Previous Cars
| 1978
Ford Escort Mk II 1.3L, Sept 1989 - June 1993 |
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OJX 35T. My first
car. I bought it for I think £1000 which, in
hindsight was a little high. It came from a
garage and was in good condition. I don't recall
any big problems with the engine - it was just
the bodywork rusting which was a problem. I ended
up taking it to a scrap yard and getting £25 for
it after discovering that it would need a lot of
welding work doing to it to pass its MOT. |
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| 1978
Ford Fiesta 1.1L, June 1993 - Feb 1995 |
| AKM 178T. This was a
quick buy after having to get rid of my Escort. I
think I bought it from a private seller for £350
which was reasonable. I checked that there was no
rust at an advanced stage and that the engine
appeared ok. These were my main concerns. Again,
it turned out to be a relatively reliable car.
Again, I couldn't stop the inevitable onslaught
of rust but it wasn't structural. |
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| I ended up giving it
to my brother. It had this annoying problem of
not wanting to start on very cold mornings. I
tried everything I could think of but to no avail
and so I decided to get rid of it. At the time my
brother was without his car and so I gave it to
him. I joked he could give me £50 for every year
it lasted. To my amazement, my brother actually
ran it for another year, but I never claimed my
money! |
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| 1988
Ford Escort Mk III 1.6D GL, Feb 1995 - Feb 1998 |
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E833 LCK. Bought for
£2000 from a private seller, this was the fruit
of a lot of thinking and a lot of searching. I
knew exactly what I wanted. I liked Fords for
being easy to service and parts were easy to find
and cheap. However I was clocking up 22,000 miles
per year and the 1.6 diesel engine's claimed
70mpg at 56mph was appealing. I wanted the GL
because of it's touch of luxury compared with my
previous cars. |
| This car served me
very well. I couldn't fault the fuel consumption.
It was a comfortable car and tidy looking. But
just like my other two Fords, it too suffered
from rust. I used to let a Ford garage service it
once a year and give it an MOT but the other 3
services it required in the year I did myself. I
think these 'intermediate' services worked out at
costing on average £30 a time - which was less
than half what a garage would want. I did have
other expenses which crept up throughout its life
but I think you have those with any car over 3
years old. In the end I changed this car
because something must have gone in the engine.
Not a big thing but just after Christmas 1997 I
noticed that it was not accelerating quite as
good as usual. Not by a lot and I tried to
convince myself I was imagining it but then my mpg chart confirmed
my suspicions. I didn't try hard to find the
problem because when it had its MOT in Jan 1998
it needed a new steering rack and J.A. Taylors in
Rossendale did a very poor job at fitting the
replacement. The steering, when parking felt very
'restricted' and on inspection this looked to be
because the rubber bellow on one end of the rack
appeared to have been fitted incorrectly. I
should have gone back and got it fixed but by
this point I was starting to loose interest in
the car and I started looked for its replacement.
When I did eventually trade this car in though
(and got £750 for it), I felt a little sad
because it had been such a good car.
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| 1995
Peugeot 306 XTdt, Feb 1998 - Jun 2004 |
| M502 SNB. I wasn't
hesitant to buy another diesel but I was willing
to sacrifice a few mpg's for a little extra
acceleration. And again I like a few electrical
gadgets in my cars and so I wanted a 'top of the
range' model. The 306 XTdt fitted the bill
perfectly. The 306 was acclaimed for its good
handling and the 1.9 turbo diesel engine had good
reviews. I could expect petrol-like performance
and anything up to 60mpg - it just depended how
much I used that turbo! |
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| It was a sensible yet
modern looking car, had a cheap insurance group
and my budget would mean I could buy a 3 year old
XT. I could have got a lower spec model for less
or a slightly newer model but I wanted an XT - it
looked smart and was a little exclusive. I hadn't
realised quite how exclusive it was until I tried
finding one. I got my Dad looking in the papers
in Bradford and I can't recall the number of
times I had to explain that it was an 'XT'dt I
was after and an 'XL' or 'XR'dt, no matter how
similar sounding, just wouldn't do. Even when you
did find an XT you had to be quick because they
didn't hang around long. I ended up buying one
from Ashton Lyne Motors in Ashton-Under-Lyne for
£8750, £750 of that coming from my old Escort. Click here for more
information on my 306.
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