to beleive that driving a series of clapped out old wrecks inculcates a worthwhile sense of independence and capability

[OrmRenewed]

and that you can tell people whose first car wasn't old with a decent amount of rust, by how ridiculously distressed they get by a small problem, and who don't know how to change the oil or even open the bonnet.

Isn't it a rite of passage to have a car whose door's don't always shut properly, and who heating never works and whose windscreen wipers only work when they feel like it? Not to mention the place where the upholstery got torn when you tried to put someone's bike in the back seat.

I am always mildly horrified by teenagers who get given a new car by mum or dad. Just seems wrong somehow...

True. The only problem is we are still driving a series of old clapped out wrecks...

Perhaps time has moved on a bit since we had our crappy cars.

My first car was exactly as you describe, so were my 2nd and 3rd actually. (Nos 1 and 2 were both written off by different siblings of mine )

Anyway...the price of cars that function has gone down - ie even a v cheap 3rd hand or whatever car can have power steering etc. My DH's car is worth about £2k, if that and it has most "luxuries" you get in a "working" car, apart from parking sensors.

I still have that mixed feeling of hope and dread when I set out on a long journey.
After years of really old clapped out cars that I could never be sure would reach the destination.

Definitely a necessary rite of passage to drive a series of clapped out old bangers. I am slightly irked to still be doing it in my 30s, but am sure I will feel a marvellous sense of satisfaction if I ever get my hands on something a bit shinier that I have bought myself. Can't possibly feel as good having it handed on a plate at 17

Ah well we have finally come out of that era wallace. But not because the cars are newer (they aren't much) but they are better looked after. And we do stuff like servicing regularly

stayfrosty - I agree with that! Nothing like seeing the road whizzing past through that little hole in the floor to make you aware of your own vulnerability . Or breaking down on a mway in a heatwave several times because the radiator burst and when the radweld gives up for the last time, DH having to wee in the radiator because there wasn't any other water. Makes you appreiciate anything that keeps going even when it doesn't have airconditioning or a CD player or all the other 'essential' wank.

"I still have that mixed feeling of hope and dread when I set out on a long journey.
"

Oh god yes!

Ah servicing...that helps, does it?

I dream of driving a car that I don't have to worry about breaking down

"and who don't know how to change the oil or even open the bonnet. "

Well, I used to be able to change the spark plugs, the oil and all sorts but what's under the bonnet of my current car bears no resemblance to what was under the bonnet of my MkII Escort

I can open the bonnet though - I have to fill the screenwash somehow.

I also used to be able to change a wheel but no longer - I am simply not strong enough to shift the wheelnuts.

oh yes Orm... a teenager's first car MUST be clapped out. How are they to learn otherwise?

I had to call Greenflag to change a wheel recently soupy I felt like such a weak and feeble woman. Until the oily chap in overalls couldn't move them either even with the hydraulic thingy meant for truck tyres.

I had an old Peugeout 306 whose points kept closing up. I got really good at changing them or prising them apart when they got to bad. And there was also the horrible green Maestro whose carburettor used to flood when hot so you had to take the damper out when you started it (requiring the assistance of a bemused stranger). Ah...those were the days....

I have had to call the RAC 3 times to change a wheel. Once I was almost crying with frustration because I knew how. I made a point of telling the nice RAC man that I knew how I was so embarrassed. He agreed that they were impossible to shift by hand and got out his big tool [snurk]

Ah yes. Points. I could do those too [sigh]. I had a Haynes manual, I could do anything

I have fond memories of passengers being able to watch the road go by under their feet in the back seat of my gold VW Beetle. Well, until my dad forbade anyone sitting back there because he was afraid they'd fall through the floor and die.

I loved that car.

I am going to brag here that I fixed my broken washing machine by changing the carbon brushes all by myself the other day. Sorry, am super proud of myself.

I am on first name terms with all of the local AA men.

I went from the golf with a hole in the radiator that needed water once an hour, to the fiat with the rusty door and an odd wobble, to the skoda with the leaky roof and a really odd smell, finally to a Xsara Picasso, which by our standards is new (only 8 years old) and has no heating, but has electric windows!

We did though just buy a 7yr old daewoo for DH which is a total lemon.

i've never owned a car - always driven the driving school car, then hire cars, the occassional work car...

so i haven't got a clue how to care for an old car... or for any car really

it's something i'm ashamed of.

orm I had two green maestros, think that was the only colour they came in! Didn't have that problem though both overheated easily

It came as somewhat of a shock to me, after my first car experience, to find that not all vehicles require the application of 500ml of Dampstart to the distributor cap in order to coax the plugs into life.

And that in winter, if the seal on the sunroof is dodgy, and it's rained, then gotten cold, it's natural that you'll actually slip inside your own car due to the mini ice rink in the footwell.

It's the stuff moral fibre is made of. Our 'grown-up' cars aren't half so bloody traumatic fun.

Hmmmm I would worry if I was driving an old banger (or if I had a teenage child doing so) that it wouldn't be much good in a crash. They did a piece on NCAP safety ratings on Top Gear a while ago and the difference between 2, 3 and 4 star rated cars was a real eye-opener. I was happy to find that both my and DH's cars were top rated, but if they hadn't been I would have been trading in.

[scaredy-cat emoticon]

Having said that though, until we recently treated ourselves to 'new' (i.e. new to us, but actually 3 years old) cars, we shared an ancient Astra that was pretty much falling to bits. When I told a friend of mine that I was looking for a new car, she said 'oh don't do that, I think it's really cool that you drive a beaten-up old car'

I think on balance I would rather a teenage kid of mine borrowed my nice, safe, relatively up to date car than bought their own wreck...

Hmm. My dad still drives a car with no heating, a leaky sunroof and a floor that floods if it rains.

He considers it perfectly normal and is labouring under the delusion that, at 12 years old, it will be 'worth a grand or two' when he sells it.

There's a time and a place for clapped-out wrecks, but he's not there!

(Love my wreck though. I can leave it unlocked anywhere in the town where I live, no-one ever tries anything as a beat-up clio in a row of mercs isn't going to get stolen from!)

"I can leave it unlocked anywhere in the town where I live, no-one ever tries anything as a beat-up clio in a row of mercs isn't going to get stolen from"

Yes that's a definite plus!

But the thing about driving an old car with 'undocumented features' is that you learn to coax it up hills, and treat it gently round bends. So you are maybe less likely to drive like a twat. In theory.

'I had to call Greenflag to change a wheel recently soupy I felt like such a weak and feeble woman. Until the oily chap in overalls couldn't move them either even with the hydraulic thingy meant for truck tyres.'

Be careful admitting that on MN. I had a similar experiencecouldn't undo the screws although I am quite capable of doing everything elseand someone here told me I had 'no business being on the road'.

Er, how does that work if you're pregnant, sick or elderly then?

I quite like crappy cars.

My first one (not that long ago, 6 years) was a crappy polo which was older than me and which I bought for £100. It was like a little tin can, the doors went clang when you slammed them.

I then progressed to a crappy little Cinquecento which was silver with one black door.

I agree that crappy cars are or should be a rite of passage.

I have got a decent car now but I still think fondly of my crappy little polo.

I agree with emseyj. I wouldn't buy a teenager a brand new car, but I would buy something fairly good just because of the safety aspects, I was in a 30mph head on collision a couple of years ago in a 02 reg polo, me and DH were cut bruised and whiplashed but otherwise ok. We nearly took my M reg 106 on the same journey, the police said that had we been in that car we would have had much more serious (possibly fatal) injuries.