Hello? Anyone home?

It's still a Fiat Tempra in drag, which means that in real terms, it's a Fiat Regata with plastic surgery and some new clothes.

RichardK

Wow, that's more than I earn in a week!

Get a new job, you pikey f*ck ;-)

I thought it might be a laugh :-)

I'm just hoping none of these parts ever need replacing ;-)

Although, I can have coilovers fitted for a grand...

Heh. They're significantly re-engineered, though. Use the same floor pressings, maybe, but that's about it.

Even the 156 is just a further development of the same thing.

Anyway - you say it as if the Tempra was a bad car. It wasn't. Especially the Weekend estate.

It's only £7,500 or so a year; and realistically speaking it's an estimate - about £91,000 on purchase prices of the cars I can remember the price of, and all assumed to be total loss which essentially wipes out the cars I can't remember the prices of.

And doesn't include maintenance costs except that the total-loss assumptions are partly based on scenarios like my '93 480, which went from £7000 to £1500 in 18 months, and had had £1,500+ spent on repairs in that period.

The additional is the money I've spent on contract hire cars over 8 years, which at "about £20,000" isn't too bad given the cars I've had for that money. I reckon an 8 year old RX8, with the repair costs thereof, would be more than £20Ks worth of losses ;)

Still, it's a scary thought because I could easily have financed a brand-new mid-range car when I was 17, kept it for 7 years (a reasonable time, I feel), then bought the same thing again but new, and been rather better off. Hence my determination to get my C6 - kept coming back to big Citroens when I was buying bangers, and I reckon I'll be happy with a new one with a warranty. After 7 years, at £25K and assume total loss, I could have kept a second classic car to maintain my interest (I doubt it'll be the MR2 even with a V6, but it'd be a good candidate!) well and still be well ahead!

RichardK

No, the Tipo and Tempra were perfectly good cars - I really liked my

1.4DGT, and my Tempra 1.8i.e. would have been great if the subframe hadn't rotted out. (Also, when did you last see a Tipo 16v? They used to have quite a bit of streetcred).

But they really weren't very popular outside of the "new cheap car" mentality, in a way which Fiat seems to have cracked with the Punto and the Bravo/Brava (then lost with the Stilo).

And the fact that the 156 is "yet another Strada variant" is why the 159 holds no appeal for me. I like the headlights, but headlights do not make a good car.

RichardK

The 159 isn't in an way related.

It was destined to be a platform shared with Saab, but ultimately, it was only ever used by the Fiat group.

I was thinking 50% summer, 30% winter max, maybe 60% in the summer. I'm not one of these willing to risk 100% to save a few quid, then blow

5 times that on putting right the problem. A more frequent filter change or a secondary inline prefilter is a small price to pay.

Celsior air shocks, =A3600 each. ST205 GT4 figure of 8 joints =A31000 fitted. ST205 shocks =A3250 each compared to =A380 for the ST185 (only toyota make= =20 the superstrut casings and won't license them) anyone else making ST205=20 coilovers and struts has to buy them from Toyota at their full price. Celsior cambelt =A3900 fitted at least (depending on whether they go with= =20 book price or actual time). Quoted 11 hours.=20

--=20 Carl Robson Audio stream:

Celsior air shocks, £600 each. ST205 GT4 figure of 8 joints £1000 fitted. ST205 shocks £250 each compared to £80 for the ST185 (only toyota make the superstrut casings and won't license them) anyone else making ST205 coilovers and struts has to buy them from Toyota at their full price. Celsior cambelt £900 fitted at least (depending on whether they go with book price or actual time). Quoted 11 hours.

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If we're having a "my parts are most expensive" c*ck waving contest - I'm going to win. I'll just starting quoting body panels prices.

Ouch.

All these sums. You're like Dervman's evil twin. (The car choosing equation doesn't always = greatest mpg.) (c:

Anyway, surely at least part of you is glad you didn't just have 1 mid range new car and a classic for 7 years at a time? Variety being the spice of life and all that.

Oh I don't know, the chinese could build a small family runabout out of the scrap value of one of my wings.

Hmmmm, I think you need to price up Fiat 124 Spider panels..... I did, which is why I got shot of mine.

It looks so much like a 156 with a nosejob, I was convinced it was the same car. Good work, Alfa :D

RichardK (shared with modern Saab?! Ugh! There's a horrid thought).

I think Saab wanted to ditch their connections with late 80s Chavaliers.

We've just done that. It's nice to wake up with that slightly smug feeling that the car will still be where you left it, as you left it.

IME swapping cars is never cheap. Even if you sell your current car for a grand a buy another for a grand, you tend to lose out on insurance, and the new one always has bits that need doing, whereas you'd just done all the bits on the old one etc. And ISTR you've had more cars than PeteM. Hence my plan of sensible work car and silly weekend Golf.

OTOH the other day I worked out that if I eventually move closer to work and ride my bike in, I'd save probably save £2-3K a year in running costs on a car. The other good news is that work is 10 minutes from a race track :D.

£600 or so gets you a full coilover setup for a MK2 Golf. About £150 will polybush the entire suspension. £300 gets you Eibach roll bars.

Seriously, for the price of fettling the suspension on your car I could fit a 1.8T and a few more mods.