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

Haven't had anything to do with the Navy but had some interesting discussion with Army engineers with things that were broken.

Same mileage as our 535, though it's only 9 years old. Probably costs about $1000 a year. We've done water pumps (typical), some turbo plumbing and brakes. UK road salt probably a significant variable though.

Can't you pick some Porsche fitment BBS second hand?

Depends a bit on how many miles you’ll be doing, whether the car you buy has any expensive bits that like to explode and pure pot luck.

There are cars you can own for years without spending anything beyond wear and tear, there are cars that you can pour thousands into every year. The former is more likely but the latter is always a possibility.

You can make your own luck by looking for cars with simpler, cheaper components and that have had cam belts and clutches and tyres and so on replaced recently.

I bought a 12yo straight-six beemer for £4K with 110,000 miles and it’s the best money I’ve spent on a car. It’s always a gamble but it’s the way in to affordable fun. First year I sorted tyres, second year brakes, this year starter motor. Probs comes in about £800 a year without doing any work myself.

I bought a 19yr old flat-six Subaru off here and it's cost me very little. Well apart from petrol. Before that I had a 24yr old MX5 (mk1) which was a lot of fun but not great as an only car. Who would of thought?!

Personally I like cheaper cars that I can fix, albeit more often, than newer cars that need to be plugged in.

Bought the Z4 almost exactly 2 years ago, so far it has cost me £800 in actually fixing things (both window regulators and the roof motor), it is 16 years old and has just reached 70k miles. Vanity fixes and getting rid of the shite runflats cost a further £1100. If you are careful about what you buy, high quality old cars are a bloody bargain!

My 12-year-old 330i (46k miles) has cost me £500 in the last year (major service, some small bits), plus £250 on tyres. I need to do the back ones soon-ish and that'll be another £500, and then next service will be sorting out the corroded brake lines and new brake consumables. Nothing eyewatering/ @Colm89 levelled, yet. I hope it continues to behave itself. It seems to be getting , if anything, slightly better with use. A hilarious 38mpg on the last 200 mile motorway mission, with a slightly heavy right foot.

I am factoring a tyre a year and 500 every four years for belts/dsg. The rest is servicing and the little bits. Air cond, discs/pads, etc

It is probably a bit less that £1000 if I averaged it.

I've been tracking all of my spending in a spreadsheet since purchase, fuel included, I'll share it at the 1 year mark, but it's not pretty.

I've been averaging 26mpg since purchasing it. No attempt made to preserve fuel, mostly city use until July, where it has had no city use but often with bike(s) on roof.

My £1600 17yo Mini has cost me about £100 in the last 2 years (oil, filters and a wheel bearing all changed by me). Only one electric window works, though, and the ABS light is temperamental

fuel included

you madman. some things it's better not to know, surely.

Can't you pick some Porsche fitment BBS second hand?

I had a quick scan on eBay earlier and couldn't see any 18" LM's.

you madman. some things it's better not to know, surely.

I concur

Drove Stockport to Leeds with a gigantic smile on my face.
Very happy.

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Is Stockport really that bad?😁

ouch

Or, on the other hand, is Leeds that good?😁

Looks great. Sans sunroof too? I like.

Sans sunroof too? I like.

Yeah man, more trouble than they’re worth!

Remember trying to find E30 saloons with out a sunroof, they were usually the base model, and quite rare.

hell yeah. Nice one dude. that is great to hear

I could’ve been driving off a cliff and I’d still have had a shit eating grin!

I concur

As do I. I drove to the shops today. 9.8mpg.Thank you roadworks with 4 way traffic lights.

Nice. Looks tidy. Very.