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

Spotted this lovely R32 today, absolutely spotless and in the best colour

I used to have a silver one and still miss it. Never thought i would see one with wheels that I liked better than the OEM

both side wheel bearings, hoses and boot go

Got all the bits off, they are right. Both bearings are shot, the boots are indeed split and the hoses both split at the centre junction where they attach to the shock.

I suppose at 170k miles something had to give. Sure when taking apart, everything is original build, including the Anti Fretting compound they put liberally on the splines through the hub. This had my hydraulic puller straining at its seams and such a bang when they eventually let go.

As we say with A2s, everything bar the body is a consumable.

“ vanity SUV’s “

Only SUVs on farms aren't vanity SUVs and I also wouldn't argue with one of those.

I used to laugh at Chelsea Tractors when I lived there and rode around my hood on my little 10sp Motobecane but now I'm in Oz...

Every cunt drives one... But a lot of people actually go off-road in them out here, so it's OK...

I replaced my left tail light at the weekend, the plastic has been shattered since I was given the car... Drove up a mountain to get the thing (Gumtree) had a not so hilarious hill start fail on the way back... Good thing the guy behind me was a local, spotted my P-plate and gave me a wide berth... Roll back, wheel spin, jerk forward, roll back, wheel spin and away we go... Lots of big hills here, I should probably learn how to deal with them... 😬

vanity SUV’s

u jelly?

I would hold out for one that gets closer to what you want. Galv chassis very good idea. What engine do you want? Can you get a TD5 for that money? That or a 300TDi would be my pick for a daily.

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

You are bang on the money - Amey should (IMHO) lease something brand new that he literally has to give zero thought too, that has a warranty longer than the lease, and that he can always rely on. With a bit of luck insurance and VED would be included - a significant saving for a new driver.

Or a fuselage bodied Plymouth

A quick search suggets a Honda Jazz with servicing included is £8k for 36 months. For that much I think I'd just buy a Dacia and still have an asset after three years.

Does that include insurance and road tax etc?

Not as far as I can tell - and was the first deal I found to be fair.

Leasing a Dacia Sandero would be £6k with maintenance included - or £6995 to buy...

zero thought

Not sure I agree with all of your points. But zero thought is a major one.

When we needed to upgrade, spending every weekend in the run up do D-Day hunting for a 2nd hand car was an absolute killer. As well as boring as fuck.

In the end we lucked out and were able to swap cars with a family member.

I'd just buy a Dacia

You can get a good Jazz for <£3k.

fwiw when I was looking into it, £5k 2nd hand seemed to be the lease tipping point. Obviously ymmv, but past that point it seemed to be hard to justify 2nd hand. for Amey the big thing would be getting insurance rolled into the lease - on a 2yr lease that would be a game changer, as at his age 2yrs NCB would mean at the end of the lease he could probably buy what he wants without regard to insurance.

Not new though - which was the point of leasing. I'd buy used for sure.

lease something brand new

I did look into this and PCP (some good deals out there) .. insurance is still the big issue .. on a new car its madness! I asked a like-for-like case out in the sticks (Rugby) and her insurance is 30% less .. London premium I guess

I could have leased a new 992 and a C63 estate for the money I've put into buying and maintaining old cars. I still have two assets, it is true - but I'll never get what I've put into either of them back at resale.

I've also dealt with getting both of those cars up to a very high standard - which has taken time, periods of being without them, money and so on.

The point of leasing is (depending of course on the lease) it's roughly equivalent to the depreciation that you'd suffer from buying new, but without the requirement to find the £30k or whatever up front/get a loan for that.

The Dacia mentioned up thread for e.g. - what's the estimated value of that car when it's three years old/30,000 miles? I'd be surprised if it was more than 2k, and if you get insurance thrown in then you're definitely better of leasing.

Of course, you'd be driving a Dacia, but it sounds like Amey doesn't give two shits about that.

insurance is still the big issue

We're approaching the end of the quarter, with Brexit looming and prices of cars sinking - 15% on decent second hand kit over the last 12 months.

= Walk into a dealer and specify what you would accept to close the deal, they'll be highly motivated to do it for you.

yeah, thats what I am thinking after/if I pass on 17th :)

I also had to google the word 'Dacia'

Woundnt mind a Dacia Duster...

I could have leased a new 992 and a C63 estate for the money I've put into buying and maintaining old cars. I still have two assets, it is true - but I'll never get what I've put into either of them back at resale.

A little removed from buying a 2012 Jazz and putting new fluids in it once a year.

^ what he said.

Also no offence meant but;

maintaining old cars

should read "restoring" old cars.

As a £% what work as actually been necessary to drive them? 15%?

A little removed from buying a 2012 Jazz and putting new fluids in it once a year.

a 2012 Jazz is still a 7 year old car, and the UK average example would be on 70,000 miles - you might be fine, but it's getting to the age where it's going to need more than routine maintenance (bills being relative, of course - it's not got a twin turbo charged V8).

what work as actually been necessary to drive them?

All of it.

You know you've taken a wrong turn when people begin lusting a dacia...

okay, the only way for me to understand where Dacia sits is if someone talks in groupset or bike metaphors