OT New (to me) car

[peteracs]

Hi

The current car I have been driving has to be returned, so faced with the task of getting a car to use as my daily driver. So what to get. The thoughts of electric were very much bottom of the list, followed by buying a new or nearly new car. The latest car, a Skoda, I did not really enjoy apart from the adaptive cruise which is pretty neat. Space wise internally however it is very small for such a big car. I also have a hard time justifying loosing so much money on modern cars.

So my thoughts turned to an older car which would be reliable, load and dog lugging and occasional towing duties. Also being able to get parts etc would be useful! One car I had from new back in the early 90s was a Mercedes W124 estate, had it for 3 years and did 100,000 miles and really enjoyed it. After looking at a few online, I realised that finding one with aircon and cruise was not that easy as both were options. I missed out on what looked a really nice one in London and ended up buying one in Cornwall of all places. I have never bought a car unseen, but going to Cornwall was not part of the plan, so arranged for it to be collected and it arrived earlier this week. I had a few telephone calls before with the owner who seemed a genuine seller. The car is pretty much as described and is a bit ratty, needing some paint, but the basic body etc and interior are all in decent condition and everything appears to work. Interestingly it is a Japanese import which makes the user manual interesting to read.....

So I am now on the journey of giving it some love with a large service inc. new discs etc and a really good clean. The car is one of the later versions with the straight six 2.8l (M104) 24 valve engines, again which I was keen to get rather than the earlier 12 valve versions. Petrol consumption will be what it is, that is one of the trade offs, but having a 4 cylinder in one of these never seemed right and none I saw had aircon or cruise.

Interestingly these later cars have a poorer reputation for rust,  so far (early days) the car is very solid with little obvious corrosion.

[deks]

Strangely I am on the lookout for a cheap estate to lug stuff around in and replace my Peugeot 107 with though I think the wife will want to keep the 107. I am trying to find something old enough to be classed as retro/classic but reliable. Mercs have never really appealed to me for not reason whatsoever it has to be said. I am in no rush but I do now have a little more space in the garage in which to put something else  Mind you it would have to be a small estate in order to fit both it and the Lancia in

[WestonE]

As my daily is a BMW 540 Estate I get this choice. I can fit a stack of Beta Bonnets in the back for example and tow with it. 4 cylinder BMWs have a patchy reputation so the 6 cylinder with turbos is fine. I would however have preferred the diesel version which is a better engine in the real world. My version grew too big compared to my previous 535D but it did get 4 wheel drive and is surprisingly cheap to run excluding the pain of pot hole smashed low profile tyre replacement. 

[rossocorsa]

Definitely older moderns are the way forward, hundreds a month on a car that you'll never own isn't on my budget and EVs are still a bit risky. I think anything generally after 2015 ISH starts to become a bit risky and over complex, I have to be able to service myself. We have a 2020 500X and it's a pain in the arse in some ways. My Abarth which is effectively previous generation tech is so much better.

[Ferrit]

Love a big Estate, well done and looking good.

we sort of did something similar.  A few years back after us running two new/newish cars I sold my couple year old L200 pickup and bought a 12 year old VW t5.1 Caravelle DSG 4motion.  It had done 130k miles by one flower import business, run by one of the directors to and from Amsterdam.

It needed a new engine, turbo's and a DPF (which is a known issue with this specific bi-turbo CFCA model), all new discs and suspension items galore.  It was filthy inside and covered in a bunch of smallish parking nudge marks, had knackered wheels and a whole host of little issues.  My wife thought I had lost the plot.

Long story short a specialist called Retro Resus down in Taunton guided me through what to do and save for.  I did everything I could myself and after 35 years of not working on cars, working on a 2.4t vans suspension and brakes is a big shock.  My wife thought I was mad.  Since then we have driven it all over the UK camping and family road-trips.  We have driven it to the French and Italian alps a lot, we have driven to a from Corfu, and this Summer we got to mainline Greece (Lefkada), Italian Alps (Bormio), to Munich and then Venosc in France on the way back.  It drives like new, its super quiet and it munches hundreds of k's a day with ease.  We all love Father Jack :-)

[Ferrit]

PS this van and a chance trip to Goodwood when the Alfa track day was going on, plus the community of VW t4/t6 forums started me on this regressive journey into old vehicle ownership that ultimately brought me here.   

My dream VW van is another SA import.  I would love a t3 syncro big window Caravelle with a SA engine conversion similar to this one.  SA is full of them.  They even did Subaru engine conversions.

https://campervanculture.com/vans-for-sale/volkswagen-syncro-caravelle-for-sale/

[Nigel]

Mark,
The ad you linked says a 2.1 ltr, not sure which engine that is.

VWSA fitted the 5 cyl Audi engine in the late versions, I'm sure that
was a 2.3. That's the one to go for.

You're correct that common SA conversions were Subaru, and also the Essex V6.
I've even heard of Rover V8's being used as well. But the Subaru has potentially
greater scope for power figures over 200hp.

Nigel

[Nigel]

Hi Peter,
Reliability wise, fuel and its delivery seem to be a common
issue with older cars.

I would replace the fuel pump and filters and if possible,
take a look inside the tank for debris etc.

I wish you many happy miles with it!

Nigel

[peteracs]

Hi Nigel

Thanks, previous owner changed fuel filter, will get around to inspecting fuel hoses sooner than later and will check tank etc. Good call on fuel pump as well, will see if it has been replaced.

Peter