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[Viral_Jim]

In the course of writing the ad for the Zafira, I discovered that I've spent just shy of £875 in maintenance costs (ex. MOT fees) over the past three years and 31,000. I can't make my mind up if that sounds like a lot or not, in the grand scheme of things. 

Considering I've worked the car hard over that time, with lots of travel 6 or 7 up, lots of miles towing a trailer etc I suppose its not too bad.

Anyone else know what they've spent, or am I the only one who's this sad 

[Andy B]

I keep all the receipts for my cars ..... don't add them up though. 

[Sir Tigger KC]

Less than three hundred quid a year/10,000 miles sounds OK to me. 

[Viral_Jim]

I keep all the receipts for my cars ..... don't add them up though. 

Probably for the best! I don't make a habit of it, I choose not to think about what 8 months of Discovery 5 ownership cost me 

Less than three hundred quid a year/10,000 miles sounds OK to me. 

Fair point, especially considering there were some chunky items in there (clutch and timing belt). I wouldn't want to know what it would cost to have it all done at a garage 

[Doctor Gollum]

Ignoring the various retro fit bits five tyres, two suspension arms and an oil change cost about the same on the S Class.

A full service, gearbox and other fluids is probably as much as you've spent in parts alone. Whether that's good or not is subjective, but it sounds like you've had a pretty easy ride with the Zaf

Where it gets scary is if you do a full accounting of the car. My Omega taxi added up to about £30k one year including fuel, insurance and all maintenance and repairs. Add in depreciation on a new car and...

[Migv6 le Frog Fan]

C1 about £100 in 15 months so far.
Boxster about £350 in 3 years, although Ive sold the original wheels and a few other surplus parts for more than that.
The Omega Ive had about 7 years. Spent a lot of money getting it how I wanted it in the first couple of years.
I think the total spend on that (including tyres and MOT,s) is north of £3000. Which isnt a lot in that time in the grand scheme of things.

[TheBoy]

Anyone else know what they've spent, or am I the only one who's this sad 

No, I'm just as sad. Mainly to prove to my boss its impossible to run a decent car on the miserable 28ppm our company pays.  I changed app in November 2021, so seeing stuff before then is a pain involving spreadsheets, which is just an office self-abuser's tool.

Since November 2021, I've spent just shy of £3.7k on mine in servicing costs .

Admittedly, the bulk of that is on tyres and wheel straightening.


The Battlebus from the same period to July 2022 when it was scrapped was £96

Her car has a fair amount spent since July 2022, mostly to get it back up to snuff following purchase, but also on tyres and it needed a pair of new rear calipers.

[TheBoy]

As to Zafiras and running costs, mine was an incredibly reliable, cheap to run car.  Bought from auction, a fair few issues were discovered before it even got home, including an inability to rev beyond about 3k rpm .  But once that nice DTM fella had sorted that, it never had more than basic servicing, and I thought it was indestructible.   ...until the front subframe fell apart.

It was gutless, handled shite, was desperately uncomfortable on longer trips.  But it was reliable, practical, reasonably economical (around 40mpg most of the time), cheap to run, and good fun to drive (as you dared not slow down for anything, as took too long to get back up to speed


When it died, we looked at Zafira-B's to replace it, but every single one we looked at was a rust bucket underneath

[countrywoman]

Touch wood but the Yeti has just cost service items and MOT for the last 2 years, does about 10miles per litre in comfort. Handles well and 150 HP 2L oil burner picks its heels up when asked.

[Field Marshal Dr. Opti]

In the course of writing the ad for the Zafira, I discovered that I've spent just shy of £875 in maintenance costs (ex. MOT fees) over the past three years and 31,000. I can't make my mind up if that sounds like a lot or not, in the grand scheme of things. 

Considering I've worked the car hard over that time, with lots of travel 6 or 7 up, lots of miles towing a trailer etc I suppose its not too bad.

Anyone else know what they've spent, or am I the only one who's this sad 

The Signum has been reasonably light on repair costs over the 9 years I have owned her.......but £730 road tax each years stings a bit.

[Doctor Gollum]

Touch wood but the Yeti has just cost service items and MOT for the last 2 years, does about 10miles per litre in comfort. Handles well and 150 HP 2L oil burner picks its heels up when asked.

My Altea didn't cost much in maintenance terms...tyres, brakes, rear shocks and servicing over 2 years/135k miles... Probably about £5k, not that it was particularly reliable... it wasn't and dealer ineptitude meant the cambelt service was free amongst other things. Plus £10k in depreciation. And £22.5k in fuel along with £600 in rfl, £3.7k insurance and £7,200 in payments.

Man maths makes that a grand total of £56k to run a £12.5k brand new car for 2 years/135k miles. Or 41ppm over the ownership of the vehicle.

Thinking about it, £56k sounds like alot but 41ppm almost sounds reasonable...

[dave the builder]

As to Zafiras and running costs, mine was an incredibly reliable, cheap to run car.  Bought from auction, a fair few issues were discovered before it even got home, including an inability to rev beyond about 3k rpm .  But once that nice DTM fella had sorted that, it never had more than basic servicing, and I thought it was indestructible.   ...until the front subframe fell apart.

It was gutless, handled shite, was desperately uncomfortable on longer trips.  But it was reliable, practical, reasonably economical (around 40mpg most of the time), cheap to run, and good fun to drive (as you dared not slow down for anything, as took too long to get back up to speed


When it died, we looked at Zafira-B's to replace it, but every single one we looked at was a rust bucket underneath

pretty much the same here 
50,000 ,miles in 6.5 years ,40+ mpg , basic servicing items totalling less than a grand

"good fun to drive" NO 

[TheBoy]

picks its heels up when asked.

All things are relative.  I consider 150bhp to be a sluggish dog .  Maybe when I'm (even) older.... 

[TheBoy]

Touch wood but the Yeti has just cost service items and MOT for the last 2 years, does about 10miles per litre in comfort. Handles well and 150 HP 2L oil burner picks its heels up when asked.

My Altea didn't cost much in maintenance terms...tyres, brakes, rear shocks and servicing over 2 years/135k miles... Probably about £5k, not that it was particularly reliable... it wasn't and dealer ineptitude meant the cambelt service was free amongst other things. Plus £10k in depreciation. And £22.5k in fuel along with £600 in rfl, £3.7k insurance and £7,200 in payments.

Man maths makes that a grand total of £56k to run a £12.5k brand new car for 2 years/135k miles. Or 41ppm over the ownership of the vehicle.

Thinking about it, £56k sounds like alot but 41ppm almost sounds reasonable...

Like you, I don't know whether to weep or laugh at that

[Doctor Gollum]

picks its heels up when asked.

All things are relative.  I consider 150bhp to be a sluggish dog .  Maybe when I'm (even) older.... 

And to think it wasn't all that long ago that 150bhp was considered to be pretty decent.

[TheBoy]

"good fun to drive" NO 

I quite liked it. Well, the challenge of trying to get from A to B as quickly as I could.

During the lockdown period, my colleague and I had to travel in separate cars (even though we'd be working in the same racks all day), and we struggled to get hire cars at the time, so on the way back it would always be the Battlebus racing his 1.7CDTi Astra, and not too much in it until we got to the (mostly empty) M40 - M25 has too many cameras for such shenanigans - where his better top speed would leave me behind.

There is fun to be had in slow speed racing

[TheBoy]

picks its heels up when asked.

All things are relative.  I consider 150bhp to be a sluggish dog .  Maybe when I'm (even) older.... 

And to think it wasn't all that long ago that 150bhp was considered to be pretty decent.

By the late 80s, most 2l petrols were getting thereabouts.  Thats 35yrs ago now

[TheBoy]

There is fun to be had in slow speed racing

When I had a little yellow van and £1m of liability (we didn't have traditional insurance then), we often used to race other little yellow vans with a rule you could only use 1st and 2nd gear.  I was young, reckless and easily led


Where as now I'm old, reckless and easily led

[countrywoman]

Its a 2l oil burner so the turbo torque makes up the acceleration, it did run a 15.2 sec 1/4 on the drag strip with a gentle launch .

[YZ250]

……….
M40 - M25 has too many cameras for such shenanigans ………….

And this is the problem wherever you drive these days. When we travelled back from Wales recently, I commented to my Mrs that, apart from brisk overtakes, there’s not much point in having a fast car these days. We were in her car, which is well capable of north of 150mph, but the traffic flow, average speed monitoring cameras and the sneaky camera vans etc made it a painfully long journey.    The days of playing ‘ beat the sat nav ETA by half ‘ are a thing of the distant past now.     

[Doctor Gollum]

picks its heels up when asked.

All things are relative.  I consider 150bhp to be a sluggish dog .  Maybe when I'm (even) older.... 

And to think it wasn't all that long ago that 150bhp was considered to be pretty decent.

By the late 80s, most 2l petrols were getting thereabouts.  Thats 35yrs ago now

By most, you mean the Cavalier, Early 90's perhaps with the shift away from K Jetronic injection and carbs.

The newest stuff being much more efficient at burning the fuel to the point that they'll either do a gazillion mpg or produce a bucket load of power... Although this almost always requires forced induction to compensate for the lack of displacement so the flip side is extremely short engine life.

A decent tune on a modest NA engine will get the job done for most people. Obviously if you want to get around more excitingly, then you just add boost on a modern lump. Ultimately though you're limited by traction and chassis deficiency so a manual box and 150bhp will be as much as most people can make good use of.

All that said, if you want something more, then get it whilst you can. Do love the burble of a V8

[Doctor Gollum]

……….
M40 - M25 has too many cameras for such shenanigans ………….

And this is the problem wherever you drive these days. When we travelled back from Wales recently, I commented to my Mrs that, apart from brisk overtakes, there’s not much point in having a fast car these days. We were in her car, which is well capable of north of 150mph, but the traffic flow, average speed monitoring cameras and the sneaky camera vans etc made it a painfully long journey.    The days of playing ‘ beat the sat nav ETA by half ‘ are a thing of the distant past now.     

A 2.3 Granada with a heady 114bhp used to be enough to get the job done on the quicker side of safely. Now it requires about 300bhp and commitment.

[Migv6 le Frog Fan]

Cars from 30 years ago that had less power, also had a lot less weight to pull along. So yes it is relative, but imo its much more fun driving a 1 ton car with 150bhp than a 2 ton car with 300bhp.

[Doctor Gollum]

Cars from 30 years ago that had less power, also had a lot less weight to pull along. So yes it is relative, but imo its much more fun driving a 1 ton car with 150bhp than a 2 ton car with 300bhp.

1.3 Polo and 1.4 106 both attest to that. The trolley was a hoot in spite of being a lardy arse with 100 bhp. Near 400bhp in 1.8t is a different sort of progress but still quite effective on a fast twisty road. Much like the Omega.

[Nick W]

picks its heels up when asked.

All things are relative.  I consider 150bhp to be a sluggish dog .  Maybe when I'm (even) older.... 

The traffic must behave very differently in Brackley than it does here; a tired 2.0l Capri(100bhp claimed) easily keeps up with any traffic in Medway without any effort. Just like they always did.


150bhp 2.0l - Vauxhall's XE was probably the first mass-market one - were becoming more common in the late 80s, but I'd suggest that the more traditional 100bhp 8valve ones(like Pintos etc) were still in the majority. 150bhp does have to work much harder than it used to, when you consider the sheer bulk of most modern cars.

[Field Marshal Dr. Opti]

picks its heels up when asked.

All things are relative.  I consider 150bhp to be a sluggish dog .  Maybe when I'm (even) older.... 

The traffic must behave very differently in Brackley than it does here; a tired 2.0l Capri(100bhp claimed) easily keeps up with any traffic in Medway without any effort. Just like they always did.


150bhp 2.0l - Vauxhall's XE was probably the first mass-market one - were becoming more common in the late 80s, but I'd suggest that the more traditional 100bhp 8valve ones(like Pintos etc) were still in the majority. 150bhp does have to work much harder than it used to, when you consider the sheer bulk of most modern cars.

A 2 litre Capri from the dark ages probably weighs less than 1ton/tonne so a paltry 100 BHP is probably more than enough.

Cars are proper fat bastards these days.

[Raeturbo]

Early red top with the cos cast head produced 156bhp and 144Lbs ft torque in a mk 2 Astra that was plenty at that time and  weighed under a ton, or on the other hand the 1.4 pushrod lump in the Renault GT turbo took about an hour and under £50 to change the standard 120bhp to 160bhp Ive had both and they were probably more fun then than the stuff I’ve got now😁 Evo being impossible to race on the road as there’s nothing about than can catch it anyway and speeds would mean a definite visit to HMP.

[Field Marshal Dr. Opti]

Early red top with the cos cast head produced 156bhp and 144Lbs ft torque in a mk 2 Astra that was plenty at that time and  weighed under a ton, or on the other hand the 1.4 pushrod lump in the Renault GT turbo took about an hour and under £50 to change the standard 120bhp to 160bhp Ive had both and they were probably more fun then than the stuff I’ve got now😁 Evo being impossible to race on the road as there’s nothing about than can catch it anyway and speeds would mean a definite visit to HMP.

I had a thrash in a 2 litre clit 172 Cup a couple of years ago. Nice shade of blue.

Very quick and great fun but I didn't buy it because it was so noisy and uncomfortable that I thought it's accelerative charms would wear thin after a while.

[Field Marshal Dr. Opti]

Why does C-L-I-O become clit?

[Doctor Gollum]

Why does C-L-I-O become clit?

Remember Nicole? Well, she had both

[Migv6 le Frog Fan]

 

To this day, the most exciting car Ive ever driven was my Chevette HS. Approx. 180bhp and iirc it weighed exactly a ton.
It was a seriously quick car, in its day and on more than one occasion left a 911 struggling in vain to keep up.
It was being driven by a young, stupid eejit though. 
Those were the days. 

[Rangie]

Bought the RRS in September 2019 have kept every bill/receipt since I've owned it total spent to date is £5576.25 that includes absolutely everything tyres , battery , wipers + various fluids etc .
I have two folders full of bills/receipts that came with it when I purchased it I'll add that lot up when I get a few minutes to spare.
The advice on the RRS forum is to allow £1200-£1500 per year to cover service/repairs if you use a reputable independent so I'm happy with my costs.

[tunnie]

Bought the 435i in November 2022, so far spent £510. Big bulk of that is £399 on a gearbox service. £111 on an Opie oils service pack in the summer of '23. (oil, filters, pollen, air)

Will be a little more this year, trying to shred through the run flats currently fitted.

MrsT's Zafira has been very reliable, less £100 year engine service bits. Had 2 new tyres last year, first time in our ownership. That said these EV salary schemes do look temping considering all she does is school runs.

Quite like the new Volvo EX30 and quite reasonable on the scheme as well.

But I did the sensible thing and throw a shed load more of salary on the pension.

[Field Marshal Dr. Opti]

Why does C-L-I-O become clit?

Remember Nicole? Well, she had both

Quite a lickable clit if I remember the adverts correctly.

[Rangie]

Had the Subaru Forester 7 years on the 1st of April, again the car came with all service bills receipts from the one & only owner (deceased neighbour) again I have every receipt / bill since I've owned it total costs to date £1426.79 that includes two timing belts & water pumps tyres etc etc. Pretty good value & it never misses a beat ..👍

[Doctor Gollum]

Why does C-L-I-O become clit?

Remember Nicole? Well, she had both

Quite a lickable clit if I remember the adverts correctly.

Indeed 

Likeable too

[TheBoy]

picks its heels up when asked.

All things are relative.  I consider 150bhp to be a sluggish dog .  Maybe when I'm (even) older.... 

And to think it wasn't all that long ago that 150bhp was considered to be pretty decent.

By the late 80s, most 2l petrols were getting thereabouts.  Thats 35yrs ago now

By most, you mean the Cavalier, Early 90's perhaps with the shift away from K Jetronic injection and carbs.

The newest stuff being much more efficient at burning the fuel to the point that they'll either do a gazillion mpg or produce a bucket load of power... Although this almost always requires forced induction to compensate for the lack of displacement so the flip side is extremely short engine life.

A decent tune on a modest NA engine will get the job done for most people. Obviously if you want to get around more excitingly, then you just add boost on a modern lump. Ultimately though you're limited by traction and chassis deficiency so a manual box and 150bhp will be as much as most people can make good use of.

All that said, if you want something more, then get it whilst you can. Do love the burble of a V8

The redtops were a good example.  But plenty of others.  Pretty much any new design from the late 80s was in that ball park.I seemed to remember bro's MkII GTI being 140bhp from a 1,8.  Even a 1.8 K series was north of 140bhp in standard trim, though the 1.8s came a bit later.  Honda too were producing stuff getting close to 100bhp per litre from a NA motor in the first part of the 90s.

Same bro had an RS Turbo in the mid 80s, that couldn't have been far off 140bhp from a 1.6 judging by the speed he had to go to court over , but thats forced induction so doesn't count

[Doctor Gollum]

The RS2000 had 150bhp (retuned from the 8v lump in the MK3 Granada/Sierra), but the 2.0 Zetec lump was 135/140 iirc.

The Zetec S 170 in the Focus didn't appear until the MY2000 facelift.

The V6 Mundeo was 170bhp all day long.

Mercedes had 185bhp fuel injected twin cam straight six from the early 70's but mainstream stuff took a while to catch up.

The Honda 1.8 revved to about 8k so not sure if that counts 

[Field Marshal Dr. Opti]

Bike engines were producing 100 BHP a litre NA back in the time of Moses.

Quite simple really.....lots of revs and a carb for each cylinder.

[Field Marshal Dr. Opti]

The RS2000 had 150bhp (retuned from the 8v lump in the MK3 Granada/Sierra), but the 2.0 Zetec lump was 135/140 iirc.

The Zetec S 170 in the Focus didn't appear until the MY2000 facelift.

The V6 Mundeo was 170bhp all day long.

Mercedes had 185bhp fuel injected twin cam straight six from the early 70's but mainstream stuff took a while to catch up.

The Honda 1.8 revved to about 8k so not sure if that counts 

Long time ago now, but, my 1991 Sierra 2.OGLX came with a DOHC lump that made it pretty quick.

Can't remember how much power it made now, but I think around 125BHP.

[Doctor Gollum]

The RS2000 had 150bhp (retuned from the 8v lump in the MK3 Granada/Sierra), but the 2.0 Zetec lump was 135/140 iirc.

The Zetec S 170 in the Focus didn't appear until the MY2000 facelift.

The V6 Mundeo was 170bhp all day long.

Mercedes had 185bhp fuel injected twin cam straight six from the early 70's but mainstream stuff took a while to catch up.

The Honda 1.8 revved to about 8k so not sure if that counts 

Long time ago now, but, my 1991 Sierra 2.OGLX came with a DOHC lump that made it pretty quick.

Can't remember how much power it made now, but I think around 125BHP.

That rings a bell, same as the Granada. Mechanically the RS2000 lump was the same... When the head went on my L reg Scorpio I did consider the RS2000 head thinking it would be different... 

[TheBoy]

The RS2000 had 150bhp (retuned from the 8v lump in the MK3 Granada/Sierra), but the 2.0 Zetec lump was 135/140 iirc.

The Zetec S 170 in the Focus didn't appear until the MY2000 facelift.

The V6 Mundeo was 170bhp all day long.

Mercedes had 185bhp fuel injected twin cam straight six from the early 70's but mainstream stuff took a while to catch up.

The Honda 1.8 revved to about 8k so not sure if that counts 

The Zetecs were underpowered from the moment they were launched, so ignore them.  I remember that PoS 1.6 Zetec Focus she had for several years.  What a crock of shite - not even remotely close to the 1.6 K series Rover I had at the same time.  I think it claimed around 110bhp, but was flat as a witches tit...   ....but could keep up with the equally shite 1.8 Focus her bro had at the same time .  Apart from when it randomly would cut out, which dozens of firmware updates never full resolved.

The V6 mundano was either a 2.9 or 3.0 IIRC, so a bit disappointing.

So Fords from that era are not a great example.

[TheBoy]

Bike engines were producing 100 BHP a litre NA back in the time of Moses.

Quite simple really.....lots of revs and a carb for each cylinder.

Yeah, but no torque, sadly.  As nothing is better than 15,000+ rpm rattling your gonads

[Field Marshal Dr. Opti]

Bike engines were producing 100 BHP a litre NA back in the time of Moses.

Quite simple really.....lots of revs and a carb for each cylinder.

Yeah, but no torque, sadly.  As nothing is better than 15,000+ rpm rattling your gonads

In 2024 superbikes can manage more than 200 BHP per litre without forced induction. No grunty low down torque but low weight and gearing tends to cover this up.

My Yamaha FJ1200 only made 125 BHP but was also a proper 'stump puller' when it came to torque.

[Doctor Gollum]

MK1/2 Mundeo had the 2.5. the 3.0 didn't appear until the Mk3 and was a similar performer to the C25xe

Can't speak to the other options as 9 of my first 12 cars were Fords (7 Granada MK2/3 and 2 Sierras) the other three were a 1.6 Pug 405, a 2.0 Renault 25 and a 1.3 Polo

[biggriffin]

I've never, worked out what a car has cost me to own or run, It breaks I fix it, it needs fuel I fill it up.

[dave the builder]

I've never, worked out what a car has cost me to own or run, It breaks I fix it, it needs fuel I fill it up.

Don't mention fuel costs 
some of us still own Omegas 

[Kevin Wood]

The V6 mundano was either a 2.9 or 3.0 IIRC, so a bit disappointing.

2.5 24V Duratec V6, I believe. The godawful 12v V6s were dead and buried by then.

[Doctor Gollum]

The V6 mundano was either a 2.9 or 3.0 IIRC, so a bit disappointing.

2.5 24V Duratec V6, I believe. The godawful 12v V6s were dead and buried by then.

Butchered Mazda lump as seen in the Ford Probation.

The 2.8i Cologne was pretty handy in the Xr4x4, but that didn't weigh much over a ton. And with a 5 speed and LSD was pretty effective in the MK2 Granada too.

The 2.9 24v was a totally different animal and with the weight advantage would keep a full fat Omega in check.

[Sir Tigger KC]

My first car, a 1980 Renault 5 GTL produced about 500bhp and went like stink!                                                 

[Rangie]

My first car, a 1980 Renault 5 GTL produced about 500bhp and went like stink!                                                 

.


My missus had a Renault 11 Turbo about 30 odd years ago , she collected points like they were going out of fashion, so bought her a Subaru Forester to replace it & she's had one ever since.

[Raeturbo]

I had Renault 5,11,9, and 21 turbos in my foolish youth, side exit exhaust on the 11 and 9 too😁earned me a few points as well👍

[biggriffin]

I've never owned a French car, a wise man said" never buy a French motor"
I once owned a Skoda 120 rapide, blew it up in a week,, and sold it to a Guy to use the shell for a rally car, for twice what I paid for it,,, I think the fact it had no sunroof, is what made it a good price

[Sir Tigger KC]

My Renault 5 did 60 in second, and had a fabulous tilt when going round a corner or roundabout at speed! 

[STEMO]

Only had one Renault, a 20TS auto. It was a comfortable car and was plenty fast enough. Unfortunately, the camshaft was made of chocolate (French steel) and once the cam lobes had worn down to a point where there was no adjustment left, I..............sold it to my mate 😂😂

[Raeturbo]

Such a kind fellow, I wish I was your mate🙁

[Rangie]

Waiting in today for various car parts to arrive + a new phone for SWMBO, so I had some time on my hands to calculate how much had been spent on my Range Rover Sport before I purchased it in 2019 it totals up to £11,797.22 so approximately £1,000 pa.

[Nick W]

My first car, a 1980 Renault 5 GTL produced about 500bhp and went like stink!                                                 

A long, long time ago, back when the pubs still closed on Sunday afternoons a friend picked up his new car carefully selected to be faster than his brother's 1.4l Renault 5. Out of all the options to achieve this in the early 90s, Alan opted for a 1.7l R5. It's guaranteed to be faster


When the pub closed, we discovered that if all three rear passengers throw themselves against the outside when the car is at full lean on a 90° bend at the bottom of two hills, the whole car skips across the road in a hilariously dangerous way.


About 15 years later, the same bend at the bottom of Water Works Hill was the scene of the Trabant Incident which was even more dangerous, but nowhere near as funny when sheer luck prevented it from being a fatal crash...

[Kevin Wood]

My first car, a 1980 Renault 5 GTL produced about 500bhp and went like stink!                                                 

A long, long time ago, back when the pubs still closed on Sunday afternoons a friend picked up his new car carefully selected to be faster than his brother's 1.4l Renault 5. Out of all the options to achieve this in the early 90s, Alan opted for a 1.7l R5. It's guaranteed to be faster


When the pub closed, we discovered that if all three rear passengers throw themselves against the outside when the car is at full lean on a 90° bend at the bottom of two hills, the whole car skips across the road in a hilariously dangerous way.


About 15 years later, the same bend at the bottom of Water Works Hill was the scene of the Trabant Incident which was even more dangerous, but nowhere near as funny when sheer luck prevented it from being a fatal crash...

I might have ended up being grounded for a while as a result, but I can't help thinking 17 year old me did the world a favour by punting a Renault 5 into the scrapyard in my Mum's Volvo.