Hello and Car history so far !
Discussion
Hello All,
I'm Ben, 24 from Dorset.
Always lurked on here but thought I would post up my car history mainly to share with you guys and partly to reminisce !
Passed my test when I was 18 and first purchased a T reg, 1.6 Mk4 5 door Golf in Jazz Blue.
The car was bought for £600 with a "noisy gearbox" which turned out to be a destroyed gearbox that only just made it home..
Not being a fully fledged petrol head yet, I started my research and found out that they have a common weakness with soft metal rivets on the differential that shear off and smash a hole in the casing. This leads to a destroyed clutch due to oil contamination and a knackered Gearbox.
I kept it for a year and then ended up selling it for £1000 to a friend of a friend who wrote it off a year later by jumping a bridge in it and smashing the sump.
Next purchase was a Skoda Fabia VRS (tdi), turned out to be a complete dog with head-gasket issues but being excited about what was my first warm hatch, I stupidly accepted this fault and had it fixed.. sort of !
The car used coolant all the time, and I just kept topping it up until I sold it for substantially less than I payed for it.
I then moved on to a Clio 182 Cup, I loved this car, its the one I wish I never sold !
The previous owner was such a genuinely nice guy, he got his dad to sell it for funds whilst traveling in Australia.The guy had used the document wallet as a toiletries bag for his travels, he told me to leave my address and he would post it on to me, I thought that would never happen but about 2 months later it arrived through my door ! The car ended up being treated to a full decat milltek exhaust system, lowered on coilovers and having a remap to smooth the power out.
Next car was a MK6 Golf GTi in carbon grey, beautiful car, was like new when bought it with only a few thousand on the clock. I loved the looks but never really bonded with it. Mostly due to being 5 door and dsg and not having masses of driver involvement. I also spent most of my time cleaning it rather than driving it as it was spotlessly clean I would fuss over any little marks. The side bolster of the seat began to wear, so I sold it.
I traded the golf in for an FN2 Type R. Amazing engine, such a master piece. I was expecting a lack of torque and it didn't really bother me that much.
I just loved driving the nuts off of this car, all be it, the handling in standard form was not great whatsoever but with a louder exhaust it sounds bloody marvelous for a 4 pot. I kept this car for a year and had some great plans for it, unfortunately in the space of 6 months I was crashed into by a car which required an insurance claim totaling over £3k and then another 2 times by other people which luckily left only scratches.
I couldn't believe my luck ! The car had to go..
I then traded that in for Megane 250 Cup which brings me up to date !
Such an amazing chassis compared to the civic, literally leagues ahead. I honestly cant decide what I will get next !
It seems that this is the peak of the FWD hot hatch game, unless you spend a substantial amount more for another FWD hot hatch which I cannot compute with my man maths... I've also got an itch for a 2 seater and keep toying with the idea of an S2000 or Cayman S but I cannot figure out what I want to do.
I'm sure there are plenty of people on here that can offer their thoughts on next car decisions ?
Thanks !
I'm Ben, 24 from Dorset.
Always lurked on here but thought I would post up my car history mainly to share with you guys and partly to reminisce !
Passed my test when I was 18 and first purchased a T reg, 1.6 Mk4 5 door Golf in Jazz Blue.
The car was bought for £600 with a "noisy gearbox" which turned out to be a destroyed gearbox that only just made it home..
Not being a fully fledged petrol head yet, I started my research and found out that they have a common weakness with soft metal rivets on the differential that shear off and smash a hole in the casing. This leads to a destroyed clutch due to oil contamination and a knackered Gearbox.
I kept it for a year and then ended up selling it for £1000 to a friend of a friend who wrote it off a year later by jumping a bridge in it and smashing the sump.
Next purchase was a Skoda Fabia VRS (tdi), turned out to be a complete dog with head-gasket issues but being excited about what was my first warm hatch, I stupidly accepted this fault and had it fixed.. sort of !
The car used coolant all the time, and I just kept topping it up until I sold it for substantially less than I payed for it.
I then moved on to a Clio 182 Cup, I loved this car, its the one I wish I never sold !
The previous owner was such a genuinely nice guy, he got his dad to sell it for funds whilst traveling in Australia.The guy had used the document wallet as a toiletries bag for his travels, he told me to leave my address and he would post it on to me, I thought that would never happen but about 2 months later it arrived through my door ! The car ended up being treated to a full decat milltek exhaust system, lowered on coilovers and having a remap to smooth the power out.
Next car was a MK6 Golf GTi in carbon grey, beautiful car, was like new when bought it with only a few thousand on the clock. I loved the looks but never really bonded with it. Mostly due to being 5 door and dsg and not having masses of driver involvement. I also spent most of my time cleaning it rather than driving it as it was spotlessly clean I would fuss over any little marks. The side bolster of the seat began to wear, so I sold it.
I traded the golf in for an FN2 Type R. Amazing engine, such a master piece. I was expecting a lack of torque and it didn't really bother me that much.
I just loved driving the nuts off of this car, all be it, the handling in standard form was not great whatsoever but with a louder exhaust it sounds bloody marvelous for a 4 pot. I kept this car for a year and had some great plans for it, unfortunately in the space of 6 months I was crashed into by a car which required an insurance claim totaling over £3k and then another 2 times by other people which luckily left only scratches.
I couldn't believe my luck ! The car had to go..
I then traded that in for Megane 250 Cup which brings me up to date !
Such an amazing chassis compared to the civic, literally leagues ahead. I honestly cant decide what I will get next !
It seems that this is the peak of the FWD hot hatch game, unless you spend a substantial amount more for another FWD hot hatch which I cannot compute with my man maths... I've also got an itch for a 2 seater and keep toying with the idea of an S2000 or Cayman S but I cannot figure out what I want to do.
I'm sure there are plenty of people on here that can offer their thoughts on next car decisions ?
Thanks !
Take an S2000 or Cayman S (or Boxster?) out for a test drive, see if you gel with the switch from FWD to RWD? The experience will be markedly different, no surprise there, but think you are right as the Megane will be extremely hard for any other FWD hatch to touch.
My car history is somewhat eclectic so don't have any concrete personal advice. Except there's a lot dreary hire cars out there.
My car history is somewhat eclectic so don't have any concrete personal advice. Except there's a lot dreary hire cars out there.
Patch888 said:
Very nice history you have there and not too dissimilar to mine. Just out of interest which exhaust did you fit to the fn2? I'm also on the look out for a nice s2000, although nice ones the don't cost a fortune are now becoming very rare.
The exhaust I had was a custom made, single exit exhaust, was super loud and I loved it although it did draw some attention. On a good B road blast it was heavenly ! The motorway was also not bad due to it sitting at high revs. Gassing Station | Readers' Cars | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff