What do you drive?

[AVTuco]

56 minutes ago, KenjiOgiwara said:

I still don't how these will be allowed in the city center. It looks like a Delta squad has mobilized.

Yes it does mate. I love it. Would make me 20 years younger.

[StanBalaban]

Decided I should probably sell my 1985 BMW Alpina, simply because it sits around not being used. Love the car, and BMW's of that era with the 'sharknose' front, but it deserves a good home.

#12 out of 77 made, so hard to determine what the market values it at though.

 

[Genie]

8 minutes ago, StanBalaban said:

Decided I should probably sell my 1985 BMW Alpina, simply because it sits around not being used. Love the car, and BMW's of that era with the 'sharknose' front, but it deserves a good home.

#12 out of 77 made, so hard to determine what the market values it at though.

 

Not sure if it’s the same as this one, went to £27,000 but unsold 

 

[Xela]

Car porn there @StanBalaban

I love BMWs of the era. The shark nose (E21/23/24/28) and the slightly later ones (E30/31/32/34)

I had a E30 325i Sport. Found a few pics of it on a memory stick so will upload it over the weekend. If I was building my dream garage i'd probably have 3 or 4 beamers from this era

Absolute golden age for BMW. Ultimate driving machine as it was called back then

Edited July 10, 2020 by Xela

[StanBalaban]

29 minutes ago, Genie said:

Not sure if it’s the same as this one, went to £27,000 but unsold 

 

Similar Genie, but it's a B10 3.5. Love the shade of blue of that B9!

[Genie]

1 minute ago, StanBalaban said:

Similar Genie, but it's a B10 3.5. Love the shade of blue of that B9!

I’ve never been a big fan of BMW but those certainly are sexy

[StanBalaban]

28 minutes ago, Xela said:

Car porn there @StanBalaban

I love BMWs of the era. The shark nose (E21/23/24/28) and the slightly later ones (E30/31/32/34)

I had a E30 325i Sport. Found a few pics of it on a memory stick so will upload it over the weekend. If I was building my dream garage i'd probably have 3 or 4 beamers from this era

Absolute golden age for BMW. Ultimate driving machine as it was called back then

Cheers mate. The E30 series was an brilliant car, and a good 325i sport is worth good money these days.

I love cars of that era in general and am fortunate enough to have a couple of others, which is another reason why I need to have a word with myself. None of them are getting driven much, especially in the summer here in Dubai.

Here are two of the others, sat in the office car park...

[StanBalaban]

3 minutes ago, Genie said:

I’ve never been a big fan of BMW but those certainly are sexy

I think the modern BMW's are such capable machines but, for me, I just love the earlier ones. 3.0CS, 2002, E30, E28, The Z3M Coupé... Just love em all!

[Xela]

10 hours ago, StanBalaban said:

Cheers mate. The E30 series was an brilliant car, and a good 325i sport is worth good money these days.

 

Tell me about it... a mint one sold at Silverstone auctions recently for over £50k. I let mine go for pin money in 2006. Even high mileage / tired ones seem to fetch about £15k-£20k now.

I'd buy another one if I could justify it to myself... mind you my ultimate car from that era is either original Honda NSX in red with the black roof or a 911 964 model

Nice porker and merc... 928 and 500 SEC? 

 

[StanBalaban]

1 hour ago, Xela said:

Tell me about it... a mint one sold at Silverstone auctions recently for over £50k. I let mine go for pin money in 2006. Even high mileage / tired ones seem to fetch about £15k-£20k now.

I'd buy another one if I could justify it to myself... mind you my ultimate car from that era is either original Honda NSX in red with the black roof or a 911 964 model

Nice porker and merc... 928 and 500 SEC? 

 

Ooooh the NSX! What a car. Had the opportunity to buy one about 10 years ago for a fraction of the price they are now.

Yeah it's a 928 GT (money pit) and a 560 SEC.

[Xela]

Just seen a gorgeous Citroen SM at my local petrol station. Back when the French made wacky and exciting cars

It was the same colour as this I think. Lovely. 

[Xela]

On 11/07/2020 at 10:40, StanBalaban said:

Ooooh the NSX! What a car. Had the opportunity to buy one about 10 years ago for a fraction of the price they are now.

Its about £45k-£50k for an early one now rising to over £100k for the rarer models. 

I seem to recall them at about £15k not all that long ago

Crazy how retro car prices have increased in the last few years

[villa4europe]

Worked with a guy a few years back who was properly in to it and talked about it a lot

He said it was pretty much all down to timing and watching the market but it was nuts how the popularity and demand for certain cars can explode

Can't remember exactly what he had, it was about 5 of them, 1 was definitley the mustang out of bullit, 1 was a corvette from the 60s which was worth so much that he had it in some sort of air sealed specialist container, said it was better than money in the bank

The big thing was he knew how to clean the engine which makes a massive difference in the value 

He was circling round lambos, trying to find the right car to flip, can't remember which way round it was a diablo to cash in on for a countach or the other way round

[Xela]

21 hours ago, villa4europe said:

Worked with a guy a few years back who was properly in to it and talked about it a lot

He said it was pretty much all down to timing and watching the market but it was nuts how the popularity and demand for certain cars can explode

Can't remember exactly what he had, it was about 5 of them, 1 was definitley the mustang out of bullit, 1 was a corvette from the 60s which was worth so much that he had it in some sort of air sealed specialist container, said it was better than money in the bank

The big thing was he knew how to clean the engine which makes a massive difference in the value 

He was circling round lambos, trying to find the right car to flip, can't remember which way round it was a diablo to cash in on for a countach or the other way round

I read somewhere that people generally lust after the cars from their childhood or when they started to drive, but couldn't afford them. So when those individuals can afford a 'classic' car, when they are typically in their 40's/50's they want the cars they had posters of on their wall as children. That's why 80's hot hatches are now expensive and 80's supercar prices are accelerating.  Its a sound theory as I got into cars as a 9-10 year old and my dream garage would include cars from that era in the main! 

The trick is to predict what 90's/00's car will rocket in price and buy them up!

 

[StanBalaban]

40 minutes ago, Xela said:

I read somewhere that people generally lust after the cars from their childhood or when they started to drive, but couldn't afford them. So when those individuals can afford a 'classic' car, when they are typically in their 40's/50's they want the cars they had posters of on their wall as children. That's why 80's hot hatches are now expensive and 80's supercar prices are accelerating.  Its a sound theory as I got into cars as a 9-10 year old and my dream garage would include cars from that era in the main! 

The trick is to predict what 90's/00's car will rocket in price and buy them up!

 

That definitely rings true with me. It also helps to justify my decisions knowing that the cars will likely appreciate (or can not depreciate any further). What one cannot necessarily predict is the cost of keeping them running - especially in gruelling conditions like the summer here in Dubai.

Outside of the daily driver, I've always looked for cars that I wanted either as a kid, or in the early days of being able to drive. In terms of BMW, I've had the E38, E32, Z3M (alas not the coupé) as well as the current E28 Alpina. I would definitely think the 1 series M Coupé is a future classic, as will the manual version of the current M2.

A manual Fiat 500 Abarth has to be a good bet too.

[StanBalaban]

50 minutes ago, Xela said:

 

The trick is to predict what 90's/00's car will rocket in price and buy them up!

 

A lot of the cars of the 90's / 00's are already moving up in value. Some of the Japanese models that didn't feature in a Fast and Furious movie are worth looking at though...

Mitsubishi 3000GT, Mazda RX7, Honda S2000, Subaru SVX are four that spring to mind.

[darrenm]

It's not in the same league as those other cars but this is my Lupo GTI which I'm keeping for a bit. They made 1000, of which there's about 400 left and probably 20-25 in raven blue and maybe 5-10 with the options this has with the leather and aircon. I've just spent some money to have the wheels fully refurbed and most of the car resprayed. Then I replaced all the brakes and put a coilover kit on it to replace the original tired suspension rather than lower it (although I've dropped it slightly because they're stupidly high as OEM)

I reckon it's worth £4k at the moment and the value should slowly increase.

[Spoony]

Jeep Wrangler update - engine warning light on because engine coolant thermometer seems to have gone haywire and needs to be replaced so the engine coolant is stuck open and over cooling the engine. ABS and traction control warning lights both on and I suspect it’s a wheel sensor issue which is a pain as although it’s an easy fix I can’t get the parts where I am right now.

Wife’s mini - some sort of unknown headlight issue it thinks it has, windscreen washer reservoir Is leaking perpetually from the bottom so is always empty, soft top isn’t working properly, service warning light on (says it needs a service, think it’s a built in thing where it just comes on after certain mileage??), battery has died for a second time this month so needs replacing.

****. Car. Ownership. I never had a car in London. Those were the good old days. It’s our fault I guess for not getting reliable motors but Jeep ownership is super fun and she loves her mini so what you gonna do. God damn cars are expensive things though. 

Edit: I think I’d get a Toyota next. I need a 4x4 or a pick up because of hurricanes and how easily it floods here during storms. Toyotas seem very reliable. Anyone have any experience with a Toyota 4x4?

Edited July 25, 2020 by Spoony

[darrenm]

4 hours ago, Spoony said:

Jeep Wrangler update - engine warning light on because engine coolant thermometer seems to have gone haywire and needs to be replaced so the engine coolant is stuck open and over cooling the engine. ABS and traction control warning lights both on and I suspect it’s a wheel sensor issue which is a pain as although it’s an easy fix I can’t get the parts where I am right now.

Wife’s mini - some sort of unknown headlight issue it thinks it has, windscreen washer reservoir Is leaking perpetually from the bottom so is always empty, soft top isn’t working properly, service warning light on (says it needs a service, think it’s a built in thing where it just comes on after certain mileage??), battery has died for a second time this month so needs replacing.

****. Car. Ownership. I never had a car in London. Those were the good old days. It’s our fault I guess for not getting reliable motors but Jeep ownership is super fun and she loves her mini so what you gonna do. God damn cars are expensive things though. 

Edit: I think I’d get a Toyota next. I need a 4x4 or a pick up because of hurricanes and how easily it floods here during storms. Toyotas seem very reliable. Anyone have any experience with a Toyota 4x4?

Top Gear tried to destroy a Hi Lander and couldn't. Most Toyotas are bomb proof. The rugged stuff is legendary.

[Phil Silvers]

4 hours ago, Spoony said:

Jeep Wrangler update - engine warning light on because engine coolant thermometer seems to have gone haywire and needs to be replaced so the engine coolant is stuck open and over cooling the engine. ABS and traction control warning lights both on and I suspect it’s a wheel sensor issue which is a pain as although it’s an easy fix I can’t get the parts where I am right now.

Wife’s mini - some sort of unknown headlight issue it thinks it has, windscreen washer reservoir Is leaking perpetually from the bottom so is always empty, soft top isn’t working properly, service warning light on (says it needs a service, think it’s a built in thing where it just comes on after certain mileage??), battery has died for a second time this month so needs replacing.

****. Car. Ownership. I never had a car in London. Those were the good old days. It’s our fault I guess for not getting reliable motors but Jeep ownership is super fun and she loves her mini so what you gonna do. God damn cars are expensive things though. 

Edit: I think I’d get a Toyota next. I need a 4x4 or a pick up because of hurricanes and how easily it floods here during storms. Toyotas seem very reliable. Anyone have any experience with a Toyota 4x4?

Bomb proof, others are fun too and will get you anywhere you want to go but if you want to make sure you can get back home, get a Toyota.

I've had Mitsubishi Shogun swb, Land Rover Defender 90 and a Toyota Landcruiser 100. Shogun solid all rounder, Defenders are just cool but not that great and the Landcruiser is the daddy.