Cotswold Pete

27 bids now and £3600. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Not my cup of tea and would certainly scare the pigeons off where I live

IMHO the second image is a darned good looking 430, would almost tempt me, but agree the wheels need a bit of toning down, though the style is fine. Given the state of the roads, would prefer tractor tyres on any thing I own at the mo

Sort of interesting that the management system lights teh dahsboard up like a Xmas tree. Surely would be better if there was a little part of the display that read the data from the control unit and delivered a specific message 'in you case check ABS' so that at least you knew not half the car was about to give up the ghost. Best of luck for the next 137,000 miles

I use a company that specialises in rebuilding Auto-boxes, they just quoted £350 to completely drain the system (including the torque convertor) and then refill. Must be someone local to you that does such work

That is one heck of shopping trolley to put milk in, but no harm done in buying the trolley. Makes me want to scratch my LS is 23 years old itch with an upgrade

It is a jolly nice feature, very useful last night coming down the M5 in the lashing rain, especially as I rarely do long distance night time driving these days. I recall it took me 4 years (and this forum) to discover all the hidden stuff on a Mk4. I would say that modern satnavs are a lot easiert on the eye because they use LEDs rather than CFL to provide the backlighting to easier to adjust light levels.

Well sounds like it might drive well, but possibly not stop quite so well

Crikey, this is all taking me back to my dads 404, in red, was like a sofa for sure, with a bit more poke than the Austin Cambridge it replaced. The 404 was replaced by a 406, (I also owned a 406), the most uncomfortable care I ever had, but could corner like a good-un. Just meant after two years of owning it took a Chiropractor 4 months to get me sorted out

I suffer from CVB (Constantly Variable Bladder), sometimes I can get to Tebay (4hrs away) before a break is needed, sometimes I get to Strensham (40mins away) and the call comes. Cups of tea are a killer. On a serious note I have heard this is why blokes tend to get infections through not drinking enough for fear of being caught short, and that is what got my dad this year, and with Septicaemia being end result which he never fully recovered from. Got to 87 mind you and only in the last year did the problem start manifesting itself.

To add to my earlier thoughts, yesterday spent 3 hours in a CL500 going to a see a supplier and three hours back home. I was passenger Nice and quiet, more gizmos than my workshop in the cellar. Road noise certainly way less than LS on the rougher motorway surfaces BUT After three hours (no stops), it was an effort to haul my butt out of the car, and my mate the driver was even more 'crippled' then I was. Never had that even on a 5 hour no-stopping session in the LS. Also not able to use Google maps in the car, like it was somehow blocking signal, never had that before in any car, so not sure if CL has a sort of Farady Cage effect, GPS seemd to be working (really odd). Did enjoy driving my LS Sofa to work this morning😊

Given house double glazing eventually goes AWOL, then double glazing subject to the vibrations etc of a car, surely is a bit of dodgy proposition in the long run

Supafly, Interesting to see your comments on Mercs, I recently had a go in SL500 and CL500, nice cars, certainly tighter than my 22 year old LS But comfort was not there at all for me, and the noise seemed to be on a par with 400 with marginal less road noise. Since having a hearing aid, i have noticed rattles (minor) in the LS, and the road noise on concrete surfaces more annoying. I am in same boat in terms of my LS is old and needing work, but I really struggle to find a 'good value' replacement for my barge, might try a 460 just to see, but my plan (if wife does not stop me) is to get soemthing like a Toyota Auris as my daily and get the LS looking tiday and sorted as my 'I need a nice drive' motor. My only other comment is a Range Rover is a quite car as is Audi Q7, just not sure I would want to own one even though both comfortable to drive for hours on end

My insurance has gone down this year, not by much. My theory is that they maybe see most over 60's as not commuting to work, rather reading the paper and popping of to Tesco at 10 for a coffeee and buying some new wamr sock. So less of us oldies (I am 64) pottering about in the 'dangerous' rush hour. I do drive to work in the peak rush hour, but it is a drive through the Cotswolds, so not that busy

This thread is waking up in my head the remembering of my French car feelings, and recalling our Volvo with Renault engine (I think it was) and my Peugeot company cars (never again). So maybe I just forget the idea of an open top, cannot afford and LC, not keen on the looks of the 430, and anyway thinking of getting an e-bike for my local short journeys to do bird watching at Slimbridge when I retire (or cut my days right back) soon. An e-bike is as fresh air as you can get. Then I was thinking a Toyota Avensis as my 'shopping' car, and then (this really miffs the wife) keep the LS, and get it fully sorted for the blasts of fun. My main problem is post heart attack/covid hit, I find driving more than 200 miles in a day is a bit wearing - this means I now rely on the wife to drive to Lake District / Chester/ Liverpool / Cornwall etc, and she hates the LS (to big). Well these are all first world problems, and paying for the winter heating is a bit more pressing at the mo

Now I want to go drive a 430 and compare it with a Saab9-3 (2.0 open top), to compare. I liked the Saab the one time I got to drive one about 12 year ago. I have never listened to car reviewers, just like I have never listened to music journos, my taste is my taste and I know what i like only when I have had a chance to taste

I have started noticing Prius taxis with 'This car is fitted with a cat cage' on the side, it is a shame that dishonest people (polite term) feel the need to nick what is not theirs.

I get the same feeling myself, but then take it for a 200 mile spin to work on clearing my fathers house, and I just cannot let go. I know mine needs work, so am thinking of getting an Avensis as my daily and keeping the LS as my 'nice to cruise somewhere' car.

All this is putting me off ever trading in my LS, which is so simple on the 'bing-bong' front. Mind you every now and again I wish it would bing-bong to say you have left your umbrella on the rear seat

By my quick reckoning once the cost of a KWh gets to 51pence (which is current end of year prediction) then to go 200 miles in EV is going to cost about £30 in electric. My wifes Mazda will do 200 miles for £20, my Lexus for about £45. (paid £1.59 per gallon to fill LS up yesterday) However I am not coughing up £700pm for a car that cannot get me from home to Perth without refueling (not that I do that trip often)

That link now takes you to a list of 600's for sale. Totally amazed at the prices and the generally low mileage - I guess some were used for trips to the supermarket. Maybe when time comes a 600 should seriously be on my list, though I hear the boot is a tad small compared to 400

Jim, envious of that lovely paintwork. I am with you on spending on 'apparently' worthless motor. My only challenge is the missus now saying 'Are you going to keep spending money on that boxey looking car'. So might have to sell the missus or the car. Not sure if a 460 counts as 'not boxey', but could think about keeping the 400 out of sight (heaven knows where), and treat her like a mistress with rare days out with my first love the 400. On the other hand could go ES300H and be damned

I paid £2250 for my Mk4, 13 years old (with over 100K on clock). Coming up to 10 years of Mk4 ownership, will need a new cam belt soon, and work on suspension. Not got away with as little as £1200 on core parts, but still say it has been the cheapest car ever owned, might use a little more gas than a fiesta, but a fiesta with 220K on clock would be a bit of a sorry thing to drive. I count myself more than lucky to have been an LS driver for 14 years in total, long may in continue

Well this book has to go onto my reading list - along with the huge pile already beside the bed I might then write a book called - 'The relentless pursuit of cheapness', this will be concerning the manufacturing sector of that little know country trying to annex Taiwan. This could be in pursuit of being better than the Trabant.💀

Interesting to see the prices adjusted for inflation (at 26:45). I heard the original LS never made a profit, so was it underpriced?

Well while I have been alive we have had 50% Labour leadership and 50% Tory leadership, and most analysts seems to be saying for last 50 years we have been under-investing in infrastructure. So we have poorer railways, poorer roads, poorer sewers, not far off breaking point electric supply, and lack of investment in gas storage. So we can expect broken suspensions (as I have had with my LS), less electric for your EV, and to be enjoying smelly water for some time to come. Welcome to Broken Britain (I was once in a Citroen C2 and hit a pothole at 20mph and it stalled the car and cut the electrics out for 3 minutes. Heaven knows what actually happened, I suspect my LS would have registered a complaint but not stopped for 3 minutes while it gathered its senses.)