Shite loyalty

[richardthestag]

We have all read about and have respect for the legends who own and use 55 shite cars a year. But what about the sad old bastards like me who seem to get bogged down into ownership for way longer than is healthy.

 

I have held a full licence since 1985 and driven many many miles since without a break yet my personal car history reads as follows;

 

Sold the following to buy my first home in 1989

64 105e Anglia – my first car, sold it and regretted it ever since

73 1500tc Triumph – given free and run for a year

73 Rover 2200sc – bought from a mate, fettled and sold at a vast profit

71 Stag – right engine but about 80% isopon, it was a nail!!!

 

Then with epic negative equity and a house 200miles from my job .....

88 Mk2 Cavalier 1600l company car that I bought and ran for 180k miles, it was brilliant and I loved every mile

73 Stag – bought it in 95 and still got it

95 Mondeo 1.8Lx – bought it one year old and ran it until 98

98 Mondeo 1.8Lx – bought at 3months old with 1k on the clock for £9k. Couldnt give it away 3 years later with 40k under its belt. Did rather like it though.

89 Golf GTi 1.8 8v mrs thestags 3dr slim bumper car she bought it new and swapped for my 98 Mundano when she started dropping sprogs. I didn’t complain.

92 Range Rover Vogue 3.9 – sold the GTI for this one, it looked ok to start with but was very rusty. Should have kept the GTi really, it only lasted a couple of years before some twat slammed it to the deck and then into the back of another slammed dub

93 Range Rover Vogue 3.9 – after the last RRC blew up I searched for ages to find this one, still got it. bought it with 46k and it has jsut turned 123k still going strong

 

Anyone else managed to just get into double figures after an epic driving career?

[Station]

I'm oto 11 years for a sigle car (my Astra), I doubt I will ever get rid of it. Bought it i August 2001 after my dad really talked me out of a early ew BMW.

 

(PS my |\| key does't work).

[dollywobbler]

I know I have a shocking (if not as bad as some) turnover of shite, but the 2CV is the only car I've remained loyal to in the long term. 13 years this summer. When I bought it, it really was shite - it's just that 2CVs have gone somewhere a bit daft since. It was my 12th 2CV in five years, my 14th vehicle in the same time period. It cost me £450 with some test left. The chassis needed welding for every MOT and I had to change the gearbox not long after I bought it but somehow it won me over. After two miraculous MOTs, I stumped up to have her re-chassied and for the body to be welded up. It still looked dreadful but was solid at least. Fully repainted in 2005, now very rotten again and awaiting the next overhaul.

[Lord Sterling]

Me? Bloody hell

 

I've had my licence since 2004. My cars seem to last for either just under or just over a year, I've yet to find something that lasts longer. My list goes like this:

 

98' Nissan Micra- Mum_Sterling's car, drove it for a fair while until I found work and money. This car is still Ma's wheels.

89' Sierra Sapphire Ghia - Free car, ran for a few months before its engine decided to expire.

89' Rover 827Si - Brilliant car albeit a manual, ran for just a year until I crashed it. It got repaired and sold on.

95' Rover Sterling - Best car I've ever had, ran for anlittlemless than a year. Going a 4/5month jolly to Kuwait saw it taken off the road, very barrasic when I came back. Still own this car, currently sitting in a worringly damp garage.

87' Rover Sterling - Enjoyed this car and breathing some life back into it, ran for a little more than a year until head gasket blew, scrapped.

90' Rover Sterling - Ran for a year and a half (wow, we're getting somewhere here) recently decided to do a rendition of HGF, might be a piston ring problem, totally out of the blue and a rather stupid and unnecessary problem. Car still owned by me.

 

So, not quite into double figures yet.

 

[Split_Pin]

I've had my licence since 1996.

 

I was only 17 at the time so drove Mum_L's fester for 5 years until I got my first car in 2001.

 

2001-2005: 1996 Vauxhall Corsa Vegas. Sold on after break up from long-term G/F to make myself feel less shite

2005-present: Vauxhall Astra Coupe. Currently on SORN due to redirection of finances to starting a wee family.

2008-present: Vauxhall Vectra 2.0. Bought this as a daily after modifying my Astra and to keep it good. SORN'ed since October 2012 when the steering rack popped

2010-present: Vauxhall Corsa Envoy. Bought this for my wife to commute in, bought this from her when the Vectra died

2012 Chevrolet Aveo: Bought for my wife to replace the Corsa.

 

Although I've had quite a piss-pauvre shite history, I've managed to hold onto all but one of every car that I purchased!

[seacow]

Got my licence in 1990 and my god I have changed quite a lot - 9-12 months seems about the average!!

 

First car was in 1989 VW Beetle 1200 - kept for a year but restored and made money

1980 VW Polo GLS - had a cool number plate which I swapped with a haulage company for car number 3

1983 Sierra 1.6 GL 9 months

1989 VW Polo C 12 months

1989 Peugeot 309 GLX (with GTI lights!!) 9 months

1991 Peugeot 205 GLD - ace car 8 months

1995 Renault Clio 1.2 Prima -12 months

1996 Vauxhall Corsa Merit bag of shite not even a tape deck 12 months

1997 Citroen Saxo VTS 9 months

1997 VW polo CL 4 months

1997 VW polo CL (yes another - 3 months)

2000 Peugeot 206 GTI - 12 months

1997 Saab 900 Talladega - 6 months

1996 Alfa Romeo GTV - 6 months

2002 Seat Leon Cupra - OMG wolf in sheeps clothing - 9 months

2002 Audi A4 - 2 months

2003 Audi TT Roadster 12 months

2004 Dodge Durrango V8 2 years

2004 X Type Jag 6 months

2007 Hummer H3 - 18 months

2008 VW passat Estate 2 months

2009 VW Passat Estate still got but about to change

2003 Mercedes Camper still got

1990 BMW 316i still got

1972 Land Rover Series 3 - still got but rotting in a field somewhere

Also several through my wife including a new Mini and Jeep Wrangler

[Spiny Norman]

Can't be arsed typing out every car I've ever had but since passing my test in 1982 I've had about 40-odd cars registered to me as regular daily drivers, the longest I've ever kept a car was the 4 years I had my Alfa 156, the next longest is about 2 years for a BMW 5 series, a Volvo Amazon and my current Saab. Which is maybe going this week.

 

I don't keep cars long, I get bored easily.

[Pete-M]

Passed test in '88. Lost count of cars at 150ish in '93. Last few years I've cut down to four or five a year.

 

As for the number of cars driven, not a clue. 10,000? 20,000? Probably nearer the latter.

 

Shite loyalty to one brand? Not really, but I've probably owned more Fords than anything else.

 

Must have had 60 Fords by now, four Lancias, 10 Range Rovers, Five or six Alfas, two Porsche 911s, two Datsuns, one Mitsubishi, two Subarus, one Toyota, two MGs, seven Rovers, one Austin Healey, five Vauxhalls, six BMWs, four Mercedes, four Golf GTis, five Peugeots, three Citroens, one Lada, three Volvos, three Chevrolets, four Jaguars, three Fiats, four Minis.. that's just what I can remember off the top of my head.

[Wilko220]

How long did you keep your Studebaker for (assuming you had one...)?

[Pete-M]

Nope. Never had the pleasure. Never really owned much really old stuff, I think my P5 held that record at 48 years old.

 

Longest I've owned a car record is currently held by the bits of Escort in the Czech Rep at approaching four years. Always on the lookout for something more fun to try next.

[Spiny Norman]

How long did you keep your Studebaker for (assuming you had one...)?

 

Me?

Hell no, I never had a Studebaker. The username comes from a song lyric, not the car.

[Des]

My record, which I can't see me breaking, is 22 years with a Saab 900, let it go last year and it still hurts.

[Mr Lobster]

Passed my test in 1992 and owned about 35 cars since. In between times I had dozens of company cars as well but I've had hardly anything compared to some here.

 

Theres not many that have stayed a long time, most stay for anything between a few months and a couple of years but it occurs to me that my current fleet is rather stable and long term -

 

'04 SEAT Toledo. Bought in 2007 and plan to keep it at least another couple of years. Does everything I want - fast, comfy, reliable.

'85 Renault 4 F6. Also arrived in 2007. Stays forever

 

It used to be the case that I was a loyal Renault buyer but the fact that Renault don't build much that appeals these days and my recent experience with modern Renaults means I'm unlikely to have a Renault again. Although a Dacia is a possibility...

[worldofceri]

I've been stupidly loyal to most of the cars I've owned, hanging on to them long after they're near-terminally broken. Mrs. Ceri & I have had our Beetle for 11 years, but it's not seen the road since about 2008.

[eddyramrod]

For many many years I changed my car with my socks so if I kept one for a year it was an event. Very often I was the last owner too. However, since the late 90s I seem to have been holding onto stuff a bit longer. Several cars have reached three years of my ownership, and survived. I believe if you were to search for some of them on DVLA, they might actually show as taxed, which I feel is something of a miracle.

The Metro I've just sold, I only had since last July, so that's almost a throwback.

The Granada has been with me over two years, and is sticking like shit to a blanket. It obviously doesn't want to leave me, but it must and will.

The 406, as we all know, is a very recent addition and only meant to be temporary. Come the summer I may well be trying to punt it on among Shiters; it's unlikely to be with me much longer than the Metro anyway. Which is a shame, as it's a very nice car in many ways. It just happens to be not entirely suitable for our needs. When I do line up a more appropriate vehicle, I'll most likely keep hold of it for as long as possible. There's every chance that this will result in a very Ed-in-the-80s-style turnover of cheap old bins for my daily commute and possibly weekend motorsport. Of course it's then possible that among these I'll find something I really like, which will mean two concurrent long-termers! Now that would be a change!

[ProgRocker]

18 years driving and I'm now on my 7th car (with a view to considering number 8 in the summer/autumn).

 

The longest I have kept my car was the 1999 (T) SEAT Ibiza 1.4 S. This was car number 5 -bought in 2002, which I kept for 7 years and 5 months after stupidly crashing it in the snow. It is the best car I have owned to date.

 

The shortest I have kept a car was just under 6 months. Car number 6 was the £362 Escort diesel (included road fund licence in the purchase price). A 'stop gap' car really. I actually joined this forum a week before picking it up.

[Six-cylinder]

As I seem to be older that most of you, rather than bore you with a very long list I will just mention a few extremes.

 

The car I have owned the longest is a 1966 E Type Jaguar Fixed Head Coupe which I bought as a rotten shell and box of bits over 30 years ago, it took me 6 years to home restore it mainly in a council single garage and I still have it now.

 

The newest car I have owned rather than had as a company car was a 2008 black Fiat 500 Diesel Sport that was 10 months old when I bought it. I did not like the diesel turbo lag and its 17in after market wheels made it hash to ride in. After 14 months my wife asked if I really needed a such an expensive drive ornament! Having driven it only 2000 miles it was sold.

 

The shortest time I owned a car goes to an Alfa 164 24v Auto, I bought it from a friend and the next day took it to another friend to show it off, he bought it off me there and then, so that was a 1 day car.

 

The lowest price I have paid is nil, not a gift from a family member or friend. The Citroen car club new I wanted Visa diesel to replace my 954cc petrol Visa but was having trouble finding one. So when the club was contacted with the offer of a short MOTed, tatty as hell Visa 17RD to be saved free of charge I took up the offer. It acutely need very little for its next MOT and I have fitted some second hand doors and done some paint work with a rattle can to make it presentable. I still have it four years later.

 

The first car I drove legally was my driving instructor’s Triumph Toledo back in January 1976.

 

The company car that gave me most pleasure to receive at the time goes to a brand new 1989 Volvo 480 Turbo.

 

The rarest car I own/owned is a 1990 Oltcit 1100R

 

The first car I owned was a 1968 Hillman Imp Californian Coupe, which was not a great choice as it broken down all the time.

 

The most consistently desired car is a Triumph Vitesse, the first one I owned was in 1977 and with very few gaps have continued to own them, the current one I have had 7 years

 

The latest purchase is the Rover 220SLi I bought off this forum, it is running well and I am enjoying it.

 

A car I would not buy at any price – none, I just love cars any size shape or make.

 

Any other questions?

[oldford]

I passed by test in 1983, cars owned since as follows:

 

1983 - 1984 Austin 1300 ENR 347K

1984 - 1985 Dolomite 1850HL XRT 645N

1985 for 3 weeks Cortina 1.6XL HEX 729N

1985 - 1992 Cortina 1.6L JLT 221N

1992 - 1993 Cortina 1.6GL FVX 904T

1993 - 1996 Cortina Crusader 1.6 WRT 678X

1994 - 1995 Cortina 2.3 Ghia SGY 483X

1996 - 2009 Cortina Crusader 1.6 AGV 243Y

2008 to present Sierra 1.8LX

 

All British built apart from the Cortina Ghia and the Sierra. Not many cars owned but I've driven thousands. If I like something I'll get it to how I want it and keep it.

[hhhugues]

Got my licence in 1997.

 

Spent the first few months using my sister's '82 R5 GTL to go out at the week end, and occasionally borrowing my parents '92 Escort 1.6 CLX, which was power and luxury in comparison.

 

Then my parents were kind enough to flow me the cash for my first car:

 

- Renault 4 TL from '81, in beige. Ex "La Poste" admin car, absolutely mint, got me from home at the week end to whatever uni town I was in for about 2-3 years, then sold for a profit (900 euros or thereabouts - probably worth at least twice that now if the buyer took care of it). Really wish i still had it.

 

- Money from the R4 bought me an already slightly tatty black escort 1.8D Ghia. By far the car i've owned the longest - 5 or 6 years. Was then passed on to my sister and finished its life as a commuter car for my dad, with only 4 gears left. No power steering, so you were really in for a tractor like experience towards the end. Still, ultra dependable car.

 

- Volvo 740 Estate auto. Grey. H reg, so that makes it what, '91 ? Free car, given to me by an ex work colleague. First RHD too. Sadly only kept 1 year or so, HG seemed kaputt and as I was struggling with the mpg on my daily commute, didn't bother spending money to fix it. BIG regret.

 

- Fiat Marea 2.4TD estate. R reg. Bought off gumtree for £400, my first proper shite motor. Turned out great, if a little wet, smelly, and noisy. Also, shit mpg for a diesel, but the 5 pot could certainly shift. Scrapped roughly a year and a half later after many miles due to knackered clutch and a myriad of smaller faults.

 

- Laguna of doom. Grey 1.8 on a 03 plate (so barely 5 years old then), around 90000 on the clock, seemed like a decent modern motor for not too much £££. Kept about a year, got rid after a suspension collapse (!) and some emission mallarky that Renault wanted £80 to diagnose. To this day, the only car I regret buying as the whole thing cost me in the end. Sold for £500 without an MOT (could have been worse) and went back to swedish reliability.

 

- Volvo V40 T4. S reg. I'd always fancied a turbo estate, so I tried that one. Probably not much wiser a buy than the laguna all in all, but did keep for 2 years, although I did throw a wad of cash at it to bring it back to a reasonably condition, only to then blow the engine on the French m'way. Gah. Eventually sold to a boyracer who was trying to rebuild his S40 300bhp sleeper (I daren't think what that thing drove like, 200 in mine was already pushing it, so no wonder he crashed it).

 

- Ford Mondeo 130 tdci estate, '05 plate. The reasonable choice. Or so i thought until it developed a klang in the steering and the first bits of clutch grinding started to be heard. Still, already had almost 2 years of perfectly reliable, practical, and economical use. Ideally, i need another year out of it, but to be fair i think i'll end up spending whatever money is needed to keep it going, because, in spite of all the mondeo hating going on, I like it. It's exactly the sort of car I need for my daily use and I might as well run it to the ground. Only thing is, I hate the seats. Really uncomfortable on long journeys. Anyone else found that ?

 

- Alfa 145 2.0 cloverleaf. P reg. Bought for scrap value to use as a runabout in France, so currently in my parent's custody. Needs some bits, but going strong. A hoot to drive, interesting styling.

 

So that's 8 cars in 16 years. Shortest i've ever kept a car is still about 1 year. Hardly the most prolific shiter on here, but my mates always joke that I buy cars all the time. I guess it speaks volumes about how people look at car ownership really.

[jonny69]

I've only had 4 cars in 16 years and I've had the Anglia for nearly 12 of them. I've found changing cars always ends up costing money - whether it's maintenance or the £25 that a lot of insurance companies charge to change details - it still costs. I couldn't afford to keep chopping and changing.

 

I think I need to start a new project now I've got a permanent home, but I have no plans to sell my Anglia. It's about to go through another iteration, anyway

[dieselnutjob]

I have always owned Peugeots, including a whole string of 305s, a 504, a 604 and a 607. The only non Peugeot I've owned was a 96 Passat TDI which was a good car but just a bit boring.

 

The problem that I have now is that I don't like new Peugeots. I thought that the 508 looked nice but once I sat in it I hated the stupidly high window edge. With these modern cars you absolutely cannot wind the window down and rest your elbow out of the window as it would be up around your ears.

 

For the time being I'm just going to stick with the old stuff.

[Formula Autos]

I've been driving since '98 (so 15 years coming up), but for someone 'into' cars I've had surprisingly few. Daily drivers have been:

 

H reg Volvo 460 1.7 GL. Bought off my Dad for cheap, it was faultlessly reliable when he had it, and turned into a complete money pit when I took it on. Sold after 6 months of financial misery - the shortest time I've ever had a daily driver.

 

L reg Pug 106 1.4 diseasal. Horrible, horrible, horrible. The only redeeming features were the handling and the economy. Seemed to smell funny when it was taken up to motorway speed, with a sort of fug from the engine bay that suggested a non-specific impending doom. Kept for just over 3 years, mainly because of the fuel economy and the fact that I still had finance owing on it.

 

R reg Seat Arosa 1.0. A great little car. Hard to fault. Kept for just short of 3 years. It was small though.

 

T reg Seat Ibiza 1.4S - the run-out model for this shape. I stuck a set of Seat alloys on it and sprayed the mirrors body coloured, and it looked just like the Gti model (in my head at least). Not a bad car, but bland. Not much went wrong, but the rear arches started to rust. Kept for nearly 2 years.

 

W reg Ford Cougar V6. A bit more like it, but given the fact that I use my car for work mileage, ruinously expensive for a daily driver. Still, I used man logic to justify this for four years (i.e. it's still cheaper than getting an econobox on finance), before fuel prices forced me to get another daily driver. Still got it though, seven years on - now cosseted away in a lock-up and used occasionally.

 

'04 reg Mondiesel. Another purchase off of me Dad, and much more successful than the Volvo. Had it for 3 and a half years now and now close to 100K on the clock. Expensive to run at times (it's had a DMF, new clutch and two injectors recently), so I'm sort of committed to keeping it for a while so that it makes a kind of financial sense. Only in the past few months has its trade-in value dipped below what I paid my Dad for it, so not that bad a buy from a financial point of view. Good, but bland and needlessly complicated.

 

As well as daily drivers though I've had a few cars pass through my hands as an opportunity to make money. These have been:

 

'71 VW camper (bay window). I never drove this. In fact, I don't think I ever even sat in it. I bought it off a guy I worked with who had it sitting at a farm for about five years, unused. He just wanted rid (he was moving to a new job darn sarf), and accepted my derisory offer. I immediately went and photographed it and put an advert in the back of Volks World magazine. Sold three days after the magazine appeared in WHSmith's at a nice little profit to me. It seemed incredibly rusty and the carburettor was in one of the kitchen drawers. I had no interest in it, other than a financial one.

 

T reg Rover 800. A former mayoral car which I managed to pick up cheap (I work for the Council and knew it had been hawked around local dealers with no success, so put a cheeky bid in for it). It seems the mayor's chauffeur was no Jackie Stewart, as it was missing the passenger mirror and was scratched on both doors and the front wing on this side. It also had borked aircon and a couple of badges had been nicked. I got the aircon re-gassed by Kwik-Fit (cheap fix, fingers crossed, but it worked). I did all the prep work on the bodywork, before it got a quick blow over by a bodyshop (that the local Rover dealers used, so I knew it would be done right). Mirror and badges in place it looked great, so was punted on through Auto Trader at £1200 profit - to my great relief as I'd spent virtually all the money I had on it. Never drove it much, but when I did it seemed pretty good.

 

F reg BMW 316. Advertised half-heartedly by a neighbour, and when it failed to sell I persuaded him to let me have it for cheap. Kept it for a short while and used it for motorway trips (see the comments above re. my then daily-driver Pug 106), put some BMW alloys on it, and a decent stereo in (both scrapyard purchases), changed the oil and filters and punted it through Auto Trader for a nice little profit. Once I factored in the month's insurance I'd had to buy though, I realised I'd made virtually nothing out of the deal.

 

So 9 cars in 15 years, and three of them were just a means of making a bit of cash. Loyalty even extends to not selling a previous daily driver, and keeping it tucked away in a lock-up most of the time. I hadn't realised how loyal I'd been to my cars.

[Micrashed]

1987 Ford Fiesta 1.1 Popular Plus - E372 KRN by Micrashed, on Flickr

I had this from 1988 to 1996, though strictly speaking my wife had it for many of those years, then it passed back into my hands again.

 

micra3 by Micrashed, on Flickr

Currently bored shitless with this for the last 3 years

[Lord Sterling]

T reg Rover 800. A former mayoral car which I managed to pick up cheap....

 

Yes, I have to have picked up on this.

 

You must have a pic of this somewhere, surely? Was the laughable KV6, I should imagine it was given it was a mayoral car, then again, I have heard of 2.0 being used.

[Formula Autos]

2 litre m'Lord, as far as I can remember. Part of the V5 may still exist at my parents house - I'll check next time I'm round. Mechanically it was perfect, so I didn't delve too deeply into that area.

 

I must admit I was a bit surprised at the time that it wasn't a V6 - the spec suggested otherwise, as it had a leather interior and quite a few bells and whistles, including alloys. It was also de-badged (I think intentionally, so as to hide the pov-spec minge-bagness of its powerplant) so looking at the bootlid gave no clue as to what lay beneath the bonnet. In fact, it was completely de-bagdged by the time I got hold of it - some scrote had made off with the Viking emblems front and rear. No pics, sadly - though Auto Trader had one for the advert.

 

I might have some pics on the loft of the mighty Volvo that was my first car though - I'll see if I can find them.