My daily driver car history 1982 onwards. My project cars in included in other pages on this site
My first car. Cost me £0 as it was an MOT failure and needed a lot of welding. Once done and with a large amount of filler and a new coat of paint applied, it lasted out my student years. Fond memories.
Twin carb 6 cylinder with over-drive. Lovely car, like sitting in a comfy armchair. Only had it for just over 12 months because I was doing large mileage and it would only average early twenties. Wanted to keep it but didn’t have a house at the time – pity.
A more sensible car for the mileage I was doing at the time which led on to another cavalier once I’d finished with this one. Unremarkable, but got the job done.
Work circumstances changed and I found myself working quite close to home, but my wife was doing the longer trips. So I used her old Escort and sold the Cavalier to buy her an Astra for her commute.
As I wasn’t doing the miles, I got fed up of sensible and went back to Triumph. This time a sporty little Spitfire that was in need of some renovation work. However part way through the renovation, we found we were expecting our first child. So back to sensible for quite a few years.
I then swapped jobs again, and the new job came with a company car. So my first ever brand new car was a “frog eye” Scorpio with a superb leather interior and very stimulating high quality stereo. A step change from what I had been used to and with all the bills paid too. Great whilst it lasted.
But my favourite company car of this era was the Omega. It had a lovely V6 cylinder engine and would cruise long distances without effort. I remember driving it down to the south of France one year with 3 kids and a roof box. No problems at all.
Another job change and back to private car ownership. A no frills Golf was all I could afford at the time.
Another change in employment meant I had a car allowance which I could buy a new car if I wished or take the cash and provide my own. The car had to be fit for business use and capable of getting me reliably to Newcastle, Glasgow, Worthing etc. It had to be a 5 series – this one a 6 cylinder petrol.
My next motorway cruiser was a 525TDS. I think this is my best BMW to date. Lovely sounding engine with a manual gearbox and an upgraded sound system. I looked forward to the longer drives.
Oh what a mistake. Awful car. The only car in my car history to let me down and need AA recovery – twice. Lexus replaced the complete engine FOC, but too late. I had lost all confidence in the thing.
Another great motorway cruiser. The 2L was a little under powered for the big chassis, but the auto gearbox was sublime, with plenty a torque getting to where it was needed astonishingly quickly.
I had admired the new XF Jaguar since it was released. The price point for a reasonable one was now at a level I could afford and it didn’t disappoint.
Then, my driving requirements expanded again to not only include long distance commuting / business miles and the family transport, but now a dog as well. Hence the Sportbrake. It did tick all the boxes but I found it noisy to drive – perhaps I had the wrong tyres.
My 3 kids were now of an age where they had their own cars, so I didn’t need the back seat space, just a good business miles car that could cope with a large spaniel. The GTD fitted the bill nicely. Surprisingly quick when you wanted it to be, economical on long trips and with a low tailgate for the dog.
Then we had Covid and the world changed. No need for large business miles, almost no need for commuting. My annual mileage shrank to a small fraction of what it used to be. I didn’t need a economical, ultra-reliable business car any more. For most journeys it was just me and the dog. So it was time to say goodbye to sensible and get a Range Rover.
The Range Rover was a great idea and a lovely car to waft around in, but the huge expense of owning and maintaining it soon started to taint the experience. After 6 months it had to go. The replacement was a car of similar size and performance but understated and reliable.