Cars & Motorbikes Let's talk cars...

Very fortunate to have my parents fork out for my first car.
Nissan Pulsar Q N13
Then moved to:
Suzuki Sierra SJ series 1.3L
Holden Jackaroo UBS
Mitsubishi Galant VR4
Daihatsu Charade 1.0L (spare ofr when Galant spent extensive time off the road for repairs)
BMW 323i E30 (2 door)
Ford Mondeo MKII
Toyota Corona (spare for other half)
Holden Jackaroo V6
Toyota Avalon
Toyota Camry XV20

and finally.....(drum rolll)......

A 2006 Mazda 2 Neo !!!

The 2 has been an unbelievable car - 180,000km service just done, went to the great ocean road over easter (1 day 700km round trip) with 4 adults on board - and no cruise control.

Bit heavy around the sweepers, but the $69 Kmart Diamondback tyres held quite well (lucky it was a dry day!!)

Thought this trip would convince me to ditch it - but found it ridiculously good on the highway. Cruise control was not an issue - the car is pretty much maxed out at 100km/h with 4 on board (A/C on).

No major repair item to date. Unbelievable.

The Y-man

 

Hmmmm... hard to say believe it or not.

Pulsar was great for the young and stupid. It was great except it just kept inexplicably stalling. Did a chip reset, chip change, in the end mechanics suggested selling it....

The most physically painful by far was the Suzuki Sierra. I got more bruised elbows, twisted wrist, sore back/butt, bumps on the head than any other car.... and yet there was just something so fun about it (and it really did deserve the "CAUTION - overTURNING VEHICLE" sticker).

Jackaroo was luxury compared to the Suzy - especially doing the Broken Hill > Tibooburra > Bourke run without a single flat tyre (albeit I did break a damper clean off on the rear axle - made no difference to the handling)

VR4 was just ridiculous (first of the AWD turbos homologaiotn model for the WRC). On the same patch of dirt where the Suzy would have thrown you through the roof doing 40km/h, and the Jackeroo would do 60km/h, I scared myself silly when I looked down at the speedo of the VR4 doing a relaxing 140km/h... But a first gear cog that kept stripping (special cut - not a standard galant cog) and a timing belt that kept jumping out of place, and most annoyingly - it would simply stall and refuse to start until left for about 6 hours (sound familiar?). Factory reset of chip, all EFI components checked, etc etc - no fault found. Cracked solder joint offered as a possible reason. Decided to sell to a friend who wanted a fast car. He was able to reproduce the issue - fixed by sticking a MOTEC unit in.....

The Bimmer was awesome. Bored to 2.5L with a 325e block (allowed under prod car regs), lovely handling, cheapo parts. Very light on its tyres. Production brakes are crap though - first outing to Calder left me with no brakes at the end of the main straight and 180km/h.
Once we got some QFM pads in though, no stopping it....until I spun out on Turn 10 at Phillip Island on the entry to the pits on a big stream of water - my mate behind me spun his GT4 on the same patch and backed into my rear axle. Still managed to straighten it and whack a factory LSD into it while we had the axle down. ventually had to sell it a) got married b) the chassis was seriously beginning to get loose due to the race set up spring/damper. Used to regularly bend the wheels on railways. Could have really used some seam welding and a full cage, but gave up..... oh yeah, and the engine would occasionally stall and not start again for a while....(air intake meter suspected - never found fault)

As much as people bag the Mondeo, it was an interesting car. The only trouble I had was the fuel filler pipe separating itself from the tank, spewing petrol out near the rear exhaust..... lucky it was parked when it happened!!

The Charade was something I got from a friend when they went overseas. Fascinating 3 cylinder 1L engine the size of a sewing machine. 2 seater fully stripped out courier model, no aircon, a single speaker AM radio. Drove it to Adelaide with a mate just to see if we could do it in summer. Other than being hotter inside than a F1 car, it was slightly more comfortable than the Suzy (simply because it didn't get blown off course as far by cross winds)

The Corona CSX was another used car special - but it had the works. Really impressed, except for the carby - for some inexplicable reason would just stall and be unable to be restarted (surely people.... this one is a carby engine with no chip, nudda...!). Fully rebuilt the carby, rejetted, to no avail. The one thing I really miss from that car that I have not seen in any car since - a central (to driver) "crotch outlet" for the aircon on the under side of the steering column.

The second Jackeroo was also a disaster - also did inexplicable stops in the traffic (is this something to do with my driving!!) - and unable to restart for a good 20 min. Guys from Holden managed to recreate the prob, but never managed to figure out the fault - they recommended I sell it fast....with no time to really consider, traded in for an Avalon Grande (praying the car wouldn't stall on the way to the car yard) - big, comfortable - like an updated version of the Corona. It really did nothing wrong - very "Toyota". I t was so anonymous looking I joked you could use it as a getaway car in a robbery, and no one would be able to remember the car....and it never did the mystery stall!

The Camry I inherited from my dad - basically used it as a spare - sort of a less fuel hungry version of the avalon (bit smaller too). Again - very Toyota - just did everything well without being spectacular. Good workhorse. Eventually sold to a friend's son.

Oh yeah... the Mazda 2 does NOT stall (touch wood).

I am convinced I am emanating something deadly to cars though - I test drove an E46 3 series Bimmer and guess what - it just stalled and died in the middle of heavy traffic with an engine warning light. Had to wait 5 minutes before it mysteriously reset itself and got going as if nothing had happened.....

The Y-man