For Sale FSO Polonez for sale on ebay.Let's remind people how they look like :-)

[Felly Magic]

I think Jordan Jurgiel brought an Atu into the UK very recently for not much money, and it looks pretty straight, the Atu btw is a 4 door saloon version of a Caro for those not clued up on Polonezezezezezez

[John F]

PolonezFan, on 08 Nov 2016 - 10:07 PM, said:

Hi.I am glad discussion about Polonez heats up  .

 

.but it was built like a tank. She went up the backside of a Sierra which was nearly written off. The FSO needed a new bumper and the wing hammering back a bit. It wasn't this model though.

 

here are the links to prove how good Polonez crash test was.

 

 

I wish all the modern cars had that kind of level of safety.Obviously it was 1993 and it did not have an airbag but if it did you could hit a wall at 30 mph,open the door ,swear that you destroyed your beautiful car and walk home saying to yourself "I am glad I was in Polonez" 

 

Your feedback is :some say it is horrible some say ok,some say I am asking for too much money.

Well yes and no considering it is not eaten by rust and will be delivered in good working order.Sure you can buy one for £1000 or even less but this would be so rotten that you would not want to even look at it.

The point is I am not trying to prove to anybody it is the best car in the world or even the best value for money.It is just different and if you are bored of modern cars and have a bit of courage and sense of humour you could get something that virtually no one has it. People buy some oldtimers that cost £200000 and are virtually undriveable with handling of a wheelbarrow but they do because they like having something unique. I guess RHD Polonezes are virtually extinct so if you want one you have to stick to LHD, 

In terms of reliability they are not great but would not say horrible.Any car of that age requires more attention.I own Caro 1.9 GLD diesel powered and must say it is very reliable. Perhaps the most reliable engine Polonez has ever had.I own also Mercedes CLS V6 that has 3 times more powerful engine and much better comfort for driver and passengers but still like Polonez for its unique flavour.  I am so eager to jump on it after week or two of driving Mercedes. It is so much different experience I love it.

 

Yep, we get it... and generally this site is all for supporting the underdog.

 

But the sticking point here seems to be what you think the car is worth. I honestly think you'd do better selling it in mainland Europe, used cars are cheaper here than pretty much anywhere else in Europe so £2,200 buys you a LOT of 'old' car. Or several of them.

[sierraman]

My brother had a few Ladas back in the day. As people have said they were monumentally shit. Running one wasn't a cult choice, it was a placard you were on hard times! Quality control was AWFUL!!!

 

Still I'd like one now as I like flawed stuff like that.

[RoadworkUK]

PolonezFan, I agree with every word you have said.

 

Everything you have stated rings true about me and my Rover 800. Almost every other car I regularly drive is "better" but I love every second I spend in the Rover.

 

However. I would be laughed off Autoshite if I attempted to sell it here for two thousand pounds.

[PolonezFan]

Thanks folks for such a great feedback.Good or wrong tells me something about people's attitude to underdogs. Generally speaking, most of the people look at Polonez as another banger you can get at the cost of 10 large pizzas.

In Poland they are seen slightly different because there is some nostalgia about them.Obviously, you can get rotten one in such a condition you would not touch it.Here is example:

 

http://otomoto.pl/oferta/polonez-caro-w-pelni-sprawny-1-6-benzyna-bemowo-1996r-ID6yCcc5.html#73876a2abb

The cost of this one is 1400zl= £285 for 1996y.o.b

 

Up to this 2 finest examples:

http://otomoto.pl/oferta/polonez-caro-stan-kolekcjonerski-bez-oznak-korozji-ID6yDPnx.html#73876a2abb

The cost of this one is 15000zl= £3065 for 1995y.o.b

 

http://allegro.pl/show_item.php?item=6588238853#thumb/8

The cost of this one is 9900zl= £2020 for 1996y.o.b

 

The older versions from the eighties are even more expensive as they are hard to find in good condition:

 

http://otomoto.pl/oferta/polonez-1-5-super-borewicz-ID6yDPDz.html#73876a2abb

The cost of this one is 15000zl= £3040 for 1986 y.o.b

 

http://otomoto.pl/oferta/polonez-1-5-ID6yyteW.html#73876a2abb

The cost of this one is 14000zl= £2850 for 1983 y.o.b

 

And at the end the most expensive Polonez you can get in superb like new condition. This one is the classic Polonez of your wildest dreams

 

http://otomoto.pl/oferta/polonez-1-5-1500-le-ID6yreTX.html#87c88bcc91

The cost of this one is 28000zl= £5714 for 1987 y.o.b

 

The same car can be bought as a cheap banger as well as  almost prestigious car.

[Rod/b]

Where in the world would you see an FSO and a Ford Excursion parked in Tesco?

[Felly Magic]

I don't think the OP realises that here is the wrong place to try and sell a Polonez, especially for that kind of money for a car with known issues. £2k buys a hell of a lot here which has already been mentioned, there is just one person in the UK with this kind of money to splash around on Commie cars, and he already has a mint condition 1995 GLi with low kms, and even he would baulk at paying that kind of cash for a car still in Poland.

[Dave_Q]

PolonezFan, 

 

Fair play if minty ones are fetching those prices in .pl.

 

In which case you might be better polishing it up and sticking an ad up locally for 9999zl.

 

Over here in my humble opinion you are unlikely to get even £1000 for it, and you'd still have to wait rather a long time for the right victim to come along.

[They_all_do_that_sir]

Wrong market completely (The UK that is)

 

There is a reason people are buying cars here and sending them into mainland Europe - our used car market is probably one of the cheapest in Europe, you'd be lucky to get more than a few hundred for that over here. £2000 would buy you your pic of 90's luxury car here - XJ6 or 8, 5 series, S class, Range Rover.

 

As a novelty car I would say anything over £5-600 and you are doing well. FOAD struggled to sell a Samara for £300. And even at that there probably aren't that many people over here in the market for a Polenez at all - very few people would have the magic combination of a romantic attachment to the brand, cash and space.

[PolonezFan]

Fair enough.It does not cost me anything to experiment with the UK market.I was just curious what sort of interest would I get with my Polonez and what kind of offers - if any.Obviously, I am more likely to find someone with a "romantic attachment to the brand" in Poland. I was hoping to find someone with a bit of eccentricity to get a car unknown, unpopular and unusual,here. I must admit my eBay advert has had almost 1000 views so I guess people are curious to see the car, perhaps, they have never seen before.19 people are watching the auction what indicates even more of their interest.I guess some of them think" I will watch the auction to the end and if that guy sells it for £2000 that means there is a market for something maybe not so great but different"  

The point is if you want a cheap 20 years old banger- there are better choices. So this car is not for those. If you do not mind money and look for 20 years old youngtimer- there are better choices, too.So this car is for those who perhaps are a bit rebellious and contrary to the mainstream or have driven everything and are bored with modern cars.

 

I will keep my Polonez on eBay to the end of the auction and if does not sell I will treat the whole experience as the interesting sociological experiment. I have got another one(1.9 Caro GLD) so do not have a need to keep one of them.1.9 GLD is powered by the old school diesel so has fantastic reliability which modern diesel do not have anymore.

 

Once I went with my grey Polonez to Germany and it created a lot of interest.People did not recognise the brand at all.(FSO has never sold any car on the german market) Maybe it is time to start the same sociological experiment in Germany  . 

 

Anyway I am angry what happened with FSO.In the eighties, Polonez was relatively better car comparing to what other communist countries were producing.Skoda was producing( model 105 with rear engine),and it was even far better than what Dacia was making. Look at Skoda and even Dacia nowadays.They sell thousands of cars in the UK. Skoda is comparable to leading European brands. FSO could be great too, but they found the strategic partner in Daewoo which bankrupted a few years after starting cooperation.Daewoo put the last blow of fresh air into Polonez making Polonez Caro Plus 1997-2002.  

 

http://otomoto.pl/oferta/polonez-caro-salon-polska-zeran-ID6yCd7p.html#3516602ed7

 

Skoda chose to go with Volkswagen and Dacia with Renault. FSO had an offer from Ford but under the condition to make many of the FSO workers redundant.Daewoo promised to keep all the workers.Lack of vision and short-term interest plus workers unions slowly killed FSO. Sad but true.

[Dave_Q]

Hey that's good info. Imagine what could have been if Daewoo had got FSO to start knocking out Esperos and Nexias.

 

Do stick around and show us some pics of your other car, we are interested in these things around here, and I'm glad you've not taken our "constructive feedback" on your pricing personally.

[RoadworkUK]

Yup. Seeing what it goes for on eBay is pretty much the best way to gauge its value.

 

My first Rover 800 eventually sold for £42 including MOT.

 

Says it all.

 

Also, we love FSOs here, it's just that none of us like spending any money ever.

[PolonezFan]

Thanks Dave Q and RoadworkUK

 

Here is very interesting Top Gear from 1983 showing you FSO and the  Polish car market of that time.

It gives you some idea of what it was like to live in the communist country and face harsh reality of it.

A bizarre communist economy will surprise you the most.

Do you want to know why a second hand car could cost more than the same model brand new?

Please watch it:

 

[Six-cylinder]

I enjoyed watching the Top Gear Polish special very much. What cars are available today in Poland and how does the buying process work, do you have PCP pay by the month, small deposit and a balloon payment usually taken from the PX value when you trade it in?

[plasticvandan]

you will have far better luck bringing in FSM (Fiat) 126 (maluch) over here,people like those

[vaughant]

As a few of us said previously my guess is sell it back in Poland and you'll do better.

 

Great to hear the history behind it all though and you've taken all the comments in a positive way.

 

I'm new to the forum and it's a breath of fresh air so I hope your enjoying too.

[barefoot]

Will you swap for a slightly broken X box with seven really good games inc Pokemon?

Can collect tonite Mate.

[Felly Magic]

Maluchs are deffo more popular here, there are a few in the Ipswich/Felixstowe area I've noticed, but the cars have to be in the UK, Nova'd and registered for them to stand a chance of selling for sensible money. There was a Polish bloke in Essex trying to flog un Nova'd Maluchs a while back for daft money, and he did have a hissy fit when told why nobody was even remotely interested, as he was asking daft money for cars that were rough as a badgers arse. And some Polskis ideas of mint can be far from it, ask Cynanide Steve about the 125P a mate's Mrs bought for him, turned out to be a death trap, with the structural integrity of a soggy cornflake box, it';s now after a shedload of wedge spent on it mintier than a Trebor factory

[PolonezFan]

The above film is very educational.

 

I enjoyed watching the Top Gear Polish special very much. What cars are available today in Poland and how does the buying process work, do you have PCP pay by the month, small deposit and a balloon payment usually taken from the PX value when you trade it in?

Six-cylinder thanks for the question.What you saw in the video was FSO and Poland in 1983 in deep communism. In 1989 the soviet block collapsed but FSO despite being state-owned enterprise survived.Not only that, they were actually doing pretty well.In 1991 they did the major facelift for Polonez and the Caro was born.The old 1.5 and 1.6 engines were improved by an addition of a single point petrol injection. Long yearning for diesel was met in the purchase of the french 1.9 XUD engine known from Peugeot 405 or Citroen C15.I am the lucky owner of that  one.In 1994 they added Rover's 1.4 16V multipoint injection engine(YES ROVER)-that Polonez got a nickname "the polish GTI"  This engine had 103BHP as oppose to the most common 1.6 GLi 76BHP and my slugish diesel 1.9 70BHP.

 

http://allegro.pl/show_item.php?item=6601336101#thumb/1

 

Free market economy began, borders opened and "car hungry"people started to import cheap bangers from Germany.

The nineties were the Wild West of motoring in Poland.They were importing the worst shit from Germany.Wrecks not allowed in Germany to be put on the road again. Polish car body repairers  and mechanics in barns and sheds were making one car from 2 or 3 "write offs" and so on.

As you saw in the video in communism you had to wait 3 years for a brand new car despite having cash to buy it    State-owned factories meant no competition, no push to improve cars and inability to keep up with demand. Suddenly Polonez, being already outdated, had to compete with western cars. But Polish economy being in transition from communism to free market was not to be trusted, so the polish currency was weak and even those German bangers were expensive. So you had an alternative to buy 10 years old Golf built from 3 write-offs or brand new Polonez. For that reason, around 1995 Polonez was the KING of polish roads peaking up to 20% of all passenger cars at the time.But then the economy had improved, people started choking with cheap import and demanded newer model. FSO did not have money and technology to put a newer model into production so they found Korean Daewoo and FSO began assembling their cars as well as improved Caro Plus 1997-2002. Then Daewoo bankrupted and pulled FSO to its grave.

Although FSO is officially still alive they have not made any car since 2011.   2002-2011 were making Daewoo Lanos model branded as FSO Lanos and being sold mainly on the Ukrainian market. For some time they cooperated with Chevrolet making Aveo model.

Nowadays Polish car market is civilised and does not differ that much from western Europe.The same rules apply, so you can get any car you want.There are various options of finacing and leasing.Obviously the cheapest manufacturers thrive, such as Skoda and Dacia, however more and more people drive really good cars(BMW,Audi and Mercedeses) You would see exactly the same cars as in the UK.

Obviously old communist cars are still to be seen, but every year there is less and less of them.Even Polonez the KING of the nineties is a rare sight.

 

However,polish car industry has one thing in common with British car industry and it is fact that is almost non existent.

[theorganist]

Wrong market completely (The UK that is)

 

There is a reason people are buying cars here and sending them into mainland Europe - our used car market is probably one of the cheapest in Europe, you'd be lucky to get more than a few hundred for that over here. £2000 would buy you your pic of 90's luxury car here - XJ6 or 8, 5 series, S class, Range Rover.

 

As a novelty car I would say anything over £5-600 and you are doing well. FOAD struggled to sell a Samara for £300. And even at that there probably aren't that many people over here in the market for a Polenez at all - very few people would have the magic combination of a romantic attachment to the brand, cash and space.

I couldn't sell a Talbot Horizon here for £300 so I'm afraid the OP has no chance with the Polonez!

 

I have always found these interesting, some cars which the press in the day decided were awful to drive I have found enjoyable, I think I like idiosyncrasy!

 

I would have thought these were perfect autoshite fodder (not at that price) but I did wonder if I'd stumbled onto pistonheads in error when I started reading the topic!

[theorganist]

Wrong market completely (The UK that is)

 

There is a reason people are buying cars here and sending them into mainland Europe - our used car market is probably one of the cheapest in Europe, you'd be lucky to get more than a few hundred for that over here. £2000 would buy you your pic of 90's luxury car here - XJ6 or 8, 5 series, S class, Range Rover.

 

As a novelty car I would say anything over £5-600 and you are doing well. FOAD struggled to sell a Samara for £300. And even at that there probably aren't that many people over here in the market for a Polenez at all - very few people would have the magic combination of a romantic attachment to the brand, cash and space.

I couldn't sell a Talbot Horizon here for £300 so I'm afraid the OP has no chance with the Polonez!

 

I have always found these interesting, some cars which the press in the day decided were awful to drive I have found enjoyable, I think I like idiosyncrasy!

 

I would have thought these were perfect autoshite fodder (not at that price) but I did wonder if I'd stumbled onto pistonheads in error when I started reading the topic!

[Six-cylinder]

The above film is very educational.

 

Six-cylinder thanks for the question.What you saw in the video was FSO and Poland in 1983 in deep communism. In 1989 the soviet block collapsed but FSO despite being state-owned enterprise survived.Not only that, they were actually doing pretty well.In 1991 they did the major facelift for Polonez and the Caro was born.The old 1.5 and 1.6 engines were improved by an addition of a single point petrol injection. Long yearning for diesel was met in the purchase of the french 1.9 XUD engine known from Peugeot 405 or Citroen C15.I am the lucky owner of that  one.In 1994 they added Rover's 1.4 16V multipoint injection engine(YES ROVER)-that Polonez got a nickname "the polish GTI"  This engine had 103BHP as oppose to the most common 1.6 GLi 76BHP and my slugish diesel 1.9 70BHP.

 

http://allegro.pl/show_item.php?item=6601336101#thumb/1

 

Free market economy began, borders opened and "car hungry"people started to import cheap bangers from Germany.

The nineties were the Wild West of motoring in Poland.They were importing the worst shit from Germany.Wrecks not allowed in Germany to be put on the road again. Polish car body repairers  and mechanics in barns and sheds were making one car from 2 or 3 "write offs" and so on.

As you saw in the video in communism you had to wait 3 years for a brand new car despite having cash to buy it    State-owned factories meant no competition, no push to improve cars and inability to keep up with demand. Suddenly Polonez, being already outdated, had to compete with western cars. But Polish economy being in transition from communism to free market was not to be trusted, so the polish currency was weak and even those German bangers were expensive. So you had an alternative to buy 10 years old Golf built from 3 write-offs or brand new Polonez. For that reason, around 1995 Polonez was the KING of polish roads peaking up to 20% of all passenger cars at the time.But then the economy had improved, people started choking with cheap import and demanded newer model. FSO did not have money and technology to put a newer model into production so they found Korean Daewoo and FSO began assembling their cars as well as improved Caro Plus 1997-2002. Then Daewoo bankrupted and pulled FSO to its grave.

Although FSO is officially still alive they have not made any car since 2011.   2002-2011 were making Daewoo Lanos model branded as FSO Lanos and being sold mainly on the Ukrainian market. For some time they cooperated with Chevrolet making Aveo model.

Nowadays Polish car market is civilised and does not differ that much from western Europe.The same rules apply, so you can get any car you want.There are various options of finacing and leasing.Obviously the cheapest manufacturers thrive, such as Skoda and Dacia, however more and more people drive really good cars(BMW,Audi and Mercedeses) You would see exactly the same cars as in the UK.

Obviously old communist cars are still to be seen, but every year there is less and less of them.Even Polonez the KING of the nineties is a rare sight.

 

However,polish car industry has one thing in common with British car industry and it is fact that is almost non existent.

Thanks very much for the great potted history of Polish motoring.

[sierraman]

That made me laugh when they said a Polonez would cost. That would be something like £100,000 in today's currency! What a car!

 

Out of the road test though I'd have the Lada. It was no joke about the rough edges you got with the Lada. The quality was terrible! My dad knew someone who had one and the door panels warped on it in the sun, the answer at the garage was to fit some 'discreet screws' which comprised of some more self tappers as seen in the video, but with some big fat washers round them held in at seemingly random positions.

[Alusilber]

As it happens, I was over in Poland (mainly in Bielsko-Biala) last week and was disappointed to find an almost complete lack of Communist-era chod out and about. Only an orange Zuk van and a Skoda Estelle (or whatever they were called there). Everything else was the usual German/French/Italian/Jap/Korean stuff, but about 10 years older on average than the cars I see here.