ford Sierra#2 - liked that too

VW Passat - a bit austere but ok.

Austin Montego - better than I expected but bits of trim kept falling off.

Vauxhall Cavalier#1 -not exciting but quite a good all-rounder

Vauxhall Cavalier#2 - ditto

Vauxhall Cavalier #3 - ditto

1997 Rover 400 1.6L - Quite a bit better than the pevious Vauxhalls, liked it a lot,bought it from my employer at 95,000 miles ,passed it on to my son and it covered 175,000 miles before selling it on.

2000 Rover45 1.8L Auto (CVT) - Best car I have ever had !

2003 Rover 451.8L manual - almost as good

2006 Vauxhall Astra estate 1.6 'Easytronic' - Good workhorse but awful to drive and terrible detail cabin design !

Back to my own cars after retiring:

Classic VW Beetle - great to tinker with.

New 2009 Ford Fiesta 1.6TDCI manual Titanium - one of the best cars I have driven but I missed the auto box !

Almost new (296 miles) 2009 Ford Fiesta 1.4 Auto Titanium Great to drive but more thirsty of course

[Bigdaddycain]

1979 Ford Capri 2.0S CDB252T

1979 Ford Cortina Crusader CJP402T

1982 Ford Escort mk3 CCW315Y

1981 Ford Escort mk3 XKC501W

1988 Ford Escort van (Rieger bodykit) E912CCK

1988 Ford Escort (RS Turbo replica) E114UTJ

1990 Ford Scorpio Cosworth B4LSD

1992 Ford Scorpio Cosworth K111YNC

1990 Ford Escort XR3i F927UPJ

1989 Ford Orion 1600E F718PJM

1995 Ford Mondeo 2.5 V6 Ghia M475VBM

1999 Ford Focus 1.8 Zetec T714 PJA

1999 Ford Focus TDDI Estate V899KDU

2002 Ford Focus ST170 MW52OYJ

2002 Ford Focus TDCI estate BJ52HBO

1995 Ford Freda N724HTE

2005 Ford Focus 2.0 TDCI BJ55JVZ

[Shifty]

Here's my list (plenty of sheds in there),

1988 Ford Escort 1.6

1990 Peugeot 205 GTI 1.6

1990 Ford Orion 1.6

1990 Metro GTI

1990 Vauxhall Calibra 2.0 16v

1995 Vauxhall Cavalier 1.7TD

1996 Toyota Carina 2.0

1997 Peugeot 306 TD

2000 Saab 9-3 Turbo FPT

1997 Vauxhall Calibra 2.0 16v SE8

1997 Vauxhall Calibra 2.0 16v SE8 (spares)

1998 Peugeot 306 TD

2000 VW Passat 1.8T

1997 Vauxhall Calibra 2.0 16v

2001 VW Passat 1.8T facelift

1995 Vauxhall Calibra 2.0 16v

2000 Ford Focus 2.0 estate (Current)

You may notice there was a pattern about halfway down the list, this is when you have a family and try to justify owning a 2 door coupe. You try to make it work but fail so buy a big family car to be practical, you get bored of it and convince yourself you can make the coupe work then realise you're an idiot and buy a sensible car again

[Stoney871]

While living in America a Dodge Stealth.

320bhp, v6, twin turbo all wheel drive.

It drank like a fish but did 0-60 in 5.6.

Just like any yank tank though it couldn't corner to save it's life.

[pragmatix]

Standard Vanguard

Truimph TR3a

MGC

MGA twin cam

Alvis TD21

VW K70

Alfa Romea Guiletta (1970)

Cortina 1600E

Lotus Cortina Mk1

Escort Mexico

Hillman Imp ( with weslake 8 valve conversion)

Dodge Charger

VW Passat (1980)

Hillman imp ( super saloon race car )

Citroen GS 1200

Alfa sud

Alfa sud Zagato bodied ( possibly the worst car I have owned)

Lancia Delta Integrale

Then we went sensible!!

Renault Laguna mk1 ( 165K no probs)

Renault Laguna 2.2 sport tourer (190K no probs)

Daewoo Nubira Estate

Renault Laguna 1.9 sports tourer ( 128K no probs)

Vw Polo

Ciroen C5 estate 178bhp twin turbo ( possible the best car I have ever owned, got written off when it was parked :-( )

Mondeo Ghia 2lt Tdci estate

[Stoney871]

I get the sneaky inkling you may actually be Jay Leno under a false name. ;)

[pragmatix]

I get the sneaky inkling you may actually be Jay Leno under a false name. ;)

Just had google to find out who he is/was still no wiser but he does like a car :)

[Stoney871]

You get my point then?

He has a small talk show in America.

Major car buff.

[pragmatix]

Major car buff.

Thats where I fall down im just a minor, late 60's to the mid 90's where good for me and cars. Still paying for some of the race and rally stuff

[flickthefiesta]

My VW Lupo, absolutely loved it to bits!

Had my eyes ripped out by the lad i bought it off unfortunately, ended up with £800 worth of work needing doing to it and ended up being heartbroken as I towed it to the dealership so it could be part ex'd in for my fiesta! Every cloud ey!

https://twitter.com/#!/_JessLangstaff/media/slideshow?url=pic.twitter.com%2FosSJAZvF

[FiestaZpower]

Mercedes 280. 2008 model

[dodgy-alan]

I passed my test in 1977 and have had plenty of cars since then, My first ever was a Ford 105 E Anglia, followed by a Mk1 Escort 1300, The day before my test I PXd for a Morris Marina 1.8 TC, That was a great car, Very quick (for the time), brilliant flame orange with a blck vinyl roof, tinted glass, Rostyle wheels and Twin SUs. That was followed by a customised Mini which I loved. That was replaced with a Viva HC and this again proved to be a lovely car that again I did a very subtle custom job on. After this came one of my favourites, a BL Princess 2200 HLS. It was electric everything and went like stink, sadly so did its thirst for fuel ! other cars followed but the next significant one was a Volvo 240 automatic, I had that car 6 months before it got written off by a newspaper delivery van in a hurry! A few cars later and I got a beautiful white Volvo 740 saloon. It was big, fast, comfortable and immaculate. We used it for our wedding car! I had that for a few years but foolishly was persuaded to swap it for my mates MG Maestro EFI. The thing was beset with problems and we quickly got rid of it. several cars later and I got a Skoda Favorit Estate. we had it for over 3 years and it proved to be a great reliable workhorse, apart from a few engine gliches it was totally reliable and with its removable seats was often used as a mini camper! This was followed by a Nissan Almera SXI that again we had for several years. It too was incredibly reliable and quick ! we loved it. Howevever the time came for a change and we bought our current car, A Mk 4 Fiesta 1.25 LX . It has proved to be one of the best cars i've ever owned, nippy, reliable, tough, economical and a real hoot to drive. I cant see this one being replaced anytime soon. Its had so many new parts fitted that apart from the bodyshell its virtually a new car ! I love it.