[Closed] 'Everyday' cars you miss.

I really miss my Vauxhall Astra GSi (K Reg), 2 ltr 16 valved beauty in polar white. Very very quick back in the day.Great body styling , easy to work on and fun to drive. God i pampered it, now i drive a boring diesel hatchback 😥

1994 (L reg) Volvo 440 GLT. Paid £1k for it in 2004.

Frickin' indestructible, comfortable, heated seats, fast as pants, nice looking motor (or so I thought) and a beautiful Renault engine.

I had it for years, only foiled by all calipers needing replacing at an MOT.

Memories, good and bad, but did a lot in that car. A LOT. I think once you have to sleep in a car, you develop a bond.

Rip L468 FTA

Proton Persona 1.6XLi was surprisngly good. Independant suspension all round, disc brakes all round. Didn't weigh much so 1.6 was plenty. A lot more fun than you would think. Head gasket failure killed it 🙁

MkII Golf 1.4 cl- great car, bomb proof.

My 2.8i Capri, metallic burgundy with gunmetal grey sills, god I miss that car.. and I sold it twenty five years ago.. 😥
I still have the second speedo to keep it below 4000 a year on the shelf at home.. 😉

Citroen Dyane:

First car that was actually mine:
Simple, cost £400, loads of space, huge fun to drive, handled superbly and never broke down.
Killed by rust, eventually.

Daewoo Nexia:

Was given it by a relative - looked like it had rolled end over end down a hill, smelt of Um Bongo & crisps.
Slow, tatty, ugly, reliable, simple, thrashable & very cheap to run.
Took me and her, plus bikes & camping gear all over the UK.
Was called Shedric.
Eventually blew up spectacularly, boiling it's water & pissing oil all over the road, right outside my favourite pub.
God, I miss that car.

I miss my Rover SD1 V8 3.5 manual with tweeks-what an engine 5mph to 105mph in 3rd....oh the days of doing less than 5mpg or burning a set of rear tyres out for fun...shame they were made of tin cans and it rotted to dust.

Of the cars I have owned I miss 2

Alfa Romeo 156 Sportwagon..a Real character, and made me happy to be in it.

Toyota Hilux Surf...The ultimate utility vehicle.

I still regret selling my '64 Amazon. It was a hugely practical daily runner for three or four years. It's only refinement was overdrive in fourth gear.

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I miss my Rover SD1 V8 3.5

Mates Dad had one of them, bloody hell it was fast.

Actually, I'll now ad my G reg Astra GTE 8v. That got me a lot of sex*

*a little^

^2 fumbles

My 2.8i Capri

I don't have words for how much I hate you. (-:

I miss my Rover SD1

You're not far behind either, buggerlugs.

Thank you everyone so far for "getting" the question. Great reading.

1990 fiesta 1.6s. It had a hole in the roof, and one door was a different coulour. Looked absolutely standard, had an xr2 engine. Awesome.

😀 it did have a few things done to it, heads, cams, exhausts, shocks, and a slippery diff out of a special, but totally standard bodywork with pepperpots.. Fond memories of the diff exploding at an indicated 140mph, looked like a hand grenade had gone off inside it..
I miss it even more now... 😥

My dad's 1973 cortina mk3 2litre gxl with vinyl roof

oh and my 1975 triumph dolomite sprint. Great in a straight line, but not so good round corners...

MkII Golf. Best car ever!

Mk1 Mondeo V6 it had everything, so comfortable and pulled like a train! I didn't realise how good it was until I replaced it with pos Astra.

I also miss my Dad's Rover SD1 it is responsible for my love of V8's.

Renault 5 turbo - wish I never sold that, would be worth far more now
205 1.9 gti - dangerous but soo much fun.
Landrover 110 defender SW. Still gutted about selling that.

I had a Citroen AX GT in the early 90s.

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I don't know how I didn't kill myself in it.

My dad had a company Cavalier, a CDX I think, but for reasons unknown it had a redtop in it- partsbin special we thought. Was a lovely bit of kit- well bolted together, went like stink while not looking like it should, and had a really nice grey/green pearl colour that was almost like a very subtle flip. It got written off by a truck, when we went to pick out the replacement it was parked round the back and I've never seen such a sad sight, wheels pointing in all directions and it was covered in dust, all the shine gone from that lovely paint. Sad.

I got quite attached to my horrible Focus, it had the worst engine and absolutely no optional extras other than a surprising amount of rust, and it ended up being a money pit, but still it was a very friendly car.

My grandad's ridiculous old Cortina is still running about, now that was a car. Blown up the engine? Just hammer in this v8 we've got lying about. Chassis rusted through? You need just need a gallon of isopon and a load of coathangers. Exhaust was a scaff pipe. He spent the war doing much the same thing to hurricanes and didn't realise you're not really supposed to do it with cars. Poor sod that bought it thought it'd be a quick project. But from the outside, it was just a well used 1.8LX, not a shrine to madness.

I'm very fond of my Passat, although I'm not allowed to be. You form a relationship with your car as it ferries you through life's ups and downs.. well at least I do. That car was with us on some great adventures.. then there's that battered grey Prius.. brought both my kids back from hospital in that.. ok so kid 2 's first trip was actually TO hospital... 🙂

My classic mini's.

Still yearn for my '99 Saab 93. That thing could eat up the miles.. and overtaking was a breeze with the proper turbo.

The best car my dad had was this Cavalier LXi. The "i" meant everything back in the day.

Check out this picture of it on a lads "fishing" trip in Bridgenorth. 😀
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Exhaust was a scaff pipe

I fixed my first car's exhaust (1977 Fiesta) with a length of telescope I found in the yard of a coachworks. Bright red and flared at the end, looked like I'd fitted a cherrybomb.

I'd not be able to resist the temptation to pull over from time to time to refocus my exhaust.

Check out this picture of it on a lads "fishing" trip in Bridgenorth.

I have the strangest... 😀

The ginger body builder in the hot pants is now a Managing Director.

My 1970 Cortina 1600E (UAY 992H) in Fern Green. That car saw some action one way or another!

Still yearn for my '99 Saab 93. That thing could eat up the miles.. and overtaking was a breeze with the proper turbo.

1999 Saab 9-3 is my current car 😀

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Like luffy105 I loved my Renault turbo. It was a 'Le car 2' and looked like a standard Renault 5 but went like stink. Unfortunately I bought it off a 'mate' who forgot to mention that he had spanked it up and down the A1 from London to Aberdeen on a regular basis for 2 years without getting it serviced or even an oil change.

Everything that could have gone wrong, did, and I had to flog it for next to nothing after 6 months.

My mini. I loved that car. It was awful, but I loved it.

1275GT, smoking a bit when it came into my hands so bored out to 1300. Stage 2 head, Dellorto carb. 40, maybe. Big huge tyres (12 inch!). Worst brakes ever on earth, ever.

It leaked through the sunroof, ate radiators, had rotten sills and I loved it.

It went like stink in a straight line but it was the corners where it came alive. Like on rails. Ford Xr3i's were great for a laugh, the owners always reckoned they'd win a race and in a sprint it was roughly evens, I'd usually be a bit quicker but as soon as the road got twisty they'd disappear in my mirror. Cosworths were better and certainly quicker flat out but again, the corners showed them who was boss.

I part-exed it for an Xr2 which blew up within a month 🙁

[i]The ginger body builder in the hot pants is now a Managing Director. [/i]

he's dreamy.

My series 1 1956 land rover ..with 3.9 v8 engine fitted ........now that was fun

My Dad went from a cream maestro 1.6l with a shit brown interior (not being rude, being descriptive) to an MG Montego 2.0 efi.

I think my Dad grew about a foot taller in my eyes that day. It was ace!

Mate's Dad had a Montego Turbo when they first came out, for some bizarre reason my mate was trusted to drive it (and the previous Cavalier sri), we were only 18. We used to cruise about in them all the time.

Good point v8.
My dad had an old Mazda one day and came back with an RX7 the next. I got the impression it was just an impulse purchase that didn't go down too well with my mum.

I was like a god in school. Whenever my friends were at our house my dad would deliberately nail the car away from the house with screeching tyres. They frown on that sort of thing nowadays.

They frown on that sort of thing nowadays.

This one isn't mine, but one day I will own another - a mint one costs a fortune these days

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After passing my test at 17, the first car I had access to was my dads Sierra XR4. God knows how much it cost him to put me on his insurance. (come to think of it, it was a company car and I bet I wasn't actually covered 😯 )

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Mate's Dad had a Montego Turbo

Wow. Just wow!

I miss my old AX GTi, 100bhp and just under 900kg. Never should of sold it.

I'm sorry. I don't believe any Montego was put together well enough to withstand the strain a turbo would put on it.

Doing some research reveals it had a 0-60 time of 7.3 seconds. That damn fast!

Family cars.. we used to have Nissans in the 80s so the Rover 216 we got after those seemed really plush. But the 214 that replaced it, that was lovely.

The last Nissan was a Stanza. Dull even for a kid but that thing gave is the best years of our lives. So many experiences started and finished with it.. it never once went wrong in any waymore in almost 100k and many years.

My 1998 volvo v40 2.0CD.
Sold it a couple of years ago with 175000 on the clock and still running well.

My wife classes it as "her" first car as I gave it to her as a practice car when she passed her test in 2010.

I got given the "workshop" mini pickup when i passed my test at the age of 17 and 3hrs of age and told to look after it or they would kick the shit out of me, I was an apprentice at a Rover garage back in 1989 and the mini was a little belter as it had constantly been tweaked and worked on over the years by the mechanics, 1360cc A series engine with twin su carbs onto a straight through side exiting exhaust and uprated discs from a MG metro - i think they took pity on me as i only got paid £29.50 for 6 days work thanks to the YTS system but i had been working on cars n' engines for years thanks to my upbringing so i was doing the same mechanical work as everyone else in the garage and i was always keen to learn from everyone else as they all had masses of experience, some in motorsport, some in clubman rallying so i would be the first to offer to help out with anything going.

A cracking little car that was so fast off the line and through the corners, as long as you kept the power on it could corner pretty much as well as anything else on the road. I learned how to correct lift off oversteer and how to prevent it.........fill the rear bed with a couple of sand bags and do all the braking before hand then power on and turn in.

Two years later at the age of 19 i had bought a rear ended Lancia Delta HF Integrale from one of our customers as the insurance company had written it off due to the expense of repair, i spent the entire summer repairing it in the bodyshop and rebuilding it from the ground up, it cost me a fair bit but i had been left the money so it was worth it. 21 years old and driving a rosso monza lhd 220bhp 4wd monster........sadly it only lasted 11 months before i had to sell it due to the running costs and insurance costs. Quite possibly the most stupid decision i've made in my life as it was utterly sublime to drive and i'll never be able to afford another one.

I remember the MG Montego turbo, more torque steer than steering wheel steer. And turbo laaaaaaaaaaaaaaaag!

Had a couple of bangers from the age of about 14 to learn about engines and mess around in the fields and on the farm tracks where I grew up. First was a '65 Morris Minor - lovely car, surprisingly fun to drive, and very comfy inside. Picked up for £50 from a mate of my Dads. Intended to be first proper car when I passed my test but sadly needed too much work....would be worth a fair bit now. Got swapped for a '73 Cortina estate in bright yellow with a brown vinyl roof which was known as the flying banana and was truly vile. Again expired well before I passed my test.

First proper car of my own was another Cavalier - a silver 1987 1.6L handed down from my Dad. Really nothing special now but as above, loved that car - comfy, loads of room and could be hustled along pretty well. Not been a fan of anything they've done since though.

Car I loved the most (apart from my current T4) and the one I most regret selling on was my Red '92 Golf Mk II Driver. Just such a solid car, with bags of character and also great to drive. My father in law took it off our hands with 190K on the clock when we "upgraded" to a Mk IV (which I never really got on with), only for it to get nicked and totalled a couple of months later...I almost cried. Would have another tomorrow if I could afford it.

Lancia Delta HF Integrale.....sigh.... My dream car. Any colour will be fine.

Mate's Dad had a Montego Turbo

I used to service them in the rover garage i worked at, along with the maestro turbo which was a hoot to drive in a straight line as long as you could cope with the horrendous torque steer as they would tramline at the slightest provocation, when the turbo spooled up you had to have two hands on the wheel otherwise you'd be in the ditch.

Fancy pants electronic dash as well, but that was crap as i used to get the job of changing them on a monthly basis coz the lcd displays leaked or just stopped working for no reason.

Only two Montegos on the whole of eBay... but ones a belter;
[url= http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1985-MG-MONTEGO-TURBO-Very-Rare-moonraker-blue-/281107151546?pt=Automobiles_UK&hash=item41734ababa ]eBay dreamin'[/url]
Forgot how good looking a car it was, in a 'giveafiveyearoldacrayonandtellhimtodrawacar' kinda way...

Somafunk and Samuri, I had a pick up with a 1400cc engine, ten inch wheels and S discs. It had adjustable suspension cones too. It was four wheel driftable on dry roads not surprisingly it would eat tyres.

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My highlights have to be the Mini, the cavalier and the Mk2 gti. All great cars.

Mind you, the lada was fun in a perverse sort of way.

Dads Sierra 4X4 estate, all the toys, 2.8 V6, first car I drove after passing at 17, brilliant fun, way too quick for someone who just passed, but it cornered like it was on rails.
The problem was it kept getting stolen.... and recovered.

18yrs old and givena Maestro 2.0 efi to drive round Scotland as a company car for the summer. God I hammered that car!

Mind you, the lada was fun in a perverse sort of way.

Folks had a couple of Rivas. I loved them as a kid.. felt like you were driving around in a tank. Always fancied a Niva after hiring a soft top one on holiday in Greece.

Just for the MK2 Golf fanboyz on the thread 😀 , here's mine...go on...buy one for yourself and tell the wife it's an investment as they will only go up in value year on year. Mine is currently valued at £6K and going up by £500 a year as long as i keep it in good condition but it has been rebuilt from the ground up at a cost of £4k+, 1960cc ABT tuned 16v engine conversion, quaiffe diff etc 192bhp 965kg, 0-100mph time through first 3 gears is....... quite fast enough 😉

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Driven like it should be i get 18 mpg, but to be honest i drive it with the utmost care and consideration for the car and maximum mpg which i have got up to 36.3 mpg apart from the odd 2nd gear overtaking manoeuvre when i stretch it a bit to the 7500rpm redline which is admittingly is bouncing the speed limit.

<drool>

Nice golf. Those cars handle very well too.

Ah Molgrips, the Nissan Stanza, we had a second hand one that did sterling service for five years. Mrs. S actually cried when we left it at the garage, as we traded up to a Bluebird.

Those cars handle very well too.

Especially with eibach roll bars/eibach springs, bilstein b12 shocks, fully polybushed and quickrack wi a lsd diff thrown in for good measure along with everything running gear wise replaced for original VW items (anything else and i wouldn't have trusted it under load) - a mk6 golf gti rapidly disappears in the rear view mirror 😆

Go on folks, for the price of a 2nd hand ford focus or mondeo you could drive something that actually makes you smile and it will gain in value every year so it's an investment really.

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A very nice place to sit but i admit it is rather noisy due to a 4 branch miltek manifold and 2.5" Jetex exhaust, but what a noise........ especially through the clyde tunnel as it pops and farts on the overrun.

Not an especially fast car or exotic in the slightest but i like it for what it is, a decent daily driver.

I miss the noise my Mk1 Golf Gti made, especially the pops and bangs on the over run. 60mph in 2nd, happy days 🙂

bearnecessities - Member
Mate's Dad had a Montego Turbo
Wow. Just wow!

samuri - Member
I'm sorry. I don't believe any Montego was put together well enough to withstand the strain a turbo would put on it.

Doing some research reveals it had a 0-60 time of 7.3 seconds. That damn fast!

I remember the MG Montego turbo, more torque steer than steering wheel steer. And turbo laaaaaaaaaaaaaaaag!

I miss my last car, daft as it sounds an 05 citroen C2 VTR, had the car from new, 7 and a half years had to trade it for something grown up. I miss those paddles and xbox style driving, tempted to buy it back from the dealer!

One of my favourite cars that I never owned was the Fiat Strada two litre twin cam, rusted quicker than a Lancia but made a lovely noise..

I had a mk2 Golf GTI Big bumper version (1990) about 8 years ago, I miss that, but I don't miss it breaking every 5 minutes... was getting a bit long in the tooth by the time I owned it.

And agreed, they handled great, although the brakes were diabolical!

This tread is bringing back some memories.

I had a citiroen ax gt that me and a mate went halves on. We left it in the garage and someone nicked it and took it round the local BMX track 😯 absolutely wrecked it.

Car I regret most losing was a Mk 4 escort estate that we had about 11 years and in that time it had a new engine then mum gave it to me to put through an MOT and it failed on loads of welding.

I stripped it to a shell and welded it all up, had it painted and dark yellow and put a RS turbo engine in it. Did it fly. Only thing that stopped it was a Punto pulling out in front of me and I went straight into the side of it..

The bonnet folded over, the engine dropped so I couldn't move it and the girl who was with me asked " as it damaged our car ? " as I climbed out the window Bo and Luke style 🙄 she was eye candy to say the least.......

Words can not express how much I loved this car.

A 1988 740 GLE, it carried my wife and first child from Northwestern Canada to Winnipeg, to Montreal, to New York, to Vermont, Toronto, and back again. It never missed a beat, and when it did need repairs, I was always able to get my own parts and do them in the driveway.

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I would get another in a heartbeat.

A 1988 740 GLE, it carried my wife and first child from Northwestern Canada to Winnipeg, to Montreal, to New York, to Vermont, Toronto, and back again.

It's probably still running. Engines designed to power starships, those things; 100k is run-in mileage.

Indeed. I sold it to a friend with 320k on the clock, and he was still using it to drive between Saskatoon and Toronto with his family once a year two years after that.

I've had some quick cars over the years, even some concours level stuff. But in keeping with the everyday car theme the one I miss the the most is an old VW Vento.

It was a 30'odd thousand miler I bought from an local old boy. It was burgundy with an un marked biscuit interior. It was entirely ordinary with a chasm for a boot.

I sold it to buy an Escort RS turbo...

Have had a few cars I miss, original Cooper S, 1956 Landie, couple of my Spridgets, 2.8i Capri, a Senator (what a great car!) but in keeping with the original request - the everyday car was a. Citroen Xantia estate.
We bought it very cheaply with 42k on the clock to have a 'leave at the railway station overnight' car, thinking a few months at the most. Then kept it for 14 years and 240k miles with us. Never broke down, never had much done to it, carried tons of kit (self-levelling), seemingly did high 30s mpg,very comfy, once wound up carried momentum very well, great four wheel drifter on roundabouts! Never rusted (galvanised), went through snow, across ploughed fields, happily did mild to medium ish green lanes. Eventually sort of became all used up and worn out, drove to the breakers with 280k on the clock (they gave me £150) and cycled home - we all miss it : /
Rip Thunderbird 4!

Why the hell I sold my 54 plate civic type r I'll never know, it was SO much fun to drive. In the 4 yrs/40k I had it not one problem with it.
2nd best car I had was a vauxhall chevette hsr replica (don't laugh) standard as in piss poor 1.3 engine but with spax adjustable suspension. Bloody hell it could handle, always remember "racing" in my misspent youth with my mate who had a Renault 5gt turbo on some back roads and he said he struggled to keep up with me.

I had a B reg Mitsubishi colt 1.5l with a 3 speed auto box. It was as dull as dish water but as reliable as time its self. The thing just kept going. It carried all manner of bikes and tents over the years and never missed a beat. Loved that car and only got shot of it because the B pillar rotted through beyond repair.

I had a mk2 XR2 before that. Very fast for a shopping car and had loads of teenage fun in it. This ended up like most hot hatches of its day, upside down. 😯

I still have a 306 estate that is knocking 14 years old now. TBH it is definitely feeling every one of its 150000 miles but it never misses a beat and is going fully loaded with bikes and kit to France in a couple of months. I will be sorry to see this one go as like the Mitsubishi it has been a faithful companion on many an adventure.

loving this thread... as a 70's child... the 80's provided some notorious cars...
MG Metro Turbo...
Renault Fuego, think there was a turbo variant
Ford fiesta XR variant with pepper pot alloys
Ford Sierra XR4 (i + sapphire + cosworth) again some models with pepper pots
After passing my test was lucky to have as my wheels an Audi 80 LS 1975 plate (cadiz orange) then went to a Mars red 1977 Audi 80 GLS replaced by a Triumph Herald 1360 convertible... happy days

My mum had a Vauxhall Viva E Coupe, like a Firenza without the droop snoot and all the body add ons and souped up powerplant.
Loved that car, used to polish it for extra pocket money.

I had a 1991 "H" Mazda 323F 1.8GT, which was fantastic. I don't think it had a rev limit. I still regret selling that car! 😆

I had a 1991 "H" Mazda 323F

A Ford Fiesta, then? (-:

Mk II Golf and a couple of Mk II Sciroccos... Three, actually. One 1600 and two 1800s. My 1800 Passat's going to be missed when I have to replace it.,

My mum had a Vauxhall Viva E Coupe, like a Firenza without the droop snoot and all the body add ons and souped up powerplant.

My Dad had one of these, till I put it through a phone box 10 days after passing my test. Sorry Dad.