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Do you ever feel tied in?


montytom

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I am sure the original buyer lost a lot more!

Sometimes though it is best to cut you losses and walk away. Once I have decided I don't want something, it has to go. Now. 

Which is where WeBuyAnyCar are useful. I took a £4k loss after 4 years of MR2 disappointment.

Man, but  it felt good to leave the little fucker behind at WBAC.

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I'll tell you what @montytom cars with characterful engines are going the way of the dodo. It might not be your cup of tea but it will be someone's and if you hang fire for a bit then I reckon you'll make a good chunk of that back.

Also, people piss money up the wall in all sorts of ways. People spend more than that a year playing golf for fucks sake!! Don't be hard on yourself, it's supposed to be a hobby 👍

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1 minute ago, Lanciaman said:

Don't get disheartened. I have £16k into a car that I've had for 4 years and driven 250 metres. I hate the thing now but it is what it is.  Accept it. Enjoy it or move it on fir a loss and regain your sanity.  Its done. Life is too short. 

Even I've driven mine more than that!

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An interesting predicament to be in. I’ve never had quite the same problem, but still managed to waste a lot of money over the years mainly because I become attached to cars and keep them way beyond their sell by date.

I had a Citroen C4 VTS that I loved and had modded a bit that got written off at 180k miles, as I couldn’t find one with the same rare options such as a pan roof I decided to get it fixed when I should have let it go. After spending about three times what it was worth getting it fixed and completely re painted I found the guy who did it wasn’t up to much as the paint sank and sanding marks were visible. Then it got an intermittent starting problem and I spent loads trying various things until it was fixed. Then the clutch went. I had that fixed. Then the gearbox went and I scrapped it at 197k miles haha.

Then I managed to buy one exactly the same, my daughter now has it.

I now have the Ying to your ST Yang, a Volvo C30 T5 and I’m gradually spending more on it trying out various mods and usually not liking them so putting it back to standard!

https://autoshite.com/topic/33874-my-t5-not-scene/

Your ST looks nice from what can be seen in your photo and would be worth keeping as some have said as a sort of appreciating asset. It may be that you’ve just lost your mojo with it at the moment and the love will come back?

I’m not too sure I would get on driving around in a low value car and not worrying about it as I’d still be concerned if someone put a ding in the door since it may only be a piece of shite, but it would be my piece of shite.

Lastly I’ll tell you how when young I wasted a lot of money on a car I never even had. I loved my first car a Mini, but wanted an MGB so got a bank loan to buy one. I could never find one that was as good as I wanted and I could never bring myself to sell the Mini (now I think of it I had that resprayed with all new wings, A panels, sills etc before giving it to Mrs Concern then her mother and eventually scrapping that haha). Anyway I never bought an MGB and just spent the money I borrowed with nothing to show for it! At least you still have a lovely car that lots of people would covet.

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Kind of feel similar with my omega. I love driving it. It has everything I need but having had it for 4 years and spent 5 times it's price and 3 times it's current value, on repairs, the mileage and minor things wrong with it, would mean it probably will end up scrapped. I feel like I'm saving it from death. 

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4 minutes ago, New POD said:

Kind of feel similar with my omega. I love driving it. It has everything I need but having had it for 4 years and spent 5 times it's price and 3 times it's current value, on repairs, the mileage and minor things wrong with it, would mean it probably will end up scrapped. I feel like I'm saving it from death. 

Keep going, everything is repairable 

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1 hour ago, Split_Pin said:

With the amount you've spent on it you have clearly not cut any corners and bought the best of gear for the car. Absolutely no shame in that at all. I reckon just about everyone who modifies modern cars is in the same boat.

Thankyou its had top of the range items as I wanted everything done properly.

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Any major work to improve the performance is usually money for throwing away. I built a Sunbeam Lotus years ago, from a written off one and an ex-racing Lotus shell. It had a full group B motor, around 320 bhp, a works 5 speed ZF gearbox and Bilstein suspension all round, and cost in the region of £17,000 back in 1985. I sold it after 2 years for £3000.

Cars like this only appeal to a very limited number of buyers and you are very, very lucky to ever get near what it cost to put the car together. There are rare ocassions, such are rebuilding an Aston Martin or certain models of Mercedes SL sports and even certain E-type Jaguars. But generally, spending big money on expensive alloys, rebuilding engines, replacing suspension, never recover what was spent.

I have put a lot of money into an assortment of strange cars, to extract extra bhp, but have never made a profit. I built a Lotus powered Ford Anglia, re-built and modified a 2.8 V6 Cortina, highly modified a Volvo 244 GL, but as each one was sold there was always a loss at the end of the day.

I do it for the fun of it, and when I have completed what I wanted to achieve I would look for something else. I still have two old motors that I am working on, but now it is just to keep them running and road-worthy. 

Look as the spend on the car as a necessary evil !!!

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I think your dad has some good advice, just keep it for a while and don’t do anything rash. Buy an old Rover for a few hundred quid in the meantime if you want to enjoy an Autoshite  experience again.

I would advise, if you do decide to sell, to do a bit of research on where to best place ads - maybe a Ford forum or Pistonheads (if they have a for sale bit) - this is not the sort of car for Gumtree/EBay etc.

At least not if you wish to maintain your mental health!!

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This is why you should never work out how much you spent on a car unless you're in the business of trying to sell them for profit.  If it's just for shits and giggles, how much you spent is neither here nor there.  I reckon if you can afford the cheap old fun car in addition to the fancypants one you should do that.  Then, when the cheap old fun car is Having A Moment, you've got Fancypants to destress with.

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To answer your original question: Yes!  Many times, some of them documented within these pages.  Huggy has reached that point too now.  It's not a good feeling, is it?

I don't know how to advise you; given my history, my advice is probably worth diddlysquat anyway.

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That sounds a bit like my experience with my Porsche 944 - a mate was selling his (too cheap, I thought) and I drunkenly agreed to buy it although I was happy with my mx5, I owned them both for a while and eventually sold the Mazda to be replaced by a sensible daily, the 944 being my toy car. I spent quite a bit getting it sorted for use on the track but it got written off by a daft sod in a people carrier failing to notice a queue of traffic stopped at temporary traffic lights. I did ok with the insurance so bought another, this time a 944S2 - it was quick, very quick but what a needy bugger it turned out to be. I probably spent as much again on it over a year (clutch, timing belt, water pump, brakes, tyres etc) and eventually came to resent it.  It's fate was sealed when I picked up a £500 mx5 to use as a daily and immediately realised I didn't love the Porsche at all. Sold it at a loss but was glad to see the back of it. I've owned a further 6 mx5s since (currently got two sitting on the drive :) )

Good looking bugger though !

 

4585433494_6b62e0ccc6.jpg

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I paid £4350 for my 545 in 2018. I have spent circa £2k on it - valve stem seals were half of that and some paint was £400. I had the box serviced the other day which was £300.

Still to do? A set of plugs, rear pads and discs and two rear tyres - stuff you would put on a modern.

I need a module to get the adaptive headlights working but that is not priority.

All my colleagues have euroboxes on the chucky - but that is'nt me. I like getting into a car to be an occasion - not something you can associate with a pug 3008 or similar.

My car is 17 years old - I fancied a mustang or a monaro next - however the thought of borrowing money for something that could be legislated off the roads does not really appeal.

Another vectra beckons.

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I’d say hold your nose and list it for 6k on Pistonheads if its modded. Sure you are guaranteed to get a load of cunts piling in because it isn’t a Civic Type R but ignore them and hold out for a proper bite in the knowledge you’ve got wriggle room. Make sure you write a very good ad with loads of pictures,  list all the mods and who did what as they’ll know their stuff (and if they don’t they’ll never admit it)

 And if you do go down that route delete this thread. 

End of the day though this is a good lesson in car modification - anything you spend is usually a sunk cost. 

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I bet its a great fun car to drive on some decent A roads! It could be a lot worse - someone I know has a broken Vauxhall Mokka that they still have 3 years finance left to pay on it... Last I heard a garage said it needed a new dpf which they couldn't afford so it has sat on their drive for about 2 months now. 

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11 hours ago, montytom said:

Tell me about it. I just thought it would be nice to have something that everybody likes but after owning it I've realised I dont like the same things most people do. Give me a £500 rover anyday

I've bought a few like that (cars rated by the car magazines and enthusiasts) and found the same as you. After a few months of trying to pretend I like them and buying accessories to keep it them mint condition, they've been punted on at a loss just to see the back of them. The amount of money you're talking about it quite large but if you've found that you actually do have cheap tastes then that's a positive.

Do you think the focus might have more appeal as an occasional car when you fancy a bit of adrenaline? 

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You have to look at what a car costs you for the time that you own it.  Stating the obvious maybe, but if you pay £3600 for it and spend £4400 on it, then sell it for £4400 then it has cost you £3600.  Spread over say 3 years that's £100 a month, which is not so much for a hobby which also provides you with transport.  Plus running costs of course, but you could easily spend that much in the pub. 

 

 

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Probably not the best person to advise on cars, I've got 2 Vauxhall and a Ssangyong for heavens sake, but I am the father of many sons. There seems to be an underlying message of buying and modifying a car to be liked, either on the internet forums or in real life,that hasn't turned out quite as expected. It would seem the car is making you miserable, which isn't good, so probably better off without it,at least mentally. Looking positively, even £3000 would buy 6 £500Rovers,which should be enough for most people. Please don't take this the wrong way, I think we've all spent money we've regretted, I know I have. 

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I owned an ungrateful Audi A4 that I hated for 2 years because I felt tied in due to the amount of money I pissed up the wall on it.

It was constantly going wrong, and eventually I sold it for a massive loss. Essentially I paid about £1,200 for it in 2014, spent more than its purchase price again on various things then sold it for £900. I was glad to see it go.

My biggest regret in that whole Audi A4 saga was selling its predecessor; a Peugeot 306 estate HDi with a stage 1 map. It had comfort, handling, performance and economy, plus it was far more reliable than the Audi ever was!

 

At the moment I've probably spent more on my Saab 9000 than I'll ever get for it, due to it being rather cosmetically challenged, but it's still not a huge enough amount of money to be bothered about. I also bloody love it, compared to that fucking Audi.

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13 hours ago, montytom said:

do you ever buy something and then because you know you'll never get back the money you feel tied into keeping it?

Don't feel bound by the amount you've spent - the money's gone, put it down to experience. Its rare to ever get back anything near the amount you spend on a car, be it through mods or maintenance.  The market dictates its worth, and to maintain it in good condition will be more expense. If the only reason  you are keeping it is the hope it may one day pay you back it may be a very long wait (if it happens at all), and will cause you more anxiety.

If you still enjoy owning it, keep it. If not, sell it.

 

 

 

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