Favourite was probably a Mazda Xedos 9 Miller. Went like stinky and had a really cool engine noise (and a fake wood dash).

Least favourite was a Golf 7.5 estate just because it was absurdly uncomfortable and the VW dealer was horrible.

As a long distance workhorse - a Saab 9000cs 2.0 light pressure turbo. Comfiest , best long distance cruiser. It was my last ever company car. Best seats ever.

Even drank less petrol than a previous mkIII 1.3 Ford Escort.

Edited by Big John on 26/09/2025 at 20:17

Edited by Metropolis. on 26/09/2025 at 20:59

Edited by Metropolis. on 26/09/2025 at 22:35

Edited by SLO76 on 26/09/2025 at 23:10

I've only owned cars that most people would consider to be terrible, though I didn't really dislike any of them. This was mostly down to penny-piching stinginess..

Favorite would have been the first one, a 45 quid Hienkel Kabine//Trojan 2000 bubble car, IF I could have got it to run right, but I never really did.. Not sure whether this was down to it being knackered or due to my cluelessness and lack of a reasonable toolkit at the time.

So I suppose it would be my 40 quid Mk1 Lada. This came with a pretty good toolkit which was part of its appeal, along with the starting handle, the vernier manual adjustment of the ignition timing on the distributor, the manual timing chain tension adjustment, and, almost forgot, manual handbrake adjustment. (All my cars after that have had auto handbrake adjustment which has always been a non-functional PITA.)

It followed on from a very rotten 1800 Marina that, if I hadn't had access to welding gear and a pit at the time I couldn't have got through an MOT. The Lada probably wasn't any better re rust proofing but it didn't have quite such awful rot traps built in, and the metal was thicker, so it got a bit of bodging rather than the extensive rebuild (and re-design to use flange welds which I could actually do) that the Marina required..

Both makes seem to have suffered from poor quality control, perhaps partly because the workers wernt very good Communists in one case, perhaps because they were in the other. This seems to have been especially the case with the Lada, but maybe by buying an old 40 quid one, natural selection had already eliminated the subversive elements, since it was pretty reliable and didn't require many parts, but was a bit heavy on petrol..

Heavy steering so not very good dynamics (not that I know or care much about that). Skywing was nicer to drive and saved me from hitting a scooter that pulled out in front of me, and was also run for longer (over 10 years) than any other car, indeed if the cops hadnt got it I would probably still be running it, though the longevity was probably as much down to the less anal Taiwan test regime than any particular robustness. The fact that it was rubber band OHC FWD (only one I've had) just stopped it being favorite..

I still have one of the Lada spanners in Edinburgh but the main kit was stolen. This seems to be galvanized, so perhaps especially suitable for use on my boat..

Edited by edlithgow on 28/09/2025 at 08:14