I'm very tempted.

in article snipped-for-privacy@news.individual.net, Sleeker GT Phwoar at snipped-for-privacy@bouncing-czechs.com wrote on 14/07/2005 09:57:

Yeah, you could keep a lot of garden tools in it :)

Seriously, what's attracting you to it? The price? It's not a great looker and sounds to be fraught with problems.

Paul

1989 900 Turbo S

Could be a bargain if you're doing the work yourself (and largely 'for fun'). Othewise not worth anything really - almost deff need head gasket, which is £400 at any garage, plus belt, prob a pair of tyres, a battery, who knows what else.

Of course at that mileage there'll be a whole load of things which have either been done, or need doing (steering rack, wheel bearings, bushes etc.).

I'd say if you fancy a play, and can get it for £100, go for it. If you don't want to do a lot of work, don't bother.

=A341 in the end. And I didn't ;)

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With that length of MOT and the cost of a headgasket, you could get=20 something back. eurocarparts belts appear to be under =A310

And the best bit is, on the saabec list it was quoted as "For that=20 price, you could buy it if you needed a wing mirror".

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41 Quid!? Good lord man, if it came with a tank of fuel it should have been worth bidding on.

Re NG900, best reply to that paragraph ever.. Hats off to you sir..

If you mean the comedy rear seats? I swear, the gap between the front and back headrests was little wider than my head. It really was that tight in a Lexus LS430. Fantastic engine, magnificant metal folding roof, but jaring suspension and comedy rear seats.

Baffles me how cheap even projects can be, if that was left hand drive it'd fetch $800-$1000 easy in my area, even in it's current condition. A car in good cosmetic condition is worth that much even if the drivetrain is completely shot.

This is a quite sad side-effect of the current attitudes to second hand cars in the UK. Let me elaborate.

First off, used car prices are low - really low. You can pick up really nice, well-running cars, with new MOTs (that's a roadworthyness certificate) for only a few hundred pounds. You can buy most 2-3 year old cars at 40-50% their initial sale price.

This has come about largely because of a strong economy, and because everyone wants a new car. I am constantly amazed how much people spend on cars. I love cars and driving, but I'd never want to spend more than say 30% of my annual earnings on a car purchase. And yet I know many, many people who choose to spend 100-200% of their earnings on a car purchase (then complain about being broke).

What's more, working on your own car has become an anathema to most people. In fact, most people are quite happy to admit that they would no longer change a wheel if they had a puncture - they'd wait for the AA to arrive and do it for them.

15 or 20 years ago, if you walked down the average suburban residential street (the kind of place I grew up) on a Sunday, you'd see a good few people working on their cars. You just don't get that today.

So when a car reaches a point of requiring a few hundred £'s work just to get it back to being worth a few hundred £s, very few people would bother with it.

Not any more. Metal demands from China means that scrap cars are now worth money=20 again. =A3100's of pounds now for ones that might vaguely get back on the road,=20 at least =A3100 for a decent size steel panelled saloon that can have it's= =20 shell melted, parts re-used and interior sold on.

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SWMBO didn't pass judgement in time ;)

Hmmm, in Australia spending 30 percent or less of annual earnings (even if you are referring to pre-tax not post-tax income), you'd be very limited in the choice of vehicle. The cheapest car you can buy new here is around A$15k, and the average income is around A$40k per year (gross - ie. pre-tax).

I haven't priced new Saabs for a while but an average income won't even buy the base model of what's currently available from Saab. With an average mortgage around the A$250k to $300k mark, there isn't anything left to buy new vehicles even though since the GST-based tax system replaced the old wholesale sales tax system in 2000, car prices did fall.

The cost of new vehicles in the UK must be a lot less compared to average income than here in Australia. I know that's already the case in the USA compared to Australia (after all, retail fuel costs in the US are orders of magnitude less than here and in other countries).

Regards,

Craig.

You aren't wrong, I think I'm just about the only person who does=20 anything more than top up the washer bottle round out way.

Our house is the only one with oily tarmac patch anyway (some leaks,=20 some spills while changing (cleaned up but left staining)). I've done everything just about, on the various cars I've had, that can=20 be done of the outside of the engine/Interior of the car. I always get=20 comments, normally positive, from neighbours as they walk past "You can=20 do mine when you are done" (normally polishing), or "Or you do love that=20 car "(when upto my elbows in manky oil, crawling on the floor).

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The oddest thing I find is the change in attitude over the past 20 years. 20 years ago, if you'd asked 100 people if they could change a wheel, all of the men, and a good few of the women would have said yes - even if they couldn't, they'd have been embarrassed to say so.

These days it seems to be that many people take pride in their inability to do basic things. Doing anything with your hands is dirty, and definitely best left to some greasy mechanic.

Have you heard of the term 'oily rag syndrome' ? Professional Engineers in the UK are only too well aware of it. I don't know your line of work but it goes like this.....

The 'suits' like to present themselves as being vital to a company despite being simply an overhead and often worse than useless.

Part of their plan to achieve dominance involves denigrating anyone who actually has to do real work with their hands !

Of course they had a great boost in the 80s when Margaret Thatcher's government decreed that the UK could exist purely on a service economy and simply lost interest in manufacturing. I'll leave you to draw your own conclusions.

Graham

He is in the same line of work as me.

You mean like the sales drones here with "We pay your wages". Then we explain, "without us, you wouldn't have anything to sell. And it has good quality, you aren't that great a salesman"

Very true.

Yep, that is why my employers are gradually buying all the offices and units of a formerly mixed use industrial park, for adding office facilities, and server hosting centres, has trebled it's sales workforce in 6 months, but taken on 2 extra programmers in 2 years.

Oh yes, I'm very familiar with it.

I'm in IT (applications developer), but I trained as a research chemist. After finishing my PhD, I realised that my earning potential would be severely restricted if I pursued a career in science. So I opted for an IT career.

Which makes me wonder even further, if used cars in good condition are *so* cheap why does *anyone* buy a brand new one? A 2 year old car is practically brand new, whenever I see someone with a brand new car I think "sucker" they just threw away a few grand driving it off the lot. It's one thing if a person has more money than they know what to do with but half the time they can just barely manage the monthly payments.

"James Sweet" wrote in news:GCSBe.191$JJ.36@trnddc09:

Some people think buying used is buying other people's problems. They want everything new. These are often the same people that trade in a car after two to three years. I stick with used. Used cars, refurbished electronics, older furniture from estate auctions. I feel I'm letting other people put up with the headaches of getting the bugs worked out. On furniture, why pay $150 for a cheaply made particleboard piece when I can pick up solid walnut for $50?