Well, I phoned about that Celica GT4 that is very local.

In that case, he must have history from about 20k miles upwards. In which case it should be fine....... but I doubt this is the case.

You do realise that a GT4 is likely to cost you lots more to run than a s**te old Saab, don't you?

Seriously, what you need is a Pug 405 Turbot Diesel.

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I've looked at fuel consumption figures, and they seem similar. insurance should be about same, and it's in the same tax bracket.

Best bit is, the missus approves of the shape, and the size. just need to sell the Saab now.

Biggest killer for me on the Saab was spending on the stuff that the last owner "Forgot about", or that his independant bodged. Every other indy I've spoken to have said "Oh, not those guys" when I mentioned them, but when said where I normally take it, oh they are OK, they know what they are doing" If it is as straight as he says, then it might just be good enough to get it's annual service with the same dealer, and get any repair work through a jap knowledgeable local garage.

I know things like 4WD will cost more to keep in fettle but for a car like that, I think it might be worth it.

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Nearly forgot, round my way most of them have been, or are Taxis, they are worse than Bluebirds for that round here.

For what it's worth, this shape of GT4 is one of the cars that I have always looked at and thought - "I'll have one of those some day".

Much as I love the thought of an Integrale, the GT4 gives me less of the jitters. I would have one in a minute.

Go for it.

John F - driver of sensible car ( diesel passat ) and MPG obssesive - but hey let's live a little for once.

In fact, I could be seriously tempted into getting rid of the se7en and getting one of these if this rain keeps on for much longer.

No!!!

Keep the Saab, get a s**te old diesel as a runabout, save the Saab for best.

I'm picking up my S13 200SX tomorrow, and I'm getting a scabby Corsa diesel in a week or so - rack the bulk of the miles up on the Corsa, use the 200SX for fun the rest of the time... and the reason I can justify this, is because the S13 is regarded as a classic, I've insured it fully comp for £268 a year including declared mods, and limited to 5k miles a year.

I'm sure you could insure the Saab in this way, at least if you are over

25... and if you are, email me and I'll put you in touch with the company I'm going with.

The Corsa is going to be just under £30 a month, fully comp with 4 years NCB, but that's including pukka breakdown cover, business use etc.

The 216 GTI Twin Cam that is departing on Saturday (and much will it be missed), costs more than both the above put together, to insure!

-- JackH

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Can't do the too car thing, no parking.

Move then :-P

-- JackH

Just remortgaged, not really an option, and to get a bugger or nicer house with decent parking would cost twice what ours is worth now.

Hmm, have you tried it 'down at the YMCA'?

-- JackH

Oh Bugger. LOL.

Have you gone mad ?

It's a high-performance, highly-complex Japanese Turbo car, with huge mileage, approaching two-thousand quid !

Maintenance costs are gonna be LARGE.

Ontop of that, it's gonna drink a bucket-load more fuel than the SAAB The whole car-change thing was because you wanted more economy !

A. The 4x4 transmission won't have liked them one bit. B. People who put large wheels on, don't give their cars an easy life :)

Avoid !

Have you looked at TIs ? You can pick up a late low-mileage minter for your

2-grand. Cheap to buy, cheap to run, cheap to insure, parts are cheap, maintenance is simple. Fills all your criteria doesn't it ?

I stand by my idea, 405 TD, Mondeo TD, summet along these lines, pure commuting cheapness, and wait until the oppertunity presents itself where you can afford to run a high performance car.

I've got a mate with one that has all the group a rally spec stuff on it like the water to air intercooler. With a big exhaust, a motec a whole bunch of other bits and pieces the thing is about 350 horsepower. It is seriously fast and it is one of the few fast cars I've driven that you could chuck the keys to you mum, so she could take it to the shops. Great car. He's blown a few ceramic turbos by doing silly things with the boost but other than that it has been reliable as hell. It's best feature is Carlos Sainz signed the dash.

Fraser

Agreed.

If you can afford it, then run the SAAB.

If you can't, then run a cheap Diesel.

To get an even higher performance car, that's gonna cost you a HEAP more to run, is just loonacy :)

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I think so.

Should be about similar fuel consumption. But it isn't in as dire need of emergency minor treatment as the Saab. If I had a workshop, I could do the mechanical stuff myself for about £90 worth of parts, but with engine out to do the mounts, and about 4 hours to do the bushes+parts, could be looking at minimum £500, maybe closer to £900 to do the job at at my local freindly, and much cheaper than Saab, independant (he charged my £250 to do the camchain including parts, when the parts on their own are £400 from Saab).

Originally I wanted cheaper, but like people have said, I would be bored stupid, otherwise I would have picked a bog standard cheap Skoda Felicia, but even one of them would cost similar to what the Celica has cost me, so I decided to go with something that costs similar to run, and is further away from needing major surgey. Yeah, I know crazy isn't it, but I have a nose for cars that will just keep on going, and this is one of them.

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Too late now. I'm running one.

I could afford to run it, I could afford the day to day remedial maintenance, it was the nasties lurking that the previous owner had neglected (or rather his specialist had) that caused the pain, this one has actually been Toyota maintained for almost it's entire life, right up until last year.

I did seriously consider it, but diesels in my price range looked to be on the border edge of money pit, or had been taxis.

Performance is similar, mileage is similar (still less than average for age), and age is newer, so less parts will have reached the critical replacement stage.

uses same fluids, has similar oil change intervals, and is in a lot better bodily condition than the Saab. Mechanicals can be fixed (even if costly) body cosmetics look far worse, and are even more expensive to fix.

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Mine isn't the Sainz edition, it's the bog standard that it is based on, so it just has the top mounted air to air IC, which looks in remarkable condition.

But there is always room to upgrade to the Sainz Chargecooler later if all goes well.

I wouldn't be counting your chickens just yet, not until you've had the clonking from the rear end looked at anyway.

GT4s that have been run on big wheels are very likely to have been thrashed, and at that kind of mileage, it's not unlikely it's going to need expensive work doing to it.

I may well be wrong, but that clonking doesn't sound too good to me.