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

Lease a new car, spend nothing on maintenance etc. If it’s just a white good for moving your family around get the least onerous and most predictable vehicle available.

Pricier for a 1.4 Civic than a 1.4 Jazz? Interesting if so.

I wouldn't bother looking at Fiats personally. Hondas are bulletproof and super reliable. The same cannot be said of Fiats...

OG 4x4 Pandas are cool though.

Been looking at V6 Vauxhall Omega estates on ebay. Can't help thinking one would make an inappropriate track project in the new year when fingers crossed I have a garage. Change my mind.

Other half had the first gen Panda 4x4 ragtop. About only FIAT I would have again because it's half Pinzgauer :)

Then a Uno which was shit and it's party trick of if you let the brake pads wear down too much when you go in reverse the front brake pads would fall out of the caliper.
Then a Suzuki swift in 2006
Back to a Fiat Punto which never really drove in a straight line and the electrics failed.
Traded that for a lower spec but newer Panda which in it's few years of ownership cost more in repairs than the initial cost of the car. FIAT dealerships are fucking useless and FIAT panda suspension just falls apart.

I still have the Swift and was looking at a very boring but cheap Suzuki Celerio which is now other halfs car.
The old 993cc 3cylinder swift is now at 190k miles, original clutch. gone through 2 exhaust systems, 1x radiator, not many tyres, due to only 50 ponies when new and now high mileage it won't do a ton on private roads and does 50mpg fully loaded on biking junkets up to fort William and back cruising at motorway speeds.

Wouldn't have a modern fiat. Honda Jazz or Suzuki anything for cheap reliable fun..... or a baby Pinzgauer :)

1 Attachment

This is what happens when Panda meets Audi Q5 driven by the blind on a mini roundabout.
I speak from experience, happened last week . I had dropped my GTV off for MOT and this is ( was ) the garage courtesy car. Not a mark on the fucking Chelsea tractor.

1 Attachment

Given that's the same colour and vintage as mine, my heart just skipped several beats

I can recommend not arguing with any “ vanity SUV’s “

I hadn't planned on it

You want a volvo...

C303.

Been through 240 saloon and gas converted estate..... both now go for silly money. Although the saloon me and brothers got to drive and promptly wrapped it round things many times, they are tanks. think it was a 262 or 242 i fancied, a weird 2 door coupe version. Couldn't afford to run one back then, can't afford to buy one now (or drop fuel in it)

had a 340 GL too which became a budget drifters choice :)

Could go T5 or a 480 for fun :)

Went to look at 5 defenders today. Three 110s and two 90s. 3 of them were so rotten you could poke holes in them, one was particularly nice, but it was a 90 and i want a 110.

Looking at another tomorrow that looks mechanically great but aesthetically less so. Fingers crossed.

how much you prepared to spend?

Here’s a cheap option for you:

One OAP owned, low mileage Mk3(?) VW Polo

I just found a great car on Auto Trader: https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201908301664584

link not working

Weird, can’t seem to c&p off auto trader.

Search for a 1998 VW Polo on there and it’s £895 with £48k

21yr old car for driving around with a newborn? Call me a nanny but I'd want something slightly newer.

I still have the Swift

I would heartily recommend. Have one on that PP thing for my daughter. Does everything just right.

Wheel bearing on the A2 has been growling. Thought i'd get MOT done at the same time.

Think the actual bearing job is one for a press, so will drop off monday am before heading to Snowdonia in the SC430. Get back together next weekend all being well. Better than the £1700 the Audi independent quoted.

10k is the budget

1998

Surely there is zero chance of that being ULEZ compliant.

:)

I have the old gen 2002 Swift. We did get a loaner of current one when a FIAT was in the garage again, other half didn't like the newer swift as boot to small. The Celerio although boring appears to be a cross between an old swift and a wagon R and shares a similar but fuel injected engine.
Goal is to hit 200k miles before it gets scrapped, it's battered and is a joke on insurance as any claim would write the car off. It's like driving a landrover in the sense that damage does not matter it would add to it's scars.
Along with the 240 volvo the little suzuki is damned reliable. Would have the 4wd Subaru badged version :)

2 things I forgot... there’s a baby to think about... ulez

Looked at the 535i - handsome enough and extremely smooth but kinda defines luxo-barge. Don't know I could take the street parking angst of something that shiny.

At a bit of a loss at what to look at next really.

Looked at a 110 this morning, was a nice honest car, had a new galvanised chassis and a handful of other bits, i was going to offer close to the ebay buy it now price til i got there and poked my finger through a section behind a strut under the rear seats. Seller was a very nice honest bloke, spent a lot of time with me and let me take it for a spin, but it felt like a much older car than the defender 90 i drove yesterday. Ultimately i set my max bid to 5500, leaving me 4500 to spend with a LR specialist to get it in better shape, but it seems to have sold for 5850 in the end.

Now to decide if i want to blow my entire budget on the 90 or go back to the drawing board.

Braided brake hoses ;)

Is it me, or both side wheel bearings, hoses and boot go at the same time. Seems maybe logical for both bearings to go at the same time as similar mileage but I have rarely had both sides go at the same time. Seems odd that both sides have the same bits fail.

Also have replaced bearings and replaced the wrong side.

Most of us born on the 70s survived...!
But not all...

3 Attachments