I like the Octie. Nice comfortable, economical. But I've driven 38 miles in 3 weeks thanks to unemployment. Petrol cost isn't an issue if you are driving much. And I might as well have the toys when I am.
I'm hoping that with full service history, just topped the the 100k=20 miles and average paint but very unworn interior and an MP3 headunit and=20 the original radio cassette as well I should get back about =A31500. If I can find something cheap and fun for about =A31k I've got another=20 months mortgage covered.
I still need a car for interviews, just don't need it so often. I've even thought about a Mahindra jeep, but they are pig slow, the rust=20 was a dealer fit, the soft top isn't exactley saab fit weather seal=20 standard.
That was one option. Although in the business I'm in, what you turn up in can make a difference to how they look at you.
If it is cheap and nasty, they don't think you are worth the money. If it is expensive and flash, you must have earned it. If it is old tatty but strange and weird, you will fit right in.
Sounds mad I know.
Crap car, decent suit they don't get you, weird car decent suit they think quirky. A lot of web design houses and ISPs like quirky, especially in the design and development sections. When they show a customer round they like the customer to think a bunch of creative eccentrics who are lovingly crafting the work, not slaving for a wage. Like they expect the network engineers to have food stains down last weeks t-shirt and smell of BO. They are stereotypes, but client suits like to have their stereotypes re-enforced when they are spending mucho big.
Or consider a 1.1 base spec 106. I got from home, to Lincoln, round Lincoln, to Loughborough, to Lincoln, to Home on £15... And I'm not known for my ability to drive economically.
I have this theory that the cars with the most potential to thrill / excite / please you are also the ones with the most potential to ruin you as well.
That's why I have a silver Golf 1.6....zzzzz (and the Sylva which I've just bought a ZX10 engine for, but you know what I mean).
That's also why you should really hold onto the Skoda.
Not that exciting, but you know it's not going to bite you. Ever. There's no way on earth that a grands worth of V8 Range Rover can be considered as trustworthy. It would drain your wallet like you wouldn't believe. Even just sitting there, every day you will think of a job that needs doing on it. And another thing, it weighs 157 Tons and handles like a drunken camel with a dodgy hip.
Don't get me wrong, I've always wanted one, but I've never actually done it. (Probably never will either).
I bought a '91 "J" plate Vogue SE with LPG for £500 in June, ran it for two months and sold it for £850.
Apart from the Aircon, everything worked, it drove well and was mega-reliable. The leather was unmarked - even the memory seats and seat heaters worked.
I sold it cheap because it was to a mate and I was in desperate need of quick money. It was worth about £1500.
if it is the same size inside as a 1.1 Saxo, my knees wedge under the=20 dashboard. Know I tried to drive one. It was one of the silliest cars=20 I've tried to drive. I had to wrap my knees arround the steering wheel,=20 and that normally works. This time though, I was wedged against the=20 front edge of the dash. Could barely operate the pedals.
It is a job were image is everything. Seriously. The whole industry is so driven by Sales, yet so dependant on Weirdos that it is about as shallow as a piss puddle on a hot day.
My ex-boss (who still has a job there) went into debt to get an AMG E class to replace his rusty old Corolla executive, just to keep up with the other managers. When he got made a director(operational not board), he sold that and took bigger hock, to buy a fully specced S500. Nobody working as a departmental director should be driving arround in an S500 at 28. He earned well, but not that well. A decent one of them would cost about the same as my house. And his was fully specced, rear electric seats with massage facility, DVD/tv tuner the lot.
He could have carried on driving the same rusty corolla that scraped every MOT for the 12 years in his posession. But he didn't. He got made manager and felt he had to buy the right car to keep up.
I have thought about it. But what you are asking is a bit much. one month mortgage payment is about =A3500. I would need that clear out of whatever I get for the Octavia.
So far, about 25 applications, 10 cold emails to all the local small design/development companies in 3 weeks. Only 2 interviews (one was broadband support) didn't get one. Was supposed to hear yay or nay about the other one yesterday but didn't so far. Problem is, when I got made redundant in June, I was lucky and jumped in to the next job. But with him have temporary cash flow issues and not able to keep me on (few contracts that didn't make it), all the jobs I would have applied for have either been taken, or flooded with applicants by this years crop of multimedia and computer science graduates.
I know experience counts, but 10 years of doing what is asked and learning as you need, kind of puts you at a disadvantage compared to a bunch of whizzkids who have had 3 years cramming the newest most requested technology everyday, plus looking at the ones I've met, worked part time as consultants and freelancers to get commercial experience.
When I started doing it, if you could make a webpage and have a human conversation with a client you were a god, the commercial internet was so young.
Now every kid can slap together a site so easily. And they have youthful enthusiasm/stupidity so they are so uch quicker. I was was old getting into this business at 27. Most people where between 21 and 23. Now I'm
10 years older and they seem to start making money at 15-18.
Yeah, I do a bit of that. I'm working on a little personal project too. Something using everything I know, plus a few other tricks I want to pickup.
Not sure. Might be time to change the shocks/spring/brakes soon. I don't fancy that hit. Maybe a few miles yet but the brakes definatlay aren't as sharp when I bought it back in easter, and it definatley dives and pitches more than it did. I don't imagine anything is dangerously worn out yet. Just a little worn.
Ah, that is the answer I wanted. Maybe not the consensus, but one good answer from someone who has had a=20 few is gold.
I know arround near me, and in Manchester gas is everywhere. I imagine=20 if you are driving them, it is good arround the pool too. Did it need much mechanicals before it was ready to rock too.
If I decide to make a "stupid" move, is there anything on them in=20 particular I should be looking for, and is there anything that sounds=20 serious, good for beating them down by hundreds, but costs pennies? What=20 are they like to work on for general stuff (imagine working under isn't=20 an issue even without a jock or a lift)
That is very tempting. Even the "other engine" option. What is missing from the LPG kit, what does it need to gt working? That=20 would be the killer app for me. Would get the price down to everyday useable, rather than just comfort=20 when I used it.
Need to sell the Octavia. And need to convince the sensible one that=20 buying a cheap 4x4 really will help :(
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