Nice topic.
As a kid my parents would buy me model cars as toys, which I would recognize in real life and remember their names. Growing up as a teenager my automotive interests got more focused as my maths tutor was an avid classic car collector and would take me to his garage occasionally. My high point was spending a Sunday morning helping him start a Panhard PL17 he had acquired in order to restore. And it was that day that got me interested in mechanical engineering.
Academically I prefered to study civil instead of mechanical engineering, as my father had a business in the wider construction sector and it felt more familiar. As an undergraduate student my closest friends we avid car fans and we had a couple 6cyl 3er coupes in the gang. While I was mainly driving my Clio (the one I still have) during those years I managed to have great times and even spent some time in a local circuit. Around the same time I started trying to fix the car on my own, which definitely improved my understanding of how shit works.
As a postgraduate I had found and thoroughly explored some great driving roads around my area. With another petrolhead friend we would wake up at 4am on Sunday mornings and go drive up the mountains, before traffic. During that period I did many stupid things, but luckily I never crashed. The Clio still has the scars though.
Later on, as a young engineer, my first proper job was at a construction company which specialized in public infrastructure. We would build roads in the middle of nowhere, or run water and sewer pipes to remote villages. During those years I was fortunate to have a company car. Most of the time I was driving a Suzuki Samurai (without any trace of carpet inside, which resulted in me using the whole floor as an ashtray) or a Suzuki Jimny. We also had a few AWD Nissan Navara pick-ups and some indifferent Seat or Skoda sedans. I loathed those sedans. Though the first gen Octavia could really take a beating and still work. Amazing!
When I got bored of living too far from a bar I returned home opened my own firm and got the S60 (which I also still have). I've traveled quite a lot with the S60, I've driven it in a circuit a few times, I've done countless stupidities with it, but it never felt 100% right. It's been a trusted companion though, and it's a part of many, many, MANY memories, so despite being beige, it's a part of the family.
Some years ago, mechanical curiosity led me to get another engineering diploma (BEng and MEng), this time in Mechanical and Aeronautical Engineering, which eventually led to a PhD, which I'm in the third year of. The topic is high speed floating ring turbocharger bearings and rotor dynamics. Sadly, financing it has been a nightmare.
Truth to be told, I've never owned a proper RWD car, which I hope will be solved soon. But out of all the cars I've driven in my life, I love my old Clio the most. As far as FWD goes, I really wish I had a 106 Rallye.
The only thing I regret in life is not buying a mint condition E30 320i about a decade ago, when I had a change you get once in a lifetime.
