Next car?

Get yourself a Proton and you'll get a car with 4/5 doors and 12 months MOT, still saving £300 on the above price!

Wifey loves hers!

Another car for my possibles list: SAAB 9000.

No. Never. Not Ever. Did you see the bit about handling? And not being made out of cheese?

BMW E34 520/525? Certainly you can pick them up for

And Scirrocos / Audi Coupes if they last well.

Certainly a possibility. I like the sound of an SRi, assuming a) they're not hideously expensive b) the inside's better than the inside of my mate's 405, and c) the insurance people don't murder me.

Had thought about that. Smells a bit council estate though.

Uglier than my Volvo FFS :D.

I've heard stories about Rovers in crashes.

Both possibilities, but I reckon they're too likely to be afflicted with the tinworm.

They've got EFi too haven't they? And lovely lovely RWD. Right. I need one in black, with leather. I can manage without chrome wheels and window tints though,

Defo not expensive although the 309 variety may be harder to find (XSi is the same model with 3 doors btw). Nice interior, probably velour bucket seats, lecy windows, but lots more stuff in 405.

So. 325i would be better though, could probably get a slghtly tatty one within budget. A mate has one and they're fecking good fun. he's just fitted an LSD to his, and were both out doing the same event tonight, so will be interesting to see who stacks it first ;)

Thats why they're cheap. Handles better than its 306 brother, which handles bloody well anyway! Thinking about one for my next car after Chritsmas.

My old one didnt seem too bad (and i crashed it, although very slightly). nice engine as well.

Maybe, but you never know, could find a solid one for easily under #500. Well worth a looksie!

This guy has a couple you might be interested in.

Some early 85-89 9000's can look tatty (doors etc) - but you'll never find structural rot...built like tanks.

Seriously, you'd get one for under £500 if you're not looking for a minter, or alternatively, I know someone who has a fairly tidy 75 that may well go for around that price.

Problem with older VAG stuff is that it rots in hidden, expensive places.

Surely you mean 306? - 309 was the fairly ugly stretched 205, and, ISTR the hotter ones were only badged as a GTi regardless of the number of doors they had.

Also how about (don't baulk..) a sierra 2.0 twinky EFI? German built ones seem pretty solid - picked a late 92 car for peanuts as a stop gap, goes really well. Handles OK too - nice arse out action in the wet :-)

I've been tempted before, but read the twinks are a bit fragile.

In news: snipped-for-privacy@uni-berlin.de, Doki decided to enlighten our sheltered souls with a rant as follows

Ok, ignore the rust and buy my XR4x4. It's solid enough to last another couple of years, reliable, handles well, cheap to fix, MOT til April, decent tyres etc...

to you, £300...

Mmm. Straight 6 lovelyness. Terrible shame about Merc interiors though. There are three ways to do luxury, IMO, and that's Jag / Rolls / Bentley style walnut and leather, Audi style black black and black or Swedish half car half B&O hifi style. Grey leather and great expanses of plastic don't do much for me. That said, that Merc goes stark staring mental when you flick it into Sports mode. Probably not half as brutal as my uncle's Caterham, but you're too tightly strapped in to tell in one of those :P.