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These have been the daily drivers:
1975 Cortina Estate - 1.6 in various shades of white in which I learnt to drive. Ran it for two years, was able to fix anything that went wrong with it, which was not much really - mainly points and condenser, mixture and timing. Never let me down.
1990 Cavalier. A different league to the Cortina, started mis-firing the day I drove it out of the showroom with 4 miles on the clock - cracked spark plug, PFY at the dealer damaged three out of four plug leads in the process of replacing the set meaning VOR for six weeks as there were no HT leads for the (then) new 1.8 engine in the country. Various problems over the 60,000 miles / 5 years I ran it... seized brakes, brakelight switches, dash bulbs. Towards the end it would belch blue smoke on start-up - the breather really needed cleaning out every few thousand miles. Cost a fortune to service as there was always a leaking gasket or pipework to replace, and failed its first two MOTs. Auto-choke never worked properly, dealer could never fix - just got used to left-foot braking until the car warmed up. The choke probably accounting for long term engine wear and all the blue smoke. RAC out five times in five years.
1995 Mondeo. Different league again - very solid car, ran from 5 months old (ex Budget rent-a-car via Ford Direct) and added over 70,000 miles in two years. "High mileage" servicing around 60 quid at my local Ford dealer. Great car, only needed a new starter motor due to a manufacturing fault (but would always start on second attempt so never actually let me down). Sold to a neighbour who covered at least another 50,000 trouble-free miles.
1997 Puma. My commute had dropped to nothing and I fancied a "toy". Ran it for four years around 50,000 miles. Great car, just fed up with the boot getting wet whenever it rained, and the doors freezing shut whenever it was icy. And the tracking going out every 3,000 miles scrubbing the tyres. Never let me down.
2001 C Class. Great car, owned from new, and my lovely Mercedes dealer spent most of the first three years replacing parts! Which was good - because it never went wrong for the next three years once out of warranty! Never came away from a service spending less than 400 quid, often over 800. Cost me three times what I paid for the Mondeo six years previously, and in reality wasn't three times as great as the Mondeo! Never let me down.
2002 FIAT Marea "Weekend". Bought at five years old / 200,000km on the clock, now has over 300k. Needed an alternator a couple of years ago. Err... nothing else. Starts first time, every time. Doesn't burn oil. Can park it anywhere without any worries. Struggling to replace it because it's so damned practical - today it had two big dogs in the back on a vet run, followed by 200kg of logs in the other direction.
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