For no better reason than it’s been a while, I thought I’d regale you with details of how my ‘perfect,’ self-employed, freelancer writer life is going.

To recap – I quit my deputy editor job on Classic Car Weekly in August 2010. My wife Rachel quit her job around the same time. We sold our house in Cambridgeshire and bought a cottage in mid-Wales. We were going to live the dream! We’d be more self-sufficient, have much less income but life a vastly different life where the work/life balance was more in our favour.

There are occasional barriers to productivity…

There are bad times for sure. Dealing with enough wood to keep our house warm is hard work, the weather has been appalling at times and pretty much wiped out our food crops in 2012. Every time I travel for work purposes, I’m reminded just how far away we are from the places I have to visit too. Birmingham is about 100 miles away, Peterborough around 200. Just reaching a motorway requires a two-hour drive, regardless of which motorway you aim for. Thankfully, I don’t have to travel very often. It might seem odd that a petrolhead is glad not to have to drive, but driving long distance for work just isn’t as appealing as having a quick hoon on the quiet roads around here. Plus, motorways are really boring and ill-suited to most of the vehicles I own…

But, it is marvellous not having an alarm clock anymore. We get up when we feel like it, which is often embarrassingly late during the winter months, when we sort-of hibernate. I write when the mood takes me, which is usually fairly close to deadline (I need that sense of mild panic) but might be a Sunday evening or, occasionally, a Monday morning. Not before 9am though…

It leaves a LOT of spare time – I’m still currently working on average less than 15hrs a week. Mind you, that means income is far from high as well, so while I have plenty of time for hobbies and other activities, there’s never the freedom to spend money like we used to. At first, I would regularly raid charity shops for reading material, but this soon started to add up. Now, I make more use of the library. Free books! Incredible. Even better, you have to give them back, so you don’t end up filling your house with books.

Surprisingly, I don’t spend that much time reading car magazines. One major downside to writing material for magazines is that I’m just not so interested in reading them anymore. It feels a bit too much like work! I do spend a lot of time on car forums though – if there’s one thing I really miss sometimes, it’s having friends nearby with similar interests. I really couldn’t live the life we do without the internet. I have a few petrolhead friends here, but there’s not really a community of us. Fortunately, there is generally a great sense of community in our village and local area, and that really does drive home why we moved here. Life feels so much better when you can enjoy it with the people you see all the time. Neighbours become acquaintances and people come together to make things work. I love it. As a city boy, it’s a lifestyle I absolutely adore.

Sacrifices do have to be made though. We attend far, far fewer 2CV events these days, as the costs quickly start stacking up if you head to England for events every few weeks. So, we’ve lost touch with 2CVing chums, only interacting via Facebook – what a godsend that site is. Holidays are generally avoided – we actually had one this year for the first time. Funny thing is, we didn’t enjoy it as much as we thought we would…

I’ve also had to realise that many classic cars are now well out of my price range. My car fund is minute and while I’m managing to run three cars on pretty much naff all, it must be said that all three cars are far from prime examples of their breeds. I’m starting to crave something that’s actually nice!

Hugely desirable, and entirely unaffordable thanks to our lifestyle

Overall though, life feels like it is at a much nicer pace now. I have time to enjoy the company of the rather spiffing woman I married, rather than spending most of my time with her asleep as we did before. I can enjoy the art of lazy conversation with local friends over a cup of tea. I have become far more proficient with my musical instruments as there is actually time to practice. I’ve also learnt a lot more about working on cars, because more and more has had to be done by my own hands for cost reasons. There are times when I’m driving around local lanes when the sun does shine, and everything feels so brilliant that I might just explode with joy. Red Kites swooping overhead, lush, green fields with contours that are endlessly varied, smooth tarmac roads that are endlessly entertaining.

In conclusion though, it isn’t the perfect life – there’s no such thing really. But, we made a very brave decision in 2010 and thus far have felt absolutely no reason to doubt it. Sacrifices have been made, but they have been made willingly in order to spend more time in a state of relaxation, with a ‘paned o de’ close at hand. (Learning Welsh is our next challenge!)

Finding the right next car is a nightmare that never gets any easier. It has made me sit back and reassess things.

I live a frugal life on a frugal income. Many sacrifices have been made. We can’t have children, because we can’t afford them, though to be honest, we like our sleep too much and have enough trouble just looking after a cat, so there are other factors at work. Cost is something you need to consider though. The average cost of raising a child is said to be enough to buy a brand new Aston Martin. Food for thought isn’t it?

Five cylinders prevent terminal boredom

As it happens, I can’t afford an Aston Martin either, but I still desperately seek new automotive thrills. Cheap cars are a great way to experiment. Without spending too much money, I’ve learnt that Daihatsus are fun but uncomfortable, Saabs are a bit dull but capable, Alfa Romeos are not the nightmare you might expect, Land Rovers are rusty but worthy, Rover 75s are not as comfortable as my back would like, Citroen BXs have frustrating wipers and clutches, Volkswagen Golfs are as exciting as breeze blocks, Ford Mavericks are bouncy but fun and Honda Civics of 1991 are surprisingly good. All of these cars cost less than £1000 to buy, and most didn’t cost too much to own.

I tend to flit between ‘fun’ and ‘sensible.’ Something inappropriate is inevitably replaced by something so dull that I get bored of it very quickly. Finding the happy medium is nigh on impossible. So much so that even the thought of owning a BMW has crossed my mind. The biggest battle is usually between petrol or manual. The desire for economy versus the desire for an engine with a bit of soul about it. Take the Alfa Romeo 156 for example. I’ve already admitted that I love the shape. A four-cylinder petrol seems a bit uninteresting though, while the V6 can be both expensive to fuel and fix. Perhaps the ideal halfway house is the 2.4JTD then, which uses a five-cylinder diesel engine.

Here we have a diesel that actually sounds great. I love five-pot engines, from my old Audi 100 to my neighbour’s Land Rover Discovery II and the Volkswagen Crafter minibus I often drive. They growl in a rather pleasing manner, sounding slightly off-beat due to the five-cylinders partaking in a four-stroke cycle. They take you right back to the excitement of Group B rallying, when five-pot Audis screamed around rally stages in a proper, spine-tingling manner. Check this out!

It’s a magical noise. Naturally, road cars are a bit quieter than that, and diesels aren’t going to match the insane revs, but they still sound muscular and exciting.

Which is an odd thing to say when you think about it. My wife doesn’t understand what I’m on about at all. To her, the three-pot Daihatsu is no more interesting than a four-pot one. To me, it’s the essential difference.

Yet, other than when accelerating hard, there’s little chance to hear a musical engine over a bland one. Cruising at motorway speeds, you might as well have electric power. Am I wrong to insist on three, five or six cylinders when actually four would do very nicely most of the time? I blame the mental scars of Rover P6 ownership. I’ve owned a V8, which was marvellous, and a four-cylinder 2000, which was an extreme case of bland.

This is all before we get down to the importance of wipers. Recent Facebook comments on my blog posts suggest I’m alone in being quite so OCD about windscreen wipers. I don’t care. I’ve always been fascinated by them and ‘poor’ wiper layouts drive me mad.

Anyway, I’ve digressed quite a bit. There is no conclusion as yet. Buying a car is always emotive, never more so than when an Alfa Romeo is considered. Could a 156 2.4JTD be the perfect car?

The search engine has become one of the most important tools to use when working on your classic car. But how do you get the best out of it?

The internet has become as important a tool as a torque wrench

I’m no expert at tinkering, that’s for sure, but I’ve learnt plenty over the years – often by trial and error. The internet is a HUGE help – so much so that I wonder how we ever coped without it. If I run into a problem, the only difficulty is cleaning my hands before hitting the internet in search of words of wisdom.

Be warned though. For every word of wisdom, there may be many false trails. It’s like anything in life. Don’t believe the first thing you read and be prepared to interrogate Google (or your favourite search engine) hard to get the information you want. Car club membership can be a god-send, and many clubs have members-only resources to help you gain the information you need. It’s a major benefit – I would have been utterly clueless with my Ford Maverick if it were not for the sterling work of the folks at the Nissan 4×4 Owners Club for instance, and 2CVGB takes the strain out of opening a car which scares most British garages. In fact, I’d go as far as to say that to own any of the non-conventional Citroens – from Traction Avant to BX and Xantia – you really need to get a grip with the technology. Forums allow you to do that.

With the Discovery, I’m utterly spoilt for choice. There are so many forums, that I do end up Googling and searching through the many, many responses. It takes patience and an ability to configure the question to provide suitable answers. This is a skill I learnt while working in an office. I soon became known as the Microsoft Office expert, but this was only because I got very good at using the Help function. This was the days before open internet, so Help was all I had. I learnt how to interrogate it, how to change the wording of my query to get the response I needed and that getting no answer usually meant the wrong question had been asked. The solution here is to rethink your question. Is the terminology wrong? Is what I’m asking impossible? I learnt that my Daihatsu has no in-line fuel filter by a combination of Google and Ebay. There are no in-line fuel filters available for first generation Sirions – that was quite a clue that there isn’t one.

If the answer doesn’t exist, even by the power of the search engine, then you can ask questions yourself. DO have a good search first though, as your question is very likely to have been asked before. There really is no need to ask whether Britpart make good quality parts for Land Rovers, or which chassis is best for a Citroen 2CV. Your Mini has corrosion in the rear subframe? Well, don’t ask about what you can do about it – many, many people already have. Forum folk get driven mad by folk who are too lazy to search properly.

So, my golden rules of internet car fixing:

1) Use the search tools. Your problem is probably not new.

2) As well as Google or similar, check out the search functions on relevant forums.

3) Add specifics. Discovery 200Tdi, 1984 Citroen 2CV6, BX TZD Turbo etc.

4) Don’t dive on the first answer you find. Keep searching, keep researching. Other solutions may appear.

5) Latex gloves make it easier to ‘remove’ dirt so you can more quickly access the internet without getting oil on your keyboard.

I’m hoping to do a lot more travelling this year. 4000 miles in a Sirion has made me rather keen to find something better suited to OM NOMing the miles. I have no money at the moment, and don’t need to rush into a purchase anyway. This means that I can hopefully engage brain rather than heart and actually buy a decent car, in good condition, that actually does what I want.

First off, let’s look at what I want. Comfort is high on the agenda, both in terms of driving position and suspension. I need to be able to spend hours at the wheel and still be able to walk afterwards. As the car will be used on the battered, traffic-heavy roads of England, it must have suspension that cossets rather than punishes. Economy should not be too horrific, though anything higher than 30mpg on a run will be considered acceptable. There must be a decent amount of oomph, because I’m a little tired of not having any.

Lots of thoroughly dull cars would meet this target. A Mk4 Vauxhall Astra diesel for instance, would probably be ideal. I even quite like the styling and Astras are very nearly built in Wales (Ellesmere Port). It’s hardly the motoring enthusiast’s choice though is it? I want efficiency, but I also want something a bit interesting. A bit fun.

Citroen’s Xantia would seem ideal. If I didn’t fancy one of the efficient turbo diesels, I could consider achieving the dream of V6 Xantia ownership, or find one of the ever-decreasing Activas with their body-roll-cancelling suspension – the exact opposite of the 2CV. They are astonishingly attractive cars in my opinion, with sharp, Bertone lines that still look good 20 years after the model was launched. The legendary Hydropneumatic suspension may  have been firmed up a touch too much, to bring it in line with competitors, but comfort is still high on the agenda. Estates are massively practical too.

Xantia is pretty and capable

Certainly, the Xantia is in the running. Finding a good one might be tricky though, and possibly not cheap either. These cars already have a very strong following within Citroen circles. Rightly so.

Alfa Romeo provides the next choice. I’d really like to own a 156. Because they’re this pretty.

Nice car, pretty car

Surely one of the most attractive saloons of all time. The Sportwagon estate is far from ugly too. A V6 would be lovely – it is a peach of an engine – but the 2.4JTD diesel also appeals. Why? Because it has five cylinders, and five-pot engines sound marvellous. It is also nicely brisk yet pleasantly thrifty too. Again though, hard to find a nice one, and a bad one would be a world of pain.

Naturally, things aren’t quite as easy as choosing between the above pair of beauties. I’ve even been considering Jaguar X-Types. Some bemoan the Mondeo Mk3 origins, but that Mondeo was always very well regarded by road testers, so what’s to be ashamed of? The frontal styling isn’t entirely happy, but I like the retroness of the whole thing.

Naturally, this retro-desire makes a Rover 75 a possibility. I’ve already owned one, and even though it wasn’t the best example, I quite liked it. Not sure I liked it enough to get another though.

Hyundai Coupe? A car I’ve always liked the look of in third generation form. Not sure comfort is high on the agenda though, even if there is a tempting V6 option. A Vauxhall Carlton would seem ideal perhaps, or maybe even a Cavalier Mk3. A Ford Mondeo Mk1 would tick many boxes, though the windscreen wipers would infuriate me. I hate it when the upper arc of the passenger wiper does not meet the driver’s wiper arc. It leaves a messy, dribble-prone triangle at the top of the windscreen. This annoyed the living wotsit out of me for the entire 40,000 miles of Peugeot 306 ownership I once completed. Sorry Mondeo, you’re out.

Perhaps the most surprising car on the list is a BMW. I’ve always thought the E46, or fourth-generation 3-Series, was a bit of a looker in coupe form.

Secret desires for gorgeous BMW admitted. In public

That is an attractive car. BMW completely lost the plot after this car. There’s not a line out of place there. Perfect simplicity. What’s more, I’ve driven a 330Ci and thought it was an amazing car. Even though this particular example had over 180,000 miles under its wheels, it felt tight and great to drive, with frankly unnecessary power and sublime smoothness. I was very annoyed that I liked it quite so much. Even better was the stereo. I’ve never heard such delicious bass response in a car. Not ‘shake-the-house’ levels, but like the engine, wonderfully smooth lower note responses that left me all of a quiver after a suitable piece of classical music was broadcast on BBC Radio 3.

Quite a choice of vehicles then. How on earth am I going to decide what to buy? All I can do at the moment is think, but I will be doing plenty of that as I work out what’s available. Naturally, I reserve the right to buy something that utterly fails to resemble any of the above. That’s just me!

Ok, I am forced to admit. As mile-munchers go, the Sirion is not perfect. Who would have thought it eh? A tiny, Oriental city car is in fact not the best vehicle for touring large chunks of the UK.

This month, the Sirion has been to the very top of Scotland and this week has covered many miles visiting friends and car specialists as I research features. I rather approve of this back drop of lovely Land Rovers for instance.

Cars can be very, very different

The above shot is from a visit to Land Rover specialist Chris Bowler, at Cambrian 4×4 Farm. As ever, despite being incredibly busy, he was wonderfully generous with his time, and a future feature was fully researched. More details on that to follow later. The Sirion was the perfect tool for this job, as the road to Lampeter is huge fun to drive. So, while I should have taken my Land Rover, I opted for fun! Besides, I didn’t want Chris to spend too much time laughing at the state of my Disco…

Then, it was off to England to catch up with chums. Again, I had considered taking the Land Rover, but this has developed yet another oil leak – this time from the transfer box. The acronym FFS applies nicely here –  don’t worry if you can’t translate it. Given that it is also leaking engine oil (mainly from the sodding oil cooler unions that have plagued me throughout this car’s ownership) and that it slurps diesel compared to the Sirion’s parsimonious petrol habit, the costings weren’t in its favour either. The 2CV I fancied for this trip not at all.

The journey started well, and much haste was experienced, though not around left-hand bends. The Sirion continues to suffer baffling (literally I think) power issues. In fact, the Sirion proved far too happy to blat along at 80mph. It didn’t seem to like 70 as much.

Sirion’s Scenic Situation

For lunch, I opted to find a scenic village to hide out at, rather than suffer the woeful inadequacy of motorway services. I enjoyed this approach very much, especially with home-made chicken sarnies to munch on.

All was not entirely well though. The M6 through Birmingham had revealed some shortcomings in the Sirion. Namely suspension. The raised section of motorway has strips across the motorway and hitting every one of them at the 50mph you can legally do there was like driving up a kerb. It hurt! Then, a few seconds later, it hurt again! I’m used to being cosseted in Citroens. This was horrible! Town roads were even worse. I honestly think we’d be better going back to dirt roads.

More distressing was the lack of power. I’m really not a power lover. There’s much more joy to be enjoyed from thrashing a little car. But motorway driving becomes very stressful when you’ve got barely any power. You know what happens. Things bunch up and slow down, then all the repmobiles rapidly gather speed again. In the Sirion, you are forced to try and anticipate when this is going to happen, so you don’t end up going backwards in a sea of fast-accelerating vehicles. Then there’s overtaking. With two hours of slow roads between motorway and home, inevitably there is a need to get past slow things. More power allows these manoeuvres to be carried out nice and swiftly. 989cc does not allow this. As it happens, I’m quite good at building up momentum before hurtling onto the wrong side of the road – a technique perfected in the 2CV – but it can still lead to uncomfortable moments. Especially if the car suddenly loses power (as it did once) or you have to execute the overtake in view of a ‘safety’ van.

So, while I’m still a big fan of the Sirion, especially for hurtling around the deliciously smooth roads we have here in mid-Wales, I really need to get me a distance machine. In the next Blog, I shall (probably) talk about just how difficult a decision this is to make.

Three years ago, I thought I’d amassed the perfect fleet.

Perfection achieved?

Not a bad line-up is it? There’s a 2CV, because every perfect fleet should have a 2CV on it. There’s a wonderfully capable, modern-ish barge in the form of a Saab 9000i 2.3. There’s a Mini, because my wife reckons anything bigger than a Mini is unnecessarily large. And there’s a nice, shiny, proper chrome-bumpered classic in the form of a Ford V6-powered Reliant Scimitar.

Only one of those cars remains though, and even she has been causing me some serious head-scratching. Doesn’t she look lovely there? Barely a hint of rust. Those were the days!

This was taken in April 2011, and it was sunny. We’d been living our ‘perfect’ life for six months and following the same of the Austin Westminster, and profit on the Land Rover 90 V8, I could really treat myself. I’d wanted a Scimitar since I was a child. Mind you, I’d wanted a Land Rover V8 since I was a child too, and I hadn’t enjoyed it that much! The same would sadly be true of the Scimitar as well. They are far better than their values and reputation suggest, but there was no way I was going to enjoy a car that was quite so firm of ride. So, it wasn’t perfect. It had to go.

Then the Saab came under scrutiny. I liked a lot of things about it. I liked that it was one owner from new. I liked that it had full main dealer service history throughout its 124,000 miles. I liked its 150bhp and bountiful torque. Comfort was first rate too, and it had fabulous headlamp wipers. It was the first car I’d owned where they both worked. The boot was enormous, the on-board computer uncannily accurate and recording MPG (34 on a run quite easily). Inevitably, it was a bit too dull, and the soggy steering annoyed me. It had to go.

The Mini was rather more difficult. We bought it for the grand sum of £741 on Ebay in 2005, sight-unseen. Bravery paid off and little Betsy soon found herself commuting to Banbury or Oxford from our Northants base on a daily basis. She was treated to a full restoration in 2008 and moved house with us twice. As with the 2CV though, it didn’t take long for corrosion to return. She was barely getting driven too, because frankly I’d rather drive pretty much anything else. She had to go.

Fully restored Betsy at the 2009 Bromley Pageant

Yet I look back on the opening image with great fondness. There is not a hint of regret with any of those purchases. The truth is that the perfect fleet just doesn’t exist. I’m pretty sure the perfect car doesn’t exist. If it does, I haven’t found it yet. Much as I love 2CVs, they fail to capture my interest sufficiently to stop me buying anything else!

But, that’s the joy of classics. You can buy a car, keep it for a bit, then sell it again if you don’t like it. Sure, there may be costs to contend with to keep it nice, and you can lose loads of money on restoration, but buy with care and you should be able to keep costs low. Just don’t buy a Range Rover. I think that’s where it all went wrong for me…