FOAK: Car advice needed

Bloody hell....

I'm glad I didn't spunk £13k on one now....

http://pistonheads.co.uk/sales/758003.htm

That's a bargain.

 

Really?

<looks>

Crikey, yes. F would *love* a convertible...

 

Having stuffed an MX5 into a hedge myself earlier this year, why are you so
sure it's the tyres?

It sounds like you've done exactly what I did unless I'm mistaken - climbed
out of a nice safe VAG TDI with its ESP / ABS etc, and luxuries like brakes
that work and bite hard, and jumped into something RWD and not quite so
convincing in the braking department, and then wondered why, when pushed to
its limits, you've managed to overcooked it so easily.

You just need to get used to it - they encourage you to drive like a tool,
especially when you're blasting around the countryside with the roof down.
;-)

I don't think a set of tyres is going to make *that* much difference tbh.

--
JackH

98 Honda VFR800FiW
05 Sachs Madass
03 VW Passat TDI Sport
89 Vauxhall Nova 1.3 Pearl

 

To be fair, they're nowhere near as poxy to sort as recent Vauxhalls when
things go tits up.

--
JackH

98 Honda VFR800FiW
05 Sachs Madass
03 VW Passat TDI Sport
89 Vauxhall Nova 1.3 Pearl

 

My brother's pal just bought a 2004 9-3 cabrio for £4k "with an
electrical" fault. One full system reset later and it has been
absolutely fine, the jammy bugger.

 

He doesn't. I tried it a couple of times in my youth, and decided it
was hateful.

 

<ignorance>

Why is the 9-3 "possibly" cheaper than the 9-5? I'd assumed the 9-3 was
the baby brother of the 9-5, sort of like the A4 to the A6 relation.

I've not seen many 9-5s on my car watching, lots of 9-3s though and the
shape is growing on me, so it's on my "serious contender" list.

 

9-5s depreciate like nothing else, though - when I was looking a few
months ago, equivalent 9-3s were more expensive at a year old than
9-5s.... however, I've since seen that 9-3s are also starting to drop
like a stone.

I was looking at 1 year old Aero Cabrios for £15k a fwe weeks back!

But yes, you're right, the 9-3 is the smaller car.

 

I'm not.

Fair comment. I do get the little traction control light winking on the
Octavia occasionally. Very rarely get the ABS buzzing though.

Fair comment. It's been 20 years since I last drove a RWD car (a Manta
GT/J) and I did very nearly ditch that near the 'Pagoda' on the way to
Castle O'er one frosty Novemener night.

Perhaps, but I have known a change of tyres transform a bike, and my old
MKI Cavalier was so much better when I replaced the remoulds with decent
tyres all round.

--
+----------------------------------------------------------------+
| Pete Fisher at Home: |
| Voxan Roadster Gilera Nordwest * 2 Yamaha WR250Z |
| Gilera GFR * 2 Moto Morini 2C/375 Morini 350 "Forgotten Error" |
+----------------------------------------------------------------+

 

<Considers hours just spent under an MX5>

I wouldn't do it on my 'main' car, but tinkering with a toy is
different. Though I may reconsider after I have had a go at the
auxiliary belt. The bottom bolt on the alternator was creakingly tight.
Plusgas and extra leverage required.

--
+----------------------------------------------------------------+
| Pete Fisher at Home: |
| Voxan Roadster Gilera Nordwest * 2 Yamaha WR250Z |
| Gilera GFR * 2 Moto Morini 2C/375 Morini 350 "Forgotten Error" |
+----------------------------------------------------------------+

 

'nother sign it needed doing then - I've always managed to unscrew mine
by hand from above. 3,000 miles does come up very quickly though.

 

Ok

Same here... because if the Octavia is like my Passat, the brakes are *very*
effective, and only kick in the ABS when you take the total piss.

Please note: the Passat is currently shod with a set of P6000s. ;-)

With me it was a case of me getting carried away thrashing the arse off of
the MX5 along a quiet country lane, with the roof down... only to find a
Vectra waiting for me round a slightly obscured bend after a big dip, and me
then doing as I would do in the Passat and hammering the brakes full on,
only to find I'd locked it up, and instead of letting the brakes off and
putting them back on again, I panicked, pressed down even harder and ended
up steering it through said hedge rather than through the Vectra (1).

Totally my fault.

I sold it later that day... and made a profit on it (2) even though I'd
stoved in the nearside front wing and snapped the mirror off.

Had I sat down and thought about it a bit more rather than shitting myself
and deciding I'd end up doing far worse if I kept it, I'd have kept it and
repaired it.

Aye, but seriously... remoulds are a world away in terms of shitness
compared to anything the mainstream manufacturers knock out... or rather
they were the last time I tried them.

Yes, I know... some people use them for racing, but try using a set that's
had a couple of years of gentle use, and then see how grippy they are. (3)

Anyway, I like MX5s... and assuming I get the job I'm going for on Monday
and it all works out ok, I intend to get another one at some stage in the
next few months.

--
JackH

98 Honda VFR800FiW
05 Sachs Madass
03 VW Passat TDI Sport
89 Vauxhall Nova 1.3 Pearl
(1) Fair enough, one less Vectra in the world would be a good thing, but I
decided the hedge was less likely to want to claim off me.
(2) To a local MX5 dealer who'd been trying to buy it off me for a fair bit
more up until this point.
(3) Old Courier remoulds with plenty of tread caused me to spin my Mk2 Astra
on a level crossing many years ago... never again. On closer inspection,
you could see the rubber had gone right off, with cracking in the tread
pattern / on the walls etc.

 

Ta, that clears that up.

It's great, 2nd hand prices of "rep" saloons are falling through the
floor (especially Saab and Honda I've noticed). I'd be ecstatic except
our house is up for sale and... well you can guess how that's going.

 

Just been looking at some completed auction prices.

Current shape Passats are where the bargains appear to be at the moment.

2005/55, Passat 2.0TDI-140, 54k miles - £5500.

Mine had double the mileage on it when it went to auction, so must have
fetched peanuts - I reckon about 25% of its list price.

 

I've been running Citroens and Peugeots for the last 8 or 9 years or
thereabouts. I must admit the last Xantia I had was a Friday job but apart
from that nothing major provided you steer away from main dealers for your
servicing. But I have to admit to having never paid more than £3000 for a
car and that was a one off funded by my parents for some obscure reason best
known to them [1]. I have heard of electric problems with the later 406s but
mine's an earlier one.

[1] Who am I to turn down charity.

--
Malc
R1100RS old and tatty

You laugh at me because I am different
I laugh at you because you are all the same

 

There was a thing on telly today where a porsche cayman went for about
10K in a bankruptcy auction, heoooooge discount or what?

 

I had a new shape 2.0TDi Passat for 3 months while they struggled to
find the parts to repair my Citroen[1] and while I loved it's motorway
cruising ability I hated it's dated interior, old mans image[2] and
generally it's just a little too big for me/us. So my thoughts lie
elsewhere.


For two days I had an auto Jetta, what a craphole. Put me off autoboxes
even more than driving a Chevvy Malibu for 2 weeks in the US did, and
that was without doubt the worst car I've ever driven[3]

Ideally I'm after a below 10k mileage diesel "something". Somewhat
unbelievably there's talk of a 100% pay rise at work in the next month,
so I'm kinda waiting on that on whether I decide to buy something nice,
or something very nice.



[1] No fault accident, Polish driver ignores a give way en route from
picking his mates up from Finningley (Robin Hood) airport.
[2] Sorry Ace, the R36 is too expensive.
[3] Coming from somebody that owned and wrote off two Allegros that's
saying something.

 

That's not a motto, it's a mission statement.

 

For a brief moment of unreason, I thought I was about to read "plays in the
same space as" there.

 

The Multipla has always worn P6000s. Nothing wrong with them, apart from
the odd squeak from the Sideways ABS.