Discussion
Here are the predecessors, some of them are rubbish and some of them I miss lots! But I haven't had as many as some folk on here but here goes...
Life started off as a 1994 Volkswagen Polo 1.3 CL, bought for the princely sum of £100 from the VW Audi Breakers here in Notts. I was 17 at the time and bought it a little before I passed my test.
When I had it, it had the back end dented in; so £30 was spent on a new boot and a waft of paint (metallic, may I add) and it looked pretty smart. Just a general tidy up was in order, however with the seats yellowing and very uncomfortable which desperately needed sorting. The breakers, who were my best friends at this point, had a Mk2 Polo GT interior which was unmarked and only cost me £70 for all seats, door cards and steering wheel! And of course, being a facelift Mk2, it just bolted straight in.
Some Mk1 Golf Tarantulas later and jobs a good 'un. Sold it some 5 months later for £700 to my sister, to which it then got written off by someone bumping into it while it was parked outside the house
Strangely, being my first car I don't have too many pics of it, just it having a bath really...
Moving on to my first love and best friend (no, I mean that...) is my old '81 Volkswagen Golf GTI in Mars Red. Achingly beautiful in every way, such a top car and I used it every day.
Being 17 at the time, insurance costs weren't on my side, but I bit the bullet and it wasn't too painful.
I saw it at Edition 38 where it was on the 'For Sale' green, asking for £1600 and it was pretty close to home. Had one more look at it after the show and the deal was done!
I can't say I tampered with it much; it never really asked for anything other than to be looked after. The owner had dropped it on these rock hard coilovers and had a Jetex full system installed which sounded like a bwarping Saxo; so first to go was the bone shaking coils, replaced with standard VW dampers and Spax lowering springs, to keep the stance right.
The backbox was the main cause of the Saxo-ness so that got the chop and on bolted a Powerflow box from a Mk2 Golf which had a pea-shooter outlet for spitty back pressure and bang-pop overrun!
Sadly, it's the only car I've written off and is forever missed!
After that saga, I had to find a replacement for the Golf. I decided, after having experienced the tin-can feeling of an old Polo and Golf I wanted something a little more relaxing and comfy. The Passat being too big, I decided on a '99 Volkswagen Bora SE with a 2.0 8v under the hood.
It was awful, truth be told.
It wallowed about, drank like an Irish footballer, slow and was not very well put together. I had bought some Mk4 GTI alloys for it, and an induction kit for some excitement but nothing worked. It was comfortable though, so it did fulfil that criteria at least; the arm rest and the Dolby sound system were the only redeeming things about it.
I may have just had a bad experience, so I wouldn't not recommend one. Just not a 2.0.
With a bad taste in my mouth, I decided I didn't want anything modern or Volkswagen for that matter. Browsing the classifieds, the only things to appeal to me were old Golfs and Polos. But wanting something different, and not willing to dabble in anything other than German cars I looked at old BMW's, particularly E30's. Having looked at a couple, I wanted to get stuck in and get some grease under my finger nails. So I opted for an 1990 E30 BMW 318i, which needed some TLC after suffering from molestation by some so-called 'drift enthusiasts'.
The matte blacking I could cope with, it was just everything else! It had the fully adjustable Recaro interior and the engine had not long been reconditioned so it wasn't a lost cause by all means, but the sh*t hit the fan when I realised some ape had messed with the wiring which seemed like a labyrinth of failure!
I started sorting it, when family stuff kicked off and I didn't touch it for about 3 months. After that time I immediately sold it to fund a deposit for a flat
Being car-less didn't last long, thankfully. Having sealed a deposit on my flat I needed a van to move my stuff in, being 20 years old however I couldn't find anywhere I could hire one. Therefore, it just made sense to buy a big car, so I did.
The day before moving in I settled on a beautiful looking 1993 BMW E30 318i Lux Touring.
Fully loaded with electric everything, I bought it off some old chap who simply didn't want to drive any longer. It made for a brilliant removals van, and it swallowed all the flat packs in the world from IKEA. Being a 318i however, it was a leisurely drive but it could swallow up the miles in all the comfort I needed. I didn't touch it either, it looked great and drove great. All I did was give it a service and a clean and that's all it ever needed.
Moving to the city centre, however, proved a problem for the Bimmers thirst. Pottering about it would do about 25mpg and at the time, pottering is what I did so it wasn't proving 'economically viable' and with great sadness it had to go. But I loved the time spent with it!
I'll move on quickly. I had little to spend and lots to save so I withdrew my German taste and bought a dishwasher. A Toyota Starlet XLi, to be precise.
It was many things; cheap, fun, reliable and made such a good noise for a little car!
I didn't love this car, it seemed like an appliance, just a utility to use for convenience rather than pleasure. It looked rubbish too, being all dented and mismatched in colour. And there wasn't much to the insides either, having a plastic steering wheel that twists and bends and also no intermittent setting on the wipers so it constantly looked like you were overreacting in light showers.
But this was cheap and cheerful motoring, and being in the same situation again I'd get another one!
Moving on to my first Mini! I had some savings so decided to go all out and buy a car I can be proud of, which is where I ended up with a 2004 Mini Cooper.
I passed this outside a village car showroom on my way back from Loughborough and had to stop to look in. 2 owners from new, one being BMW Mini as a demonstrator and one being a local older lady who traded it in for something a bit more comfy. Half leathers and Chilli Pack added to the killer combination of JCW Aero-Kit and colour combo. Took it out for a test drive and it felt all tight and new, with 54,000 on the clock it felt like it had done much less! So I snapped it up and was a proud owner for about a year.
Again, with this one, I didn't touch it other than to clean it. All services I made sure were done at Sytner Mini regardless of cost; the only big change was the exhaust. The backbox was blowing and I could either choose to patch it up, replace the system or get a JCW system installed for £30 more than the standard one so naturally the latter came to fruition. Dawdled about in this for another few months then I had to swap it in for a Sooper Cooper - which can be found on my other thread
Hope this thread is as interesting as some other peoples' versions on here! I told myself I wouldn't write loads but I've seemed to have got carried away with my words.
Thanks
Life started off as a 1994 Volkswagen Polo 1.3 CL, bought for the princely sum of £100 from the VW Audi Breakers here in Notts. I was 17 at the time and bought it a little before I passed my test.
When I had it, it had the back end dented in; so £30 was spent on a new boot and a waft of paint (metallic, may I add) and it looked pretty smart. Just a general tidy up was in order, however with the seats yellowing and very uncomfortable which desperately needed sorting. The breakers, who were my best friends at this point, had a Mk2 Polo GT interior which was unmarked and only cost me £70 for all seats, door cards and steering wheel! And of course, being a facelift Mk2, it just bolted straight in.
Some Mk1 Golf Tarantulas later and jobs a good 'un. Sold it some 5 months later for £700 to my sister, to which it then got written off by someone bumping into it while it was parked outside the house
Strangely, being my first car I don't have too many pics of it, just it having a bath really...
Moving on to my first love and best friend (no, I mean that...) is my old '81 Volkswagen Golf GTI in Mars Red. Achingly beautiful in every way, such a top car and I used it every day.
Being 17 at the time, insurance costs weren't on my side, but I bit the bullet and it wasn't too painful.
I saw it at Edition 38 where it was on the 'For Sale' green, asking for £1600 and it was pretty close to home. Had one more look at it after the show and the deal was done!
I can't say I tampered with it much; it never really asked for anything other than to be looked after. The owner had dropped it on these rock hard coilovers and had a Jetex full system installed which sounded like a bwarping Saxo; so first to go was the bone shaking coils, replaced with standard VW dampers and Spax lowering springs, to keep the stance right.
The backbox was the main cause of the Saxo-ness so that got the chop and on bolted a Powerflow box from a Mk2 Golf which had a pea-shooter outlet for spitty back pressure and bang-pop overrun!
Sadly, it's the only car I've written off and is forever missed!
After that saga, I had to find a replacement for the Golf. I decided, after having experienced the tin-can feeling of an old Polo and Golf I wanted something a little more relaxing and comfy. The Passat being too big, I decided on a '99 Volkswagen Bora SE with a 2.0 8v under the hood.
It was awful, truth be told.
It wallowed about, drank like an Irish footballer, slow and was not very well put together. I had bought some Mk4 GTI alloys for it, and an induction kit for some excitement but nothing worked. It was comfortable though, so it did fulfil that criteria at least; the arm rest and the Dolby sound system were the only redeeming things about it.
I may have just had a bad experience, so I wouldn't not recommend one. Just not a 2.0.
With a bad taste in my mouth, I decided I didn't want anything modern or Volkswagen for that matter. Browsing the classifieds, the only things to appeal to me were old Golfs and Polos. But wanting something different, and not willing to dabble in anything other than German cars I looked at old BMW's, particularly E30's. Having looked at a couple, I wanted to get stuck in and get some grease under my finger nails. So I opted for an 1990 E30 BMW 318i, which needed some TLC after suffering from molestation by some so-called 'drift enthusiasts'.
The matte blacking I could cope with, it was just everything else! It had the fully adjustable Recaro interior and the engine had not long been reconditioned so it wasn't a lost cause by all means, but the sh*t hit the fan when I realised some ape had messed with the wiring which seemed like a labyrinth of failure!
I started sorting it, when family stuff kicked off and I didn't touch it for about 3 months. After that time I immediately sold it to fund a deposit for a flat
Being car-less didn't last long, thankfully. Having sealed a deposit on my flat I needed a van to move my stuff in, being 20 years old however I couldn't find anywhere I could hire one. Therefore, it just made sense to buy a big car, so I did.
The day before moving in I settled on a beautiful looking 1993 BMW E30 318i Lux Touring.
Fully loaded with electric everything, I bought it off some old chap who simply didn't want to drive any longer. It made for a brilliant removals van, and it swallowed all the flat packs in the world from IKEA. Being a 318i however, it was a leisurely drive but it could swallow up the miles in all the comfort I needed. I didn't touch it either, it looked great and drove great. All I did was give it a service and a clean and that's all it ever needed.
Moving to the city centre, however, proved a problem for the Bimmers thirst. Pottering about it would do about 25mpg and at the time, pottering is what I did so it wasn't proving 'economically viable' and with great sadness it had to go. But I loved the time spent with it!
I'll move on quickly. I had little to spend and lots to save so I withdrew my German taste and bought a dishwasher. A Toyota Starlet XLi, to be precise.
It was many things; cheap, fun, reliable and made such a good noise for a little car!
I didn't love this car, it seemed like an appliance, just a utility to use for convenience rather than pleasure. It looked rubbish too, being all dented and mismatched in colour. And there wasn't much to the insides either, having a plastic steering wheel that twists and bends and also no intermittent setting on the wipers so it constantly looked like you were overreacting in light showers.
But this was cheap and cheerful motoring, and being in the same situation again I'd get another one!
Moving on to my first Mini! I had some savings so decided to go all out and buy a car I can be proud of, which is where I ended up with a 2004 Mini Cooper.
I passed this outside a village car showroom on my way back from Loughborough and had to stop to look in. 2 owners from new, one being BMW Mini as a demonstrator and one being a local older lady who traded it in for something a bit more comfy. Half leathers and Chilli Pack added to the killer combination of JCW Aero-Kit and colour combo. Took it out for a test drive and it felt all tight and new, with 54,000 on the clock it felt like it had done much less! So I snapped it up and was a proud owner for about a year.
Again, with this one, I didn't touch it other than to clean it. All services I made sure were done at Sytner Mini regardless of cost; the only big change was the exhaust. The backbox was blowing and I could either choose to patch it up, replace the system or get a JCW system installed for £30 more than the standard one so naturally the latter came to fruition. Dawdled about in this for another few months then I had to swap it in for a Sooper Cooper - which can be found on my other thread
Hope this thread is as interesting as some other peoples' versions on here! I told myself I wouldn't write loads but I've seemed to have got carried away with my words.
Thanks
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