Snog, marry, avoid for cars...

[retroade]

I'm guessing most on here will have a car history as long as long thing so from your past and present fleet let's have your best driver, the one that has that special place in your heart and the one you wish you hadn't touched with a barge pole..

Here's mine.
Driver - Pug 205 1.9 GTi. Even in standard form the best handling car I've ever driven - until I crashed it! So simple, light little car with a big engine. Shame Pug lost their magic with their later GTi models.

Fave - close call between my E30 325i cab and my 635 CSi, but the big 6 takes it on exclusivity. Oh why did I sell it?

The dud - few years back bought a W124 260e, I'd owned a 230e and it had been amazing, like a new car, and only cost me £500. I made the mistake of believing all W124's were bomb proof. Wrong! 6 months of unreliable wafting followed by a one way ticket to the breakers on the back of a transporter.

Sorry about the lack of pictures but this all happened in the days before cloud storage.

[Woofwoof]

The best for me was an AlfaSud, you can't begin to imagine stepping from a MK2 Escort into one, I was blown away. Great cars (yes,yes bar the rust ) and would love another.

Driver - my current 190E 2.5-16, simply I couldn't ask for more ,still quick, well built, handles & grips very, very well, practical, good on juice and has one of the sweetest large four pots going. All from a car that originally came out in '83. Can't really say a bad word about it. A keeper.

Dud - oh, plenty. Top of the list was my Allergo 1.5

[MiataMark]

Best - Audi B5 S4 (2.7 bi-turbo), amazing power and torque, although the fuel consumption was too hard to bear

Driver - if not the above then E36 328 tourer, just great fun. Hopefully when I get it sorted the MX5 will fit in here.

A more retro contender for both of these; Citroen BX 16v, good power, handled well, great for long distances and different enough to be noticed.

Dud - SAAB 900S (the last of the proper SAAB ones) horrible gearbox, nose heavy handling, only saving grace was it felt bullet proof on the motorway.

[Richard TR7]

My best was probably my mini



I bought it as a standard auto city and had lots of fun doing silly things on tiny budgets with it. Drove it every day for years, it was always reliable come rain, snow or sun. the heater worked well and I grinned from ear to ear at every corner.

My favourite was my 89 Saab 900 turbo. Went like stink, had every conceivable extra, all of which except the air con worked perfectly. I enjoyed every journey in that car.

Dud, although thats a bit unfair. 1985 Cavalier 1.8GLSi. This was a nice car but it just did nothing for me, it was fast is, nice ish, comefy ish and did everything I needed it to without any excitement, then it would randomly cut out ever 6 months or so for no reason I or the following owner could get to the bottom of. And then it failed the MOT on a cracked bulkhead!

Sorry no pictures of the last two, I have some of the saab somewhere but I cant find them.

[WheelsonCanvas]

Best - 1970 Pontiac LeMans Sport coupe. Daily driver for a couple of years, big, fast, made all the right noises, great in a straight line!

Favourite - 1958 Plymouth Savoy coupe. Never got finished but I loved that car. Wanted one since I first saw Christine in 1985 when I was 12, finally got round to it when I was 25! Will have another one some day, lottery win allowing.

Dud - '04 Vectra. Definitely a Friday afternoon car, basically anything that could go wrong with it did. Did a little jig of glee when I managed to offload it

[tdk]

Snog - My Porsche 968 Sport. Looks good, goes good, I love it.
Marry - My Volvo 850R. Practial, cool, sorry I sold it.
Avoid - Renault Scenic. Hateful, uncool, unreliable, dangerous to drive. Avoid.

[jeffeRS]

Oh where to begin.
Best driver must be my last R1 mini. Followed very closely by a 79 RS 2000.

Best earner was a bay window camper.

Worst car Volvo 340 due to the knackered auto box, variomatic was somewhat all over the place.

[Mercdan68]

Best by far mk2 1600e just a beautiful car in aubergine best profit?? Reliant scimitar very nice car and made good money ... Don't seem to now
Worst car Austin. 1100 rotten bouncy rubbish! Only owned it a week

[baggabones]

Jeez! Hard question to answer...worst was probably a '92 mini cooper that rotted before my eyes, lost it's gearbox etc, etc....one of the most expensive and newest cars I ever had too
Best, probably an old mk 1 golf gti, pug 205 gti or an audi 80 sport all back in the day and not really retro then
Car I miss the most is my old '65 vw split screen panel van...just for the trips we had and the memories....oh and the old '72 beetle that took me to mongolia on the mongol rally in 2006.

Current daily is an '81 porsche 924, driving me insane at the moment but love her and she'll be a keeper.....how many times have we said that?!

[DavidB]

Snog - Toyota MR2 AW11 (mk1). Perfect engine and handling, I can't fault it.

Marry - Subaru Impreza WRX 'Classic' - Amazing in every way, apart from economy. But can be used as a daily.

Avoid - Volkswagen Golf/Polo. Dull.

[Deleted]

Had a good think about this and changed my mine a number of times but here goes...

Snog 1984 Lancia Gamma Berlina, flat 4 missfit but knowing you were probably driving the only one on uk roads and maybe the world felt great!!

Marry, probably my current driver 1994 Audi coupe 2.6 v6, great engine noise and good for overtaking not quick but great for driving across Europe.followed by MK5 Cotina or Xantia TD both were great work horses.

Avoid AstraMax van diesel none turbo, broke down all the time refused to pass mot and put me off working on cars for years, ran brand new cars after that episode, followed closely by Suzuki super carry we just didn't get on.....

[optimusprime]

Snog,
Primera SRI lovely engine,went like stink,handled and drove great.

Marry
Land Rover 110 ,highly useful,capable in the rough stuff,carry loads of stuff,and fixable, but sadly had to sell it.

Avoid,
Well it would have to be the above Primera, many many small annoying faults and electrical issues ,it had to go.

[slomoshun]

Snog: Golf gti 8v great little daily scorcher
Marry: Triumph Roadster only borrowed but so much character / loved the rear dicky seat idea
Avoid: Mercedes C240 diesel / hated winter mornings / used bus more during ownership

[duncanmartin]

Snog
Honda CRX 16i-16. Great car, fast, handled, 40mpg, comfy, good looking. Killed by rust.
Marry
My 924 Turbo. Booooost! Reliable, good looking, beautifully balanced, reasonably comfy, fast, can get my 5yo in the back, and Booooost!
Avoid
FIAT X1/9. Exhaust manifold stud went, fanbelt went, heater didn't work, one headlight didn't pop up properly, the stereo often caused a short that sent the battery to 0 Volts, it leaked, the headlights might as well have been candles! All that happened in the 6 months I had it before the fist MOT, where we discovered that the floor was rivetted in! It was lovely to drive on the right road - supple, balancced and you didn't have to slow down for corners (which was just as well as there wasn't much power to fire it out the other side!)!

[zippyobrien]

Snog,
My fully restored fiesta rs turbo. Only modernisation mods ( bigger breaks/ master cylinder/ disks on back / improved coloring ). It's only 170 bhp but looks totally original and makes an amazing noise. Turns heads every where. BUT. Death feels imminent every time I drive it.

So I move on to my marry.
Mk1 focus rs. 340 bhp. Used it as a Dailey. Totally reliable and loved it. Soooooo fast. 14mpg sucked dick.


This trophy was pretty good too.



Aboid.
Rev 4 mk2 mr2.
Hateful thing. Slow. curse word on fuel. Couldn't drive it ( gay wheel drive ftw) and broke down maaaaaaaany time.

[loudandproud205]

Snog: MR2 Turbo Rev1 it tickled that itch and every time driven hard if it works you feel like a god. How ever like above shocking on fuel. It was like a naughty mistress.

Marry: I'd be divorced a lot....... 205....Land Rover........106.........Rover 800...... Am not sure I could settle for life.

Avoid: Christ there is a long list of bad cars, but the soul destroying one above all was the Nissan 100NX it was all kinds of awful but as reliable as sin even kept going with a cracked head and no water with the temp gauge in the roof.

[fred]

Hard one this - snog - really is My Current Forester Turbo just cuts my Next one Citroen BX 16v
Marry - My old Ventora
Avoid - Bloody Proton Persona in peppermint green, with horrid hard plastic green interior

[georgeb]

Snog - Subaru Legacy 2.5 estate. Went like a scalded cat, stuck like glue and shaved 20 minutes off a 1 hour twisty A/B road commute!

Marry - going to be a bigamist here as it's a toss-up between my 1966 Sunbeam Alpine Series 5, my 1962 Land Rover 88" and the current steed.

Avoid - Must be lucky, never had a car I've not enjoyed in one form or another. No real dogs either, although if I can stretch a point, my other half's Toyota Fortuner is a hateful little motor.

[quackshot]

Snog: Nissan 180SX, the SR20DET redtop engine with a a few breathing goodies and roller bearing turbo meant it was a full time party, drove it all over the place-even 1000km each way for a wedding in the south of france. Drove it accross fields despite sitting on the deck. The oil filter fell off (not fitted correctly) on a french motorway and chucked all it's oil... once i managed to pull over a friend came along an hour later with oil + filter and the car was good to go. The welded diff did try to kill me regularly so ended up being swapped for....


Marry: 2001 Subaru Impreza (bugeye). Swapped for the above. More toys than Ann Summers, looked great, drove PERFECTLY, enough power to pull down a house yet able to sit comfortably on the motorway AND pass petrol stations. Foot down sounds like the earth has been exploded by satan. Unbelievably comfy, spacious... really feel like king of the road with the burbling exhaust note.
I've been trying to find a reason to not buy another one but I genuinely cannot.


Avoid: The absoloute curse word that is a K12 Micra. Never before have I experienced such mundaneness and... christ what a horrible car to drive. Lifeless, senseless... I really lack words for this car. I bought it in an attempt to be SENSIBLE thinking that it would be cheaper and more reliable than the ridiculous turbo'd 250+bhp car I usually daily. How wrong was I?! It struggled on the motorway, gave the worst fuel economy I've ever had (worse than my R32 GTR), driving it felt like a chair, balanced on a broom stick, on a skateboard. Not very comfortable, not very spacious, looked utterly wibblepoo... and then one day decided not to start after just a month of ownership... at christmas... at the new girlfriends house with her and her family looking. ECU had ate itself for no reason, I sold it and bought another skyline for less money.

[camper damper]

snog - Got to be my daily Toyota G-touring wagon never lets me down even with its oil drinking problem and the power is mind mind boggling put it in 3rd put the foot down and your hitting 90mph before you know it and still have revs left even for its year the spec level is real nice and with all the upgraded parts I've added it now handle real nice and sharp also it will stop so hard it can do wheelies

Marry - The Chevette still have it after all this years even used it as my wedding car now its getting some much need TLC

Avoid - The little spawn of satan Opel Corsa I had nothing but trouble boot came down on my head more then once drives door wouldn't open bonnet wouldn't open unless you were driving it on the motorway thank god it is gone
Here it is after it blew the engine for no reason what so ever