Dad cars: what's the best car your dad's ever had?
We dredge up our favourite dad cars from the dim and distant past
BMW 5 Series (E34)
Richard Ingram – Reviews editor
My dad’s list of anonymous three-box saloons stretches longer than my arm. He’s had countless BMWs, Volvos and even the odd Jaguar – and in my early days he proudly paraded around in a bright white Vauxhall Carlton.
But one of my earliest motoring memories is his dark grey E34-shape BMW 5 Series. It was his first Beemer, and was undoubtedly the car that got me hooked on the Bavarian brand. So much so, I now own a tatty square-light ’76 BMW 2002.
Despite being the relatively lowly 520i, I can still remember the sound that silky straight-six made under full throttle. It was so smooth, in fact, that my dad regularly reminds me of its powers to send me to sleep after only a few miles. They just don’t make them like the used to…
Renault 19
Alex Ingram – Staff writer
One of the first cars I remember my Dad owning was an H-plate Renault 19 Prima in Bleu Ozone (pale metallic blue, to you and me). It isn’t his favourite because it was the fastest or best-equipped. It’s because it was indestructible.
• 120 years of Renault history: classic french cars driven
From memory, the 1.4-litre ‘Energy’ petrol spent its entire Ingram tenure being ruthlessly thrashed, but it never complained. A Ford Escort driver rear-ended it, ruining the Ford’s bumper, yet the 19 didn’t have a scratch. Just before the 100,000-mile mark, Dad traded it for a brand new Mk1 Megane. Within six months it had needed two new gearboxes...
Click onto page six for more of the best cars our dads have owned...
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