Riddle me this...

That's one ShiteOldCar above the budget, though.

Mine would do 15 mpg in town but 32-33 mpg on a fast run.

The touring probably does even less MPG in town.

The asking price is just a suggestion, or don't you haggle?

Indeed. E39s do seem to pretty cheap though, at least the early ones.

At the moment the shortlist is looking very BMW-shaped, namely E30 touring, E34 or E24. Decided against Mercs even though I noticed how cheap W210 E55s have become but something a little better on fuel might help.

Still, I'm left with the feeling that I've gone for boring again on the list rather than quirky.

Nissan Stagea?

Probably a bit pricey to run, but plenty of poke, available with RWD (although most over here appear to be 4WD), and absolutely massive in the loading bay stakes.

Not sure with regards to the 'fun factor' or how invisible they are to Customs etc, but in standard form they don't really stand out like say a Skyline does.

They're within budget as well.

I had a chap locally trying to trade his with me on the Passat at one point if you remember, and that one had leather as well, something most don't have.

The RB25 is a pretty straightforward engine that's tough too, and so I suspect these are a tad more friendly when it comes to maintenance bills etc, compared to Legacys etc.

-- JackH

Thought about them. Only like them when they've had a Skyline R34 front conversion and/or are the Autech version (basically a GTR in a drag). Apart from the Autech they're slushbox only, too.

Guy I happen to know who imports the odd car from Japan had a few and took me out in one. Hugely competent but not very exciting or "fun".

I was surprised, but they are indeed. Just would need to find one that hasn't been lowered below the road surface and/or has a massively loud exhaust of the kind that has a factory owner check that he's still got his chimney.

They are, especially if they haven't been tweaked. They're not much less juicy than a Legacy tho'.

Not quite what Wiki indicates unless I'm mistaken... although yes, every single one I've bothered to look at on eBay in the past has been an auto from memory.

Anyway, what do you expect for =A32.5k??? :-P

Ah, well if you owned an economical diesel to use some of the time as well... oh.

-- JackH

Brand new car obviously, like every other ebay buyer.

Something like a BMW 525tds, you mean?

The ones that at higher miles appear to need new injectors and do sod all to the gallon as a result?

Humm...

-- JackH

I never liked those things.

I used to hanker after one until I started to see the various reports of how problematic they can become at higher miles.

Recently spotted a cheap E39 530d locally which was a bit leggy... and to be fair, it looked and drove lovely when I went to look at it, but it had a bit of a hesitation at 'turbo time'.

So I went away and read up on those, and the general consensus in BM circles is they too are a PITA in older age and you're better off with a 530i.

It *could* have been a boost leak apparently, but it didn't strike me as one.

And it *could* have been the achilles heel of VAG TDIs, as in the MAF... but then they appear to be getting on for =A3200 (from GSF etc) for these, and there was no guarantee it would be that either so I decided not to saddle myself with it.

-- JackH

i don't know why people call these ugly when modern shit is 10 times worse...

i'd rather not drive a brick or look like a friggin ex cop car....

Cool.

Make sure the gearbox is ok, the cambelt has been changed every 70ish k miles and that the oil is clean. If it's auto make sure it changes like it should. Pull the engine oil dipstick out with the motor running, it'll smoke a little bit on a lot of them, but loads of smoke means the breather system is blocked - if neglected the rear main oil seal will pop and cover the clutch with oil. Then it'll start to get expensive....

Other than that, not much, the brake pad rattle will irritate the hell out of you unless it's had genuine Volvo pads fitted.

Funnily enough, and I don't know if this has been mentioned, but doing warp 9 on the M62 to Dan's funeral, everybody anchored on quick, up ahead was a police volvo doing exactly 69.

We backed off fast, and at the exact point that we passed them the instant fuel read out read 99.9