Ok, so what will an early/mid 90's or earlier rangie cost me?

Or a Punto 1.2 . I just drove from Wycombe to Burnley and back via Leeds on £35 and I'm not the most economical of drivers either.. Weird driving position though...

Mike P

Reply to
Mike P
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Puntos I can fit OK. Learn't to drive in a Mk2 diesel.

--=20 Carl Robson Audio stream:

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Reply to
Elder

In news: snipped-for-privacy@news.individual.net, Elder wittered on forthwith;

As far as I can tell it needs a gas ring, and a few bits wiring back in. I've never used the gas on it because it's not worked while I've owned it. Besides, I got the black LPG one so I didn't need to get it fixed.

Now I could do with fixing it.

The insurance on an old Rangie is spectacularly cheap.

Reply to
Pete M

Cheers, I'll check that out. Might just do it.

Reply to
Elder

Wow, about =A350 a year more than the Octavia for a petrol Rangie if it=20 has a thatcham approved alarm fitted (doesn't which category though). So which would do you reckon be the cheaper option? New shells at a mechanic, or new engine?

Not saying yes yet. Need to sort a buyer for the octie if I go for it.

--=20 Carl Robson Audio stream:

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Reply to
Elder

That's just crazy. If you need to put over a certain image via the car you're driving then the company should provide the car.

We don't *need* Passats, but they have the correct image for our roles, so the company provides them for us.

Reply to
SteveH

It's a plastic business where unless you started somepoint in the mid to=20 late 90's you are usually too old at 26. I'm amazed I'm still doing it.

But when the redundancy cull came round the 3 guys to get shot were the=20

3 oldest. Me at 37, Paul in his 50's (been programming since year dot=20 and was the first programmer the company employed to do real coding not=20 just HTML) and Mark, at 35. Oldest member of staff in the programming=20 and design dept there is now 28 I think.

We weren't on the most money either. A lot of the new guys who were younger but kept were on better packages=20 (some by upto =A310k a year) more. But if we asked for a rise, "nobody has= =20 got a rise this year", no, because everybody new is on higher salaries=20 to start with. I stuck 5 years of shit salary for share options and the=20 promise that it would be enough to pay off everybodies mortgages. Eventually they partially floated and then bombed. I now have 15,000=20 shares in a company, that while on paper they are worth more than they=20 cost me, because it is a paper traditional share certificate, aparently=20 the fee is pretty stupid to trade paper shares and might cost more than=20 they are worth.

In London, if you didn't have a Porsche, or Saab or a Golf GTi=20 convertible (for the city mind, you have a better car for the weekend at=20 the cottage), you made sure you got a Vespa or a Lambretta, not a Honda=20 or a Yamaha. The Italian scooters may be unreliable, but they had=20

*Class", and it is how good you look that matters.

I had neither I had about =A32k of mountainbike which I've been using=20 lately as local transport.

--=20 Carl Robson Audio stream:

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Reply to
Elder

Bollocks to all that.

I'll pick what I want to drive when I'm buying it with my own money and to hell with what my colleagues and boss think.

It's obviously a very shallow and shit industry to work in if your choice of private car will make and break your job prospects.

Reply to
SteveH

Seconded.

I know a guy who worked in the city doing website programming etc in the posh end of the business - the sort of thing Carl's talking about. He had a tired old Renault 5. Didn't seem to affect his job prospects at all.

cheers, clive

Reply to
Clive George
[snip]

I agree that this isn't the most sensible home for your cash.

If you need the capital locked up in the Octavia but you want a car for interviews, then sell the Skoda. Sigh as it is driven off. And get a taxi to your interview. Shoot if I'm available I'll give you a lift, as long as you don't mind a hardtop Saab diesel...

If you are determined that you want your own wheels, something I utterly understand of course, then what happens if you end up with an interview drive of say 30 miles each way? Sixty miles at an assumed "drive it like a nun" 15 mpg, that's four gallons of petrol. Then a second interview. Eight gallons. Run something small and petrol with an expectation of returning 30 mpg like you stole it, four gallons total. If money is getting that tight it'll make a difference.

Having to drive a V8 like you are on eggshells defeats the point of having a V8! ;)

Then what happens if you *get* the job and have to work for five weeks before getting paid? 300 hundred miles a week, multiplied by five, makes for one hundred gallons of unleaded. Call it 500 litres of fuel. That's £450 of petrol or say £200 in LPG.

Ouch. Yes, petrol costs aren't excessive if you don't use it, but thinking medium term, you will soon end up using it... maybe a lot... and it'll hurt.

Something like an early 1.1 Punto ought to be returning mid 40s over a 30 mile commute* so you'll be seeing £150 / £70 respectively. You may notice this...

*assuming you don't drive it like you stole it of course...
Reply to
DervMan

These days an R5 is like a 2CV or Beetle. It counts as odd. Especially the early ones with the broom handle in the dash. You could drive something really old sheddy and always breaking down as long as "it had character", or "it is an icon". Otherwise if it was just a family middle of the road couple of generations old pre banger, no hope.

Reply to
Elder

In that case, you *really* need this:

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Bags of retro-Gallic chic. Cheap to run. Tough as old boots. Lovely comfy interior and suspension.

Job sorted.

Reply to
SteveH

Now I don't usually like froggy motors, but that does look sort of appealing.

And the colour is nice and pretty too.

Reply to
Elder

This one didn't. It wasn't that old or interesting - just a little fading red car. It was exactly the sort of 'no hope' car you're trying to avoid. Yet it made absolutely no difference to his credibility (*).

Not everybody is as obsessed by cars as you or your ex-company people. A significant proportion of the world doesn't actually care - and that does include people working in the same area you want to.

(*) I did say he worked in London - which should give a clue as to how he got to work, or more relevantly, didn't get to work...

cheers, clive

Reply to
Clive George

Drive there in the Octy, park 300 yards away and ride your unicycle into the car park. If the employer likes quirky, you've got the job!

My point being: keep the Skoda dude.

Old Range Rover doesn't spell "Creative Eccentric" to me.

Reply to
Douglas Payne

Heh, I can drive a 106... If I take my shoes off. Have you tried a Smart Roadster?

Reply to
Douglas Payne

More 'run down backstreet pub landlord', really.

Reply to
SteveH

In news: snipped-for-privacy@news.individual.net, Elder wittered on forthwith;

The shells and sump gasket are in the boot right now. Would take about an hour to do.

The engine is a lot more complicated to swap, but I'd throw the shells in first and see if it rattles.

Understood.

Reply to
Pete M

In news:451c091f$0$21355$ snipped-for-privacy@news.zen.co.uk, DervMan wittered on forthwith;

If you're looking for a cheap motor, I've got a Scirocco GT (1.8 carb) G reg, quite tidy, will have 12 months mot on, or if you're mega skint I've got an immaculate old E reg Micra, will also have 12 months MOT on.

Reply to
Pete M

Couldn't afford a second mortgage to buy one unforunatley. other wise I=20 would love one. They look fun.

--=20 Carl Robson Audio stream:

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Reply to
Elder

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