My impressive car history

I was watching an old episode of Top gear the other day and Slash was telling Jeremy Clarkson all about his car history and how many Aston Martins he’d owned over the years and this inspired me to go through my impressive car history. Even though I have been driving for over 20 years I don’t think I’d be able to make this a Top 10 so I will just go through them chronologically.

1 – Mk 2 Escort Estate. My first car was built in 1980 so by the time I bought it, it was quite old already. I had the estate version as I was playing in a band at the time and I had quite a hefty amplifier. It was so easy to get all of my gear into this car, even without dropping the seats down. The car had been through a few changed by the time I had it. Someone had already taken the old engine out and replaced it with the 1.6 version so it was capable of motoring even when it was fully laden.

2 – Triumph Acclaim. I loved this car. I must have downsized my set up when I bought this car as it is the only car I have ever owned that actually had a boot. I normally favour the hatchback vehicles. This car was a result of the Triumph/Rover/ Honda agreement so the car actually had a 1.3 Honda engine in it. My dad had a Rover 213 at the same time and we found that both cars had the same engine but as the Acclaim was a much lighter vehicle the acceleration was superb. I remember my sister giving someone a lift in my car once and they were just laughing at the car until my sister decided to demonstrate the acceleration and then the look on their face changed to one of surprise. As well as the power the car had it was also a very comfortable drive with lots of gadgets for a car of its age.

3 – Peugeot 205. To me this was never any more than a vehicle. I have no lasting memories of the car and I never really formed any kind of emotional attachment with it. It did the job it was required to do, no more no less.

4 – Ford Focus. Technically I never actually owned this vehicle. It was a company car I had when I worked as an eternal sales supervisor. I still like the Ford Focus. It was a comfortable drive and could be quite fun in the right conditions but sitting inside one now just makes me think of being on some rough estates in Manchester.

5 – Vauxhall Astra. After I handed back the Focus I didn’t have a car for a few months but eventually I needed a little run around vehicle and found an old Astra. It was nothing too exciting, 5 door hatch. It was red but due to the age parts of the bodywork had faded it to the well-known Vauxhall pink that is associated with cars of this age.

6 – VW Golf TDi. This car was a little lunatic, it was a 1.9 Turbo Diesel and it was like driving a go kart. To be honest a lot of this cars power was lost on me as I had reverted to a Miss Daisy style of driving but on the odd occasion when I needed a burst of acceleration the horses under the bonnet were more than happy to oblige.

7 - Peugeot 307. This car only had 2 owners, the first was my wife. She had this car when I was driving around in the Golf. I always felt much more civilised in the Peugeot but it did have a few issues. To my knowledge it had the head gasket replaced twice and even after this it had a significant oil leak that nobody seem to be able to resolve.

8 – Kia Ceed. My Current car is the Diesel version of the Top Gear reasonably priced car and I am once again behind the wheel of a car that I completely love. As well as being a great car to drive it is economical and has a low priced tax disc due to the level of emissions. I am also really happy with the entertainment system, it has a great set of speakers and you can plug your Ipod in and have your own playlists coming through the stereo.