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

Anyone else feeling a bit peckish?

Hmm, old chip oil to fuel your leaking head gasket diesel? It's the perfect recipe!

E39 M5- are they all a million quid and or fucked these days?

Bio diesel... don't think that modern diesels like svo or non treated used.

Strange thing is modern diesels benefit from adding two stroke oil to diesel as modern diesel isn't as lubricating as it once was.

Finally managed to buy a car!
The used car market is absolutely awful at the minute. Slightly niche requirements as it's my partners first car which she's using to practice in before her test but also needs to be our long journeys/holidays car (with me driving) so needed to be nice enough without being so nice it would be upsetting if it gets some L-plate battle scars!
So many high mileage dogs out there going for seriously strong money!

Ended up with this Pug 207 estate. So ugly it's almost gone full circle to good looking, in care home favorite metallic beige...

1 Attachment

Making her learn 3 point turns and parallel parking in an estate is a bit harsh 😂

Hopefully it won't be too bad! 207's are still small cars & at least in estate form, the rear window is vertical with nothing sticking out any further than it so it should be easy telling where the end of the car is (ie no sloped back or saloon style boot sticking out to make things difficult). We'll see though!

Brother’s auris and my wife’s Jazz have both thrown an engine light today. Just when you think you’re getting on top of car issues, two come round the corner!

Toyota and a Honda going wrong.

On that kind of car, do you know the sticker trick to help with parallel parking?

Also you are right on some cars making strong money.

No, do tell...

Very exciting update, thankfully the Jazz is just showing p0137 - low voltage at the post cat o2 sensor (I put a very cheap one in after the cat got nicked). So I’m guessing either that it has shat the bed, or my DIY exhaust repair has got a leak somewhere.

Nothing major either way.

E39 M5- are they all a million quid and or fucked these days?

They aren't quite a million quid, but there are some genuine shockers out there. Even the "low mileage" cars will be nearing 100k miles. There are nearly always some optimistic vendors on Autotrader and if you've got £55k burning a hole in the old sky rocket, then this one might be an option:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202108106058768?onesearchad=New&onesearchad=Nearly%20New&onesearchad=Used&make=BMW&year-to=2003&model=M5&advertising-location=at_cars&sort=relevance&year-from=1995&postcode=bs217hw&include-delivery-option=on&radius=1500&page=1

Nope. I think it might be better to go for one with intergalactic mileage that looks like it’s been maintained well, then fix stuff as required.

At least you picked the best spot in London for a photograph :) all though be careful as I hear one ended up in the Thames a few months ago :D

That's lovely!

This is key - as an owner of an ancient BMW, I can happily conclude that ownership is glorious but potentially costly.

I'd be inclined to own this era of M5 as opposed to anything later, largely because of the significant levels of complexity that the younger E60 can produce. It's a BMW, it will cost you a pretty penny initially and if I know how particular you can notoriously be, you'll own the best example regardless of the mileage.

If you do buy one please go for a manual in Estoril Blue...

I believe that reversing round the corner no longer tested. The sticker thing is a help for parallel parking. But it is just a help till you get the nack. You put a sticker on one the passenger side windows that show when to go full lock, and then a sticker in the middle of the rear screen to go full lock the other way to get in to the space.

Does that make sense?

million quid

Browsing seems to say they're touching £20k for a 20yo car with 200k. Seems punchy to me. But maybe you'll only loose a bit. It's fairly iconic.

But I can't help feeling for only a little more you could probably get a newer E63 with fewer miles.

The sticker thing is a help for parallel parking

My driving instructor tried to explain it 45 years ago, it's as clear now as it was then. As in not at all.

Browsing seems to say they're touching £20k for a 20yo car with 200k. Seems punchy to me. But maybe you'll only loose a bit. It's fairly iconic.

But I can't help feeling for only a little more you could probably get a newer E63 with fewer miles.

I am assuming that things will calm down a bit on the second hand value side of things.

My E63 had a WBAC valuation of 29k in October, now it's 25k (with a handful more miles), which shows that (for my car, anyway) the market is going away from it.

The dealer offered me £26,500 for it, which suggests that he'll put it up for 32ish I think.

Anyway! I'm going to drive my new bus around whilst putting some cash away, which I think will also give me time to work out if I'm actually fine with driving something that big around or that I want something smaller (with a lot more poke) for when I'm not taking bikes with me.

I'm also making the assumption that second hand car prices will start to fall back in '22.

Good day today

2 Attachments

The sticker thing works as an aid, so you know when to start turning in to the space then the sticker in the back screen that when it lines up to the kerb to turn the other way.

At those fuel prices!!!!

The idea is that your car’s geometry doesn’t change so you ought to be able to come up with a routine that puts you in exactly the right place relative to the kerb and the car in front just by turning full lock at very specific points relative to each of them.

What I didn’t learn is how to figure out those points are for a car that wasn’t the instructors.