Car appreciation... the aesthetics, the engineering, etc

i have owned some cars previously. most were proper shitboxes tho i have fond memories of a Nissan Langley. First and only ride i ever pranged, also got off with Aussie Linda in it. She's married now with a kid, lives in Perth.

E92 M3. Modern bangle nonsense, but quite gentle with it. Sensibley sized, proportioned.

1. 1994 Nissan Micra 1.0 - Girlfriends car I learnt to drive in - total shitbox and inspired a lasting hate of Micras.
   
2. 2001 Peugeot 106 1.5 Diesel - Mum’s car that I thrashed around after passing the test and she still uses today!
   
3. 1997 Hyundai Coupe 2L petrol - the Korean Ferrari 👌 - endured plenty of pisstaking about this ‘hairdresser’ car but you could fit a drum kit with a couple of amps and band mates and comfortably cruise at well over a ton. Incredible interior for a cheap car and handled well at pace, just needed to be RWD.
   
4. 2010 Honda Civic 2L diesel - Girlfriend/wife’s company car, looked cool and surprisingly capacious for cargo but horrible driving position and noisy on the motorway. I refused to drive it as much as I could get away with.
   
5. 2004 Audi A4 2.?L diesel estate - very basic model but so much nicer than the Civic to be in and drive. Only had use of it on request from the inlaws and was very sad when they sold it for peanuts.
   
6. 2007 BMW 525 3L petrol touring - most powerful, nicest interior and best handling of the lot. Total money pit.
   

Gearboxs I guess work, but every one I've ever looked at or driven has had tonnes of play in the busy under the stick and corroded control cables. Trying to get 5th gear is sometimes not even worth it, just leave it in 4th. 2.3t 260 variant (standard) loves just chucking back fuel. Wondered if a remap might sort it out, few cars previous was a 9*3 with the b205 and some mods made it approx 260bhp, certainly handled better but its a slightly smaller car, before remap it wasn't bad on fuel, after, wow, a roads at constant 55 to 65mph you'd get 42 to 45mpg. Id call that a win.
Took it to croft once, including faff mileage, averaged 12mpg, i think that's decent. Mate on same day had an evo iv or v (white and late 90s)with some mods, he ran out of fuel in the 4th session lol.

TLDR: I rolled a car with the help of my dad. Pre-passing my test.

Strong effort! I've only ever rolled a car racing, after bouncing off the tyre wall at Mallory. I did manage to roll it 2.5 times, mostly in mid-air. Apparently it was pretty impressive, but I didn't get to appreciate it, having been knocked unconscious by the initial impact.

My father was clearly a lot less interventionist as a supervisor of learner drivers. He did nothing as I slowly ploughed into the side of the Nissan Sunny, and after the banging and scraping had stopped he just sat there and so 'Oh dear'. Not a very demonstrative chap, my father.

ah, car history. Go on then...
Pre-cursor: Dad’s ‘97 company Rover 820 vitesse. I rolled it brand new and shortly after passing my test. Take a bow. Then, I got my own cars:

‘82 golf mk1 5 door 1.1. Added subwoofer, P-slots, chin spoiler and cherry bomb. Excellent.
‘81 Renault Fuego 1.4 - wonderful machine. Was my university run around for a few years. Orange with orange interior. Ran until scrapped.
‘93 BMW 520i E34 Touring. Should have kept this, end of. Can’t even remember why sold it, MOT fail probably. Shocking.
‘83 Datsun Stanza 1.6L in beige with brown plastic interior. This was interesting. 4 door saloon. Bought with 16k on clock !!! from a meticulous old man. ran like a Swiss clock. Got bumped by a twit, cat D, they paid up and I kept it as a dented runaround. I did Staples 2 Naples rally in it around 2004. Sold it after, unbelievably.
‘88 Vauxhall Carlton 2L estate. Incredibly capacious old barge. Head gasket. scrapped.
‘95? Volvo 850 2.5 estate. Great car, timing belt went. Scrapped
‘87 Alfa 75 twinspark. Probably my favourite ever to drive. Got it way out of shape in Clapham and knocked a lamppost over. Semi-panicked and accepted £50 from a passing pikey to take it, pissing fluids and steam, away on his q-plate wrecker. heavy woe and regret since.
‘83 Mitsubishi Starion narrow body 2.0 turbo. Gleaming red. Quite enjoyed this, although it was more show than go.
‘01 merc c220 diesel coupe auto. Quite capable, snazzy and comfortable.
‘70 Fiat 500L. Incredible little machine and would love to have another. Ex-wife’s got it now.
‘03 BMW M3 E46 hardtop. Mega machine, much like the Alfa 75 to drive but everything happened so much quicker, so I was always scaring myself. Baby sale.
‘98 Subaru Forester, stopgap from a friend. Utterly epic, sadly rusted through sub-frame.
‘14 Peugeot 3008 hybrid4 family hack, less said the better. (current)
‘04 Ford Ka 1.3 station car, like it more than I should. (current)
‘80 Land Rover SIII petrol swb truck cab. Why did it take me so long to get one of these things? Amazing. (current)

Looking back, I’m amazed at how for the sake of a few quid in repair bills, I scrapped cars that would be cool to see today. Sometimes I just didn’t have the means. Good memories, thanks whoever started this!

I think I’ve had the fewest cars of anyone in this thread.

1995 AX 1.5D
1995 306 DTurbo
1977 104, 5-door.
2006 Transit Connect (High+Long)
2015 Peugeot Boxer H2L3.

3 cars, 2 vans. Shouldn't have bought the 104 as I didn't have a garage in which to store or work on it. Sold it on before driving it anywhere other than the lane behind our terrace.

BMW 520i E28

Renault 19

Ford Fiesta van

Vauxhall Astra

BMW 525i E34

Seat Arosa

Alfa Romeo 159 Sportwagon

Vauxhall Astra

Yeah booooooii

It was a replacement car after my mate took my Fiesta van on a date with his girlfriend and smashed the car.

A few memories...

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and a few more

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Last one promise... sweet dreams!

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Would still like to own an E36 & E46 M3 at some point. Good ones might be out of reach by the time I get there though

I'm pretty close. Only the Golfs, Audi and Porsche I owned by myself - the rest were with my brother - and we wrecked about 3 more mk3 golfs as well and had a few scrappy do-up Japanese cars I've forgotten about.

1980s Nissan Sentra to learn to drive in
1990s 3.o Turbo Diesel Hiace work van (not really mine)
1996 Golf VR6 auto 4 door
1997 Golf VR6 manual 2 door
2001 Subaru Lancaster (Outback)
1994 Audi S2 ABY 6-speed (still have it)
1996 Mazda Bongo bike van
2003 996 C4S Hartech rebuilt, but tip = the shortest I've ever owned a car
?? Looking for a replacement. E46 M3, Cayman, 997, b5 RS4, another golf, who knows, I change my mind every day. ULEZ makes it harder.

Bikes
1996? Honda 230SL dirt bike
1989 Honda GB500 and two GB400s

Bit of a chequered history here....only new vehicle was the Blackbird!

Cars:
1974 Mk 1 Escort van - 1100 LC / drum brakes
1975 Mk 1 Escort - 1300
1974 Mk 1 Escort "Mexico" - 1600 / twin 40 Webers / Bilsteins/ cage
1973 Mk 1 Escort - 1600 Burton lump / drum brake
1980 Opel Ascona (=Cavalier)
1982 Reliant Scimitar SE6B (2.8)
1982? Talbot Horizon - £50 - knackered and awesome
1982 ? Range Rover
1995? Honda Accord
1995? Volvo 850 T5
1995? Lexus Soarer
2001 Ford Focus Estate (awesome car - ex-Wrongcog https://www.lfgss.com/conversations/227255/)
2002 Honda Stepwagn (camper)
2004 Subaru Outback 3.0

Bikes:
Honda PA50 Camino
MZ Simson S50
Suzuki GP100
Honda CB550K3
Yamaha XJ650
Kawasaki GTR1000
Honda XL250
Honda NX650 Dominator
Honda CBR1100XX Super Blackbird

1994 Audi S2 ABY 6-speed

Love these, particularly in this weird teal:

Aqua Green - My Dad worked at a VW / Audi dealership at the time, I remember having a V6 cabriolet that colour, and a Pearlescent white S2 with a phone in the centre console

A pearlescent white would be super nice - I can only imagine how much dash space the phone took up!

Did you ever go for a drive/be a passenger? I bet they were understeery pigs.

Some crackers there!!

@TRA They are pretty nose heavy. The understeer isn't really that bad though The best thing about them is the engine and traction. The turbo 5 cylinder is lovely and easy to get more power out of it.

I wanted a coupe but ended up with a really rare sedan.

I 100% agree. not usually an alfa guy but think these look great

1. 1993 Merc C220 (was my mums - gasket went shortly after I passed my test in 2009)
   
2. 2005 BMW 116i (loved it - shared with my sis)
   
3. 2008 Audi A3 1.8T (still owned by my mum. surprisingly quick compared to the 1 series)
   
4. 2012 Audi A3 1.6 (had a few days to buy a new car for a new job.... looked nice but shit engine and only 5 speed so suffered on motorways)
   
5. 2014 BMW 320d luxury touring (grandad sold to me last year for £5k with 12,000 on the clock. great car but not hugely "fun" for a guy in his late 20s..)
   
   

I have always loved cars and unfortunately never owned something myself which is truly "fun" due to my frugal nature and previous lack of need for a car. Now that I have the barge that is the BMW i don't feel I can sell it as it was such a fantastic deal!

I've had lots of compliments about mine which for a new family saloon is unusual.