Our life in cars: Part 3

My third and final post on the cars in my life. The first post covered the cars we had when we were a single car family and the second covered those cars that were 'non-company', that is, we paid for them ourselves. And now we come to the series which includes, but is not restricted to, some cars provided by the companies I worked for.

A confession: of all the cars we have owned over the years, this one is my favourite: a Citroen 2CV. Powered by a massive 649cc air cooled engine, with a gear stick that stuck out of the dashboard, front brakes that you could see (and replace) when the bonnet was opened, sliding windows and door opening by courtesy of a pull string. And it's crowning glory, the fabric roll-top roof. If you want thrills, try driving along the outside lane of the M25 at 70mph in windy conditions. A white knuckle experience. In those pre-Health and Safety days, it was possible to drive with the roof 'down' and the children standing on the back seat with their heads exposed to the elements. Happy days. It was my final pre-company car and it was downhill from there on.

From the ridiculous to the sublime: from a 2CV to a Rover 2000. A car with electric windows, sunroof and a host of other 'useful' features. And a ride like sitting in an armchair on wheels.

In fact, we liked this model so much that we went for something identical when we were allowed to change the car - in those days we could change vehicles every 20,000 miles. And this was before company cars were classed as 'taxable benefits'.

Our next change took to us to our first four wheel drive - a Ford Maverick. The thing I remember about this one is that it was surprisingly unstable at cornering, with the back end being rather wayward even at modest speeds.

We now progressed to a big beast, an Isuzu Trooper. Seven seats, which were useful on many trips with our children and their friends. It introduced us to one of our lifelong vices - a liking of heated front seats! It was a manual change with a ferociously powerful clutch. So much so that a back operation made driving it very difficult and lead to a premature change of model.

Our next one was a Mercedes C200 and our one and only automatic, due to my back operation. A wonderfully comfortable car with, guess what, heated leather front seats. Our vice was indulged big time. We did over 120,000 miles in this and I took it with me when I left full time employment - not as a freebie, I would add. We parted with it when the gearbox started rattling and there were traces of water in the engine oil.

The demise of the Merc lead us to the Volvo V40 Estate. Lots of room and lots of gadgets. An altogether pleasant driving experience which we enjoyed so much....

.....that we exchanged for another one. Sadly this one ended up in a front end shunt (not our fault) and was written off as beyond economical repair by our insurance company. A shame really as it had a good few miles still in it.

From the Volvo, we moved onto a Passat 2TDi Estate. Bought with 25,000 miles on the clock, we sold it at 120,000. Not trouble free motoring, but it was certainly comfortable and roomy.

And this brings us to our latest, a Qashquai TDi. With as many gizmos, beeps and driving aids (it's even got radar in the front) as the 2CV didn't. But will I look back on it with the same fondness as I do for the 2CV? Time will tell.