What have I done the Mrs is now officially worse than me for collecting chod caution pineapple content

[Vince70]

My other half decided she wanted a cheap convertible the other day for the summer months and won’t risk driving my Z3 as she said the bonnet was too long and she already has a Ka and an old diesel A class that she wants to run on vegetable oil once fuel is banned lol.

This time I didn’t have a say on the matter as she found the car herself on Facebook for £500 with a long ticket so off we went back to my old stomping ground of South London for about a 130 mile round trip to the road next to where my family came from so I put that down to a good omen.

So this morning at 730 am I bumped started the E36 as the crap ECP battery that’s just over 2 years old had gone flat.

Well this is what she bought and it’s a real beautiful car and looking at the condition you would think it was about 2 years old so she’s a lot better at buying chod than me.

Shes decided not to use it till April so I will most probably give it a service and also luckily the cambelt is recent but it’s got an exhaust blow that will get looked at.

Its also poverty spec as it’s a 1.4 petrol and I never knew this but it has a manual roof which is a real bonus as I really hate electric roofs with a vengeance after repairing my one on my old E36 cabriolet.

The seller was a real nice bloke as well and just handed us the keys and said go for a drive and I asked if he wanted to come along and said no it’s okay just let us know if you want it when you’re finished.

It even came with a full tank of juice 

 

[MJK 24]

Tidy looking Bug 👍

[Mally]

Did she drive it home with the roof down?

[Out Run]

Great buy and what a top seller.

[Vince70]

4 minutes ago, Mally said:

Did she drive it home with the roof down?

No it was bloody cold but the seller went through how to put the roof up and down so we should be able to work it out once the weather is better.

[Vince70]

I quite like driving them myself as I had a very early RHD new beetle about 8 years ago and the only real downside I found was it didn’t have a temperature gauge and you needed binoculars to see out the windscreen as you were so far away but apart from that it was a great motor.

It did have one annoying fault though and that was a horrible rattle coming from behind the door card and when I took it off to investigate some had put a couple of hot wheels cars in the door lol.

It was also Australian spec lol.

[Vince70]

The Cat also approves of the purchase 

[bunglebus]

New Beetles are the current cheap cabrio bargain. I could be tempted if I was in the market for a car

[bezzabsa]

you sure the A class will take veggie????

[Vince70]

9 minutes ago, bezzabsa said:

you sure the A class will take veggie????

I wasn’t sure as it’s quite new being an 04 1700 cc and I did tell she wanted and old Volkswagen 1.9 or an old Peugeot/Citroen diesel 1.9.

Thats what started the search for a new car and why she ended up with a 1.4 petrol Cabriolet lol.

[wuvvum]

31 minutes ago, Vince70 said:

The Cat also approves of the purchase 

Cats seem to like sitting on convertible tops.  I often used to find a cat asleep on the roof of my MX-5.

[Timewaster]

Well bought! Mine was £400 but in much worse nick. 

(and probably on here as a £5 roffle after the inevitable fail sheet is issued) 

 

 

[Asimo]

Old (new) Beetles are real shite bargains at the moment. (And really quite interesting and well made for a modern VAG product)  

Mexican cars FTW - see also PT Cruisers.  Buying on the back slope of the fashion curve saves £££! 

[spartacus]

6 hours ago, wuvvum said:

Cats seem to like sitting on convertible tops.  I often used to find a cat asleep on the roof of my MX-5.

I think it's because the material heats up in the sun* and it's relatively soft compared to a tin roof.

Apologies if you'd worked that out already.

ETA. Foxes (and cats) like trampolines in gardens for the same reason.

 

[sutty2006]

500 quid? Bargain that! 

[spartacus]

I'm not a big convertible fan but I don't think these are bad looking, either roof up or down, I would imagine parts are fairly reasonable and plentiful too.

Well bought!

[Vince70]

Normally you find on the new Beetle damaged sills as my old ones we’re knackered and I used a slide hammer on them and a skim of filler and some Poundland black and Lacquer and they came up like new.

This one though has straight sills which is a miracle especially for a London car which has most probably bounced up a few kerbs.

[sutty2006]

12 minutes ago, Vince70 said:

 

This one though has straight sills which is a miracle especially for a London car which has most probably bounced up a few cyclists. 

FTFY. 

[ruffgeezer]

The Cabrio love to rot a sill out near the back, so do please be vigilant! 

[Vince70]

It’s got a fantastic mot history which is a bonus and it had an advisory a few years back on the exhaust and a slight misting on a couple of shocks but most of its history is advisory free.