My Peugeot 405 was falling to bits after 20,000 hard miles on horrible roads. It needed far too much work to make it good again vs. the cost of buying a better example unfortunately.
I tried replacing it with Richard's old Volvo 940 turbo diesel. I liked the simplicity of it, e.g. the viscous fan after messing about with the hopeless ECU-controlled Bitron fans fitted to the 405. The 940 was amusingly rubbish, with a smoky, thirsty and offensively noisy 6 cylinder diesel and handling to match the lorry engine.
To be fair, it was surprisingly 'chuckable' around corners, the live rear axle is well located on a separate sub-frame. With 177lb-ft of torque and relatively short gearing it was relatively nippy too.
It's the only car I've been fully comfortable in recently, being aimed at the North American market it has room in excess for an 'extra large' frame.
Unfortunately it refused to start from cold on vegetable oil (started fine on diesel), after various attempts to fix it, I came to the conclusion that the piston rings were on their way out.
VW D24 engine rebuilds are relatively easy, but the thought filled me with dread, it'd probably end up with a sorry looking cylinder head in the boot and a visit to the scrapyard. I sold it on to a local serial Volvo 940 diesel/Land Rover owner. Next!
I bought this well looked after 1995 Citroen Xantia 1.9D via eBay, on the strength of an enthusiastic and well-written listing. I caught the bus to Perth, with 15 litres of veg oil in my backpack (for some reason I put this in the luggage hold, I was paranoid through the whole journey about everybody's luggage being covered in a slick of oil), and met up with Richard who took me down to the outskirts of Glasgow meet the seller in his LPG C5.
Les the owner was charming, we talked for an hour or more about previous cars (including lots of Citroens), he offered an extended test drive; the Xantia was sluggish, the brakes were weird and the interior a bit foosty through lack of use, but I bought it anyway.
The 180 mile drive home via rural Perthshire (to look at a mine) revealed its strengths and weaknesses. On the motorway it felt breathless and out of its depth, a bearing was rumbling. As the miles piled on, the bearing quietened and I got used to its idiosyncrasies, it seemed to loosen up a bit, the Xantia was happy enough at an 80MPH cruise, and only the longest, steepest inclines would slow it down significantly.
Turning off the A9 for the A822 to Crieff was a chance to try it out on more challenging roads. The loping hydropneumatic suspension soaked up the lumpen terrain, and it handled surprisingly well, you certainly don't have to slow down for most corners - just as well with 60bhp/ton.
On to the A862 to Aberfeldy, which is even more lumpen and windy I drove LAC, blitzing* several dawdling tourists. The Xantia is fun to drive! One weakness is the hydropneumatic power steering, which feels a bit distant, especially after the 405's positive and direct steering.
Back home, I wanted to fix that bearing, which was getting quite loud. I thought the rumble was from the driveshaft bearing, but that was perfect. Oh well, it probably needed new gearbox oil anyway. It was the hub bearing - still, it was fixed in a day for £40 including gearbox oil.
It had been a reliable servant for a couple of months, chugging away quite happily on vegetable oil, I couldn't work out the mileage because the speedometer was intermittent, but I think we covered a lot of miles, with no issues.
Work took me to Ardnamurchan, a peninsula on the far west of Scotland for four weeks.
Past Fort William, the short Corran Ferry crossing spits you out on to a sweeping, fast double track road for 15 miles, it's deceptive, because after Strontian the largely single track road is hellish for the 30 miles to Kilchoan.
It requires complete concentration, with minimal sight lines, weird cambers, blind crests and corners, incessant 'yumps' and local drivers in a hurry.
The Citroen ate it up, with its absorbent suspension, power-less engine and powerful brakes, changing from the scary Chinese teflon tyres to wider all season Goodyears improved wet weather handling no end.
Inevitable.
The road was very greasy after a recent rainfall, which brought snow inland, and I was driving too quickly in a rush to get home. Not the best when you're confronted with a Toyota RAV-4 coming towards you at a similar speed, while rounding a blind corner.My foot hit the middle pedal without thinking about it and the Citroen skidded a long way into a grassy verge* which turned out to be a ditch covered with bracken.
I thought the car was a goner. First effort was to try to tow it out, with the help of a young couple passing in a Land Rover. Coupled to the front towing hook, it just ripped it out, and did the same to the rear.
Out of options, the Land Rover was coupled to the towbar and it slowly wrenched the Xantia out of its hole, narrowly missing a concrete culvert.
Despite this ordeal, the Citroen was battered and down a passenger door mirror and front indicator lens, but drove just as well as it ever did, taking me the 80 miles home, dragging 50kg of peat and reeds...
I'd been eyeing up a replacement in the form of brown forum member ruffgeezer's Xantia TD estate, but I was in no rush until one of the 1.9D's suspension spheres burst, sending the rear end of the car to the floor. I tried to get a used one from the scrapyard but found it impossible to remove.
I could get a lift to work that week, but needed to sort out a car soon, especially realising the 1.9D wouldn't pass an MOT test easily with its ripped undercarriage.
Knowing that 450 miles is a ridiculous distance to go for a £500 car (even with my narrow requirements), I arranged with ruffgeezer to buy his Xantia, and meet up with some friends down south on the same trip.
It is quite 'ruff', but it drives nicely and has had lots of work done recently, including the clutch, radiator, and timing belt. I'd rather buy a car like that from miles away, than an ill-serviced local one.
It's not quick but it's much easier to drive quickly than the 1.9D, using less fuel, and handles just as well despite the extra weight. The boot's massive too, just what I need.
Now I have a broken ankle and can't drive at all for two or three months, but that's my life. At least I won't be able to ruin any cars for a while.
I think it's what sent me down the path of rubbish, disposable cars - see the £180 Rover 218D mentioned after it.