Soldato
- Joined
- 2 Mar 2004
- Posts
- 11,919
- Location
- SE England
With 2011 just around the corner I thought it'd be worth a look back at the year to see what everyone's been driving, working on, or spectacularly writing off in a ball of flame.
As well as putting up a picture, tell us a little about each car - such as any positives or negatives, or if there was anything particularly memorable about each one. Even if you haven't changed cars, put up a picture of your current one and tell us if anything's been done, or changed, over the year.
Also - What are you working towards for 2011? Any projects you'd like to complete or start, or maybe you've something in mind to trade up or down to for next year?
Rules: Only one picture per car (unless someone requests more). That's about it!
I started the year with two cars - a Toyota Supra and a Jeep Cherokee.
The Supra was my first Japanese car - it had a 3.0 NA straight six, a five-speed manual box and LSD. I really enjoyed it but it was actually lowered a bit too much - caught on a lot of things on the rough roads around me. A beautifully smooth straight six and a comfortable cabin made it quite a refined cruiser yet with the five-speed box it was suprisingly good fun to drive, despite its size and weight.
The Jeep was fantastic and extremely reliable, as I used it daily for work - one of the 'best' years too, the '96. Proved to be worth its weight in gold once the snow started coming down! I sold it on after I quit my job as I wouldn't be able to stomach the average 18-odd miles to the gallon.
In the interests of widening my motoring experience and knowledge I decided that I should try a couple of front-wheel drive cars - I've only owned one before and that was a 1972 Triumph 1500 FWD!
First up was a Ford Puma, a 1.7 litre Zetec:
Great fun to drive, lively engine and pretty thrifty to run. Yea, they do suffer from cosmetic rust - but it's not too difficult to sort out. The only thing I couldn't really stomach was the rear-end looks.
I then followed up with something a little more 'exotic' and potent, a 3.0 litre Italian built Peugeot 406 coupe:
This was a bit of a leap into the unknown for me but it turned out to be well worth it, with lots of equipment and a well-finished cabin. It rapidly transpired that it was a really good car to drive, too. I think they shot themselves in the foot calling it a 406 though......
I had a hankering for a long time to try a 'big six' Triumph saloon, so I tracked down a really nice Mk.2 2000:
This was extremely modern to drive, in some respects, with a quiet and vibration-free engine, an excellent automatic gearbox, strong brakes and independant suspension all round that gave it a very competent ride. I'd love a 2.5 PI at some point, as about the only criticism I had against it was that it just wasn't fast enough sometimes with the 2 litre engine. It would go fast, if you wanted it to - but it'd take a long time.
I then continued the British saloon theme with another P6, a 3500S:
.....which I spent some considerable time doing up and getting back on the road. Got a brand new MOT in the morning and drove it down to the RR meet at the Ace Cafe the in the evening, not bad considering it'd been off the road for almost a year and had done at least 160,000 miles! Great fun to drive with a slick manual gearbox, V8 torque and power steering.
I then dropped back to something more 'sensible' as a run-around:
A quite well kitted E30 325i automatic - with full leather, AC, PAS, ABS and more. I was suprised at how good the autobox was in it, to be honest! Never quite gelled with it though, so off it went.
I haven't owned any older Fords so I decided I'd start with something that would be an easy introduction and picked up this:
A low mileage Ford Granada Scorpio 2.9i, with an RS bodykit and RS wheels. It made a fantastic commuter with all the right kit (AC, cruise, electric everything, heated leather seats and more) and it looked the part! This was a real sofa of a car, phenomenally comfortable and refined, but that didn't stop it being enjoyable to drive. Very eighties though!
I did a good few thousand miles in it but company cars meant that it simply wasn't getting used - and it wasn't appropriate for those instances where I wasn't using work vehicles.
Consequently it's now been replaced by another Jeep, a 60th Anniversary model - just to deal with lugging stuff around and any inclement weather we get:
I'm also fortunate enough to have this beast as a company car at the moment:
It's a Toyota Auris hybrid, which has a CVT transmission. The hybrid thing's a waste of time, compared to a decent diesel, and the CVT is just annoying - with the engine sitting at maximum RPM the moment you hit an incline or need to accelerate. The rest of the car's pretty sound though and the handling's actually much better than I expected.
So, when the weather improves, the Jeep will be sold on, allowing me to focus on one project car without having to concern myself with a daily driver as well.
In 2011 I'm looking to put something together that's seriously quick, as well as engaging in a little competitive driving. I've been collecting engine parts for the majority of 2010 but I'm still weighing up the pros and cons of just modifying something that's already fast, to be faster, or building a car from the ground up. We shall see!
As well as putting up a picture, tell us a little about each car - such as any positives or negatives, or if there was anything particularly memorable about each one. Even if you haven't changed cars, put up a picture of your current one and tell us if anything's been done, or changed, over the year.
Also - What are you working towards for 2011? Any projects you'd like to complete or start, or maybe you've something in mind to trade up or down to for next year?
Rules: Only one picture per car (unless someone requests more). That's about it!
I started the year with two cars - a Toyota Supra and a Jeep Cherokee.
The Supra was my first Japanese car - it had a 3.0 NA straight six, a five-speed manual box and LSD. I really enjoyed it but it was actually lowered a bit too much - caught on a lot of things on the rough roads around me. A beautifully smooth straight six and a comfortable cabin made it quite a refined cruiser yet with the five-speed box it was suprisingly good fun to drive, despite its size and weight.
The Jeep was fantastic and extremely reliable, as I used it daily for work - one of the 'best' years too, the '96. Proved to be worth its weight in gold once the snow started coming down! I sold it on after I quit my job as I wouldn't be able to stomach the average 18-odd miles to the gallon.
In the interests of widening my motoring experience and knowledge I decided that I should try a couple of front-wheel drive cars - I've only owned one before and that was a 1972 Triumph 1500 FWD!
First up was a Ford Puma, a 1.7 litre Zetec:
Great fun to drive, lively engine and pretty thrifty to run. Yea, they do suffer from cosmetic rust - but it's not too difficult to sort out. The only thing I couldn't really stomach was the rear-end looks.
I then followed up with something a little more 'exotic' and potent, a 3.0 litre Italian built Peugeot 406 coupe:
This was a bit of a leap into the unknown for me but it turned out to be well worth it, with lots of equipment and a well-finished cabin. It rapidly transpired that it was a really good car to drive, too. I think they shot themselves in the foot calling it a 406 though......
I had a hankering for a long time to try a 'big six' Triumph saloon, so I tracked down a really nice Mk.2 2000:
This was extremely modern to drive, in some respects, with a quiet and vibration-free engine, an excellent automatic gearbox, strong brakes and independant suspension all round that gave it a very competent ride. I'd love a 2.5 PI at some point, as about the only criticism I had against it was that it just wasn't fast enough sometimes with the 2 litre engine. It would go fast, if you wanted it to - but it'd take a long time.
I then continued the British saloon theme with another P6, a 3500S:
.....which I spent some considerable time doing up and getting back on the road. Got a brand new MOT in the morning and drove it down to the RR meet at the Ace Cafe the in the evening, not bad considering it'd been off the road for almost a year and had done at least 160,000 miles! Great fun to drive with a slick manual gearbox, V8 torque and power steering.
I then dropped back to something more 'sensible' as a run-around:
A quite well kitted E30 325i automatic - with full leather, AC, PAS, ABS and more. I was suprised at how good the autobox was in it, to be honest! Never quite gelled with it though, so off it went.
I haven't owned any older Fords so I decided I'd start with something that would be an easy introduction and picked up this:
A low mileage Ford Granada Scorpio 2.9i, with an RS bodykit and RS wheels. It made a fantastic commuter with all the right kit (AC, cruise, electric everything, heated leather seats and more) and it looked the part! This was a real sofa of a car, phenomenally comfortable and refined, but that didn't stop it being enjoyable to drive. Very eighties though!
I did a good few thousand miles in it but company cars meant that it simply wasn't getting used - and it wasn't appropriate for those instances where I wasn't using work vehicles.
Consequently it's now been replaced by another Jeep, a 60th Anniversary model - just to deal with lugging stuff around and any inclement weather we get:
I'm also fortunate enough to have this beast as a company car at the moment:
It's a Toyota Auris hybrid, which has a CVT transmission. The hybrid thing's a waste of time, compared to a decent diesel, and the CVT is just annoying - with the engine sitting at maximum RPM the moment you hit an incline or need to accelerate. The rest of the car's pretty sound though and the handling's actually much better than I expected.
So, when the weather improves, the Jeep will be sold on, allowing me to focus on one project car without having to concern myself with a daily driver as well.
In 2011 I'm looking to put something together that's seriously quick, as well as engaging in a little competitive driving. I've been collecting engine parts for the majority of 2010 but I'm still weighing up the pros and cons of just modifying something that's already fast, to be faster, or building a car from the ground up. We shall see!
Last edited:
