The electronic handbrake on my Leon. Superb, just makes perfect sense
I'm the same with the automated parking brake on my Leon ST - its great. Only problem is I now assume all cars have them. Pre-lockdown went in my other half's car to collect a takeaway. When walking out with my Chinese got asked "did I have a silver Fiesta?" Got outside to see a boy and his dad pushing against the bonnet to stop the car back from rolling into a wall! Theyd been doing it for about 10 minutes, bless them. I also forgot to apply the handbrake in my daughters 'new thirdhand' i10 last week too 🙃
It’s 17 years old, has Xenon lights, navigation, heated, electric, memory leather, lumbar supporting seats, an automatic gearbox, DAb radio, 17speakers, auto lights and wipers and still delivers the manufacturer claimed figures from its 3l petrol engine.
It also still looks good and drives well at 120000 miles. I’ve owned it since it was 14months old.
Its free.
The 1st car I've owned with a reasonable amount of power and the unexpected realisation of how much easier that makes driving.
That and DAB radio, a nice leather steering wheel and it looks nice when clean (which is rare!)
It’s not my previous car.
The roof comes down at the press of a button. It will (eventually) take me on many Continental adventures.
(But I’m a little sad because apparently the oil pressure gauge is fake ☹️ )
Heated seats
Steering that helps me feel the road
Oh and the wife hates driving it, which means the chances of me getting in it and finding the radio tuned to Smooth Radio are a lot less than the previous car.
It’s Lapiz blue.
And completely standard, but that does give quite a few good things, the Adaptive Cruise Control being the best option, helps de-stress in many situations
It actually passed its MOT...admittedly with a list of advisories...but it PASSED.
Baby steps. 😉
Car A: 12 years old. High mileage and still lovely to drive with bags of performance. Beautiful engine note. Manual gearbox and handbrake. Practical estate for surf/bike duties. Removeable towbar useful for trailer duties. Still look after it but less worried about who I park next to in supermarket. Capable of low 30s mpg on a motorway, generally high 20s day to day.
Car B: 12 months old. Huge road grip, performance and handling, but a nice tourer too. Practical estate for surf/bike duties. Looks new. Bit of a sleeper. Capable of 40mpg on a motorway run, low 30s day to day. Worth more than I paid for it new.
Car B was meant to replace car A, but for a variety of reasons I couldn't sell it, now I don't want to. Incoming van next year might change things, though.
OK, a more sensible post:
Car A - 12yo Kuga. Seen the worst of 2 babies and countless tiny marks via London car parks, but just works, Its Haldex 4WD on All seasons for emergencies and bike race forest parking, has a Pug/Ford diesel which should go on way past the current 85k miles and gets a bike in the big. No frill bangernomics.
Car B - 3yo 320d. Pre Covid perfect for my traveling salesman and other long journeys. Heated seats, leather, auto, nav, climate, cruise and limiter - it may be boring to some but just works and as we know this model has a perfectly mated torque curve/'box for the motorway style journey. Easy reliable driving with room I the back for bikes and tents perfect for national travel and long journeys back from a long tiring race in mid Wales. Like needs some all seasons to replace the MPS where they wear which I was hoping would be now, but Covid has extended their life.
I have paid one off completely and the other is nearly paid off....
Ohh and my 'nice car' has augmented reality sat nav – it pops up with realtime filming on the screen and superimposes pointer arrows to show you where to go. It's especially useful on roundabouts as it is much easier to work out which exit to take.
As for the other car... 14 years old and still going. Best bit? The rear tyres don't lose pressure in a week. The front tyres – that's a different matter entirely.
Brown
Wind down windows
An 'Extra' button
No VED or MOT
Built like a tank
Can withstand attacks from rampaging elk
It was free
2005 SAAB 9-5 Turbo estate:
Purchase price, tax and insurance cost exactly the equivalent of 2 months PCP payments on my previous 2019 BMW 330 M-Sport. Came with 3 months MOT so even if it fails and I get scrap money for it then I’m winning 😊
2012 Vauxhall Vivaro 90bhp:
The speeeed😂 Owned for 3 years, not a single unforced problem. Perfect for so many things.
Kryton57
Full Member
P-Jay that sounds like my wife’s brief for a car – what is it?
Skoda Superb, it's a Sportline 190 4x4 DSG to give it it's full catchy title. TBH, I think it looks great with it's 19" wheels, angular bumpers etc, but I'd be tempted by the L&K version, they're about the same money, slightly posher and have better ride. The ride in mine is, okay on rough roads, no better and bloody awful on speedbumps, I mean awful you need to get down to single figures to not crash over them.
There's loads of SEs and SE-Ls about, but they're a bit miserly and I think you need to have either a Sportline or L&K with the 190 diesel or 280 petrol to have 4x4.
Auto nothing much at all. Not even windows. Over 200,000 miles on the clock. Feels faster than it actually is. Can actually be fixed at the roadside, mostly. Goes round corners. Has a tuned engine. Is a Mk2 GTi.
The modern car is a Corrado VR6. It has electric windows.
My campervan gets people smiling and waving at you as you go past.
18 Year old Nissan Primera SVE. Bought it at 10 months old. Utterly reliable, comfy, takes 4 bikes up top and 4 blokes and kit easily - massive boot despite being a saloon. Great sound system with sub, sat nav, rear reversing camera (first car to have one on the market).
Yup it's old, but until it starts causing trouble I'll keep it. Doesn't look even half it's age.
I service it myself, and it's just had the back box replaced (by me) - not bad 18 years on an original exhaust.
MrsF has a 8 year old Qashqai N-TEC+ that's also been utterly reliable. Lots of toys and easy to get in and out of with my dodgy back being slightly higher. The beefy suspension is great on crap roads. It's not fast, but it's nice to drive.
13 year old Honda CRV
- We've already had all the typical mechanical horror stories (leaking EGR manifold, rotting fuel pipework) sorted under warranty.
- It's old, bashed and has a crappy resale, so perfect for carting bikes and 3 year olds about
- Heated seats 😀
- Is an absolute cruiser for long trips
- Can handle unploughed snowy roads (ask me how I know)
- Is the only car I have used for any length of time so feels quick to me
- We don't pay anything for it and annual upkeep is less than even the cheapiest lease.
Deep down I know we should really be replacing with something smaller, newer and cleaner but the economics just don't make sense yet. Sorry environment 🙁
0-60 in 4.5s and 190mph
And the sound of a V8
Heated memory seats
7sp auto with flappy paddles
Auto lights/wipers
Adaptive cruise
Google Earth Sat Nav
Bang & Olufsen stereo
Dynamic ride control
AWD with front LSD and torque vectoring rear diff and up to 70% power to fronts/85% to rears
Thank @P-Jay. Although its now gone South for her with “Skoda”
Yes I know.
TBH a similar age (mine is late 2016) Audi A6 quattro is about the same money, that era doesn't have the right kit for CarPlay, and they're a tiny bit smaller in the back/boot, but have a fancier 4x4 system, well half of it anyway. They were way more expensive new, but depreciate more heavily for some reason.
And the other 'car' - this is on a road, but it's coped amazingly well in horrendous conditions
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my rx8
Love it, costs a fortune to run but it makes me smile and feel like a racing driver when i drive it. (then though its slow) its just really nice to throw about.
golf.
i dont care about it. It feels secure and safe. and heated seats if youve got a wet bum are amazing!
It's launch control will do 0-62 in 4.7 - it's very very fun
my rx8
Love it, costs a fortune to run but it makes me smile and feel like a racing driver when i drive it. (then though its slow) its just really nice to throw about.
Have you ever awoken suddenly in the middle of the night with a wild panic fever and screamed ROTOR TIPS into the darkness?
😉
5 cylinders, 4X4, 400PS and a roof rack. What more does one need?
5 cylinders, 4X4, 400PS and a roof rack
RS3?
Best thing is running over lefties.
Sure it's not reversing back to make sure you got the job done?
I bought a ten year old S4 estate that the previous owner had taken to MRC tuning (stage 2+). A long time ago I owned a TVR Griffith 500 that was scarily fast and very scary to drive due to the lack of safety features.
The S4 is considerably faster yet with the 4wd it's a way less scary proposition. It's also very spacious and the bikes fit on the roof. So I have a practical, 5dr family runaround that just happens to go like a rocket.
Car is appreciating slowly, which is good because i barely do 1,000 miles per year in it and if it was costing money and was sat not doing anything it'd be bad. But i cant bear to part with it. 8k rev limit, plenty of power without being silly and RWD brings plenty of smiles when i do drive it. And realistically it feels as if its as good a car as i'll ever have.
Van- it's still going but it does camping, load lugging and it'll be sad when it does go...
5 cylinders, 4X4, 400PS and a roof rack
RS3?
Yup, saloon though so not full chav 🙂
wasn't expensive, got really nice heated seats (half leather and alcantara) because it's the TitaniumX version. I like the auto box more than I thought I would and there's loads of room cos it's an estate, and lots of legroom in the back so I don't mind going in the back if needs be. only downside is the 2.3L petrol makes for expensive tax but I'll live with it.
Yup, saloon though so not full chav 🙂
I'm told going for a saloon S3/RS3 or Estate Golf R does halve your chances of being T-PAC'd on the way to work because some scrote has cloned your plates ha ha.
Yup, saloon though so not full chav
4.2 litres of V8 lovelyness 🙂
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I like the auto box more than I thought
Did you get that oil change done yet? You're not going to be too keen on that auto box if it goes tits up.
2002 Honda Civic Type-R JDM (EP3).
The near 9k rpm redline. The diff when it hooks up and drags you out of a bend. The recaro interior. The fact its a proper hot hatch (although the 212hp isn't that hot by todays standard). the fact it doesn't weigh 2 tonnes. The smile it puts on my face everyday. The number of more expensive things i can make it overtake on a track day. Its practicality & low-ish running costs.
jees that Florian bloke in the Merc add is full German robot...
Anyway, love me 5 series touring it's got all the gizmo's on it which makes long drives nice. It will also do close to a real 50mpg as well. Only downside, is that it's now 8 years old, 140K miles in and it has the useless projector lamps (candles are better)..
Drove a brand new one the other day - absolutley no difference at all, so happy that it still feels curent (especially as i can't afford another one now)..
I can get behind this thread (MK2 Golf):
It's over 30 years old, has done nearly 200,000 miles but I still trust it enough to jump in it if I had to do a 500mile drive tomorrow. It still turns a few heads but I don't feel precious about it.
2002 Honda Civic Type-R JDM (EP3).
NICE...... I used to have a 54 plate EP3 (UK market..). I always wanted the JDM version!
I still reckon the EP3 was the nicest Type-R... just looked 'cool'.
I'd love one for a track/fun car again. The 6 speed box was so quick to shift with wasn't it!
DrP
@DrP yup, its a real peach. Its raw enough to be exciting, but not tiring on daily duties and down a B road, wind her up and enjoy!
The added extra's of the JDM model sold it to me, LSD, bit more poke, recaro's and the all import championship white paint.
I keep thinking of selling it for something more modern (i30N, Golf R, etc), but I keep going back to how much fun it is to drive.
'Pilot Assist' adaptive cruise / lane keeping thingy keeps me rolling* even when I'm having a kip in the back.
*does not work** on twisty single track roads.
**don't ask how I found out.