28 year old's mildly interesting 10 car history
Discussion
Hi, i have been lurking on the forums for years now on and off and have always enjoyed browsing people's car history and getting some inspiration for my own purchases, this site has accounted for far too many of my hours trawling through the classifieds! So I thought it was about time to do my own write-up of my car history, all the way from 17yo.
I started off in 2008 with a 2001 Vauxhall Astra on a 'Y' plate, its the only car i don't have any photographs of at all, which is probably because I had no attachment to it, despite being my first car. The car was kindly bought by my dad to get me through my test, was a 1.4 LS model (oooooh ar) in silver, 5 doors with the darkest, plainest interior possible. Whilst mates at North Devon college were burning around in Saxos and Fiestas that were probably much worse cars, I was playing grandad in the family wagon. My brother eventually inherited it and ended up writing it off in a country lane after learning to drive in it, as most first cars end up i guess.
Next, in 2010 was a 2002 Seat Ibiza, I had just started work full time as a labourer and felt I needed something at least slightly sporty, luckily I found a miracle Ibiza for sale. It was advertised as the cheapest in the country despite having just 21,000 miles at 8 years old, i had assumed it was a typo, but having spoken to the seller it seemed legit, so i persuaded my dad to give me a 250 mile lift to the other end of the country (Brighton) on a saturday afternoon to view it. The car was mint, owner was great and with a small amount of bartering i got my first own car:
Everything was great, 130bhp in a car that size felt like a rocket ship, and it never delivered less than 50mpg, although I think the insurance was around the same cost as the car at circa £2k, dark days. All was well until i was running late for work one day and went too fast around a blind bend and crashed head on into an oncoming car, complete cock-up by me and i was gutted as my pride and joy was loaded onto a flat bed after this:
After this i had a hankering for something bigger, but still wanted power, a lot of forum searching led me to a Skoda Octavia VRS, which everyone raved about at the time. I think this lasted around 6 months before i could take no more of the 'have yo borrowed your dads car' comments, so went to find a proper hot hatch. I think at the time the Octavia just seemed so big a cumbersome compared to my Ibiza, and the 1.8t engine didn't seem to have much character, although nothing went wrong with it.
Next was the first of my Clio 182's, bought against my old man's wishes, who trotted out the usual 'it's French it'll fall apart' stuff. I travelled down to Hampshire to collect it from a similar lad who was selling up to go travelling, the car was a riot, had a non-resonated stainless cat back exhaust and was the perfect car to blat around Devon's B-roads in. To this day this is easily the fastest car i have driven on those types of roads, braking for corners was a thing of the past
In the background is my next car, a 2001 BMW 330ci, complete with coilovers and deep dish alloys which i thought were great at the time. After a while I realised the coilovers were terrible, when inspected they had been poorly adjusted by the previous owner and the one side was riding something like 10mm higher than the other
Bargain though for £2000 at the time, and i still think that shape is fantastic.
Ended up selling the car to go to university, which ended my need for cars for a few years as I wisely invested my funds in other things
Onto 2015 and I needed a car for my summer job, and all i could think of for my budget of £2,000 and my wants (fast and cheap), was another Clio 182. Caught the train down from my uni house in Kingston to Fareham and collected my second 182, this one was arctic blue, wasn't as clean as the previous Clio, had done about double the mileage at 120k, and was bought without a test drive (wise move) as the owner wouldn't permit one without a printed proof of insurance.
Had its fair share of issues, including an intermittent alternator fault which left me with no working dials at midnight when driving on the M3 to Kingston after dropping a friend in Southampton. Sold for a pittance after the MOT ran out and I was left with no option but to sell in a hurry the day before moving house. Like all 182's the exhaust had been replaced with a stainless item, which droned so badly i ended up keeping ear plugs in the cup holder for motorway journeys.
When i graduated i decided I wanted a 'proper' sports car, and looking through the classifieds was pleased to see that 350z's had fallen into my price range. I could still remember watching Tiff Needell power sliding one around Spain during a 5th Gear review, so the prospect of actually owning one seemed great. As with all my car purchases I always seem to be shopping right at the bottom of the market, so when a UK car with GT pack cropped up with reasonable miles I jumped at it, purchased as a 'trade' deal from a dealership who informed me in no uncertain terms there was no warranty offered, I was on my way. A mongoose cat back exhaust had been installed, which I didn't know until i had arrived for the test drive, and despite really wanting to avoid any modifications after the droney Clio, i loved the noise and the orange seats.
Here it is parked next to an knackered old abandoned Porsche
I never knew why but i never really fell for the 350z, it seemed more adept at motorway cruising than being thrown around twisty roads, and i sold it after 6 months.
The replacement was a z4, 3.0si, which i was sure would be a step up from the 350z in terms of driving and build quality. This proved to be wrong for me, by far my worst ownership experience to date, the waterpump failed whilst driving for work down in Dorset, which was closely followed by a failed sensor in the electronic steering column and my soft top being cut by a vandel. The waterpump cost was manageable at £500, as was the roof at £400 for a 2nd hand one, but the sensor was not. Due to electronic 'advances', the sensor could not be repaired, the entire column required replacement at a cost of £2,500. I luckily sourced a second hand part from a breakers yard for much less than this, but after these issues which spread over a couple of months and included UPS loosing my steering column and refusing to pay for its replacement, i was fed up with the z4. I really find stuff like this happening can make you fall out with a car.
In terms of driving the z4 was fun, mainly for the roof-downness of it and the smoothness of the straight 6, but i never felt like the car wanted to be driven particularly quickly and ended up selling (at a loss of around £1k over 6 months).
After the costly 6 months of BMW ownership i was after cheap motoring, and came across a car i had always loved the look of, just so retro cool. I agreed to to buy it for a whole £850, and its without doubt the most complimented car I have had, even none car people loved it. For bouncing around Bristol's terrible city roads on the big comfy seats it was fantastic, the single wiper never got old and it reminded me of an old e class coupe my dad had when i was about 7. I think the only cost in the 6 months until MOT time was a part worn tyre at £25 after a puncture, and a £10 set of comedy Brabus number plate surrounds. The MOT set me back about £600, but sold a few weeks after for £1,100, not too bad.
Eventually the novelty of the 190e wore off and i was after something with some overtaking potential, having never had a Mini and after reading that the earlier supercharged ones were more reliable than the later turbo'd cars I set my sights on a facelifted r53 Cooper S. I managed to find one about 20 miles from home, having been owned by the previous owner for 5 years and having been thoroughly pampered i knew it was a good one, the stack of service receipts from his ownership alone amounted to 2 or 3 times the value of the car. My work at the time took me around various towns and villages in the Cotswolds and blasting around with the supercharger whining never got old.
Another highlight was a Snowdonia trip in the mini which was 20% about climbing the mountain and 80% about me and a friend chasing each other around some fantastic roads, him in a Focus ST and me in the Mini:
I sold the mini after another fairly short stint having done nothing other than carry out a full service at a local specialist. Brings me to my current car, after a visit to Goodwood the previous year had got a serious desire to own a v8, especially with the current environmental issues meaning they may not be around forever. I narrowed the choice down to the BMW 645ci or a Jaguar XK, the BM being a good chunk cheaper, but having read all of the horror stories online about engine and gearbox oil leaks and various other issues, as well as my recent poor experience with the z4, i knew the Jag was the one.
Again, searching for the entry level cars at the bottom of the market i viewed a couple of poor examples before settling on this one. A 2006, the early ally body X150, this was another car that i had grown up watching videos of Clarkson blasting around the Highlands, made the test drive feel very special. The best thing about getting older is that cars I had no hope of owning when new (£60k for the Jag), are now affordable (to buy anyway). The deal was done and I had just a 100 mile motorway blast back from Swansea to enjoy, the cars motorway manners are great and at 30mpg on the cruise home i was happy.
In terms of ownership I have spent a reasonable amount ironing out any issues and in consumables; replacing the airbag module, new aux belt and tensioners, various new bushes, four wheel alignment, 2 new tyres so far. Other than getting a worrying call from Avon police stating my car had been reported as having the alarm going off and someone inside there have been no issues, it turned out that the passenger door lock had failed, which has now been replaced, and luckily whoever had broken in wasn't interested in my CD collection and left the car untouched.
Next to my gfs mx-5:
My plan is to enjoy the v8ness of the XK for a few more months, before deciding on what's next. Having written this i realise i tend to change cars every 6 months or so, and thinking back the trend seems to be buy a low price car, spend lots on getting it up to scratch then sell on, which i know makes no financial sense!
I recently visited Caffeine and Machine, which is fantastic for those who haven't been. Seeing and hearing the owner's XJ220 and other exotic stuff has made me desperate to get into something a bit more raw, shouty and aggressive, i think another thread is needed for recommendations.
Sorry if this seems drawn out, and thanks for reading if you've got this far.
Josh
I started off in 2008 with a 2001 Vauxhall Astra on a 'Y' plate, its the only car i don't have any photographs of at all, which is probably because I had no attachment to it, despite being my first car. The car was kindly bought by my dad to get me through my test, was a 1.4 LS model (oooooh ar) in silver, 5 doors with the darkest, plainest interior possible. Whilst mates at North Devon college were burning around in Saxos and Fiestas that were probably much worse cars, I was playing grandad in the family wagon. My brother eventually inherited it and ended up writing it off in a country lane after learning to drive in it, as most first cars end up i guess.
Next, in 2010 was a 2002 Seat Ibiza, I had just started work full time as a labourer and felt I needed something at least slightly sporty, luckily I found a miracle Ibiza for sale. It was advertised as the cheapest in the country despite having just 21,000 miles at 8 years old, i had assumed it was a typo, but having spoken to the seller it seemed legit, so i persuaded my dad to give me a 250 mile lift to the other end of the country (Brighton) on a saturday afternoon to view it. The car was mint, owner was great and with a small amount of bartering i got my first own car:
Everything was great, 130bhp in a car that size felt like a rocket ship, and it never delivered less than 50mpg, although I think the insurance was around the same cost as the car at circa £2k, dark days. All was well until i was running late for work one day and went too fast around a blind bend and crashed head on into an oncoming car, complete cock-up by me and i was gutted as my pride and joy was loaded onto a flat bed after this:
After this i had a hankering for something bigger, but still wanted power, a lot of forum searching led me to a Skoda Octavia VRS, which everyone raved about at the time. I think this lasted around 6 months before i could take no more of the 'have yo borrowed your dads car' comments, so went to find a proper hot hatch. I think at the time the Octavia just seemed so big a cumbersome compared to my Ibiza, and the 1.8t engine didn't seem to have much character, although nothing went wrong with it.
Next was the first of my Clio 182's, bought against my old man's wishes, who trotted out the usual 'it's French it'll fall apart' stuff. I travelled down to Hampshire to collect it from a similar lad who was selling up to go travelling, the car was a riot, had a non-resonated stainless cat back exhaust and was the perfect car to blat around Devon's B-roads in. To this day this is easily the fastest car i have driven on those types of roads, braking for corners was a thing of the past
In the background is my next car, a 2001 BMW 330ci, complete with coilovers and deep dish alloys which i thought were great at the time. After a while I realised the coilovers were terrible, when inspected they had been poorly adjusted by the previous owner and the one side was riding something like 10mm higher than the other
Bargain though for £2000 at the time, and i still think that shape is fantastic.Ended up selling the car to go to university, which ended my need for cars for a few years as I wisely invested my funds in other things
Onto 2015 and I needed a car for my summer job, and all i could think of for my budget of £2,000 and my wants (fast and cheap), was another Clio 182. Caught the train down from my uni house in Kingston to Fareham and collected my second 182, this one was arctic blue, wasn't as clean as the previous Clio, had done about double the mileage at 120k, and was bought without a test drive (wise move) as the owner wouldn't permit one without a printed proof of insurance.
Had its fair share of issues, including an intermittent alternator fault which left me with no working dials at midnight when driving on the M3 to Kingston after dropping a friend in Southampton. Sold for a pittance after the MOT ran out and I was left with no option but to sell in a hurry the day before moving house. Like all 182's the exhaust had been replaced with a stainless item, which droned so badly i ended up keeping ear plugs in the cup holder for motorway journeys.
When i graduated i decided I wanted a 'proper' sports car, and looking through the classifieds was pleased to see that 350z's had fallen into my price range. I could still remember watching Tiff Needell power sliding one around Spain during a 5th Gear review, so the prospect of actually owning one seemed great. As with all my car purchases I always seem to be shopping right at the bottom of the market, so when a UK car with GT pack cropped up with reasonable miles I jumped at it, purchased as a 'trade' deal from a dealership who informed me in no uncertain terms there was no warranty offered, I was on my way. A mongoose cat back exhaust had been installed, which I didn't know until i had arrived for the test drive, and despite really wanting to avoid any modifications after the droney Clio, i loved the noise and the orange seats.
Here it is parked next to an knackered old abandoned Porsche
I never knew why but i never really fell for the 350z, it seemed more adept at motorway cruising than being thrown around twisty roads, and i sold it after 6 months.
The replacement was a z4, 3.0si, which i was sure would be a step up from the 350z in terms of driving and build quality. This proved to be wrong for me, by far my worst ownership experience to date, the waterpump failed whilst driving for work down in Dorset, which was closely followed by a failed sensor in the electronic steering column and my soft top being cut by a vandel. The waterpump cost was manageable at £500, as was the roof at £400 for a 2nd hand one, but the sensor was not. Due to electronic 'advances', the sensor could not be repaired, the entire column required replacement at a cost of £2,500. I luckily sourced a second hand part from a breakers yard for much less than this, but after these issues which spread over a couple of months and included UPS loosing my steering column and refusing to pay for its replacement, i was fed up with the z4. I really find stuff like this happening can make you fall out with a car.
In terms of driving the z4 was fun, mainly for the roof-downness of it and the smoothness of the straight 6, but i never felt like the car wanted to be driven particularly quickly and ended up selling (at a loss of around £1k over 6 months).
After the costly 6 months of BMW ownership i was after cheap motoring, and came across a car i had always loved the look of, just so retro cool. I agreed to to buy it for a whole £850, and its without doubt the most complimented car I have had, even none car people loved it. For bouncing around Bristol's terrible city roads on the big comfy seats it was fantastic, the single wiper never got old and it reminded me of an old e class coupe my dad had when i was about 7. I think the only cost in the 6 months until MOT time was a part worn tyre at £25 after a puncture, and a £10 set of comedy Brabus number plate surrounds. The MOT set me back about £600, but sold a few weeks after for £1,100, not too bad.
Eventually the novelty of the 190e wore off and i was after something with some overtaking potential, having never had a Mini and after reading that the earlier supercharged ones were more reliable than the later turbo'd cars I set my sights on a facelifted r53 Cooper S. I managed to find one about 20 miles from home, having been owned by the previous owner for 5 years and having been thoroughly pampered i knew it was a good one, the stack of service receipts from his ownership alone amounted to 2 or 3 times the value of the car. My work at the time took me around various towns and villages in the Cotswolds and blasting around with the supercharger whining never got old.
Another highlight was a Snowdonia trip in the mini which was 20% about climbing the mountain and 80% about me and a friend chasing each other around some fantastic roads, him in a Focus ST and me in the Mini:
I sold the mini after another fairly short stint having done nothing other than carry out a full service at a local specialist. Brings me to my current car, after a visit to Goodwood the previous year had got a serious desire to own a v8, especially with the current environmental issues meaning they may not be around forever. I narrowed the choice down to the BMW 645ci or a Jaguar XK, the BM being a good chunk cheaper, but having read all of the horror stories online about engine and gearbox oil leaks and various other issues, as well as my recent poor experience with the z4, i knew the Jag was the one.
Again, searching for the entry level cars at the bottom of the market i viewed a couple of poor examples before settling on this one. A 2006, the early ally body X150, this was another car that i had grown up watching videos of Clarkson blasting around the Highlands, made the test drive feel very special. The best thing about getting older is that cars I had no hope of owning when new (£60k for the Jag), are now affordable (to buy anyway). The deal was done and I had just a 100 mile motorway blast back from Swansea to enjoy, the cars motorway manners are great and at 30mpg on the cruise home i was happy.
In terms of ownership I have spent a reasonable amount ironing out any issues and in consumables; replacing the airbag module, new aux belt and tensioners, various new bushes, four wheel alignment, 2 new tyres so far. Other than getting a worrying call from Avon police stating my car had been reported as having the alarm going off and someone inside there have been no issues, it turned out that the passenger door lock had failed, which has now been replaced, and luckily whoever had broken in wasn't interested in my CD collection and left the car untouched.
Next to my gfs mx-5:
My plan is to enjoy the v8ness of the XK for a few more months, before deciding on what's next. Having written this i realise i tend to change cars every 6 months or so, and thinking back the trend seems to be buy a low price car, spend lots on getting it up to scratch then sell on, which i know makes no financial sense!
I recently visited Caffeine and Machine, which is fantastic for those who haven't been. Seeing and hearing the owner's XJ220 and other exotic stuff has made me desperate to get into something a bit more raw, shouty and aggressive, i think another thread is needed for recommendations.
Sorry if this seems drawn out, and thanks for reading if you've got this far.
Josh
lewisf182 said:
Such a nice design, still looks elegant and modern even now.
Would some sort of fruitier exhaust make you interested to keep it longer? Might add a bit more of a raw edge your looking for?
This is definitely something I’ve considered and would definitely change the car, not that it makes a bad noise anyway! Most of the cat back exhaust systems for the XK seem to be well over £1k, other than a larini system which is £700 and sounds fantastic based on videos.Would some sort of fruitier exhaust make you interested to keep it longer? Might add a bit more of a raw edge your looking for?
The issue is they are made to order and take 3-4 months to fabricate, and I’m just not sure I’ll keep the car for long enough to warrrant it.
sparks_190e said:
Nice history, I've had a 330ci as well and currently have a 190e 2.0. What cost £600 for the MOT?
It was a combination of minor items essentially, bit of welding, headlight adjuster motor, corroded suspension components. I think the cost went up quite a lot due to the time taken removing all of the 20 odd year old bolts etc.
MattsCar said:
Cool history and the Jag looks lovely.
I am about to get my XK wheels refurbed and I think you may have sold the gunmetal colour choice to me!
Thanks and I agree it’s such an incredible design. I’ve driven a friend car following him in mine and it looks great in your mirror.I am about to get my XK wheels refurbed and I think you may have sold the gunmetal colour choice to me!
Agree on the wheels, not done by myself (thankfully as the cost of refurbing split time is pricey) but the darker wheels against the silver look brilliant.
Jash91 said:
sparks_190e said:
Nice history, I've had a 330ci as well and currently have a 190e 2.0. What cost £600 for the MOT?
It was a combination of minor items essentially, bit of welding, headlight adjuster motor, corroded suspension components. I think the cost went up quite a lot due to the time taken removing all of the 20 odd year old bolts etc.
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