Re: Oh borrocks

Basically, you'll be disassembling most of the front of the car so you

> can get at the front of the engine...

Hmmm, worth checking, but on the B5 cars, you just undo a few bolts and the slam panel / radiator / bumper etc hinge out of the way.

Not sure if the A8 would be the same, but worth looking into.

Reply to
SteveH
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Sir would get a decent sensible car for what he'd get for the A8 and Evo... and if he added in the money from the RX7 as well, he'd get a *really* sensible car... and you'd still have the MX5 and 911 as toys.

I'm not saying you should get a Passat, but as an example, whilst browsing round eBay the other day I spotted a TDI Sport like mine on a 54 plate with

78k on the clock - fetched £4100, which is ridiculously low given what they were fetching not so long ago (1).

Ideal car I'd have thought for the sort of trips you do across Europe, i.e: long distance motorway driving?

Not that it'll help you out right now, but I'd be having a serious think along those lines if I were you when you get back. Fair enough, if getting something 'sensible' meant flogging off all the toys, then yes, I could see why you wouldn't want to, but like I say, you'd still have the 911 and MX5 in reserve.

In the meantime, maybe it's time to find out whether or not a local hire company will let you take something out of the country for a week or however long it is you were planning to be away for - much as I love MX5s, I'm not sure I'd want to do 100s of miles in one, especially with a bucket seat.

(1) As in, I paid £6495 for mine on an 03 in January... even factoring in the usual losses you incur if buying from a dealers, I dread to think what it would actually fetch now on the open market, given the state it's in.

Reply to
JackH

That'll be the RX7 that has been advertised for months and has yet to register a single expression of interest, I gather?

That's what the 911 is there for, at least once sort the roof seals.

We took it to the Luberon earlier this year, and that's farther than I'll be going this time. Mind you, that was with the standard seat in it. At least I've got the hardtop on it, that'll make it more quiet.

That said, I hear what you're saying. I'm seriously thinking of flogging all three as you suggest (well, I'm actually trying to do that atm) but I'll probably be looking for something like an older Civic SiR as a practical hatchback kinda thing. With a little poke.

Reply to
Timo Geusch

True.

I quite like that car as it goes... seems very well screwed together, and when you lightly breathed on the loud pedal when you first had it and was running it in, it felt like it had plenty of poke. :-)

But even if I wanted it, I don't have the money for it right now... fortunately. ;-)

Ok.. still not what one could view as a 'sensible car for all seasons / reasons' though, is it?

Aye, that'll make a difference.

Maybe mother could perch on the luggage rack, assuming it has one.

...and all the other problems associated with older cars - things like brake lines perish etc.

That, and the SiRs are loads of money.

I had another idea, actually.

Unless I'm mistaken, you're a contractor, not a permie?

Not sure what you set against your tax at the moment in terms of getting to work, but assuming you're working under your own limited company, couldn't you go and speak to SteveHs' new best mate, Ling, about leasing something?

He muttered something to me the other day about a Civic Type R costing something like £211 a month... which you could get your company to finance and set against your tax.

Yes, it's a financial bind... but then when you look at how much money you've been throwing at some of your collection, maybe it wouldn't be such a bad idea after all?

And speaking of which... anyone else know the ins and outs of technically shifting a car you've bought onto a limited company you've set up?

I'm almost certainly going self employed in the very near future and wouldn't mind shifting the Passat over as an asset of the limited company, which then of course has to stump up the monthly payments for it.

Reply to
JackH

Well, not for carrying a lot POV, but if there's just Timo + Mrs it'd do for most stuff. They're comfy too for long distances - although I think Timo's is a classic shape one, and I've only had experience of the newer ones really.

Anyway, a mate and I managed to get enough in the Vee to be able to go away for a few days and stay with some other mates. That included too much beer, sleeping bags, beer, clothes, beer, a load of food for BBQing, beer, pillows, beer, and finally, some bottles of wine/spirits too - which were to be birthday presents. We got lucky in that it didn't rain, as the Vee's under bonnet front storage wasn't waterproof, just a normal bonnet only it had a plastic tub under it heh. The plastic, 'luggage tray' as the manual referred to it, even had a drain hole in the bottom with a rubber pipe heading off from it that poked through the sub frame to direct the flow down to the floor.

Reply to
DanB

It's an old Porsche - ergo it'll rot if used all year round.

The servicing isn't that cheap on these either from what my mechanic who used to own a 1977 Carrera said, and that's with him doing the work himself.

Not a car I'd feel happy using day in day out, anyway.

All I am saying is... if you're going to own a fleet of sorts, why not have something, dare I say it, terribly boring and reliable in it... it doesn't even have to be boring, but dead reliable and not at the stage of life where rot is setting in, is a definite bonus.

In fact given the OPs tendency to shift old bike related tat around, I'd suggest an estate might even be in order, or even a van... something you can leave parked up at the station and not give a f*ck about / lob the old dear in the back etc, with the added bonus of being new enough not to need corrective maintenance.

I only say this taking into account how much money the OP appears to throw at past and present members of his fleet, just to keep them roadworthy.

Two words: It's French.

What else did you expect? ;-)

Reply to
JackH

"JackH" gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying:

Just one small detail, though...

If the company's paying for the car, it's a company car. Which means Co.Car tax. Not going to be cheap for anything interesting - it's calculated on a percentage of the list price, with the percentage depending on the CO2 and a max of 35%ish. Then you pay your income tax rate on that amount.

Reply to
Adrian

Not if it's a 'pool car' - might not necessarily be going it quite alone.

Well according to many around these parts, Passats are terminally boring, so no worries on that score. ;-)

Reply to
JackH

Ummm.... Less luggage room?

Reply to
DanB

That was the black twin turbo IIRC - I've sold that (that's how I came by the Evo). The one left over is the convertible and that doesn't seem to want to shift. Trouble is that it's not getting any better by sitting outside...

Not when it comes to shifting boxes around, but other than that I know several people who are using them as daily drivers. I'd need to find the right balance with something like that as mine is rather low mileage but normally that's not a problem.

I do however get antsy when I notice that the council is gritting/ salting the roads at effing 5C or warmer.

It certainly does. Actually, it wasn't too bad (I'm near the Swiss border atm) - jumping out the car and then strapping back in at every peage was a bit of a PITA but otherwise it is quite comfy. No back problems, not overly shaken or stirred... I guess that's the difference between a cheap bucket seat and an expensive Japanese CF one.

It doesn't. But some other rellies are coming down from Germany with a more practical car.

Yes. Ish. But they're comparatively simple and thus fairly simple to fix.

My current theory is that with the market dive bombing, buying comparatively desirable stuff like old 911s and/or classic Jap cars should at least put minimise the drop in value it'll suffer.

Correct.

Nothing, thanks to HMRC rules. I'll explain that to you over a cuppa or a beer sometime. Not something I'm going to discuss in a public forum.

Company cars are a big minefield and don't really work for me. Discussed this with my accountant already. Heck, back when I could it was cheaper to buy the bike privately and charge the company mileage rather than have the company purchase the bike.

I have to clear the debris first either way though.

I've personally bought other assets for my company and simply sold them to the company with a proper receipt etc. Shouldn't be a problem if you are charging the company fair market value - just back it up with a couple of finished ebay auctions etc. Works the same way as transferring assets out (IOW, selling them). Best to check with your accountant, though.

Reply to
Timo Geusch

Yep, it's a Carrera 3.2 - last model of the classic torsion bar suspension ones.

Nice one :). Wouldn't work for me at the moment, though - it's been pissing down since I passed Nancy and it doesn't sound like it'll get any better soon. The MX5 is holding up rather well and staid leak-free so far.

Ah well, supposedly it's getting sunnier tomorrow.

Reply to
Timo Geusch
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Ah I had that with the Vee as well, as it had only done 24k when I got it, I almost felt bad using it sometimes - especially when I was just driving for the sake of driving when it was still in shiny new toy, 15mpg mode :-) When I sold it, the mileage was 30k, just over, and I sold it for £11k, having paid £11.8k 12 months earlier - so I was happy with that to be fair :-)

I took a bit more of a hit on the R27, which I only had for 3-4months, which was a shame, but buying at dealer prices (albeit, a Honda dealer and the cheapest one available, private or trade at the time) and selling for private ones when the media has decided our economy is dead in the water and we're all about to lose all our money, is never going to be a winning combo. Especially when you're selling an insurance group 17 hot hatch, capable of no more than 30mpg and considering high, and probably rising fuel prices, and new road tax bands, that just really is the final kick in the groin :-) Still, at the end of the day I think I did alright to get what I got, cash, within 2 weeks of advertising it only on Pistonheads and Cliosport heh!

Reply to
DanB

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