Yet another newbie car history
Discussion
After many years of lurking around on these pages I have decided to share my (very short) car history. Here goes...........
I want you to cast your minds back to January 2008. What were you doing? I (a fresh faced 17 year old with a recently acquired pink driving license) was busy trawling the local papers, autotrader and the other usual sites looking for my first car. The search was focused on a Skoda Fabia and a Skoda Fabia only. My plan was to find a tidy little Fabia and then proceed to spend silly amounts of dosh making it look like a replica Fabia WRC.
Thankfully I came to my senses and realised that wasn't the best idea I have ever had. With that in my mind I thought about what else tickled my fancy. Being 6'3 at the time and still in school, I wanted something that A) I could fit in comfortably and B) Something that was different to the sea of Corsa's, Clio's, 206's, C2's etc in the pupil car park.
My Dad suggested looking at VW Golf's which had not crossed my mind. Why would a 17 year old want a mk4 Golf? After the usual research and talking to owners I decided it was the car for me. It was spacious, comfortable, reliable, good build quality and safe. With a healthy £4500 budget I could be picky about what Golf I chose. After seeing some duff ones we made the trip from West Wales to Chichester to see a 51 plate silver 1.6 Golf S. It only had 45,000 miles on the clock and was in wonderful condition. The owners bought it from a little old lady who had it from new. It had full VW service history and never wanted for anything.
A test drive confirmed it was the car for me. When all the paperwork and money was exchanged was done we made our way back with 'Sabrina' the Golf.
The first day of taking it to school was a right hoot. Being a 1.6 105 BHP car, it was easily faster than my friends Clio's etc.
Four years of owenership passed without a single problem. It hardly used oil and was a doddle to maintain. As the years passed it started to give me a few problems here and there. The coil packs needed changing, exhaust manifold issues and to top it all off some little b*****d thought it would be nice to take key every single panel on the drivers side.
After clocking up near enough 100,000 miles in my time owning Sabrina I decided that it was time to treat myself.
After finishing my teaching degree and getting a full time teaching job in 2014 I had my heart set on buying what I consider to be one of the most recent beautiful cars..... a BMW E92 Coupe.
Ever since they were launched I wanted one. Some people may think they are boring, but difference of opinions is what makes us unique. With a healthy £15,000 budget I wanted a diesel as my daily commute is 44 miles of twisty countryside roads. I found my ideal car at Trainer BMW in Swansea by chance.. It was silver with near enough all the options included, perfect or so I thought. I pulled up on their forecourt in my Golf and dressed in jogging bottoms after coaching the district rugby team in a local tournament. After eventually finding a salesman to help me they finally let me have a test drive. Questions the absolute k**b of a salesman asked me were: 1) Can you really afford this car? 2) Are you being serious? 3) Do you even have the money?
5 minutes into the test drive the salesman asked me to turn the car around because 'we can only do 100 miles of test drives in each car before they need to be serviced again'. I could still see the bloody dealership in my mirror due to traffic lights.
Obviously it is safe to say that Trainer BMW did not get my business and never will.
I kept looking but nothing really caught my eye. Then I had a brainwave. Why don't I ease myself into BMW ownership and buy an older E92 and see if I actually like them as an everday car. I undertook the usual research and plumped for the more powerful petrol 2.5. Running costs aren't that important to me, I would rather spend money and enjoy driving.
Last May I tracked down an 07 plate coupe at a small dealer local to me. It had some service history, low miles for its age and well looked after. It had a few car park dings and dents, but nothing I couldn't live with. A test drive, some negotiations on price (if you don't ask you don't get) and paperwork the deal was done.
The drive home was everything I could have dreamed of. The engine was smooth, the gearchanges crisp and it made a lovely sound. Literally 5 minutes from turning onto my drive a warning light flashed up on the dash. A call to the dealer was made and I was heading back to where I'd just come from. A week later I was back picking up the car with a new ABS pump installed.
15,000 miles of motoring later, the BMW (Bonnie as she is known) is still going strong. She's just had Goodyear F1's fitted on all four corners and is going in for a little service next weekend. Getting rid of the Run Flats has totally transformed the car. I would advise everyone to get rid of their RFT's at the earliest opportunity.
With the rugby season drawing to a close, my brother and I wanted to keep busy on the weekends. One night while down the pub (where all great decisions are made) we decided we wanted a track car. After looking at the forums etc we decided we wanted an MG ZS 180. The reasons we wanted a ZS is that they are cheap as chips, the V6 is a lovely engine and they are fairly easy to work on. Our plan was to find a road going ZS and turn it into a track car. Searching one night on Gumtree a tarck prepped ZS 180 popped up. The interior was stripped, harnesses were in, air kit added, cat back exhaust and polybushed. A spin up to Gloucester to check it out proved to be fruitful. A few hours later I was the owner of my first track car. I have done one track day at Llandow and the car ran faultlessly. Already booked my next one.
I only have a few pictures to share at the moment although I can add some more if any one wants them.
If you have managed to get this far then congratulations are in order
Thanks for reading
Tom
I want you to cast your minds back to January 2008. What were you doing? I (a fresh faced 17 year old with a recently acquired pink driving license) was busy trawling the local papers, autotrader and the other usual sites looking for my first car. The search was focused on a Skoda Fabia and a Skoda Fabia only. My plan was to find a tidy little Fabia and then proceed to spend silly amounts of dosh making it look like a replica Fabia WRC.
Thankfully I came to my senses and realised that wasn't the best idea I have ever had. With that in my mind I thought about what else tickled my fancy. Being 6'3 at the time and still in school, I wanted something that A) I could fit in comfortably and B) Something that was different to the sea of Corsa's, Clio's, 206's, C2's etc in the pupil car park.
My Dad suggested looking at VW Golf's which had not crossed my mind. Why would a 17 year old want a mk4 Golf? After the usual research and talking to owners I decided it was the car for me. It was spacious, comfortable, reliable, good build quality and safe. With a healthy £4500 budget I could be picky about what Golf I chose. After seeing some duff ones we made the trip from West Wales to Chichester to see a 51 plate silver 1.6 Golf S. It only had 45,000 miles on the clock and was in wonderful condition. The owners bought it from a little old lady who had it from new. It had full VW service history and never wanted for anything.
A test drive confirmed it was the car for me. When all the paperwork and money was exchanged was done we made our way back with 'Sabrina' the Golf.
The first day of taking it to school was a right hoot. Being a 1.6 105 BHP car, it was easily faster than my friends Clio's etc.
Four years of owenership passed without a single problem. It hardly used oil and was a doddle to maintain. As the years passed it started to give me a few problems here and there. The coil packs needed changing, exhaust manifold issues and to top it all off some little b*****d thought it would be nice to take key every single panel on the drivers side.
After clocking up near enough 100,000 miles in my time owning Sabrina I decided that it was time to treat myself.
After finishing my teaching degree and getting a full time teaching job in 2014 I had my heart set on buying what I consider to be one of the most recent beautiful cars..... a BMW E92 Coupe.
Ever since they were launched I wanted one. Some people may think they are boring, but difference of opinions is what makes us unique. With a healthy £15,000 budget I wanted a diesel as my daily commute is 44 miles of twisty countryside roads. I found my ideal car at Trainer BMW in Swansea by chance.. It was silver with near enough all the options included, perfect or so I thought. I pulled up on their forecourt in my Golf and dressed in jogging bottoms after coaching the district rugby team in a local tournament. After eventually finding a salesman to help me they finally let me have a test drive. Questions the absolute k**b of a salesman asked me were: 1) Can you really afford this car? 2) Are you being serious? 3) Do you even have the money?
5 minutes into the test drive the salesman asked me to turn the car around because 'we can only do 100 miles of test drives in each car before they need to be serviced again'. I could still see the bloody dealership in my mirror due to traffic lights.
Obviously it is safe to say that Trainer BMW did not get my business and never will.
I kept looking but nothing really caught my eye. Then I had a brainwave. Why don't I ease myself into BMW ownership and buy an older E92 and see if I actually like them as an everday car. I undertook the usual research and plumped for the more powerful petrol 2.5. Running costs aren't that important to me, I would rather spend money and enjoy driving.
Last May I tracked down an 07 plate coupe at a small dealer local to me. It had some service history, low miles for its age and well looked after. It had a few car park dings and dents, but nothing I couldn't live with. A test drive, some negotiations on price (if you don't ask you don't get) and paperwork the deal was done.
The drive home was everything I could have dreamed of. The engine was smooth, the gearchanges crisp and it made a lovely sound. Literally 5 minutes from turning onto my drive a warning light flashed up on the dash. A call to the dealer was made and I was heading back to where I'd just come from. A week later I was back picking up the car with a new ABS pump installed.
15,000 miles of motoring later, the BMW (Bonnie as she is known) is still going strong. She's just had Goodyear F1's fitted on all four corners and is going in for a little service next weekend. Getting rid of the Run Flats has totally transformed the car. I would advise everyone to get rid of their RFT's at the earliest opportunity.
With the rugby season drawing to a close, my brother and I wanted to keep busy on the weekends. One night while down the pub (where all great decisions are made) we decided we wanted a track car. After looking at the forums etc we decided we wanted an MG ZS 180. The reasons we wanted a ZS is that they are cheap as chips, the V6 is a lovely engine and they are fairly easy to work on. Our plan was to find a road going ZS and turn it into a track car. Searching one night on Gumtree a tarck prepped ZS 180 popped up. The interior was stripped, harnesses were in, air kit added, cat back exhaust and polybushed. A spin up to Gloucester to check it out proved to be fruitful. A few hours later I was the owner of my first track car. I have done one track day at Llandow and the car ran faultlessly. Already booked my next one.
I only have a few pictures to share at the moment although I can add some more if any one wants them.
If you have managed to get this far then congratulations are in order
Thanks for reading
Tom
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