[Senninha25]

Hi to everyone, fellow car geek here introducing myself as a completely newbie driver.

For about a month I've been driving the family car, a 1992 Renault 19 that's been part of the family since '99. She's been through a rusty hood, an engine rebuild, a front bumper (hinges holding the original one were broken), a couple of sets of hubcaps and only one failure after 13 years of daily use. Also requires me to manually open the air intake whenever I start the engine, and it's a bit longer and wider than I'd like, but I still get a great kick out of driving her around.

Speaking of Renault, is that Alain Menu's winning BTCC car in your avatar? Looks very much like it or Jason Plato.

Yup. Williams Renault Laguna. I think that particular car was being driven by the late Will Hoy in 1996. Great looking car, and just went as fast as it looked.

[James H]

My mum has a Laguna 1.6 Sport. Misleading trim level tbh but I have a lot of respect for the BTCC cars!

[MK Chris]

Hi to everyone, fellow car geek here introducing myself as a completely newbie driver.

For about a month I've been driving the family car, a 1992 Renault 19 that's been part of the family since '99. She's been through a rusty hood, an engine rebuild, a front bumper (hinges holding the original one were broken), a couple of sets of hubcaps and only one failure after 13 years of daily use. Also requires me to manually open the air intake whenever I start the engine, and it's a bit longer and wider than I'd like, but I still get a great kick out of driving her around.

Speaking of Renault, is that Alain Menu's winning BTCC car in your avatar? Looks very much like it or Jason Plato.

Yup. Williams Renault Laguna. I think that particular car was being driven by the late Will Hoy in 1996. Great looking car, and just went as fast as it looked.

Ah I thought Will Hoy was in the Volvo that year and Jason Plato was Menu's teammate - must have got that wrong.

[Senninha25]

Speaking of Renault, is that Alain Menu's winning BTCC car in your avatar? Looks very much like it or Jason Plato.

Yup. Williams Renault Laguna. I think that particular car was being driven by the late Will Hoy in 1996. Great looking car, and just went as fast as it looked.

Ah I thought Will Hoy was in the Volvo that year and Jason Plato was Menu's teammate - must have got that wrong.

Hoy was with Renault for 1995 and 1996, then went to Ford for 1997, with Plato replacing him in the other Laguna. Drivers' market used to be a massive hot potato game back then

[Sidders]

I've got a 10 reg polo. I had a Golf as a courtesy car a few weeks ago and now I SO want one. Made the Polo feel like a go-kart in comparison.

[dimtimjim]

R33 GTS-t (not a GT-R unfortunately!) but it's only done 75k, it's still even got the stock limiter. It just needs a bit of TLC to bring it back to road worthiness. The previous owner had just fitted 2 new tyres on the front, a pair of P-Zero Rosso's!!

I haven't really done much to it yet due to time constraints, but my old housemate runs a Nissan tuning company so I'm hoping for a remap of the stock ECU (well, a 300ZX Z33 stock ECU) with Nistune and we'll see where we go from there!

Your Octavia sounds pretty epic! My mate has an Octavia Laurin + Klement which he's done god knows how much to and it's pretty sweet!

Ah-ha! The GTS thing will explain why I struggled to identify it. Sounds like a good little project car, should be good.

Yeah, love my little 'tavia. Most of my improvements were done out of necessity, only a few out of choice. Like the re-map, that was for fun. But the suspension, exhaust, manifold, turbo upgrades were all just to replace worn parts - why not jump on that chance to upgrade too! I like the understatedness of my car, no one expects a Skoda to make those noises and go like she does. Although, my car is de-baged so it doesn't actually say Skoda anywhere on the car, just vRS logos instead.

Chrysosososostom, I note your car is male. How come?

[DevilsDuck]

Shaun the shit?

[DevilsDuck]

Alright... Calm it down!

[James H]

Hmm, why did I create a topic about cars then go on holiday for a week?! Ah wells I'm back in the real world now!

I was quite impressed with the Almera, it averaged 49mpg on the way up to Norfolk, not bad for a 9 year old 2.2 turbodiesel!

[The Deadly]

Im looking at buying a cheap second hand car just to get me by whilst saving for a new one. Would anyone recommend this: http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/ ... ?logcode=p

[James H]

Unless you enjoy changing head gaskets I'd say steer clear of Rovers personally!

[The Deadly]

Ah thats good to know. I wanted to stay clear of Rovers but the mileage is attractive on that one.
I shall be posting more links to autotrader in the coming days as I am useless on cars and need advice before buying.

[James H]

Go for it, I practically live on Auto Trader these days!

[dimtimjim]

Unless you enjoy changing head gaskets I'd say steer clear of Rovers personally!

+1

[Yudster]

Go for it, I practically live on Auto Trader these days!

Ok here's a challenge for you - find me a car for around £6 - 7k, about 3 or 4 years old, medium sized hatchback (Astra, Peugot 308 kind of size) which will give me excellent economy (anything upwards of 45 mpg) combined, and preferably has a low VED cost. In North Essex/South Suffolk.

On you go.

[James H]

A couple of Astras that will be £100 a year VED, and get around 45mpg urban, even more extra urban and combined:

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/ ... ?logcode=p

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/ ... ?logcode=p

Interestingly, this Clio estate at the top of the spectrum is band C, which is £30 a year to tax, and has pretty large MPG:
http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/ ... ogcode=flp

Kia RIO £30 VED:
http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/ ... ?logcode=p

Laguna 1.5 dCi - £100 p/a VED:
http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/ ... ?logcode=p

[Yudster]

Blimey that was fast!

I think I know where that Kia Rio is, I may well pop along for a wee look! The Laguna is interesting too - thanks James!

[chrysostom]

If we did cm.net awards, James H would be nominated for all of them. Even sexiest female.

[The Deadly]

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/ ... ?logcode=p

Opinions?

[James H]

Hmmm, early 2000s Renault engines weren't renowned for their reliability but it's better than a Rover! Quite high power for a 1.4 too.

Would you consider a Japanese car?

[The Deadly]

Im considering anything that is cheap on insurance and will last me up to a year. I do quite a lot of long trips so I need something with a bit of grunt.

[James H]

Hmm okay. Grunt as in petrol power? Or would a torquey diesel be ok too? How much importance is mpg?

Also: What car do you have at the moment (You may have already said, I can't remember, I just want to get a handle on insurance groups)

[The Deadly]

Hmm okay. Grunt as in petrol power? Or would a torquey diesel be ok too? How much importance is mpg?

Also: What car do you have at the moment (You may have already said, I can't remember, I just want to get a handle on insurance groups)

2001 Ford Escort 1.6 at the moment. Insurance isn't the cheapest on it as im on there with the woman and she's only been driving a little while. The difference between our 1.6 and some of the 1.4's I've looked at is about £30 a month so I want a 1.4 thats nippy and can hold its own in a motorway situation. MPG isn't a huge deal for me, I'd rather performance in a low insurance car.

[James H]

I know they aren't the prettiest cars in the world, but these are 96bhp for a 1.4: http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/ ... ?logcode=p

[The Deadly]

oooh I hadn't even thought of one of them. I'll try and find one in my local area