Bye, XR4i

Jeeeez, why the hell are we discussing when you can get an RX8. Do it. Do it now!!

Well, yes.

Because the used practical cars you listed are a: both FWD, and also are both going to be as old as my gf's Scorpio (or merely feel as old in the case of the Alfa), and need insane amounts of maintenance replacing crap. My 1999 Subaru is doing that trick right now, and some jammy git is going to get it when I've replaced the rear brakes, rebuilt the calipers, serviced it again, for peanuts.

Not that offering it for £2750 has even had a bite. For a car which is all over Autrader for over £4.000.

I've done the used practical car thing before, and it is depressing. I either do the 'insanely cheap banger' or 'contract hire' thing, and either way if it costs more than £250 a month I'm not very interested ;)

(The Sera does actually get more than that spent on it, scarily. However, it is a sort of 'restoration' project and I'm obsessive about getting all the new parts I can before the supply dries up, so it gets trim and so forth. And the Sera is a hobby-car).

Richard

And it's great owning a car that smells permanantly of unburnt fuel.

Is the MINI's engine of british origin or something?

ps: RX8 RX8 RX8 RX8 RX8 RX8 RX8 RX8 RX8 RX8 RX8 RX8 RX8 RX8 RX8 RX8

Chrysler / Rover joint venture IIRC. Built in Brazil.

And after I'd taken so long to learn what it looks like, what engines come with it and so on? Dammit!!

Nick

It's worse, it's a Chrysler / Mercedes joint venture, built in Brazil. Isuspect that BMW do not enjoy purchasing an engine from Daimler / Chrysler........

DC

Chrysler BMW, before Chrysler became part of Mercedes.

I bet there's some guy in accounts payable in Mercedes who has to grin as he reads the statement and sees the huge bank transfer in from BMW - who must be the biggest outside customer for a Mercedes engine...

In my book it has total s**te performance.

Fraser

In my book, I have a little confidence in my ability to squeeze some fun out of a small engined car, so it has 'reasonable' performance for a 1.6.

Seriously, the speed limit on nearly all the roads around here is 60mph. My Beetle can do 110, the 116 can do 125, and I know that in the Beetle I can embarrass most gung-ho reps in vastly better cars in terms of power to weight, just by virtue of knowing the roads and knowing how to drive a little.

Of course, proper drivers in more powerful cars should be able to leave the Beetle for dead, but I either never catch them up, or don't notice them as they pass safely and quickly ;)

Richard