What's the shortest you've owned a car?
Discussion
About 4 hours.
A mate and I were looking to start a weekend garden maintenance business and needed a small van.
I bought a (really) ropey old escort van cheap of another mate and drove straight round the first mates house, to find he wanted us to shell out for something better looking.
I spend the next couple of hours driving round getting rid and finally sold it to a plasterer who'd been hiring a new van at great cost and needed a cheap disposable van for two weeks.
I even made a fair profit.
A mate and I were looking to start a weekend garden maintenance business and needed a small van.
I bought a (really) ropey old escort van cheap of another mate and drove straight round the first mates house, to find he wanted us to shell out for something better looking.
I spend the next couple of hours driving round getting rid and finally sold it to a plasterer who'd been hiring a new van at great cost and needed a cheap disposable van for two weeks.
I even made a fair profit.
surveyor said:
6 weeks...
Skoda Octavia VRS. A hoot to drive... but it was incompatible with my ankle, which would freeze on a long drive - which is what I do most. Had to go.
My shortest was an Octavia vRS.Skoda Octavia VRS. A hoot to drive... but it was incompatible with my ankle, which would freeze on a long drive - which is what I do most. Had to go.
Ran it for ~9 days, then waited 3 weeks for the lease co. to collect it after I rejected it.
Nothing to do with the air-con, just to do with it being nowhere near as economical as it was claimed to be, so I couldn't justify the cost of it to myself. (...and it wasn't as fun to drive as the car it was supposed to replace, which I still have and am currently racking up the miles on...)
Just over 2 weeks in the early 2000s. Agonized between a 911 C4S and Mitsubishi EVO6 and the badge won me over but I regretted it. Similar on paper performance, the EVO felt ballistic on the road without the relatively hard ride and less practicality of the 911. So I sold at a loss and bought the EVO which I did love bar the virtually supercar running costs all be it I was less than mechanically sympathetic. Between the two cars in depreciation and running cost over 2 years, about 20K 
but you're only young once 
but you're only young once About 6 weeks. Brand new 2009 Audi S3 Sportback, stolen from drive whilst at work. Bit of a touch really had GAP insurance and needed something bigger with arrival of the first little one (well I did'nt "need" bigger but wife did given aircraft carrier size Bugaboo and associated paraphernalia).
about 2 months maybe a bit more
it was my first experience of buying a car myself and i thought yeah ebay it'll be cheap. so i saw a nice cheap escort and bidded away.
the description said slight engine issue which can be sorted but i dont have the time. me being an idiot thought yeah i'll take that.
to the short of it the full engine needed replacing - that was the cheapest way but idiot me thought na its ok i'll drive it.
2 months later it died on me and stayed on some street on the way to work till my mate offered to take it off my hands for free.
it was my first experience of buying a car myself and i thought yeah ebay it'll be cheap. so i saw a nice cheap escort and bidded away.
the description said slight engine issue which can be sorted but i dont have the time. me being an idiot thought yeah i'll take that.
to the short of it the full engine needed replacing - that was the cheapest way but idiot me thought na its ok i'll drive it.
2 months later it died on me and stayed on some street on the way to work till my mate offered to take it off my hands for free.
Just remembered, I bought a mk2 Granada estate once and gave it away 3 days later. There was nothing wrong with the car but I was working on a fishing trawler at the time and just needed a car for the weekend to get to a party 200 miles away. Landed in Oban, tried to hire a car but nothing available so bought the cheapest vehicle available in the local small ads., a £200 2.8l Granada. It was a great car, wish I could have kept it but we were sailing out again on the Tuesday morning so handed the keys over to a guy working in a garage at the end of the pier. I don't know what he thought, hope he enjoyed it or made a couple of quid from it.
3 days. Bought a ratty old automatic cavalier from a dealership I was working at for £50 as I needed a car for the weekend. Scrapped it on Monday for £50.
Once owned a Renault 5 for a week which I bought for £25 from a mate as it only had 5 days left on the mot and would certainly not pass another. Scrapped that for £50.
I also owned one of these
lasted 4 days before it got wrecked.
Once owned a Renault 5 for a week which I bought for £25 from a mate as it only had 5 days left on the mot and would certainly not pass another. Scrapped that for £50.
I also owned one of these
lasted 4 days before it got wrecked.
A couple of days shy of 5 months - Merc E220 Coupe in lovely 'brilliant blue' with panoramic glass roof. Horrendous crash and wrote it off.
Totally unhurt, but rather upset as it was an unusual colour and nice spec with the AMG and glass roof.
Luckily someone on PH put up a link and I managed to get an identical replacement delivered to my door 3 weeks later, only difference is that it's a petrol.
Totally unhurt, but rather upset as it was an unusual colour and nice spec with the AMG and glass roof.
Luckily someone on PH put up a link and I managed to get an identical replacement delivered to my door 3 weeks later, only difference is that it's a petrol.
Never you mind said:
3 days.
I also owned one of these
lasted 4 days before it got wrecked.
I saw one of those on the road last week, i camt imagine that many are still going!I also owned one of these
lasted 4 days before it got wrecked.
Anyway, about a day for me.
My very first car, the guy saw me coming. I viewed it at his house and he offered to deliver it to my house the next day. He arrives , comes into the house, i have already seen the car and agreed a price so hand over the cash and sign a 'bought as seen' reciept.
He drives off in another car that is waiting and i then discover that it the car i just bought has different wheels and bald tyres all round. On trying to drive it i discover the clutch is totally worn out too. I got it as far as a local garage and asked him to scrap it when he told me how much it would cost to make it good.
Thats one way to learn a life lesson..
RobM77 said:
jamesson said:
RobM77 said:
3 months: BMW E46 330ci. Hateful car; couldn't wait to get rid of it. I bought it whilst working away from home without much time to look into it, and the dealer only gave me a quick drive around the block. I bought it on the strength of loving my E36 325i, but it was the biggest mistake I ever made. Since the E46 I've owned one more E36, two E90s and a Z4C, all of which have been superb, so it hasn't put me off BMW.
I had a similar experience. I had an E36 325i, bought an E46 323Ci and although I wouldn't describe it as hateful in my experience, it was nowhere near as engaging to drive and I never really warmed to it even though it was broadly speaking a competent car.Edited by RobM77 on Thursday 13th July 14:09
Two years later I saw my old E36 up for sale and didn't hesitate to buy it back before promptly selling the E46. Generally speaking I miss my cars when they go but that was one of the few I didn't.
My second E36 was a 328i Sport - I'd heard good things and wanted a step up from the 325i. It didn't disappoint.The 330ci was just a miserable affair. The DBW throttle lag was ridiculous - over a second and you could count to 3 before it did anything; that included backing off, which made driving in the wet at speed very treacherous. The electronics were also just barking - if you got anywhere near stalling it would give the car a big burst of power, which was very scary in a car park when cruising with the clutch up in 2nd!! The TC was equally as annoying - get anywhere near spinning the rear wheels, for example crossing a little gravel pulling onto a main road from a side road, and it would cut the power for what seemed like ages, leaving you stranded. The seats were also a joke - I'm only 1.77m, but my head was almost touching the roof on the seat's lowest setting. The car also left me stranded on a couple of occasions. Mine was a very early year 2000 model, and I think they made a lot of improvements for the subsequent refresh. I drove a much later model M3 many years later and it was a big improvement, although for me still not as nice as the E36 or E90.
ETA: I traded the E46 in for an Elise, from the worst car I've ever owned and for the shortest period to the best and the longest (8 years)!
Edited by RobM77 on Thursday 13th July 16:00
The driving position is the oddest one - I'm 6ft3/191cm and have a sunroof in mine, and I can wear a helmet with room to spare.
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