Cars: Yours Past & Present

[mr smuf]

Might aswell tell you what I'm considering so far:

Ford Focus:

Nice car, about the right size, but its still a little expensive for my budget and I don't want to be forced into getting the cheapest one available regardless of condition.

Ford Scorpio:

Would absoloutely love one of these, a little big but they have a lot to offer for a good price. Would have to go for a diesel version though, either that or water down the petrol The insurance is, well, managable if I get it with another member of the family listed as a driver.

Ford Mondeo:
Another consideration, cheap enough as long as it's a decent enough one.

Other than those three, I'm open to suggestions.

As you might have guessed I don't want something too small. The idea of a running about in a black 3-door Renault Clio with tinted windows and an exhaust big enough for a small animal to get lost in doesnt appeal to me! No offense to anyone with a Clio though!

Out of the Fords, you're best bet would be the Focus. The scorpio is a nice drive and quite cheap, but it is not cheap to maintain nor run. I would guess second hand Focus will come down in price in the autumn because Ford are launching their next all-new Focus.

Still I like my Escort Si 1.8 and reckon it looks much better thatn the Focus tho!

[Davidjb]

If your a new driver with no or little NCD (no claims discount), then the standard Ford Focus (i.e. not ST170 or RS) is extremely low on insurance, there something like group 6 (ST170 & RS are group 16). I started of with a T reg(1999) Ford Fiesta Zetec which was a nice little runner but i got bored with it very quickly as theres just not enough power for me. Luckily 14 months later i was eligeble for the Ford Privlige scheme so bought a brand new 2003 Ford Focus Zetec 2.0. For a car with a 2.0L engine they are still incredibly cheap to insure (i was paying £500 a year with only 2 years NCD). 9 months later (March 2004) i now drive a 2004 Ford Focus ST170 in a very fetching Imperial Blue. The previous Focus was great but there where other issues as to why i had to change the car so soon (nothing wrong with the car or dealer). The ST170 goes like anything, if i put pedal to the metal it pins you back in the seat and you get a real sense of acceleration. Probably better to steer clear of St's or RS's unless you know you can afford them cause once you sit in them, you will want one and they make all other Focus's seem tame. Trust me though with a Ford Focus you cant go wrong. They are so easy to drive.

[cwathen]

Had a 1980 MKI Vauxhall Astra for a little while just after I passed my test, insured on the 'car and insurance in parent's name with child as second driver' loophole (which I do realise is also highly illegal).

This ended when I started university, and I went for a year without a car, until August 2002 when I bought my current car, this time done by the book.

I have a 95/N Rover Metro (Rover 100 actually), I had to go for something small and low powered (only a 1.1 model) in order to be able to afford the insurance (which for the first year was almost as much as the car was worth) but it is at top spec 1.1 model so I do at least have refinements...central locking, leccy windows, alloy wheels, fully colour keyed exterior, leather interior...and my dashboard and door cards are adorned with that cheap looking fake plastic wood stuff which Rover seem to like to put in their higher end models. I've even got the quite rare rev countered version of the dashboard, which Rover (and Austin before them) were notoriously stingy about using in the Metro (something which only got worse as time went on, and by the time production ceased in 1998 only the sporty GTa model still came with it).

When I got it, it ran like a dream and continued to do so for the first year. Since then, it's developed problem after problem and is rapidly turning into a cash cow. All the notorious Metro suspension problems have manifested themselves, the most serious one being when a seal blew out on one of the Hydragas displacers and an entire half of the car collapsed.

As if that isn't enough, all of the K series engine problems have appeared too, including the highly notorious and highly undesirable head gasket failure after 80,000 miles which is common. The ECU seems to be a bit buggered too, when it goes through random phases of drinking petrol like there's no tomorrow (there have been times when it's used £20 worth of petrol to cover 100 miles), which as the engine heats up, causes it to flood and then despite it's fuel consumption I have extremely poor running with hesitant acceleration and power loss (when this problem is at it's worst the engine refuses to go faster than 3,500 rpm)...and then the next day it's all back to normal again and stays fine for weeks. Fuel economy in general however isn't what it used to be. To try and help with the running problems, I am having the engine tuned on Monday, but with it being an injection engine anyone and so unlikely to have come seriously out of tune, I'm not expecting much of an improvement.

Unsurprisingly, it is going as soon as I can afford to replace it.

Next I'm looking at a MKIII Astra (the slightly updated version which came out in 1995 - one on an R plate would be ideal) or a MK V Escort.

[andyrew]

My first car I got just before passing my test was a Lancia Y10. My friends said it was half a car due to the fact Lancia hadn't really thought about the back, and the car just stopped.

I got rid of the Y10 quite quickly and got an almost new MG Montego 2.0i, and wangled the insurance on my dads company. I did phone round for quotes and it was thousands! Had the car a couple of years, and then one Christmas Day it was stolen. Car was found abandoned a few weeks later, minus alloys, radio etc. etc. Huge insurance claim which got very complex. Got the car back eventually, and due to various reasons had to get my own insurance.... decided it was time to get rid of the car!

Next I got a battered up Nissan Cherry. It had no style or credibility, but it got me from A to B very cheaply, and with no no-claims and a big claim against me, the car served its purpose.

I rebuilt (well, I supervised!) the building of my next car, a Ford Orion, which I acquired for nothing. Took a bit of work, but ended up being a good car. Ended up writing that one off after being in a pile up one morning. Good thing was I made a shed load of money on the insurance claim, the car was still drivable, so i drove it into a dealer, and managed to get a good PX price for it as well.... quid's in.

I then got an Escort 1.8Si which was a great car, it was pretty pokey, and in red looked pretty good to.

I then made a mistake. I decided that as I drive to London most days (about 70 miles round trip a day) I needed bigger car, so spent quite a lot of money on a Ford Mondeo 2.0 GhiaX. The car was OK if a little boring, and it's performance was lack-lustre compared with the Escort. However, it depreciated in value so much it was virtually worth nothing when I PX'd it against my new and current car.

Brought my first ever new car last year, and it was really exciting building a car to my own spec. I spent hours looking over the brochure and website checking all the options and colours, then after I ordered it, more hours looking at the glossy brochure pics waiting for the car to arrive. My only worry was if the interior and exterior colours would work as I'd not seen them for real. Car was built a month ahead of schedule and became a Christmas present to me. Colours work perfectly and really is my dream car (currently). I'm looking forward to plenty of roof down driving this summer

[Katherine]

My dad currently drives a 2002 Ford Mondeo - exciting, huh? He's been in 'Ford Mode' ever since I came into being.... if we win the lottery I am planning to try to persuade him into getting a Jaguar X-type...... I'll never be able to learn to drive myself though because of epilepsy....

[Martin]

It's been interesting hearing your experiences, but Andyrew, you did't tell us what your current car is?

[andyrew]

It's been interesting hearing your experiences, but Andyrew, you did't tell us what your current car is?

I purposly missed that one out due to comments made in previous threads..... but if you must know, it's a BMW 3 series sports convertable

[Martin]

Very nice!

Who could blame you for wanting to show it off!

[Katherine]

An Aston Martin DB9 would be nice......