Vauxhall Vectra diesel estate, 58 reg.
In early 2011, I wrote my car (an elderly Ford Mondeo estate) off on the motorway when I hit some debris. However at work, our lease car was due to go back to the leasing company so I asked if they’d be willing to sell it direct to me. Because it saved them the hassle of collecting, valeting and auctioning, they sold it to me quite cheap, it was only 2 years old and came with a full year of tax (back in the days when tax carried over when a car was sold). It also saved me the hassle of visiting garages and pretending I knew what I was looking at or talking about!
It’s the standard big steady rep-mobile, will cruise quite happily on the motorway at 70 with a boot full of bikes and kit. Yes, it’s incredibly dull – in fact so dull they even made the interior an ultra-bland dark grey – but it’s been solid and reliable and practical.