My car history - 5 cars 3 1/2 years of driving!
Discussion
Having lurked around the forums for a while (being sneaky with no account!) I thought it was time I created an account and actually got involved with a bit of a car history thread of my own as I love reading everyone else's so much.
It started long before I passed my test when I was 14 with a 1988 mini, this was a bit of a gift from my grandad as something to restore and use, however this turned out to be quite the rot box and me and my dad have spent the last 6 years restoring it, it's still not on the road but we are getting there slowly! Sadly no pictures of this in any form of reasonable state to wont clutter the thread with this...
When I was 17 and passed my test my dad found me a nice little cheap runaround traded in at the garage he worked at. A 2002 Renault Clio 1.5 dci dynamique, this proved to be a great first car, really really cheap to run, except insurance which was absolutely ridiculous!!!! I drove this for my first year, made a few modifications to it, a cup spoiler, a sport grill and lots and lots of childish stickers on the back window (I feel terrible to this day!). I sold the car after my first years ncd came into effect, here is the day she left...
I replaced the Clio with a Citroen C4 coupe 1.6 cool edition. I really liked the look of these, looked sporty (it wasn't!) and I prefer bigger cars and this felt big coming from the Clio. All of my friends had stuck with their corsa's and fiesta's so this looked completely different and everyone thought it was really posh and expensive, but in reality it cost me the same to buy and was actually cheaper for me to insure (a third of the cost of the Clio). As you can see from the below picture I made quite a few visual changes to this, a cupra splitter, team dynamics alloys, a sport spoiler, debadged rear and a fancy head unit for the car. Exactly a year to the day of buying I traded this in as insurance costs now meant I could afford something a bit tasty to drive!
Next up was what was dubbed the 'old man mobile', however a quick press on the right foot shut them up! A mk2 skoda Octavia VRS in black, this looked so mean and went like stink once in the right gear and is the fastest car I have owned so far. At 18 this wasn't your typical teenagers car and got a few funny looks now and again driving it but I didn't care, it drove fantastically, really comfy and refined but also great fun when I felt like it. During my ownership it has all the alloys refurbed in anthracite, replaced all the tires with Goodyear Eagles (if you own one, get these they transform the car), rebadged the car with new 2015 badges and put in a head unit with all the bells and whistles including sat nav and Bluetooth. I had quite a few issues with the turbo on this car though and cost a lot to get it right but once it was sorted, it definitely was a great car. In the last few month that I owned the car I decided I was bored with the power so had a stage 1 shark remap to boost performance to 250 bhp, this made the car incredible, pulled in every gear and really made the other big German barges and rep mobiles stand up and notice as they disappeared into specs in the rear view mirror! Sadly this was the cars downfall, I found myself becoming silly with the car, it was too fast for me and I didn't want to get points on my license and/or end up hurting someone so a couple of months later it traded the car in.
Which brings me to my current car, again not slow, still a hot hatch but much more manageable and I can use it normally without the need to push it, unless there is a nice country road or track day. It is a 2009 Honda Civic Type R Fn2 model, in my favourite colour Milano red! This car is completely different to drive than the skoda, as vtec acts so differently to the turbo, which means I don't drive everywhere like an idiot! The handling is so sharp and you have a lot of confidence to chuck this into the bends and providing you are in the right gear the soundtrack on the exit is spot on!!! Being only 20 the image and perception that goes with me driving this is obviously not great and every man and his dog sits at the lights thinking they can have me off the line, which really starts to drag but that really is the only negative so far after 4 months of ownership. The reports of the harsh ride are true, my dad hates it but I accept that it is a cost of the wonderful handling, but it really isn't that bad I've certainly experienced worse. The car looks fantastic and I think will last me for the next 3 years at least as I plan to hang onto this one for a bit longer than normal and then engine should keep me satisfied too. Future plans for the car are:
-install a gp kit (once I've saved up, these are not cheap!)
-Goodyear eagle f1s all around
-a set of spacers for the wheels
-a HSK RSK, I've heard excellent things a bout these on other forums
Anyway here is a quick pic of the car, hopefully I'll have a few more next time I update, perhaps even some further progress on the mini too, thanks for reading!
It started long before I passed my test when I was 14 with a 1988 mini, this was a bit of a gift from my grandad as something to restore and use, however this turned out to be quite the rot box and me and my dad have spent the last 6 years restoring it, it's still not on the road but we are getting there slowly! Sadly no pictures of this in any form of reasonable state to wont clutter the thread with this...
When I was 17 and passed my test my dad found me a nice little cheap runaround traded in at the garage he worked at. A 2002 Renault Clio 1.5 dci dynamique, this proved to be a great first car, really really cheap to run, except insurance which was absolutely ridiculous!!!! I drove this for my first year, made a few modifications to it, a cup spoiler, a sport grill and lots and lots of childish stickers on the back window (I feel terrible to this day!). I sold the car after my first years ncd came into effect, here is the day she left...
I replaced the Clio with a Citroen C4 coupe 1.6 cool edition. I really liked the look of these, looked sporty (it wasn't!) and I prefer bigger cars and this felt big coming from the Clio. All of my friends had stuck with their corsa's and fiesta's so this looked completely different and everyone thought it was really posh and expensive, but in reality it cost me the same to buy and was actually cheaper for me to insure (a third of the cost of the Clio). As you can see from the below picture I made quite a few visual changes to this, a cupra splitter, team dynamics alloys, a sport spoiler, debadged rear and a fancy head unit for the car. Exactly a year to the day of buying I traded this in as insurance costs now meant I could afford something a bit tasty to drive!
Next up was what was dubbed the 'old man mobile', however a quick press on the right foot shut them up! A mk2 skoda Octavia VRS in black, this looked so mean and went like stink once in the right gear and is the fastest car I have owned so far. At 18 this wasn't your typical teenagers car and got a few funny looks now and again driving it but I didn't care, it drove fantastically, really comfy and refined but also great fun when I felt like it. During my ownership it has all the alloys refurbed in anthracite, replaced all the tires with Goodyear Eagles (if you own one, get these they transform the car), rebadged the car with new 2015 badges and put in a head unit with all the bells and whistles including sat nav and Bluetooth. I had quite a few issues with the turbo on this car though and cost a lot to get it right but once it was sorted, it definitely was a great car. In the last few month that I owned the car I decided I was bored with the power so had a stage 1 shark remap to boost performance to 250 bhp, this made the car incredible, pulled in every gear and really made the other big German barges and rep mobiles stand up and notice as they disappeared into specs in the rear view mirror! Sadly this was the cars downfall, I found myself becoming silly with the car, it was too fast for me and I didn't want to get points on my license and/or end up hurting someone so a couple of months later it traded the car in.
Which brings me to my current car, again not slow, still a hot hatch but much more manageable and I can use it normally without the need to push it, unless there is a nice country road or track day. It is a 2009 Honda Civic Type R Fn2 model, in my favourite colour Milano red! This car is completely different to drive than the skoda, as vtec acts so differently to the turbo, which means I don't drive everywhere like an idiot! The handling is so sharp and you have a lot of confidence to chuck this into the bends and providing you are in the right gear the soundtrack on the exit is spot on!!! Being only 20 the image and perception that goes with me driving this is obviously not great and every man and his dog sits at the lights thinking they can have me off the line, which really starts to drag but that really is the only negative so far after 4 months of ownership. The reports of the harsh ride are true, my dad hates it but I accept that it is a cost of the wonderful handling, but it really isn't that bad I've certainly experienced worse. The car looks fantastic and I think will last me for the next 3 years at least as I plan to hang onto this one for a bit longer than normal and then engine should keep me satisfied too. Future plans for the car are:
-install a gp kit (once I've saved up, these are not cheap!)
-Goodyear eagle f1s all around
-a set of spacers for the wheels
-a HSK RSK, I've heard excellent things a bout these on other forums
Anyway here is a quick pic of the car, hopefully I'll have a few more next time I update, perhaps even some further progress on the mini too, thanks for reading!
Edited by Mikey.W94 on Tuesday 15th March 14:13
jk888 said:
Always liked the Octavia VRS, one used to fly about near me, not seen it for a while though. It's on my shortlist for my next car along with a CTR funnily enough!
Both are great cars, if you are after a bigger car I cannot recommend the skoda highly enough, a much cheaper option and just as much, if not more fun than the bmw alternative in my opinion. The ctr is also a lot of fun, both really good choices for your next carWell after a few years of driving and browsing the forum thought I'd provide an update. I kept the Type R for 2 and a bit years - the longest I've ever owned a car and loved it to bits, I was very sad when I sold it this year, by the end the car looked like this...
I can highly recommend them to anyone that is thinking of getting one, ignore all the top gear reviews - for once in my life I have to say Clarkson was wrong!
Whilst I had the Civic I got a new job that required a bit of a commute, and didn't like putting the mileage in the Honda and wanted to keep it for a weekend car, so set about looking for something economical... I ended up with a 225bhp 1.8T Audi TT, so I failed ha! It was a bit of a tired example, completely unloved, but gave me an opportunity to work on the car and fix things, which I couldn't do with the Honda, here's a picture of it and the two together (please don't put this in the bad parking thread, they were literally like that for 30 seconds!)
At the start of the year I started to get itchy feet and wanted something new, I really wanted a Focus RS, but they were just a bit out of reach, so I ended up selling the Type R and replacing it with this...
... A Type R!! I got a really great deal on a brand new car, and after about 6 weeks of ownership I have to say it's a beast, so different to my old car, so much more powerful and easy to use and everybody that sees it wants to talk about it or have a look around, I know they are marmite cars but honestly everybody loves it!
So my current fleet is the classic mini (still working on it...) the Type R and the TT, future plans, sell the TT over the next few months and enjoy every second of the Type R... so that 7 cars, maybe it will be 8 by the end of the year?
I can highly recommend them to anyone that is thinking of getting one, ignore all the top gear reviews - for once in my life I have to say Clarkson was wrong!
Whilst I had the Civic I got a new job that required a bit of a commute, and didn't like putting the mileage in the Honda and wanted to keep it for a weekend car, so set about looking for something economical... I ended up with a 225bhp 1.8T Audi TT, so I failed ha! It was a bit of a tired example, completely unloved, but gave me an opportunity to work on the car and fix things, which I couldn't do with the Honda, here's a picture of it and the two together (please don't put this in the bad parking thread, they were literally like that for 30 seconds!)
At the start of the year I started to get itchy feet and wanted something new, I really wanted a Focus RS, but they were just a bit out of reach, so I ended up selling the Type R and replacing it with this...
... A Type R!! I got a really great deal on a brand new car, and after about 6 weeks of ownership I have to say it's a beast, so different to my old car, so much more powerful and easy to use and everybody that sees it wants to talk about it or have a look around, I know they are marmite cars but honestly everybody loves it!
So my current fleet is the classic mini (still working on it...) the Type R and the TT, future plans, sell the TT over the next few months and enjoy every second of the Type R... so that 7 cars, maybe it will be 8 by the end of the year?
Edited by Mikey.W94 on Friday 14th July 18:33
Z3D said:
Great write up, Type Rs are addictive had an EP3 and an Accord Type R. Thinking of trading in the GT86 for the new FK8..........
Thanks, I think it would be a good trade, I've heard positive things about it, I'm not sure on the styling, yet I wasn't on the FK2 and now I love it. Apparently it irons out the kinks in the FK2 and makes it much easier to use on a daily basis - not that I've struggled but if it's an improvement I can only imagine how good it is.BlueHave said:
Must be missing something, but I thought insurance on a new Type R must be bonkers.
It honestly isn't, It was actually cheaper to insure than my old type R, I'm 22 (23 next week) and ive got the Type R and the TT insured on Admiral multi-car for just over £800 for the year, which I don't think is too bad for my age - I like to look at it as £400 per car which isn't far off what my parents pay.Edited by Mikey.W94 on Saturday 15th July 09:58
A bit of a thread bump, nothing special, just a bit of an update and plans for the cars for 2018. Now 8 months into ownership of the FK2 and still in love with the car, everything I’ve thrown at it, it has handled with ease, long motorway trips, moving house carrying everything under the sun, B road blasts and still gets admiring looks and comments from everyone. It’s the first car I’ve owned where people, of all ages, stop and talk to me about it.
I’ve spent some money on the car, retrofitting a lot of the carbon options, door sills and ambient lighting, now trying to decide whether to go down the modifying route with it, I’d love the eventuri intake for the car and perhaps an exhaust, but they are all so expensive, not sure I can justify the cost. Couple of pictures, from the black mountain pass and Ph Blenheim palace SS.
I’ve also still got the mini and TT, I’ve ended up using the TT a lot over winter, far more than the Civic, as it is the Quattro model it has handled all the snow and ice with ease, making short work of the work car park, where other cars really struggled in the snow before Xmas. I’ve never had a car much longer than 2 years, but I think the Audi might stick around, for the price, I think you’d struggle to find a better sports car, and parked up next to the extreme shape of the Honda, I think it still looks great, even at 17 years old! I’ve got a soft spot for the car and intend to spend a little bit of money this year to keep it feeling fresh, update the suspension, new tyres and some bodywork to tidy up so marks.
As for the mini, as we moved house this year, I had to put the car into storage with family, it’s been there for 9 months with no work done on it at all, my plans are to get it back home for the summer and try to get cracking to finish the car this year (at least roadworthy!), a lot of my time is taken up studying and I’ve hit that stage of a project where I keep toying with the idea of selling up, but I’ve put in so much work into it, I’m really trying to stop myself!
I’ve spent some money on the car, retrofitting a lot of the carbon options, door sills and ambient lighting, now trying to decide whether to go down the modifying route with it, I’d love the eventuri intake for the car and perhaps an exhaust, but they are all so expensive, not sure I can justify the cost. Couple of pictures, from the black mountain pass and Ph Blenheim palace SS.
I’ve also still got the mini and TT, I’ve ended up using the TT a lot over winter, far more than the Civic, as it is the Quattro model it has handled all the snow and ice with ease, making short work of the work car park, where other cars really struggled in the snow before Xmas. I’ve never had a car much longer than 2 years, but I think the Audi might stick around, for the price, I think you’d struggle to find a better sports car, and parked up next to the extreme shape of the Honda, I think it still looks great, even at 17 years old! I’ve got a soft spot for the car and intend to spend a little bit of money this year to keep it feeling fresh, update the suspension, new tyres and some bodywork to tidy up so marks.
As for the mini, as we moved house this year, I had to put the car into storage with family, it’s been there for 9 months with no work done on it at all, my plans are to get it back home for the summer and try to get cracking to finish the car this year (at least roadworthy!), a lot of my time is taken up studying and I’ve hit that stage of a project where I keep toying with the idea of selling up, but I’ve put in so much work into it, I’m really trying to stop myself!
Update time - I'm doing this more as a memory book for myself than anything, so forgive the ramblings!!
Summer 2019 - As much fun and fantastic a car the TT was, it was started to show signs of age and I was having to pump money into it. It was supposed to be my reliable daily drive but found myself more often than not having to take the FK2 to and from work as something was wrong with the TT - time to move on... I had owned the TT longer than any other car and I had lots of fond memories that make me think I may buy another one day. So in a shock twist I found myself wanting something boring and slow, I wanted something totally different from the Honda that would make driving it seem more special, I also wanted something good on fuel and an estate for my dog. So I bought a Vauxhall, a top of the range Elite Insignia with a 2.0 Diesel Ecoflex engine, I got this fairly cheaply as it was high mileage (110K) and had a dodgy clutch, I quickly got the cambelt and clutch changed, refurbed the alloys myself and had myself a very practical extremely economical daily driver. That I still own 3 years later!
I have previously mentioned in my original post a classic mini - I still have it, and I'm very pleased to say that thanks to good old Lockdowns, myself and my Dad FINALLY got the car back on the road after 10 years! Between the two of us (I will say my dad did most of it), we cut out all the rust, removing the entire front end, including engine and subframe, replacing all the panels, changing all the brakes and suspension, changed the entire interior, repainted the car ourselves (in a pop up gazebo), the list goes on and on and on! I could not be more proud of this car, it holds so much sentimental value to me, a gift from my Grandad, restored by me and my Dad, something I doubt I will ever part with it! (Even if it is an absolute pain in the backside and doesn't always want to work!) Here is the finished article, very very different from the 1.0 city it started as (appearance wise at least), it looks a lot better in photos than in real life, but I don't care!!
Final, and probably biggest update... During 2020 I set about trying to buy my first home, in 2021 after a lot of stress I finally completed the purchase of my own home at 26. What this did do was also allow me to save a little extra money that I didn't actually need for the house and after 4 years of many many happy miles in the Honda I started to get itchy feet. I travelled 12500 miles in the Honda in total and loved every single one of them, if you ever get the chance to drive one, do! It was my favourite car I have ever owned, and I do regret selling it, another one of those like the TT that I would love to own another one day! One final parting shot photo of my baby...
Which brings me up to my new car that I bought last summer, I wanted something completely stupid, I had my heart set on a big engined toy that I could enjoy whilst I had the funds and before (I Fear) the government makes these cars to expensive to own. So, as you do, I had all my Autotrader searches set up, Audi RS6 (dreaming!!), Alfa Giulia QF, Jag F Type and Mustangs. It was a very tough decision as I really wasn't set on selling the Honda - in a dream world I would have kept it and made it my daily, but I could never afford that. After a lot of searching and indecision I kind of set my heart on getting a Mustang (and realistically it was the only one I could afford), a week later I was at a fairly local garage with my Dad to "try one out"... The salesman handed me the key and I started it up in the showroom (at which point I should point out the car had a Magnaflow Aftermarket Exhaust, that sounds the absolute bees knees), Wow! My dad and I were smiling ear to ear, a few blips of the throttle and I was going from "trying one out" to seeing "how do they drive", this 20 minute test drive was hilarious, exciting and special. I returned from the test drive and parked up next to my FK2 with a smile on my face that quickly turned to a sickening feeling, as I knew I wasn't going to be my FK2 anymore. Fast forward a week later and I was back to collect the Mustang, it's a 5.0 GT and sounds like thunder and goes like hell - I absolutely love it!!
So far I've made a few tweaks to it, I've replaced the grilles as they were some cheap aftermarket RTR replicas that I hated and I've taken the car to Modurstang (cannot recommend them enough) to have a full checkover, service and have one of their uprated oil coolers fitted. I've owned the car 9 month and only covered a few thousand miles due to the winter, but this summer she will be out and about, (burning through my wallet in fuel I expect!) and get plenty of miles if smiles.
Old Cars: Clio, C4, Octavia VRS, Type R FN2, Mk1 TT, Type R FK2
Current garage - Insignia, Mini, Mustang
Summer 2019 - As much fun and fantastic a car the TT was, it was started to show signs of age and I was having to pump money into it. It was supposed to be my reliable daily drive but found myself more often than not having to take the FK2 to and from work as something was wrong with the TT - time to move on... I had owned the TT longer than any other car and I had lots of fond memories that make me think I may buy another one day. So in a shock twist I found myself wanting something boring and slow, I wanted something totally different from the Honda that would make driving it seem more special, I also wanted something good on fuel and an estate for my dog. So I bought a Vauxhall, a top of the range Elite Insignia with a 2.0 Diesel Ecoflex engine, I got this fairly cheaply as it was high mileage (110K) and had a dodgy clutch, I quickly got the cambelt and clutch changed, refurbed the alloys myself and had myself a very practical extremely economical daily driver. That I still own 3 years later!
I have previously mentioned in my original post a classic mini - I still have it, and I'm very pleased to say that thanks to good old Lockdowns, myself and my Dad FINALLY got the car back on the road after 10 years! Between the two of us (I will say my dad did most of it), we cut out all the rust, removing the entire front end, including engine and subframe, replacing all the panels, changing all the brakes and suspension, changed the entire interior, repainted the car ourselves (in a pop up gazebo), the list goes on and on and on! I could not be more proud of this car, it holds so much sentimental value to me, a gift from my Grandad, restored by me and my Dad, something I doubt I will ever part with it! (Even if it is an absolute pain in the backside and doesn't always want to work!) Here is the finished article, very very different from the 1.0 city it started as (appearance wise at least), it looks a lot better in photos than in real life, but I don't care!!
Final, and probably biggest update... During 2020 I set about trying to buy my first home, in 2021 after a lot of stress I finally completed the purchase of my own home at 26. What this did do was also allow me to save a little extra money that I didn't actually need for the house and after 4 years of many many happy miles in the Honda I started to get itchy feet. I travelled 12500 miles in the Honda in total and loved every single one of them, if you ever get the chance to drive one, do! It was my favourite car I have ever owned, and I do regret selling it, another one of those like the TT that I would love to own another one day! One final parting shot photo of my baby...
Which brings me up to my new car that I bought last summer, I wanted something completely stupid, I had my heart set on a big engined toy that I could enjoy whilst I had the funds and before (I Fear) the government makes these cars to expensive to own. So, as you do, I had all my Autotrader searches set up, Audi RS6 (dreaming!!), Alfa Giulia QF, Jag F Type and Mustangs. It was a very tough decision as I really wasn't set on selling the Honda - in a dream world I would have kept it and made it my daily, but I could never afford that. After a lot of searching and indecision I kind of set my heart on getting a Mustang (and realistically it was the only one I could afford), a week later I was at a fairly local garage with my Dad to "try one out"... The salesman handed me the key and I started it up in the showroom (at which point I should point out the car had a Magnaflow Aftermarket Exhaust, that sounds the absolute bees knees), Wow! My dad and I were smiling ear to ear, a few blips of the throttle and I was going from "trying one out" to seeing "how do they drive", this 20 minute test drive was hilarious, exciting and special. I returned from the test drive and parked up next to my FK2 with a smile on my face that quickly turned to a sickening feeling, as I knew I wasn't going to be my FK2 anymore. Fast forward a week later and I was back to collect the Mustang, it's a 5.0 GT and sounds like thunder and goes like hell - I absolutely love it!!
So far I've made a few tweaks to it, I've replaced the grilles as they were some cheap aftermarket RTR replicas that I hated and I've taken the car to Modurstang (cannot recommend them enough) to have a full checkover, service and have one of their uprated oil coolers fitted. I've owned the car 9 month and only covered a few thousand miles due to the winter, but this summer she will be out and about, (burning through my wallet in fuel I expect!) and get plenty of miles if smiles.
Old Cars: Clio, C4, Octavia VRS, Type R FN2, Mk1 TT, Type R FK2
Current garage - Insignia, Mini, Mustang
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