On a slightly more upbeat note than the 'worst car ever owned' thread, what has been the best car you have ever owned.
Try and do this without putting on the rose-tinted spectacles! Bearing in mind cars are generally better than they have ever been.
|
my current car...9 year old Jag S Type 3.0 SE auto...owned if for 6.5 years, which is the longest i've ever owned a vehicle when still using it. As mentioned in another thread about the non desirability of most modern cars, there's nothing i'd want to trade it in for, other than for silly money.
very comfortable, smooth, quickish, lots of kit, leather, sunroof, very good sound system, climate
The only down side, is fuel consumption and fuel costs... as around town, being used as a second car, it isn't brilliant...but the compromise for a diesel model would take away the smoothness and quietness...so i'll keep what i've got (have decided to keep it for good).
i do cheat on long journeys though, we use the wife's diesel
|
Mmmmm depends what criteria you use.
Driving pleasure
Performance
Economy
Practicality
Cost/s
Comfort
Pride
etc etc
Having been lucky enough to have either owned or had the use of over 40 different cars so far, some of which might have been described as sports or luxury models, I have to select a rather odd choice.
My venerable old Mondeo diesel estate. Does everthing I want without giving me any grief.
|
Carlton GSi24V manual. I normally kep a car 18 months sometimes less but my carlton I kept for 7 years & loved every moment.
Comfortable, quiet smooth good looking & stunning performance for a saloon car of that era. Fuel wasn't too bad 26-27 average & 17-19 around town
|
|
|
Hmmmm Id be tempted to say an old Hyunda Lantra 1.5, I got for about £150 a few years ago, when my Mondeo 2.0 Ghia X blew up (the 1st time) (more on that later in worst car thread....)
its was great, i run it for about 2 months, never did anything other than fuel it, thrashed it everywhere, did over 150miles in one hit, and the return journey the next day without missing a beat at an average of 70mph...
it did a fortnightly round trip of 180miles in one day... Id say I put over 2500 miles it the time I had it, then I sold it for £200 - the only car I have ever made money on! - result!
|
|
|
|
|
My current '98 Audi A4 avant TDI. (AFN engine) It's just turned 269000 miles and has never let me down in five years of ownership. The only thing it's needed apart from the usual consumables is a new driveshaft. It's still on the original clutch! (I think the secret is long motorway and dual c'way miles.)
We've been everywhere together and I'm far too attached to it. Still drives beautifully and has faithfully returned an average of 55mpg over the time. Doesn't owe me a penny. I'm doing about 40,000 miles a year. I'll be shedding a tear when I do finally have to scrap the old girl.
|
|
|
|
My current car which is a 406 V6 Coupe. coming upto 9 years old, and a 114k on the clock, smooth drive, plenty of power, and at the moment being reliable.
|
|
A BMW 530d (E39) - delivered "in error" by my leasing company after they "lost" the E46 330d I was meant to have. A cracking car by any standard.
|
|
|
The Grand Scenic. Does the job it was bought for with a near perfect mix of comfort, reliability and low running costs. Loaded it to the gunwhales and drove it 2200 miles in a week down to Italy and back through the summer. Still did 43 mpg and never missed a beat. Remove the seats, and you have a small van for dump runs and carting big items about. With the seats in place, it will sit at 160 km/h on the Autobahn in enough comfort and serenity for the kids to snooze contentedly in the back.
I've had faster, better built, more exciting cars many times over, but this is a car that perfectly suits our life circumstances at this moment. As a tool to do a job, it's just brilliant. What's most impressive is that it's clearly been thought about. Ride is fabulous, seats are all day comfy, oddments storage first class, occupant safety levels high, interior versatility superb, refinement excellent, and running costs low. If you have small kids to cart about, it's just about perfect. Not exciting, but good to drive, not sharp handling, but super smooth, not fast but gutsy. Apart from some naff detailing quality, it's very hard to fault.
|
|
|
|
The car I have most enjoyed was a 1994 Saab 900 - fast enough, quiet, very comfortable, all the necessary extras, none of the unnecessary ones (though you could have a debate about the 'black panel', I quite liked it). Not a car that was widely admired, mocked as a poseur's Cavalier, and not outstanding at anything apart from very good seats - but the best all rounder will always be the best compromise for me. It also had a comfortable 'non-image'.
I liked it much more than the BMW 318, Audi 80 and Audi 100 that preceded it, and immeasurably more than the Galaxy that followed.
Horribly compromised in other areas, as a drive the 1961 Mini Cooper took some beating - widened wheels, Goodyear Rally Specials, and no slowing down for roundabouts - full harness belts helped. 50bhp or so made today's cars look ludicrously overpowered for their purpose, which of course they are.
|
|
There's a bit of a theme emerging here, which is that the most admired cars seem to be the ones that get the job done? Something to bear in mind when I have to find another one.
|
|
|
|
|
Mk3 Golf GTI. Bought when I was 'between jobs' off of a dealer who specialised in BMW's but had had this in part exchange. Full history, 120K miles but in perfect condition. Bought for £1K, used faultlessly for a year then sold for £2K to a GTI enthusiast looking for an unmolested, original example. Only car I've ever made 100% profit on so this must be the best I've owned!
|
Its all very subjective I once bought a canary yellow Ford Capri that I thought was the best thing since sliced bread
I felt like a millionaire getting into that the first time, now on reflection and the concensus of the board probably agrees that car was a pile of cack :-)
So I'll say a Merc ML320 a company vehicle 100 times better than the old Capri (but I didnt get that same feeling as with the death trap of a Ford)
|
Oh I dunno MB. I'd quite like a yellow Capri.
:-)
|
Me too. :-)
A caspian blue "2.8 Injection" (has there ever been a better model designation than that?) would do nicely as well. That is a car I lusted after in my youth.
|
An old M-reg Sunny that we had for about 5 years up to last July when some plank wrote it off on us (drove out in front of us at a T junction).
By most measures it wasn't a terribly interesting car, but we never had to lift a spanner to it in all the time we had it. Categorically refused to die. Sailed through all but its last MOT (where it needed minor welding on the sills). Was sorry to see that one go -- it even managed to make its own way onto the tow truck when its entire front end was mashed, quite a sad sight really.
|
|
|
Best car was easily my mint low mileage ( 27k ) Volvo 460 Xi which I bought when it was 10 years old and it had full Volvo service history up to date.
It was a fab car, huge boot, all the equipment I wanted ( C/L and heated seats but no elec anything ), it was comfortable, solid to drive, very reliable and it did 45 mpg which wouldnt have been much to complain about on a diesel let alone a 1.8 petrol.
I nearly cried when a dimwit in London rear ended it. I miss it to this day.
|
I had a 1993 320SL, bought new and collected at Stuttgart. Did some quality open top time in it all over Europe in it and then sold it to buy a house. A very modest house I might add! Those were the days, eh?
Edited by Armitage Shanks {p} on 12/10/2008 at 16:41
|
For me after getting promoted during the 80's it was an MG Maestro 2.0 efi. In it's day it had punchy performance, excellent cornering and it was during an age of little control of speed limits, and I was young and egotistical.
The problems of the "standard" Maestro, ie: nasty gearchange, wheezy engine and sloppy handling had all been put right, albeit with the somewhat noisy O series engine.
|
|
BMW E46 330d Estate. So good, I extended the lease for an extra year. The dog learned to hold on tight on the corners!
|
J reg Cavalier SRI. Last of the pre-cats.
As mechanically sophisticated as a tractor and much as noisy.
But unbreakable unbelievable fast and just fun fun fun.
Plus you could get a double bass in the back (I was dating a musician at time and did).
|
|
A modern Morris 1000 I would say - cheap and easy to maintain and fix. I had custody of one 1600 MK1, my wife had a G plate 130 SRi, An office 1600 MK2 and another 94 Mk2 SRi all excellent cars, the last two are still around being used daily.
|
|
|
|
Audi A4 Avant 2.5 TDI. One day I'll have another Audi but the 6-cylinder A4s have got too expensive, and I can't see the point of the 2.0 TDI over the Golf with the same engine, which is what I have now.
The Golf estate is excellent but there's something special - an extra feel-good factor - about an Audi. However it's not £6,700-worth of difference, which is the current difference in list prices.
|
|
|
|
'Britains' toy army landrover circa late 1970s.
|
Continuing the Get The Job Done theme...1989-G Ford Escort 1.3 3-door in Matisse Blue. Bought new when I started my first proper job and Ford paid for my insurance. Never mind electric everything - this just about managed electric headlamps, but I didn't care. It made the step from No Car to A Car, and upgrades don't get any better than that.
It never let me down - the most it needed was new rear light fittings to cure a bizarre Blackpool Illuminations effect I see on the odd Ford to this day - and it managed something like 42mpg. And I unwisely swapped it four years later for an Astra 1.4 because I'd embarked on a long-distance relationship and I wanted something with a fifth gear. The Astra was an expensive mistake (although the relationship seems to have worked out OK - and requires less travel now.)
There's one in the same colour, with the same oh-so-Eighties white wheeltrims, that lives not far from me, and I still smile when I see it.
|
Well , I loved my 1991? VW Corrado G60 , went like a rocket, gripped and steered beyond my skills and was superbly comfortable. Even took 4 people at a push.Sold it after one year when it almost needed new tyres and a service and the insurance renewal premium had doubled!
But I kept my Passat diesel estate for 6 1/2 years , 110,000 miles and just sold it I guess from boredom. But it did everything I ever wanted and was even entertaining to drive.
That's why tyres never lasted more than ~10k.
|
Aston Martin Vantage RS.
Unfortunately it's only a Dinky Toy.
|
|
|
|
Triumph Dolomite Sprint.......great for its time [pre Golf GTI]. Mine was 2nd hand with 70k on the clock and a persistently leaky water pump but I still remember the satisfying seamless acceleration obtained by using the little overdrive switch in the gear lever knob in third gear. Head design was way ahead of its time with single overhead cam operating 16 valves with ingenious rocker mechanism.
Police didn't like them - got one of my three speeding fines in it.
|
1990 H Mercedes 190E 1.8 manual in Signal Red.
At the time I took a long time deciding on that model and then seeking an excellent example (should have bought a 2.0 auto but there you go...).
Very happy with it although it was no ball of fire and the manual was a bit clunky. A real quality piece of machinery. Still miss it.
|
It's either my Cavalier 1.7 td or the Boxster S, for very different reasons.
|
Best all-rounder has been my B5.5 Passat PD130 sport saloon, which was sold earlier this year after 5 years and 60K+ miles.
An excellent family barge, with enough boot for a 2-week family holiday, 50+mpg on a run and average 46mpg over my ownership. Also stunning in-gear / overtaking grunt at real-world speeds, it could tick off the 30-50 / 40-60 / 50-70 increments in 4th gear in 5 seconds or so.
However, the new Mondeo estate that replaced the Passat is showing signs of being even better in all departments except one. I wish 4th and 5th gear were a little shorter.
|
|
|
|
A 2000 Toyota MR2 Roadster.
Loved it. Drove and handled brilliantly, always fun to go out in, even on the daily commute.
Much missed these days now we have a family and such toys just don't fit in anymore.
|
My current Seat Leon Cupra R, as an all round package its pretty unbeatable.
Mind you, I would not mind my old mk2 Escort RS2000 back, I sold it in 1989 for £2,500 and thought I'd done well!!
|
My old Opel Manta 2.0 GTE. Comfy, quick enough to be entertaining. Cheap to run and easy to fix.
Cost £450, ran it for 2 years and sold it for £450. Can't really beat that!
Only thing I didn't like is that the front wings rusted so fast you could almost watch it happen.
|
My recently sold 1997 R Ford Scorpio 2.5tdi Ultima Estate. More toys than the modern luxury cars, very comfy, did 50,000 miles in 2 years, completely reliable and happily towed a twin axle braked beavertail trailer for our haulage company when we were busy. Managed 3tons of pipe on one trip without so much as a moan. The self levelling suspension was great.
For fun the 1977 R MK2 3litre JPS colours Capri, rear drive fun at its very best, and kept getting faster as more bits fell off!
Paul
|
|
|
|
Not many to choose from. If reliability and economy were my main criteria then my current Saab 9-3. But for "best car" they are not, so I will say 1990 Peugeot 405 Mi16.
The heater didnt work properly, the electric sunroof didnt work at all, it cost quite a lot in unscheduled repairs. But for driving pleasure it was well worth it; great handling, was quick and looked quite understated.
I used to average low-20s mpg but that was not a concern, I used to do about 7k miles per year back then. Carefree days!
|
I haven't owned many cars, but the best by far was my 1988 Peugeot 305 GRD estate.
Supremely comfortable, economical on fuel, remarkably good handling for its day, 100% reliable and because of its simplicity it was dirt cheap to maintain. It had tons of space inside (much more than a Sierra estate or other alternatives), and its few vices (diabolical gearchange and excess wind noise at speed) were never near enough to dent its appeal.
If it hadn't been torched by some idiot, I'm sure I'd still be driving it now, even though it'd be 20 years old.
|
Honda Insight - Ok, not the most pratical car and therefore not an option for many, but perfect for me at the time. Bought it from Chiswick Honda the week before the CC started with 11K on the clock and put 65K marvellous miles on it without a hitch, including trips to France and Italy. It turned more heads at the French F1 GP than the race did. Fantastic to drive with superb handling, and all the mod-cons one could need, including the most effective air-con I've ever experienced.
Best mileage was avg 83.8mpg London to Norfolk. What a car.
|
for pure pleasure, e30 325
Nice handling, sweet sound. Surprisingly spacious boot, and great sports seats.
For practicality:
'97 Corolla 1.3. seemingly bomb-proof mechanicals(better than the VVti engines that replaced the 4e-fe), easy to work on(not that much is required), decent visibility. Perhaps the most reliable engine ever built?
|
|
2001 Ford Mondeo Zetec Estate, 2 litre petrol.
|
Shouldn't someone have mentioned the Mondeo TDCi by now, given that it's the indisputable best car in the world, ever?
};---)
|
|
WDB - See my post ( third from top ) Yep, it's a TDCi !!!!!
|
|
|
|
|
I've only had a Scirocco, a Polo, a Golf and an mx-5, so not many to chose from, but the mx-5 wins hands down.
I love it. It is raw motoring. It just makes me smile to drive it. If I let it rev to 4000, it just begs for more. I oten can't resist and open her up. She sings all the way to 7000 then snaps into the next gear. Also, I love feeling the rear slide slightly. That makes me smile too!
|
|
|
|
Because performance, reliability and durability all improve in leaps and bounds, it's always my latest car which is the best I've ever owned. Currently it's an 03/03 2 litre petrol Focus Ghia.
Edited by L'escargot on 14/10/2008 at 19:23
|
1964 Cooper S.
Originally a 1071, but later re-stroked to 970 to compete in the under 1000cc saloon car club racing at Brands, Snetterton, Cadwell, Mallory Pk et al.
Never finished in the silverware, but what fun in those far off amateur days.
|
|
1988 Rover 827 SLI a great car to have in those carefree days before speed cameras and Gordon's stealth taxes. 22mpg but we didn't seem to care those days.
|
|
Honda jazz, 2003, spacious economical, reliable, a pleasure to drive and own
|
After 42 yrs of car ownership and may be 30+ cars (mostly company and mostly new) the best has to be Mazda Xedos 6 - bought in 1999 for £15K, 2nd hand with 2k miles, and still in my garage. The new car is outside in the rain!
Fast (for me at least)
Comfortable (if a wee bit small in the back - but not me in the front)
Reliable (Less than £500 repairs in the 9 years ownership excluding tyres, servicing . Still on original battery, I have replaced 2 light bulbs only and the original exhaust 2 mths ago)
It has failed to start once in 9 years but I can forgive that - left it 30 mins and it started
Other makes MB, Peugeot, Opel, Renault, MG (1972) Vauxhall, BMC, Ford..................have all broken down in awkward spots, cost a fortune to repair................
|
|
|
|
