My Car History Continued!

Back in August 2017 I posted ‘My Journey to the Lotus Elise’. Since then I’ve been through quite a few cars.  Since 2016 I’ve struggled to keep anything much longer than a year (10 months the longest term). A lot of the moves have been sideways moves (only the Elise was a brand new car) but still I’ve lost lots of money buying and selling cars and it needs to stop!

1993: ‘Ford Fiesta 950 Popular’ 3-door in Burgundy (2 years)

1995: ‘Ford Orion’ in Red (1 month – the car broke)

1995: ‘Peugeot 205 1.1’ 5-door in Gold (2 years)

1997: ‘Peugeot 205 Diesel Turbo’ 5-door in White (2 years)

1999: ‘Peugeot 205 Gentry’ in Gold (1 year – I crashed it)

2000: ‘Peugeot 205 Diesel Turbo’ 3-door in Black (5 years)

2005: ‘Ford Focus Zetec 1.6 Diesel Turbo’ 3-door in White (6 years)

2011: ‘Audi A1 TDI Sport’ 3-door in Black (3 years)

2014: ‘Audi A3 Sportback Sport TDI 150PS’ 5-door in Scuba Blue Metallic (2 years)

2016 JUN: ‘Audi A3 Sportback S-Line TDI 184PS Quattro’ 5-door in Daytona Grey (8 months)

2017 MAR: ‘Audi S1 Sportback Quattro 231PS’ 5-door in Sepang Blue (5 months)

2017 AUG: ‘Lotus Elise Sport 220’ in Metallic Blue (8 months)

2017 NOV: ‘SEAT Ibiza 1.2FR’ 3-door in Grey (2ND CAR) (3 months)

2018 FEB: ‘Audi A3 Sportback Sport TDI 184PS Quattro’ 5-door in Scuba Blue Metallic (2ND CAR) (10 months)

2018 MAY: ‘Lotus Exige V6 S Coupe IPS’ in Signature Orange (6 months)

2018 JUL: ‘Mazda MX-5 Z-Sport’ in Mica Ebony Pearlescent (3RD CAR) {part-exchanged later for Lotus Evora} (4 months)

2018 NOV: ‘Lotus Evora V6 NA Sport Racer’ in White (6 months)

2018 DEC: ‘SEAT Ibiza 1.4FR’ 5-door in Black (2ND CAR) (3 months)

2019 MAR: ‘Audi S3’ 3-door in Solar Orange (2ND CAR)

2019 MAY: ‘Lotus Exige V6 S Roadster’ in Yellow

= 20 cars

I’d only change cars again to go back to being a 1 car owner – which I was for 24 years – or if my current cars develop issues that put them economically off the road, or I have an accident, or if it’s a sideways move that costs me no money (i.e. part exchange covers the cost of the new car). Alas, I don’t have the wealth to be a car collector. If I could have collected cars from my history, these are the cars I’d have now:

2000: ‘Peugeot 205 Diesel Turbo’ 3-door in Black (of all my 205’s this was my favourite)

2014: ‘Audi A3 Sportback Sport TDI 150PS’ 5-door in Scuba Blue Metallic (I liked this A3 the most, mostly because of the gorgeous off white alcantara interior, also the fuel economy was sensational)

2018 MAY: ‘Lotus Exige V6 S Coupe IPS’ in Signature Orange

2018 JUL: ‘Mazda MX-5 Z-Sport’ in Mica Ebony Pearlescent

2018 NOV: ‘Lotus Evora V6 NA Sport Racer’ in White

2019 MAR: ‘Audi S3’ 3-door in Solar Orange

2019 MAY: ‘Lotus Exige V6 S Roadster’ in Yellow

Image: Lotus Exige V6 IPS in Signature Orange (my best Lotus?)

Image: Mazda MX-5 Z-Sport (not my actual one but similar)

My current thinking is to not think until September! The only 1 car that I think would do it all for me is a Porsche Cayman – which seems a bit like going to the dark side for a Lotus Owner. Porsche and Lotus are really sibling type companies, just that Porsche has had investment, Lotus have not. It will be interesting to see how Lotus evolves now it has Chinese investment behind it. Could Lotus become the English Porsche?

If I was to change the Audi S3 and Lotus Exige for a Porsche Cayman (for money reasons, both would go), I’d miss quite a few things about the Lotus Exige.

Eight things I love about my Lotus Exige V6 Roadster (not in any particular order):

- I love the steering

- I love the driving position

- I love the look of the car

- I love the smile/craziness/bonkers factor

- I love the performance
- I love the handling (Chris Harris "chassis from the gods")

- I love the dimensions (I think perfect size, not too long, not too wide, not too small)

- I love taking the roof off

If I did change to a Cayman, I’d miss all the above (arguably the final one not if I went for the Boxster, but I prefer the Cayman over the Boxster. I like Targa’s – like the Elise/Exige.)

Note 1: Definition of Targa = A type of convertible sports car with a hood or panel that can be removed, leaving a central roll bar for passenger safety.

Note 2: Cayman GT4’s are way too expensive for me, but even a Cayman GT4 – the best Cayman – could not compete performance wise (0-60 4.4s v 3.8s for the Lotus Exige V6 S)!

If I did go for a Cayman, this is where I’d put my money:

- Porsche Cayman 718 2.0T Turbo (in Yellow – the only colour that does it for me.) 0-60 in 5.1 seconds (perfectly quick enough for a road car) and 168g/km or 38.2mpg (very reasonable fuel economy) – a sensible choice!

Image: Thinking of the dark side one day? (Only for money reasons would I switch)