My car history, the highs and lows...

[RS Grant]

- 1988 Ford Fiesta XR2 (Google Pic Example)



First car... was an absolute riot, it had a few modifications (lowered/air filter/exhaust) and I felt like a complete hero driving it around the country lanes locally. Took an absolute beating, as per most people's first car I guess. Unfortunately I left it parked up in a rural village for a few nights and it got vandalised pretty badly, to the point they removed all the caps from engine bay and filled everything with sand?! Gutted wasn't the word, I was devastated.


- 1992 Citroen BX GTi 16v (Google Pic Example)



After the Fiesta got destroyed and sent to car heaven, I picked this up for £100 in one of the local yellow papers... remember those?! ...it wasn't actually that bad an example visually and the hydro suspension helped me find my way out of a field that I had understeered into whilst in 'hero mode' showing off to female passengers!! ...tthe car only lasted a wee while, a couple of months of fairly hard use before the clutch went and I just weighed it in for scrap.


- 2000 Ford Mondeo 2.0 Zetec

Untitled by RS Grant, on Flickr

I had just started a job which had an 80-mile daily commute and so wanted a car that could do some decent mileage reliably and comfortably, looked at a few things but still being a young pup, my insurance was silly for anything German with a creamy 6-cyl which I had initially been aiming for... so after a few test drives and visits to dealerships I laid down £10,000 for this nearly new Mondeo. It wasn't the fastest thing around, it wasn't the prettiest thing around; but it handled well, was very practical for bikes/camping gear and never let me down in ~40k miles. It was also the first car to wear my B19 plate.


- 1992 Ford Escort RS Turbo (Series 2)

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Untitled by RS Grant, on Flickr
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Untitled by RS Grant, on Flickr

I had always wanted a Series 2 RS Turbo since I was about 7 when my friends dad picked me and my friend up from primary school in his mums white Series 2 RS Turbo... at the time my mum had a MK4 XR3i which I thought was cool, but remember being totally in love with the RS Turbo when I went out in it. The one I bought was apparently 1 of 8 J-reg cars registered, so pretty rare and the reason that B19 GDF never made it onto the car... it broke down on the way home, haha, it was my first meeting with the local RAC man that I ended up knowing well over the next wee while! Turned out that the fuel tank was empty when the gauge was reading between 1/4 and 1/8th of a tank left.
It was completely standard when I bought it, I added a GRS intercooler, exhaust system, panel filter, Turbosystems ECU and had it set up by AVA in Glasgow where it made 167bhp @ the wheels, so it went extremely well for what it was.


- 1999 Subaru Impreza Turbo

Untitled by RS Grant, on Flickr
Untitled by RS Grant, on Flickr
Untitled by RS Grant, on Flickr
Untitled by RS Grant, on Flickr

I had started to do more frequent trips to Aberdeen from Dundee, 150 mile round trip, which was not something I wanted to do in the RS Turbo or Mondeo... so the RS was retired to weekend use and after talking to a friend who had recently converted from Cossies to Subarus, I decided that an Impreza could be a potential replacement. This one was from a local Subaru dealership and being sold as a standard car, I went for a test drive to see what I thought of the car/Imprezas in general and having had zero experience of Subaru tuning at the time; I had no idea what was done to it/what to look for, but it felt like a very fast car. Turns out it had a Prodrive Quickshift, Prodrive Handling Pack (Bilstein suspension and 17" wheels) and a full turbo-back exhaust with de-cat downpipe. I paid £13,000 for it and traded in the Mondeo against it.


- 1999 Honda Civic VTi (EK4)

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Untitled by RS Grant, on Flickr
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Untitled by RS Grant, on Flickr

This was an impulse deal, a deal which I regretted to start with after I put my foot down in it!! A friend offered me this Civic plus a big lump of cash for my Impreza and I accepted it without really thinking about it and just thinking of the financial side. Turned out to be a cracking wee car for what it was, it had a DC Sports Manifold, mongoose Exhaust, Short Ram Intake and made 175bhp on the rollers. It was a faultless little car, held its own, sounded great and cost absolute peanuts to run.. it was my first taste of VTEC and something which would make me return to the Honda family a few times.


- 1998 Subaru Impreza Turbo

Untitled by RS Grant, on Flickr
Untitled by RS Grant, on Flickr
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Untitled by RS Grant, on Flickr

The friend who had converted me to Subarus, was looking for a cheaper car to run as a daily driver, so we decided to swap... he got the Civic and I got this Reddish Blue Impreza Turbo. It came to me standard apart from some H&R springs, but I got the splitter added and colour coding done, some 17" Prodrive ST2 alloys refurbished in anthracite, De-Cat Downpipe, Blitz Exhaust and using a manual boost controller I capped the boost at 1.1bar to prevent boost cut, especially in colder weather. I loved the attention it got, it handled very well and sounded unbelievable.. ultimately wasn't that fast, but I loved it.


- 1993 Honda Civic VTi (EG6)

Untitled by RS Grant, on Flickr
Untitled by RS Grant, on Flickr

I was offered the chance to buy the Celica GT4 below from one of my best friends, so decided to let the Impreza go to pay for it. Expecting the sale to take a little time sifting through the usual dreamers and stuff I put it up for sale before the GT4 was ready for collection after it's forged rebuild... and the Subaru sold to a guy on the owners club almost instantly. Bitter sweet because while a quick sale was great, it would have left me with no car to use. So I bought this Civic off a local lad who had owned it for years and done all the modifications; the bodywork changes weren't my cup of tea, but the B18 engine, Koni Coilovers, big brakes, light wheels and low price were very much up my street!! ...I had this car for a couple of months before the Celica was ready to collect and it was fast stop gap that I moved on to a lad in Ireland via eBay who never even viewed it, just sent a transporter over to pay and collect.


- 1994 Toyota Celica GT4 WRC

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Untitled by RS Grant, on Flickr
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Untitled by RS Grant, on Flickr
Untitled by RS Grant, on Flickr

As I said before, I was waiting to collect this car. It had been driven down for a full forged piston rebuild because my friend was going to be going for 400+bhp in it, however, the build snowballed and he decided that he had gone too far for a daily driver with the huge turbo, paddle clutch etc. So I agreed to buy it from him, the spec included JE pistons, Eagle Rods, JUN cams/gears, TD06 Turbo with external wastegate and screamer pipe... it made 400bhp at 1.1bar of boost, the engine was built to run a peak of 2.0bar of boost and getting a full boost map done is something I regret not doing to this day... anyway, decided to take some time out and go travelling, so I sold the car to a guy from Aberdeen area who said he would take it to the next level.


- 1992 Peugeot 205 1.6 GTi

Untitled by RS Grant, on Flickr
Untitled by RS Grant, on Flickr

I was going travelling, but needed something to drive in the period between selling the ST205 and jumping on a plane.. so, given that everyone I know who's owned one raves about them, I decided to give a 205GTi a go. Spotted this one on eBay in Preston, asked questions and got told it ran fine, didn't use oil/water and drove spot on so I won the auction and got a lift down to collect... the lad I bought it from was severely shifty little crater but the car drove ok, gearchange was a bit sloppy and it needed an engine mount but didn't seem to pass any smoke or anything and I'd only given £400 for it so my expectations weren't high. Stopped to fill it with fuel, discovered it needed oil, so bought some, pulled out onto motorway and under heavy acceleration on the slip road back to the motorway the smoke pouring out of it was horrific!! It used litres and litres of oil on the way up the road which killed it stone dead for me, so when I eventually got home I parked it in the driveway and re-advertised it on eBay immediately. Never again.


- 1992 Rover 216 GTi Twin Cam

Rover Front by RS Grant, on Flickr
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DSC01662 by RS Grant, on Flickr

After the 205 incident, you'd think I would be put off by cheap cars on eBay wouldn't you? ...wrong.
This car was being sold by an elderly gent who was only it's second owner, originally a Rover Directors car. The owner had used offcuts from his livingroom carpet to cover the original mats, it had a full service history and was (aside from some minor arch scabbing) immaculate and drove amazingly. The best bit, I paid £300 for it plus a train fare to Coventry. It was genuinely quite a fast car with the Honda CRX twin cam engine, it would hit the limiter in 5th gear without any problem, around 129mph... I stripped the rear out and put a big dog cage in the back so that my golden labrador Bailey could come along for the ride too.


- 1999 Subaru Impreza Turbo PPP

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Untitled by RS Grant, on Flickr
Untitled by RS Grant, on Flickr
Untitled by RS Grant, on Flickr

This was one of the first things I did once I returned from travelling and started working again... get another toy and since I had the Flat Four bug, it was only ever going to be another Subaru!!
This was a very clean UK Turbo, rare in white and with the PPP it was a decently quick car. Only issue was that I was serving a small driving holiday (oops!) and the car was in Swindon (I'm in NE Scotland!) so I convinced my friend and his girlfriend (now wife!) that it'd be good fun if we all road tripped down for it!! ...very glad we made the trip because it was a great example with impeccable history. I fitted some different wheels, front lip splitter and STi rear lights to the car, but apart from that, left it visually/mechanically standard. I sold it to a friend in Arbroath who had cash burning a hole in his pocket and big plans for the car, which never came to anything as he bought an EK9 Civic Type R and threw his cash at that instead.


- 1996 Vauxhall Omega 3.0 Elite Estate

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Untitled by RS Grant, on Flickr

I had a sick fascination with owning an Omega for many years, no real explanation why!! My dad owned one when I was growing up and I used to drive it around the car park at the rugby club after games/training with my mates onboard when I was about 12, maybe that was it?! This was a very comfortable car, unbelieavably spacious and very well equipped. It was very easy to convert into sleeping accomodation with the rear seats down too. Ultimately the 17mpg average was too sore to cope with for car which had been bought as a cheap daily driver!


- 1997 Toyota Celica GT4 (ST205)

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Untitled by RS Grant, on Flickr
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After I sold the white Impreza to my friend, I spotted this late ST205 in very rare Storm Grey on Autotrader. It was owned by an older guy from import a few years previously, had been cared for very well and apart from some 17" OZ F1 Cup alloys, was completely standard. I added some 18" Compomotive alloys, Tein springs, Whiteline ARB, Geometry, full 3" turbo back exhaust and boost controller, made 310bhp on the rolling road and looked the business polished up on the new wheels, but after the figure8 links (expensive repair) went on me for the second time and an offer to buy back the forged white ST205 that I owned before, I lost interest in the grey car and sold it to a guy and his wife on the owners club in the morning and picked up the White ST205 WRC that afternoon.


- 1994 Toyota Celica GT4 WRC

Picture051-1 by RS Grant, on Flickr
Picture056-1 by RS Grant, on Flickr
Picture063-1 by RS Grant, on Flickr
Picture061-1 by RS Grant, on Flickr
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YouTube Clip: Screamer Pipe Clip

This is the Castrol Car from above and the reason that I sold the grey ST205... it had only done a thousand miles or so since I sold it to the guy up north and was mechanically identical but came with a big box of extras which had yet to be fitted. I still don't know what it was, but it never 'felt' the same as when I owned it before, only difference was, the car had been kept outside and as a result there were areas of bodywork which were starting to look tired and need attention.

I was planning to get it mapped properly but needed to find someone to do it and get hold of a few different things to finish the build off before it went in for mapping too. Anyway after adding up exactly what I wanted to address before I was playing with 450? 500? horsepower; like suspension (VERY expensive for an ST205), big brakes, wheels to accomodate the brakes, better seats/rails, address small areas of bodywork which I wasn't happy with... it would have been a LOT of money on an old car and it became more than my man maths could justify so I sold it to a young lad (19yr old!!) locally who went on to treat the car like crap and through a combination of carelessness and abuse.

Edit: I was contacted recently buy someone who has bought the car in a bit of a state but plans to spend money rectifying the areas which need attention. He's local too so I hope to see it back on the road sometime soon and hope to keep in touch with him and his progress.


- 1993 Ford Escort RS2000 (MK5b)

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Untitled by RS Grant, on Flickr
Untitled by RS Grant, on Flickr

This was a gamble... advertised for £500 on the owners club, no MOT and partially stripped out (with all parts supplied to re-fit) it could easily have been a dog. I got it started with a new battery, fresh fuel and service. It flew through it's MOT and when sorting through the history, discovered it had all the bills for uprated shocks/springs, superchip, full exhaust system, K&N induction kit, uprated brakes. There was also a rolling road print out for 165bhp. I polished it up, ran it for a wee while and then sold it onto a friend who ran it for another 6 months or so with absolutely no issues.


- 1999 Subaru Impreza Turbo

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Untitled by RS Grant, on Flickr

At this time, we needed a winter car and were looking for an A4 Quattro Avant, but I couldn't resist a wee nosey to see what the Impreza market was like... and I spotted this car, low owners, ultra low miles, white, immaculate and very very cheap. It was being sold by a commercial van/truck trader next to stansted airport. He sounded genuine, the car sounded genuine and he said that he would pick me up/drop me back to airport and I could have my deposit back without any problem if it wasn't as described, so made sense to go for a look. The car was fantastic, completely standard apart from a prodrive backbox and immaculate condition.

Edited by RS Grant on Wednesday 1st November 22:05

[RS Grant]

- 2007 Subaru Impreza STi spec.D

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Untitled by RS Grant, on Flickr
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YouTube Clip: Exhaust sound/pops

This was a car I bought because I wasn't in the right frame of mind to sink thousands into an old car (GT4) and the deals which were available on the spec.D; which hadn't been well received by the Impreza faithful who love a big wing/blue paint! I told myself that spending £20k on one of these cars was the correct thing to do because it came with warranty, it was plenty fast enough as standard, etc... but when I collected the car, the lack of any noise (standard exhaust and extra spec.D sound deadening) were quite disappointing, so I visited the local specialist and bought a Green Panel Filter, Hayward and Scott backbox, centre and 2nd cat delete pipe... much better!! Then, I wanted to make it look a little more special, so I added the 18" Rota wheels, Tein Springs, Geometry, STi Foglight Blank and front splitter.

After a wee while and some reading about how well the new 2.5 engines responded to mapping (before anyone knew about their weaknesses!), I got a full custom 3" exhaust made by Meercat, fitted a Walboro 255 fuel pump and had the car mapped by Andy Forrest... giving 360bhp/400lbft and transforming the way the car drove with the pops/bangs over-run feature it was childish but very fun!! I sold the car after only doing 10k over 2 years and realising that it was a bit of a waste sitting there hardly being used that I wasn't getting the most from.


- 1997 Honda Integra Type R (JDM DC2)

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Untitled by RS Grant, on Flickr
Untitled by RS Grant, on Flickr

I wasn't sure what to buy after the Impreza. A friend had a JDM DC2 and loved it, I drove it for a while and liked it too but after trying a UK DC2 from a Honda Dealership I was left massively underwhelmed... however a black JDM DC2 came up for sale locally and given that it is quite a rare colour and local, I went for a look. This one had a full Apexi N1 exhaust, Cusco Coilovers, Spoon Intake, 300mm brake conversion and 16" alloys... it handled like an absolute demon and sounded fantastic, performance was completely different to the UK teg which I'd driven shortly before it, so it ended up on my drive. I never changed anything on it, but just enjoyed the car. Only sold it when I finished working and returned to education.


- 2000 Ford KA

ka by RS Grant, on Flickr

I needed a cheap runaround for leaving on grass verges, pavements, public car parks etc while I was studying and this little car was perfect for that. It was not a showroom fresh example, but it was a massive amount of fun to drive, the handling was amazing even with 70k miles under its belt. It wasn't going to pass its next MOT without some surgery so it was sold on before that point.


- 1998 Ford Escort Finesse

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Untitled by RS Grant, on Flickr

With the KA gone, this was the replacement... 1.6 16v, so quicker than the KA but nowhere near as fun to drive. I fitted some uprated suspension, Impreza bucket seats, full magnex exhaust and some 16" flat face compomotives which I had sitting in the garage so it looked a little better and was marginally more fun to drive. I kept the wheels but sold the car to a friend who needed a cheap runaround to get her about until her new car was delivered.


- 1999 Ford Mondeo ST200 Hatchback

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Untitled by RS Grant, on Flickr

Staying with the cheap car theme, this popped up on Gumtree and after talking to the seller I booked a train ticket down to Chester. The car had a mongoose exhaust system and K&N panel filter so the 200bhp V6 sounded fantastic!! It wasn't a bad car on fuel either, could get 30s average without driving like a complete granny. Really liked this car, was a lot of car for the money, looked good/different and was completely reliable too, only got rid of the car when I agreed a p/ex deal with my friend for the Civic below.


- 2000 Honda Civic Type Rx (EK9)

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Untitled by RS Grant, on Flickr
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YouTube Clip: Acceleration 30mph onwards…

This car was absolutely insane. ...it came into the UK as a standard EK9 Rx, but got a massive amount of money thrown at it by my friend, there is a list of what it had done below somewhere. When you were 'on it' the car was out of this world, but I was trying to use it as a daily driver and in traffic/city it was a real ball-ache and the reason that reluctantly I had to let the car go after only a few months of use. It eventually got broken for parts, but recently the shell reappeared belonging to a lad up here who breaks Hondas/TypeR stuff for a living and it's now running a fully forged and turbocharged K20 engine conversion and is 450bhp+, it certainly goes well at Knockhill.


- 2000 Subaru Impreza Turbo PPP

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Finding a car to fill the performance boots of the Civic was going to be hard, but this car managed it and more. It ran VF34 turbo, APS TMIC, Full De-cat and was mapped by Bob Rawle, giving 338bhp. Also fitted was a Newage STi 6-speed gearbox, so no worries about the transmission giving up either. It was phenomenally quick for what it was, point to point, over Scottish countryside and mountain roads it was really punchy car with it's low lag set up. I loved it... and only sold it to a friend when I was looking at serving a second driving holiday (double oops!). He ran it for a couple years or so, stripped it out to try and track it, then broke it for parts unfortunately.


- 1999 Ford Focus Collection

IMG_1757 by RS Grant, on Flickr
IMG_1768 by RS Grant, on Flickr
IMG_1745 by RS Grant, on Flickr

This was my first car post driving holiday and only bought because a friends brother was going to scrap it rather than fix a misfire?! It had 160,000 miles on the clock but all it required was a new rocker gasket and plugs, fired up and ran spot on after that. In the end, having JUST this car wasn't for me and I sold it off on Gumtree.


- 2001 Ford Mondeo ST200 Hatchback

IMG_1445 by RS Grant, on Flickr
IMG_1439 by RS Grant, on Flickr
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Having had one of these before, I knew what I would be getting and while I returned to education briefly this seemed the right car to use daily and get back and forth in. Bought it with an exhaust fitted, but added a filter, lowered it, tinted lights and some 18" Compomotive wheels to make it look a little more purposeful. I really liked this car and it stayed with me for quite a while, until I did a p/ex deal on the Transit Connect with it.


- 2006 Honda Civic Type R Premier (EP3)

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This was actually my sisters car, bought from the local Honda dealership with 7k miles on the clock. She added another 20k miles and when I had driven it on occasion, I really liked it. So I bought the car from her rather than let her trade it in for her new Polo GTi. However, owning it was very different to occasionally taking it for a hoon in the countryside... in the end, I couldn't get along with the on/off throttle, wheelspin and slightly lacking performance, so I traded it in for the 123d.

Edited by RS Grant on Thursday 2nd November 01:39

Edited by RS Grant on Thursday 2nd November 19:53

[RS Grant]

- 2010 BMW 123d M Sport

IMG_2621 by RS Grant, on Flickr
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IMG_2625 by RS Grant, on Flickr
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This is what the Civic was traded in against... I really wanted an E46 M3 after borrowing a friends for a week or so but had to remain sensible given that I was only just finishing my course and not sure exactly what my commute would be like so after reading the specification of the 123d and the sort of potential that they have with basic mapping, I thought that it was something I'd enjoy after being tired of the lacking performance of the EP3.
Had a bit of a false start after I bought a dog from Vines of Redhill which I eventually rejected and got my money back. The replacement car I found was fantastic, bought from Woods of Bournemouth for £16,000 and completely immaculate in every single way. I took it to Ecotune in Glasgow who fitted a DPF-replacement pipe and custom mapped it, giving 275bhp and 390lbft as a result. It went like stink!! Took it on a track night at Knockhill and it really impressed me, no brake fade, no excessive bodyroll and fast enough to pass others and keep others at bay...... but it was only a matter of time until that need for an M3 came back, haha.


- 2003 BMW M3 Coupe

DSCF0213 by RS Grant, on Flickr
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Finally, I'd got an M3... and what an M3 it was! It had very low mileage, one mature owner from new, full BMW history and was immaculate in every way. Almost my ideal specification too being a manual gearbox, coupe, no sunroof, good specification and great colour combination. Although I really liked the 123d (and sometimes still regret selling it) this M3 was just better in every single way; fast, reliable, sounded good, looked good, handled extremely well... it was everything that it's replacement (335i) turned out not to be. Genuinely regret selling this car, would still have it today if I'd really thought about what I was doing?!


- 2003 Ford Focus RS

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Untitled by RS Grant, on Flickr
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A friend took this car in p/ex on a deal he did and was on at me to scratch the itch that I'd had for one.. so I crumbled (very quickly!) and bought it from him. It was a great car, handled like it was on rails, sounded great and tugged at the steering wheel under hard acceleration in the same kind of way my old RS Turbo had done all those years ago. It had a full milltek exhaust, Ford motorsport manifold, pro alloy chargecooler radiator, K&N induction and a dreamscience map on it. No idea on actual power, maybe 270ish?? But it was fast and fun, bit of a difficult decision getting rid of it actually, have a feeling that one day I'll re-visit MK1 FRS ownership, but as with all things Ford RS the prices are starting to get a little silly for them so if I don't act fast then I'll not be able to justify the cost of a good one.


- 2002 VW Golf GTi 25th Anniversary TDi

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Needing something to do some miles in economically, this car was a replacement for the Focus RS which was a difficult decision to make but needs must sometimes and the Mondeo wouldn't have liberated enough funds for something that I could be completely reliant on and selling the M3 wasn't remotely an option. This Golf had one owner from new and was in mint condition. The owners brother was a Ford RS Concours winner and he went over the car with a fine tooth comb 3 months before it was sold, replacing suspension/turbo/steering rack/bushes/tyres/brakes/wheels with all new parts from VW dealership... the amount of history and the level of detail within the folder(s) is amazing, I'd be very surprised if there were many better Anniversary TDi out there. Once I was finished with the car, I sold it onto my Aunt who continued to care for it and maintain it's condition and history... the Civic she owned from new in 2000 and was using alongside the Golf for dog/rubbish/general duties has just gone to the scrapyard in the sky and she didn't want to use the Golf for that stuff so she's just replaced the Golf with a BMW Touring and the Anniversary will be up for sale shortly, after it's had an MOT and service... so keep your eyes peeled in the classifieds.


- 2011 BMW 335i M Sport Touring

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Biggest. (Car Related) Mistake. Of. My. Life.

The ownership experience from the moment I accelerated onto the slip road after collection and got 'Engine Fault: Reduced Power' to the point that I sold it back to the Custard-named b*stards in Iver, Buckinghamshire the car was an absolute nightmare... the fact that I had traded my beloved M3 in against this car made things dozens of times worse for me; I cannot put into words how much I regret that decision every time I think about it.
On the advert it was billed as '...as close to an M3 Touring as you can get' and the facts looked like they'd support that... Hartge ECU (370bhp), Quaife LSD, Bilstein Suspension Kit, Bilstein ARBs, Non-RFT Tyres... it all sounded good. But the reality was different, I could honestly write a whole thread about my poor experience and the cowboys at the place I bought it from... a couple of issues which annoyed me were: the automatic slushbox had a mind of it's own, would occasionally stick in 2nd gear under WOT and leave you coasting until it sorted itself out. The engine/Hartge ECU would very randomly go from full boost in a gear, the gearbox would slurr into the next gear and the car would operate as a 330i with no boost whatsoever until about 5500rpm when it would surge forward, but sometimes it wouldn't do that either.
The guys I bought the car from were absolute cowboys as well, typical 'You've been to Tenerife? Well I've been to Elevenerife' type tossers who trade off the tuning divisions name and talk a very good game but sh!t the bed when they put their boots on. Their 'Gold Warranty' meant that when the rear driveshaft exploded during an overtake, my car was off the road for the best part of 3 months waiting for a replacement... that's solid gold. They also tried to pull a fast one when I sold the car back to them, inspecting the car, signing the paperwork, then getting in touch nearly a week later saying that the brakes were destroyed and parts were missing/car wasn't as described (despite being inspected by Elevenerife himself?!); so they told me I had to pay them X-number of thousand to rectify these issues, utterly speechless and completely unbelievable.


- 2008 Ford Transit Connect SWB

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Untitled by RS Grant, on Flickr
Untitled by RS Grant, on Flickr

Needing something to transport the two labradors around, my work gear, mountain bikes etc... the M3 was unsuitable, the Golf was unsuitable and the Mondeo was starting to require work to keep it looking as fresh as it once had done.. so a deal was done with the Mondeo and the Connect found its way onto the driveway. It has been lowered and a set of genuine 19" MK2 Focus RS alloys fitted, since then I've embraced my max power side and upgraded the woeful stereo system and some of the bulbs have been changed to LED which makes a big difference to interior light output in a van. Have got a few plans for the van if it remains with me, mainly dealing with the fading bumpers/arches by having it fully colour coded, but I might persevere with the Wurth Bumper Dye so we'll see what happens.


- 1997 BMW 328i Sport Coupe

IMG_4655 by RS Grant, on Flickr
IMG_4657 by RS Grant, on Flickr

Bought because it was cheap and I had taken on some extra storage so had big plans for either a track/drift car... but upon closer inspection, it was decided that breaking for spares was the best route to take. Still got a real hankering for a clean E36 Sport, if only to use the set of genuine 17" Sport BBS alloys which I've got sitting in my unit with nothing to put them on!!


- 1998 BMW 540i SE Touring

Untitled by RS Grant, on Flickr
E498B73E-4DA2-43C3-A632-2F8BF8C78F2B by RS Grant, on Flickr
898F5EC9-8F3A-4872-974C-ADB3650A2BE2 by RS Grant, on Flickr
290A002E-5D13-438C-846D-C5704637E985 by RS Grant, on Flickr

I do love a good E39, always have! I think they're a great looking 'modern' BMW. This car came up for sale, one owner from new, full BMW history, low miles, rare colour combination and without much hesitation or need for a V8 estate car, I bought it!! Fixed a few wee niggles on it, rocker gaskets, water pump, oil change.. only covered about 1000 miles in the time I owned it, but glad that I've scratched both the V8 and E39 itches now.

Edited by RS Grant on Thursday 2nd November 19:40

Edited by RS Grant on Friday 31st August 16:59

[nicolelh]

love the black ek9
going for silly money atm!

[RS Grant]

nicolelh said:

love the black ek9
going for silly money atm!

Thanks Nicole... not looked at EK9's for a wee while, are they going up in value??

The spec of mine was absolutely insane, IIRC it made something like 211 bhp at the wheels. The wee YouTube link after the pictures will give you an idea of how well it pulled with the engine/gearbox combination.

Spec:

•Spoon 1.8 Stroker Kit - 81.25
•Spoon 2pc High Comp Head Gasket
•Skunk2 High Comp Valves
•Cylinder Head Ported , Polished And Gas Flown
•Skunk2 Stage II Cams
•Skunk2 Titanium Valve Springs And Retainers
•Skunk2 Adjust Cam Gears
•Skunk2 70mm Tb
•Skunk2 IM Machined To Match 70mm - Polished And Gas Flown
•Skunk2 Carbon Composite Fuel Rail
•Walbro Fuel Pump
•RC 440cc Injectors
•AEM Cold Air Intake
•Hytech custom 4-2-1 Manifold
•Custom De-Cat
•Spoon B-Pipe And N1
•Exedy Clutch And Fidanza 7lbs Flywheel
•Spoon Engine Mounts
•Hondata S300
•+ MEGA gearbox!...MFactory/Quaife spec'd


Cheers,
Grant

[AClownsPocket]

Some very nice cars there. Love the RST's. I had two in my yoof. The Impreza's, ***sigh*** I miss mine everyday.

One common theme I noticed with all of your cars is that you're crap at parking

[nicolelh]

RS Grant said:

Thanks Nicole... not looked at EK9's for a wee while, are they going up in value??

The spec of mine was absolutely insane, IIRC it made something like 211 bhp at the wheels. The wee YouTube link after the pictures will give you an idea of how well it pulled with the engine/gearbox combination.

Spec:

•Spoon 1.8 Stroker Kit - 81.25
•Spoon 2pc High Comp Head Gasket
•Skunk2 High Comp Valves
•Cylinder Head Ported , Polished And Gas Flown
•Skunk2 Stage II Cams
•Skunk2 Titanium Valve Springs And Retainers
•Skunk2 Adjust Cam Gears
•Skunk2 70mm Tb
•Skunk2 IM Machined To Match 70mm - Polished And Gas Flown
•Skunk2 Carbon Composite Fuel Rail
•Walbro Fuel Pump
•RC 440cc Injectors
•AEM Cold Air Intake
•Hytech custom 4-2-1 Manifold
•Custom De-Cat
•Spoon B-Pipe And N1
•Exedy Clutch And Fidanza 7lbs Flywheel
•Spoon Engine Mounts
•Hondata S300
•+ MEGA gearbox!...MFactory/Quaife spec'd


Cheers,
Grant

theres a fresh import facelift clack 9 on ebay at the moment for just under £9k!
Dont find many for sale under 6k these days and I think they're getting hard to find in Japan too now

Very nice spec list, some mega money! any idea what happened to it?

[Quhet]

Bloody hell, that's a lot!
What made you get the rover 216 after the Impreza's etc?

[parabolica]

You've had more cars than I have had hot dinners! That list is insane.

Totally forgot about the sticker'd-up Celica - I used to love those when I was growing up and had a scale model of it.

[RobinOakapple]

That surely wasn't the order in which you had them was it?

All a bit hatchbacky too, praps its time for a nice 2 seater like a TVR or something?

[anonymous-user]

Blimey. Did you ever fancy a Caterham type car? Loads of interesting cars in your list.

[Challo]

Wow what a collection. These in order of ownership?

Some great cars in there as well.

[Paraicj]

Great post, I love the up-and-down power progression over the years!

[RS Grant]

AClownsPocket said:

Some very nice cars there. Love the RST's. I had two in my yoof. The Impreza's, ***sigh*** I miss mine everyday.

One common theme I noticed with all of your cars is that you're crap at parking

I loved my RS Turbo, wanted one since I was taken out in my friend's mums white RST with his dad when I was around 8 years old... my mum had an XR3i of the same age & colour, but the look/seats/feeling of the RS Turbo was far better, even back then. Being a 1992 J-Reg it was one of the last registered, rumoured to be 1 of 8.

I still have a very soft spot for Imprezas; the noise, their cross country pace, the noise, reliability and did I mention the noise?!

Good point on the parking, haha, it also appears that a rear 3/4 shot is my 'go to' photo position!!


Cheers,
Grant

[RS Grant]

RobinOakapple said:

That surely wasn't the order in which you had them was it?

Challo said:

Wow what a collection. These in order of ownership?

Allowing for slight overlap and my sketchy memory letting me down, these are all in order. I usually have a 'nice car' like an Impreza/M3/RS or the like and then a car which can cart the dogs around, take me to work, get left in town/at station without worry, etc.


Cheers,
Grant

[RS Grant]

nicolelh said:

theres a fresh import facelift clack 9 on ebay at the moment for just under £9k!
Dont find many for sale under 6k these days and I think they're getting hard to find in Japan too now

Very nice spec list, some mega money! any idea what happened to it?

Bloody hell that's strong money!! They are good cars as standard, if a little long geared IMO.

I sold mine to a lad from the London area, who never even viewed it!! ...then he ended up selling it back to another of my friends who helped to build the car, who stripped it and broke it for spares unfortunately. Absolute cracker of a car, but actually way too extreme for the road, it needed to be a dedicated track car.


Cheers,
Grant

[RS Grant]

Quhet said:

What made you get the rover 216 after the Impreza's etc?

Needed a winter runaround at the time and by chance I saw this 1 owner, low mileage, full history gem on eBay.. stuck in a bid of £300 and forgot about it until I got a notification that I'd won it. The gentleman who was selling it had cut pieces of his living room carpet out to protect the carpet mats... got a blowout at ~70mph on the A1 coming up the road, but apart from that, it was a fantastic wee car. Massively reliable and really quite quick given the Honda CRX twin cam engine they have.


Cheers,
Grant

[RS Grant]

parabolica said:

Totally forgot about the sticker'd-up Celica - I used to love those when I was growing up and had a scale model of it.

Ditto... Sega Rally was where my love began for them. I've not managed to catch the Delta Integrale in time before they went over what I would be comfortable paying for one, although I have a lot of love for them too.


Cheers,
Grant

[RS Grant]

yonex said:

Blimey. Did you ever fancy a Caterham type car?

RobinOakapple said:

All a bit hatchbacky too, praps its time for a nice 2 seater like a TVR or something?

I have driven a Caterham as part of a Palmersport day about 10 years ago, while it was good fun and very lively despite it's low power output.. it's probably just a wee bit TOO hardcore for me to have as a fun car.

I'm of the opinion that if you're into cars, then you must have a slight desire for a TVR... because I do. ...I'd love one, there are a few different models which I'd consider too.

I worked with a guy who has a TVR Cerbera 4.5 and a TVR Tuscan, he took me out for a hoon in the Cerbera and the noise was absolutely biblical. The performance was very sharp too and I love the look of them.

IMG_9697 by RS Grant, on Flickr

I have been in his Tuscan although going for a blast hasn't happened yet, I think it looks even better than the Cerbera and the roof coming off is a nice touch too. Although it doesn't sound as good as the Cerbera in my opinion.


Cheers,
Grant

Edited by RS Grant on Thursday 2nd November 20:01

[RS Grant]

Paraicj said:

Great post, I love the up-and-down power progression over the years!

Thank you, it took quite a while to get all the image tags together so I'm glad you guys and girls have all liked it!!

Some of my lower powered cars were as much, if not more, fun than some of the stuff with bigger numbers that I've owned. For example, that Ford KA, was nowhere near a showroom fresh example (I think I paid ~120quid for it.. )and yet the handling on that car was fantastic so I could drive down one of the really twisty sections of road locally with a massive smile on my face.


Cheers,
Grant