Cars you liked & could afford but didn't buy and regret

Cars you liked & could afford but didn't buy and regret

Author
Discussion

Supercell

110 posts

132 months

Friday 31st October 2014
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I might get pointed and laughed at, but I regret not buying a tidy unmodified Peugeot 106 gti a couple of years ago. The tidy ones seem few and far between now, and age is against them. It just seemed a natural progression from my 106 1.1, and something to compare equally against.

siovey

1,642 posts

138 months

Friday 31st October 2014
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A few years back I sold some shares to buy an e46 m3, I was considering selling a lot more to buy a csl. I didn't. The shares crashed not long after, the csl prices didn't. I'll never be in the position again to be able to afford to buy one. Oh well...

In fact, I should really have sold the lot and bought a new r8 convertible...banghead

Muzzer79

9,932 posts

187 months

Friday 31st October 2014
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White, solid condition E30 M3 for £7k. I bought an Audi A3 instead because I thought LHD would be a pain in the ass.

My old man came into some money about 10 years ago and wanted a decent car having run sheds for years.
He had a choice between a Porsche 993 (he's wanted a 911 for as long as I can remember) and a W208 Mercedes CLK.

He bought the CLK because it was a little cheaper and he wanted something
"that wouldn't lose a lot of money" if he needed to get out of it.

B.J.W

5,783 posts

215 months

Friday 31st October 2014
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Maserati Gran Sport - bought an RS4

Noble GTI 3R - bought a Tuscan

997 Turbo - bought a Vantage

I also could have stretched to a 355 a few years ago - I'd be laughing all the way to the bank if I had.

still - life's about learning from your mistakes


crusty

752 posts

220 months

Friday 31st October 2014
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This is a thread I will 'win'

It pains me to have to tell this story

When I was a lad i had a mate who,s dad was the local dealer principle for a dealer group in Kent called Rawsons

He used to bring home all sorts of interesting cars.

One day he brought home a dark red Aston DB5 that had come in as a part exchange

car looked looked lovely, and I had no appreciation of what it was, but asked how much I could buy it for

£4500 he said

I didn't buy it

What a

danzman1991

318 posts

136 months

Friday 31st October 2014
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nitrodave said:
all when i was a poor student -

mercedes g wagon with a blown head gasket for £1k

was offered a mk2 lotus cortina for £2k

also turned down a clean mk1 gold gti campaign for £500

and a renault 5 turbo 2 for £1400
bullocks

crusty

752 posts

220 months

Friday 31st October 2014
quotequote all
This is a thread I will 'win'

It pains me to have to tell this story

When I was a lad i had a mate who,s dad was the local dealer principle for a dealer group in Kent called Rawsons

He used to bring home all sorts of interesting cars.

One day he brought home a dark red Aston DB5 that had come in as a part exchange

car looked looked lovely, and I had no appreciation of what it was, but asked how much I could buy it for

£4500 he said

I didn't buy it

What a

heppers75

3,135 posts

217 months

Friday 31st October 2014
quotequote all
Capri 280 Brooklands for £3k in around 98 I think...

Lancia Integrale around the same time for £2.5k that had a front end shunt but nothing bad.

Are two that spring to mind.

vtecyo

2,122 posts

129 months

Friday 31st October 2014
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A 400BHP Garage Feast built manual Soarer for £4k.

It probably wouldn't have appreciated that much, but good lord it was awesome.

matchmaker

8,490 posts

200 months

Friday 31st October 2014
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Many years ago (1970s) I was offered a low mileage Triumph 2.5PI Mk 2 for £200 as it was misfiring and the owner was terrified it was the Lucas injection system. I decided against it, but on later (too late) reflection decided it was more likely to be ignition related. I still rue the decision!

northwest monkey

6,370 posts

189 months

Friday 31st October 2014
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BMW M Coupe for me. Me and the OH went to look at one - no kids at the time, just a Cocker spaniel so it would have been perfect. I loved everything about the car apart from I was doing about 25k miles a year at the time and just wanted a car I could get into in Woking and get out in Manchester. I ended up buying a 330 convertible, but in hindsight I wished I'd bought the M Coupe and a shed Mondeo for the week.

Still, once I'm in the position to have the car (got a son now), no doubt the prices will have gone through the roofgrumpy

bigvanfan

378 posts

132 months

Friday 31st October 2014
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Great thread I'm sure we've all been there, turned down a cheap e21 alpina c1 2.3 because it wasn't running right, and a 3 year old red e30 m3 sport evo for 10k and the worst was not trading an old 320i for a Datsun 240z, still hurts a bit

DKL

4,489 posts

222 months

Friday 31st October 2014
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crusty said:
This is a thread I will 'win'

It pains me to have to tell this story

When I was a lad i had a mate who,s dad was the local dealer principle for a dealer group in Kent called Rawsons

He used to bring home all sorts of interesting cars.

One day he brought home a dark red Aston DB5 that had come in as a part exchange

car looked looked lovely, and I had no appreciation of what it was, but asked how much I could buy it for

£4500 he said

I didn't buy it

What a
Definitely a winner although how long ago are we talking about? For all we know £4500 might have bought you a 4 bedroom house!

lowdrag

12,885 posts

213 months

Friday 31st October 2014
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Interesting comparison. In 1978 my 5 bedroom house cost £31,000 new, and a DB4 Zagato was on the market at £29,500. The house is now worth about £500,000. Figure which one has appreciated the most.

Animal

5,247 posts

268 months

Friday 31st October 2014
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A few years back a mate of my Dad's bought a 911 3.2 Targa. It was a beautiful thing and and perfect condition - and he let me take it for a spin! I made him promise me that if he ever sold it he'd offer me first refusal.

A year or so passed and he emailed me to tell me that he was moving it on and did I want it for what he paid for it. I'd recently bought a Subaru Impreza and said no to buying it from him for £12,000. Every time I see one I'm reminded of how foolish I was!

crusty

752 posts

220 months

Friday 31st October 2014
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DKL said:
Definitely a winner although how long ago are we talking about? For all we know £4500 might have bought you a 4 bedroom house!
I didn't realise I was so old!!

This was 30 years ago

Not sure if I am more depressed about the lost deal or the lost years

cslwannabe

1,407 posts

169 months

Friday 31st October 2014
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M3 CSL around 6 years ago and 996 Gt3 around 4 years ago.

TheAngryDog

12,406 posts

209 months

Sunday 2nd November 2014
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I had the chance to go buy a 100k miles E34 M5 3.6 for £4000. Was in good condition but I couldn't decide and worried about bork factor. Plus I was doing around 2k miles a month at the time. I reckon I'd of made money on it if I'd of bought it. Going back about 5 or 6 years now. End up buying a Vectra instead. Fail.

e21Mark

16,205 posts

173 months

Sunday 2nd November 2014
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In about '92 I test drove a 1968 Porsche 911, 2.4 short wheel base at Eagle Racing (where the E type restoration company are). It was a black, non sunroof car and my first drive in a 911. They wanted £7k but I decided to build a 2002tii track car instead.