OV9

Rich B wrote: Sun Nov 03, 2024 12:41 pm crap, it’s all a bit real now - just sold my M2…

i advertised it for £32,995 and got loads of trade type offers between £26-29.5k straight away. i just had a guy come over and (bearing in mind it’s on MOT advisory front tyres) offered £32k.

i’m going to have to get a van/elise now!

Well that's a good deal.....buyer private or trade? I can only imagine the kind of wide-boys you'll get trying to sell an any kind of M-car privately

Matty wrote: Sun Nov 03, 2024 12:48 pm

Rich B wrote: Sun Nov 03, 2024 12:41 pm crap, it’s all a bit real now - just sold my M2…

i advertised it for £32,995 and got loads of trade type offers between £26-29.5k straight away. i just had a guy come over and (bearing in mind it’s on MOT advisory front tyres) offered £32k.

i’m going to have to get a van/elise now!

Well that's a good deal.....buyer private or trade? I can only imagine the kind of wide-boys you'll get trying to sell an any kind of M-car privately

yep private sale - very nice guy no messing about - i’ve just got to find my bloody V5 now!

i had loads of chancers when i sold my e92, i’ve had a few this time, but thankfully nowhere near as many. it’s difficult not to get pissed off with the daft offers though. i just started blocking the number of anyone did.

£22k CASH 2NITE POSTCODE

Rich B wrote: Sun Nov 03, 2024 1:03 pm it’s difficult not to get pissed off with the daft offers though. i just started blocking the number of anyone did.

Ignore them, or wind them up. I flip-flop between the two approaches.

I guess having to find £30k without Rich offering finance means the people you actually end up dealing with aren’t the same lot making stupid offers or trying to buy something flash somewhere closer to £20k

5-Series blower fan replaced today. Pretty easy job. The fundamental problem seems to be quite simply that the brushes wear out. Gradually reducing pressure mean less good contact and fewer air in cabin. Eventually becomes intermittent (which is where I'd got to) before giving up completely. The new fan - £35.95 from ebay - shifts a LOT more air than the old one was doing. On the old one the brush was so worn you could see the spring. New one is all brush.

And I'm looking forward to the incoming 16+ pages of "what car thread - slammed black T6 Scene Edition".

Because that'll actually result in a purchase

Sundayjumper wrote: Sun Nov 03, 2024 7:23 pm And I'm looking forward to the incoming 16+ pages of "what car thread - slammed black T6 Scene Edition".

Because that'll actually result in a purchase

that search has been going on for some time already! This has just made it a little more real!

Basically, i needed a kick up the arse to actually get on with buying stuff!

Macan is now on its winter wheels. Once I'd got the stack of wheels out of the garage it was fairly quick - probably 25 mins getting eveyrthing out and in the right places and 10 mins to actually change them. Prompted by a puncture again though, annoying.

More fun was learning a bit more about the MX5 on Saturday. I avoided a TL:DR after I got back. I have compared it to my old Elise but now I've run it in and can use all the revs it's much more obviously front-engined: the Elise rear end was very well tied down and you could lean on it while the MX5 has less weight on the rear and more power so is playful. A couple of times I put my foot down harder mid-corner to see how it would react and I think the electronics braked the inner wheel to make the car rotate. A few more times I simply got it to unstick (generally only in 2nd gear though). I did find 3rd to be an excellent gear because it runs to just over 90mph at 7,500rpm. While there's no VTEC kick it does go harder in the last maybe 3000-3500rpm (so from 50-55mph). It's a good overtaking gear.

I also wanted to find out which roads suited it best. Definitely B-roads; A-roads are fine but in Wales on Saturday morning the A-roads had traffic on and the B-roads basically didn't. First thing, the wider sweeping A-road felt less sure-footed than similar speeds on tighter B-roads later, maybe that was just me getting used to the car or possibly the tyres warming up. I had an absolutely fantastic drive back down the B4355 from Dolfor to Knighton; one we've used on meets before (where we started at Morville, went down the B4368 to Kerry and then back on the B4355). The car just felt amazing on that, suiting it perfectly and giving me more and more confidence to play with how it behaves.

My other major take-away was that there's more traffic everywhere, particularly on the A-roads, more speed limits and it would be much more difficult now to put together a good route. Arranging a meet would be harder than it used to be. And pretty though the Elan Valley is, it's attracting tourists now and the roads are pretty rubbish for driving; they're too tight with other vehicles and there are quite a few broken surfaces and potholes. Worth it for photos only. The mountain road to Cwmystwyth is still fun. And in the old lead mine there was where I made an attempt to recreate a photo of my last MX5. The piles of spoil have changed a bit though so I couldn't work out the exact location. Wonder who has been shifting it around?

Nice. It’s half term, so hopefully quieter mid-week in term time.

Came back from holiday to find the Fabia on the trickle charger was showing 5.1v. Great. I'd turned it on and connected it up but not switched it to the actual charging mode (cheap £15 Lidl trickle charger, after I my CTEK one went pop by me trying to plug it in when wet). Wouldn't start charging because the battery was below 7.3v. Feckin' awesome USB jump starter pack to the rescue, drive round the block, come home - 10v, now charging.

Mondeo in for MOT today. Failed on exhaust blowing and mounting corrosion. I suppose not unexpected for a 188,000 mile car, and thankfully they can patch it up for a few hundred quid.

Seems you can't buy the exhaust parts from anywhere but Ford now. £2,500 for a new system. LOL. only about 4 times what it's worth.

tim wrote: Tue Nov 05, 2024 2:55 pm Mondeo in for MOT today. Failed on exhaust blowing and mounting corrosion. I suppose not unexpected for a 188,000 mile car, and thankfully they can patch it up for a few hundred quid.

Seems you can't buy the exhaust parts from anywhere but Ford now. £2,500 for a new system. LOL. only about 4 times what it's worth.

I ended up paying €900 for a new back box for the Galaxy, and was told to go to a bespoke exhaust company because they can't even source the center pipe anymore.

I guess that’s the way with modern cars.

Gone are the days of needing a new exhaust every couple of years, but now although they last a lot longer once you get past the expected life of the car they don’t exist or are stupidly expensive to replace.

Cost of running modern cars is insane. Genuinely wonder how some people manage it considering the rates dealers charge.

Have you seen the amount of LingLong Ditch Finders on modern expensive cars ?

Dave!

Bizarre really because tyres haven't gone up in price like many other consumables on cars.

Jobbo wrote: Tue Nov 05, 2024 5:21 pm Bizarre really because tyres haven't gone up in price like many other consumables on cars.

wheel size (and average cost per tyre sold) probably has though.

If it's black, round and legal why pay more?
I imagine that's what 95% of the public thinks.

Mito Man wrote: Tue Nov 05, 2024 6:00 pm If it's black, round and legal why pay more?
I imagine that's what 95% of the public thinks.

You're giving them too much credit for even thinking tbh. They'll just drop into Halfords/National/Kwik Fit and be told they need new tyres, and then be given a price. Maybe a couple of prices, and they'll just go for what has been suggested. Whenever I've been in these places they rarely suggest anything from the bigger name manufacturers, or even the mid-range ones.