Airtrek Adventures - Indecisive young man washes shite car in New Zealand

[TooManyPeopleMovers]

As I've alluded to in the past, I'm a little indecisive when it comes to buying cars. I can never find "perfection", whatever that is. 

However being in need of a car somewhat urgently to start work, and being that in Dunedin, New Zealand the range of cheap shite cars is limited, perfection has had to be....compromised. 

As the collection is now in progress, I'll start with some clues: I haven't owned one before, but it is similar to vehicles I have owned before. 

First step: Take a bus into town.

This was my trusty steed for the first leg. A Volvo B7R Euro 5. Comfortable, quiet and quick. What more could one want from  a bus? 

[hairnet]

a sctsch sawin at tha wheel

you bought some kinda wagon?

[TooManyPeopleMovers]

At the Bus Hub: Doing a transfer

[TooManyPeopleMovers]

35 minutes ago, hairnet said:

a sctsch sawin at tha wheel

you bought some kinda wagon?

You could call it a wagon?

Clue Two: Has one of my favorite engines. I've owned cars with variations of this engine before too.

Bus number two:

[hairnet]

ohno you bought an estima

*cries at disapoint

please drive to waverley without using the road :P

[TooManyPeopleMovers]

Sorry @hairnet not even close!! But that is the type of car I normally like to buy! 

And I'm not sure the bus driver will appreciate my suggestion to take the bus off road. 

That said, he's just stopped the bus, and walked off with his carryall bag....? Ah, we have a new driver.

Clue Three: The car has a Diamond Star badge on the front. 

 

[1duck]

Clio?

[eddyramrod]

Mitsubishi..... Sapporo perhaps?

[TooManyPeopleMovers]

Sorry @1duck no chance....time and time again I've proven to myself I'm not a small car person.

@eddyramrod You are very, very close and so...

I have just collected the car, and.....

It's a 2005 Mitsubishi...

..."Airt ek" (Mitsubishi Airtrek)

It's the bASe model LS, which is so bASic, on this one the R has gone for a walkabout, whereabouts as yet unknown..

These come with a 2.4 liter Mitsubishi 4G69 - the two RVR's I've owned have a smaller variant of this engine, the 4G63. The advantage of the 4G69 is that it has a few more cc's and MIVEC, yo!

The Airtrek was the replacement for the RVR, which as I've alluded to above, and is hopefully in my signature, I've had two of, so this is a logical progression to a newer Mitsubishi crossover. Purchase price was $4300, which I think is pretty reasonable in Dunedin!! Not like the UK sadly..

In spite of how basic the interior looks, it's actually a really nice place to sit, with a tall driving position, driver armrest, and cruise control! And the interior is also in mint condition. 

This particular example has done 162,000 kilometers, and has exactly no service history whatsoever, and as befits Autoshite is 6000 kilometers overdue an oil change. 

Even more befitting of Autoshite is the cambelt roulette the previous owner was playing....on a 4G69 the cambelt is due every 95,000 kilometers or 10 years.

By that measure, and there is no evidence at all of a cambelt change...the car is 67,000 kilometers and 5 years overdue a cambelt!!

I have just driven it down to the mechanic for the cambelt and water pump etc to be changed tomorrow, and I have to say, I was so nervous I would hear "Snap - Crunch", as on these engines a snapped cambelt is essentially game over, new engine. 

That aside for the first time in a long time I am super happy with a car I have purchased...I feel like I should have owned this a long time ago!!

[eddyramrod]

Petrol, I presume?  Anyway, right gearbox and good colour, so well done there!  Now about that breakfast shot, poo count, pez station shot, Woollard shot.......................

[andy18s]

Ah.the original Outlander.

The Mrs wanted to try 1 of these when we were last car shopping,as allegedly they are based on the Lancer/Evo running gear

I said no as it is soo ugly....

And thay are around 1/3 that price here in Sunny Bulgaria....

 

[Cord Fourteener]

I think we are lucky here, wading in a sea of shite.

So, given that truly cheap shite is rare in NZ very well done sir!

[Landy Mann]

3 hours ago, hairnet said:

ohno you bought an estima

*cries at disapoint

please drive to waverley without using the road

If only you were 14 months earlier and all this could have been yours for $1500 now WoF less but probably in Dunedin somewhere. Also the top of mount Cargill is GR9 for photos.

[TooManyPeopleMovers]

6 hours ago, eddyramrod said:

Petrol, I presume?  Anyway, right gearbox and good colour, so well done there!  Now about that breakfast shot, poo count, pez station shot, Woollard shot.......................

Thanks @eddyramrod - yes it is petrol...and I agree! I'm far too lazy for a manual any more, though they are good fun! And doesn't red make a car go faster?

Well now that you say it, there is an opportunity for breakfast, poo count, pez station etc as I haven't actually taken the car home - I drove it 10 minutes from the previous owner to my mechanic, where it is sitting overnight awaiting the cambelt change.

So tomorrow evening I will indeed be "collecting" the car properly so to speak, and I will endeavor to fulfill the hallowed traditions. (Which I so enjoy watching others complete themselves!)

[TooManyPeopleMovers]

4 hours ago, andy18s said:

Ah.the original Outlander.

The Mrs wanted to try 1 of these when we were last car shopping,as allegedly they are based on the Lancer/Evo running gear

I said no as it is soo ugly....

And thay are around 1/3 that price here in Sunny Bulgaria....

 

Indeed Andy I believe the underpinnings are purely Lancer CG/CH series, which corresponds to Evo 8/9. It certainly steers very nicely and is composed without being harsh.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder?

[TooManyPeopleMovers]

4 hours ago, Tim_E said:

I think we are lucky here, wading in a sea of shite.

So, given that truly cheap shite is rare in NZ very well done sir!

Thanks Tim! Post Covid I'm very keen to visit the UK to have a myself. Until then..

[TooManyPeopleMovers]

4 hours ago, Landy Mann said:

If only you were 14 months earlier and all this could have been yours for $1500 now WoF less but probably in Dunedin somewhere. Also the top of mount Cargill is GR9 for photos.

That is a bargain at $1500! With Covid, the lockdown, and economic uncertainty as it is, good truly cheap cars have essentially vanished, so far as I can see. 

I will make sure to get it up Mt Cargill some time soon - today you couldn't see 200 meters ahead even in Waverly...very misty rain. 

[chaseracer]

8 minutes ago, TooManyPeopleMovers said:

Post Covid I'm very keen to visit the UK to have a myself. Until then..

Make sure you coincide your visit with a ShiteFest - or at the very least a Midlands Massiv/Scotoshite raid on Cannock motor auctions!

You'll be made very welcome.

[Cord Fourteener]

Hopefully we'll be having a North Wales meet that got postponed, maybe in October.

Details will be announced here: 

 

[Landy Mann]

4 hours ago, TooManyPeopleMovers said:

That is a bargain at $1500! With Covid, the lockdown, and economic uncertainty as it is, good truly cheap cars have essentially vanished, so far as I can see. 

I will make sure to get it up Mt Cargill some time soon - today you couldn't see 200 meters ahead even in Waverly...very misty rain. 

Supply and demand of used backpacker wagons unfortunately, don't buy in Auckland in November and then sell in Dunedin in April... In any year without Covid there are many desperate backpackers trying to sell in the autumn and they'll probably take your worst/best/only offer...

[philibusmo]

9 minutes ago, Landy Mann said:

Supply and demand of used backpacker wagons unfortunately, don't buy in Auckland in November and then sell in Dunedin in April... In any year without Covid there are many desperate backpackers trying to sell in the autumn and they'll probably take your worst/best/only offer...

I made a good amount of money selling to backpackers in Auckland between September and January. Buy any old wagon, lob a mattress in the back, if the WOF isn't recent then slap a new one on and double your purchase price, then find a German. Job done.

[TooManyPeopleMovers]

6 hours ago, chaseracer said:

Make sure you coincide your visit with a ShiteFest - or at the very least a Midlands Massiv/Scotoshite raid on Cannock motor auctions!

You'll be made very welcome.

 

4 hours ago, Tim_E said:

Hopefully we'll be having a North Wales meet that got postponed, maybe in October.

Details will be announced here: 

 

Thank you @chaseracer aand @Tim_E - an Autoshite event is something I'm very keen to attend when I do visit the UK. I will certainly be planning any visit around something like that. Also very keen on buying an Austin/Rover Montego Countryman to travel around!

[TooManyPeopleMovers]

2 hours ago, Landy Mann said:

Supply and demand of used backpacker wagons unfortunately, don't buy in Auckland in November and then sell in Dunedin in April... In any year without Covid there are many desperate backpackers trying to sell in the autumn and they'll probably take your worst/best/only offer...

 

2 hours ago, philibusmo said:

I made a good amount of money selling to backpackers in Auckland between September and January. Buy any old wagon, lob a mattress in the back, if the WOF isn't recent then slap a new one on and double your purchase price, then find a German. Job done.

Thanks @Landy Mann and @philibusmo - I agree, the freedom camper culture means that under any other circumstances people movers and wagons would be super easy to find...oh well. Hopefully when this is all over shite will be plentiful again? 

Though NZ seems to have been doing relatively well...that sort of thing is probably dependent on re opening the borders, which is perhaps not the smartest thing to do at the moment. 

[TooManyPeopleMovers]

Breakfast:

Poo count: 1 (...No photo)

[Cord Fourteener]

Nice brekky ?

If you buy a Montego of any sort you'll need a tweed jacket and a flat cap or immigration will be having words with you.

[hairnet]

what ya buyin now?

@STUNO go and have a word ffs

 

[TooManyPeopleMovers]

1 hour ago, Tim_E said:

Nice brekky ?

If you buy a Montego of any sort you'll need a tweed jacket and a flat cap or immigration will be having words with you.

 

1 hour ago, hairnet said:

what ya buyin now?

@STUNO go and have a word ffs

 

@Tim_E I do have a tweed jacket...I think I should qualify in that case? Extra points if the Montego I find has 7 seats!!

@hairnet I'm just collecting the car from the mechanic and bringing it home today!! But as alluded to, if I were in the UK, I would love a Montego Countryman.

Bus to the hub Downtown: (I've just arrived)

We use quite a few Volvo B7R Euro 5's in Dunedin  - I'm not complaining - it's a very nice urban bus. 

[TooManyPeopleMovers]

Airtrek collected! Only have a shot of car at the mechanic with a complete cambelt, so no woollarding or petrol station shot yet!!

Ok, so the engine bay needs a clean. 

[Cord Fourteener]

It looks clean and tidy to me ?

[TooManyPeopleMovers]

@Tim_E I won't tire until it's gleaming like a new car!! 

Pez shot - the fuel tank mustn't have a good breather system....there was blowback and what looked like a litre of petrol ended up on the forecourt. Oh well.

Car is home, finally. No woollarding as it's late you won't see anything!