Then, and Now

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Dup

Dup

Dup

Soldato
Joined
10 Mar 2006
Posts
11,417
Location
East Lancs
The past:

First off I started at 17 on a 125CC bike which was Italian, broke a lot, but I rode it for two years in all weather for 40 miles a day and learnt a lot about the roads. Sadly, flat out + a blind X-Type Jag driver ended things like this:

bikewreak.jpg


I came away bruised with two raw cherries and counted myself lucky.

I passed my driving test on the 4th December 2003. I then spent 6 months driving my mums 1995 Mk3 1.4 Golf CL alongside the bike. After writing off my little bike, I bought this crappy little Punto 1.2 60S:

lakeamanda1.jpg


This picture was taken early 2005 where I had already broken it many times and added cheap wrong coloured panels.

Not long after the Punto pic, I then got a proper job and needed a steadier car. As I was still young in my driving career I could still only get a small engined plopmobile:

plate.jpg


It served me well, broke more times that I could remember due to being french and being generally **** all round.

So that was then, and this is now:

After having the 206 for 2 years I gave it to Amanda (who still has it now) and bought my loony van. I'm still loving it and it's bringing me much joy as a car enthusiast. Here's how I stand, same girl, different car.

lakeamanda3.jpg

lakeamanda4.jpg


Today marks my 4th year on 4 wheels, Woop!
 
"sorry love, get out of the way, i'm trying to take pictures of the car not you."

Comfy on the sofa is it? :D
 
in two years ive gone from

Seat ibiza to celica

to golf

to 318i

and tomoro im looking at a 320i lol

i cant help myself :/

ill buy something nice in the end
 
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Bit of a girly car history but I guess thats pretty understandable :D

Congrats for resisting the temptation to buy a Clio and fit pink stuff to it :D
 
Congrats on 4 years of enduring crappy cars!

You seem to have learned your lesson by the looks of the new motor. :)

The bike accident looks nasty! :eek: very lucky there!
 
The girl in the pics is my girlfriend.

If I was a girl I would have a Clio full of pink stuff. I just couldn't do it trapped in this male body, im trapped :( helpmeee!
 
I've endured almost 4 years in my 1.2 clio rot box :( Still, I've got no-one to blame but myself . . I quite like making the jumps as big as possible - so when uni is over, the fun begins :D Oh, and I've got the motorbikes to handle the thrill/acceleration till I can get a car to match ;)

anyway, On topic ;)

Not a bad little history, as long as you're moving in the right direction at the end of the day ;)
 
I guess I better contribute properly to the thread :p

So I decided to buy a car. I was in love with... the Peugeot 306 DTurbo. I mean, how sexy do cars get? 3 doors, for extra cool-ness. 1.9TD engine, so it would cost 20p to run yet look like a hot hatch. At 17, surely nothing can be any better. But at 17, unless Mummy gives you vast amounts of cash, you are pretty skint. I only had about a grand to spend on a car. And a grand bought... a totally crap 306.

'I wonder how much big cars cost to insure....'

Enter the Citroen Xantia 1.9TD. I thought this was amazing becuase it did nearly 35mpg around town and, at that age, like I could be bothered to find out this saved me sod all over a petrol car. No, it was great. Infact it was more than great.

xantia.jpg


IT WAS THE BEST CAR IN THE WORLD. I dedicated a year of my life to telling everyone on OcUK how amazing the PSA 1.9 XUTD engine was.

As excellent as it was, by the age of 19, it was boring. It also rattled quite a lot. And to be honest the paintwork was a mess, covered in scratches, swirls and stuff. Time for a new car. Obviously big cars now rule. But I wanted something sporty. Something I thought looked flash. But again, on a student budget.

Hello Ford Mondeo Ghia X RSAP! What a great idea. A 2 litre Mondeo with a bodykit that looks amazing. The kit even came from the factory! I'll buy one of those. And of course, its a Mondeo, so there will be loads of choice.

Or not.

I began searching for my dream Mondeo in September 2003 and by January I'd seen only two Ghia X RSAP's and both were Automatic V6's. So I bought one without the bodykit in February 2004.

Then I covered it in stick on tat. And fitted a stupid exhuast.

monderr.jpg


It looked awesome. It was also, the best car in the world. Even better than the Xantia. Everyone needed to have a Mondeo, becuase seriously, the answer to everything is obviously Mondeo. Why would anyone need more? This time I spent a whole *2* years telling everyone on OcUK that it was the best car ever, and they all needed to buy one. On a slightly serious note they are actually pretty good cheap, reliable cars and the spec level is excellent. It's hard to do better if you've only got a grand or two to spend. But at the time, it was the best car in the world. It was absolutely light years ahead of anything else. Honest. What do you mean you need a 4x4 to tow your trailer? You idiot, you dont, you need a MONDEO. Really! Oh dear :/

But 2 years was enough, really. Year in Industry loomed on the horizon and with it, the chance to blow arguably too much money on something rather stupid like a new car. Wayhay. This time I could buy something really, really nice - my dream car. A car I'd wanted ever since I even cared about cars. At this point I was 21.

A BMW M5.

As you can imagine, this dream lasted for 10 seconds until the real world smacked me in the face and I realised that there was absolutely no way I could even afford to BUY, let alone run an M5. So what was the answer? A Sub £10k 530i or 540i Sport, obviously! It's like... a pretend M5 for people who can't afford a real one, only BMW do it all from the factory. It's even covered in M badges to make me feel all.. M-techish. Clearly, fussy mode needed to be engaged so I found out what was the rarest possible spec in the entire world - manual 530i Sport with leather - and decided to buy that. This one took about 3-4 months of looking to find.

Bought it in September 2006 and GUESS WHAT - it's the best car in the world again (Uh oh, pattern here..)!

wheels3.JPG


But this time I'm a tad more mature than before and no, OcUK don't get told to buy one every 34 seconds even if they've asked us to spec a small supermini. It's an aquired taste and although it's a sensational car - arguably one of the finest executive saloons of all time - its not for everyone. It sometimes breaks, it costs a fortune to run, and it loves fuel. And it's got a crap image. Everyone thinks you are a git. Probably becuase most BMW drivers are.

So I've still got it, 15 months and one mishap on. And it's still every bit as good as it was then. I still can't quite believe I managed to find one this good several grand UNDER my budget but hey - I was in the right place at the right time. I'll keep it as long as I can - well until after Uni and stuff - I dont think I'll get bored by 2 years this time.

It is also completely inappropriate for my needs. I do perhaps 50 miles a week, all in town. Where it gets 20mpg. The most suitable car for me is a 106 1.5d. But hey.

And to be honest, looking back, Xantia's aren't all that.
 
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Nice Post Fox, you'll have one hell of a problem proving the e39's eventual replacement is also the best car in the world, its not that we won't believe you (track record & all that!) - A car thats won so many awards will obviously be extremely hard to top!

Had any thoughts as to what it will be yet?

I'd happily post a similar thread, except I don't recall all of the cars I've owned, never mind dates etc! :o

Ford, Vauxhall, Mercedes, BMW, Peugeot off the top of my head, and no doubt quite a few others! :o
 
R124/LA420 said:
Nice Post Fox, you'll have one hell of a problem proving the e39's eventual replacement is also the best car in the world, its not that we won't believe you (track record & all that!) - A car thats won so many awards will obviously be extremely hard to top!

Had any thoughts as to what it will be yet?
Click to expand...

I don't know. I really, really want an M5, but I'm concerned that a) I won't see much advantage over my 530i anyway given I don't drive everywhere at 155mph and b) they will be getting on a bit soon. The E92 3 Series Coupe seems more sensible. They even do a boring diesel incase I've grown up a bit and have more important things to worry about with money.
 
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[TW]Fox;10616965 said:
I don't know. I really, really want an M5, but I'm concerned that a) I won't see much advantage over my 530i anyway given I don't drive everywhere at 155mph and b) they will be getting on a bit soon. The E92 3 Series Coupe seems more sensible. They even do a boring diesel incase I've grown up a bit and have more important things to worry about with money.
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Don't know about you, but I've experienced an e39 M5 and, obviously, my old Mans 528i (which tbh isn't a million miles away from a 530i) The difference between the M car & the regular, is night & day.

Its not about going everywhere on the limiter, its in the cornering ability, 0 - 60, 50 - 70 times etc.

Most people would'nt notice it's even an M5 (Petrolheads excluded) and I bet a few think your 530i is one already!

I suspect you'll obviously have grown up abit (nobody's found a reliable cure for it yet!) so no doubt circumstances may dictate your choice for you.

The e92 3 is a superb car, don't get me wrong.

I doubt many would view it as special as an M5 (of any variant)

It (The M5) is one of those "One day" cars that most (probably myself included) will never get the chance to own. Given what you've achieved in your relatively short motoing career, you may well be one of those lucky ones.
e39_m5.jpg

Am I tempting you yet? :D
 
I'd like to think that one day I will own an E39 M5.

However whether it will be as my next car, or as a garaged weekend toy in many years time (You can buy an E34 for £5k now, I don't think its unreasonable to expect to be able to afford to buy an E39 for similar money in many years time especially as nobody will want one when fuel is £5 a litre), remains to be seen.
 
[TW]Fox;10616985 said:
as a garaged weekend toy in many years time
Click to expand...

Tbh, the only way many of us will ever get near one, its a nice thought for the retirement though! :D
 
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