Would come to

[Bassim]

I have tried to use "would come to" in my sentence just to see if I can use it correctly. Would you please correct my mistakes?

Peter bought a cheap used car, which he would come to regret one day when its motor broke down and wouldn't start again.

 

[jutfrank]

To improve the sentence, you could expand the basic collocation of come to regret to make a longer collocation string of would later come to regret. If you did this, you would not need to use one day and it would sound more natural. Also, I suggest engine instead of motor.

 

[emsr2d2]

You could end with "when it irreparably broke down".

 

[Bassim]

Here is my second try after jutfrank's corrections:

Peter bought a cheap used car, which he would later come to regret when its engine broke down and wouldn't start again.

 

[Bassim]

Now I have to try the third version after emsr2d2' corrections because it sounds much better than my original.

Peter bought a cheap used car, which he would later come to regret when it irreparably broke down.