Dj_efk

Another one from me,
The Capri is the most overrated classic. The fact that an average example costs upwards of between 10-15k is absolutely absurd. 

When Stewart Lee says something like 'Clarkson sits down every week and works out what outrageous opinion he's going to pretend he holds before his column deadline, for money'. He nails it really. So much of an act, but he is a good journalist.
Give him 10 minutes to review a new car and he'd come up with a good summary, a pithy headline and a joke. Many Youtubers won't have got past the press release 'design language' in that time.

Oh here’s one - Citroen 2CVs are as good as the sum of their parts - a weedy lawnmower engine bolted to a number of pieces of corrugated iron with a few deckchairs sprinkled inside.
Having bought a nice example I couldn’t wait to offload it asap the first time I took it out of a 30mph zone - where it went from being a hilarious clown car on the corners and roundabouts to a terrifying instrument of torture.
I managed to double my money by selling it to some nutter in Malaysia in the end!

Oh here’s one - Citroen 2CVs are as good as the sum of their parts - a weedy lawnmower engine bolted to a number of pieces of corrugated iron with a few deckchairs sprinkled inside.
Having bought a nice example I couldn’t wait to offload it asap the first time I took it out of a 30mph zone - where it went from being a hilarious clown car on the corners and roundabouts to a terrifying instrument of torture.
I managed to double my money by selling it to some nutter in Malaysia in the end!

Oh here’s one - Citroen 2CVs are as good as the sum of their parts - a weedy lawnmower engine bolted to a number of pieces of corrugated iron with a few deckchairs sprinkled inside.
Having bought a nice example I couldn’t wait to offload it asap the first time I took it out of a 30mph zone - where it went from being a hilarious clown car on the corners and roundabouts to a terrifying instrument of torture.
I managed to double my money by selling it to some nutter in Malaysia in the end!

My unpopular motoring opinion is that having good tyres appropriate for the local climate and conditions is a good idea.

Saw this today outside the Axminster Co-Op and thought I’d revive this thread - Zoom in.

It was a proper old biddy that got in this and drove off too!
 

Adam Pearson (comedian with a disability) has a joke similar to that. Story of when a plumber came to fix something and was talking to him.
 
"My mate's disabled....do you know him?"
"My mate's a twat, do you know him?"

Saw this today outside the Axminster Co-Op and thought I’d revive this thread - Zoom in.

It was a proper old biddy that got in this and drove off too!
 

Could strike a match on that paint finish! How will he sweep the floor if someone buys it with that deck stay?

God bless Mum

I last read this thread years ago when you were considering putting electronic ignition on your Cortina and have settled down for an evening’s read to catch up.
So sorry for the shitty luck, I shall be thinking of you next time I go by Basingstoke on my regular Devon / Maidenhead trips.
I hope 2024 is the year that things turn brighter for you.

You are so kind, thank you for taking the time to post this.

I last read this thread years ago when you were considering putting electronic ignition on your Cortina and have settled down for an evening’s read to catch up.
So sorry for the shitty luck, I shall be thinking of you next time I go by Basingstoke on my regular Devon / Maidenhead trips.
I hope 2024 is the year that things turn brighter for you.

I last read this thread years ago when you were considering putting electronic ignition on your Cortina and have settled down for an evening’s read to catch up.
So sorry for the shitty luck, I shall be thinking of you next time I go by Basingstoke on my regular Devon / Maidenhead trips.
I hope 2024 is the year that things turn brighter for you.

I think we need more info on the OP’s use cases for the car - however I would suggest an Audi A2 TDi 75 -
Pros:
Ticks the premium box as high spec ones are nice inside
Immensely practical for its size - has the passenger space of an equivalent Golf whilst taking up a tiny footprint (great for urban non ULEZ environments and also if you live somewhere with narrow lanes like me). Also the rear seats unlatch right out and it then turns into a small van.
Most bits are from the VAG parts bin so very cheap to run and reliable - the current record mileage is over 450k on the same engine!
£35 tax, qualifies for classic insurance if needed, 70mpg is possible as….
…Made from aluminium so only corrosion of the suspension components to check for - ideal therefore as winter beaters
There’s a thriving owners club with a wealth of DIY maintenance and repair info 
You can upgrade them easily with a remap, six speed box from a later VAG diesel and add all sorts of retrofits to basically spec the car how you want it via the club relatively cheaply.
It’s a statement that goes against everything that Audi stands for now!
 
Cons:
Styling is an acquired taste
Getting harder to find a decent one for under £1500 - but still easy-ish to find if you’re patient

These stories are why I come to AS. Fair play, they really cheered me up. 

Apologies if I’ve woken you. I just realised it’s 8am!
Meery Christmas. 

I'm working a Friday afternoon in Eastham, not a time or place I usually work but hey ho.
I get despatched a job and dutifully turn up at the address. An old man with a grey beanie hat and an NHS walking stick exits his pensioner's bungalow and gets into the front passenger seat of my 400,000 mile Mondeo estate. He tells me he wants to go to the chemist to collect his prescription and then to the small Tesco nearby. No probs, I take him to the chemist and after five mins he returns with a massive bag full of his essential medication. He gets back into the front passenger seat and I run him the few hundred yards to the Tesco. This old fella with a grey beanie hat and NHS walking stick informs me that he'll only be a few minutes.
I spend the next ten minutes on waiting time amusing myself on FB and AS but then start to wonder where this OAP had fucked off to. I look up and notice that waiting at the bus stop in front of me is an old man wearing a grey beanie hat and using an NHS walking stick! Shit! My punter is clearly a bit senile and forgot that he had a taxi waiting! 
Now, remembering all my Dignity and Respect training, I walk over and cheerfully tell the OAP that I'm here in his taxi and would he like to get in the car so I can take him home. He tells me that he hasn't ordered a taxi which means I have to try a different approach. I've written off the idea of getting paid for the job by now but I want him to still have his many tablets that were currently in my front passenger footwell. I tell him no problem, feel free to get the bus home but advise him to take his drugs home with him that I have in the car. 
It's then he starts to get aggressive, he says that he doesn't want any of my fucking drugs! I can see this isn't going to be easy so I tell him that I'll get his prescription out of my car whilst turning around and motioning to my Mondeo estate. It's then I see an old man with a grey beanie hat and an NHS walking stick opening my passenger door and get into my car! Yes, I'd been trying to entice the wrong old man into getting into my car with the promise of drugs!!!  At this point, I looked hopefully at the ground on the hope that it'd swallow me! I make my humble apologies and scamper back to my car to take the correct old man with a grey beanie hat and NHS walking stick back home!

I think we need more info on the OP’s use cases for the car - however I would suggest an Audi A2 TDi 75 -
Pros:
Ticks the premium box as high spec ones are nice inside
Immensely practical for its size - has the passenger space of an equivalent Golf whilst taking up a tiny footprint (great for urban non ULEZ environments and also if you live somewhere with narrow lanes like me). Also the rear seats unlatch right out and it then turns into a small van.
Most bits are from the VAG parts bin so very cheap to run and reliable - the current record mileage is over 450k on the same engine!
£35 tax, qualifies for classic insurance if needed, 70mpg is possible as….
…Made from aluminium so only corrosion of the suspension components to check for - ideal therefore as winter beaters
There’s a thriving owners club with a wealth of DIY maintenance and repair info 
You can upgrade them easily with a remap, six speed box from a later VAG diesel and add all sorts of retrofits to basically spec the car how you want it via the club relatively cheaply.
It’s a statement that goes against everything that Audi stands for now!
 
Cons:
Styling is an acquired taste
Getting harder to find a decent one for under £1500 - but still easy-ish to find if you’re patient

I think we need more info on the OP’s use cases for the car - however I would suggest an Audi A2 TDi 75 -
Pros:
Ticks the premium box as high spec ones are nice inside
Immensely practical for its size - has the passenger space of an equivalent Golf whilst taking up a tiny footprint (great for urban non ULEZ environments and also if you live somewhere with narrow lanes like me). Also the rear seats unlatch right out and it then turns into a small van.
Most bits are from the VAG parts bin so very cheap to run and reliable - the current record mileage is over 450k on the same engine!
£35 tax, qualifies for classic insurance if needed, 70mpg is possible as….
…Made from aluminium so only corrosion of the suspension components to check for - ideal therefore as winter beaters
There’s a thriving owners club with a wealth of DIY maintenance and repair info 
You can upgrade them easily with a remap, six speed box from a later VAG diesel and add all sorts of retrofits to basically spec the car how you want it via the club relatively cheaply.
It’s a statement that goes against everything that Audi stands for now!
 
Cons:
Styling is an acquired taste
Getting harder to find a decent one for under £1500 - but still easy-ish to find if you’re patient

I’ve never bought anything other than NGK for plugs and I’ve not had one instance in messing about with engines of all descriptions in the last 30 odd years that has made me regret it - so no idea what other brands are like.
 
Like you, I’ve come to the conclusion that the Bosch brand has been whored out to the point where it’s now meaningless in terms of appliances and tools. I will still only buy Bosch (or genuine) engine sensors for my VAG vehicles however.

Nope a damask / similar red 2 door.
 
I saw it quite by chance several years later parked in a car park in Worthing - it was a fantastic coincidence as that was the o U.K. day I have ever been to Worthing, I sold the car while still living in London.
It then popped up on eBay a few years ago looking a bit worse for wear - clearly hadn’t been garaged etc. and had deteriorated plus had some one or two interior trim bits fitted - I was a little saddened by this as I know it would still look as good as it did then now if I had kept it.

I once bought a series one 1300SDL Allegro complete with quartic steering wheel back in 2008ish for a laugh, believing the Clarkson drivel about BL. It cost me a grand on eBay, it had 45k miles from new and was immaculate.
Well the joke was on me: After giving the thing a birthday service and upgrading the ignition to electronic using a kit of parts from a Mini specialist, it was 100% reliable, drove really well and would cruise easily at 65-70mph no bother. It also turned heads everywhere it went and I couldn’t get it to do less than 40mpg no matter how I drove it. At the time I lived in west London and it would make even more sense in London now, being tax and Khan exempt.
I turned from a BL basher into a believer- so when a low mileage series 1 1800HL Princess came up on eBay a year later down in south Devon I bought that too - and once again was astounded at how good a car that actually was compared with the rep, once I’d given it the same birthday + electronic ignition upgrade treatment.
Bear in mind I was in my twenties and my expectations of a car were somewhat lower back then, but nonetheless I still correct obviously biased bollox about BL if I ever hear it now using my actual experience of their products.

I once bought a series one 1300SDL Allegro complete with quartic steering wheel back in 2008ish for a laugh, believing the Clarkson drivel about BL. It cost me a grand on eBay, it had 45k miles from new and was immaculate.
Well the joke was on me: After giving the thing a birthday service and upgrading the ignition to electronic using a kit of parts from a Mini specialist, it was 100% reliable, drove really well and would cruise easily at 65-70mph no bother. It also turned heads everywhere it went and I couldn’t get it to do less than 40mpg no matter how I drove it. At the time I lived in west London and it would make even more sense in London now, being tax and Khan exempt.
I turned from a BL basher into a believer- so when a low mileage series 1 1800HL Princess came up on eBay a year later down in south Devon I bought that too - and once again was astounded at how good a car that actually was compared with the rep, once I’d given it the same birthday + electronic ignition upgrade treatment.
Bear in mind I was in my twenties and my expectations of a car were somewhat lower back then, but nonetheless I still correct obviously biased bollox about BL if I ever hear it now using my actual experience of their products.