What is the best car you have ever been lent?

[Six-cylinder]

What is the best car you have ever been lent?

 

I have had to come into the office this morning to do boring work so I thought I would brighten my day by asking what is the best car you have ever been loaned?

 

I deliberately have left the question open so it could be when you were entrusted with a million pound car but equally it could be a less valuable car that was special to you or even because of who loaned it to you.

 

I have been very fortunate and have been loaned some great cars, some quite valuable and I will give some thought to a top 3.

 

In the meantime 40+ years on I still remember being loaned an 8 year old MK2 Cortina and being overwhelmed with the generosity. Four of us from collage wanted a day out but did not have a suitable car and my friend Jasper who did not drive said my older brother will lend you his car! Some what gob smacked that Jasper would volunteer his brother’s car, we turned up on the appointed day at his brothers work and he came out and handed me the keys with a smile and have a good day. I was 17 and would have never even considered lending my Imp to an unknown friend of my brother. This has always been a good memory, all for an old MK2 Cortina.

[sierraman]

Rover 75 diesel. Loved that car, it rolled about like an old bed in the corners but it was very comfortable. The company I worked for at the time had a pool car system, effectively I probably needed a company car but I had my own and most of the week I was out and about in either the Rover or a 52 plate Passat Diesel. Happy days.

 

Because it was a family owned company there wasn’t some suits counting every penny, despite you driving their car they paid you per mile to put diesel in it yourself. So bearing in mind I was travelling quite a lot from Sheffield to South Wales it worked out well.

[mitsisigma01]

My bosses nearly new 505gti, while the Bedford Astramax and the Bedford Brava pick up were both being fixed

[Tamworthbay]

On paper it would be my brothers Maserati, however it was such a pile on unadulterated shite that ‘best’ actually means most expensive. How a car so bad was allowed to be sold with such a historic name attached is beyond me. My personal favourite was a somewhat boring but huge bargeomatic Merc while my FiL was overseas for a year. It only lasted another 6 months after that when a bill for £2k for the suspension was on the cards. It felt ok when I had it.

[Six-cylinder]

On paper it would be my brothers Maserati, however it was such a pile on unadulterated shite that ‘best’ actually means most expensive. How a car so bad was allowed to be sold with such a historic name attached is beyond me. My personal favourite was a somewhat boring but huge bargeomatic Merc while my FiL was overseas for a year. It only lasted another 6 months after that when a bill for £2k for the suspension was on the cards. It felt ok when I had it.

 

Which Maserati?

[Tamworthbay]

Which Maserati?

3200 GT, my brother bought it brand new. He had it for three years, over a year of that in total it spent back at the dealers having a wide range of issues sorted. It was poorly made, not fun to drive and underwhelming in ever single way. It looked nice when it wasn’t moving, but still not that great compared to some mainstream cars of the day. I had it for a week when we went on honeymoon and was looking forward to it more than any other car I have ever driven. When I took it back my brother asked what I thought, I tried to be positive (it was incredibly kind of him after all) but after a couple of minutes he just said ‘don’t worry, I know it’s shit it’s going next month’ and it did.

[iainrcz]

I'm quite a dreary bastard in most respects (mental illness aside). So the best car I've been lent is my Dad's 1.6 HDi C4 Grand Picasso.

The words "Comfy as fuck" should have been used in the marketing for them. I feel Citroen missed a trick there.

 

The other car I borrowed from him couple of times was his Mazda MPV 2.0 diesel.

The words rusty, and shit headlamps sum it up. Although it was good to drive for what it was. He owned it from new and apart from said rust nothing went wrong with it.

[Six-cylinder]

I have a friend who bought a new quattroporte in 2005, he only had it 18 months because it was so unreliable. The car looked stunning and I loved it, but I then got to drive it and was disappointed with the flapy pedal gear change.

 

Since 3200 priced dropped I have considered buying one, but never had the bottle! 

[Tamworthbay]

I have a friend who bought a new quattroporte in 2005, he only had it 18 months because it was so unreliable. The car looked stunning and I loved it, but I then got to drive it and was disappointed with the flapy pedal gear change.

 

Since 3200 priced dropped I have considered buying one, but never had the bottle!

 

Don’t bother, my MK1 mx5 was twice the fun, in fact most cars I have driven are more fun to drive! I would have a 205gti or Capri over the Maserati any day of the week.

[Six-cylinder]

Don’t bother, my MK1 mx5 was twice the fun, in fact most cars I have driven are more fun to drive! I would have a 205gti or Capri over the Maserati any day of the week.

 

I have driven 205GTis a lot and would fancy owning one if only the prices were not so mental, same for the Capri so I have a cheap MK1 MX5!

[DSdriver]

At one of the first companies I worked for one of the reps would ask me to move his Fiat 1500 floppytop between meters in central London. It was a hot summer and the hood was mostly down, it often took quite a while to find another parking space.

Then soon after I was married and had moved down to Tonbridge a friend asked if I would mind catching the train up to London and driving back to Tunbridge Wells as a favour to one of his customers. 22 year old me being trusted with a Mercedes SL90. Ace.

Nobody seems to trust me nowadays

[Semi-C]

When my black Mk3 Cortina estate was rendered undriveable by some insensitive reversing administered by a gammon headed, margarine footed, gusset stain of a (sub)human, my childhood hero lent me a Cosworth Scorpio (Mk3, hatchback flavour).

A particularly underwhelming motorcar with a habit of immobilising itself, it’s shitness was eclipsed by the amount of memories I made in the month I had it, not to mention it belonged to somebody I had once held in god like reverence and who later became a friend I felt very lucky to have.

He also lent me a 1.8 GS Bluebird saloon, which I managed to blow up and a 217k miles Carina II estate that was covered in moss and had a tailgate that would not close.

 

A mention must also go to my Dad for lending me his 97 Peugeot 406 1.8 lx to collect a pre-relationship Miss-C from town one night when I was without a car. Ultra impressed with the comfort and competence of the car, fearfully aware of the gravity of the situation, my Dad doesn’t let ANYBODY drive his car.

[anonymous user]

The best cars loaned to me have always been the ones that got me out of the shit. Grateful thanks will always go to the mate who loaned me an Allegro when my Morgan broke its back axle. The Allegro burned more oil than petrol, but was transport, the high point being moved on by a policeman when I was cleaning the oiled up plugs in Belgrave Square, once he found that I wasn't setting a car bomb he was ok. My brother was kind enough to loan me their 2.3 Cortina for a year when my only other transport was a 1937 Morgan, I was back and forth down to my mother at weekends and the journey was a bit painful in the Morgan. I ended up buying the Cortina off him and kept it for a few years, eventually selling it back to him (then buying it back and selling it back to him again).

 

I don't like borrowing cars I can't afford to replace, but have been entrusted with such things on a few occasions. A 1930s Lagonda M45 (scared stiff driving it). A good friend entrusted me with his Land Rover 101, I think I was the only person he ever let drive it without him being in it, also trusted me once to shift one of his Phantom Vs (now that did scare me, I'd never driven it before, a lovely car, but I'd rather ride in the back)

[pilninggas]

i once got lent an old boss' son's Rover 600 Turbo to go to a meeting in Portsmouth.

 

It got maxed out on the M27 [142 indicated] and was ragged up the A36 when it crossed paths with an Integrale.

 

I loved the 600 after that, i got why they were liked as a bit of sleeper [along with all the other Rovers/MGs running that engine].

[GeordieInExile]

My parents lent me a BMW Mini Cooper MK2 for several months while I was hard up and between cars. I loved it, cracking little thing.

[sutty2006]

I’ve never been lent a car. Am I missing out? Always had too many cars around me to warrant needing one.

 

I have however lent a car out....for a month....was a 4.2v8 Audi A8...... I bet he loved that.

[bigstraight6]

About 17 years ago good friend lent me his 1992 Jag XJ for me to sell on his behalf as he thought I would get a better price for it here in Plymouth than he would in Reading. I loved wafting about in it but unfortunately I sold it within a week...

[mercrocker]

People don't lend me nice cars any more because they don't make nice ones any more. 

 

Things I can remember being lent, when I was a brassic teenage, were usually friends of my parents or family who were trying to wean me off motorcycles especially if they knew I was taking some poor bird on a date.... 

 

Farina Oxford, FD Vicky estate, Opel Rekord Coupe, Renner 6, Mk3 Cortina (that was dire), various Minis of non-excitement flavour etc. 

 

I worked for a couple of nice geezers who used to lend me their company cars - my first honeymoon was in a nearly-new Mirafiori twin-cam (which failed to start on my damp wedding day so I started married life being tow-started at unnecessary velocity by my best man's Rover V8 powered Toyota Crown - wish I had a photo of that instead of the fucking in-laws! ).    I also used to take home one of the 1.9 Cavaliers at work - that was nice when it was a fresh-out-of-the box new car.  I couldn't believe how disappointed I was with my own example 20 years later!

 

Another gaffer lent me his SD1s to take some friends up to London and down to Dover when he saw the state of my Zephyr 6.   First one was a 2.6 but he unfortunately got down-graded to an O series version so I had to make do with that a couple of times. 

 

I think the best was when I put my Pontiac Grand Prix into a local yank specialist for a replacement engine out of a crashed Camaro.   Bloke took fucking ages to do the swap but the third time I went up the yard to see if it was ready he just chucked me the keys to his own Seville.   "Careful, it's not stock..." he said waving me off. 

 

Got onto the main road and gunned it....Fuuuuuccckkkkkinelllllll I whinnied as it laid the biggest, smokiest slick I ever managed to almost lose control of.   Turned out it had a 455 Rocket Olds motor.    Probably wouldn't have tried that if I had known about the chain-drive RHD conversion.... 

[Lord Sterling]

Most of the cars I've been lent have been superb cars. The ones that spring to mind are;

 

Rover 820e

 

Rover 45 TD;

 

Wish I had bought it. I am looking for one now.

 

MG ZS TD;

 

Currently; BMW 318i Touring:

[Honey Badger]

Fiat 131 Supermirafiori 2.0 estate, twin headlamps in gunmetal grey.

 

It was my mates mums car that she brought from a dodgy 2nd hand car trader on Albion Street in Kettering, it wouldn't idle but the noise from the engine as you progressed in a spirited manner was addictive, my 1.8 CVH Sierra was being used by my girlfriend at the time to take her kids away on Holiday so I offered to Tax the Fiat for 6 months if I could use it for 2 weeks, the Sierra was a disappointment in comparison when I got it back.

 

I've never seen another like it in real life or online searches, not even a picture but it certainly left a lasting memory, she got sick of the crappy idle and scrapped it not long after I'd borrowed it, it was immaculate as well.

[timolloyd]

My brother loaned me his 120k mile, 900cc mk1 Pug 106 when I was going through a ‘I don’t need a car, actually shit I do’ stages.

 

I was really gutted at first to be driving this, but it’s stupendous reliability and frugality really grew on me. I drove it out from under a hedge down the side of the house where my brother had dumped it 6 months earlier, and straight down to Penzance from Surrey, one Friday night. A couple of weeks later we went to a wedding in Leeds followed by a tour of Swaledale.

 

I now wish I’d kept it as a back-up car.

[volvoman]

I cant think of many cars anyone has lent me over the years???

 

I borrowed my brothers early mint 1970's HT Holden Sedan in Auss once, i parked it in a local garage, an halfway getting out the door, some bastard reversed straight into me. My brother was not best pleased with that shit!

 

Came back from Auss in 1987, didnt have any wheels at first, so i used to borrow my brother inlaws brown 2.0 Capri...thrashed that around the kent country lanes a few times, which was a good laugh.

 

Borrowed my Dads old early Honda Prelude Coupe, for a night of...................well, ya know...best leave it there i guess.

[RayMK]

I have only rarely borrowed cars, partly because I would hesitate if someone asked to borrow one of mine.  However, when my desperation for working transport has called, moral dilemma had to be put on hold.  A brother in law lent me his nearly new Audi 100 sometime around 1980 when my Viva FTP'd on the way back from college but conveniently near his house.  His white 5 cylinder Audi was a revelation.  So smooth and refined and it came complete with an ELO cassette in the stereo. I delivered it back to him the next day exceedingly grateful for the loan. The alternative was a multi-change bus ride home or a taxi which I could not afford.

 

About 6 years later, mortgage interest rates had forced me on to a Jawa 350 sidecar outfit as my daily. It was not reliable.  My dad, who had become 'late' left his Citroen GSA in the garage whilst mum tried to pass her driving test. It took a while. I asked if I could borrow the GSA for a month and thus had my first hands on experience of hydropneumatic motoring.  It was fascinating and impressive.

 

An honourable mention also goes to a company called 'Rent a Wreck' which saved me from having to cancel a holiday in Cornwall when my Renault 12's clutch began to slip days before setting off.  They provided a rusty orange road legal Morris Marina 1800 saloon for a negligeable week's hire cost. It was completely trouble free and actually pleasant to drive.

[HMC]

I was given a Fiat cinquecento sporting as a courtesy car, does that count? Tremendous fun, chucking it around corners etc; like the autoshite version of victor kiam- I liked it so much I bought it (for £200)

[lesapandre]

Jaguar XJC 1975ish vintage - nice to drive. I did a couple of 100 miles but it did develop a miss-fire alas. 

[mercrocker]

I loved Rent-a-Wreck.   They operated in Southampton for a time out of an old fruit and veg warehouse or summat.   Fondly recall Mk1 Civic, a full-spec Horizon with lecky windows and a Talbot Samba amongst others.   For a while I had a company van which meant I didn't have to spend my hard-earned on my own motor.   It was actually cheaper to get something off RaW when I needed 4 seats.....

[lesapandre]

I rented a Plymouth Reliant off them when in LA once. About 1990 so car was a bit older - it was maroon with a very jerky auto I recall. Great fun on the freeways (not). Top speed about 50 mph. It was one of that era's aggressively emission controlled cars which had had any life stranged out of it.

[vulgalour]

Courtesy of Skattrd when I was stuck for a car to get me to work some years ago.

 

 

I went out and bought my own Maestro as a direct result of this loan.  Unfortunately, I went and bought a Ledbury version, which wasn't anywhere near as nice as the Skattrd example.

[chaseracer]

Sapphire Cosworth, to collect the fish&chips in when we were building a 2CV racer many moons ago.  

 

"Mind the loud pedal...", he said with a wink.  What he didn't specify was that it had been tuned to 380bhp.

 

FUUUUUUUUUUUUU..........

 

[DVee8]

When 1 of the many time my Ford Sierra 2.0is was broken,my mate said i could use his Nissan Laurel as he didn't need it at the time as he had just bought a Ford Granada 2.8

White 2.4 straight 6 SGL i think,I had it for around 6 weeks. I didn't want to hand it back.

Looked like this but white

 

 

Not quite lent but i had the use of my MiL's 89 Proton mpi auto