Why, are you more a pvc than leather man? Soft touch rubber instead of quality hide?
I like it, I can afford to run it, it drives well enough for them money and when waxed doesn't look out of place in a director's car park.
It is an £800 pound car, but like my £300 Saab, doesn't look it and doesn't drive like it.
*****
Elder, your pointless argument with SteveH will fall on deaf ears. Remember, the Cinquecento Sporting is a bit quick, so on and so forth.
Remember, it's okay for the car to look like a sack of s**te if in some variant of reality, "it's a proper drivers' car." Also, it's okay to want the SE over the S, because the SE has those natty cup holder slots.
I mean (FFS!) "old barges make you look a bit pikey" from somebody who probably* has to have a no smoking sticker in one car, and the other, simply looks like a boxy old car, whatever.
*depending if anybody else tolerates spending time in the passenger seat of the only car you'll ever need, of course.
I tried that. It adds an hour to the journey, costs more (borderline with the Celsior), and if I'm going to be breathing BO it will be my own, and in the car I get the benefit of a seat without having to beat old ladies and pregant imigrants out of the way.
I get an annual rail ticket - cuts the cost right down to the point that it costs less for me to get to work by train than it would do by (half sensible) motorcycle, especially once you've factored in the cost of (home) maintenance / tyres etc, never mind by car, which would also add in the cost and hassle of parking / congestion charge etc.
In fact coming in by bike, whilst a lot quicker, is grief in terms of finding a parking space when you get here.
Any comments of 'Serves you right for working in London'... pffft.
The money / satisfaction I get from my current job more than outweighs the disadvantages of the commute into work.
I've also tried driving into the outskirts of London and then getting the train the rest of the way... doesn't save that much time (or any money), and what's the point when I can just get on the train, stick my headphones on and then either catch up on my sleep, do puzzles or do some work on my laptop?
Commuting by train doesn't suit everyone or their circumstances - for me, it works fine... and in terms of BO, I can hold my own in those stakes TYVM.
The chap in question is a self made millionaire, but he's accepted by the "old money" circles because he knows how to behave.
But you're giving the impression of looking down on people who drive older cars through choice. People who're doing the same thing that you were doing
12 months ago, except they've got the bottle to do it with more interesting cars. All the shit about "Undesirable circles" is just bollocks, utter bollocks. Owning an older executive car isn't a "lifestyle choice", it's merely owning and driving a car. I could go to the unit and take my choice from a lot of very nice cars but I choose to use stuff that isn't a major issue if it goes wrong, but that will hold its money if it doesn't go wrong.
It's common sense. I've driven the same kind of stuff for the last 18 years and I'll continue to do so. When I worked as a salesman for Nissan I was unfortunate enough to have an Almera as part of the job. I used to use my 9 year old Carlton 24v instead, because it was a better car than a new Almera. The Almera would go to / from work Monday to Friday. The Carlton did everything else and I used it for work at the weekends.
It's definately not something I'd do in a rep-mobile. Fuck that. If I'm going to be confined to one car for 12 months / 50k, then I want it to be a nice car. A really nice car. Not something built to the lowest common denominator to keep Gerald from accounts happy.
Another chap I know owns a well known auction house. He drives a 20+ yr old Land Rover 110, his wife drives a '95 W124 Mercedes 280TE.
He owns Ferraris, is an ex-fighter pilot, has a barn full of exotic classics that you or I would kill for (recently sold one car from the barn for £1.8million), yet he drives something that means you'd write him off as a pikey. This would amuse him immensely.
Steve, you seriously need to have a look in the real world sometime because all you're doing on here is making yourself look foolish. Ok, you've got a company car. Well done, we're all very happy for you, I'm sure. You appear to have turned into some kind of rep-monster though. You used to be ok, incorrect about most stuff and wrong about the rest, but ok. Recently all this car park perception bollocks is just making you look like a small-minded, self important, ignorant fool.
TBH, it came with 10 months MOT, and a few months tax to shake it down. I've just done the tax and if something went seriously tomorrow, I'd=20 price up a secondhand replacement v selling the remains as a parts donor=20 for about half what I paid for it.=20
I would have been happy if I got 6 months for the =A3800, to tide me over.= =20 As it happens I think it is going to make it. Can't see anything that=20 might cause MOT problems.
When I lived in Luton and travelled into London for work, I cycled and used the train.
Thing is, I live closer now to Manchester than I did to London, but the train fair for a monthly season was nearly double when I was doing it. Trains into London were every 15 minutes + intercities and a minimum of
4 coaches per train.
I now get two expresses per hour normally 2-3 coaches and no intercities, and that is the main Liverpool/Manchester line. People on small commuter lines get maximum 1 two coach stopper train per hour, sometimes only 1 per two hours.
They seem to fit about twice as many people, as there are seats, onto each train, between 6AM and 10AM, and 4PM and 8PM.
Like I said, commuting by train suits some (and their circumstances), and not others.
I don't have any problems getting a seat on the train be it to or from work, which helps; if I were paying what I'm paying for my rail ticket only to be denied a seat most of the time, I'd be cashing the ticket in and buying a bike to get to work on, no question.
I enjoyed it in London, even setting off (then) extra early, so I could take my bike wth me and get off a Cricklewood and ride over to Hammersmith.
Now, I have to set off at an earlier time, can't take my bike because of train rules, and need to wait at Manchester Picadilly for 40 minutes for a connection.
Coming home is even worse, I have 5 minutes to get from the office to the station, 40 minutes wait at the change and standing all the way after the change. If I don't get to the station in 5 minutes I have a
1.5 hour wait until the next train on an unmanned, (in winter unlit) station in a bit of a scruffy area of Manchester.
My wifes' L reg 1.8LX Mundano has managed nearly 1000 miles in the last=20 week, doing 300 miles yesterday alone.
It'll be pressed into doing 600 miles a week (150 mile round trip 4=20 days a week) for the next month whilst I commute to a nearby depot=20 until Tesco get the Goole one finished.
It manages it fine. Not a knock, bang, rattle or squeak in sight.=20
Was going to sell it as she's bought herself a FTO but decided to hang=20 onto it for a hack about car. It seems to like doing the miles and it's=20 costing me a whopping =A35 a week to run, excluding petrol costs, so it=20 can sit there unused if needs be.
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