Thinking cars again

Been thinking about cars again as I look to change what I drive again ...

Despite temptation from seeing the soft tops my sister tends to drive, I've had a steady stream of medium sized fairly normal cars over the years. Not actually too many cars considering, although it always seems to be the brakes that go wrong. So, what have I had ?

First up, 1982 Fiesta 950pop.

This is the car that I should have learned to drive in, although there wasn't much volunteering to take me out on the roads. Maybe they'd been watching me play Revs (driving game on BBC Micro). Not much really to tell about this one, it gave all it had, which was limited. However, it was off the road for a few months due to a broken brake master cylinder. That's the widget that turns foot pressure into braking effort. And another bit of time off the road due to being rear ended by someone in Sheffield, first time I'd gone any distance on my own. Meh.

Anyway - a puny 950ccs engine made it good for only 78mph, after a year it got upgraded to a significantly better Astra Mk1 1.6 litre.

Which was yellow. Which kinda added to the charm. It also had so much rust on the front valence (the bit under the bumper) that I'd say it had a beard. A 90bhp engine combined with Old School design (really light, minimal protection) meant it went nice n fast. Which worked out to a sub 10 second 0 to 60 time and decent overtaking power. It was a true wolf (ok, maybe wolf cub) in old banger clothing. It could also double as a van for the uni hall shop, one time having about £700 worth of sweeties & drinks in the boot. Enough to make it go Grindy over speed bumps.

This one was easy and cheap to fix, with me fixing most of what went wrong on it. Which to be honest, was a fair bit. However, despite what broke it just kept on ticking. It sadly had to go though because encroaching rust meant it was falling apart from the inside out. It died well, literally in a pillar of flame. It was sold on to a colleague/friend of my dad's, who was doing welding on it. In his garage. With the car window open. Cue welding spark hitting seat and WHOOMPH !

Cars (and sofas) are made differently these days.

The Astra got me through university (cheaply) and then we did somewhat of a reshuffle of cars due to :
Mum's Belmont was making her arms fall off,
Sister's Astra GTE soft top had just had an engine blow
(when people get nervous about "cambelts", this is why - broken cambelt tends to = dead engine)
Me needing something reliable as I started working

So I took over my mum's Belmont SRi, my sister borrowed my Astra until she got something better and my mum really got the short straw by getting a nasty, NASTY little Peugeot. (I know - I drove it once or twice when I couldn't avoid it). The Belmont was the first car I bought with my own cash, having got a "You're just starting working" loan from the bank :-).

The Belmont was a really sweet car. It was the last of a dying breed, being catalytic convertor free. I have to say, I'm not a supporter of catalytic convertors. They destroy fuel economy and hamper power. They eat precious metals and have a limited life. They're unnecessary. Anyway, 1.8 litre fuel injected for 130bhp made something pretty nippy and it did over 45mpg without trying.

But (there's always a but). I got the car a year after tearing up my shoulder and got it from my mum because she was having major issues with the heaviness of the steering (no power steering). So I had to switch to something lighter. I think there was a bit of "it's not my car" in there too, with me wanting to choose & buy my own.

That "My Car" was a Rover 420 Exec Limited Edition. Which translated to it having a couple of extra toys and leather seats. This was slightly slower than the Belmont but seriously gobbled petrol. It got a 32mpg average. It was also horrendously expensive to keep on the road, with bits falling off all the time. I drew the line at Alternator Number 2, which was a genuine Rover part which failed after only 18 months. That's on top of a pair of broken valves which cost £1000 to repair. And there was a lot more than that which broke.

Yep - horrendously unreliable, which is one reason why the new MG is most certainly not on my list of potential cars.

The Rover nightmare lasted a bit longer than I'd hoped, as I'd set my heart on the Ultra Shiny Ford Puma. It's a small sports coupe based on the Fiesta fitted with a bigger engine and improved chassis. It took a while for a Puma to come to the used market though, people tend to hold on to them because they love 'em.

Ahh - Silver Puma, ultra shiny and totally awesome. Handled everything I asked of it, including a house move. More speed than the Rover, plus 38-42 mpg. A hatchback gave it plenty of flexibility too. Loved that car but after 80k miles, it was pretty much done. I'd bought it at 20k miles and the breakages started happening at about 65k. I finally let it go at 85k miles, when it was getting near the scrap heap. The brakes were almost gone, plus the body was starting to rust.

Hence a bit of an emergency buy, with me switching the Puma for a Focus ST170. That's the sporty version again, a little bit faster on paper but not really feeling that. The Focus has done well again, staying reliable except for a broken inlet manifold.

But - I'm feeling those itchy feet again, looking for something different. What shall it be ? CR-Z is out of the running (it wants to be a Puma but is UGLY and not fast enough). Prius is curious but I have misgivings over the chassis, it's looking like little Lexus at the moment but that depends on the garages having a reality check over what they're asking.

To the webpages !