...what sort of valuation would one put on a, what in the pictures looks a very tidy, K plate Sapphire Cosworth 4x4, allegedly running something like
315bhp with 364lb of peak torque and which had £5k spent on a major rebuild last year, and which is currently sitting on genuine Escort Cosworth five spokes (I believe he has the standard rims for it as well)?Only, someone's just offered me one as a straight swap for the Passat...
-- JackH
In news: snipped-for-privacy@individual.net, JackH decided to enlighten our sheltered souls with a rant as follows
I'd go for it.
Start it from cold and listen for piston slap (they all do it slightly, but major piston slap is a pain to sort)
4x4 gearboxes aren't the strongest. Esc Cos wheels and tyres tend to catch the arches. Beware of rust above rear trailing arm mounts and on front inner wingsIf that's ok and it's not riddled with accident damage, go for it. They're brilliant!
Ahhh... the joys of people who don't read ads properly.
He wants cash on top... and not a small amount either, so scrub that idea.
Someone else has asked if I'd do a deal on a Mitsi FTO - quite tempted as unusually for one of these, it's manual... but alas, it's also the non MIVEC one.
Someone else asked me if I'd like a 'hassle free straight swap' for an *M* reg Omega Elite, and is now moaning about my, what I thought was actually quite polite, reply ffs...
-- JackH
In news: snipped-for-privacy@individual.net, JackH decided to enlighten our sheltered souls with a rant as follows
Cossie is worth between £2500 and £7500 depending on condition.
There's a surprise.
They're mad, sound great, ride is abysmal, but non-Mivec? C'mon Jack, ffs!
I like Omega Elites. 3.0 is loaded with toys.
Well yes... in it's favour, it's a 96... and yes, the exhaust note on those is divine if you fit a decent loud pipe.
I had a 24v Senator, which was reputedly an oasis of build quality by comparison.
That aside, mint Passat TDI on a private plate and half decent alloys that's a few years newer, and which books at over twice as much - I think even you, with your hatred of all things oil burner like, would consider that a pisstake on his part, to even ask, never mind then email me all sorts of crap.
-- JackH
I don't know which year corresponds with K-plate but a Sapphire 4wd Cosworth is at least 12 years old. It's nowhere as reliable as the Passat. They 're completely different cars too.
Drive a Cosworth more than 30.000 km a year and it becomes a moneypit, experienced and proven! Tires, brakes, clutch, turbo, gearbox, driveshafts, everything goes. Every rebuild is just an excuse to install some extra bits. Ground clearance is insuffissant: lowering springs by the tons but nothing to raise the car an extra inch. I fitted Groupe A -suspension so it could take speed bumps at any speed instead of crawling over them at 5 kph.
Oh yes : off cam it's a regular Ford Sierra with limited appetit for fuel. But you won't spend a lot of time off cam: there are Mercedesses to scare, Scoobs and Porsche's to dangle with. All very amusing, there is not more needed to see fuel comsumption go to 30-40 l/ 100 km.
Above 300 HP it eats clutches, the ceramic ones stand alonger but are a pain in the ass to get starting. At MOT I drive the car on the ramps, at the brake testing euipement: most technicians just stall the car.
Drive a Cosworth every day and becoming a hard core street hooligan is lurking: I started to realise when most corners came up at about 200 kph and being taken drifting.
My advice -free so don't complain about its worth: buy the Cossie when you have the money and place for it, put the same amount on the bank and expect to loose it within a year. Be certain that the Cosworth is not your only method of transport, you need an economical and reliable car to go shopping, go to work etc.
Depend on a Cosworth and you hate it quite rapidely; use it for what it is made and you'll love it for ever. I do: I love it now (450 HP at the crack), but there has been a time when I was wondering wether I should torch it.
Last word for the Passat: grey mouse, of which there are about 144 in a dozen. That why they are made, that why they are sold. It's a car that I forget when I step out and close the door; I don't forget the Cossie: I put it under a blanket. Couldn't imagine me putting a blanket on a VW... unless it was Bentley badged.
Tom De Moor
you will need to have a second car to run about in the rims don't work so swap them over again for the normal ones (escort ones are the wrong offset) but that sounds like just the right side of a stage one and it shouldn't be too much
if it's a straight swap then it's worth it if you have to put £5k ontop of it then it's not
well, it depends on how much your passat is worth don't it :)
Might be a good deal.
Can you put in a bid for the other three, so you can fit them to something as a set?
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