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

CX30/Mazda Cx5 jobs, all in metallic red

That’s the best metallic red ever made. Fact. Looks so good.

What the strippers?

Evening car peeps!
My boss was telling me about his 1973 Ford Capri yesterday at our office Christmas meal, and how the guy/garage who used to service it for him is retired/has closed down. He's had the car for over 20 years and is determined to keep it, but can't find anyone to deal with it at the moment (south east London ideally). The car is currently non running. Any recommendations in that area or maybe even further?
Cheers!

Ooh pics - they’re reasonably simple to work on I would’ve thought?
Here’s my non Capri in the morning sun

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Hi, I don't have pics, he was showing it to me on his phone. Some kind of bronzy-orangy gold, with vinyl top. Looks lovely.
He doesn't have the time, between work and family to do it himself though, hence him wanting to find someone.
That DS is just so beautiful... The first car I ever been in, though I don't remember it... A friend of my parents had one and picked my mum and me from the hospital just after I was born!

My trip home from the hospital was in a Capri 2.0 GXL!

Good luck getting it repaired and the paint matched properly if you ever damage it though.

Such a good looking car. And unique as well, there's nothing else that really looks like one of those.

Anyone know who I should get to inspect an Audi in Hampshire? The guy who's selling it won't hold it while I wait to get it inspected and I would need someone to get there quite smartish if I decided to go ahead with it.

Is it normal for a dealer to not hold a car pending an inspection result? It seems slightly unresonable to me, but I've no idea.

If it’s a good deal and there’s interest without inspection, you can see why they wouldn’t want the hassle tbh. Might be fucked too, tho.

Yeah, I can totally see why he wouldn't.

I'd just prefer it if he said "since you've spent money on it, I wouldn't dream of selling it out from under you" and I can't determine whether him not saying it is normal process, or because it's a wreck!

If he’s a private seller, he’ll want the easiest way of getting the car gone and the cash in his pocket. He doesn’t really need to keep you happy as a customer, like a dealership would, as there’s less likelihood of any recourse down the line. An inspection may help with your peace of mind and aid the sale, but there’s not much benefit for the seller IMO.

Or there’s some right gremlins in there and he wants rid, haha.

He's a dealer rather than a private.

Or there’s some right gremlins in there and he wants rid, haha.

This really terrifies me buying a car! I don't know how people do it, I don't trust anyone!

I’d walk away.

Plenty of Audis in the world, no need to get one from a dealer who isn’t reasonable. If they’re not reasonable about this, they won’t be reasonable about warranty claims or anything else.

If it's a dealer, you're not going to them them to agree to an independent inspection.

The whole point of paying a premium at the dealer is so you can claim on the warranty for every little issue.

I'd want to check service history, MOT history, ask dealer to send you tread depth and brand and model of all 4 tyres, and marry the history up with the future service/maintenance schedule to see if there's any big bills coming up.
If it's 4wd is there a Haldex service coming up or DSG service? Depending on engine is it getting close to cambelt service and that's why it was traded in?

Ask for loads of pics and pref a video.

I’d walk away.

On (short) reflection I think this might be the answer. It looks close to what I want, but it's too far away to see it first, and even if I did go and see it I'd still want it inspected.

It's 4wd, but torsen I think and tiptronic rather than than S-tronic. I would very likely buy it if I could get it inspected without incuring risk. I'll maybe give a call on Monday and if he isn't willing to do a little work for the sale then I'll probably move on.

If it's a dealer, you're not going to them them to agree to an independent inspection.

Thanks, that's valuable for setting my expectations. In that case I need to be looking at dealers that are closer to me. I'm not sure how much a dealer warranty is worth on a 15 year old car anyway, but it's worth even less if the place is hours away.

I'm not sure how much a dealer warranty is worth on a 15 year old car anyway, but it's worth even less if the place is hours away.

They are sometimes provided by an independent warranty company where you can get the work done at any of their approved garages. BUT check the small print carefully. I once had a dual-mass flywheel go bang and the warranty wouldn't pay out because I had been 500 miles late with a service.

Try asking on 'The South London Retro Power group' on Facebook, pretty sure someone on there will know someone, plenty of Classic Fords in that group :)
https://www.facebook.com/groups/531017457345280

Anything out of warranty and Germanic is worth an inspection either by yourself if you know what your looking for, or someone else who knows what they are doing.

Mate just spent £30k on a 4 year old A6 only to find the sat nav doesn't actually work (part of the system is physically missing) and had a bunch of error codes reset before each time he viewed the car, only to obviously come back on when he was down the road. Because he's a fool he's keeping the car and getting repairs done to fix the codes, but the dealer (not audi) won't pay for the missing sat nav hardware. Looks like previous owner took it out, or was taken during auction/fleet disposal.

Fruity Loops.

:oB

Which model are you looking at?!

Looking at an A4 Avant - the V6 one, though I've got a nagging doubt that the 2L one would be a wiser move.

Does anyone have a large roof box that we could either borrow or just try out for size?

We're keen to buy one but I'm not convinced that we'd be able to store it, or whether we'd really need a big one.

Or if you're looking to sell one for a price that would make it worth a shot...

If it's any help I have a 2015 A4 Avant 2.0t quattro. It was well specced so even today it feels up to date with all the radar cruise control and auto braking etc.

Performance is great from the 2 litre turbo... A basic tune and it's at golf R territory. Comfortable, quiet and has reasonable handling. You wouldn't want the weight of the V6 up front.

But... Xenon ballast died at 40,000 Kay's - dealer fixed under warranty. That was over a grand.

Dsg and full transmission service consumes about $500 worth of oil and cost about $1800 inc. labour.

Brakes get eaten every 30,000 and are about 2k. I just had to replace the dual mass flywheel at a cost of 3k and the airbag ECU failed. Another 3k to repair. So yah, be careful. Mine had full service history and was an Audi approved used car so had 2 years factory warranty.

All prices are Aussie dollar mind. Probably cheaper in the UK.

Thanks - it sounds like you had some bad luck. I'm going a bit older so more basic spec, but equally more stuff will break due to age I guess...

I'm quite drawn to a relatively large engine, but the idea of a fairly easy re map on the 2L is attractive - either would be fine I imagine.

Shameless spam but in case anyone's after an aftermarket single DIN headunit with front and rear USB connection i have one for sale here

https://www.lfgss.com/conversations/382250/#comment16795025