I'm feeling nostalgic - my first fast (ish) car

[Redsarebest]

Hi

I'm not normally someone who posts on here but I am guessing there are plenty of people on here who like to harp back to the good old days so hopefully someone (anyone) will join the discussion

I'm now 40 and am lucky enough to have owned lots of nice and pretty fast cars, I was chatting with some of my mates the other day about the "good old days" and the subject of our early car purchases came up. My first pride and joy was a 1990 Suzuki Swift GTI - it was hardly a well known car and it had a little 1.3 twin cam 16 valve engine in it but boy did it go and it certainly gave all the Golf GTI and Astra GTE boys a run for their money. I guess that's what gave me the bug for fast cars and 23 years later I still cant shake it - anyway I would love to hear about anyone else's first car(s) and also what they have ended up in now?

Surely not everyone that is into fast cars now had a Golf GTI or an Astra GTE at the beginning?

[boxsternoob56]

Silver XR2 was my first 'hot hatch'...remember driving a mate's a year or so before and the intensity of the drive sold me on the later purchase of one...I supspect I'd feel very unsafe in that little car now, without all the gizmo's and airbags we have today!

[daimatt]

A Daihatsu Charade GTti. Similarly unknown like your Swift, but a stonking little 993cc 3 cylinder turbo with 99bhp. Great fun, ended up sticking a hybrid turbo and all sorts on it. The rose tinted specs still make me want to buy one again but I know it'll never live up to the memories

[EskimoArapaho]

First car was a 13-yr-old Renault 12; £95, not fast, but a surprisingly good and totally reliable car.

But that was replaced with an X1/9, which was a terrible car compared to the R12, but it must have sowed the seed for the current cars - NSX and Stratos (replica).

[Redsarebest]

My Dad had a Fiat X1/9 as a toy, I remember driving it as a 19 year old and thinking at the time it was like a proper sports car - mid engine with the targa top off!

[marlowboy]

I too had a X19 and took it over to Northern Spain on the 24hour ferry to Santander , the locals were very impressed as they had never seen one before, wish I had charged for every photo taken. It was a great time and with the roof off FUN! Shame the rust won in the end,

[Manicminer]

I had a Renault 19 16v , newest car I've ever owned as it was only 3 when I bought it.

Loved the lift off oversteer and send you sailing off into the scenery in a flash and was the most unreliable car I've ever owned but I still loved it.

Followed it up with a couple of Mk3 Astra GSi's - great to drive and fast but had a habit of understeering wide in wet corners then snapping to oversteer if you dared to lift off. Great cars again but I'm pretty sure they'd feel really dated to drive now

[Gettoff]

Had a 1.3 Alfasud when I was 17, had it for two years. It wasn't that quick but the flat four sounded great and it zinged and popped a treat. Had it for two years before upgrading to the 1.7 sprint version, more of the same but quicker.
Twenty odd years later I have a 4.3 V8V for hoonage purposes .

[DuraAce]

R5 GT Turbo. Loved that little car. I so wish I'd kept it.

[Chris71]

My first 'own' car was this:


It's a Quantum 2+2 based on a mk2 XR2. Brilliant little car that's now sadly rotting in my parents' yard. At the time it felt genuinely quick and it made a pretty decent noise from a somewhat tuned carb-fed CVH. Great fun zooming around the Westcountry with the roof down.

[blueg33]

I was into fast cars long before I could drive them. My uncle had an Etype (V12) and a Scimitar GTE as his company cars.

As a student I drove my girlfriends car, a Corolla Liftback 1.6 which was fun to drive, then a 1.6 mk2 escort which was sprightly. My first car was a company car a Rover 213SE which was nice to sit in but un-inlvolving to drive.

[Zippee]

Redsarebest said:

Surely not everyone that is into fast cars now had a Golf GTI or an Astra GTE at the beginning?

My first hot hatch at 18 was a white Mk2 Astra GTE 16v, loved that thing
That was in 1994/5 IIRC.
Since then I've also owned Mk2 Golf GTi 8v and a 205 GTi 1.6.

[anonymous-user]

My second car (at 18 I think) was an MG Metro - brilliant little thing at the time and very go-kart like. That was followed a couple of years later by Corrolla GT Twin Cams - FWD one first, then the RWD version - brilliant cars both, and that 4AGE Yamaha engine revved like no other of the time.

They were followed some years later (having lived abroad in the intervening period) by a 200SX S13 Facelift which was, in reality, my first 'fast' car.

I'd kill to get either GT TC back...

[Evo9lution]

My second car was a Toyota Celica GTi-16 which was a pretty fast car in its day. However, my first car - 1.1L Ford Fiesta, D-reg - was the only car I have ever owned where my foot was planted to the floor pretty much all the time and had grip levels so low that you could actually have great fun round corners at lowish speeds

[toon10]

Redsarebest said:

Hi

I'm not normally someone who posts on here but I am guessing there are plenty of people on here who like to harp back to the good old days so hopefully someone (anyone) will join the discussion

I'm now 40 and am lucky enough to have owned lots of nice and pretty fast cars, I was chatting with some of my mates the other day about the "good old days" and the subject of our early car purchases came up. My first pride and joy was a 1990 Suzuki Swift GTI - it was hardly a well known car and it had a little 1.3 twin cam 16 valve engine in it but boy did it go and it certainly gave all the Golf GTI and Astra GTE boys a run for their money. I guess that's what gave me the bug for fast cars and 23 years later I still cant shake it - anyway I would love to hear about anyone else's first car(s) and also what they have ended up in now?

Surely not everyone that is into fast cars now had a Golf GTI or an Astra GTE at the beginning?

Well my first car was inherited from my mother, a 1987 Suzuki Swift GS. Almost as quick as the GTi but without the good brakes, tyres and handling! It was imense fun. My brother had the Mk1 (1988) swift GTi which I stepped into next.

My car history is far from impressive but I enjoyed running a Calibra 16V (pre chav days) and a couple of V6 Mondeo's. Had a couple of functional cars which were awful and went to a 2.4 exec Honda Accord with all the toys. It was a great car but not exactly 'fun'. Running an E90 325i sport now. I wanted the M3 but can't afford to run one. It could do with more power and isn't hardcore but it handles great, sounds good and is practical for my family needs.

[sprint355]

I learnt to drive in a midget, not the fastest of cars, high points to date are the mental 964 and the current toy a 300+ FIAT coupe, when it runs it is the mutts

[LanceRS]

My first car was a Fiesta Supersport, 1300cc, four gears, tiny brakes but great fun. Seemed quick at the time, fairly sure it wouldn't now, although I seem to remember that once you had it moving, you didn't need to slow down for much, the handling was brilliant.
Lucky enough to still own the Cosworth I bought in 1999.

[Hoover.]

Pretty much had what described just a different body...... MK2 Astra GTE & MK2 Scirroco GTX, and an MG Metro before either of them

[Pork]

First car I bought myself was a Cavalier GSi. I'd worked out it was insurance grp 13, was as nippy as RS Turbos and R5 GTTs around at the time...and seated 4 in comfort.

I don't think they were 'known' at the time so loved the fact it was "quick" (0-60 in 7.9s IIRC) but looked like your Dad's car.

[selym]

My second car was a Renault Clio 1.8 16v, the Williams' little brother. It was relatively quick and handled fantastically.
It was stolen and used as a getaway car for a couple of robberies. Good choice.