Car appreciation... the aesthetics, the engineering, etc

A pal of mine had a 964 about a decade ago. He paid 12k for it and it was a real beauty. Black in LHD and an ice blue leather interior with super low mileage, he was mortified when he had to swap it for an engagement ring.

Sad times - now he drives a people carrier because him and his missus have got 5 kids.

it was partly the porsche's fault...

I'm pissed off with my Merc - when it gets warm it doesn't want to accelerate from a standstill. It just sits there refusing to rev or move. I've just paid a so-called specialist nearly £800 for a service and to try and fix the problem and it's made no bloody difference.

So now I'm thinking I'm done with this car and I should buy another one. I potentially have about £4000 I can spend. Can I buy anything that will actually be reliable for that? And bear in mind that I don't like sensible things like Hondas and Toyotas, can I get both reliable and interesting?

+1

How about an Alfa GT?

They're interesting in that they're quite rare and I've had mine for three years now and it hasn't missed a beat. I bought it for a trip round Europe, owned it for a week and then drove about 4,000 miles in it without issue. It's been trouble free since.

Lol welcome to retro car ownership.

Subaru ;) 4k might get you a legacy spec b or would get you a decent older gtb.

My Rover SD1 was more reliable than this Merc. Just a lot shitter.

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fucking double posts. Bring back Vbulletin.

That was considerably worse than this.

Hold the front page - five pages ago you were waxing ecstatic about the glorious PanzerWagen.

Old cars cost money. It's a fact of life. If you're not spending time with your head in it or under it you're going to put money into it.

If you sit on it for long enough, you'll get your money back.

People carrier drivers should be fucking miserable.

Would 4K get you a post millenium Quattro S3/4?

A lot can happen in 5 pages. Such as a car revealing a nasty little fault that could take thousands to diagnose and repair. Thousands that could potentially be spent on a car that runs properly and has enough monetary value that one service doesn't cost as much as the sodding car.

Would be quite a high miler for that

Can have a poke at it after the weekend.

Ha. Bang on. Amazing value for money at the purchase stage (because the prev owners have been plundered), one big bill, then you're in for the long haul or massive losses.

I have a rubber bumper piece of poo that is easily worth half what I have spent on it.

That's the one. It is going to get its neck wrung around Goodwood tomorrow.

I fell out of love with my car when we could not diagnose the boost issue. It's still not fixed (next weekend) but I am pretty sure we have worked out what it is.

So I'll get another round of repairs and upgrades done, and I will (depending on the quote) get it resprayed.

It's resale is a fraction of what I have spent so I may as well keep going with it- I don't think the 850R will ever be a classic (T-5R might be, in "that yellow"), but there were only ~180 RHD 850r's sold in the UK, 19 years ago now so it's becoming a rare car.

If anyone is an expert with Bosch KE Jetronic that would help.
If I just replaced every single component it could possibly be, from fuel pumps to fuel distributor then it might actually come cheaper than diagnosing it properly.

I was always going to sell this car in April anyway, but as I need something reliable right now, I am tempted to bring it forward. It just means taking out a car loan or sticking to a £4k snotter.

You should be able to get something good for that money. What are the specs - estate, rwd, petrol?

Dunno. I was going to sell the Triumph and buy a Porsche Boxster. I might just get a loan and bring that plan forward.

i'd like a boxster, but i couldn't deal with the idea of a potential catastrophy being imminent and the effects that would have on my bottom. more than likely never happen, but i am not up for it. if my mending abilities extended beyond carbed and dizzied motors, then maybe.

do you read pistonheads forums? i remember the guys there loving those older mercs like yours. they should know someone that can help with the injection issues.

What would the potential cost of diagnosing and fixing the Jetronic be, versus the cost of getting someone to Megasquirt it?