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rantingYoof's Tat Compendium - what's coming next? *mysterious music*


rantingYoof

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I'm not able to have an on-going thread documenting the progress I'm having with a chod-fleet, as I don't have the time or money or skills to really indulge in chod, raffles notwithstanding.

 

My current daily is a dull grey repmobile which ticks none of the Autoshite criteria, but I know from people's comments that my car history does lean towards Autoshitey tendancies, I thought that I might use this thread to document my car history in a little more detail, and then use it going forwards when I inevitably make a rash decision* in the future and ditch the S60 for a V8 Jaguar of some description, or if I win a raffle (AS IF THAT WILL EVER HAPPEN).

 

There have been fourteen previous motors in my 11 or so years of motoring thus far, which I've realised after hanging around here for a while is actually pretty tame - this is information I've shared liberally with family and friends who think I'm a crazy car person - but I'll try to spread out the history so that it isn't just me talking to myself (again, something that my family and friends will attest to me doing frequently).

 

For those who think TL:DR, just use the photographs in my sig to get a run-down. This is for those who want to know how all of the cars I owned ended up dying. I mean, living on...

 

This thread has been made possible by the new MOT History Check website. Where information is not available, nonsensical waffle will be used instead.

 

IN THE BEGINNING

 

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QUICK FACTS

Period of ownership: early November 2004 to January or February 2005.

WAT: Suzuki Alto 1.0 GL

Power? 53hp

Speshal features? No upholstery on the ceiling made car washes UTTERLY TERRIFYING

Anything else? Spectacularly slow

 

History?

 

How did my first ever car, purchased for £895, last after I sold it in January 2005? Not well, is the appropriate answer. Not well, at all.

I sold it in 2005, and in 2006 it passed its MOT. And in 2007.

In 2008, however, it failed on EIGHT items, one suspension-related and an amazing SEVEN brake-related. Two advisories, as well. The owner obviously went away and tried to address these issues, and had the car re-tested the next day. IT FAILED AGAIN! The suspension again, and two brake-related issues.

The day after this, it was tested for a third time and it finally passed! WOO!

In 2009 it passed cleanly, but in 2010....judgement day happened.

TEN failure reasons and SIX advisories, mostly surrounding corrosion, brakes and suspension (nothing important then). Particularly notable: "Outer Vehicle structure has excessive corrosion, seriously affecting its strength within 30cm of the body" on both the nearside AND the offside. One of the advisories was rather bleak: "bad oil leak"

Oh no...was this the end for the little Alto? NO! Four days later it was re-tested and passed...with all of the advisories still in force except the one about the tyre tread depth.

The Alto soldiered on, for another year at least, until 2011's MOT came around, and OH NO! SIX failure items this time, two relating to number-plate lamp, one because the front number plate had SIMPLY DETERIORATED, and three emissions-related items, including "EXHAUST HAS MAJOR LEAK OF EXHAUST GASES". The owner, however, was one to be admired. These items were fixed and four days later, the Alto was given a fresh bill of health, with MOT expiring on 28th October 2012.

Unfortunately, this is the last MOT it ever received, and its current status cannot be determined as the DVLA website finds no details in relation to its number-plate.

One parting mysterious gift this car has, though, is that I sold it with well over 85,000 miles on the clock. At its last MOT, the garage recorded the mileage as being 31,789. So...this raises one of two possibilities...

1: The car has been clocked!
2: Its odometer didn't have enough digits so when it went over 100k it simply reset back to 0 again, meaning someone did a further FIFTY THOUSAND MILES IN A 1.0 RUSTY HATCHBACK WITH 53HP!!!

We'll never know, sadly.

 

I feel particularly proud as it seems like this may have been sold to someone from this very website, with the amount of determination and perseverence that was given to keeping it on the road. I guess it could be fixed using string and chewing gum, so maybe that explains how it kept coming back for more?

 

:-D

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SHORTLY AFTER THE BEGINNING...

 

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QUICK FACTS

Period of ownership: January or February 2004 until November 2005.

WAT: Rover 214SEi.

Power: 104hp

Speshul features? Half-leather. Electric sunroof.

Anything else? I was 18 at the time - it looked magnificent parked up amongst Corsas/Fiestas in the sixth form carpark

 

History?

 

At the time I bought this it was just 10 years old, and it was utterly immaculate.

This had the 1.4 16v K-series engine which was known for nomming itself without much provocation, but as engines go, it was revvy and it had a lot of go. Bear in mind the 1.4 VAG engines at the time produced a woeful 75hp. I insured it for £1,500pa third party fire and theft - not bad at 18 with no NCB!

I bought it with a strange issue that caused the car to accelerate in violent jerks (yay Rover). It was fixed by the garage, and then it proved to be a wonderfully reliable car for the following 10 months or so, although it went through a rough patch with the radiator. Didn't blow the headgasket though!

This was directly swapped for the MR2, and the person who took it off me sold it immediately to try and recoup some of the money they'd obviously lost buying the MR2!

The Rover's MOT history isn't all that spectacular, and it damned well shouldn't be, because it was in marvellous condition.

It passed with a couple of advisories in 2006, the year after I bought it (I got it with 12 months). In 2006 it had derpy headlamps, which failed it. The same advisory was on the ticket. In 2007 it failed on emissions (Lambda sensor), but it was retested the same day and passed.

All of those MOTs were in January, however in 2008 the MOT test date was 14th March, meaning someone had either driven it for a while without an MOT (whooops) or it had sat about.

Either way, it was a clean pass! It had 108,000 miles on it at this point, which is only 10,000 or so more than it had when I was driving it. Regrettably, there is no more history! It was in such good nick that if the HG had gone I would have reckoned on someone fixing it using a donor car, so I have a sinking feeling that it might have been written off in a crash.

This has also dropped off the DVLA's radar since - it could of course be on a private plate. I would sincerely like to believe this lives on - it really was a bloody good car.

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Due to popular* demand, cars three and four will be presented in one post.

 

INTO THE ABYSS

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QUICK FACTS

Period of ownership: Early November 2005 until early December 2005

WAT: 1989 Toyota MR2 1.6 16v T-Bar

Power: 120hp

Speshul features? Full stainless steel twin-exit exhaust system with lifetime* guarantee*****************

Anything else? Do you want car with that rust?

 

The only thing I can tell you about this car, going by the Government's website and the Total Car Check site, is that it had car tax on it until August 2008, so for two and a half years someone might have managed to get the entire floor welded and the arches re-done so they were not tetnus-lethally-sharp to get a fresh ticket on it.

 

As magnificent as this car was to drive, I'm quite sure I would have killed myself in it, being 19 years old and addicted to the most sensational exhaust note of all time.

 

The engine and electrics in this car were absolutely perfect, by the way. The T-bar barely leaked, and the engine was clean, sounded sweet and didn't overheat or do anything untoward. The gadgets worked, the pop-up lights worked...it was just let down by being a bit* metal-lite.

 

It was when I heard bits of arch and flooring falling off the car as I went over speed bumps that I thought it might be worth taking it in for a garage to inspect it, at which point I was lolled out of there with a "no hope mate".

 

Sold for £400 with MOT/tax still left to run, though. Not all bad.

 

OUT OF THE ABYSS

 

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QUICK FACTS

Period of ownership: December 2005 until April or May 2006

WAT: Volvo 440 1.8SE

Power: 89hp

Speshul features? It was a Volvo. Comfy, boring, boxy.

Anything else? Really no. It was just a Volvo. Seriously. It's very dull. Just look at it.

 

This car did absolutely nothing wrong, except be so dull that even I found it hard to be interested by it. It was rather thirsty for a 1.8, and it needed revving to get moving as it was a bit of a heavy old thing, but other than that it was comfortable and much safer than the MR2.

 

I put an MOT on it in March 2006, and it passed this without any quibbles (no advisories).

 

It was the last MOT it ever got, mind. Whoever bought it off me (for what I paid for it a few months previously) obviously suffered a severe FTP to get rid of a low-mileage runabout that was in good nick.

 

As mentioned, it dulled me into my next car, which will be posted in due course. It should be a little more interesting as it has a little more history online than these two, hence the combination post.

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THE SLOWEST SWEDE IN TOWN

 

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QUICK FACTS

Period of ownership: April or May 2006 until, umm...April or May 2007.

WAT: Saab 9000 2.0 16v CSE

Power: 136hp

Speshul features? Naturally aspirated. No turbo. Pretty much the only N/A 9000 evAr. Slow. VERY SLOW.

Anything else? Sub-20mpg TRYING TO NOT GO SO SLOWLY

 

I saw this black Saab 9000 for sale at a local garage. I got it for £1000 exactly, from the same place I bought the Rover 214.

 

Being a mid-1990s Saab the paintwork was pretty much umblemishable - and any blemishes on the body would not rust or get any worse even if you threw a horrible snowy/gritty winter at it.

I drove this car into a kerb. Not a small kerb, a kerb that was at least thirty centimetres high. The off-side wheel and suspension took the full force of the hit - I wasn't going slowly - and the car was launched upwards and landed brutally with the wheels pointing opposite the direction-of-travel. The car's attitude to this appalling driving was "Mate, I wreck mooses without giving a fuck, no shits given". I was convinced it must have been broken in some way, but there wasn't even a knock, or clunk. An idiot is given another chance...

The MOT history of this car, therefore, is a little dull, seeing as not a single component on it would corrode or wear or do anything remotely entertaining, like snap mid-way through a journey.

I bought it with 12 months of MOT in March 2006, when it had around 112k on the clock. I put on all of 7k on it and it failed in 2007 on headlamps/hazard lights. Advisories on windscreen damage and a tyre low on tread.

I sold it shortly after this to a local family, and the car continued on.

In 2008 it passed, having only had 2k put on it. I sorted out the tyre, but the new owners sorted out the windscreen, as there were no advisories. In 2009 it had an additional 14k on the mileage, and it failed because of an ineffective handbrake and a brake-pad that had worn down a bit. A year later - 2010 - and a further 13k had been put on it, and it failed again on brakes being imbalanced, a brake light, and a dodgy windscreen wiper.

By this time it had 150k on it, and its new 2010 MOT expired in April 2011.There is no more information on it after that.

Obviously we do not know if it was plagued with issues between MOTs but I'd be fairly confident betting on it simply eating the miles and destroying all in its path forever more.

 

Bonus picture of it in a familiar environment thanks to a freak British winter...

 

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I was 21 going on GIFFER...

 

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QUICK FACTS

Period of ownership: March 2007 until late September 2007

WAT: Rover 825 Sterling in white gold

Power: 170hp

Speshul features: Every. Gadget. Ever. And they all worked.

Anything else? Look at the interior. LOOK AT IT!

 

TL:DR - So just don't do this to yourself, ever.

With this one I can't really do a pre-ownership/post-ownership analysis on this one, so I'll make up for that with a more detailed history lesson.

I spotted this lurking on a dealer's forecourt near to a local village, in late March 2007. It had just arrived in part exchange and was sitting there unprepped, in all its magnificence, when the dealer spotted me snooping.

 

The dealer recognised me because SnrYoof had just bought a car from him, but there's no need for me to expand on that now as you will find out what that was later (because, unsurprisingly it would seem, I ended up owning that too).

The dealer said, "If you are happy to take that as it is, you can have it for £700." As it is was a short MOT and in need of a valet.

Remember, this was less than 10 years old. How could I refuse? WCPGW?!?

It was a near-immaculate Sterling model, with six-way electrically adjustable red-piped heated-leather seats. It had nearly every conceivable extra you could fit into a car of that era - even the rear passenger seats were electrically adjustable! It had a wonderfully throaty 2.5 V6 engine. It was a land-yacht - the second largest car I've ever owned.

I only owned it for a few months, and in that short time it FINANCIALLY RUINED ME. This is where bangernomics fails you, if you buy a relatively complicated car cheaply and have no mechanical skills.

As I've aluded to already, it had a short MOT. It was MOTed in June 2006 at 61,000 miles, whereupon it passed after having a handbrake adjustment.

After picking it up in March 2007 I put it through an MOT, on June 11th 2007, with the car showing just over 67,000 miles. Between me picking it up in late March and this date, the car developed an ABS fault.

Thusly, it failed the MOT, on that and a dodgy handbrake again. The MOT's total bill was around £350 or £400, because the ABS fault was a complicated ABS sensor located in an awkward position and made out of unobtanium.

In late July or early August there was another fault that I can only remember the total bill for, and this cost me around £250.

Then, in early September, I had spent a bit of money booking a B&B room near a track called Llandow in the south of Wales. Yup, I was going to track it.

I live in the midlands, and I'd just made it as far as THE OTHER SIDE of the River Severn (yup, I had literally just parted with money and was heading away from the toll booths) when I noticed steam, and a rocketing temperature gauge, and my heart simply stopped beating.

I made it to the services just t'other side, and realised the car was undriveable. No tracking for me. Fortunately, there was a convenient AA van with a guy on his lunchbreak that I approached, and he kindly called the job in for me.

And so, around six hours later, I ended up being dropped off at my local Tesco Extra having been towed all the way back, which was a hairy experience. The AA driver got a shock when he came off the motorway a bit quick and tried braking with a fifty billion tonne car wheels-up behind it...the smell of the brakes cooking was quite something.

A week later I had a diagnosis. Head gasket failure.

I sold the car for £190 on eBay as an MOTed non-runner. It was flat-bedded away, and presumably stripped of its interior, wheels, audio system and anything else of value, and then fragged - the tax I put on it in May 2007 was the last it ever enjoyed.

If only it'd been the 827...it was a bloody marvellous machine in every other respect.

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Looking forward to hearing more about your car history as I always enjoy reading these threads and it may even inspire me to one day do a similar history. However as I am less a ranting youth and more a moaning old geezer with previous ownership running into the hundreds,it may take quite some time.

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A highly unlikely success story...

 

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QUICK FACTS

Period of ownership: September 2007 until October 2008

WAT: Volvo 480 2.0 ES

Power: 110hp

Speshul features: Fully functional funky dashboard with no missing pixels and only one small patch of bubbling on one arch

Anything else? Light-weight car, torquey engine, surprisingly nippy and good on fuel - not particularly refined and not a great long-distance drive but I rarely did any long journeys in it

 

ParentalYoofs, as a unit, were rather exasperated by the RoverOMGHGF stage of my car-owning life (I was still living with them and they'd put up with having multiple heaps on the driveway).

 

So when I had no car on the driveway after the Rover had been towed away, and I found the above and keenly expressed an interest in going to view it they were rather like O_o.

 

Spontaneous combustion was par for the course - a friend fondly told me about a time a 480 turbo had literally burnt to a cinder by the side of a local A-road - and you could apparently break into the car via the glass boot-hatch in around 15 seconds using nothing but a coat hanger.

All being said, I spotted my one for sale on Autotrader, advertised for just £550, with over 6 months MOT and tax remaining on it. It was just a few miles away being sold by a gentleman on behalf of his father, who had unfortunately had a minor stroke and could no longer drive it.

 

Upon viewing it I felt it was a no-brainer given how much it was being advertised for and the fact I was completely broke, and electrics aside, it was mechanically basic and cheap to fix, so I'd been advised by the Internet.

The MOT history on this car is surprisingly detailed, which is pleasing in an odd way.

Before my ownership, it had passed its 2006 MOT on 26th April, at just 53,595 miles, with no advisories.

On 5th April 2007 it failed on a broken number-plate bulb and a treadless tyre. Nothing major. It was re-tested and given a 12 1/2 month MOT until 25th April 2008.

I bought the car in September 2007, and when I MOTed it on 27th March 2008 at 64,700 miles it failed on a further blown number-plate bulb, a dodgy hand-brake, and uneven brake application at the front. An advisory for a deteriorated front suspension arm bush was put on there too.

I got all that fixed, and got a fresh ticket put on it, until 25th April 2009.

I sold it in October 2008 for £550 - WINNING - and I am pleased to see that it was MOTed once more on 9th September 2009, when it failed on a nearside front lower suspension arm having too much play in a ball joint.

This MOT took it to 8th September 2010, but unfortunately there is nothing more after that date.

This was one of the most rot-free 480 out there and if the minor bubbling arches were treated properly, it would now easily fetch over £1k, as there are enough devoted fans out there who would call it a classic, especially with pop-up lights, and the crazy on-board computer.

Shame that it seems like it's been fragged, then.

 

I note with fear that the scrappage scheme came into force after I sold this, and I have a horrible feeling the new owner kept it a year and then got £2k off some dull diesel Euro box...

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GALLANTVANTING AROUND...

 

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QUICK FACTS

Period of ownership: October 2008 until early 2009

WAT: Mitsubishi Galant 2.5 V6

Power: 168hp

Speshul features: Lovely noise, super comfy seats, fully loaded, super low mileage...

Anything else? Exceptionally thirsty.

 

After over a year rolling around in the 480, I took ownership of MotherYoof's car at the time, the Galant. I took this on because she was not able to drive for a long while. This had entered the family a couple of years previously, replacing a truly Autoshite Renault Safrane 3.0 RXE (talking computer edition).

A car that virtually nobody in my family or friends circle remembers me owning, and is largely forgettable to most people because it's not particularly well-known. I would personally say they are massively under-rated.

It also isn't the most memorably styled car, although I quite like its aggressive stance and the colour of this one really worked.

It was nice to venture back into V6 ownership again - with a more robust engine this time. It had amazingly comfortable leather seats, a high quality well-fitted interior, lots of goodies, and the engine made a nice noise.

It suffered a bit from fugging-up on the inside, mainly because it didn't do many miles at all and spent a while standing during cold weather.

I'm running out of things to say, and the MOT-history will not provide any assistance here.

Between 30th May 2006 and 12th June 2009, the car went from just under 72000 miles to just under 79000.

It passed every single MOT. In 2007, 2008 and 2009 there weren't any advisories!

In 2006 it had advisories amounting to "not excessive corrosion near seat-belt anchorage points", which were either fixed or were so minor that future MOT testers didn't clock them.

There's no MOT history after 2009, and the DVLA confirm that the 2009 MOT was its last.

Confusingly, its last tax disc ran out in June 2013, so someone was taxing an unroadworthy vehicle somehow.

I worry that this, too, went the way of the scrappage scheme.

 

Anyway, it then it became apparent she was not going to drive this car again, and then my dad bought a new car, soooooo..... [TO BE CONTINUED (for previews, see signature)]

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I had an oMega idea...

 

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QUICK FACTS

Period of ownership: Early 2009 until October 2009

WAT: Vauxhall Omega 3.0 24v Elite

Power: 204hp

Speshul features: Just awesome, in every way.

Anything else? Capable of 36mpg*!

 

Car number nine, one of the last Omegas registered before it was face-lifted in the year 2000. This belonged to SnrYoof and I took on this car because he had just purchased himself its replacement.

 

The engine in this was one of Vauxhall's finest, although to some of you this isn't a claim worth shouting about. Still, not many 22 year olds were rolling around in a 3.0 litre 204hp RWD super-barge, and insurance on this was only £500 or so as I'd got myself a nice lump of NCB.

 

It is pictured here hooning down the front straight at Llandow in South Wales, a grippy little circuit that I attended as part of a track day. The plod loved Omegas - specifically the white 3.2 sporty MV6s - but this one was a full-fat Elite with every single option box ticked (including a built in phone!), and it had soft suspension which, on a track, meant I needed to have castor wheels on the wing mirrors. It didn't stop me having a couple of lairy over-steer moments once I'd found the button that switched off traction control!

 

I took this on in early 2009, either just before or after it was MOTed on 20th March.

 

The records only exist for 2006 - 2009 and in this time it went from just under 50k to just over 70k, and the MOTs are all quite clean, with tyre-wear being the only recurring feature (it absolutely ATE them, being 2000kg and quite powerful).

 

It did fail once in 2008, where it was glumly noted that offside rear coil spring was "incomplete" (snapped is probably a better word), but otherwise it was a proper pillar of reliability and waft, although it would have benefitted from a fifth gear for flexibility.

 

I rolled around in this, doing 1.3 mile commutes to work and back and getting around 15mpg, but I also managed to nurse 36mpg from it on the very gentle drive back from the track day in Wales. For the sake of transparency, it got 8mpg at the track. :-D

 

I sold this in late 2009, just before starting a job which was around 10 miles away, and it was a knee-jerk "I MUST HAVE A DIESEL NAO" decision which was premature and a bit silly.

It went for around £900, and the person who bought it scrapped it or used it for parts or wrecked it or something, because sadly the MOT it got in 2009 around the time I took it on was the very last one it ever got.

 

There's a sad theme running here, isn't there?

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  • 2 weeks later...

Time for a Roverdose...

 

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QUICK FACTS

Period of ownership: September 2009 until October 2011!!!?!! (TWO YEARS!!!)

WAT: Rover 45 2.0TD iXL

Power: 99hp

Speshul features: Most reliable engine ever.

Anything else? Least reliable everything else.

 
And we move onto car number 10. This is a very long summary, so settle in if you care enough...
 
In September 2009, shortly after securing a promotion which saw me commuting a whole 20 miles a day, I decided I should ditch the thirsty Omega and buy my first diesel car.
 
For £1,100, I became the owner of a nine year old (at the time) Rover 45 2.0TD, in "iXL" spec (hatchbacks got letters, saloons got posher names like "Coinesseur").
 
It had no service history, no manuals, no receipts/bills or anything except a single key and a V5 log-book.
 
It was bought solely on condition - the bodywork was immaculate, the interior was unmarked, and it looked like it'd been very well kept. This didn't stop it being a risky buy - at the time there was no such thing as an MOT history check that you could do online!
 
I have fond memories of this car. The 2.0 diesel engine in this was one of Rover's own - the "L-series" - and it's utterly dependable. Its origins dated back many years and I wouldn't have been surprised if you'd told me it had two moving parts. Only 99hp, but buckets of torque, and it never, EVER did less than 50mpg.
 
Those reasons are dull - the real reason I loved this car was that it was the car that drove me to my wedding, it was the car that took us on our honeymoon to Bath, and then it clambered all around the Brecon Beacons (see above) without ever breaking a sweat.
 
I was eventually worn down by the poor build quality on very minor but ultimately essential parts of the car, like the driver's window which kept falling out of its runners and disappearing into the door, and the passenger-side rear door-handle that simply broke off. Both things that afflict Rovers from that era, both incredibly annoying, but neither affecting the car's ability to blast its way everywhere in plumes of black smoke.
 
All that said, I kept this car for two years and one month - the longest I've kept any car to this date.
 
This was more out of necessity than choice - I no longer had the finances available to lark around with cars every three to six months and something very cheap to run and stable was what I needed. The Rover obliged.
 
Pleasingly, the MOT history on this car is also extensive, going all the way back to an MOT in December 2006, at 59k, which it failed on lightbulbs.
 
This MOT expired in December 2007, however it was not until July 2008 (at 71k) that it was next tested, and it passed with two advisories. One advisory was relating to a cracking tyre, and the other was by a miffed MOT tester having a bad day: "engine gutless!!" (it certainly wasn't when I had it).
 
As mentioned, I bought it in September 2009 from a trader. The history would suggest that the owner as of August 2009 put it in for an MOT (with 83k on the clock), which it failed quite spectacularly, with bad suspension/track rods and a non-opening front passenger door being the main culprits.
 
The owner then must have "NOPED" out of having that fixed and traded it in for pennies to the dealer, who then put it up for sale and, upon me purchasing the car, MOTed it on 28th September - it passed this MOT and you would obviously assume that these issues were fixed. The door issue certainly was addressed - I remember him assuring me that'd be sorted, and indeed it was.
 
However, when I MOTed it a year later (with 90k on the clock now), it has literally just now become apparent to me that it failed on at least three of the same items, meaning that this MOT on 28th September was more of an "MOT" for the purpose of selling it on quickly.
 
I obviously had everything fixed properly, and kept the receipt, which didn't amount to much as it was a very cheap car to fix.
 
Scroll forwards a year to September 2011, the car now has 98k on the clocks and it fails again, but on relatively minor items which again I have fixed.
 
It passes a re-test, and there is now a nicely worrying list of advisories on it, a lot of which are quite ominous.
 
At this point I am beginning to crave something more civilised - something that doesn't have niggling build-quality faults and is quieter and more powerful and is just a better car. The car was beginning to feel a little tired and it was well overdue a cambelt change.
 
For the first time in my life, I had a genuine and justifiable reason to change car.
 
And so, in late October 2011, my beloved Rover 45 was driven to a dealership in Burton Latimer, where it was traded in for what I thought was a fantastic deal given my knowledge of the car's obvious and lurking issues: £500 off against a sparkling black Ford Mondeo.
 
The story does not end there. I had a suspicion that the dealer would use-and-abuse this as a runabout to go between auctions/to collect parts/to be a general workhorse until it expired.
 
It would seem that this was the case! Between me trading it in and its final ever MOT in September 2012, it clocked up a truly impressive additional 14,000 miles.
 
The best part is, it failed the 2012 MOT, but was fixed and retested! It could therefore have lived a further year until September 2013, maybe even going over the 120k mark before finally delivering an armageddon-style MOT failure in 2013, or maybe fragging itself before it got that far.
 
Either way, it lived a long, noble and hard life and I'm sure whoever used it after me also got their money's worth from it.
 
Long live the 45 diesel! *salute*

 

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  • 3 weeks later...

Inevitably, I became a Mondeo Man

 

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QUICK FACTS

Period of ownership: November 2011 to June 2013

WAT: Ford Mondeo 2.0TDCi 130 Ghia

Power: 130hp

Speshul features: Not a Rover 45 diesel

Anything else? TDCi shenanegans

 

And now let us move onto car number 11 - a genuine favourite from the ample collection I've had and another lengthy write-up of a dull repmobile for your perusal this evening.
 
In November 2011 my trusty Rover 45 was p/xed for the black Mondeo you see below. I got 12 month's MOT, two new tyres and the dealer even buffed out some of the smaller marks on the paintwork for me too.
 
Advertised at £2500, I went in wanting to know how much he'd give me for my Rover 45 which was broken and had an awful list of advisories.
 
When he said "£500" I pretty much broke his hand off shaking on the deal.
 
For £2000 I got a six year old car which was in immaculate condition, but had a rocket-ship mileage.
 
It had been owned by a Travis Perkins associate who had obviously used it to trundle up and down the motorway on various visits/business trips. As a pool-car it had been thrown at Ford whenever ANYTHING went wrong with it, and as a result it had a five page print-out of service history, detailing what it went into Ford for and what was done to fix the problem.
 
The person at Travis Perkins was obviously not a low-level rep as this was the Ghia model, with chrome trim and a few extras on top of the basic LX spec.
 
It had the rather infamous 2.0TDCi engine, with the incredibly torquey 130hp, and it was a complete world apart from the Rover in ever respect. I was smitten.
 
It's the first and only car I've had with six gears, and that makes a great deal of difference at 70mph on the motorway.
 
Despite having over 130k on the clock when I purchased it, it was still going strong, and proved to be very economical, rarely doing less than 42mpg and, as you can see, when driven a good distance in a laid-back fashion was capable of mpgs that modern diesels struggle to achieve.
 
Unfortunately, the Mondeo TDCi partnership isn't remembered fondly by many. There are three things that they became known for....
 
1 - Having particularly weak dual mass flywheels
2 - Having particularly failure-prone injectors
3 - Blowing turbos
 
Failing DMFs can largely be blamed on the driving style, and the turbo/injectors sometimes became problematic because of short journeys.
 
For me, in May 2013, the turbo/actuator began failing, causing the car to go into limp-home mode, making it undriveable.
 
I ended up selling it to a guy who was in the army, had access to a serious workshop and lots of mates who liked working on cars, and had absolutely no fear in putting everything right himself. I got £700 for it - not bad for effectively a broken car.
 
Let's look at the MOT history!
 
The earliest MOT on record was in 2008, at 57k, which it passed. Exactly a year later, it had done a further 30k, and passed cleanly again.
 
This MOT was October 2009, however it wasn't until January 4th 2011 that another MOT was put on it, with the car nearly 40k up on its previous mileage.
 
Still, it failed on a couple of minor items, which were all fixed (even the advisories), and we then come to November 2011, which is when I bought it.
 
A fresh MOT was put on it - it now had 132k, and during my ownership I MOTed it once in November 2012 exactly 10k later, which it failed initially but this wasn't expensive to put right.
 
It then broke in May 2013 and I sold it in June 2013 at 147k.
 
The car lived on, however! In November 2013 it was MOTed at 153k, which it utterly bombed. Four failures, and no fewer than ten advisores, all pretty serious.
 
The guy who bought it got EVERYTHING fixed and MOTed it again, and between November 2013 and November 2014 whacked on a further 20k, taking the mileage up to 173k.
 
In 2014 it utterly bombed its MOT again, and on this occasion the guy got everything fixed to pass it but didn't sort the advisories.
 
Is it still going? Yes!
 
MOTed in November 2015, it now has 180k and is taxed until July this year.
 
Still going strong, then - I hope this one achieves 200k!

 

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  • 1 month later...

The One That I Let Escape

 

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QUICK FACTS

Period of ownership: August 2013 to September 2014

WAT: Volvo V70 2.4S

Power: 140hp

Speshul features: LOOK AT IT!!!!

Anything else? Well golly gosh it was slow

 

Hmmmph. Car number 12 is going to be the most difficult one to look at for me, because selling this was a gigantic, stupid mistake, compounded by the car that I replaced it with. I regretted the decision more or less as it was being driven away.

But anyway, enough moping and self-pity, behold the glory that is a maroon Volvo V70, from the era when Volvo were still producing amongst the largest and safest estate cars on the market.

This was exactly what I needed after getting the Mondeo. This had a 2.4 20v five cylinder petrol engine, which was so ridiculously silky smooth it felt like it was running on full-fat cream. It had also been a staple of Volvo's engine line up for around 10 years, in some form of another, and so was as rock-solid reliable as you could ever hope an engine to be.

It warmed up in around 30 seconds (no, really - I used to get warm air from the heaters within a minute of setting off even in the deepest darkest depths of winter), and the engine made a lovely warble when it was pushed a bit.

It was the "S" model, which is actually the lowest spec for the V70 (apart from the Torslanda special edition), however the person who'd meandered into Volvo on that fateful day had decided to tick many option boxes - for leather seats, for heated front seats, for the 6 stack CD player in the dash and for the premium sound system.

It was being sold by a Volvo man. He had two other Volvos on his driveway - one of these was the replacement for the one I bought off him. He was the sort of person who gave his car to the local Volvo independant every year, gave them a blank cheque, and told them to fix EVERYTHING that needed fixing regardless of cost.

He was a thoroughly decent chap - an ex prison officer - and must have noticed me walking around the car in awe of its shiney paintwork and glorious interior, because he decided to knock £150 off the price he was asking for so I could tax it.

He needed to MOT it before I picked it up, and upon collection he blandly informed me that it had an advisory relating to the horn, which he'd had fixed (£150), and then he'd had the air-con regassed for me "because it wasn't really cold and it's been hot the last few days" (£65). He presented me with a detailed service history which, by my calculation, amounted to around £1600 of maintenance spending in the previous three years.

The V70 needed two things during the year and month that I owned it. It lost some kind of plug which prevented oil falling onto the exhaust under hard acceleration, which caused awesome smoke screens until it was fixed. It also broke a wheel bearing. Both fixed at relatively low cost. Both wear and tear items.

It was an amazingly comfortable, reliable long-distance cruiser that could handle the short journeys too without breaking.

So what possessed me to sell this? Excellent question. There is no answer I can give that would justify that decision.

What I will say, is that its lack of shove became an issue. I was craving a bit of speed, noise, excitement, and it didn't provide any of those with exemption to the middle one, and even then the noise didn't match the motion.

You see, Volvo decided in its wisdom to provide two engine maps for the 2.4 20V unit. One with 170hp, which is rumoured to be "the right amount of power to enable the car to keep up on the open road". The other had 140hp, which is largely regarded to be underpowered, and something that I can confirm from experience. On one particularly long trip back from the south, with holiday luggage aboard, I had to change from 5th to 4th on the motorway to maintain 70mph. Overtaking on any single-laned roads (something I try to avoid anyway), became a wistful dream. The trouble with the 140hp map is that its usable power and torque came in a quick lump and then abrubtly fell off, meaning if you were mid-overtake or anything the car would literally react like it'd driven into a wall.

This alone wasn't really reason enough to justify selling it, but I somehow managed to convince myself that it was the right thing to do, and I ended up selling it on for a profit on what I paid for it, after having it MOTed and serviced. The chap I sold it to was a Volvo man too. He was looking for a replacement for his aged 240 estate, which had a 2.0 8v 4 cylinder engine with all of 100hp. I had to show him the steering wheel controls for the radio, and how various other gadgets worked - he wasn't familiar with any of them. He commented on how much power it had - "this is a very powerful car, isn't it?" - and seemed to fall completely smitten for it immediately. He confessed that it would be used to carry four adults, a dog and luggage to Scotland a few times a year. I should have taken the hint at this point and backed out of the sale, but I didn't. A week later, it was driven away, and I felt a huge pang of regret and guilt, like I'd somehow let down the guy who had taken a liking to me and given me such a great deal. My one positive feeling to take is that it went to a Volvo man who will treat it exactly as it should be, and it'll become a much loved family wagon, hopefully forever. It will easily keep going until 200k comes around - those engines will never die. The last remaining car ever is likely to be a Volvo with a 2.4 petrol lump in it.

Moving on, let's have a quick look over the MOT history.

Every MOT from 2006 until 2009 was passed without any advisories at all. Sounds impressive, but it only covered 13,000 miles in this time.

In 2010 it had covered a further 10k, and had some advisories, none alarming. A year later, with another 10k on it, it failed, but on bulbs and a wiper blade. 7k later in 2012 and it failed again on bulbs. Volvos like to munch bulbs, mainly thanks to its daytime running lights, although in this case they were all pointing too far up or down.

I bought the car in July 2013, with 80k on the clock, and the MOT it was given had the horn-related advisory, which was fixed. Otherwise, a clean pass. I put an MOT on it in 2014 with 87k on the clock, and it passed with four advisories, which I had sorted.

I sold it in early September 2014, and between then and its 2015 MOT it covered a mere 3k, although it failed that test on another blown bulb, and had some notable advisories, including one relating to the exhaust backbox.

It is due its next MOT at the end of June, and I intend to check the MOT history site then just so I can be reassured of its continued existence and good health.

Even though it won't make me feel any better about my decision to sell it...

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  • 2 months later...

Instant regret experienced....

 

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QUICK FACTS

Period of ownership: September 2014 to July 2015

WAT: Saab 9-3 2.0 HOT Aero

Power: 210hp

Speshul features: It made a WHOOOOOOSH - ptshhhhh noise

Anything else? It was a cheap Vauxhall in a nicer-looking frock

 

So I'd just sold what is one of the nicest cars I've owned, and was feeling twinges of regret already, however the excitement of the car hunt was building. My criteria was basically "something fast, that'd put a big smile on my face".

 

Settle in for a long story, if you're so inclined.

 

I vivdly remember a long, long day after I'd sold the Volvo. I was in a parental's Vauxhall Astra 1.8 VVTi Elite (automatic!) as a temporary car; however this had to go in to W Grose for a service. So I took it there, and was handed the keys to a courtesy car.

 

It was a brand new (as in, 50 miles on the clock) Vauxhall Corsa 1.0 12v Econetic. 55hp of 3 cylinder fail. I managed to cover over 100 mind-numbing miles in this horrific gutless plasticky tin can. I went all over the south midlands, north of the M25. I saw a Saab 9-3, a Mondeo ST220, and a BMW 530i (manual!). I didn't like the 5er, but the first two had the smile-inducing performance I was after. Neither of the ones I saw were worth buying for the money being asked. The Saab was £2,200 and was eight months the wrong side of a service (which they refused to do on the basis that 'it doesn't need it as it's a petrol' - ??), and the Mondeo had proper rust on the rear arches. Pleased I was not.

 

So fast forward a little bit and I see a silver 9-3 Aero for sale, for a more competitive price, with a good mileage and a FSH, which would come with 12 month's MOT and a service on purchase. It was in Peterborough. I set off and see it on a Friday. Now, by this time I was a little worried that I'd not find something appropriate, and even though this was in silver (a colour I am not fond of) and quite a drive away, I risked it.

 

And it was the wrong decision.

 

The car itself was okay, but retrospectively, considering the damage to the front skirt and the scratched rear leather seats, it was overpriced. The seller gave it an "MOT" which didn't even have an advisory on it despite the windscreen having a crack which was blatently within the necessary field of view, and his mate possibly put it up on ramps and said "S'allright" which was the extent of the "service". Then there was the fact that I put the deposit down on the Friday, and picked it up on the Sunday, and in that time the car had 400 miles added to its mileage - probably 400 very hard miles.

 

But I bought it. Possibly because I felt like I'd invested a lot of time going to see it and it was fast and I sternly told myself that it was what I'd justified selling the Volvo for. And as you can see from the photos, it polished up nicely. And it went well. But I never got on with it.

 

It's hard to explain. This was a flagship performance car - the Aero name isn't given to any old Saab. This had a 2.0 16v high output turbo, which gave a proper kick in the back when spooled up. It made a satisfying spooling noise and even made a light "psshhht" if you were agressive with the gear changes. But I just never fell properly for it. After just two months of ownership I was already beginning to look on Autotrader, where I noticed with dismay that the 9-3 Aeros were plummeting in value. Most were in the low £1000s bracket - some high milers were going for a grand. I paid twice that for mine which wasn't in particularly brilliant condition.

 

One major issue was that it felt like a cheap Vauxhall. It was a car made when GM owned Saab and it was going through stringent cost cutting, and this car really felt badly made. Squeaky plasticky dashboard, which looked dated already (it would continue to be made for another six or seven years, albiet with face lifts!). Also, a surprisingly low spec for an otherwise top brand - the Aero wasn't equipped particularly well. The sound system was abysmal and there were lots of blank buttons on the dashboard. First world problems, I know.

 

So yeah. I was quite disappointed with myself for letting myself make two silly decisions. And then it started making really bad noises from the flywheel/clutch, when changing gear or lifting off the throttle after accelerating.

 

This decided it for me. I was going to sell it for whatever I could get for it, fault declared, and write it off as a mistake I could learn from. I'd actually owned it for nine months by this time, so it actually turns out around the average length of ownership for my cars!

 

It was now June 2015, and approaching a mid-week holiday to Chester. The weekend before this holiday, I happened to go to Leicester to make one of my bestest ever impulsive car purchases ever, but that's for another time. This was going to be delivered after the holiday, and so the Saab dutifully took us all the way to Chester and back, still being a comfortable fast cruiser but not making me smile anymore, and then upon our return from holiday I whacked it up for sale.

 

It had literally no bites. I was quite desperate. My new purchase was sitting on my parent's driveway tempting me every time I went to see them.

 

I decided that the issue was the short MOT. By now it was July, and it only had two months left on it. So I took a big, big gamble, and whacked it into the local cheapy car place, offering £20 MOTs. It went in at just gone 3pm, and I absolutely thrashed it on the way as I had read this makes your emissions "better" (the last pass was a just-barely scrape through on emissions).

 

The most nervous 50 minutes of my life since sitting school exams passed, and I was rewarded with a 12 month ticket and only one advisory! SCORE!

 

The next day, I relist it on Gumtree, with a slightly inflated price, but opening myself to offers. Three hours later - THREE HOURS - it was being driven away by its new owner, and I'd managed to scrape back £1,100. Importantly, this exceeded my new car's purchase price by around £150, so using man-logic, I was in the black.

 

So all in all, not a bad ending to the saga.

 

The MOT history isn't remarkable. It did 40k or so between 2007 and 2014, when I bought it and seemed to be reliable, not failing on anything spectacular. The MOT I put on it ran out on 7th July 2016; however the new owner too kit in for its MOT on 9th July 2016 having done 16,000 miles in the past year, and it passed first time! The new owner had sorted the advisory from 2015 (worn, pitted or scored rear brake disc).

However, it had four advisories - all four tyres were close to the legal limit.
It remains local and I frequently see it being driven like it's stolen, so my thought is that it still has the problem and it's being driven into the ground and that this explains the four tyres being turned into super softs.

 

It doesn't matter - it still lives on, which is what counts. I'm glad someone is happy with it after I wasn't...

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  • 2 months later...

Best. Impulse Purchase. Ever.

 

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QUICK FACTS

Period of ownership: June 2015 to November 2015

WAT: Lexus LS400, first of the 'revised' 260hp versions released between '95 and '98ish (17-Coffees may be able to provide exact dates here)

Power: 260hp

Speshul features: STAMP - BWARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRPPPPPPPPPP - everything in mirror and petrol tank considerably smaller

Anything else? Leaky with SARS-wheel

 

After my experience with the Saab, and being down on money, I decided that what I needed to do was buy a really cheap runabout that would do me good for six months or so while I saved up funds for a more sensible car.

 

You have to understand that a lot of my car-buying decisions were not made upon any sort of proper logic identifable by sensible human beings.

 

Therefore, when I spotted this for sale on Autotrader, after my experience with the Saab (which would shortly be sold), I assessed my current situation and figured that the hole I was in couldn't get any deeper, and if I were to scratch the V8-before-I'm-30 itch it may as well be a car that is almost notorious for its longevity and refusal to die.

 

Mason (as he became known as) was purchased from an insanely busy residential side-street near Leicester town centre. Upon approach I saw the rust spots and noted that he was a little battle-scarred. I had pangs of doubt and felt that I was being preposterously stupid. However, when he was switched on, and I saw the steering wheel move out to greet the driver, the headrests move up and down electrically, and I heard that exhaust note through the stainless steel tips, and I mashed the throttle and got an instantaneous surge of horsepower from the surprisingly slick 4spd automatic gearbox....he sold himself to me.

 

A week later Mason was delivered to me by the seller for an additional £50, with 12 months MOT. He sat around for a while as I tried to sell my Saab, but then finally he was put to daily use.

 

Mason was not without issues. He leaked - badly. The sun-roof is drained by four hoses in each corner of the recess in the roof - one of these had broken or become blocked and water was entering the boot and collecting there. I pulled out a rubber plug and this "solved" that problem in as much as water would no longer collect there. Mason also leaked into the main spare wheel well. The spare wheel was....a source of new life forms (see photo).

 

Mason also had issues with temperature sensors, in as much that he ran a little richer than normal and spent five minutes or so every morning warming up quite aggressively - he would tickover at 1900rpm and it would gradually sink to the completely silent 500rpm that Lexus became famous for at launch (a coin was balanced on its edge on the engine whilst it was running and didn't move or fall over).

 

However, for six months, Mason was an incredibly faithful companion, going everywhere in supreme luxury and comfort, accompanied by a lovely deep burble from the exhausts which made blipping the throttle going through villages and the odd tunnel very satisfying. All of his 260hp was still accounted for - I can give personal assurances on that front. It did help that he was running a little richer than he should have been.

 

He failed me once, when the electronic parking brake cable snapped on one side, jamming itself on, and making the car vibrate incredibly scarily. This was fixed for a sum of money that was incredibly reasonable considering the size of the car, as the technology wasn't particularly advanced or complex.

 

Mason spent the 10 years of his life before I bought him doing just 30,000 miles - between some MOTs he was only doing just over 2000 miles. The MOT history is full of the normal issues you'd associate with a car going from 10 to 20 years old.

 

By November time, I was satisfied that my V8-itch had been scratched, and I was craving a car with fewer niggly issues. Lacking the proactivity to sort out the leak by replacing the boot-seal, I put him up for sale.

 

I didn't have any bites at first. However, eventually Mason was spotted by a friend of a friend, who just happened to be in "the area" and also just happened to be seeking LS400 ownership. Therefore, Mason was sold to a friend of Supernaut and 17-Coffees. Between them, they collected Mason on a cold, wet and miserable November evening after driving down from Scotland to go to the classic car show in Birmingham, and drove the 500 miles from Northampton to Aberdeen in more or less one go, minus quick breaks, juggling driving between Mason and a 1.0 Ecoboost Fiesta. Supernaut drove Mason most of that distance and had fun leaving creases in bits of tarmac north of the M1 using the "overdrive" mode.

 

I'm pleased that Mason lives on, although I know that since selling him Mason has been a bit disagreeable at his last MOT and has developed 'more electrical issues than an S-Class Mercedes' (thanks 17-Coffees!).

 

Mason is in daily use again, despite this, and is also on a new set of boots...
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While he may look quiite battle-scarred, Mason will continue to live on. I don't fear that something as pathetic as electricity would eventually get the better of insane Japanese over-engineering. Bodywork aside, that over-engineering resulted in a staggeringly good build quality and level of refinement and confidence. Indeed, as I waved off the three heros I did not experience one millisecond of doubt that Mason would cover the 500 miles fautlessly, even without any prep.

There are plenty of 300k+ LS400s out there that have achieved that via basic maintenance only, and there's even a near million-mile Lexus in the Sates.

 

 

 

EDIT - sorry about the small photos. It's what happens when you BWARRRRRRRPPPP in an LS400. Literally EVERYTHING gets smaller. Except one thing.

 

 

 

 

 

The horizon. The horizon gets bigger. Duh.

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Mason has had lot's of fun with Lexbarge...

 

I'll be honest and say, I exaggerated the electrical fault's had had, and have all been sorted last time I asked. used the S-Class comparison because an LS400 would never develop problems. (All problems were basic, stuff for the stereo & fans.) 

Other than that, he's been faultless and done a number of long haul trips, and even tackled the infamous Applecross pass(Thats 2 LS400's I know that have done that!).

 

This post gives an excuse to post this as well...

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Lexbarge & Mason by C C, on Flickr

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  • 1 year later...

I can happily confirm that, being well over 12 years old and being 'born' in the year 2000 when its model range was launched, my current steed is now tentative shite.

 

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It's an S60 with the 2.0T powerplant...that's a five cylinder 2.0 light pressure turbo, good for 180hp. Nice punchy torque, not too much power to eat tyres/suspension but enough to make cruising and overtaking easy. 70mph in 5th (manual 'box) is 2900rpm or so, and there is no engine noise and virtually no wind noise. Super-refined, and ticks over almost as quietly as Mason did.

 

In fact, I got this the day after Mason was driven from my house to Aberdeen in one stint by three Scottish nutters (November 2015)...I was car-less and desperately needed something for work commuting.

 

This was in Coventry, MOT until June 2016, FSH and cambelt just done, 99k on the clock. I knew as soon as I drove it that I'd be buying it.

 

It's a very dull car, being a grey Volvo, but I've put nearly 20k on it since November 2015 and spent around £750 in total...

  • 2x MOTs
  • 2x services
  • ABS reluctor ring
  • Two new front tyres (quoted as being 'good' budgets)
  • Rear caliper (passenger side) & 2x brake pads

Including purchase price and not including petrol/tax/insurance etc I'm looking at 3p per mile running costs. It does 30mpg during the summer and around 26mpg during the winter. Over the two week Christmas period I did very short journeys only and it was doing 22mpg :-D.

 

It uses coolant, albiet quite slowly over winter, and needs a top up every six weeks during the summer. Pressure test revealed no OMGHGF issues. The suspension is capable of making noises like it's broken a spring or about to collapse but I've been reassured twice that everything actually looks quite peachy for a Volvo.

 

The biggest present issue is a rattling DMF/flywheel. The bite point is also a little higher than it was before, and a lot higher than when I bought it...however I reckon it's still at that stage where it could last another 10k or 18 months or so before needing replacement. I do not intend to do this; my plan right now is to consider selling it in June after its next MOT/service and to look around for something that's just a little bit more fun.

 

But if it costs me no more money between now and then my head may overrule my heart and I may keep it until expiry.

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  • 1 month later...

Brilliant, and very nicely presented thread! Plenty that's relevant to my interests  8)

 

My current daily is a MY52 Volvo V70 with the naturally aspirated 2.4 engine, albeit in 170hp guise. It's the only car I've ever driven that drives exactly how I want it to! Incredibly competent & relatively easy to hustle along back roads for its size.

 

Interestingly, my suspension makes various and assorted noises whenever it feels like it too. I do have a feeling I really should have the rear shocks looked at as it's rather noisy at the back end of late...

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  • 3 months later...
This was in Coventry, MOT until June 2016, FSH and cambelt just done, 99k on the clock. I knew as soon as I drove it that I'd be buying it.

 

It's a very dull car, being a grey Volvo, but I've put nearly 20k on it since November 2015 and spent around £750 in total...

  • 2x MOTs
  • 2x services
  • ABS reluctor ring
  • Two new front tyres (quoted as being 'good' budgets)
  • Rear caliper (passenger side) & 2x brake pads

The biggest present issue is a rattling DMF/flywheel. The bite point is also a little higher than it was before, and a lot higher than when I bought it...however I reckon it's still at that stage where it could last another 10k or 18 months or so before needing replacement. I do not intend to do this; my plan right now is to consider selling it in June after its next MOT/service and to look around for something that's just a little bit more fun.

 

The car now has an MOT until June 20th 2019. For the MOT, it requested* a new anti-roll bar linkage, a stop lamp and an adjustment to the handbrake. Unfortunately, the handbrake adjustment was hampered by locking wheel nuts on the rear which were on so tightly my friendly mechanic had to take it to his preferred garage for them to have a pop at with heavy-duty machinery.

 

There are also advisories concerning the rear coil springs, which are both corroded.

 

However, as alluded to in my January post, I am now planning a car change and so this thread can be viewed as a bit of a feelers-out to see if there would be any Autoshite-ists potentially interested in acquiring a solid dependable, comfortable mile-muncher.

 

Before it gets sold to anyone (on here or otherwise), it will be given a service and the coil springs inspected fully to check the extent and severity of the corrosion. This will likely happen in the next couple of weeks or so. I also need to get some new photos of it as that one above is the last one I took! This is why there is no FOR SALE tag on the thread yet.

 

However, once that's all done, I'll be getting it cleaned and up for sale promptish. If I'm absolutely honest it'll probably be floating a little above proper shite money (i.e. into four figures), as I'll be looking to recoup the money spent on it for the MOT.

 

It would seem there's a bit of a scatter-gun approach to pricing S60s, particularly manual petrols (which are a little rarer). Being realistic, with a rattling flywheel and air-conditioning that doesn't work, I will have to price it a little lower than the apparent average, but I'm happy to provide unnerving depth of detail on the car and discuss actual money with anyone who may be interested enough to PM me.

 

:)

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  • 1 month later...

The S60 is for sale in various places *ahem* and I am now attempting to find a replacement. No bites on my car yet and alternative pricing strategies may need to be considered on the approach to the weekend.

 

Today I ruled out a £995 LS400 which was in sarrrrf London because I had concerns about its LCD display and there were strange stains on what appeared to be non-standard floor mats, indicating a leak into the footwell. I'm certainly not saying it's over-priced - anything but as the bodywork looked fantastic in green-over-grey - but after careful (and torturous) thought, I came down on the side of not wanting another Mason-like LS400 which had several niggling things that needed putting right.

 

I also ruled out a 2001 LS430 which was up for around £1500, this was in noooooorrf London. This seemed to be in good nick in the many photographs provided - older LS430s tend to look ropey quite easily - and it had 150k on the clock. Rang the dealer, who beyond confirming that there were two or so stamps in the service history and nothing else (no belt history), seemed disinterested in the car to the point where he couldn't tell me whether any of the gadgets worked/didn't work. Unfortunately his disinterest and general lack of enthusiasm put me off the 1hr 20m drive to have a gander tomorrow.

 

I'm torn between a long-term 70 heart/30 head solution of a filthy modern 2005 GS300 with the 6spd auto, which should last me a lifetime*, or a short-term 90 heart/10 head solution of something insane like a GS430, LS430 or another LS400. LS400s are going up in price and I'd love a late 1999/2000 model and would gladly pay strong money (i.e. up to £2500) for a very good one.

 

None of the above would be ideal in any way for my daily work, driving along narrow country lanes, parking up in villages with no verges and generally negotiating rural territory, but I really want something a bit stupid to drive again. Really badly.

 

Watch this space...

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  • 6 months later...

I noticed the signature with the so called cure for insomnia on Ranting Yoof's replies to my T5 (not scene) http://autoshite.com/topic/33874-my-t5-not-scene/ thread and finally got around to having a look at it. As for insomnia cure, it's anything but, in fact it's a good read for anyone interested in old(ish) cars. I hadn't known Mr Yoof had owned various Volvos including a lovely 480, stylistic predecessor to my C30. I'm so glad people like him take the trouble to document their car history for the entertainment of the rest of us. My excuse for not doing the same is that most of my cars pre date me owning a digital camera and therefore digging out photos is more of a chore!

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