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

'next month I may spend nothing at all. And the month after that'

As a fellow OCD sufferer I admire your attention to detail but last months bills? Ouch.

Is there an interest free credit option available on the Volvo :)

Here's a first pass at a Volvo advert- all advice welcomed.

Volvo 850R Estate (855), factory manual (M59) with factory LSD.
First registered 30th of December 1996, N717 JBW (one of a range of red, estate 850R’s to wear the N***JBW plate).
Currently on just over 180,000 miles.

I bought the car in 2009 from a chap in Aberdeen, making me the fourth owner, the years that followed looked like this, mileage and notable item wise. I’ve always used OEM parts direct from Volvo apart from the noted items. All work has been done by Tim Williams, and every year it’s had new fluids and filters, spark plugs every other year.
2009 136,333 miles All belts changed, new clutch, new Koni yellow front shocks, angled-flange 16T turbo, uprated injectors, tune, Volvo strut-brace, lots of little bits including a fog-light unit that had a cracked lens etc etc
2010 145,552 miles New AP racing discs and pads (car has AP bells, rotors, AP four piston big-brake kit)
2011 156,261 miles Engine completely rebuilt, head ported and flowed, valves back-cut, forged H-beam rods fitted, Ferritta 3” downpipe with 100 cel cat, 2.5” cat-back exhaust, R manifold, re-map
2012 166,475 miles
2013 170,079 miles
2014 173,855 miles (in-joke there for the Volvo fans)
2015 175,665 miles New Nivomat rear shocks fitted, 3” core intercooler, Kinugawa 20T turbo, re-mapped, Volans refurbished by Lepsons, new Goodyear Eagle F1’s all round
2016 175,677 miles Note - the small and brittle plastic cog in the odometer that always breaks had broken this year, in reality the car has done a couple of thousand miles more than the recorded mileage. The car also had new rear brake rotors and pads, new headlights (old reflectors were past their best), car went to stay with Jim D for a month to be detailed from top to bottom, inside and out
2017 179,877 miles A lot of work done, including the windscreen being replaced as it had started to delaminate - this service cost £2,500 and included all belts, plugs etc.

It's had way, way more work than this - but probably best for the prospective buyer to speak to Tim Williams about the car, those who know Tim also know he's very direct about things so you'll get a great deal of detail very rapidly. I've taken the approach of always fixing everything as soon as possible and I believe this shows in the overall condition of the car.

The car hasn’t seen a dyno so I’m going to claim 350 bhp and around 650Nm of torque which I know it’ll over-deliver on if the new owner ever does put it on the rollers.

In terms of jobs left to do I’d like to get the rear brake pads replaced as the current ones, although new, have an annoying vibration as you slow to a stop. Other than that everything bar the passenger side heated seat works - that’s right, an 850R with working aircon. Has both the load net and the load cover.

Everything is OEM or better, it has the original radio, it’ll surprise the hell out of most other cars on the road who don’t know what it is and therefore what it can do - and it’ll do it with four bikes in the back, or the shopping, or just you and a desire to go out and enjoy it.

It comes with the factory fitted removable tow-hook which I’ve used to take bikes on a Thule tow-hook mounted carrier which worked brilliantly. I’ll include the carrier if you want it, it has an electrical pickup and lights, plus number plate.

£8,000.

Just watched World Most Expensive Cars.

Yank Tanks. But some brutes...

I'm starting a kickstarter to open a high end BMW workshop on @Dammit s road now.🤑

#wudrep

Be handy having somewhere closer than Munich Legends, which is where I was going to take it.

You missed off 'here we have a'

We have just hired our workshop manager ;-)

1 Attachment

You missed off 'here we have a'

"If you're looking at this you know what it is already and you know what it's worth..."

Haha!
Serious question, what's the VED/mpg/insurance like?

Boring car question: after lots of procrastination and "tinternet research", I think i am ready to replace my current car (2009 Passat saloon, 140ps diesel)

Main requirements for new car: large, comfortable estate, preferably petrol.

Ideal would be bm 530i, much too expensive new and not many 2 year old examples in budget. seems that 98% of all 5 series are now 520d.

so i'm liking the idea of skoda superb tsi 220 dsg.

anyone have any thoughts on that engine or gearbox? i have no clue how dsg is to drive.

VED is £20/month, insurance is an odd one, I pay ~£400/year with Admiral but every other insurance company want £2,300/year.

I put my mother, my father, then my girlfriends mother and father on the insurance (kept adding until the premium stopped falling) and cut ~£1,000 off the initial Admiral price. I'd advise trying the same procedure.

MPG wise, it's a horror story around town - probably 14 on a good day?

On the motorway it'll happily average 34mph though. It'll run on standard unleaded but you'll lose a load of power as it pulls timing - I've only ever used high octane fuel, V-Power for preference.

In Germany we found 100 octane fuel so used that, clocked 146mph on the old engine.

#Demallayz

Ha I spotted the delta on latimer road and the jag heading into london the M1.

@ dammit - Hypothetical: what would it cost to buy a standard e39 530i or 540 estate and build it up to alpine spec? Considering that every part will be replaced anyway you may as well build a custom car to your spec?

I love DSG. I like the Superb. I like the engine.

I came close to getting the 280bhp 4x4 last year, I wanted it but Mrs Hefty wanted a Tiguan. She won.

Does the 220 have the 6 or 7 speed? Both are brilliant but you'll never use the 7 in manual as there are just so many gears.

7 speed dsg - first gear is just for initial moving off, think it shifts at 5kph in my car and 6th, well... On a public road here in nanny state NSW I can effectively use 2nd to redline then 3rd and just start hitting 4th - by that stage it's lose your licence time! Mostly setup for economy these boxes.
(also the reason I'm craving a small, low powered manual thing... Drove a good pug gti6 last week. Mmm, closely spaced gears)

Looks like the car I've found at Agusta is this one, used to be owned by a member of the Alpina Register.

It's now on 99,500 miles and £10,995, he sold it in 2011 (going by post date) at 89,000 miles, for £9,250.

I wonder if the problems he identified are all still present?

Having looked at that thread ^ I'm now tempted on a late E39 as well. Have a feeling I won't come off much better than my w124 though in terms of maintenance / rust / general stuff that needs fixing...

For me the appeal of an E39 touring is paying £1-3k for a well built high end car that can slowly get a bit ratty and run into the ground. Show-ground ready doesn't make sense on a old car generally driving at high milage imo.

Other than that I loved that shape and always wanted a black E39 M5 as a kid "when I got older".

I want an auto M5 Touring, this doesn't exist - but the Alpina B10 does. A V8S would be best, but they sold 4 in the UK (it has a 4.8 litre V8, the standard one is 4.6).

I can't recall, but BMW may have sold a LHD M5 touring, it'd still be a manual though.

Here's a question for those who drive on the mainland - how do you deal with toll-booths when sat in the "wrong" seat?

I was with you till 14mpg! XF has been semi-veto'd on fuel grounds already.

^^ My w124 is just about to hit "a bit ratty" and I'm not sure I want to take it there. The rust is fixable now, but give it another winter on salty roads and I think it'll be a fair bit worse

I generally prefer older cars when they had a bit more personality and wasn't made just to please the finance department. Mix that with not wanting to spend heaps on a car and I'm looking at 15-20 year old high end estates. Just thinking about the deprecation on a newish car scares me. Sure, a 4 year old Skoda Superb is a sensible choice on paper, but factor in the re-sale value in a few years and it'll cost more to run compared to our merc that had a £1k in repair bills last year...

Lean over, get out and walk around or wait for assistance

or even better, let the passenger deal with it