A little trip down memory lane, eh?
1993 Nissan Sunny 1.4LX 5-DR L***ROT
Bought for £240, with only 86k on the clock, this was a brilliant lucky find, and lasted me without breaking down. I ended up selling this to my brother so he could learn to drive in it.
1996 Peugeot 406 1.8LX 4-DR P***RUY
Bought for £740, an immaculate low milage, old lady owner. It could have been a reliable, fun, cheap to run vehicle. It could have been, but it wasn't. The speedo kept sticking, so I was using the tacho to judge my speed, until the tacho broke. I only got just over three months use out of it before it spat a conrod out the front of the engine, and I was five days out of warranty. I was without a car for about four months, until I got lucky again, and managed to get the Sunny back for a while. Unfortunately the CV joint was clicking, and I thought it was going to be expensive to fix, so I P/X 'd it.
1993 Nissan Primera 2.0SGX 4DR
Bought for £300 pounds with 133k, I bought this in August '09. By the time I got my Puma in early October '10, I had covered nearly 22k, which is even more impressive, considering I spent six months in Afghanistan! It needed a clutch and water pump, but this was the car that really introduced me to maintenance and polishing. I've still got the car, just in case the Puma REALLY goes wrong, so it remains taxed and MOTed. A fantastic car, unfortunately rust is getting the better of it, and when the MOT runs out, she'll be going to the great scrapyard in the sky!
1994 Kia Mentor 1.6GLX 4-Dr
(Only picture I could find from the advert)
What a horrid, horrid car. Bought for £280, with the intention of sprucing it up for the other half whilst she learns to drive. Car later turned out to be a Cat C, other half never learned how to drive, car ended up scrapped last week. Absolutely nothing redeeming or rewarding about driving this car, except the fact it was exceedingly cheap to run on fuel.
And of course:
2000 Ford Puma 1.4 3-Dr
Bought for £1150, with many dents and scrapes, on the 8th of October, and already done 2,000 miles in it already. A very rewarding drive, and regularly getting 38-42mpg with super unleaded. Only done a full service so far, and working out what I want to do with her in the future.
Apologies for length, but I'm passionate about these cars! (Except the Kia)
Not bad for Two and a Half years motoring, eh? And that's with nine months off!