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We did this when the forum first started but it could do with a reboot.
Mine started well but quickly went downhill (unlike the Fiat Uno):
Mini 1275GT (Yellow)
Fiat Regatta (1.6 twin cam)
Triumph Spitfire
(The motorcycle years, mostly spent on a BMW R100RT)
Peugeot 405 (Company Car non turbo diesel – so slow accelerating)
Fiat Uno
Renault 5
Renault Clio
VW Golf 1.8
Mercedes 200D W123
MGBGT (why oh why)
Vauxhall Vectra
Honda Accord Estate
Citroen Berlingo
Ford Galaxy
VW Sharan
VW Van WAV
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Very interesting Mike. I have no knowledge of reliability issues but I have driven most Land Rover / Range Rover models over the years and never found myself wanting to buy one. I think that their styling is great and they produce some of the best looking SUV’s on the road (the new Velar is gorgeous) and I have driven a number of them on off-road courses, where their skills are unmatched. However, we would never drive a car off road and it is the on-road experience where I have always found them to be lacking.
Rover 14 drop head Tickford body 1940 model. Cost me £32.10.0. Sold it for £40
Austin A35 van cost £195
MGA sports fixed head
MGB sports drop head
MGB sports drop head
Renault 16
Austin 1300 Vanden Plas (first auto)
Renault 12
Mercedes 220 auto with gas conversion
Honda Accord Hondamatic gear box
Toyota Carina (first car I towed with)
Citroen BX
Citroen BXGT
BMW 318
Audi 100 Avant
Saab 9000 CDE (most comfortable seats)
Honda Accord Red
Honda Accord Silver (first car with heated seats)
Subaru Legacy Outback (great tow car)
Ford Mondeo
Honda Accord
Ford Mondeo Auto
VW Tiguan (first motability car)
I haven’t listed the numerous motor bikes but the first was an Excelsior 250cc two stroke twin and the last a BMW R1100RT touring bike.
I can’t be sure that I haven’t missed anything out. I’ve never owned a mini or a jag or a roller for that matter. The reason for buying the van was something to do with the lack of purchase tax making them cheap to buy. Lots of people did this in the early sixties. It had semaphore indicators but I think I fitted winkers later. The Rover had an automatic greasing system which worked off the exhaust manual. Wish I’d hung onto it. Must be worth a bit now.
I’m amazed at everyone’s memory, I remember my first 2 and last 2 but everything in between I’m struggling with lol.
Privately owned cars
Ford Escort 1300xl six month old ex demonstrator
Ford Cortina 1600xl first new car
The following were mostly used by my wife as I had a company car from then on
Alfasud 1.2
Alfasud Sprint 1.3
Alfa Romeo Alfetta 2.0
VW Golf GTI 1.6
VW Golf GTI 1.8
VW Scirroco GTI 1.8
Vauxhall Astra 1.6 (Children came along)
Ford Sierra 1.8 GL
Fiat Strada Abarth 130TC
Citroen BX GTi 1.9
Fiat Uno
Fiat Croma
Vauxhall Cavalier
Audi 100
Ford Sierra
Rover 827
Rover 820
Rover 820
Fiat Cinqucento Sporting
Ford Ka
Vauxhall Zafira
Motability cars from then
Vauxhall Zafira 1.9tdi
Chevrolet Orlando
Mazda CX-5
Seat Alhambra Excellenz 2.0 184bhp (current car)
I worked in the motor trade and ran well in excess of 100 company cars including models from Chrysler, Rover, MG, Triumph, Vauxhall, Lancia, Fiat, Ford, Citroen, Saab, Chevrolet, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Seat, Jaguar, Jeep. Also, I was lucky enough to have used Rolls-Royce, Bentley, Ferrari and Range Rover cars when my demonstrator was on loan.
Having retired, we now only use the Alhambra, but I wish I had kept some of the cars I owned.
I was a late starter passing my test when i was 30 –
Renault Megane Coupe
Rover 200
Renault Megane Coupe
Renault Megane Coupe
Renault Megane Coupe (williams engine in this one)
Vauxhall Vectra (3L v6 that was chipped)
Ford Mondeo
Nissan Qashqai
Rover 45
Ford Focus
Seat Leon ST
UPDATE –
Mazda CX-5
Mota History - Nissan QashqaiFord Focus
Seat Leon ST 
Mazda CX-5 Starting 1979
Talbot Avenger Estate (Company car)
Singer Chamois
Mk3 Ford Cortina GXL 2.0
Austin Princess 2.2 HLS Auto
Peugeot 504 Estate
Mk4 Escort L
Mk2 Vauxhall Astra 1300L (Company car)
Mk5 Ford Escort 1.4LX (Company car)
Mk3 Vauxhall Cavalier GL1600 (Company car)
Peugeot 405 (Company car)
Mercedes C220 Sport Auto (1 year old when I bought it)
Renault Megane 225 Sport (2005 1st new car that I bought)
Renault Grand Scenic (2008 1st Motability car)
Nissan Qashqai n-tec (Mobility)
Volvo V40 D2 Cross Country Auto (Motability)
Audi Q3 Sport 1.4 TFSI Auto (Motability) Early termination
BMW 220i Luxury Gran Tourer Auto (Motability) Handover on Wednesday
I might have missed a couple, also been a couple of vans and hire cars etc not listed.
I have a pretty checkered car history. Car ownership is probably not my thing.
Fiat 127 – £80, Windscreen blowout (properly exploded) from a huge stone thrown up by an HGV.
Polo 1.o – £1,000, had three gears + overdrive instead of fourth gear. Actually exploded in a fireball shortly after my stepdad leapt out of the car due to smoke coming through the dash. Faulty fuel line after engine replacement.
Metro 950cc – £400. Very, very yellow – yellow wheel trims, yellow body, yellow bumpers. It got broken into so often I didn’t bother locking it. Someone tried to steal it one night, but probably didn’t realise the new starter motor waiting to be fitted was lying on the floor in the passenger footwell. One night someone stole the HT leads, to get the MG metro they actually stole going whose owner used to remove her HT leads as a precaution. Got rid after the gearbox fell out on the M1 doing 70 ish.
Had a break from car ownership for a while, then…
Pug 306 D-Turbo £4,400, first car I owned with my (soon to be) wife. The first time I took her friends out in it, the indicator stalk started smoking and small flames popped out. Then the isolater went and wouldn’t stop the engine when the ignition was turned off, so had to select fifth and dump the clutch. Despite this, the 306 was my favourite car, it felt a lot faster than it actually was and the seats were amazing, plush enough to feel like luxury, firm enough to hold you in whilst tearing around B roads.
Celica GT 190, £13,500 – the salesman who sold me the regular Celica refused to let me have it, as it turned out to be a grey import, so offered me this instead, at a steep discount, which turned out to be a huge bargain as it had a full warranty backed TRD upgrade (big brakes, revised engine limiter, revved to almost 9,000 rpm, shocks etc) and had a £6,000 aftermarket 5KW sound system! 11 speakers! We got this instead of something more sensible because we’d just seen a fertility doctor who said we had about a 1 in 4,000,000 chance of natural conception – the Minx fell pregnant (naturally, and naturally) within a month of getting the car. Sigh…. so, 6 months later….
Volvo S40 2.0D Sport – absolutely fantastic, never failed an MOT. I put 160,000 miles on it on top of the 10,000 it already had. Virtually every extra specified. Got punted of a dual carriageway and into the central reservation by an overenthusiastic Shogun driver towing a caravan, who later claimed the accident had never happened (don’t know how he explained the gash that extended stem-to-stern on his ‘van, then), but damage to the S40 was minimal. We only traded it in for our first Motability vehicle once the flywheel and clutch started to go.
Qashqai+2 Tekna, 20dci 4wd auto, our first Motability car, which I loved but my didn’t. It was a damage-magnet, someone was always hitting it in car parks, almost as if it was too small to see…
Volvo V40 R-Design D4, very fast, very comfy, brilliant handling but after getting used to an auto was a bit of a chore to drive on long journeys or commutes.
Ford Kuga 2.0D 4wd ST line X, current vehicle, only had it three months but like the Qashqai, seems to be a damage magnet, it’s been scratched twice already (whilst in disabled bays!) by other drivers who’ve failed to leave details. I’ll have to get a neon painted car next, so it stands out….
ShadyAidy, I really enjoyed reading your car history. The words ‘adventurous’ and ‘interesting’ spring to mind, lol.
I currently have a compact suv which has been scratched twice in a year on supermarket disabled bays. It seems to be a regular (and costly) occurrence!
Thanks for sharing your history.
My cars have all been motability, even learnt to drive in my first one
’94 Ford Escort (known as useless car after it conked out in the middle of nowhere once)
’97 Renault Megane (loved this car)
‘2000 Vauxhall Zafira (growing family)
’03 Renault Grand Scenic
’06 Zafira again
’09 Citroen Grand Picasso
’12 Vauxhall Antara
’15 Pile of poop (Renault back of a truck/Grand Scenic)
’18 Skoda Karoq and it cant come soon enough
I had a 2001 Megane Coupe Andy, well a few actually as i liked them so much.
I’m sure you’ll love the Karoq, got long to wait?
Mota History - Nissan QashqaiSeat Leon ST Mazda CX-5 Just 38 days and small change to go, got the Renault back last night, got to go in again tomorrow with the same fault on the dash display.
FFS – must admit all my megane’s had the same reoccurring fault – it was the engine management light used to come on. Easy fix though, had to keep a wire brush in the car and brush a sensor in the engine bay.
Those were the good ol days though, hammer for the starter motor as well lol
Hopefully the next month and a bit will fly by, and come xmas period you will be full of cheer once again.
Mota History - Nissan QashqaiSeat Leon ST Mazda CX-5 Ford Capri 1.6L
Ford Sierra 2.0GL
Talbot Horizon 1.5GLS
Austin Montego 1.6L
Vauxhall Astra 1.2Merit
Ford Granada 2.9Ghia saloon
Ford Sierra 1.8L
Nissan Primera 2.0SE
Honda Jazz 1.3EX
Volvo V40CC Lux
Fiat 500 0.9C (Changed after 3000miles with auto gearbox failure)
Peugeot 308 1.2 Allure (written off at 9 months old after 20 mph collision in to side of Mokka)
Volkswagen Golf 1.4 130ps Match Edition (Due for change September 2019)
Nice Richard, been a while since I’ve heard of the Sierra and Granada.
Which out of all those cars would you have again…. if you had too! lol
Mota History - Nissan QashqaiSeat Leon ST Mazda CX-5 Alfa Romeo GTS 1979
Mk1 Capri
Lancia Beta Coupe ( Had to carry a bag of cement in the boot as someone had raised the back end and it couldnt hold the road lol)
Rover 2.6SDI
3 x Mk2 2.8 Granada Ghia s
Mk 4 Cortina 1.6 ghia
Cavalier 2000 GL Coupe
Mk 3 Ford Granada Cosworth
3 x Rover 820
Citreon C4
Chrysler Seabring
Insignia SRI
Kia Sportage
Renault Kadjar Signature
Mazda 6 Tourer Sports Nav in just over a week
Im sure there are alot of runarounds inbetween this lot . Some I wont admit to lol
Surprisingly Trev although I dislike Ford’s I would have to say the Granada or the Primers because the Nissan saved my life.
Sounds like you had a lucky escape Richard.
Graeme, if we didn’t need a higher car the 6 would have been on our list – to be honest i went to see it when the new version arrived at my local dealers, even put a video on here – lovely car.
Mota History - Nissan QashqaiSeat Leon ST Mazda CX-5 Thanks Trev it was a very lucky escape and that is why I’m now in the position to get motability. I fell asleep at the wheel after a long night shift and rolled the car on the M4 at more than the speed limit. I was in a coma and in hospital for 8 months in total but the accident was a blessing in disguise because I used to drive like a total fool and it would only have been a matter of time before I killed myself or somebody else. So dying twice as a result of this and the resulting issues forced me to slow down and reevaluate my life. Now older wiser and very happily married
What an ordeal to go through though, but as you say lucky to be alive and made you the man that you are today. Love a happy ending.
Mota History - Nissan QashqaiSeat Leon ST Mazda CX-5 This is my list of bikes and cars over the years some right flying machines the bikes that is(total speed demon lol).
Bikes 1st.
1st Norton commando side car outfit 1000cc proper beast of a bike and a pain to kick over.
2nd Suzuki Ts 250 er.
3rd Triumph bonneville 650 gift from my dad.
4th Kawazaki z650.
5th Kawazaki zzr1100.
5th Yamaha rd500 ypvs full works production bike like an earth bound missile.
6th Honda cb750f.
7th Suzuki gsxr1000 k2 full blueprinted engine with all the trimmings ohlins suspension etc 200mph+ what a rush.
Had other bikes mainly off roaders.
Cars.9
1st Triumph dolomite sprint canary yellow with webasto roof (paid £100 for it sold it for a lot)2nd mk1 Fiesta xr2.
3rd mk2 fiesta xr2.
4th Escort xr3.
5th escort xr3i.
6th Escort Rs 1600i.
7th Ford escort rs turbo custom.
8th Sierra sapphire rs cosworth 4×4.
9th Sierra Rs 500 cosworth miss this one a lot but helped with 1st house purchase when i sold it.
10th Land rover discovery v8.
11th Range rover sport hse 2.7 v6 fully loaded.
12th Seat leon 1.4 150bhp.
13th Mazda cx5 sport nav+ auto petrol.
Might of missed a few but listed all the good ones lol.
I started driving in 1977. Let’s see what I can remember…
Rover 2000
Wolsley 16/60
Escort Mk1 1300GT
Triumph Herald
Celica something or other
Then loads of company cars…
Nissan Stanza – piece of crap
Nissan Bluebird 1.6LX
Bluebird ZX turbo
Audi 100CD
Citroen XM
Back to private…
’92 Camaro – I was working in Silicon Valley at the time
Chrysler (?) Concorde
Shogun V8
Back to UK and company cars…
Rover 800
Rover 600
Vectra
Rover 827
Mazda 626
Motability…
2012 Focus Estate
2016 Zafira Tourer SE
Now about to order next car…
Probs either a Kuga Vignale – same price as a Titanium X with the extras I need, so why not go for the far nicer light leather interior?
BUT BUT BUT… I want to drive the new Citroen C5 Aircross SUV.
I’m sure I’ve missed some. I’ve also left out the Land Rovers, Hunter and stuff driven while in RAF.
Current Motability car: Ford Kuga Vignale (2019-old shape) 1.5 petrol auto AWD. AP £2,395 + £199 for 4-way 80kg hoist. +2 yr lease extension.
Previous Motability cars:
2013-16 Ford Focus estate petrol auto. AP £95. No adaptations.
2016-19 Vauxhal Zafira 1.4T petrol SE Auto. AP £795 inc. basic hoist.Thats an impressive list you have tomma some of them would be worth serious money now especially the RD500 and cosworths.
Thank,s eame64 if i had of been able to know then what i know now with regards to the RD500 and the Rs500 i would of kept them as the prices went through the roof but alas not to be and starting a family things had to go.
Some interesting lists. Here’s mine:
Honda SS50
Honda CB250N (oops, no more riding, time to learn to drive & autos only)
Opel Manta A 1600
Wolseley 16/60
Wolseley 18/85
Humber Sceptre 1750
Ford Escort Mk2 1600 Ghia
Ford Capri 3L Ghia (oh please can I have it back)
Vauxhall Astra 1.6 GL
Ford Orion 1600 Ghia
Peugeot 205 XL
Peugeot 106 XL
Toyota Camry 2.0GL Estate
Rover 213
Fiat Marea Weekend 1.6
Peugeot 206
LR Discovery 300tdi
Ford Fusion Ghia
LR Discovery 2 Td5
VW Golf 1.4 Match
LR Freelander2 Td4 XS
Fiat Qubo
LR Freelander 1 Td4 SE
Ford Kuga Titanium AWD
