Driving 2 years today

[[TW]Fox]

I passed my test 12 years ago. I have owned 4 cars.

First car was a 1994 Citroen Xantia 1.9 TD SX. This lasted about 18 months until it was replaced with a 99 Mondeo Ghia X 16v to which I fitted the Ford RSAP bodykit. That lasted 2.5 years until I replaced it with a 4 year old BMW 530i Sport. This lasted for 5 years until I replaced it with a 2 year old BMW 335i M Sport. Which lasted 3 months until I realised that it wasn't a 5 Series, it was never going to be a 5 Series and I should have just waited until I could afford a new 5 Series, so I sold it and went back to my 530i Sport

As per the above post, here is a customary picture of my current car on the Stelvio Pass:

 

[geekman]

Ah right, that's still a lot to some people

It was a lot to me as well I just find it amusing that no-one thinks anything of all the 18/19 year olds in brand new fiestas and corsas, despite the fact they cost double what I paid for my Jag.

 

[bazzabear]

It is amazing what a hell of a lot of car you can get for your money going a few years old. Once you get below a certain price point, no-one wants an expensive, thirsty car, so you end up with the ludicrous situation of a high-end luxury or sporty car being cheaper to buy at 7 or 8 years old than a bog standard economy mobile at the same age.

 

[wingman]

Fox, did you sell the 5 Series and buy it back, or were you running both the cars? Did you miss the power advantage of the 335i when you got back into the 530i?

 

[miniyazz]

It is amazing what a hell of a lot of car you can get for your money going a few years old. Once you get below a certain price point, no-one wants an expensive, thirsty car, so you end up with the ludicrous situation of a high-end luxury or sporty car being cheaper to buy at 7 or 8 years old than a bog standard economy mobile at the same age.

Have you got any examples of where this is actually the case? I find it hard to believe they have become cheaper at 7-8yrs - or in fact at any time, but perhaps 15 or so might be a point before it's more an enthusiast car and cheap-to-run is that important to forgo the power/comfort of an initially much more expensive car.

 

[eatcustard]

1st car was back in 87 when insurance was cheap for a 17 year old (£250)
It was a bright orange skip shaped Yugo £1.20gal £10 to fill up

Them were the days

 

[koolpc]

Been driving for almost 30years now!! Had several points in that time. Couple of small dings and one larger ding into a lamp post in the snow and ice!

Driven all over the place. Longest was to the South of France of which i have done twice now.

 

[Aeleys]

It was a lot to me as well I just find it amusing that no-one thinks anything of all the 18/19 year olds in brand new fiestas and corsas, despite the fact they cost double what I paid for my Jag.

What was the insurance on it? would have been like 400 grand for me, seeing as fiestas,corsas and the likes were 25k+

 

[geekman]

What was the insurance on it? would have been like 400 grand for me, seeing as fiestas,corsas and the likes were 25k+

I pay £2000 for a multicar policy on both cars. After my first year of driving, I found that whilst I was unsurprisingly still getting stupid quotes on M3s and Evos, cars like the MR2 and XJ6 weren't a lot more to insure than Corsas and Fiestas. For instance, a quote on a Corsa is still around £1200 for me, so for an extra £800 I may as well have two cars I enjoy a lot more than I would a Corsa.

 

[Rybo89]

Got my licence in 2008 with 3 minors for being too close to the car in front. They said it would have been a fail if it was raining.

2 days later i went to Sheffield and fetched my first car, a 1.4 EJ9 Civic Illusion (excuse the wipers being up):

It was then stood on my nana's drive for another month when i realised how hard it was to insure one of these as a first car. Eventually got a reasonable quote and stomached the premium.

2 years later i decided i wanted a newer, quicker, up to date car that wasn't a rust bucket like my old civic so i went out and bought a Fiesta ST:

Ended doing this to it (not a fan today like i use to be ):

The Fiesta ST was a absolute brilliant little car, loved it to bits but after a year i wanted something faster and bigger..

So i was looking into Focus ST's and had my heart set on a 2008 Colorado Red ST3. Organized to meet the owner at 6pm, asked if he wanted me to send him a deposit to show i wasn't messing him about but he said not to worry and he will see me later. Took the kids to Legoland, Manchester that day and i was excited taking them home ready to go look at this ST and on the way home i got a text off the guy "sorry, car has been sold". Gutted... ****!

Anyway found a nice Moondust Silver ST in Warrington that was under budget. So we went off to go look at it and i came back with this:

Turns out the ST still had finance on it and the owner wouldn't let me clear the finance, They expected me to give them the cash and trust them to clear the finance after lol...

I had my eye on the VXR for a while and was in contact with the owner over eBay, so thought bugger it, lets go to Wales straight from Warrington and have a look...I ended up buying it.

How it ended up looking:

looked awesome, never stopped getting compliments on it and i still kind of miss it, especially when everyone reminds me of it and asks why i ever got rid.

Well.... I needed a bigger car and the gearbox was doing my head in.

So after much humming and arring and finding my self looking at Howards car a lot, i decided i wanted a ST220 next, so i went and bought one:


DSC_0008 by Rybo89, on Flickr

Brilliant car! Comfy, spacey, great engine, looks great, sounds great now i have added a Milltek system. Downside, it is very thirsty!

I then come past a bargain and thought i would get my mrs back on the road so i bought her a little civic, which i use a lot now for pottering around town in. Rright little beast:

And there is my mini car life story

 

[bazzabear]

Have you got any examples of where this is actually the case? I find it hard to believe they have become cheaper at 7-8yrs - or in fact at any time, but perhaps 15 or so might be a point before it's more an enthusiast car and cheap-to-run is that important to forgo the power/comfort of an initially much more expensive car.

I realise this is only one comparison, so hardly constitutes proof - but here's from a very quick look:

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201310159287542
A Focus with starship miles.

Or a 166 with 50k less miles for a tenner less?
http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201308088220167

It was more of a general point anyway - if you're not so bothered about running costs yourself, you can get an absolute bargain in terms of buying costs. Especially with 'executive' cars - not many executives want to drive a car that's only worth a few grand, so no one is buying them, so their value plummets. At the very least you end up with the buying prices compressing between the economy cars and the premium ones, and you do get crossover too if you look hard enough.

 

[Aeleys]

I pay £2000 for a multicar policy on both cars. After my first year of driving, I found that whilst I was unsurprisingly still getting stupid quotes on M3s and Evos, cars like the MR2 and XJ6 weren't a lot more to insure than Corsas and Fiestas. For instance, a quote on a Corsa is still around £1200 for me, so for an extra £800 I may as well have two cars I enjoy a lot more than I would a Corsa.

Nice one. Will have to look around more next time lol

 

[miniyazz]

I realise this is only one comparison, so hardly constitutes proof - but here's from a very quick look:

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201310159287542
A Focus with starship miles.

Or a 166 with 50k less miles for a tenner less?
http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201308088220167

It was more of a general point anyway - if you're not so bothered about running costs yourself, you can get an absolute bargain in terms of buying costs. Especially with 'executive' cars - not many executives want to drive a car that's only worth a few grand, so no one is buying them, so their value plummets. At the very least you end up with the buying prices compressing between the economy cars and the premium ones, and you do get crossover too if you look hard enough.

I'd struggle to describe a 166 as a premium car I think, but there's no denying it's better than a (diesel) focus of the era.
It's also a year older and really quite slow and inefficient - barely better on fuel than my 11yr old 2.8L Golf despite only just making it to 62mph in under 10s, and weighing less - which is never a good combo!

There's definitely flattening of the buying prices as they get to that price range though, I agree.

 

[Skellz]

22. Learnt a lot since I passed ~5 year ago, started off with a '01 1.3 Ford Fiesta flight which I got from auction as my old man's a car auctioneer. It was dog slow and dated but cheap and very reliable. I kept it for near on 4 years until insurance quotes came down to a more reasonable figure. Then I bought a '55 impreza wrx ppp blobeye from a stealer last September and sold it in August just gone.

I'm still looking for a replacement car (OP's 330 would do nicely ) but do miss the scoob. Currently poodling around in the family '12 Skoda Fabia 1.2 TSI estate, makes me realize how much I miss having my own vehicle whilst I look for one.

Driven a variety of vehicles over the years that were not my own though. I would say I've learnt a fair amount just by watching/experiencing other people's driving, mainly on how not to do things. Some folk at work still drive van's with a mobile in hand .