# Old Rover



## tixntox

I bought my old Rover 214SEI from a neighbour of my dad. It was ten years old and had 7000 miles on the clock and had never been out in the rain!!! It is now 13 years old and has just gone past 36000. and..... Mr Darling reckons it's worth Â£2000.... No thanks!


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## Boxbrownie

That sounds good.....but for great how about a 30 year old Mk4 Cortina 2.3 Ghia with 23,000 miles for only Â£600  and its in amazing condition, a mate of mine at work recently bought it at our annual enthusiasts day, it was an ex press car and belonged to the Mum of one of our press office guys.......I'll post a piccy tomorrow when I am back at work.


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## tixntox

I was speaking to a guy at the recycling metal centre who told me that lots of perfectly good cars are being scrapped by pensioners to get the two grand off a new one, whilst the youngsters on a tight budget are still running around in fume spewing death traps!!!


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## mrteatime

Boxbrownie said:


> That sounds good.....but for great how about a 30 year old Mk4 Cortina 2.3 Ghia with 23,000 miles for only Â£600  and its in amazing condition, a mate of mine at work recently bought it at our annual enthusiasts day, it was an ex press car and belonged to the Mum of one of our press office guys.......I'll post a piccy tomorrow when I am back at work.


gonna get me a mark 4 or 5 this year......love those cortina's


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## Boxbrownie

Your absolutely correct....problem is how many 18 year old boys do you know who would want to drive around in their Grandads 1.3 Fiesta "L".......... :lol: , what they want is Grandads 3 litre twin turbo 4wd 160mph knicker dropper, but how many Grandads do you know who want to give those up? :lol:


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## Boxbrownie

mrteatime said:


> Boxbrownie said:
> 
> 
> 
> That sounds good.....but for great how about a 30 year old Mk4 Cortina 2.3 Ghia with 23,000 miles for only Â£600  and its in amazing condition, a mate of mine at work recently bought it at our annual enthusiasts day, it was an ex press car and belonged to the Mum of one of our press office guys.......I'll post a piccy tomorrow when I am back at work.
> 
> 
> 
> gonna get me a mark 4 or 5 this year......love those cortina's
Click to expand...

I was chatting with him today, he got offered Â£2K from a guy in Germany I think it was.....get yer wallet out h34r:


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## Boxbrownie

You will have to forgive the Mondeo wheel trims, since he bought it it is now sitting on a nice set of Ghia alloys of the correct era










To give you an idea of our little show, we got lucky with the weather yet again this year










All sorts turn up from this lovely little Lotus










To more exotic vehicles....this was in the "green vehicle" class :lol:










We even had a regular, but this year it was her 100th birthday!










The show gets bigger and bigger and is appreciated by cleaner to CEO


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## zed4130

I find older cars ie cortinas grenadas etc are like tanks and go on and on, shame lots have been banger raced , im picking up a 155k vauxhall omega today ,ive had a few of these and they go on and on as well, well fingers crossed lol


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## mel

Boxbrownie said:


> what they want is Grandads 3 litre twin turbo 4wd 160mph knicker dropper, but how many Grandads do you know who want to give those up? :lol:


I've got one of those, but I'm damned if I can remember where I parked it :yes:









It'll come to you one day, whatever your name is? :grin:


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## blackandgolduk

One of these will be my next 'present to myself' once I start with the Old Bill...










...and I'd be quite happy with any of these!


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## Guest

Boxbrownie said:


> You will have to forgive the Mondeo wheel trims, since he bought it it is now sitting on a nice set of Ghia alloys of the correct era


my 1st car was exactly the same as that (olympic blue i think?) except it didnt have a vinyl roof and had steel wheels it was even a t reg too! it was a great 1st car and i loved it-except going around corners a bit toooo fast in the rain







:nono:







i bet it was as shiny as that too-i worked in the car paint trade 20 odd years ago and i got a gallon tin of autoglym free-i used to autoglym it every week!


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## Boxbrownie

Had a Dolly Sprint back in 1977 same colour too, although mine had the webasto sunroof......used to race a 3L Capri along the back roads to work every morning, but in them days you could! 

And before that we used to tow our racer with a Citroen DS23 a bloody amazing tow car, but not sure I'd want one now, I remember we used to spend more time in the paddock repairing something on the DS so we could get home than working on the racer :lol:

You gotta go for the Stag, I know few years ago they were considered a bit of a oddball and not really rated highly, but quite frankly they make a great tourer and are actually very nice to drive and can be made almost "modern day" reliable. As for the Rover......well if you do its must be in Met colours with no hub caps......they used to slice the tyre valves off under extreme use, hence why the police removed them on thier cars.


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## Boxbrownie

avidfan said:


> Boxbrownie said:
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> You will have to forgive the Mondeo wheel trims, since he bought it it is now sitting on a nice set of Ghia alloys of the correct era
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> my 1st car was exactly the same as that (olympic blue i think?) except it didnt have a vinyl roof and had steel wheels it was even a t reg too! it was a great 1st car and i loved it-except going around corners a bit toooo fast in the rain
> 
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> :nono:
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> i bet it was as shiny as that too-i worked in the car paint trade 20 odd years ago and i got a gallon tin of autoglym free-i used to autoglym it every week!
Click to expand...

Your spot on, it should indeed have steelies in the style of rostyles......the wheels covers where put on when the original wheels were, er, lost! But it now looks the dogs on a set of 70's Ghia alloys.


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## Guest

Boxbrownie said:


> Had a Dolly Sprint back in 1977 same colour too, although mine had the webasto sunroof......used to race a 3L Capri along the back roads to work every morning, but in them days you could!


my mates dad had a dolly sprint (overdrive switch on top of the gearstick knob iirc) fast it was too, he had a marina tc as well which was great fun!



Boxbrownie said:


> As for the Rover......well if you do its must be in Met colours with no hub caps......they used to slice the tyre valves off under extreme use, hence why the police removed them on thier cars.


thats really interesting, i love info like that! i love rovers too, my fave being the p5b & the p6, i had an sd1 3.5 vdp when i was 20-insurance was Â£650 tpf&t-about Â£250 more than i paid for the car! it spoiled me for life though, such a relaxing drive esp. on the motorway. pity the wheel arches were a bit dodgy lol!


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## BondandBigM

Boxbrownie said:


> Had a Dolly Sprint back in 1977 same colour too, although mine had the webasto sunroof......used to race a 3L Capri along the back roads to work every morning, but in them days you could!


I worked for a guy in the mid 70's and the "company" car was a black JPS Capri that I used to get to run around in occasionally, the only thing to be seen in, like you say a lot of racing going on back then, even the local Traffic Cops had 3L Carpis :lol:










My own car at the time was a garish purple 3L Ghia Capri which I liked because it was an automatic and was a bit better finished inside than the 3L S


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## Guest

BondandBigM said:


> Boxbrownie said:
> 
> 
> 
> Had a Dolly Sprint back in 1977 same colour too, although mine had the webasto sunroof......used to race a 3L Capri along the back roads to work every morning, but in them days you could!
> 
> 
> 
> I worked for a guy in the mid 70's and the "company" car was a black JPS Capri that I used to get to run around in occasionally, the only thing to be seen in, like you say a lot of racing going on back then, even the local Traffic Cops had 3L Carpis :lol:
> 
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> My own car at the time was a garish purple 3L Ghia Capri which I liked because it was an automatic and was a bit better finished inside than the 3L S
Click to expand...

thats just gorgeous-yes i had 2 capris, both series 3-a 1.6 and a '78 with a rebored 2.1, twin carbs, lightened flywheel, kent cam, janspeed exhaust, 5 speed box, lsd, lowered and with a handling kit off capri club international oh those were the days lol. i used to race 2.8 inj in that and leave them standing-but those carbs drank the petrol though :cry2: :cry2:


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## tixntox

avidfan said:


> Boxbrownie said:
> 
> 
> 
> Had a Dolly Sprint back in 1977 same colour too, although mine had the webasto sunroof......used to race a 3L Capri along the back roads to work every morning, but in them days you could!
> 
> 
> 
> my mates dad had a dolly sprint (overdrive switch on top of the gearstick knob iirc) fast it was too, he had a marina tc as well which was great fun!
> 
> 
> 
> Boxbrownie said:
> 
> 
> 
> As for the Rover......well if you do its must be in Met colours with no hub caps......they used to slice the tyre valves off under extreme use, hence why the police removed them on thier cars.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> thats really interesting, i love info like that! i love rovers too, my fave being the p5b & the p6, i had an sd1 3.5 vdp when i was 20-insurance was Â£650 tpf&t-about Â£250 more than i paid for the car! it spoiled me for life though, such a relaxing drive esp. on the motorway. pity the wheel arches were a bit dodgy lol!
Click to expand...

I had a V8 3500 S. What a motor. If you floored it you didn't see the road for about 3 seconds as the front end leaped into the air. It was great for burning off "sports" cars. A blip of the throttle at the lights and the whole car would roll from side to side with the torque swing on the engine. 16 mpg round town - ouch!


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## AlexC1981

Boxbrownie said:


>


That makes a Mondeo look like an ungainly blob :lol:

If I had a garage to keep an older car in, I'd definatley get something like that. I love the Alfa Romeos of the late 70s/early 80s too.


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## HereBeMonsters

Old cars are great - my daily:

  

Use it for a 300 mile a week commute, last year I did 10 trackdays in it, and it goes to the 'ring once or twice a year as well. Just ticked over 182,000 miles and many more left in it yet. Easy to look after myself, and parts don't break the bank. 40+ MPG on a long run too...

Oh, and this sticker is currently gracing the side window:


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## BGM

HereBeMonsters said:


> Old cars are great - my daily:
> 
> 
> 
> Use it for a 300 mile a week commute, last year I did 10 trackdays in it, and it goes to the 'ring once or twice a year as well. Just ticked over 182,000 miles and many more left in it yet. Easy to look after myself, and parts don't break the bank. 40+ MPG on a long run too...
> 
> Oh, and this sticker is currently gracing the side window:


That' pretty sweet!

Always fancied one of those myself! 1.6 or 1.9???


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## HereBeMonsters

BGM said:


> That' pretty sweet!
> 
> Always fancied one of those myself! 1.6 or 1.9???


1.9 for me. TBH it doesn't matter which you have, they are both just about as quick as each other. I have a theory that the 1.9 only gets to 60 mph quicker because it involves one less gear change.

Get a 1.6 if you like fast, revvy engines which like to be worked hard, and a 1.9 if you prefer a bit of flexibility with more torque on hand. Buy on condition rather than engine size though.

Mine is a nice balance now, with a rebuilt engine with a ported and flowed head, mild cam, lightened internals, uprated induction, exhaust and longer rev limit. Many, many other mods on it, too many to list here. Suffice to say it did a sub-10 minute lap of the 'ring last year (average speed of just about 80 mph) and regularly sees off more expensive competition on track days -





 for example (and that was before the engine was rebuilt).


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## BGM

HereBeMonsters said:


> BGM said:
> 
> 
> 
> That' pretty sweet!
> 
> Always fancied one of those myself! 1.6 or 1.9???
> 
> 
> 
> 1.9 for me. TBH it doesn't matter which you have, they are both just about as quick as each other. I have a theory that the 1.9 only gets to 60 mph quicker because it involves one less gear change.
> 
> Get a 1.6 if you like fast, revvy engines which like to be worked hard, and a 1.9 if you prefer a bit of flexibility with more torque on hand. Buy on condition rather than engine size though.
> 
> Mine is a nice balance now, with a rebuilt engine with a ported and flowed head, mild cam, lightened internals, uprated induction, exhaust and longer rev limit. Many, many other mods on it, too many to list here. Suffice to say it did a sub-10 minute lap of the 'ring last year (average speed of just about 80 mph) and regularly sees off more expensive competition on track days -
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> for example (and that was before the engine was rebuilt).
Click to expand...

Looks like fun, although the guy in the Boxster didn't need much 'seeing off', he was clearly not the best track driver (breaking mid corner!?) I think he got scared and let you past on the straight in the end......

Satisfying non the less!


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## brgkster

for me a w201 auto the drive is JUST nice an smooth,


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## HereBeMonsters

BGM said:


> Looks like fun, although the guy in the Boxster didn't need much 'seeing off', he was clearly not the best track driver (breaking mid corner!?) I think he got scared and let you past on the straight in the end......
> 
> Satisfying non the less!


He was actually blue flagged to make way!

True, he wasn't the most experienced on track, but his car had almost 3 times the power as mine, there is no way I should have been able to even keep up. That's just one run that I filmed - TBH these days the only thing that gets past me on track (well, the short tracks I go to!) is a Caterfield or a well driven supercar. The 205 has enough power to hold its own on the straights, and I'm able to hustle it through the bends amazingly quickly on the trackday R888s. The best money I ever spent was on track instruction though - my times around Castle Combe came down by over 20 secs in one day...


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## BondandBigM

I tried a few laps round Croft once, never again, 95% of the people on the track were clueless just accidents waiting to happen. I did about 5 laps then pulled in to the pits and let them get on with it, the A19 at rush hour was safer :lol: :lol:


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## HereBeMonsters

BondandBigM said:


> I tried a few laps round Croft once, never again, 95% of the people on the track were clueless just accidents waiting to happen. I did about 5 laps them pulled in to the pits and let them get on with it, the A19 at rush hour was safer :lol: :lol:


You want to see Castle Combe on an "all comers" day. Â£20 for 15 mins or something. This sort of thing tends to happen...



An Ariel Atom pushed me off onto the marbles at the edge of the corner. I went fantastically sideways, and spun off onto the grass. BMW actually got within about 2 feet of hitting me, having been pushed off onto the same dirty side of the track by a Caterham that was desperately trying to keep pace with the Atom.


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## SEIKO7A38

HereBeMonsters said:


> You want to see Castle Combe on an "all comers" day.


Ever tried going three abreast over Avon Rise, before braking into Quarry (_and see who bottles first_) ? 

Not to be recommended, unless you're doing it with your mates, who treasure their cars as much as you do ! :lol:

Let me see if I can find that photo ....


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## Boxbrownie

HereBeMonsters said:


> BGM said:
> 
> 
> 
> Looks like fun, although the guy in the Boxster didn't need much 'seeing off', he was clearly not the best track driver (breaking mid corner!?) I think he got scared and let you past on the straight in the end......
> 
> Satisfying non the less!
> 
> 
> 
> He was actually blue flagged to make way!
> 
> True, he wasn't the most experienced on track, but his car had almost 3 times the power as mine, there is no way I should have been able to even keep up. That's just one run that I filmed - TBH these days the only thing that gets past me on track (well, the short tracks I go to!) is a Caterfield or a well driven supercar. The 205 has enough power to hold its own on the straights, and I'm able to hustle it through the bends amazingly quickly on the trackday R888s. The best money I ever spent was on track instruction though - my times around Castle Combe came down by over 20 secs in one day...
Click to expand...

Funny, thats one he/she didn't mention in the pub later that day :lol: , then again it wasn't even trying it looked like that porker was out for a Sunday drive :lol:

I had a BX16valve for a short while, same base engine but with obvious improvements and was actually a smoother engine than the 1.9tu that was in the boggo BX/205/405 etc, that always sounded like a two skeletons in suits of armour trying to rape each other  :lol:

Its a pity the 205 got fatter and fatter, then again...........don't we all? h34r:


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## HereBeMonsters

Boxbrownie said:


> I had a BX16valve for a short while, same base engine but with obvious improvements and was actually a smoother engine than the 1.9tu that was in the boggo BX/205/405 etc, that always sounded like a two skeletons in suits of armour trying to rape each other  :lol:
> 
> Its a pity the 205 got fatter and fatter, then again...........don't we all? h34r:


The 1.9s were XU, not TU. True that the 16v was a bit smoother, and obviously fit into a 205 very easily, but not great on track as they have terrible oil surge issues.

A slightly lumpy cam in my engine has actually smoothed it out a bit. Full rebuild obviously helped as well.

Not sure what you mean by the 205 getting fatter? You mean when Peugeot replaced it with the 206?


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## Boxbrownie

HereBeMonsters said:


> Boxbrownie said:
> 
> 
> 
> I had a BX16valve for a short while, same base engine but with obvious improvements and was actually a smoother engine than the 1.9tu that was in the boggo BX/205/405 etc, that always sounded like a two skeletons in suits of armour trying to rape each other  :lol:
> 
> Its a pity the 205 got fatter and fatter, then again...........don't we all? h34r:
> 
> 
> 
> The 1.9s were XU, not TU. True that the 16v was a bit smoother, and obviously fit into a 205 very easily, but not great on track as they have terrible oil surge issues.
> 
> A slightly lumpy cam in my engine has actually smoothed it out a bit. Full rebuild obviously helped as well.
> 
> Not sure what you mean by the 205 getting fatter? You mean when Peugeot replaced it with the 206?
Click to expand...

Was it XU? Long time ago for me :lol: Would have thought it would be worth dry sumping the 16V for track use, then again it puts the cost up rather a lot!

Fatter..........they are all getting fatter every new model gets bigger, the 205 is positively lightwieght compared to an equivelent model today, the cost of safety and "comfort zone" additions I am afraid.


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## BondandBigM

Boxbrownie said:


> HereBeMonsters said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Boxbrownie said:
> 
> 
> 
> I had a BX16valve for a short while, same base engine but with obvious improvements and was actually a smoother engine than the 1.9tu that was in the boggo BX/205/405 etc, that always sounded like a two skeletons in suits of armour trying to rape each other  :lol:
> 
> Its a pity the 205 got fatter and fatter, then again...........don't we all? h34r:
> 
> 
> 
> The 1.9s were XU, not TU. True that the 16v was a bit smoother, and obviously fit into a 205 very easily, but not great on track as they have terrible oil surge issues.
> 
> A slightly lumpy cam in my engine has actually smoothed it out a bit. Full rebuild obviously helped as well.
> 
> Not sure what you mean by the 205 getting fatter? You mean when Peugeot replaced it with the 206?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Was it XU? Long time ago for me :lol: Would have thought it would be worth dry sumping the 16V for track use, then again it puts the cost up rather a lot!
> 
> Fatter..........they are all getting fatter every new model gets bigger, the 205 is positively lightwieght compared to an equivelent model today, the cost of safety and "comfort zone" additions I am afraid.
Click to expand...

Yep it could get expensive, I wonder how may road going ones of these are left


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## Boxbrownie

BondandBigM said:


> Boxbrownie said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> HereBeMonsters said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Boxbrownie said:
> 
> 
> 
> I had a BX16valve for a short while, same base engine but with obvious improvements and was actually a smoother engine than the 1.9tu that was in the boggo BX/205/405 etc, that always sounded like a two skeletons in suits of armour trying to rape each other  :lol:
> 
> Its a pity the 205 got fatter and fatter, then again...........don't we all? h34r:
> 
> 
> 
> The 1.9s were XU, not TU. True that the 16v was a bit smoother, and obviously fit into a 205 very easily, but not great on track as they have terrible oil surge issues.
> 
> A slightly lumpy cam in my engine has actually smoothed it out a bit. Full rebuild obviously helped as well.
> 
> Not sure what you mean by the 205 getting fatter? You mean when Peugeot replaced it with the 206?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Was it XU? Long time ago for me :lol: Would have thought it would be worth dry sumping the 16V for track use, then again it puts the cost up rather a lot!
> 
> Fatter..........they are all getting fatter every new model gets bigger, the 205 is positively lightwieght compared to an equivelent model today, the cost of safety and "comfort zone" additions I am afraid.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Yep it could get expensive, I wonder how may road going ones of these are left
Click to expand...

Is that the "Rallye" ?

Didn't they (Peugeot) have a special edition model along the lines of the TurboR5......was that it? or do I have to dig out my old world cars books?


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## Boxbrownie

Aha found it.....the T16 Turbo.....along the exact lines of the R5Turbo, should have been quite nice with 200bhp in a stripped out 3dr shell h34r:


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## HereBeMonsters

Boxbrownie said:


> Aha found it.....the T16 Turbo.....along the exact lines of the R5Turbo, should have been quite nice with 200bhp in a stripped out 3dr shell h34r:


It was an entirely new car, IIRC only the windscreen and doors were shared with a normal 205. It was mid-engined, with a race-derived 1.8 16v Turbo (which made up to 850bhp in race tune!). I think it also had independent suspension all round, and is about 20% bigger overall than a normal 205.


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## BondandBigM

The T16 Pug in the picture was a Group B homologation special with only 200 road going cars made so it will be rare to see one.

A bit more info

http://www.answers.com/topic/group-b-1

You could build a sort of look a like with a Dimma body kit. I always thought these were the best of the 80's rally rep hot hatchs


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## Defender

tixntox said:


> I bought my old Rover 214SEI from a neighbour of my dad. It was ten years old and had 7000 miles on the clock and had never been out in the rain!!! It is now 13 years old and has just gone past 36000. and..... Mr Darling reckons it's worth Â£2000.... No thanks!


I was reading an articule just the other day about this very subject, on average that Â£2000 will be eaten away in just 88 days by depriciation. A brand new Ford Focus Style (?) h34r: will depeciate by Â£8635 in it's first year  !

That puts it in some kind of perspective :blink:

So I will be hanging on to my 9 year old 103,000 miler for a while longer!

Best regards,

Defender :astro:.


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