"Don't buy British cars", they said.
I never seem to learn... so far I've bought-

a)Mini Metro 1.0'L'
b)Rover 216 mk1 carb (not the Honda engine)
c)Montego Si
d)Rover 820 Si (Honda Engine)
e)Escort 1.8D
e)Rover 420D
f)Rover 620 Si(Honda Engine)
g)Rover 820 Si (Rover engine)
h)Saab 900NG V6 (basically a tarted up Vectra)
h)Mondeo TDDi Mk 3
i)Skoda Octavia 1.9D

Of them all, the Skoda fetches 55mpg despite being on 190,000 miles, the Saab was a magnificent winter steed and the 620 was an incredible car that cost £600 but lasted 90,000 miles- but it was basically a Honda under the skin anyway. All the rest sequentially managed to disappoint, bore or annoy me- and all cost shedloads to keep going. About the only thing that I can say in my defence is that I never bought a Maestro, which would have given me the complete British Leyland Bingo set.
( Rotating Wobbly Hat That's not a banana. THIS is a banana., Thu 15 Nov 2012, 17:48, 14 replies)

SAABs.....
.... are awesomely good cars. Crap press, no one rates them, but they're comfy economical (to a point), reliable, and the 900 series has a boot like a cavern. We took two kids stuff to university with ease.

Naysayers! Pshaw!
( The Lone Groover has mal des nuts., Thu 15 Nov 2012, 18:12, closed)

Agree re the Escort
I wrote off a Mk2 Mondeo 1.8TD and bought a cheap Escort 1.8D as a runabout while I waited for one of my employers' Mondeo Mk2 1.8TDs to go off-lease so I could buy it - which I later did. God the Escort was crap in comparison - solid, reliable, economical but so, so dull and uncomfortable. I sold it after 3 weeks and walked everywhere as it was more enjoyable. And this was in January...
(Carpe Cyprinidae, Thu 15 Nov 2012, 18:33, closed)

When some wretched skill-less tea leaf tried to nick my Escort in Coventry
...and did EXACTLY the amount of damage to the ignition lock that made it uneconomic to fix AND not worth losing my No-Claims I was actually happy to see that sad sun-burned red-and-blanched grey plastic shitpot get taken away even though I only had a bike to get to work after that.
( Rotating Wobbly Hat That's not a banana. THIS is a banana., Fri 16 Nov 2012, 1:16, closed)

My first car
was a Vauxhall Magnum. Basically a posh Viva (2 extra headlights). T'was shit.
(Mr Gronk, Thu 15 Nov 2012, 21:25, closed)

The Vauxhall Magnum
The most powerful hand car in the world?
( Rotating Wobbly Hat That's not a banana. THIS is a banana., Sat 17 Nov 2012, 13:47, closed)

Not quite the bingo set - you would need to include the "A" series engined original Mini and the 1100/1300 series, both very popular in their day (and Christ I am an old fart!)
( Vambo, Thu 15 Nov 2012, 23:01, closed)

ALRIGHT IT'S NOT A COMPETITION!
:-)

drove a mini once, didn't like the fact it was forcing me to feel like a midget bus driver in a mobile ash tray at the time....also my (very briefly) pash once drove a bright yellow KDU812V so I swore off them for life.
( Rotating Wobbly Hat That's not a banana. THIS is a banana., Fri 16 Nov 2012, 0:05, closed)

You missed 3
What about the MG versions of the Maestro, Metro and Montego.
I had the MG Maestro, it was fun for a month until it became too embarassing to keep ignoring my workmates advice to get shut of it as it was "a twats car" and would refuse to accept a lift home in it due to the embarassment of being seen in one, much like me and my friends apallingly noisy and smelly Skoda Estelle or one of my ex girlfriend's yellow Fiat 126.
(Finster Ate a cat biscuit for a bet, Sun 18 Nov 2012, 12:09, closed)

I've driven the MG Montego Turbo, just didn't own it
Frightening torque steer but put some flesh on the bones of the myth that horsepower isn't the overall measure of a car's speed- weighed in with 150 (when new), unless it was fiddled for greater boost it was quite scary to control at age 18...
( Rotating Wobbly Hat That's not a banana. THIS is a banana., Sun 18 Nov 2012, 13:15, closed)

Needs more Rover SD1.

( Fucking hell Jeff I am not a robot, Fri 16 Nov 2012, 8:04, closed)

my dad had a rover 850
2 in fact - , one after the other. the first was the fast back, the second a saloon.

i was looking for a cheap second hand motor with a big engine (i assumed a big engine would be better for lots of motorway driving) and found absolutley jack in the way of the old 850s.

it seems the gearboxes were made of metal that biodegraded. utter shite.

i bought a volvo.
(magictorch, Fri 16 Nov 2012, 8:30, closed)

Largely bollocks, of course
I've owned two Austin Metros, two Ford Fiestas and a Vauxhall Corsa over the last 15 years. All of them second-hand, all picked carefully from the local ads, and all have cost me less than £400 a year in service and MOT costs. Which is next to nothing when you do a 50-mile round commute every day.

If you pick British cars that were designed to run, you'll be fine. And your service costs will be much less than the dickhead who wants to run a French or German car.
( ousgg is not seeking approval, Fri 16 Nov 2012, 23:57, closed)

Whats wrong with kraut cars?
My Audi is cheaper to run than the TDi Astra's I have owned. The Golf and Polo before it were easy on the wallet for replacement bits as well, lots of places to get serviceable quality non VAG parts cheaply.
Now if you mean BMW and Merc's then I agree, complete wankers cars and I go out of my way to ignore them at junctions or freeze them out where two lanes merge at roadworks when they have tried to be clever twats and zoomed down the fucking bus lane instead of being patient.
(Finster Ate a cat biscuit for a bet, Sun 18 Nov 2012, 12:19, closed)

needs more Rover 827 V6
www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3XOU7UW5zU
(Kip, Wed 21 Nov 2012, 13:05, closed)

I would like to have had one :-(
unsensible but if I had the cash....
( Rotating Wobbly Hat That's not a banana. THIS is a banana., Wed 21 Nov 2012, 20:25, closed)