Oops - what have I done! Bought RC200t

dutchie01 · October 25, 2021

Any new car on the horizon Linas?

Linas.P · October 27, 2021

On 10/25/2021 at 6:18 PM, dutchie01 said:

Any new car on the horizon Linas?

Difficult to say, I sold the car because I drive very little nowadays - I don't need one to honest. I was thinking to get some older cheaper car for which I don't want to care so much and which could not depreciate anymore... so you know if I buy it for £2000 and it blows-up I can still sell-it for scrap for £1200 and cut my loses. Not something I could have done with RC, where cost of negligence could have been approaching 5 digit mark.

However it is harder done than I say... I still have some criteria even for cheaper car and I don't want complete bucket. I could go for old BMW or MB, but it has to be before 2006 (because after that VED is double)... yet ULEZ now threw spanner in my plans (since 2 days ago), because all car with cheaper VED generally are not ULEZ compliant. I mean sure - going to office twice a month I probably could live with £12.5 a day ULEZ charge. But then as soon as I find something interesting it is again £7... 9 or 10k... not exactly cheap...

Recently, I was looking at following - BMW E92s, E64s, E31s, E24s... which are mostly trashed or way over my budget. Then I looked at Renault Laguna Coupe - which is unusual and in some ways interesting car, but I just can't justify road tax for what is very slow car and as well it isn't even ULEZ compliant i.e. £340/year could pay for BMW 645i or SL500, which are actually fast and well equipped. Then I looked at Audi A2 of all cars, not sure what it is but I always been fancy of having one - they are sort of "prototype" which went into production. Then there is a case of Audi A5, but seems all of them have done at least 200k miles and people still expect money for them. Finally, recently I started considering MB SL's R129s, R230s and maybe even odd R107... especially R230s are now come down in price a lot (which is quite unusual in the market). The problem is that as usual with more expensive MBs is that they all "basket cases"... probably toxic combination of brand, unreliable cars and people who are attracted to them.

I mean sure it would be ideal to have 300ST W198 (the actual "gullwing") - MOT, TAX and ULEZ exempt and cool and appreciating car. But hey... I don't have spare £1,000,000 in the pocket 😁 maybe one day. That said R107 is as well MOT, TAX and ULEZ exempt, the only problem it looks like grandpa car and there is nothing cool about it.

dutchie01 · October 27, 2021

My wife had an A2, a car way ahead of its time. She had a petrol but i think it even came with a tiny 3 cyl diesel! 20 years ago! Special car and fun to drive very light. Toyota IQ comes to mind.

Strange isnt it that when you need to make achoice for a new car it is always extremely difficult. In your case as you dont really need one and will not do miles the milage of the car is less important than the overall state. I would go for a classic that could be driven as a daily. Something from the eighties, Alfa giulia, volvo estate, Lada Niva(!), Saab 99 turbo or maybe something from the states Chevy C10? choices choices

Linas.P · October 27, 2021

Saab and Volvo convertibles was were I started looking (even thought they are FWD), I thought it would be cool to have one and they are not very expensive, but they are prohibitively slow and expensive to tax. So let's say I would pick one of the better Volvos 840 T5 (2.3L L5 Turbo) - it is £585 road tax for a year and 10s to 60! Whereas SL500 V8, 6s to 60 and £340 road tax. Just doesn't make sense to pay super car tax on old Volvo, so it becomes eliminated by comparison.

I would love to get something from 80s, but problem is - either you find cars which are absolutely perfect for £20k+ or you find completely rotten through examples in need of full restoration or even beyond it. There is nothing to choose from decent, used and honest cars. Do I really need 1984 Saab 99 with 12k miles? Sure enough - that would be great for museum or something.

Overall, anything what used to be unusual and somewhat rare or cool are now selling for astronomical prices. Funny enough you mention Lada, I had one for short time when I was like 17... got engine blown on it after a month, stripped it it and scrapped it for metal. Now there is one for sale for in UK for £15k... but I used to live in the east so for me it brings wrong kind of memories.

And there is the thing with something which is simply old and classic. So if I would go for old car it has to be before 1981 (because in UK it is 40 years before car is considered classic). I means as I said there is possibility of R107 SL on the cards, but for less money I would not mind newer R230 - we will see.

GMB · January 30, 2022

Very interesting posts thank you. Based on what I have read I think Linas should buy an old MGB, which are easy to fix and de-rust ( if not too far gone and you know a good welder ). Then junk the engine and gearbox and put in a Rover V8. Don't forget to upgrade the cooling system and brakes and suspension!

BTW I agree that the 200t engine and gearbox are a bad match for town driving - especially when cold, it can't make its mind up whether to change up or down. Once warmed up and on the move it is OK.

This 8-speed auto is far better suited to the V8s where it is not as eager to change gear on light acceleration, and does not tend to hang on to lower gears when driving a little bit livelier.

On sensible driving 23mpg from the IsF and 29mpg from the 200t. Not a big difference. considering...

Linas.P · January 30, 2022

52 minutes ago, GMB said:

Very interesting posts thank you. Based on what I have read I think Linas should buy an old MGB, which are easy to fix and de-rust ( if not too far gone and you know a good welder ). Then junk the engine and gearbox and put in a Rover V8. Don't forget to upgrade the cooling system and brakes and suspension!

BTW I agree that the 200t engine and gearbox are a bad match for town driving - especially when cold, it can't make its mind up whether to change up or down. Once warmed up and on the move it is OK.

This 8-speed auto is far better suited to the V8s where it is not as eager to change gear on light acceleration, and does not tend to hang on to lower gears when driving a little bit livelier.

On sensible driving 23mpg from the IsF and 29mpg from the 200t. Not a big difference. considering...

I was thinking along the lines of MB SLK 300 manual and put 300 SL "Gullwing" bodyshell on it 😄