Probably been discussed here before, but shall those of us that haven't shared...

Perhaps we've all made what's still considered a little controversial choice in buying a Skoda, so what made you do it? And what cars have you had previously?

Here's my brief history:

Learned to drive in a spanking new (at the time anyway) crayon blue Corsa 1.3 CDTi. I haven't got a picture of it but you can imagine how "nice" it was It was actually quite quick. I got my first car however before I actually turned 17. I'd gotten a job the second I turned 16 and had saved all year, and with a little help from the bank of dad, I bought:

An R-Plate Escort Turbo Diesel Ghia. The 89bhp one!!

[/img]

It came standard but I added the few external goodies you can see: GTi skirts, and bumper spats. I later put clear indicators in, but I've lost the pictures of them. And best of all it had a fake mahogany dash, lovely. Being 17 I wedged a sound system in the boot and drove around wearing a nike baseball cap. (Hey! I had a escort afterall... but i'm from essex so it's ok).

I was stumbling around the internet one day and discovered a company called the Derv Doctor. They were located in Asbourne, Derbyshire... as it happened about a 10 minute drive from the mrs' grandparents. So I suggested a grandparental visit, and I just happen to book the car in the same day... 2 Hours later I parted with a mere £150 and out came my new 110bhp Turbo Diesel Ghia Escort. It would still only do 115mph (private road), but it got there a tad quicker.

Anyway, I'd turned eighteen and got bored with the Escort, the fuel tank's bottom had rusted out on me, and there were a few other problems so I sold it on for nearly what I originally paid for it. haha. I'd originally planned to get a 205 1.4 XS that my mate was selling... but a couple of days before I was due to collect the engine melted. So I went back down the diesel route and bought a limited edition DTurbo-S Peugeot 306.

It was a excellent car. Better on fuel than the Escort and went round corners any speed. A few months later and it got the same £150 mechanical tune the TD Escort had and I soon had a wopping 115bhp to play with. Which saw it fail it's MOT on emissions and was turned back down...

I ran this for about two years and some 35k + miles and sold just before this last christmas because I wanted somet quicker...

Hence the arrival of:

Well, Im 36 and got my first car when I was 16, ready to 'tart up' for when I passed my test.It was a red Skoda Estelle 105S, BNB364T.I progressed over the years through Estelles, Rapids, Favorits etc to a total of 31 different Skodas, including a Favorit Blackline estate, L711MRO that i regret selling, and a Felicia GLXi, P394GMG.Inbetween all the Skodas, I had 2 Fraud escorts - one went on fire, the other just fell to bits, a Poxhall Nova and a cavalier SRi lookalike, both of which were rubbish and nowhere near the fun my skodas were.

Due to starting my own business as a Peugeot/Citroen Diesel specialists and breakers, I ran a few BX TZD Turbos and 405/406 Turbo Diesels, plus a couple of Xantias.I also had 3 504 PicK-Ups, all orange, all diesel, all Creg's.One of my favourite citroens was a B reg Visa Diesel, crap to look at but a hoot to drive.The Xantias were nice motors, and i also ran a BX GTi for a while, quick and enjoyable.

Now the sad bit - I also had 3 different Daf variomatics in the 92-94 period as classic cars, as I worked at a specialists.They were truly $hit3!!!

My heart belongs with Skodas though, and as soon as I'm well enough to drive again, Skoda number 32 will be sitting on my drive.

I've owned a car for almost 10 years and I'm now on number 3.

My 1st car was a 1.1 (8v) Rover Metro and I loved it to bits. Used to belong to my grandad and was bought for me by my dad. When I got it it was 7 yrs old and still looked brand new, then when I went to uni and started meeting with like minded people this happened to it:

I never changed anything mechanically and the only time it ever had to go in for repairs was for new rear radius arms (twice). Had to sell the car [very sadly] in 2004 as rust started to take hold. I still miss that car. :(

In 2004 I went for an important job interview and I said that if i got the job I would buy myself a Fabia. I didn't get the job, so I ended up with this:

1.2 8v (60bhp) Clio. Great car, until the ECU decided to go wrong, indicated left when I wanted to go right, refused to start etc. Decided to go back to my original plan of buying a Fabia. :)

D536NOP - Fiat Panda 1.0CL - a surprisingly good car which was fun to drive and cheap to run. It was upgraded by the fitment of a clock , plastic panels to cover the bodywork inside (From a Panda S) and a nice Kenwood stereo. Bought for £1300 with 30k and sold for 60k about 4 years later when it was pretty much dead for £300.

N257VTF - Citroen AX 1 litre. Bought new for £5k - Luxury compared the Panda and it served me well for 60k miles and about 5 years. Traded for about £1800 IIRC

W919UCA - Ford Ka3 - Even more toys with aircon and leccy windows and superb handling even if it wasn't that quick in a straight line. Bought with 10k and did 12k in 18 months then traded it in when I got a better job.

BL03OEU - Octavia 1.9TDI Elegance. Very good car all round and more reliable than it's successor , the 2.0TDI Mk2 that I have now

Just remembered a few more, a Fiat uno turbo back in 1995, a brilliant car that was, and a 1995 Uno start, again a nice motor, bought dirt cheap from auction, used for a month, T-Cut and polished and sold for 3 times the purchase price!

Also had a rare as rocking horses**te Fiat Regatta Citymatic - stop at lights etc, put in neutral and engine cuts out.Put back in gear and it starts again.For some reason, the italians certainly know how to produce cars with excellent driving positions.Noticed a few manufacturers are bringing that stop-start out again now, and yet my Regatta had it 24 years ago!:confused:

Also had an MG Metro, nice and fun to drive, a 1.0 Metro that hated second gear, and a 1998 Rover 620Ti Turbo back in 2001.That was fast, 197bhp Honda engine, but crap interior ergonomics and very much an older persons sort of car.Often got 140mph out of it on French/Belgian and Spanish motorways though!

My toys are an eclectic bunch....

* = company car

montego 1.6L

citroen AX 1.1 forte

Civic 1.4i 5dr

*Renault 21 1.9D 5dr

*Xantia 19D sx

*106 1.1 XND

*Astra 1.7TD GLS Est

Suzuki Baleno 1.6 GS

*Accord 2.0i S

*316 Ti Compact

Vectra Supertouring 2.5i

Mondeo Si 2.5

406 3.0 exec

348 Spider

M3 Evo Cab E36

XKR 4.0

Civic 1.5vtec

Camaro 5.0

Lada Samara 1.5

Accord Type R

MGF 1.8i

C230K coupe AMG

CLK430

Tuscan 4.0

Tuscan 4.0

Octavia vRS

996 911 C2 Cab Tip

ZT 260 Se

Fiesta 1.8D

Volvo 440 1.7 GLT

Rover 416si

*307 2.0 HDI Sport

307 CC 2.0

BMW 325i E30

*E220CDI /C220CDI / SLK 200 / R320CDI SLK

Smart Roadster

*E220CDI /SLK200 / CLK320CDI

407 Coupe v6 HDI

Citroen AX 1.1

Mine dating back from 1982 when i past my test:

Datsun 100A

Ford Capri 1.6L

Bedford HA Van (ex council)

Datsun 120A

Datsun 140J

Datsun 160J

Datsun 180B

Datsun Bluebird 1.8GL

Datsun 280ZX

Datsun 160BSSS

Datsun 160JSSS

Vauxhall Cavalier MK1 2.0

Opel Manta 1.8S

MG Maestro 1.6

Datsun 240 Laurel

Nissan Laurel 2.4 SGLi

Morris Marina 1.8

Morris Ital 1.3

Nissan Sunny 1.3DX

Nissan Sunny 1.3SGL

Nissan Sunny 1.6Coupe

Nissan Almera GTi

Nissan Sunny ZX

Vauxhall Cavalier SRi MK2

Vauxhall Cavalier 1.6L MK2

Vauxhall Astra SRi Mk3

Nissan Sunny 1.4LX

Nissan Primera 2.0TDi SLX

Vauxhall Corsa 1.7DTi

Skoda Octavia 1.9TDi

Damn thats alot of cars

my car history is quite short:

Volkswagen Polo 1.05l F plate

I got this for my 18th birthday. It was quite a tidy car but it never passed it's MOT first time in the three years I had it. I liked that little car, even though parts were wearing out and I once managed to get the needle of the clock on the M20. In the end I got the job I am currently in and gave it to my brother who then proceded to total it (although it was not his fault, he was just involved in an accident). I replaced it with...

Skoda Fabia 1.4 16v Elegance

My first new car, I had it 2 days then coming back from Dover someone went into the side of me on the M2 and knackered the front door. I was not a happy bunny. Nearly two years later it was involved in an accident where a motor biker died, I managed to swerve out of the way in time for it to miss me and it hit a parked car, debris still hit and damaged my car. The driver was banned so had no insurance and was on drugs at the time, I later found out it was someone I went to school with. Once the car was fixed I traded it in for...

Skoda Fabia vRS.

It was the week that the vRS was launched so thewre were none on the road. There was one in the showroom in red so I brought that one and the dealer ordered a replacement the same spec for themselves. I kept that one for just under two years for...

Skoda Octavia II 2.0l Tdi Elegance

not much to say about this one really, it's been to the Nurburgring and Prague, I will miss it when it's gone as it goes next week to be replaced by.....

Skoda Octavia II Tfsi Vrs

in White :P

My car history list would be about 70 cars long. I won't bore you with all of them because 90% of them were 5hite:rofl:

Here are a few since 2003 -

Renaut Sport Clio 197 (latest).

Octavia 2.0 TDI Sport.

Octavia 2.0 TDI Elegance.

Octavia MK1 vRS.

Fabia vRS.

Citroen C2 VTR.

Citroen C3

Fiesta 1.4 Zetec.

Also had a rare as rocking horses**te Fiat Regatta Citymatic - stop at lights etc, put in neutral and engine cuts out.

Are you sure it was "supposed" to do it? Fiat's aren't known for their reliability lol.

My driving history starts in parents cars:

VW Polo 1.3 CL. Was a nice little car, which 2 weeks after passing my test I wrote off by losing the back end and rolling it into a river. My mum wasn't best pleased.

Vauxhall Senator 2.5. This car was awesome! I was really surprised that my parents let me lose in this after what I did to the Polo. Was a really really smooth drive... very blue inside though!

VW Polo 1.4 Openair. This was the one with the full length fabric sunroof, or escape hatch as my parents liked to call it!

Then I bought my first car, a Vauxhall Corsa 1.2 SXi. Came with 2 years free insurance which more than made up for what I lost in depreciation! It was a nice little car and fairly nippy.

Ford Focus 2.0 Zetec. This was a nice car as well. Not as fast as I thought it would be but the handling was awesome! Used to really drink petrol though, used to average around 26mpg in it!

Then my current cars, the Fabia vRS and most recently my Polo 1.05l Fox. The Fabia definitely my favourite car so far. It doesn't ride as well as the Focus but its got a lot more punch and the interior is loads nicer!

My motoring story begins with a number of Vespas back in the 70's. Didn't own a car till my father passed away in 1974 and I inherited his Studebaker 1961 (here's a similar one):

A 6-cyl engine giving 112 HP SAE, 3-gear box with gear stick on steering column, no seat belts, absurd fuel consumption. I only drove it for a year and swapped it for a Citroën:

In 1980 I moved from Gothenburg to Stockholm and really didn't need a car any longer so I managed without till I bought a weekend cottage in 1989. Bought a cheap SAAB Estate 1970, like this one only that mine was red:

It ran for a whole year and afterwards went to the scrappie. I got myself a Mazda instead, like this one only that mine was metallic blue:

Pretty reliable, but each time I filled the petrol tank I also had to top up with 1 litre of motor oil...

In 1992 I bought a brand new Nissan Micra:

which just ran and ran and ran for 200,000 miles. But eventually corrosion got its grip. Last year I decided that it wasn't worth it trying to get it through the MOT test. Found a decent Felicia... and the rest is history

Austin Mini 850 (Blue with viper stripes )

Mini 1000 (White)

Mini 1000 (Burgundy)

Mini Clubman 1275 GT (Mettalic blue)

Fiesta Mk2 1300 (Red, of all the cars I've owned, this is the only one which ever got me points on my licence!! )

Fiesta MK2 1100 (Red)

Fiesta MK2 1000 (White)

Fiesta MK2 XR2 1600 (Red, stolen from me by an ex-colleague.)

Mini Metro 1300 (White, cost £12!!)

MG Metro 1275 (Cost £30!!)

Ford Escort XR3i (Black with OE RS kit)

Ford Fiesta MK3 1400 Si (Met' blue)

Vauxhall Cavalier Mk2 1600 (Red, cost me £20!)

Vauxhall Cavalier MK3 1600 (Silver)

Opel Manta 2.0 GT/e Coupe (Polar white, awesome car)

Vauxhall Vectra 2.0 SRi (Burgundy)

Skoda Octavia MK1 vRS (Silver)

Skoda Octavia MK1 4x4 (Ocean green)

I think thats about it..

Coming soon..??

Short one for me too as I'm still a yoof!

Passed my test and drove my mum's 1-litre K11 Micra around for a bit. Followed by my dad's '94 Rover 214i, before the engine melted - guessing warped head from the first time the head gasket went!

My first car of my own was a '93 Ford Orion 1.6i 16v LX. Great for equipment - electric windows, central locking, the lot. Not so good on reliability. Fusebox gremlins cause intermittant starting on more than one occasion and eventually the gearbox died a death on the M6, after a total period of ownership of 5 months. Bought a 2nd hand gearbox and new clutch, which promptly got nicked out the boot when it was off the road, so scrapped it and went back to my mum's (newer this time!) K11 Micra...

...and bought myself a new 2003 Peugeot 106 1.1i Independance for the free insurance. Good little car, cheap to run, reliable, good fun and I had that for 4 years and 80,000 miles without any major problems.

During my 4 yrs with the Pug, I also had a 1988 BMW E30 320i which I bought for £580 as a track toy! That took me to Cadwell Park and the Nurburgring and my dad used it for work every day for about a year. Then sold it for a profit when I came to buy a house. Wonderful car, never let me down despite receiving a beasting.

Then...I traded in my Pug 106 for an ex-demo '55 reg Fabia vRS with 2,900 on the clock, on the basis I was getting more car for the same running cost! Which has been true, and I have never looked back.

Would like another E30 or an E36 as a project, but house is priority right now and the vRS is still great fun!

1) volvo 340 1.4 petrol (great car, learned to drive in it, was my mums)

2) vauxhall chevette 1.3 petrol (possibly the worst car I ever owned)

3) renault 18 ts 1.6 petrol (loved it)

4) renault 18 GTS 1.6 petrol (loved it even more)

5) fiat uno turbo (mark I) 1.3 turbo petrol - bleed valve 140bhp. (bloody brilliant, but scary as hell!!)

5) fiat croma turbo 2.0 petrl turbo 165bhp, nice, but fell apart..

6) saab 900 turbo 2.0 petrol 150bhp. I blew it up and sold it to a scrappy

7) lancia thema turbo 2.0 petrol 175 bhp, possibly the most loved car I've ever owned...

8) citroen saxo VTR - kept for 1 year

9) another saxo VTR - kept for 4 years and an amazing 150,000 miles!

10) citroen C2 GT - proper baby rally car 2 seconds quicker to 60 than the VTR all due to weight saving!

11) skoda fabia vRS - loved it, but crap dealers, and skoda refusing to honour warranty means I'll never buy a new skoda again.

not: the previous 3 cars all needed new gearboxes at 40k! :(

12) Fiat grande punto sporting 1.9 130 bhp. - best driving school car I've had yet..

company cars :

1) numerous vauxhall corsas, rubbish to drive, but reliable

2) ford fiesta better to drive than the corsa, but still rubbish

3) numerous for focuses, all broke... i repeat, ALL of them broke down

bloody hell, loads of cras! lol..

Wow, some people have had more cars than me :eek:

1) volvo 340 1.4 petrol (great car...)

:eek:

SWMBO had one of these. Must confess I never saw any greatness in it - part from being pretty reliable and remarkably sturdy, but so is my brother-in-law's old Ferguson tractor

:eek:

SWMBO had one of these. Must confess I never saw any greatness in it - part from being pretty reliable and remarkably sturdy, but so is my brother-in-law's old Ferguson tractor

I think I remember it that way, because it was what I was "set free" in when I was 17 and had passed my test.... I think your first car is probably always great

I learnt to drive as I turned 17 and learnt in a Reno 5 Petrol.

Drove my dads 1.3L Escort for a while (D reg) which was his company car. That was a good car, he got 88,000 miles from one set of tyres (Mich MX)..... they did start to wear more when I started driving it though......

My cars then were:

D570 DBF Ford Escort 1.3L bought in 1990 while 3 years old.

L782 HFA Renault Clio 1.9D Oasis, bought new in 1993. Big engine, small car, very uncomfy!

N*** TCX Rover 418SLdt, bought 2 years old, very fast as I thought at the time, nice car, never failed me so then bought

R101 LER Rover 420 SLDi, 105bhp, again, never let me down

FP51 *** Ford Fiesta 1.25L Freestyle

DG02 HKU Vauxhall Zafira Elegance 2.0Dti, imported but sold by a Vauxhall dealer in UK

YE04 TSX Nissan X-Trail 2.2DCi Sport

SL06 EGJ Nissan Navara Aventura (company provided)

and now the Octy vRS TDi

Steve

This has been done before , but here goes anyway , with pics if I have any. They start in 1987 when I passed my test , and end when I got the Fabia in 2005.

1974 Mini 1000 JBR 318N

1974 VW Beetle 1303 Campaign Edition

1989 Ford Escort 1100 'Bonus'

1983 Ford Capri 2.0S

1969 VW Beetle 1300

1973 VW Beetle GT 1600

1986 Capri 1600 Laser

1987 Capri 2.8i Special

1991 Mitsi Galant 2.0 GLSi

1993 Mitsi Lancer GTi-16V

1986 Porsche 944 Lux

1987 Capri 280 Brooklands

1999 Skoda Octavia 1.8T slxi

2001 Skoda Octavia vRS

1995 Mitsi Lancer glxi 16V Mirage

1997 Mitsi Galant V6 Auto

Mitsi Lancer Evo II GSR

Skoda Fabia 1.4 Comfort.

And thats the story so far. Its a shame I didnt get pics of everything , especially the 1303 and the Mini as they were class! Ah well!

Most of us seem to change our cars quite often don't we! I'm either gonna change the mrs' next year or take a holiday. If we change the mrs' car then it'll be 2 years before the finance is paid off and I can change the Fabia. Probably for a Astra CDTi150.

Personally I'm liking Dmac1969's list. All those Capris...

Thanks MudPuppy (nice name , btw! ) , the Capri is still a personal favourite of mine , I still have model ones dotted all over the house , and about 10 years worth of Capri Club International mags taking up valuable space too! I might just get another someday , though they haven't half went up in price , I paid £3200 for the Brooklands (in 1998) , now its more like £6-£7K for a good one!

Not got pics of most sadly... but here goes:

2003 - Rover 214Si 16v J-plate, in white

2004 - VW Vento 1.8 8v CL L-plate, in metalic dark blue

2005 - Toyota Corrola 1.3 GL Executive J-plate, in red

2005 - VW Lupo Sport 1.4 16v 51-plate, in red

2006 - Vauxhall Astra 1.7 TD M-plate, in gun metal grey

2007 - Skoda Fabia vRS 07-plate, in red

2008 - Skoda Octavia vRS 54-plate, in red

Not bad for 4 years!

Ok. Lets have a think. * = Company Car

1) Renault 5 1.0 TC in Red

2) Citroen AX14 TZS in Grey

3) Vauxhall Astra 1.3 in Sludgy Burgundy colour *

4) Renault Megane 1.4 8v RT in Red *

5) Ford Mondeo 1.8 Ghia in Red *

6) Fiat Punto 1.2 in Red *

7) Peugeot 306 1.6 Meridian in Light Blue *

8) Renault Megane 1.4 8v RT in Dark Blue *

9) Peugeot 206 1.0/1.2 in Red *

10) Nissan Almera 1.6 in Red *

11) VW Golf 1.6 SE in Silver *

12) Citroen AX 1.0 in Turquiose

13) Renault Megane 1.6 16v Sport Alize in Dark Blue

14) Skoda Octavia vRS Mk1 in Silver (now SWMBO's)

15) Skoda Octavia vRS TDI pd170 Mk2 in Silver

Not bad for 9 years of driving! Had loads of other company cars for a few days but these were actually MY cars either from the company or personal point of view!

I can't remember dates but from first to latest:

Toyota Starlet, Orange, old (as in ABC 123W reg) with more holes than a teabag but mechanically good

Vauxhall Cavalier, Green. Engine blew sending bits across the road (as pointed out by local kid who said "some went over there")

Peugeot 405, Red. Drank petrol like it it was free, easy and tasty!

Seat Ibiza CL, Red. Base model but my first nearly new car.

Seat Ibiza 1.4 Salsa, Green, with a few more bits and bobs on it

Seat Cordoba 1.6 SXE, Blue. Lovely car with peppy engine, aircon etc (my first aircon car!)

Seat Leon, 1.6SE Blue. The first private Leon sold and delviered by the dealer so not many on the roads when I drove out of the showroom. I loved that car.

Audi A2 SE, Silver. Nice concept and I loved it to start with but it was an awful car and the dealer eventually replaced it with...

Audi A2 SE, Silver. Just as rubbish as the first with so many problems, broken bits etc

Toyota Corolla 1.6 (last model before the Auris). Plush spec T-Spirit, nice car just a bit boring to look at.

Toyota Avensis T3-X. My first auto, 2l petrol so went well, smooth and comfy.

Skoda Octavia, 2.0 L&K DSG - present car.