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

think the v40 only ever had the pre-touchscreen display

MrsDeth bought a car during lockdown, went to a dealer to test drive, they wiped it down, gave us a route and said see you in 15 minutes.
The only thing they did was take a copy of drivers license for "insurance purposes"

It was only 5 minutes from our house, so we drove home to see how hard it was to park on our drive (it's an odd setup, we have the last house on a walk, so can park outside it, but needs some fancy reversing to get it straight)

We didn't buy it there in the end, they didn't really care

(used car, main dealer)

My parents just bought a new car (XC40 as it happens), seems its a sellers market at the moment.

She's against car nav because she relies on traffic updates alot

completely get that. my dad's tesla doesn't integrate with waze or anything which completely baffles me as the traffic updates on the built in nav are actually a bit shit

I would say it's increasingly difficult to swap out the ICE in newer cars...

Most have bespoke systems / non-common screen layouts and anything from 2018ish will probably now integrate a lot of the cars options (climate etc) into the screen meaning an aftermarket isn't an option.

Best bet is finding a car from that period that was forward thinking re: CarPlay etc or looking at what cars had traffic aware nav. BMWs with connected drive 'professional' in that time period had really good traffic updates....

Oh I read xc40!

Most have bespoke systems / non-common screen layouts and anything from 2018ish will probably now integrate a lot of the cars options (climate etc) into the screen meaning an aftermarket isn't an option.

It's not that hard - simple inputs and outputs.

Yes, you may need car specific adapters (mine did) but all of the functions work just fine and I have retained complete use of the Optical Parking Sensors display and steering wheel controls. There has been no change to the way anything works - I get on screen notifications for any changes made with manual inputs (i.e.: changes to the climate control) and I can also set them via the interface.

Re the in-car sat nav, my company car is a 2018 Passat and has an unbelievably shit built in sat nav, must run from some kind of “logic” but it’s so crap it’s laughable. Like it wants you to exit off clear dual carriageway, go over a roundabout, then back on same dual carriageway. Obviously have no faith in that so I use a Yoshi mount (about a fiver) and my phone & google maps. Works fine

Then they said he would have to buy one before getting a drive in it!

Sounds like a great closing technique (assuming it works).

I'm sure a lot depends on the type of car and main dealer vs indys. When I bought my Mini the salesman was quite intrigued that I wanted a test drive. My closest one at the time was the Park Lane BMW/Mini one and he said almost all their orders were over the phone then delivered. Basically they were cars people wanted. I can image 99% of new M3 sales are just done online with no test drives.

one place told us that if we want to test drive a v40 we should do it elsewhere, they will fix any problems that come up after sale (lol.) but they dont take returns.

Nice Sierra, and the price for good ones these days is eye boggling. Whats-his-face Harry's garage bloke features one on the Silverstone Auctions link below, a later H-reg Sapphire 4x4 RS Cosworth, the one with the discreet rear spoiler not the mahoosive whale tail one, 1 prev owner and only 14,000 miles it had a guide price of £60-£70,000!

Also of note in that link for old Italian car fans like us, a nice Lancia Fulvia Zagato at 20 mins and one I've never seen before, a special bodied stunning green ATL Alfa based thing at 23 mins.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PhxAMxptwMg

It probably works with new cars where people can afford the newest model and don’t care too much other than its new. My mate was looking at used Volvos.

A Sierra sold locally to me for around £78000 two years ago. It was a limited edition rally version (my memory defeats me) and had delivery mileage on it. Collector bought it.

Cool old Volvo at the airport.

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That sounds cheap, (went off to google as proof) as I remembered an RS500 going for over 100k a few years ago https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/cars/article-4749304/Ford-Sierra-RS500-Cosworth-sells-colossal-115K.html

That is likely the same model of Sierra but the sale was in NI so that may account for the reduced price.
I know someone who had an A1 Quattro which really went for mad money a few years ago - somewhere around £250k and the car is now in the USA.

goteborg !

Yup!

Is the space essentially a permanent display zone for Volvo?
I'm certain there was some old Volvo or other there when I visited Goteborg in Summer 2012.

how wrong can i go with this? https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202105162696675

and how much would you expect to haggle?

Im waiting to hear back from RM’s solicitors, Admiral seem very keen to push us onto Auxillis but I’m not keen to save £350 excess and end up with a shit repair or liable for excessive hire car costs.

Avoid at all costs. Been there, still dealing with that.

That’s good to know, so far we’re going with the 3rd party insurers - hoping they accept whatever the main dealer quotes for repair but I’m fairly confident as they’re very keen to supply us with an equivalent size hire vehicle and avoid using Auxillis.
Does anyone have a good opinion of AMC’s?!

Has anyone seen the pirelli p rims on anything other than a golf?

Saw these on facebook and 5 bolt fitment for a volvo!

Do they suit anything other than the golf?

Volvo prices have jumped dramatically in the last few weeks due to their lack of chips.

Seeing as you cannot get many of the previously available options on new factory models; BLIS, 360 Cameras etc. the used car market is where people are heading...

£10-£20k market also hot right now - I just sold my Mk1 14 plate Xc90 for £800 less than I bought it for 2 years ago and had put 17k miles on it!

I bet they are!
I'll never insure with admiral again, they're just as bad for forcing it on you.