Daily drivers

Ive seen some amazing clios on here.
Some are cars used only in better weather than this time of year, some are low mileage and some are used as they were made to be used.
My curiosity is what are people using as their daily driver if they are not using the clio?
I will start if off because I dont use my clio in the winter.
I have a 18 plate 2L volvo V60 Polestar running i think 360 ish bhp.
It would be nice to see what people choose other than a Clio 182 trophy

We can't resist a Capsicum Red Clio here, so if we're not in a van, this is our 'daily driver'...



Startling to consider this faithful thing has been part of the family for nearly 20 years now.. 70bhp, a set of all season tyres, what more do you need?

I’ve had a few this year - starting with the Z4 and now in an Audi A3 tdi for the winter. This time of year is a great time to trip over next years daily too.

Love the Polestar wagon - very rare car. Also Ed’s little Red Clio is a legend on our forum due to the amazing story’s of how it gets pedalled up and down the Yorkshire moors ❤

NickReilly063 said:

I’ve had a few this year - starting with the Z4 and now in an Audi A3 tdi for the winter. This time of year is a great time to trip over next years daily too.

Love the Polestar wagon - very rare car. Also Ed’s little Red Clio is a legend on our forum due to the amazing story’s of how it gets pedalled up and down the Yorkshire moors ❤

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The polestar was a impulse purchase. I was walking past my local car dealer (hyundai & Genesis) looking to see what electric cars they sell and saw it sitting there as a part ex in a sea of bland cars and i couldn't help myself.

Nick.
The Z4 is nice, but its "poverty" spec 2L,,, You should try the "full fat" M40i....

I know Dave - however when you are in the trade like me you have to buy what come's up unless I want to lose a fortune.

It did cross my mind to buy a 40i for next summer.

I'm not familiar with this "daily driver" concept...

My daily is an M2. I keep meaning to buy something practical but I just can’t do it. Love the M2, but I’d sell it without much care. I’ll die before parting ways with the Trophy.

Before Covid I used my E92 M3 as a daily. It was manual and on 22K miles when I bought it in 2019. I ran it as my daily over one winter (on winter tyres). After that decided it was too good for a daily and moved it to summer use only. Gratuitous photo attached of its run on the NC500 circa August 2020 between the two lockdowns.



Not long after I thought I'd try a man maths experiment to see if I could find a nice comfy daily to use in winter that wouldn't depreciate and the running costs would be funded by not running the M3 for 6 months of the year. The M3 was thirsty on fuel c25MPG avg on V-Power and £650+ a year road tax).

I thought it was a good opportunity to scratch a long standing itch to try an original Audi A8 (D2 model). Built during the Audi "over-engineer everything" era, with seemingly no expense spared in their quest to beat the BMW 7er and the Merc S-Class. I searched for a good 6 months and eventually found one in London that had belonged to a recently deceased elder gent who had bought it approved used from Audi at 18 months old, then owned it for circa 20 years, FSH and 70k miles. It's the FWD 2.8 V6 model with around 190bhp. I didn't want the V8 version as a daily, and the 4wd gearboxes are more prone to failure than the FWD ones. It's not all that quick but a nice place to cruise along and not that bad on fuel considering. Best thing about it - the leather Recaros which are hands down the most comfortable car seat I've ever sat in.

I'd say the man maths experiment definitely prove successful. The A8 is less than £200 to insure, c£300 12M road tax and about £60 for an oil & filter service. Circa 5 years on the A8 is still with me, doing daily duties and is now on 130k miles. Some parts are getting hard to find, but I will be trying my best to keep it on the road for as long as possible.

The M3 went two years ago, replaced with a 997 911.

Photos taken a few months ago after a weekend spent with the machine polisher.

Damn, your A8 is on great condition @AGAR

Thanks Titan. A bonus of a fully aluminium body is no rust!

AGAR said:

Thanks Titan. A bonus of a fully aluminium body is no rust!

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I remember being in an Audi dealership years ago and they had the aluminium shell of an A8 on display.

Cool looking thing and obviously set them apart from every other competitor, both then and now.

From the other week, currently on its winter boots. Even with winter tyres, 90kg of weight plates in the back was needed to get back up my road/track...

Patrick Bateman said:

From the other week, currently on its winter boots. Even with winter tyres, 90kg of weight plates in the back was needed to get back up my road/track...

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That's lovely. They are very underrated cars. A friend of mine has had a couple and they are a very nice place to sit in on a long journey.

Big Dave said:

Nick.
The Z4 is nice, but its "poverty" spec 2L,,, You should try the "full fat" M40i....

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I took affence Dave to only buying a poverty spec 2L Z4 last year - so I’ve been and bought a 40i today.

Pick it up next week

Still love my little Audi though for a daily driver - sat on the motorway today like a dream and returned 64mpg.

NickReilly063 said:

I took affence Dave to only buying a poverty spec 2L Z4 last year - so I’ve been and bought a 40i today.

Pick it up next week

Still love my little Audi though for a daily driver - sat on the motorway today like a dream and returned 64mpg.


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Oooo!

Just showed this to Jill, her response: "White! Nick's going to be cleaning that every day!"

Mmmm some seriously nice cars here, puts the daily slag to shame. Poor thing, the only photos I have of it are when I got rear ended, BMW 118d.

photo_ed said:

Oooo!

Just showed this to Jill, her response: "White! Nick's going to be cleaning that every day!"

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Tell Jill the trick is only sunny days - I do find white cars are far easier to keep looking good after an initial bottoming and then don't need hours of polishing unlike darker colours that just show everything ( swirls and smears ).

Ah that's a stunning car @NickReilly063

I actually fell down a deep M40i rabbit hole on Youtube last night.

By all accounts, they are a great thing to go touring in, good pace, nice tech on board
and a decent boot all told. One of the one's being driven was in a lovely red colour.

Enjoy it Nick, very nice thing to have coming in to the Spring and Summer

AGAR said:

That's lovely. They are very underrated cars. A friend of mine has had a couple and they are a very nice place to sit in on a long journey.

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Cheers. They're outrageous value these days (especially in 4.2 guise) when you see the prices many other performance cars somehow command.

Totally unaffected by inflated covid pricing.