What Car Should I Buy?

I'd sell you my Volvo for £3,000, which is less than I spent on the engine rebuild by quite a long way.

The car has 161K on it, but the important bits (engine/turbo/tyres/clutch/brakes/suspension) all have less than 10K.

The engine would be classed as "built", and in the configuration that it is currently in will provide 400 horsepower with a bigger turbo/injectors/intercooler.

It's currently running around 100 below that, depending om ambient conditions.

As you are well aware, before the engine rebuild it would do 146 mph with three bikes, you and one other person in it.

It costs (based on current petrol prices) around £0.25 per mile for petrol, and my insurance (fully comprehensive including business use) was £406 this year, including the declared modifications.

Do you actually want to sell your car? My family might not talk to me if I become a 'Volvo driver'. I don't think there's the same stigma attached over here. :)

I will sell you my Porsche for about £3K

Bike unfriendly. Out.

This is the man who cannot keep a phone for longer than three months- he'll have four cars during the first year.
Anyway, he's an IT contractor, he can afford to run his car on whale oil if he wants to so this part of the discussion is pretty pointless.

My previous car was owned by my parents from new in 1990 and only sold by them a month ago. I owned it for the last maybe 10 years? Phones are fun, cars are tools. But if I'm going to buy one I want a nice tool. :)

Do you actually want to sell your car? My family might not talk to me if I become a 'Volvo driver'. I don't think there's the same stigma attached over here. :)

I don't want to sell it, but with the new job I'm routinely doing 400 miles in a day in the car, and much as I hate to say it but a diesel might well be a good idea.

That said it was doing 34 mpg yesterday, but that was sticking religeously to 70 mph, which saw old women in invalid carriages flashing me to get out of their way.

can get my track bike in my corsa without taking any wheels off. I don't think anything is too small to get a bike in.

TT bike is trickier - the aerobars make the whole unit very long.
I used to get my road bike across the back seat of the Mitsu with the front wheel off but the TT bike wouldn't have fit across. That's a med size family sedan.

All I can say, is that if you buy a car from eBay... put the link on LFGSS first and click-through to make the bids.

What would lfgss make off a £5k car purchase?

Heh, there is a diesel Sierra pick-up on eBay, quite tempted by it myself.

Don't its not low emissions zone exempt..

Get a small car. I can fit 2 bikes (just with front wheels taken off) and two people in my fiat 500. £40 to fill up the tank and it does around 65mpg.

I also got a banging sterio

Get a big car. You're an adult. Get a BMW series 5 estate or Audi A4 Avant. Buy a bike rack and support rides.

Don't its not low emissions zone exempt..

Fair point, I'm just inside the boundary and it would be annoying to have to pay that to go to the builders merchants.

//Citroen Berlingos //, and they are unrivalled as cyclist's cars, // The 2.0HDi is lovely.

Tester didn't say that they are out the other side of cool, or that they come with built in bike security loops;

TT bike is trickier - the aerobars make the whole unit very long.
I used to get my road bike across the back seat of the Mitsu with the front wheel off but the TT bike wouldn't have fit across. That's a med size family sedan.

I bet you £50 that your TT bike would fit straight into the back of my car with the rear seats down, with no fucking about with removing wheels etc.

Neil, I fitted an oven and a fridge on the back of car like yours.

Fair point, I'm just inside the boundary and it would be annoying to have to pay that to go to the builders merchants.

Heres a link to the map, you are not just inside the boundary unless forest hill has moved to past croydon.

http://www.tfl.gov.uk/roadusers/lez/17678.aspx#tkt-tab-panel-2

2l mondoe is better than th 1.8 on fuel by enough for me to notice

I bet you £50 that your TT bike would fit straight into the back of my car with the rear seats down, with no fucking about with removing wheels etc.

Your car is a massive wagon.
I was talking about a Corsa using my Magna sedan for comparison.

My massive wagon has a lower roof line than a Corsa, oddly.

Anyway- what you want (well, what I want, actually) is this:

Yeah, it was obviously the car height I was thinking about when talking about size, obviously.

Fuck it. GTR with bike rack and Mal can get her own car. Job done.

Well, to a degree the wind only "sees" the frontal area, the longer the car the better the CD is (a gross generalisation, I know).

The wagon 850 goes through the air more cleanly than the saloon due to that.

So- larger, but with better aerodynamic performance than a Corsa, and you can put 4 fully assembled bikes in the back.

I really do want a Stagea, that said.

I'd have one but can't be arsed sourcing weirdarse imported vehicles. These days cars don't do it for me.

Heh, there is a diesel Sierra pick-up on eBay, quite tempted by it myself.

Link.

Man I wish I lived here in the states.
So many epic cars!

I'd have one but can't be arsed sourcing weirdarse imported vehicles. These days cars don't do it for me.

BANG

I had that very page open already :P

Link.

Man I wish I lived here in the states.
So many epic cars!

TaDA

So, if I just say picked the top one in that list and bought it, what else do I need to do? Some kind of ownership transfer, check to make sure it's not stolen, MOT, insurance. Actually should probably do the insurance shit first coz it'll be expensive as hell right?

How do you find what insurance group the car fits into?