Most reliable/abused car you ever owned/couldnt kill!

[carbore]

I was reflecting the other day on cars I one owned....

I used to have a Mk1 Toyota MR2 (the wedgey one). The car was 4 years old with 70k miles on it. I was only 22 and couldn't really afford to run it, diddnt know much about mechanicals and had no space to work on it (excuses)

Despite only ever servicing it about 4 times in 7 years that I owned it  (yep not even an extra oil change!)  it NEVER broke down, started every time and nearly always passed the MOT except for minor ware such as brakes.  I regally thrashed it to the 7500 RPM read line and generally diddnt take enough care, but it still went on....and on....and on...

Nothing before or after can even compare for reliability. So what cars have you ever had that you couldnt kill (or all you all perfect car care cosseters)

PS I am now a reformed character and all my cars get regular TLC!

[The Smiths]

We had a 1983 Toyota Celica (the one with the large bumpers and pop up lights)

We had it for 7 years and only ever topped up the oil - never did change it

We paid £1050 for it and 7 years later sold it for £500 on the first advert.

It passed every MOT requiring no work at all.  We had to sell it because it was slowly rotting away and she started a new job that required her to carry computers (so the boot needed to be dry).

She still really misses that car - even though her current one is an E class Merc.

[sleeplessparadise]

a 1986 ford sierra 2.3 n/a diesel that we had for over ten years and still sold! We bought it on it's 3rd birthday and a year later I rode it under the back of a volvo 340 which meant johnty had to rebuild the front end then we had a few other prangs that weren't our fault and when we sold it it was hand painted  :shock:

[thermidorthelobster]

1989 Ford Escort diesel estate.  Did millions of miles to the gallon and was as reliable as something very reliable indeed.

[beast5680]

mk2 escort 1300 saloon, binned the 1300 and put a 2 litre ohc engine in and absolutly thrashed it to death evertime i drove it :D  and it never let me down once and in them days i never changed oil or anything and only did the brakes when they squealed  :twisted:

[bilge rat]

me rover vitesse i think, loved it but the body fell apart, used go like mad sound fantastic but drink fuell for a hoby. alan....

[L90OOK]

Old T reg fiesta 1.1...damn thing wouldn't die.  
Waded as well as my 110.
Never serviced.
Drove for miles & miles.
Cost me £50 to buy :lol: ...sold it for £250  :roll:

[freelanderpx54]

I had a Renault 18 estate car that just seem to run and run. Tin worm got it in the end but it still gave 45 mpg on long runs

[extreme90]

any1 noticed the trend ??
no land rovers being mentioned  :P  :P

[The Smiths]

any1 noticed the trend ??
no land rovers being mentioned  :P  :P

Or any other 4x4 :D

[SWEETY]

It would have to be my old D plate Capri 1.6 lasser I used to drive that stupidly hard, put RS2000 stage 2 head on with twin 40's, 2X 4" exhaust (V6 style) 2.8 axle, lowered it 3&1/2" with uprated springs & shocks & austin prinsess ap 4 pot calipers on the front :lol: It never went straight always seamed to be looking at the rear bumper :lol:  :lol: Got clocked by a off duty copper doing 153mph (we were the only ones on the road at 3 am)At 280,000 miles the bottom end gave up when doing 65mph in 2nd :roll: I have now grown up & bought a 4x4 snail  :lol:  :lol:  :lol:

[Jim-Willy]

Proton 1.5mpi, had it 4 years was my first car, had 1 fuel filter and 1 wheel bearing in that time.  Oh aye and 3 front end rebuilds I kept ramming stuff in it....... :lol:

[Thrasher]

Piglet :)

had him nearly 10 years ;-) Still here, still running - despite my best efforts lol! Just like one of those awesome brushes that last for ever, only changed the handle and head X times ;-)

Which reminds me ... let me start another thread : http://forums.mud-club.com/viewtopic.php?p=443992#443992

[clbarclay]

I was reflecting the other day on cars I one owned....

I used to have a Mk1 Toyota MR2 (the wedgey one). The car was 4 years old with 70k miles on it. I was only 22 and couldn't really afford to run it, diddnt know much about mechanicals and had no space to work on it (excuses)

Despite only ever servicing it about 4 times in 7 years that I owned it  (yep not even an extra oil change!)  it NEVER broke down, started every time and nearly always passed the MOT except for minor ware such as brakes.  I regally thrashed it to the 7500 RPM read line and generally diddnt take enough care, but it still went on....and on....and on...

Nothing before or after can even compare for reliability. So what cars have you ever had that you couldnt kill (or all you all perfect car care cosseters)

PS I am now a reformed character and all my cars get regular TLC!

You must have been lucky and sold it before the rot set in, my brothers mk1 mr2 is rustier than a dicovery :shock:  and from what hes herd they all suffer after a while, but then you would expect it when the standard sun roof drains empty into the sills :smack: . However the mechanicals seem good so far.

We had a mk2 golf diesel for a few years, ended up with over 280 thousnd miles of engine neglect and still going strong before we sold it, not sure the body would have got another MOT mind.

[Mutz]

Perhaps Jimwilly you should have replaced the brake pads!!!!

Had a Bedford Midi van had it a year and thought i ought to check the oil,
found it didnt have any!!!!
only filled it the once, engine just kept going didnt complain about anything, brilliant engine thirsty but brill.had that 3 yrs
Same thing with a 83 hi lux pickup had it 6 yrs just kept going, sold it and the guy who bought it took it to a meet in a quarry, i was there to, didnt realise he had snapped the chassis and it was the body holding it together and it still kept going!!!

[Eeyore]

I'd have to plumb for my 110, Flower.

she's taken some stick in her time and still keeps giving. Not outrageous, challange type, off road, but competition tracks and forests. She's flown more times than an air-steward!

No broken drive train, shattered CVs, or bent axles.  8)

Sweeeet!

Cheers
 8)
Eeyore

[Bush Tucker Man]

Believe it or not, it was an Italian car :shock:  :shock:


A 'L' plated Fiat Uno diesel that we bought new, not a moments trouble!!

Then it went in PX for a (new) Punto TD, that was a great little car as well

Unlike the Tempra estate that replaced the Punto (worst car we've ever had)

[Boggert]

My Fieste Diesel< did 60 mpg, you could bang it, knock it, get it wet and I even accidently set the engin bay on fire but it just kept going with out fault.

Sadly it was destroyed by a lorry on a roundabout.

[littlepow]

No laughing, but it's true!

98 Rover 420 Tdi  :shock:

Did about 80,000 miles in just under 3 years.

Only fault was the front calipers stuck when I went to trade it in.
Was fixed with a lump hammer, driven on to the forcourt and used the engine and handbrake to stop the car!  :twisted:

[Guardian.]

my old iveco turbo daily, had it from 12months old i did just over 200,000 miles in it, ran on neat veg oil the whole time never had an oil change service anything, until about a month before i soldit, the clutch cable snapped, so changed that for about 50 quid, and thought id do an oil change, had to use the gas to melt the sludge out the sump.
bearing in mind this was a 3.5 ton van abused every day, overloaded driven flat out, and never a hitch in 4 years, and now lives in the south of france as a mobile workshop for a caravan repairer.

[Bush Tucker Man]

Got clocked by a off duty copper doing 153mph (we were the only ones on the road at 3 am)

I take it the gearing was raised a fair amount as well??, otherwise I dread to think of the revs it must have been pulling in 4th

[crazymac]

I'd have to go the Italian way as well, although it did get killed, it was by thieving gits, not me

It was a Fiat Mirafiorri (think thats how to spell it?) 4 door saloon. I used to potter around Glasgow in it and it ran like a bag of nails, then I'd get it out on the open roads and hammer it, and it jumped up and went like brown stuff off a shiney digging implement!!

It LOVED to be thrashed, and hated normal speeds!!

[Red Defender]

my mk 1 fiesta - often drove across muddy fields and waded flooded roads and even when i fell asleep and drove into some one and totaled it, it still got me the 200 miles home.

i also had a renault 9 diesel, i did over 200,000 miles on that recon engine and its still going now according to the guy that bought it - i had it all through my student days and a couple of years of work and i really did abuse it more than my 90 and yet it broke down way less !!

[SWEETY]

Got clocked by a off duty copper doing 153mph (we were the only ones on the road at 3 am)

I take it the gearing was raised a fair amount as well??, otherwise I dread to think of the revs it must have been pulling in 4th

I can't remember what the gearing was :roll: It had standard 2.8 brooklands rear axle, but it was a 5 speed box so dropped the revs a bit :lol: but it was in the red screaming like a goodun :lol:  :lol:  :lol:

[chiboy]

8) How about this volvo 760 turbo paid £50 for it  had it 3 years just kept going 350,000 when i sold it on  8)

[spy]

a D reg 1.3 mk2 golf (4speed, no pas or anything else) bought for £250, drove for 20,000 hard miles in 6 months and sold for £250 without a penny spent on anything other than oil / filter change.  My mates bro bought it, kept it almost a year and sold it for £250.  Then, some scum bag pinched it from its newest owner.  Sadly, golfie was never recovered...   :-({|=

I reckon I would buy that car back tomorrow! Would have to be no more than £250 quid though!!

[freeagent]

Mid 1980's VW polo... the automotive equivilent of a cockroach... i drove it like a car thief, never serviced it, and it never broke down...

[Chris Putt]

Another shout out for Fiat Unos!

I had a 1.4ieS on an M plate and it was mega- I wish I had never sold it!

We got it 4 years ago on 62000 miles, i had it til' a couple of months ago on 108,000, it let me down once only when the alternator melted on the M6.

It had a small engine bay fire involving injector cleaner
It rescued some mates from a greenlane a series 2 got stuck on
It waded about a foot and a half to get me home one night
It used to carry, 4 kayaks, 4 people and gear to and from north wales on a regular basis
It towed a citroen C15 van a rover 214 and an argocat in its time

Used to go all over the country with me, Scotland (twice) wales all the time, devon, cornwall, liverpool etc etc.

Best of all it had a power to weigh ratio of 104 horsepower per ton and revved like a goodun, embarrased many a chavved up saxo! You could spin the wheels in first second and third in the dry, was hilarious to drive fast to because any fast cornering used to cock a wheel!

[TDi90]

nother shout for VW's!
our VW passat, done 145,000 miles and still going. she has had everything from hand brake turns to driving across feilds, everything... brilliant car.
R

[Eeyore]

... the automotive equivilent of a cockroach....

 :lol:

Now, that is a class description! Like it! 8)

Cheers
 8)
Eeyore