Cars Bought And Sold in 2006 ?

Why not? He's on £24/hr so it's not like he can't afford it and even then, it was still a cheap car. He got it for a lot less than it should have gone for. More importantly, he knew what he was getting and that I'd not be ripping him off. He needs a car that'll do 500+ miles a week that won't break down on him. That was such a car and 30,000 miles later, still is.

Got the car for next to nothing from a dealer as the MOT had just expired and the bloke couldn't be arsed with the aggro. Completely straight, FSH, working Aircon and by the time I sold it I'd done the cambelt, a full set of tyres, a new exhaust and had the typical Rover

600 rear arch rot (which had just started to appear) cut out and replaced at a proper body shop.

Yebbut that was only to save yourself a trip to the scrappies.

:)

Not quite. The MK2 and MK3 Capri share exactly the same mechanics, the same interior and the same body panels save a minor difference in the front of the wings. If you look at the panel list at

you'll see the MK2 and MK3 panels are all the same apart from the wings. You'll find a lot of differences between the MK3 and MK4 Essie and the MK4 and MK5 Tina.

Regardless of the above, taking a profit from my brother would leave a nasty taste in my mouth for years to come.

Ba-dum..... tish.

Seriously, I was ready and willing to give my brother a Primera with 8 months' ticket and 4 months' tax on it and also my 155 with 12 months' ticket on it.

The only reason he didn't take me up on the offers was due to insuring his young, newly-qualified girlfriend on relatively high insurance group cars.

*whoooooosh*

Yep, Conor appears to have missed the bit and decided to fill the bvious gap set aside for a Ford MK 'whatever' Anorak .

Seasons greetings Conor :-)

Everyone in here is an anorak about something. Especially me.

I have thought and it is one option. Other is Volvo again cheapish, reliablish and comfy.

But then stupid side of me says RR/Disco Diesel for cheap and silly (and parts prices make up for fuel use) not fast but even slow can be fun. Another part of me says LPG something large (or buy something ready LPG'd). Still cheapish to run and can be either big and comfy or big and fast or a combination. Could be Yank, Could be German, could be big petrol 4x4.

But I certainly don't want anything too new again. I do like the idea of a big luxury diesel. Something silly about RWD, Diesel and clouds of black smoke. Call me sick.

But more than adqeuately off-set by the sheer volume of parts you'd need to keep it on the road, given that you're buying at the bottom end of the market.

Only worth it if it's already converted, given the cost of conversion is likely to be more than the car is worth.

Why not just keep the Octavia? - it's reliable, not *too* shoddy on fuel, fairly well equipped etc, etc.

Save the silly toys for when you can afford them.

Humm... sitting comfortably?

Sold the 218 VVC Coupe I'd bought just before Xmas to help fund the

216GTI VTEC conversion I wanted to do, and took a 1.1 106 in PX which became my runabout.

Sold the 216 GTi TC with the ill fated VTEC conversion due to it, in all honesty being a pile of s**te - made notes never to attempt such a thing again, especially when the running gear concerned is of an unknown quantity - when I say sold, I actually mean I broke it up and got back what I could for it.

At least I tried, eh?

Bought a red 216 GTI TC for spares, then sold the remainder to the local scrappie.

Sold the 106 to buy a low mileage white 216 GTi TC.

Then bought the salvage of my mates 106 Rallye wivva cammed and generally tweaked VTS lump.

Sold the white 216 GTI TC to fund the 106 Rallye I'd bought sans engine in order to drop in the running gear from the salvage one - this one, was a success.

Also bought a 309 1.3 off a mates brother which happened to have a towbar, and used this to drag a car trailer up to Morecambe, and then back again with said 106 loaded up - fair play to that car, it did an admireable job, and never again shall I mock OHV Simca derived Pug engines. ;-)

Sold the 309 onto a mate for what I paid for it (=A350) and who used this til the MOT expired - this was last seen attached to the back of one of my cars, as it was dragged to the scrappie due to alternator failure and a need for an MOT.

Bought a Category C Mk3 Golf TDI in need of some TLC, windscreen and an MOT. Did all that was needed, fitted a 'tuning box' and happily used this car for months without any grief - sold onto another mates brother who reports it's still pissing on most of his mates Saxos and Corsas whilst not falling to bits - not bad for something that had been so neglected prior to me buying it.

Only sold the above due to a change in job and the need for something not quite so 'cosmetically challenged', so bought my 406TD... which I then sold to a mate, and then bought back recently for peanuts after his mother in law twatted the back of it in the fog - one back light later, it's in daily use by a mate with bearly a scratch... amazing given how destroyed the front of her car was

I *might* get round to straightening / changing the exhaust when the weather gets warmer, as it's slightly kinked where the main bend before the back box is, meaning it's not quite clearing the bumper enough and the car has a tendency to draw in fumes from it if you open a window.

306TD - bought for a song, sold for a bit more but only because my current main car came up at the right price - a 1996 N reg Golf TDI with full history and 58k miles on the clock.

Miles two months later are now on 64,500. :-)

And then finally my current 216 GTI TC track day car... bought two weeks ago, I've not used it that much as of yet as I want to get everything sorted on it like the bigger brake conversion I've got, plus a powerflow pipe and a new rad.

And then of course, there was the bikes... ;-)

I'm tempted to get another Mk4 Golf TDI soon... that, or I'm still deliberating as to whether or not to piss off fairly soon to Australia, in which case 'everything must go'. :-)

--=20 JackH

Serio sully, have you driven a RR/Disco diesel in anger? They certainly are slow, but as far as driving them on roads is concerned, I think they aren't really a lot of fun. Unless your idea of fun is needing 2 miles of clear straight downhill road to overtake, a fat, wooly steering system with ~17 turns lock to lock and a rather unnerving propensity to roll which scares the shit out of your passengers in any corner above about 30mph.

Parts are cheap, but funny things wear out quite often, it's usually very easy to change them but especially at this time of year, it's time you'd rather not be spending on your back outside in the cold and damp.

They can be quite amusing if you learn how to offroad and start taking them places cars arent usully meant to go. Diesel ones are designed to run on low cetane saharan camel piss, so have some tuning potential.

I have considered a Disco or a Rane Rover on many occasions and have only ever driven one once. That one had cost the owner 500 quid in parts to get through an MOT. Parts associated with the front end drivetrain. The car had never been driven off road. So, paying for parts that you are, in effect, never going to use, but if you don;t spend the cash, you don't get your MOT. Sounds like fun. Then there's the handling. Galleon in a storm ? Yes - and then some.

Then there's the rust. Rear body crossmembers, boot floors, tailgates, door shuts (Check the ones on ebay which have this as disclosed faults, there are lots).

In short, I see the attraction of the V8 or a hard boosting diesel, but the flip side just isn't worth it.

9000 on LPG. YKIMS have fitted the bill, but it's sold. There's a tidy 3.0 Griffin on just now as well - for a very good price.

(I'll shut up now, I'm sounding like a scratched record).

Define 'economical'.

Transverse V6.

*shudder*

Never a good plan.

Why not?

Not even in an Alfa ?

That's fine, I've had two.

They're usually stupidly tightly packed into the engine bay, meaning simple stuff like changing the rear bank of plugs is a complete PITA. Then there's the drive belts being wedged up against the inner wing etc.

Wonderful engines, but I just wouldn't.

Those two issues would appear not to be a problem with the car I was suggesting

That's fine - I've had two.

That's not bad for a transverse V6, actually.

There has to be a catch somewhere.

Would you say that a big car with a transverse (3 1/2 cylinder wide) V6 is a worse prospect than a Tipo with a 5 cylinder wide I5?

(c:

Anyway, all transverse engined cars have the belts wedged against the wing, all cars have maintenance eccentricities. Especially 'interesting' ones.