Cars you owned and wished you'd done different.

[TheAngryDog]

When I first started driving I bought a 1991 H Reg Ford Sierra Sapphire 2.0 GLSi, which came with an 8v twin cam engine which used Siamese exhaust ports and a square engine (same bore x stroke) so was rather pointless tuning. I ended up knackering the engine one day (smoking / using lots of oil) so had a decision to make. I ended up having the 16v RS2000 Mk5 Escort engine fitted and it went so much better. Ultimately though I wish I had have gone down the more popular 2.9 v6 24v route from the the Granada / Scorpio, but as a 19 year old, the insurance would have been too much, so the 16v engine was cheaper to insure.

Another car was my 2nd one - a Sierra XR4x4. I sold this when I bought a Cosworth, but again I would have liked to have had the 2.9 v6 24v engine fitted to this.

There are obviously cars since these that I wish I had done more with, but these are the two stand out ones, probably more so because they were my 1st and 2nd cars, from 1999 to 2002. Prices of both cars and the engines now are prohibitively expensive sadly, otherwise I would be tempted to buy one and do the above, but alas, it just isn't worth the expense!

Anyone else ever felt that they went the wrong way on a project?

[brillomaster]

once a had a 1990 Nissan 300ZX, twin turbo, targa top.

looked gorgeous, but needed mechanical work doing... first up was £800 of rust repair, then the clutch was slipping, so changed that. tyres and brakes both naff so they were renewed. also did some minor cosmetic upgrades (renewed interior, clear indicators, that kinda thing)

then found out some genius put a nail through an intercooler when doing some mods before i bought it, so had a small boost leak... that got fixed, along with a remap up to ~330bhp.

then after all that, the engine (having been run low on oil at some point) threw a rod through the block. Only had the car 6 months, was gutted.

my options were either pay £1500 for a replacement engine, or break the car for parts. in the end, money was tight, and the car was averaging just 22mpg which meant it wasnt the best daily driver, so I got rid. admittedly the Nissan 350z that replaced it was awesome and reliable for 4 years afterwards, but the loud and proud turbo jap nutter machine still holds a place in my heart, and if i was faced with that same decision today i'd have paid the £1500 for the new engine...

[TheAngryDog]

Interestingly I had the same dilemma with my current M5. I opted to rebuild the engine but I often think I shouldn't have bothered, or sold it after doing so. My reasoning is because it has stopped me owning other cars.