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Best Courtesy Shite You've Driven


eifion

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I had to take my XM to the local garage last week as it'd burst a hydraulic pipe. I was offered a choice of a ten-year-old Astra or this as a courtesy car. It was an easy decision to make and I've been driving round it in with a big grin on my face for the last few days. It's only an 1100 petrol, but remarkably nippy.

 

 

Has anyone else been loaned anything so good they don't really want their own car back?

 

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Most of 'em were better than what I was trying to get fixed...... 

 

Bestest was when I took my Yank to a specialist for an engine/trans swap.   Took a bit longer than he said, so long in fact that the £30 Cortina I bought as an interim with three months ticket left was finally laughed out of the workshop with a fail sheet like the Magna Carta.   

 

When I grumped about it he gave me the keys to his Caddy - RWD Seville with 400 Olds lump in it.   Bloody hell, that went!      

 

Our Merc specialist always has a nice old E Class for Mrs Rocker when we take hers in for its annual going-over.   Mind you, I am always glad to get the 190 back again.

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Had a near enough new Kia Pride for about a month long time ago, what a crackin little car, only thing i would have altered if'twer mine i'd have put some better shockers on the back cos it bounced quite a bit, other than that it was a delightful and quite fast little runabout with acres of headroom compared to the cars of the time which i struggled to get comfy in.

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I will have said on here before but when I was a nipper my parents Chrysler (Sunbeam or Horizon, timeline out on which one) broke down and they got an oragne Marina coupe whilst it was getting repaired. Like this one but much more 'used'.

 

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I seem to remember that I was quite taken with the Marina. When my parents went to take the Marina back to pick the Chrysler up again I remember screaming all the way there because I preferred the 'smelly old car' over their modern one. I mean I was properly screaming, I was absolutely devastated that this wasn't our proper car, having a tantrum on the back seat.  

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When my parents went to take the Marina back to pick the Chrysler up again I remember screaming all the way there because I preferred the 'smelly old car' over their modern one. I mean I was properly screaming, I was absolutely devastated that this wasn't our proper car, having a tantrum on the back seat.  

 

I don't think I'll react quite that badly when I have to return the 205 van, but I'm surprised how quickly I've taken to it. It needs a good wash and tidying out and I keep having to remind myself that it's not my car so I don't have to do that.

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That brings back memories!    My dad had an FD estate which they bought from a sheepskin out of the paper.   It played up, predictably, and they were given the cruddiest possible HA Viva to smoke around in for a week or so.   I loved it, even had a coat-hanger aerial and although Dad cleaned it straight away it looked just as filthy afterwards.... 

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a couple spring to mine, when i was abusing the company Focus, the courtesy car at the local ford dealer was a mark 1 Ka, and i thought that they were a smashing wee car! ok so the seats were crap, but it had a willing OHV engine and a nice gearbox.

 

another which i thought was a pleasant car was the tired, opaline metallic Rover 25 that the ex-Rover dealers in Malton gave me after the new ball joint they charged me for, but didn't fit failed on the 820 coupe. it had a set of dreadful inappropriate after market wheels fitted, but otherwise was pretty standard.

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A local user car dealer which, as it turned out, had a bit of a reputation, loaned me a Peugeot 309 GTi about 12 years ago while they dealt with some issues on the MK4 Fiesta I'd bought from them.

 

It was in terrible condition, was difficult to start from cold, smoked like a Deltic, was reluctant to idle, had a very large hole in the exhaust and the passenger door dropped an inch when opened. A complete deathtrap, really and it probably didn't have an MOT.

 

However, it was very fast, very loud and a lot of fun to hoon around in for a couple of days. I rather wish I'd bought one while they were cheap.

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I had a mini back in the day and it needed brake cylinders in the front drums.

 

My mate who had a garage said he'd do it and collect mine and drop off a courtesy car for me.

 

The time came and he handed me a plain silver key and said its parked round the corner but wouldn't tell me what it was.

 

You'll see was all he said.

 

Oh I did see it alright!!!!

 

So did most of Leeds.

 

THE BRIGHTEST YELLOW 1.3HL ALLEGRO IVE EVER SEEN!!!!!

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Citroen AX 1.1 from Modern Citroen Services in Longbridge

 

Forget what it was called but it looked like a GTi

 

Might have been a Forte?

 

Fantastic little car, it went way better than a 1.1 should

 

I put 300 miles on that in one week

 

After a week they couldn't diagnose the XM fault so I had it back without any money changing hands

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Not loan cars I've used but ones I've had -

 

97 civic 5dr 1.6 - faultless and used it for a 1500 mile round trip to Aberdeen . Sold to a customer desperate for a car

 

The Moog Starlet - a beast that never gave any trouble

 

1.7 puma - the one I shouldn't have sold - moved it on to a friend of Overruns and brought a ropey corsa 1.0 back

Only had that a month and moved it on cos it was terrible .

Saxo 1.5 d for over a year - it's done 196k and is unkillable ( uh oh )

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Guest Hooli

The only & worst discourtesy car I've had was a mk5 escort 1.3.

 

It had one redeeming feature, it allows me to tell this story...

 

I got stopped by plod in it & they asked if it was my car, I looked out the window at the 4" high writing on the side (saying Ashington Autos Courtesy car) & asked him 'what do you think?'.

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Mentioned the village of Barrow on the Bury StEdmunds thread. Village garage used to have a P reg Hillman Avenger as their courtesy car. It was that weird sort of metallic pink colour that was 'popular' around that time. I never got it but I think Father Misfit got a go in it and spoke highly of the experience.

 

About 10 years back in the UK I had a volvo S40 and the Volvo place in Warrington used to have the new C30 as their courtesy cars. Very nice (tiny, tiny boot!). And you got a tin of mint humbugs after each service as well

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Back in the late 80s in my Saabing days, the specialist* that I went to didn't actually have any courtesy cars, so I used to get whatever would start from the stock of the rather dubious secondhand car emporium that shared the site. One day to my great delight I actually got..........

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

............ a Talbot Tagora for two days :) :) :)

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I remember taking my Mk2 Fiesta for a new fuel tank to PK Motors in Stanningley, Andy Clark the owner lent me a rather battered and leggy K10 Micra 1.0 buttery biscuit base that was E reg'd and a bit pogweasel

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I never had any courtesy shite since I honestly don't know what one has to do in order to get one.

But my parents told me when they had their Seville STS in for a service, they got a Trans Am, screaming chicken and all the trimmings.

Already being well in their Seventies at the time, they didn't really know what to do with such a thing, so they took it on an impromptu

road trip to an ice cream parlour on Lake Garda they had last visited on their honeymoon in 1961.

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1992 Polo Gt when I was 17 on the back roads from Selkirk to Hawick to pick up my 1.0 Litre Polo from the garage. 

 

I had the (then) drive of my life, apparently nearly hit a tractor who phoned the saw the garages name on the side of the car and phoned them up in a mad fit. 

 

Consequently the service manager was fuming when I arrived on the forecourt with the brakes still hot and smelly. 

 

"in a hurry where you?" amongst other more pointed remarks. I also remember that he had a bit of shaving foam on his ear which made it difficult for me to take him seriously. 

 

Anyway, I just shrugged and drove home in my much much slower Polo in an ever so slightly more sedate manner. 

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...also remember getting a courtesy car from BCC in Bury that used to be Citroen/Nissan (maybe still is). I took my BX for something and got a new, purple, K11 Micra for the day.

 

Service Manager gave me the keys with the comment, "There you are sir. All you need is a hat with a bell on it and you're away"

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not loan cars but pool cars from work

granada gl saloon about h plate

rover 214 sli

rover 218 sld

 

then 1 day no pool cars were available so my boss gives me the key to the factory managers car

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

toyoyo carina e GTfookini

 

one hundred and seventy three bee aitch pee when i had a 45bhp 106 diseasel- kerching, fastest i ever got over to west brom!

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I tend to use independent garages and 2 immediately spring to mind from the UK (and one from NZ)

 

When I had my SAAB 9000 the independent (Simons SAABs) near Basingstoke lent me a 900 turbo, now it was old, decrepit and nasty but what a hoot to drive, I spent the whole day hooning around roundabouts and used 2 tanks of gas even though I only lived 40 miles away. Sorry about the tyres Simon!

 

Then a few years before that I had an Allegro 1500 (yes I know - sorry) and stripped a plug thread, so while they were sorting that they gave me another Allegro (an 1100)

What a miserable piece of shite that was, rusty, dirty and smelly, to make matters worse I had to drive it from Gosport to Chichester to pick up the kids from boarding school. This festering pile of excrement among all the Jags, Volvos and Mercs. Made me proud! :-) 

 

Finally the place I use in NZ (Burger Motor Works) mainly deals in BMWs Mercs VWs etc so he always has a snotter BM for me The last couple have been a 5 litre and a 6 litre 7 series (usually none of the toys work and on the last one the alternator/waterpump belt broke on the way home)

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