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

Hmmm. VHPD head and cams would get that up to 190bhp.

Cheers. It should do - most of what you can see is new.

My error - meant 190 bhp in the prior post.

That looks like top-drawer work, mind; lovely stuff. My vote from the peanut gallery would be to go with the white wheels.

Ah, VHPD/Superlight R spec then. Pokey.

Well, my vote goes for OEW, @Cycliste says OEW, so that makes it three.

Bloody modern cars and proprietary standards. Volvo want something like £400 to upgrade the software in the car to make the diesel heater programmable. Dafuq? It's plug a cable in and push a button, it's not like they have to install the actual hardware in the car.

Trans City were pleasant to deal with, did not get any grief over the px.

would potentially Skoda again. However, the real test will be what happens in 4 years time.

What did you get to replace the Skoda?

I had a Passat. Now I have a Superb estate.

Passat was a 140 PS Tdi, Superb is a 220 PS TSi so I've gone up in the world, very slightly.

Also gone from 6 speed manual to lots of speeds (not actually sure how many) DSG.

The faster VAGs usually have the 6 speed DSG, the slower ones get 7.

Very nice chap just came over, we agreed on £7,000 for my Volvo.

I now feel oddly bereft, and wracked with doubt.

9 years I think.

Nah - good shout. Glad you got a deal you're happy with!

(...and the forum can stop discussing Volvos) :)

You say that, but I will need another estate to replace it with, just one that I care less about and that doesn't cost me 4k a year to maintain!

Nah, I want a sensible estate car, so a minimum of four litres and 8 cylinders I think.

Like this, for example: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2005-05-BMW-545i-4-4-SPORT-TOURING-AUTOMATIC-MYSTIC-BLUE-/132280546821?hash=item1ecc88f605:g:Uz4AAOSwvv9ZgJg-

Hah I came across that one too. I've been trying to find the 'right' e60/1 touring for a while but I'm after something a little more mundane.

This one's a lot cheaper, but has a couple of things to fix: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BMW-545i-Touring-Estate-/282608354656?hash=item41ccc54560:g:3T0AAOSwaxlZjvcA

Life's too short for that sort of gremlin stomping. I'm after <80k, auto, no chrome, in that neat gunmetal colour. With a moon on a stick in the boot.

That blue 545 is tasty. But almost too nice, ie: you will end up caring for it. Excellent colour though. If you could do a deal on it would be great.

Silver car looks bland (could be a positive) and has had kids in it as you can see the child seat marks in the leather. So possibly a very sticky back seat... Has annoying faults too. Probably not that cheap to fix and you'll have to bin the run flat tyres if you want to enjoy driving.

Question is what's a good price for the blue one? IDK, so guidance appreciated.

Also my buyer for the Volvo wants a bit more time to make his mind up, which is fine - there's another chap coming on Thursday who sounded keen, so we shall see.

That blue 545 is very nice.

I'll miss that Volvo too @Dammit it was a fucking quick estate.

Need a minimum power spec as well. No point having >4l and >8c if you don't have much powah.

333bhp? In a 2 ton car? Not enough. 200bhp/ton is where life starts to get interesting.