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

Turbo cores/chra, Melett seem to be a brand that keeps cropping up. Found that cheapie Chinese origin unbranded units seem to be around 50 to 80£, whilst Melett (uk made) are around 150£.
Actuator, vnt mechanism and shells are fine, just original core is properly buggered.
Anyone used Melett or know of a reputable core/chra manufacturer?

It's true, the classic bogan car is no more. Even busted old things have ridiculous values. Apart from theft magnet VT Commodores and they truly are shit.

What attributes are crucial to a cars Bogan-identity?

Which estate for all-out load capacity?
Business stuff means I need to trade in the most fun little hot hatch I’ve ever owned for a boring fuel efficient estate. Need to primarily carry goods but also kids so if I had a van it would have to be a double cab, so transit size and that would be a dick on my street.

I used to have a Vectra estate which was utter misery but fuuuuucking huge, other considerations include E-class and Skoda Superb which I’ve read has a huge boot. Anyone got any ideas for something a bit more left-field? Ta.

The Skoda is big and ok to drive, and reliable.

I have one and like it. Worth a look.

Edit - also, a mondeo is a lot better than many people would believe.

Old E class or Volvo.

We had a few Superbs (Dad worked for Skoda for a long time) and always liked them.

The estate we had the boot was massive.

Cheers. Those Superbs look really nice, the cheapest decent ones are stretching the budget though.

Hadn’t considered the Mondeo. Always quite liked the more recent ones, good square box on the back.

V70s are in budget by the looks. They do give away 300l to the biggest cars in the class. That is the most boring passage I have ever written. What has become of me?

Mondeo's are, or at least used to be, huuge. I heard the older Accord estates were equally massive.

Accord. Yes! Love those.

I’ve seen this car around too! The owners actually use it as their main car. There is also a house on the same street with a v70 and a 240, maybe turbo in dire need of restoration.

Really depends on the type of bogan. I don't want be derogatory(I.e not making fun of people who just need cheap cars) so I'm just talking about the cashed up bogàns... So lifted Hilux, or ford ranger wildtrack with blacked out alloys and big muddies. Then you move up to the hsv utes or ford f6 typhoon/ g6e with tuned barras mate... Actually, thinking about it, just liking cars is a bogan trait so I guess we are all bogan at heart.

search YouTube for Summernats

This would do me if it was the right colour, never white... Never...

Boring, I know... Will it run on E10? 😂

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Thanks both @mcmyk @BrickMan. From what I can tell the Freetrack was only sold in the UK '07-'09 with the Mk5 GTI TSI with ~197bhp. It was still sold in mainland Europe up to 2015 though, maybe later ones had the Mk6 engine? Looks like evidence of regular oil changes would be a good thing to keep an eye out for. Not hugely bothered about economy on either this or an Outback, mileage has dropped to about 5/6k a year. £555 tax on the later Outbacks is off putting though.

Doesn't white make a lot of sense in your climate?

There's also the various Ute musters for a more agricultural version.

A LOT of sense, yeah... Silver would be my compromise position...

TBH it makes very little discernible difference, the white car seems to be just as hot as the black car was when it'd been out in the sun...

I engaged sport mode on the Astra today, it doesn't take much to really fucking go... A tiny tickle on the accelerator and you're over the speed limit... I could get used to all the mod cons, I'm having my head turned by modern motoring gizmos...

Edit: Apparently it's only 1.4l... Surprising, it's very quick but much bigger than the shitbox and that was a 2.0l...

We went Silver too, partly because of driving our dog around in the UK summer. It makes a big difference here, can imagine its a deal breaker in Oz!

I was out in the car earlier, got it nice and cool after a thirty minute drive then parked under cover at the shops, was gone for only ten minutes and by the time I got back it was already boiling again... A white car... Not sure it makes that much difference...

Got to watch that, everything is fly by wire now and they come with most of the torque available in the first 15% of pedal movement, makes it harder to maintain a constant speed (esp on something with a vnt type turbo), easier to burn fuel you didn't intend to and sells the car in the first place "was only touching the pedal and it was going! Sold".
Much prefer a linear pedal

sweet. love to think of this is a daily driver. been through there a few times and seen it parked in slightly different spaces so knew it was used. will keep an eye out for the 240 next time I am rolling through

Serious levels of want

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