Anyone fancy an XM? ... veg friendly auto

[skattrd]

This isn't available immediately as I've not got the V5 through yet, and I need to keep it until I've done the solid flywheel conversion on the boring.Hopefully both of these will be sorted within a couple of weeks.

I've only had it 2-3 weeks, but after lusting after them for years I'm just not feeling the love for it.

I've done about 2500 miles in it so far and I've done very little to the car except fill it with diesel and drive it.

 

Pics shamelessly stolen from the ad I bought it from ... it's pretty much the same but slightly dirtier, and may even have genuine Yorkshire mud on it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

MOT late Feb 2014, tax, end of Feb 2014, mileage is currently 166k, this will go up a bit.

 

There are a couple of faults with the car:

I have been told it will need a small patch of welding on the o/s sill for the next MOT. I've not had the car on a ramp to inspect it, so personally can't say what it's like.

Cruise control n/a - replacement parts included

Tear in alcantara on drivers seat - a piece th patch it is included.

Sunroof n/a - it's been silconed shut, so doesn't leak.

 

Plus points:

2.1TD - I have been told this is the veg friendly edition

Aircon - works

Electrics pretty much all work except for the above

Remote locking works

Over half of the dot-matrix display works

 

 

If you think you've seen it before, yes it did belong to fiat4alfa of this parish, here's his thread on the car.

 

Price - the XM owes me roughly £800 and for once I'd like to not lose money on a car

 

Right, you've got a couple of weeks, so form an orderly queue. I may be interested in a deal with another motor as long as it's a Heather Mills spec dizzler.

 

 

 

 

[dollywobbler]

I never quite got around to pleading for a drive of this around the field. It's probably a good idea I didn't know it'd be coming up for sale. Otherwise, it'd be full of sheep shit by now.

[Lankytim]

I can't wait to get mine of the road. 2.5 Diesel for added unreliability and fuel economy fail points.

[Partridge]

 

 

 

 

 

 

Never knew they were that plush inside

[beko1987]

Ooof, would be twice as economical as mine... but I like mine!

 

If I get £800 in the next week I'll let you know!

[skattrd]

Never knew they were that plush inside

 

This is the "Exclusive" which I think was the top of the range, hence the alcantara/leather interior ... I've sat on sofa's that are less comfy than these seats

[Junkman]

Never knew they were that plush inside

 

Plush? It looks about as cluttered as my daughter's room.

[beko1987]

Its an odd angle for a photo, makes the interior seem larger than it is! Although I;ve got used to it now, anyone who gets in my car for the first time says they feel tiny compared to the space!

[flat4alfa]

It's got wide-angle lensage.  Well, it was a motor trader taking the photo.

 

It is well comfy in there.  But the plushness dream is spoiled when you press one of the not-so-upmarket plastic switches and fart about with the daft handbrake.

 

It's a good car - I used this as a daily for over five months this year.  It gets a good move on if you give it enough beans too.  But the Missus hated it and wouldn't drive it.  So I kept the dizzling Alfa 156 after all.

 

It's a shame I bought it with a trader's ticket, but that's no problem to fellas on this board, not at this money IMHO, etc.  I was open with the buyer, and the seller heard what I had to say on the matter. 

 

It's got the key to the alloy wheels too, so you don't have hammer a, etc

[beko1987]

It's an auto, just dont use the handbrake!

 

I think I;ve used mine a handful of times times since I've owned it, only once for actual parking reasons, the other for playing about and once on the MOT. Just slap it into P normally. Their notoriously made of chocolate, so I don't bother. Every now and again I prod the pedal at slow speeds to keep everything clean, but thats about it.

[flat4alfa]

Well it got new discs and pads with me.  And I wanted to get me money's worth*

 

It works fine and didn't melt.

 

 

 

 

* front calipers do the handbraking, handy for J-turning.

[skattrd]

The V5 landed yesterday, and it looks like I may be unemployed quite soon, so this is now available.

[forddeliveryboy]

Any idea when the timing belt was last replaced?

[skattrd]

Any idea when the timing belt was last replaced?

 

138k, so less than 30k miles ago.

[Danblez]

Any idea when the timing belt was last replaced?

 

Where's you sense of adventure man?

 

http://autoshite.com/topic/14578-timing-belt-roulette/

[forddeliveryboy]

Where's you sense of adventure man?

 

http://autoshite.com/topic/14578-timing-belt-roulette/

Somewhere else. In fact it's riding around in the latest acquisition, a MB 300TD which snapped its halfshaft just as the previous owner advertised it. Her mobile mechanic used one from her scrap car, identical everything - except halfshafts. So one rear wheel has limited travel. Bloody cars. At least it has almost a year's r&t and cost just under £500.

 

Ime Peugeots like to snap their belts for fun, the aux belt tensioners are also prone to fail which can do for the cambelt also. Which would reduce this decent car to scrap - changing an engine isn't a small job on one of these.

[Minimad5]

Really nice car, but with an insurance quote of over £2000, yes two grand. I'M OUT.

[dollywobbler]

Somewhere else. In fact it's riding around in the latest acquisition, a MB 300TD which snapped its halfshaft just as the previous owner advertised it. Her mobile mechanic used one from her scrap car, identical everything - except halfshafts. So one rear wheel has limited travel. Bloody cars. At least it has almost a year's r&t and cost just under £500.

 

Ime Peugeots like to snap their belts for fun, the aux belt tensioners are also prone to fail which can do for the cambelt also. Which would reduce this decent car to scrap - changing an engine isn't a small job on one of these.

 

Presumably a W124? Is this a secret weakness given that the one I sold on here snapped a halfshaft just after I sold it?

[beko1987]

Really nice car, but with an insurance quote of over £2000, yes two grand. I'M OUT.

Fark!

 

Only pay about 600 sovs fully comp, 26 yo parked in an unsecured public car park with the remains on an sp30 on the policy!

 

Makes me feel better anyway

[flat4alfa]

The aircon was fixed and regassed and works excellently.  So does the heater.

So that's the warm and dry demisted winter sorted then.

 

 

I added this to the classic multicar policy (with R&H) for £130 fully-comp, with Green Flag thrown in.   I am not quite so young, nor am I quite near mid-life crisising just yet either.

 

 

This car has also had fresh fluids and filters throughout back in June.  That includes LHM and autobox

[forddeliveryboy]

Presumably a W124? Is this a secret weakness given that the one I sold on here snapped a halfshaft just after I sold it?

 

S124, to be all proper. Could well be, there are one or two cases if you use google. Basically - as you no doubt know, dw - the cars are tough as tough, but with a lot of silly little weaknesses which hadn't altogether been eradicated from cars when they came out in '85. Electric windows, electric switches, over-complex stuff like sunroof mechanisms which mean a stuck-open roof can virtually write a car off, such is the palava getting to them. The rear suspension on the estates and coupes is beyond most general mechanics even though it's simple enough and parts were made to be repaired rather than replaced. It's not a car for modern times. You need to lead a slightly eccentric life to appreciate them.

 

Add to that it was intended for mega-miles on German blacktop not bouncing and fretting English B-road, the owners generally had as much finesse as the car and bothered to look after them plus the fact that they're almost all 20 years old or more and have often covered the best part of quarter of a million miles. And now tjhat they're dirt cheap and have been for at least seven or eight years, owners have heard the bomb-proof reputation and wonder why they go wrong even when abused. It's engineering from a different era. The same was the case for the 2cv, often from new. If something is cheap enough, it'll be abused and reputations can be wiped away in no time.

 

What makes Audis and VWs so successful is that they are easy for mechanics to work on (and make good money doing so) and silly little things don't often go wrong. Bit like Ford used to be.

 

With steady quality reductions from 1990 onwards, the 124 is not half the car many hope it to be. In fact German cars aren't so well suited to many UK roads, I think the fine cars from the late 80s and early 90s were a blip whilst they established their reputations. I'm often stuck behind teetering A3s, A4s, smaller BMWs and many MBs on wet winter roads, their poor suspension and fashionably large wheels making life hell for the drivers. 

 

I like big estates but the market has moved towards 'people carriers' I guess. But a T4 or Shalaxy doesn't have the same appeal as an old A6 or 124. Like a DS or CX, the rewards are massive if you're prepared to make the effort - everything is quality and repairable apart perhaps from damaged panels. But times change, time is at more of a premium than ever for most ordinary people and we're at the height of the cheap throwaway culture. I'll have a go at shortening the shaft, if that's the problem.

[philibusmo]

I am a potentially interested party, as the more I look at this, the more it seems like a sensible* replacement for my 106. Let me do some logistical calculations and see if this is a possibility. Brb.

[skattrd]

I'm shocked at the £2k insurance quote, it cost me £7 (plus £20 admin fee) to add it to my FJ mulitcar policy.

[beko1987]

 

This car has also had fresh fluids and filters throughout back in June.  That includes LHM and autobox

Makes it an even better bargain! Autobox loves a good flush, mines worked so much better since carrying it out! 

 

And the sunroof being glued shut is probably a bonus. Mine works perfectly, and produces loads of wind noise even when closed and the blind thing pulled over. Driving with it open creates a thromming noise with the wind (possibly not helped with it being an estate), and if I'm smoking it upsets the wind balance and smoke goes everywhere. With just the drivers window open a crack it pulls the smoke and ash out nicely!

 

Plus the drains blocked up and filled my drivers footwell with water, so sunroofs can do one. Mines been shut now for months. Have to keep the blind closed as the sun comes in and makes my arm all hurty 

[Inspector Morose]

Really nice car, but with an insurance quote of over £2000, yes two grand. I'M OUT.

Just been quoted SEVEN FUCKIN GRAND to insure this bad boy from Lancaster......

 

I'm middle aged, in a dull job and am married. Life hates me.

 

I'm oot.

[flat4alfa]

That's computer-broken nonsense though.  Ring R&H, they do reasonable ERS policies like all the rest, except you're talking to a knowledgeable broker and not an online numpty calculator

 

The last time I saw a quote like that I was 25, a yobbo from Watford, on a '67 Chevelle with a hot 350, parked on the road near a pub.  Not a nice pub I should add.

[flat4alfa]

Just done the online numpty at Lancaster

 

got a

  £493 with £250 excess from underwriter Chaucer Auto Marque

 

 

I am married, with toddler, high claim area according to the books, got a paunch, and worse than that drive an X1/9 on wet roundabouts which is a bit like being a motorcyclist in a busy LEZ borough.

[philibusmo]

21 in a slightly rubbish area with 2 years no claims.

 

£650. Not bad i think, this is looking ever more appealing. Once the frontera is sold you may well hear from me again.

[Inspector Morose]

Aye, must admit that it took me by surprise though. Going to look around other insurers tomorrow. The idea of a xm in my life does seem an appealing one, I have to admit.

 

Just as a side line I plugged in the same details for the GS that was in eBay tat recently. £195 fully comp with £225 excess. Pity he sold it yesterday....

[Lankytim]

I had a quote on mine and it came to £300 odd. They are cheaper to insure than my Xantia!