Which car do you wish you had kept...

Dave Plowman (News) was thinking very hard :

I loved, enjoyed and became attached to almost every car I ever bought. I never bought for sportiness, just comfort, reliability and power to spare for towing. That usually meant a nice large car for my private use and a company vehicle for work use, with lots of miles covered between the two.

So that's twice a year then. ;-(

Quite. I used to use the electric moke mostly with the top down because it was very quick to do (and you could fold the windscreen flat on the bonnet) and only did 30mph and 20 mile range.

It does, it means you get stared at in traffic and your head burnt on the very hot days. ;-(

Not 'rock solid' but 'sport' by definition usually means stiffer / lower / lower profile tyres than an ordinary runabout?

I see comfort and performance as secondary over reliable and functional. I mean, if I can't tow or carry what I need I probably would be going there in that vehicle in the first place. ;-)

The other thing with anything that hints of 'performance is that the parts can be more expensive, as can the insurance. That's justifiable if you use (or want to use) that 'performance' enough times per year but these days and near any big city I don't know you can any more?

You can have capable (performance wise) without it being 'sport' though, like my old BMW R100RT (1000cc) motorcycle. It will carry two people, both touring panniers full of stuff, a large tank bag and tow a trailer (another 100kg) with no real effort and because it sounds a fairly lazy engine (flat twin), not something that encourages speed as such. ;-)

Cheers, T i m

Well, maybe there wasn't the financial freedom or justification before he retired?

I don't mind driving, when you can actually drive. Maybe that becomes an issue when you live near a big city (especially the capital). Like, we actually judge if we want to drive or walk somewhere local depending of the time of day, avoiding being on the roads anywhere near rush hour and even what direction we need to go in.

Again, that may be a function of if you are on your own or not and what 'else' you have going on in your life. Just driving for driving's sake would be a waste of time and fuel for us in most cases.

Oh, me too, but mainly the 'I wouldn't want one of those as it looks tricky to work on'. ;-)

;-)

I ran my mates RR Ghost to the garage for him the other day and whilst it was 'interesting' to drive something like that and I tried to treat it just like he does and that's 'a car', it was still a big responsibility and not something I would want, even if I could afford it.

A positive for me / us with a vehicle is that it doesn't stand out or attract attention because then there is less chance of anyone damaging it, just because they are jealous etc.

If you think about it, what else of that value and vulnerability would you leave in the road unattended?

Cheers, T i m

I would enjoy them if they did what I needed (carry me and my belongings from A to B reliably) and the longer and better they did that more I got attached to them. Like the Sierra Estate I had for 23 years and there was a good reason I had it that long. It did everything I could expect of it and did so simply and reliably.

The Sierra was a company car for the first half of it's life and after the first 3 years I got paid to carry on using it. Then for the princely sum of £25 it became mine and didn't cost much more in the remaining time I had it. ;-)

Mine was the other way round ... a nice large (and free) car for company work and private if I wanted, plus we had 'other vehicles' (cars and motorbikes) that didn't have to be so capable.

Most of our cars have been 'hand-me-downs' ... the last two originally belonging to my parents and then either directly coming to us (Meriva) or via a niece (Astra saloon ... and whilst it wasn't a hatch or estate, it had an enormous boot and the back seats folded down to load long things (like oars) though). Others have been from mates (Rover

But the bottom line is they should all be (primarily) transport and it's only because we humans bastardise everything into something else we get 'spin off vehicles, like 'racing cars' for use on the road?

If we had evolved the mass produced motor car logically there would only be a few models (enough to cover the basics of most peoples needs, from a shopping shuttle to a big family towcar) and we wouldn't therefore be squandering loads of resources *nearly* duplicating parts to fit a slightly different model.

Given that a computer could nowadays model a Eurobox car (in each of the sizes) to give the best aerodynamics, fuel efficiency, internal space and safety and how many of us actually drive something close to that in any case, I think (because I have little interest in cars outside of the transport thing) we might then have something that could be both better and cheaper.

Like how many people actually venture out past a 'Eurobox' for their everyday needs? Even EV's and especially when they could serve the purpose easily are still not being taken up in any great numbers. The people who bought a Eurobox as a transport solution would probably replace it with the exact same if it served them well in between.

I would suggest that for 'most people', any vehicle a bit out of the ordinary could be 'fun / interesting' for a day ... and then they would be happy to give it back and get on with just getting from A to be as cheaply and easily as possible. ;-)

As an aside, many people seem to see a Harley as something 'special' but even as a biker (or possibly 'as' a biker ) I never did. A while back a mate basically forced me to take a ride out on his 1350 something whilst he rode my Mr's Yamaha Virago 750.

After an hour on the Harley I was satisfied that even if I was given one I'd sell it and he was very impressed on how the Virago did everything the Harley didn't (like it stopped easily and was smooth and light etc).

That said, I think (some) people can be drawn to something 'different' because it seems to be a good fit.

The nearest I can get to properly answering the spirit of the OP's question is that's probably how I feel about the old air cooled BMW motorbikes. Not 'old' as I like the really old / classic models, I don't because they are often lacking in features and not so easy to get spares for (so big cons from me for that POV). So, after spending most of my life riding capable and reliable Jap bikes, I found myself on a R100RT, with it's weird 'sticky out' cylinders and strange torque reaction transmission (in-line engine) and shaft drive, I realised that it was 'me'. To prove the point, the BM broke down 175 miles away on the first day of our family motorcycle / camping holiday (torn clutch splines) and after being AA'd home and swapping over to the car and finishing the holiday with daughter and I in the car and the Mrs still on her bike, I asked the local bike shop if they had anything equally powerful but unbustably reliable I could try. They leant me a Yamaha Diversion 900 that was indeed, all I had asked for, but (and as a shock to me, given all I have said above) lacked the 'character' I found I needed from something I really only used for fun.

The Diversion went back after the week, only being ridden a couple of times.

So I do get how that works with some people and their cars, just I don't think it is something I would get from any car (or haven't yet). Maybe having to leave my cars in the road is part of that ... given they are so vulnerable (and I've had one written of whilst it was parked outside our house).

Maybe a modern EV is more 'me' (especially with my Tinnitus)?

Cheers, T i m

En el artículo , Tim+ escribió:

Which: BMW Mini Cooper R53 2003

Why: the most fun I've had with my trousers on. Cornered like it was on rails

Why not: rock hard ride

I sold it to a copper and in a moment of weakness a year or so later called him and asked if I could buy it back. He said no. That was about five years ago, he's still got it.

As I said, making a car corner well on smoothish roads by clamping down the suspension hard is the easy way. Compliant suspension with good handling is far more difficult, but can be done. Sadly, many have come to believe only rock hard suspension gives decent handling.