My car is a red (but going orange) Fiat Uno. Yes, only 999cc and 45bhp, but with a 740kg kerb weight it isn't too slow. And it does 40mpg and is only group 2 insurance. Lets face it, out of all the cars in same insurance group, an Uno is comparatively spacious, reasonably quick, and it handles - unlike say a 2CV! Sure, I'd like something quicker and bigger, that rides better, and is less noisy, but my Uno is cheap to run, cheap to insure, easy to service and has so far never failed to start.

The pictures below were taken outside the flats where I live, the day after the Drohans' Scatter on the 10/11/99, organised by Lindholme Motor Sports Club. The rather muddy state of the car is due to a few mad miles, in which I followed close behind another crew from Salford in an Escort.

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Maintenance
Maintenance is always required, and as a car gets older, the jobs get bigger. I do all my own servicing, and repair everything I can - so far there hasn't been much that I've had to let a garage do. The head gasket failed at the end of February 2001 - the car had been loosing water for about a week, and I'd been keeping a close eye on the oil and the temperature gauge. As soon as the oil went a little milky - that was it, the head gasket had to be changed. The picture below shows the stripped and cleaned head, thermostat, inlet and exhaust manifolds, head bolts and distributor in the middle of my living room floor...

Query my sanity...
Confirmation: I am mad. I took my one litre Uno Drag Racing!

So what am I going to replace it with?
Good question. For the moment, nothing. My Uno is totally reliable and cheap to run, besides I can't really afford to replace it yet. I'd like either a Pulsar GTi-R (yeah right!) or an old Range Rover, but realistically, when the time comes, I think I'll be looking at a Punto, Felicia or another (newer) Uno.