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THE Car thread (positive posts about cars)

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  1. neddie
    Member

    OK, I'll start...

    I have a 7 year old Mazda 6. It's a great car, handles nicely, looks not too bad, maybe a wee bit boring (think Mr Mondeo). The engine (diesel) is garbage. Blows smoke everywhere and misfires at 1250rpm. Really must get that fixed...

    We do about 3000 miles a year. Take the train lots for longer journeys, as its faster and more fun for the kids.

    What car would I really like: Either a T5 V-dub camper, or something small like a BMW concept Mini.

    For me, the car is a weekend tool and toy. If I were to use it day-in day-out, getting stuck in traffic, I would very quickly lose the pleasure of driving.

    Posted 11 years ago #

  2. wee folding bike
    Member

    1971 VW Fastback. In my mum's front garden and likely to be going away. Hasn't worked since 2001.

    1997 Volvo 940 2.3 turbo wagon. 180,000 miles. Carried home from Forton services by the AA last week after over heating and filling with steam. Heater matrix is bypassed now so It runs and doesn't over heat. Will get better bit of hose from a scrappy tomorrow. The current bit is kinked. It has extra child seats in the trunk.

    2000 Volvo V40 1.8. 160,000 miles. Fan and air con busted. Gear box losing oil so it whines in 5th. When it whines in 3rd I top it up. Front wheel drive so the turning circle stinks.

    I'd get a Land Rover Defender, Ford Tranny or another big Volvo wagon.

    Posted 11 years ago #

  3. Dougie
    Member

    1973 vw beetle baja bug, been in the lockup for last 10 years but it was my first car over 20 years ago so there it is likely to remain

    I would consider myself a car enthusiat but running costs and misery of driving in town are pushing me away from cars although i will run my 2000 rover 45 that I got when my wife replaced her car until it wont go any further

    Rather be on my bike these days but stil in the car a fair bit for work

    Posted 11 years ago #

  4. Roibeard
    Member

    I fancy a V70R - I've driven one a couple of times, and the second time I had a huge grin on my face before I'd even reached the door handle!

    300 bhp, road-going 4 wheel drive - possibly the only Volvo to have favourably appeared on TopGear!

    At the opposite end of the spectrum, a Land Rover "lightweight" - a military, theoretically air-portable version from ~1968-1972 or so. Distinguished by being the most boxy of all Land Rovers, and that's saying something!

    Unfortunately we couldn't find a V70R with 7 seats, hence ending up with the XC90... If I may slip in with a less than positive note, I could do without the ride height (and consequent poor handling), despite being sold on 4x4 for road use! Great family transport, but that was also true for the classic Volvo estates too, where you aren't lugging around 2 tonne of vehicle...

    Despite the size, the XC90 (diesel) is still more economical, even in town, than the 850 (petrol) it replaced. But it's completely unsuitable for town use - particulate filter clogs on short journeys, turning circle is huge, and parking is "challenging".

    Fortunately I've another 0.25 hp vehicle that are much better suited to urban conditions, but that's for every other thread!

    Robert

    Posted 11 years ago #

  5. Darkerside
    Member

    My first and only car was a Volvo 940 estate, picked up for £600 plus a £400 radiator-and-other-gizmos bill.

    Superb car. Most comfortable thing I have ever been in, heated seats, a religious 31 mpg, and just sat happily at 65 on the motorway. Could also fold everything flat in the back (completely flat) then sleep.

    It did have carpet on the doors though. That was a touch odd.

    Posted 11 years ago #

  6. Darkerside
    Member

    Reading up-thread, Land Rover defenders are far and away the least comfortable things I'ver ever spent time in. They assume the driver has no right arm and that nobody in the vehicle is over 5'8". They also roll about like a banana on tarmac (although I've only ever driven ambulance versions with a big box on the back, so potentially normal ones aren't quite so bad)

    Clearly built for a purpose, but that purpose definitely is not being on the roads!

    Posted 11 years ago #

  7. SRD
    Moderator

    I learned to drive on a Saab 99, then a 900 (both acquired secondhand). Never felt as comfortable driving any other sort of car since.

    Posted 11 years ago #

  8. Dave
    Member

    We have a 2003 diesel Astra.

    Being an estate means that we can put things in the back pretty easily. The mileage is also pretty good, at 55mpg (you can do better).

    Alas, it has needed quite a bit of work doing over the last few years: springs (twice), alternator (twice), new brakes, handbrake (constantly).

    I worked out the other day that it costs us around £2k a year, not including driving it anywhere (would be interested to know how this compares).

    Not sure what we'd replace it with. We could have more or less whatever we liked, but it only ever gets used and weekends, and that rarely - so I find it hard to justify spending much.

    Posted 11 years ago #

  9. Arellcat
    Moderator

    I'm fossil fuel-free, car-wise, but still have my big enduro motorbike.

    I once had a Toyota MR2 - the original one, which was quick and fun to drive, but was cramped, rusted like mad and was useless for carrying anything, not least of all bikes, thanks to pillarless doors and a spoiler the size of an aircraft carrier. After hours and hours of derusting, welding, painting, more derusting, more welding, more painting, I sold it and swore I'd never buy another car.

    Then I bought a Rover 620 turbo, which was just beautiful on long motorway journeys to southerly places, often with my Windcheetah strapped to roof bars. Walnut, leather, Recaro seats, lovely speed-sensitive power steering, oodles of power. I kept it for nine years, by which time it had depreciated to less than the price of a good set of cranks, which was a quite depressing signal of a disposable society.

    Posted 11 years ago #

  10. cc
    Member

    The most fun car I ever had was my first, a VW Polo, way back when they were small. The old one with the wolf on the steering wheel to show it was made in Wolfsburg. 0-60 in about a fortnight but I loved it to bits. I was following in a family tradition, my Dad got a VW Beetle in the 1950s and adored it, drove it to Germany for holidays.

    These days its current replacement is used mostly by my partner who can't cycle. Nowadays I hate driving; there's nowhere safe to get enthusiastic about it, all I see is potential accidents in front of me. Some years ago I moved house in order to be close enough to walk or cycle to work.

    Sorry, this was meant to be positive about cars :-) so, let's see, the most fun thing about the current car is the trip computer. Never has my driving changed so radically as when I first dialled up the instant MPG meter on the dashboard.

    Posted 11 years ago #

  11. fimm
    Member

    I've never owned a car...

    A friend has a Lightweight Land Rover. It is older than he is. I think he spends more time repairing it than he does driving it (I think this is why he likes it...) Travelling in the back in the middle of winter is an excellent test of one's heavy duty winter hillwalking kit - in fact I have a set of thermals that are too warm for walking in but are useful for travelling in the back of the Land Rover...

    Posted 11 years ago #

  12. Dave
    Member

    Sorry, this was meant to be positive about cars :-) so, let's see, the most fun thing about the current car is the trip computer. Never has my driving changed so radically as when I first dialled up the instant MPG meter on the dashboard.

    This is something we don't have but would be a must on any new car. It drives me nuts that I can't test experimentally whether we burn more fuel ticking along at 20mph or 30mph.

    Posted 11 years ago #

  13. algo
    Member

    I had a vw T25 (T3) which I put a modern tdi engine in - drove beautifully and got us all to France and Spain several times with the bikes on the back, somewhere to sleep and somewhere to warm up if we'd taken it up north. I loved it, until one day my woeful engineering skills let us down and the cracked modded engine mounts caused the crank seal to go covering our bikes (on the back) in oil. As fimm correctly points out about such vehicles- one of the reasons I loved it was because I spent more time fixing it than driving it. The other half's patience wore thin though and I'd already had the engine out on the street enough times to annoy the neighbours.

    I'm currently building a T4 syncro for the same purpose - it's amazing to have something to return to after walking or cycling where you can warm up and put on a cup of something hot.

    (@edd1e_h - all sorts of reasons for low-end misfire - clean your EGR and CAT, clean the Mass-Airflow sensor with brake cleaner, pump timing, injector balance.... but first off get your diagnostics read to see if an error code exists - I have a pretty rubbish multi-purpose code reader that *sometimes* works if you want to borrow it)

    Posted 11 years ago #

  14. bdellar
    Member

    I've only owned one car. Me and two friends went thirds on a VW Golf, for £30 each. It lasted a summer, and we paid £50 to get it scrapped!

    Posted 11 years ago #

  15. algo
    Member

    @Dave - you can do that if you have an OBDII port (which you should if it's 2003) - look up scangauge or scangauge 2 - they come up pretty cheap 2nd hand sometimes. All OBDII signals are standard - so it'll know how much fuel is being injected and what the crank setting is - all you have to do is to put the wheel size in and then fiddle about with it (before you set off ;-))

    Posted 11 years ago #

  16. Baldcyclist
    Member

    @SRD Saab 900, was it a turbo engine? What a lovely lovely gurgalicious lovely noise a Saab 900 turbo makes, doesn't even have to be the 'Sporty' one, any turbocharged Saab engine.

    Me, I've never had anything so lovely as that. I like Volvos, have a V70 now, love it. Comfy, Soft, lovely inside compared other 'more expensive' European apparently 'quality' cars. Tried a VW Passat for a while, hated that, think the "Once you've had Volvo" saying is true, nothing else will do.

    This time I bought the estate (S60 last time) for the sole purpose of getting my bike in, in the S60 I had to take the front wheel off every day, annoying. Now the bike just 'lives' in the car, get home, drive into garage, no need for racks and fiddling with clips, and straps every day. Chuck it in, drag it out, done!

    Only negative is it has the 2lt 136bhp Diesel engine, it's a bit underpowered. Maybe should have waited a year and got the 163bhp D3 engine. Never mind £400 to have it 'chipped' will sort that out and give it the same performance as the D3. My piggy bank is getting nearer to the £400, just need to stop buying bike things for a couple of months....

    Posted 11 years ago #

  17. wee folding bike
    Member

    No fancy shmancy ports on mine. The computer flashes a pattern on a wee LED and you look it up on a list.

    Posted 11 years ago #

  18. SRD
    Moderator

    @baldcyclist. I think not but it was many years ago...what I mainly recall is comfort of seats and manoeuvrability.

    Posted 11 years ago #

  19. deckard112
    Member

    Lots of Volvos, VWs and Saabs on here so wonder what that says about the demogrpahic, interesting.

    So I'll add to that..

    2013 Volvo V40R-Design - I have to have a car because of my job but I opted for this earlier this year as it's low emission and does 80mpg. My employer actively encourages low co2/economic vehicles (we dont offer gas guzzlers as company cars now).

    Also got Volvo to fit two bike racks which appear to be good quality Thule brackets but were surpisingly cheaper (branded Volvo instead of Thule).

    Oh..my favorite feature is the dashboard is entirely LCD display. V.cool!

    Posted 11 years ago #

  20. cb
    Member

    VW Golf here to add to the VW list. It has an instantaeous MPG feature but I find it's next to useless as it fluctates so much. I keep it on trip MPG (resets after the ignition has been off for two hours).

    Pretty unexcited about cars generally; used to quite like Land Rovers though and have driven a Series III LWB fairly extensively and a Lightweight less extensively.

    At least the Series III had some pretences of creature comforts like a speedometer that was actually in front of you.
    Mind you speedometers in stupid places seem to have become fashionable again.

    Would quite like to try a 101 Forward Control but you don't see them very often these days.

    Posted 11 years ago #

  21. wee folding bike
    Member

    I've yet to own a car which didn't start with a V. Vauxhall ('78 Chevette), VW and Volvo.

    I've also yet to own a bike which wasn't built in England although the Ti bits of Brompton were made in China.

    Posted 11 years ago #

  22. Arellcat
    Moderator

    Would quite like to try a 101 Forward Control but you don't see them very often these days.

    A friend of mine has a 101 fitted with a 3.9 V8. The fuel consumption must be horrendous. Much more imposing than the Series II FC models too.

    Posted 11 years ago #

  23. cc
    Member

    Vauxhall ('78 Chevette)

    My partner started on a Chevette and all these years later still sometimes tries to turn on the indicators using the right hand stalk.

    Posted 11 years ago #

  24. Roibeard
    Member

    Yep, I'd have been pleased to have a 101 too - great people mover, when a bench seat was considered the height of comfort...

    I lodged for a few months near the owner of a 101, and I eyed it up daily!

    I did the same at another point with a Lightweight, and the owner finally put a "For Sale" on it. I looked at it quite seriously, until I discovered that they weren't all on "Q" plates, and that the Q probably meant it wasn't a single vehicle...

    I have forded an XC90 to the bonnet (courtesy of Volvo, not the wife's car!), whereas the Land Rover Experience would barely let the Defender get its feet wet - and I've been bogged down in a little Suzuki whose driver had attempted the "Land Rovers only" route and then suffered the embarrassment of being extracted by a proper off-roader. That said, I've also bogged a Discovery to the extent that a tractor was required for the recovery - clearly somewhere I shouldn't have attempted as a tractor later was bogged down in the same spot!

    Interesting about the "V" memories - I also learnt in a Chevette, then moved to Volvos, bar the 1.0 Metro that came with the wife at the point of marriage. That had cruise control on the motorway, simply place your foot to the floor and leave it there, with speeds varying up to 70mph depending on the gradient!

    The Chevette was written off - I nearly avoided T-boning a new driver that attempted to turn right from a side street as I approached on the main road. "Nearly" in that I removed everything forward of her radiator... My parents bought a Volvo after that!

    Robert

    Posted 11 years ago #

  25. MeepMeep
    Member

    My first car was a Vauxhall Corsa. Mr MeepMeep said he saw it in Edinburgh earlier in the week though with a rather large dent in the front which, oddly, made me a little sad to hear because she certainly wasn't sold on like that...

    We put a lot of money (for us) into a good-spec 2006 Seat Leon three years ago. It's a shame that the car can often go weeks without being driven because it really is a pleasure to drive. Sporty enough, nice to look at without being pretentious, handles beautifully. Suspension and seats incredibly firm so can't say comfortable, but wonderfully responsive.

    I would be the first to admit that cycling being my primary mode of transport has made me a far better driver than I ever was before. I'm more forward-thinking, more alert, more patient and I like to credit a lot of that to being so acutely aware of how vulnerable some other road users are.

    Posted 11 years ago #

  26. Coxy
    Member

    Saab 95 Estate. Bit of a run of saabs now: old 900, later 900, and now the tank. Agree with SRD, hard to move away from them...

    In the past though - Mk3 Cortina, Spitfire, Herald 13/60 Convertable, Volvo 144s

    Used to love cars, but when I moved to Edinburgh I couldn't afford to run one, and soon realised I didn't need one. Kids meant I do now (realistically for us), but now I just see them as sometimes-useful tools; expensive, dangerous and usually not enjoyable to drive.

    Posted 11 years ago #

  27. Kenny
    Member

    2012 Ford Galaxy and 2008 Ford Escort. Galaxy especially useful for transporting wife, three daughters, two dogs and lots of bikes.

    Previously, I've owned Fiestas, Corsas, a Renault Scenic Grand and a Maestro. The Galaxy is like a space-age machine in comparison to any of those. The fact it lives in my garage for about 166 hours a week (outside of school holidays) is starting to make me wonder whether I really need it. But when I need it, holy crap does it come in handy. Now I think about it, it also gets used as a removals van quite a lot. Maybe 164 hours per week in the garage.

    Posted 11 years ago #

  28. wee folding bike
    Member

    Chevette had its horn on the right hand stalk so you would hit it with your knee getting in.

    That was far from its biggest problem.

    Posted 11 years ago #

  29. EddieD
    Member

    Currently a 10 year old (although I've had it for 7 of them) year old Focus (with only 33k on the clock) - it's a good car, handles well, but, unlike my old Rover 216 which I loved until it turned to rust - I can't fit my recumbent inside, so alas, the joys of some of the more remote bits of the west highlands are now bentless :(

    Posted 11 years ago #

  30. Greenroofer
    Member

    58-plate Skoda Octavia Estate diesel. It looks like a taxi. It sounds like a taxi. It's extremely practical, and I like the shape of the bonnet. It's the new shape but before it was facelifted with the newer wraparound headlights. The back of the car isn't great to look at, but there's something about the shape of the grille, headlights and bonnet that I think is just right.

    It was all going swimmingly until a few months ago when we started having a problem with the gearbox not going into first after it had been on a long run. However this is meant to be a positive thread about cars, so I won't go into that.

    Posted 11 years ago #

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