My first proper car
Having had a Fiat Panda, 1969 mini, rover 214, Honda civic, Mk 2 Golf GTi and then a lumbering Honda Accord; about a year ago my wife came into some money and for my 30th birthday she said, "yo can have £10k to buy a car".

Aye aye - but then there were condition. 4 seats, blah blah. So I settled on a Mini Cooper S. At the showroom, I pay up and then the bombshell - "ok sir, although your car is on the forecourt, your payment has gone through and we have all the paperwork done, you can have your car in 4 weeks". WTF... we were going on a family holiday for 2 weeks the day before it is "ready". So, after 6 weeks, we come back from holiday in Devon a day early.

Drop the wife off, jump on the bus into the Sytner garage and a rush in...

"ok sir, sit down. Someone reversed into your car in the car park yesterday. It is now in the workshop and will be ready in about a week".

To be fair, they did lend me a new cooper S works until it was ready, which I ragged for a week, never letting the revs below 5k.

I love my mini, and the extra years warranty they threw in for free cause of the accident..
(Strump striving for imperfection since, Thu 22 Apr 2010, 20:17, Reply)