Ben_O

There is a guy near me that sells used cars regularly through Facebook and he always uses the phrase 'no crybabies or time wasters' and usually a barrage of other random insults aimed at potential time wasters. I understand he has done this because he is fed up of people wasting his time (or more likely walking away from a shit car he has advertised as being good) but I won't entertain viewing a car if the seller comes across as rude and unpleasant In the advert. If I'm looking to buy a car, all I want to see in the advert is the make/model of the car, the mileage, details of any faults, how much mot it has and any services history. That and some clear photos and of course the price I don't want to know how far you've driven in it nor why you are selling it and I certainly don't need to know anything about its previous keepers or how good it is for it's age, i have eyes so I'll decide for myself

Looks exactly the same as my father in laws 1.25 CVT only his is badged as a Mazda 121 Funny, his has the same mileage.. It's soon going to be available if someone else fancies spoiling themselves They are quite entertaining to drive and do go surprisingly well Good luck with it Ben

Nowhere near as high as most on here but my 06 grande punto 1.2 is closing in on 150k For such a cheap basic car, I'm happy with that.

Easy choice for me as every other car I have owned has been at the very least fine. 1998 Vauxhall Vectra 1.6... At the time I got this horrible piece of shit, I owned a 1989 Mercedes 190E 2.0 and it was fantastic. My first Mercedes and I knew it was the car for me. However after a year of ownership I fancied something newer and my uncle had this vectra in that champagne colour. It was clean and tidy and he offered to swap it for the Mercedes. I accepted and the deal was done however after a few days of ownership, I realised that it was a lemon. Noisy tensioner so it made that horrible whine they all seemed to make, it was underpowered, miserable to drive and uncomfortable The thing that made it even more sour was that my uncle sold the Mercedes for quite a lot more than the vectra was worth so there was no going back. I ran the vectra for about 6 months with plenty of trouble and misery and eventually had to get out I sold it to my mother in law as for some bizarre reason, she quite liked it but alas, she had nothing but trouble with it and ended up spending a tonne of money keeping it on the road before finally the radiator exploded during the emissions test on the mot It ended up getting scrapped I used the money from the vectra sale to buy a 1987 Mercedes 190E 2.6 manual and never looked back. That is probably the best car I have ever owned

I play online a fair bit and there is a good selection of knock off shite One of my favourites is is Rune Cheburek

My W202 1.8 auto gets an average 37mpg to a tank full. This is all town and country driving for my commute. Mind you, to achieve that I have had to consistently drive it very carefully keeping the revs right down and relying on my momentum down hill to help go up the next. It was so hard to get into doing that and keeping it up as its not a fast car so the urge to put your foot down especially when running late was high. Despite the 37, I still need more so the merc is coming off the road for a tidy up and I'll put something else smaller on the road and see if i can get better.

I've never used door skinning tools and I've reskinned hundreds of doors. A panel hammer, dolly and patience is all you need to get a perfect result. I restored a midget for a customer a few years ago.i throughly enjoyed it. Have some inspiration

Didn't some Haynes manuals have a colour double page spread on how to repair the big hole in your bright red 205's quarter panel using filler?

The more knackered they are, the more joy you get from restoring them. Top buyage, I would 😉 Good luck to your pal Ben

Pretty disappointed to be honest as it just had to be the side I repaired. It's the fact that the claim against him from the 3rd party has pushed his premium up sufficiently to make it too expensive for the amount he uses it so he decided to pack in driving. It's been used once since I repaired it and that was the day he backed into someone... 🙄

It's reasonably presentable for its age, done only 20 something thousand miles and mechanically very good. I've remembered that he has hit it again so there is some damage to the back panel directly under the rear lamp on the drivers side and on the tailgate directly above the rear lamp but it doesn't affect anything. Broken rear lamp has been changed. Mot until October but I'm considering putting a fresh one on as it's sure to pass hamburg only covered probably less than 100 miles since the last one. I'll get some more pictures of it once I get it over here. It's located on the Isle if Wight though so unless your guy is prepared to travel?

This is now going up for sale. Question is, what's it worth? 1.25 with CVT auto box. Mot until October Any ideas? Cheers. Ben

Yeah, I ended up dealing with the same guy by emailing him directly. It was a few years back when there was a constant stream of classic mini ringing kits on ebay and adverts for late injection minis with early tax exempt registrations with some being advertised as "re-shells" despite the fact the car was obviously entirely a late 90's car As so many Minis were being stolen, I just felt compelled to keep passing any details on and being a moderator on theminiforum.co.uk, I would receive links to pass on from other members as well I remember one of the reported cars being advertised on ebay as an early tax exempt car that was infact a very late 90's MPI cooper sportspack. AVCIS informed me that they went out to view the car and confiscated it. I believe it was found on a stolen vehicle database once they discovered the cars true identity. I often wonder if it found its was back to its rightful owner

You used to be able to report these to vehicle fraud vehiclefraud@avcis.pnn.police.uk Not done it for years but the acted upon the few I reported.

Forgot to add, the orange slimy oil had no explanation at first. It was suggested that it might be a failed rocker cover gasket but I then remembered topping up the oil when I first got it and it overflowed out the top and went everywhere. I hadn't overfilled it, I just tried to fill it too quickly. I recon the oil I found must have spilled through the cover and been in there since. The other job I did was to finally fix the non working heater blower. It used to work, then it didn't, then it did and then it didn't and never worked again. I found the blower motor under the glove box, wiggled a wire and it burst into life again. Quick check everything was tight and a blow out of the cobwebs and dry old leaves and it's now back to toasty blowy goodness on all 5 speeds!