My decade of car ownership!
Discussion
Boring day so thought I'd post it up!
Started in 2001 with a hand-me-down, MOT failiure 1986 Scirocco 1.6 GT - I've not got the actual photo, but this with Golf GTI 13 inch 9 spoke alloys.
This lasted about 9 months or so and was handed on to a mate.
I was then on the look out for a Mk3 1.4 Golf (no idea why) and drove past my next car parked up on a grass verge for sale. 1990 phase 1 Renault 19 16v.
Great car, felt fast, handled well, was a bit different and was generally fantastic until a guy in an XR3i drove into the side of me.
Next up, 1990 E30 BMW 320i se. Really good car, did everything well, but just was a bit slow!
I realised this and "upgraded!" 1990 E30 BMW 325i Sport
I loved my sport. I spent a fortune on it (including crashing and fixing it) and it really got me properly into cars.
Then came the lure of company cars and opt out schemes - I sold the sport (for more than I paid for it) and bought a brand new '05 Civic Type R.
A fantastic all rounder car - just did everything well. But ultimately it wasn't RWD and the opportunity came to change to something a bit different.
Which is why I bought a '05 Mazda RX8 231.
Nice looking car, great handling car, even a fairly practical car, but I was doing 20k+ miles a year and it just drank fuel too fast compared to the speed it could go. There was no "going easy" with it, it was 20-24mpg whether you ragged it or not, and even when pushed, it didn't feel as fast as the CTR.
Which leads me to my current line up.
For the last 3 1/2 years I've had my company car - '08 Nissan Navara Sport, which has quite honestly, been brilliant. Brisk, perfect for mountain biking and surprisingly fun - but I'll have to give it back in 3 weeks.
So, I bought it's replacement a few weeks back. I've always been a BMW fan and my fondest memories of car ownership were my E30 sport, so I started looking at cheap E36 M3s to rekindle the love of "old and fast", which quickly led onto slightly less cheap E46 M3s... I've always wanted one, and vividly remember the first (imola red) one I saw on the road when they were released. The numbers started making sense (man-economics), so I went and looked at a few...
My '03 E46 BMW M3!
One or two little bits to sort, but overall it's in beautiful condition, goes like stink, sounds fantastic and I quite often get out of it saying "this car is fvcking awesome!" to myself!
Hopefully I should hold onto this one for a few years, I can't think of anything I want more withing £10k of the price!
Started in 2001 with a hand-me-down, MOT failiure 1986 Scirocco 1.6 GT - I've not got the actual photo, but this with Golf GTI 13 inch 9 spoke alloys.
This lasted about 9 months or so and was handed on to a mate.
I was then on the look out for a Mk3 1.4 Golf (no idea why) and drove past my next car parked up on a grass verge for sale. 1990 phase 1 Renault 19 16v.
Great car, felt fast, handled well, was a bit different and was generally fantastic until a guy in an XR3i drove into the side of me.
Next up, 1990 E30 BMW 320i se. Really good car, did everything well, but just was a bit slow!
I realised this and "upgraded!" 1990 E30 BMW 325i Sport
I loved my sport. I spent a fortune on it (including crashing and fixing it) and it really got me properly into cars.
Then came the lure of company cars and opt out schemes - I sold the sport (for more than I paid for it) and bought a brand new '05 Civic Type R.
A fantastic all rounder car - just did everything well. But ultimately it wasn't RWD and the opportunity came to change to something a bit different.
Which is why I bought a '05 Mazda RX8 231.
Nice looking car, great handling car, even a fairly practical car, but I was doing 20k+ miles a year and it just drank fuel too fast compared to the speed it could go. There was no "going easy" with it, it was 20-24mpg whether you ragged it or not, and even when pushed, it didn't feel as fast as the CTR.
Which leads me to my current line up.
For the last 3 1/2 years I've had my company car - '08 Nissan Navara Sport, which has quite honestly, been brilliant. Brisk, perfect for mountain biking and surprisingly fun - but I'll have to give it back in 3 weeks.
So, I bought it's replacement a few weeks back. I've always been a BMW fan and my fondest memories of car ownership were my E30 sport, so I started looking at cheap E36 M3s to rekindle the love of "old and fast", which quickly led onto slightly less cheap E46 M3s... I've always wanted one, and vividly remember the first (imola red) one I saw on the road when they were released. The numbers started making sense (man-economics), so I went and looked at a few...
My '03 E46 BMW M3!
One or two little bits to sort, but overall it's in beautiful condition, goes like stink, sounds fantastic and I quite often get out of it saying "this car is fvcking awesome!" to myself!
Hopefully I should hold onto this one for a few years, I can't think of anything I want more withing £10k of the price!
Ved said:
Good bit of variety there. Which one hurt the most when you sold it?
Financially - the RX8 (bought just before credit crunch/fuel strikes/etc - sold after for MUCH less). With hindsight - the 325i sport, though I had the CTR waiting to be picked up which I was all excited about, I'd gone through a lot with the sport and it's rebuild (lost it sideways, up a kerb and into a tree - needed the 4 wheels off the 320, new sump, new rear suspension/carrier/etc, a dent pulling out and a few other bits). It took me 5-6 months to sort it all and I was very proud of the car when it was all finished and perfect again.
Good selection 
How has the Navara been? There are a few horror stories about the engines and flywheels on those, but I'm never sure if the y are justified .
Some Good car choices there. I'm liking the 325i sport, CTR and the current M3. Loving the red leather in the M3. An e46 M3 is on my shopping list and I'd be after one with grey bodywork and red leather
How has the Navara been? There are a few horror stories about the engines and flywheels on those, but I'm never sure if the y are justified .
Some Good car choices there. I'm liking the 325i sport, CTR and the current M3. Loving the red leather in the M3. An e46 M3 is on my shopping list and I'd be after one with grey bodywork and red leather
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