time to tart up the soggy old waterbed.

Exactley.

When I bought the Favorit for =A380 it needed a windscreen that cost =A3120= .=20 A third more than the car. But I had a car with low miles, 6 months=20 ticket, passing the next one cleanly for =A3200.

--=20 Carl Robson Audio stream:

Yes, and that's why it was dirt cheap.

No-one in their right mind wants an 800 quid car with those kind of maintenance costs - which is why it was an 800 quid car in the first place.

errr it is i've been in a KA, several actually, and comfortable is not a word i'd use! there noisey, have s**te glove boxes, f*ck all room no air con unless your real lucky and the steering feel of a mop in a bucket of water!

maybe so but it all works out really. that shitty ka whats his face was on about was probably a few hundred quid, wouldn't take much to go wrong to make that car look exspensive.

But a decent set of quality branded tyres of the correct speed rating=20 would cost half of what I paid for the car. Are you suggesting that when=20 the tyres are worn out I should scrap it?

Or how about a full tank of petrol costs nearly =A3100. Damn, 8 tanks and= =20 I'm spent more on fuel than the car cost. What about road tax? or=20 insurance?

--=20 Carl Robson Audio stream:

You spectacularly miss the point.

Not really, a =A34000 car would still have the same maintenance costs, so= =20 would a =A314k car and a =A340k car.

And the more expensive the car, the more expensive the repairs as you=20 are more likely to use a dealer for the repairs.

A =A34k car that needed =A31.5k spent on it is a =A35.5k cost. An =A3800 car that needed =A31.5k spent on it is a =A32.3k car and will dri= ve=20 as well as the one that cost twice as much.

--=20 Carl Robson Audio stream:

WTF not? If it's comfy, and does the job reliably enough (reliability being ceasing to go and stop), who gives a f*ck what it cost? Say we accept that the Lexus is only as comfy as a TDI Passat - there's only £800 of capital tied up in it, rather than £15K upwards, depreciation is limited to £800 no matter how long it's kept, it doesn't "need" to go to a main dealer to keep a warranty or the next buyer happy, and even if it does cost more in fuel, tax and bits per year, you could theoretically have £14.2k stashed away making a nice steady 8% or so, or even better, the cash gets paid into your mortgage saving you an imperial fuckload of compounded interest. You're making the far side of a grand a year on the capital, and saving a good couple of K a year in depreciation.

Keep telling youself that. I'm sure it makes sense to you.

I certainly wouldn't run an import, with £40k car consumable costs as a long-ish distance commuter - especially when you consider that a lot of parts can only be sourced from abroad, or have to be sourced from abroad to keep them relatively sensibly priced.

If cars like that actually made some kind of sense, they'd fetch much higher prices.

The difference is that, whoever bought it 15 years ago would have had a

6-figure salary, so £2k to stop the suspension wallowing would be the equivalent of me spending 200 quid on new shocks and springs.

If it's mechanically fine, and won't fail an MOT, leave it how it is - it's absolute insanity to spend money on getting it 'good as new', 'cos, at the end of the day, it'll still be an 800 quid bargain barge when / if it gets sold - the money spent on 'sorting' the suspension would be enough to run a more mainstream banger for many more years.

You're obsessed with money! There's more to life mate

Not obsessed, just careful. I don't plan to be working until I'm 70-odd to supplement a pathetic state pension.

However, it's not even that - it's that I can separate the idea of a 'working' car from a toy. Very rarely you can combine both, however, an

800 quid luxury barge on it's last legs isn't coming even close to a compromise.

I've done so many commuting miles over the years that I can see the benefit of buying cheap, reliable sheds with a good, cheap parts supply when 90% of your mileage is getting to and from work.

Do you really think that he'll not get bored of it within the next few years, or that nothing else expensive will break on it within the next few years?

I'm kind of undecided over which will come first - something so expensive to fix that it writes off the car, or boredom.

Mind you, the way petrol prices are going, I reckon the fuel costs will see it sold before any other reason.

I'd rather enjoy it whilst I'm young enough to be able to to be quite honest.

Admittadly I haven't seen the car, but the neither have you. Reports I've heard sound like it's definitely not on it's last legs.

And I think it's perfectly acceptable to combine a working car and a toy. I did it for years and that was also my rally car at the time. And I know plenty of other people that do the same. Now I just own 2 silly cars though.

So, leave it alone, then.

Started easier than mine did :-p

I'm not gonna lie, I did expect it to be a shed, but honestly it was in remarkable nick and was an amazing amount of car for less than a months wage.

Modifications group dude ;-)

You know it would be an awesome sight if he decided to track it...

most imports are, my MR2 Turbo was mint and i mean mint! not a mark on it not even a scratch! very low millege too. i'd defo have an import again.

And let's face it, it *can't* roll less than an Alfa 75. (c: