Cars: my Car history 2018 update

I can never remember anything, so put together this car history, to the best of my memory!

Car	Appx Date	Comments
Mini Clubman 1000cc	1980	Company Car.    Engine kept having problems, rebuilt a couple of times. (don't know why, I never revved it more than maximum revs....)
Austin Allegro		Company Car.  Surprising how many people you can get in an Allegro
A different Austin Allegro		Company Car.    First experience of lift-off oversteer.   Luckily Tree wasn't damaged..... car written off.  Oops.....
Citroen Athena		Bosses car, used fairly regularly whilst I was "rested" from company car ownership.....  first experience of 3 figure speeds (it was socially acceptable in those days)  however was unable to think of suitable reasons to explain to boss why his fuel consumption halved whenever I drive his car..... so fun was seriously curtailed after various "discussions" on driving technique.
Talbot Solara		Company Car.    Rubbish car, but permanently on the road again!    Learnt about weight transfer when swerving to avoid truck pulling out in front of me.    Luckily the barrier on the A3 Hook underpass wasn't damaged.... car written off....... probably did car loving humanity a favour though....
Talbot Solara Series II		Company Car.   Very exciting as the first car I had from brand new.   Also first one I had with 5 speed gearbox !  (it is some new fanged gadget, will never catch on..)
BMW 316		Company Car.    Only had it for a month.... didn't want to give it back, as in those days it was cool to have a Beema
Ford XR3i		Company Car.    Ended up with engine on fire when starting it one day, probably petrol leak in engine bay... write off of course (but not my fault this time !!)
Ford Capri 1.6L Laser		Company Car.    First real experience of rear wheel drive.  Also first experience of a big tank slapper.... luckily didn't hit anything, and my passenger ended up marrying me, so couldn't have been that bad :-)
Cant remember what I had next	1990	Company car of some sort.
Saab 900i auto	1990	Company Car.   Working in London now.  Daily commute, yuk.
Saab 900s manual	1991	Company Car.
Cannot remember	1992-94	Company Car.    Some repmobile or other probably
Rover 216	1994	Changed company, this was obviously a company car !
Rover SDI 3.5 V8	1994	First car I owned myself.   Changed company and decided to get car allowance.   Only lasted about 7 weeks before it collapsed in a heap of rust and mangled bits (£50 for a car wasn't much even in those days)
Renault 19 1.3	1994	My car.  Great car actually.
Cannot remember	1996	Company car.  Doing high mileage so went back to company car.
Renault Laguna 2.0 Sport	1997	Company car.  Sport meant you got the "firm" seats (i.e. - your head doesn't touch the side windows when you turn the steering wheel)
Saab 900 Turbo	1997	My car again.   Changed company just as Tony Blair got into power... bound  to hammer company car drivers, so I went for a car allowance.   Very quick car (once Turbo has spun up that is, none of this namby-pamby low-pressure turbo rubbish)
Lotus Elise	1997	"Our" weekend car.    until wife wanted to sell her half..... Hmmmm, OK.   Absolutely wonderful car though, would love to race one.   (we all need to dream)
Subaru Impreza Turbo	1999	My Car. mine, mine, mine....   one of the most reliable cars in the business, so why did it throw a rod through one of the cylinders then ?   Complete engine rebuilt under warranty (luckily)   Great car, but refused to be driven sensibly.   I must be getting old as started worrying about my Driving License.
Jaguar XK8 Convertible	2002	My car.   Fantastic car, not just for posing in either.    Only sold it to provide my racing budget (and some stuff for the house, but hey....)    Might own another one again (or maybe an Exige would be better..)
Land Rover Discovery Td5	2003	Company Car.  To tow my race car of course.  Tax liability is a bit of a bugger, but you can't beat it for towing.
Range Rover	2004	Company Car.   Temporary arrangement from May-Sept.   Unbelievably, you cannot buy a new Discovery at the moment !
Jeep Grand Cherokee	2004	Company Car.   Temporary arrangement from Sept 04- Apr 05   Auto gearbox, but fantastic V8 petrol engine. Great for towing and not bad in a straight line :-)
Subaru Forester 2.5 XT	Mar 2005	Own car (Alphabet)   Can tow 2 tonnes and goes like stink as well !
Lotus Elise R	Mar 2008	Own car (Alphabet)   Fabulous car
Fiesta	Mar 2010	Driving wife’s car
Alpina B3	Aug 2011	Own car (private)  Convertible
Ford Focus ST	Nov 2012 to 13th Oct 2018	Own car (private) Nice car, practical and able to go a bit as well
Jaguar XE Landmark	Dec 2018 to current	Own car (private) Ex-Demo (90 days old with 1900 miles when I got it) Nearly bought an F-Type, but this one is much more sensible and still a great car !

Cars: Brooklands Motor Museum

It’s Sunny, so everyone wants to go out and about, including us

This weekend, it is MG Era at Brooklands Motor Museum, so we went off on our first trip of the year at the museum today.

It was lovely, warm and sunny all day… although got a bit chilly out of the sun when the wind blew !

Being “MG Era” theme, there were a lot of MG’s in the car park and indeed all over the site…

They were even eating their lunch in their cars

We had a nice walk around the site, but I think Lynn was just happy to make it up the Test Hill…

There were a few opportunities for my artistic side to come out.

Even on the way out, there are lovely cars to discover in the car park

Well worth a visit if you’ve never been… or even if you have !

Cars: New car, again!

It wasn’t all that long ago I got the Alpina, but for various reasons decided to get another car.

After extensive thought and research (which was a lot of fun in itself) settled for the Ford Focus Estate ST3

I’ve only driven it the 2 miles back from the garage, but am l looking forward to many happy miles with it    I’ll have to read the manual before the next outing as it’s got some whizzy in-car entertainment, etc with phone sync which I’ve not had in previous cars…. good job I work in technology !    If you get any weird phone calls from my mobile and can just hear background noise as if someone is driving… that’ll be me pressing buttons accidently

Cars: New car

Finally decided to buy a new car.

Of course it is not “new” but is a 2004 (54) BMW Alpina B3s.

I had been looking at all sorts of new cars, including seriously considering Morgan 4/4, Alpina D3, Range Rover Evoque amongst them.

The car was being advertised by Sytner in Nottingham, but they transfered the car to my local dealer Sytner Sunningdale with whom I arranged the test drive.   Although being a specialist car and from a main dealer, I liked the car and managed to negotiate a discount to a price I considered fair and reasonable.

Luckily the car includes one year BMW warranty, as having picked it up Thursday, on Sunday the DSC failed !

I always think the measure of a business is when you ring them up with a problem, as they’re always nice to you when they want your money… so was very happy that when I called the salesman on Monday morning and he immediately arranged the service team to call me and book it in for the Tuesday morning.   The car was sorted and even valeted for free.  I’m so glad I went to a main dealer !!

We’ll be giving the car a good few runs over the next couple of weeks (and maybe even get the roof open if it’s vaguely sunny day) so am looking forward to enjoying the car.

Cars: Test driving a Morgan

Went to Richard Thorne Classic Cars to test drive a Morgan 4/4 last night.

I’ve always been intrigued by the Morgan, but always thought of them as a retired gent’s sports car… I’m not retired, but am now an “old git” so feel it might be time to buy one !    Obviously if I was allowed to buy a Lotus, then I’d not likely be looking at Morgan, but hey…

The driving experience is a bit weird, but kindof in a good way.  Even at 50mph, it felt like I was doing a 4 wheel drift round some of the corners.    I expect you either fall in love with a Morgan or sell it within 12 months !   

My main hesitations to buying one are really the price (they are a bit pricey for what you get) and also the weather proofing (as I would be using it all year… and there are lots of holes and flappy bits around the doors and roof)

On the plus side, you can trick them up over time with motorsport bits and bobs.. I saw a full race spec (road legal) equivalent of the model I would buy… with adjustable dampers, tweaks to the engine, exhaust, etc.etc..  and is something you can add on over time (that would be my birthday and Xmas pressies sorted for the foreseeable future)

Overall, I am still looking favourably at the Morgan so is a definite contender.    Gonna take a look at Caterham next as it’s a direct competitor (and a bit cheaper)

Cars: Goodwood Festival of Speed

Last time we went to Goodwood Festival of Speed was 3 years ago (didn’t know it was that long ago!)

We only decided on the Friday that we were going Sunday, so all a bit rushed.   We left home around 8:30am but hit huge traffic jam before Petworth but otherwise was pretty clear.  In the end we got there about 10:30am.  with Lynn’s blue badge we were luckily able to park in the disabled parking area and got a lift to the gate    Sadly we had to queue for about half hour to collect our tickets on the gate but got through eventually.

We had a nice walk about and good look at lots of cars   then had lunch, looked at some more cars, had a snack and cup of tea, looked at more cars then had another cup of tea…. so a brilliant day    Lynn was worn out by about 3pm, so we ended up leaving early, but we did at least miss the traffic going home.

The only small problem I had was that I recorded some video on my phone of some great sounding sports cars going out to race, but seems I didn’t save it !   Bit annoying but means I’ll have to go again to re-do the recording   Got some photos of them though…

We didn’t get time to look at many cars going up the hill itself, so (as every year we go) I think next time we need to go for a weekend, one day walking around and one day watching the hill climb !!

Anyways, here’s a few more random pictures of the event………

Cars: Brooklands Museum–Mini day

After my build up for my Poker this coming Friday, it was nice to get a trip out to Brooklands Museum and look at some cars for a change

Being a mini day, there were hundreds of Mini’s to look at (what a surprise!)   We have been to previous Mini Days at Brooklands so knew what to expect, but this year seemed to be more Mini’s than ever.  

Being the first day of British Summer, it was a fantastic warm sunny day (what else do you expect from the British Summer!)  so perhaps this explained the huge turnout.    We had a nice picnic when we got there, walked around looking at the Mini’s (everywhere you looked!) and then watched some of them go up the test hill

 

A lovely day out, but we’ll have to go back on a “normal” day to catch up on all the other exhibits as we didn’t get time to look round everything !

Cars: goodbye Lotus…..

It is sooner than I wished, but the time has come to say goodbye to my Lotus Elise R :-(

Unfortunately Lynn can’t really get in and out the car anymore and even when in it seems more sensitive to the “bumps”   The only time I get to drive it alone is going to and from work, so faced with the prospect of driving Lynn’s Fiesta weekends, holidays and whenever we go out together, the sensible option is to change it.  OK so when it comes to cars…. me and “sensible” don’t always go together, but the time really has come… in fact the car has already gone… it was picked up last Thursday.

The better news is that I have ordered my Jaguar XF 3.0 S (Diesel) http://www.jaguar.com/  It’s 0-60 is only 5.9 secs, but that’s not bad for a 2 ton of car :-)

Cars: Bentley Drivers club at Brooklands

It’s been a while since we went to Brooklands Motor Museum, March last year being the last time I blogged about it, but sure we have been since then !

Anyways, yesterday was the Bentley Drivers Club day at Brooklands so we went…. no, I don’t have a Bentley but do like the majesty of the old ones and the looks and sounds of the new ones :-)

It was a lovely day and a good turnout, with plenty of cars on show, Bentleys of all shapes sizes and ages

It is amazing how much they have changed over the years

Both old and new still set the pulses racing, particularly when tacking the Test Hill

In the end, for me it is the old Bentleys which are the most romantic and beautiful

They just don’t make ‘em like they used to ….. :-)