What 20 year old car would you choose as your daily drive?

[HustleRussell]

Wiccan of Darkness said:

For build quality, probably a BMW, 525I with manual gearbox.

Fine taste sir

[sunbeam alpine]

Alfa 155 for me (but I'm biased)

[lucido grigio]

I've already mentioned this all over the place but my Fiat is 20 this month ,the only car I've driven for 15 months ,done 124,000 miles

in total ,44,000 miles being done by me, in 4.5 years ,most reliable car I've owned.

It's a no brainer.

[Evolved]

Mitsubishi Evo 5 in red. In fact, that's just what I've done

[irocfan]

BMW 850i or if we can stretch a few more years a Z1.

Other than that a Pontiac TransAm WS6 or a C5 Corvette

[danllama]

sunbeam alpine said:

Alfa 155 for me (but I'm biased)

Hey that's my photo! Glad you're still enjoying it!

I chose my 20 year old car, been in mr2's for 4 years now.

MR2 Turbo spring drive by Dan J, on Flickr

[angels95]

Was using an N-reg 306 D Turbo up until earlier in the month and added 54k miles to it in less than three years. Averaged 57mpg and was more than capable of daily duties. A surprisingly good steer too!

Just replaced it with an S-reg 306 GTI-6. So far, so good. Obviously quite a bit thirstier than the diesel, but 37mpg isn't that bad! Nice to finally have the power that the chassis was crying out for on the last one!

I'd rather drive around in a 20-year-old 306 than a modern equivalent as they handle amazingly well and don't seem to rust like their rivals of the same era (Mark VI Escort, Mark III Golf, etc.).

[bgunn]

JS1500 said:

An early 996, much like the one I have but being a 1997/8 car it would have amber indicators!

I have a '98 and it's my daily (well, not quite daily, but you get the idea) driver.

[s m]

white_goodman said:

I watched the first ever episode of Midsomer Murders with my wife on Netflix the other night and couldn't believe it was 20 years ago and that the show was still going! Questionable plot line aside, one of the things I enjoy most about watching old shows is seeing what cars the characters were driving back then. Barnaby and Troy were tooling around from murder scene to murder scene in a mk1 Mondeo, a once hugely popular car, although one that I haven't seen on the road for ages. This got me thinking. 1997 was a fairly interesting time on the roads with half of the newer designs being recognisably modern i.e. airbags, ABS, thicker doors due to crash protection structures etc and half older cars without any of these features, carburettors and cardboard-thin doors etc and yet not that many cars of this vintage survive. Are there any cars on sale new in 1997 that you would happily use as your daily driver today?

Although even by 1997 the Mk1 Mondeo was an old model, the Mk2 was in full run by then

[Gary C]

Celiac gt4 st205

Cheap for what you get and the legendary reliability of the 3sgte engine and a tough as nails transmission.

Great drive too.

I had an st185 along side a brand new sti and the toyota was always a great drive in comparison.

Wish I'd not sold it.

[anonymous-user]

Can we stretch it to 21/22 years and I can get one of the very last V12 XJS convertibles?

[lee_erm]

Almost 20:



In 1.6 Zetec form. The perfect every day car in my eyes.

Or one of these if I fancied something a bit posher:

Edited by lee_erm on Monday 29th May 22:42

[PGNSagaris]

I chose this.....19 years old only though but close enough

[lee_erm]

PGNSagaris said:

I chose this.....19 years old only though but close enough

That looks awesome.

[caelite]

I mean I currently daily drive a 13 year old Mx5. Wouldn't exactly be a big jump to daily a 20 year old Mx5, there basically the same car underneath, the only thing the mk1 misses out on is VVT and a wee bit of chassis bracing.

[Buff Mchugelarge]

An X300 Jaguar/ Daimler or something fast and Swedish please

[mickyveloce]

This is my daily driver, and has been for eleven years. It's about to turn 21 later this year and ticks every box for me still.
It's a '96 C36

[dbdb]

As a practical every day car, I would get a Jaguar X300.

[dudleybloke]

[ClaphamGT3]

w140 S500 short wheelbase