Sub Par Cars

[SubPar]

Aye, I remember my oldest brother had one a few years back. A 1.3 5 door in that blue / purple colour they did. He's not the most mechanically minded and it still plodded along faithfully for a long while.

I've persuaded my mate to phone the DVLA and at least get a progress report. We've been looking at flights to Heathrow and they aren't badly priced at all. Particularly cheap on Wednesdays too. Both of us have good availability for the next couple of weeks, so day of week doesn't matter to us!

If I can get at least a progress report from the DVLA for mate's car, then I may well transfer over a deposit for the Corolla. I even noticed it has air conditioning! Been a while since I had something that fancy.

I just checked that my binatone two-way radios are still functioning, too. All good. Useful for convoys and cheaper / easier than trying to use phones.

[Broccoli]

Wow, wish I could get a deal like that in the US.
Great thing about that age Toyota, they are built from automotive granite.
100bhp will feel proper nippy in it due to the light weight.
Hope it works out for you.
Great looking car too!

Took the Mrs Audi in to have the aircon fixed a few years ago and the guy on the service desk told me that Audis are the type of car to lease, as they are so “cutting edge” unlike a Toyota, which are long term cars to buy because they are the same thing for the past 30 years. Just as it cost me a few $$$ short of $2k to have the aircon fixed.
I asked him if Toyota’s didn’t have aircon then, to which he promptly shut up.

Toyotas here have a great reputation for longevity and you can still pay $20k for a 20 year old landcruiser with 200k on the clock. A similar Audi is worth $3k if it’s still running.

[paulplom]

Fil has just been telling me about a mate and his 10 year old audi. They want £400 to update the sat nav.

[Broccoli]

Fil has just been telling me about a mate and his 10 year old audi. They want £400 to update the sat nav.

Sounds about right.
The wife drives an Aldi SUV because her workmates do...
Wish I could steer her towards a Toyota so that we don’t pay $35k+ for a new car every 5 years, hit 100k (having paid typically $3k per year in the last 2) to be told it’s worth less than $5k on trade in. This time we bought an ex demo, but still chose one that was $5k more than the rest as it had blind spot flashy lights. Bugger me if she didn’t asked me how to turn them off after 6 months.
That said, she earns the money but what a way to spend it!

[SubPar]

You lot have convinced me.

I'll get back in touch with them tomorrow and take them up on their £200 deposit to hold it for a fortnight offer.

I can leave it a week before booking any flights, as flights are still a reasonable price a week out. That will at least give things a week for the paperwork for mate's car to turn up.

Worst comes to worst I'll just go down there myself and drive home in just the Corolla rather than in convoy with a Galant...

[Broccoli]

Don’t be swayed by us... we’re just the peanut gallery!
All that said, I’ve bought a car and it’s on a different continent. So the bringing it home is going to be a nightmare!

Good luck with your trip. Try and make it part of the enjoyment rather than a chore.

I bought an Elise and drove it 2000 miles home. Non-stop (except for hotel and gas) and frankly was miserable.
Drove the Jag home (1500 miles) and other than being damn scary due to summer tires in the sub zero, was more of an adventure and much more enjoyable because of it.

[cros]

I'm very tempted by this.

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-detail ... 5263128158

The seller will take a £200 deposit to hold it for a fortnight, as I have a mate who needs to collect a car from Northampton pending some DVLA paperwork. Hopefully that paperwork will be forthcoming soon and we can tie it all into one trip. The paperwork has been with the DVLA for a couple of weeks so far, that's why I hope it's forthcoming soon, it's not like it's just been submitted today or anything.

Hmmmmm.

The seller has good reviews on autotrader, and a very professional looking website of their own. Mobile number only, but these days a lot of people don't use land lines (I know I don't). Distance buying is a gamble but the MOT history speaks for itself. The address of the business is a terraced house, but the photos appear to have been taken outside Earls Court Exhibition Centre, a very distinctive building genuinely just round the corner from the house address.

I know it's "just" a 100hp-odd Toyota Corolla. However, a 100hp-odd smallish hatchback would be an ideal equivalent replacement for the 316 which is getting somewhat grotty and tired (and already has an interested party even in its current state).

Relative had one for years and it just kept going with very little input. It's part of the cosmic balance system for my Freelander.

[SubPar]

Don’t be swayed by us... we’re just the peanut gallery!
All that said, I’ve bought a car and it’s on a different continent. So the bringing it home is going to be a nightmare!

Good luck with your trip. Try and make it part of the enjoyment rather than a chore.

I bought an Elise and drove it 2000 miles home. Non-stop (except for hotel and gas) and frankly was miserable.
Drove the Jag home (1500 miles) and other than being damn scary due to summer tires in the sub zero, was more of an adventure and much more enjoyable because of it.

Aye, I've bought cars from far away before (but not as far as you, but I don't think that's physically possible within the mainland of the UK).

I've not done a double collection and convoy back, though. Could be interesting.
The other car concerned is a 1990 Mitsubishi Galant a friend bought unseen on ebay. It has no V5, thus the DVLA fuckery. It's sat on another friend's driveway in Northampton, awaiting us to collect it. Hopefully soon!

Flights to Heathrow are the cheaper option to get down that way, so why not just grab a wee Corolla on the way past, eh?

[Broccoli]

Sounds like a fun ‘pick up’ thread.
Just checked and as the crow flies, my next car is 3,894 miles away. It’s going to be transported to my door!

[SubPar]

Oh well, that's nae happening.

Just phoned the guy back today and even though I said I'd go for it, he cut me off mid sentence and had a proper go at me for not leaving a deposit yesterday when he gave me his bank details.

Appropriately shitty review of them left on Autotrader (not under my real name).


Before he even started having a go at me I said I will take it, and will go for the deposit as mentioned yesterday. Nope. Because I didn't do it within 30 seconds of him sending me the bank details, it's not happening and never will. The car is still available, as he confirmed, and it's still advertised. But, the idea of taking a deposit the next day after my initial call was too much for him and he just hung up on me.

Cunt.