Best smoker barges 1-5 large [Vol 10]

[K12beano]

Croutons said:

Don't worry, all German marques suffer from unfortunate ideas (put your gin down before clicking) https://www.gumtree.com/p/bmw/bmw-x6-full-hamman-b... pic 3 in particular...

Blimey! Is that Tonka trying to go up-market???

[namealreadytaken]

CharlesdeGaulle said:

S3_Graham said:

Are you actually after a 300se? I know a friend is trying to sell his and is having all kinds of trouble with people messing him about.

This one: http://retrorides.proboards.com/thread/192910/1990...

Edited by S3_Graham on Friday 28th October 14:55

I'm surprised this didn't get more threadist-love. Looks decent for rather less than thread minimum.

Thanks for the suggestion, I did see that advert before and whilst it's cheap as chips am looking for something a bit nicer.

[sparks_E39]

Croutons said:

sparks_E39 said:

I've enquired about this https://www.gumtree.com/p/bmw/bmw-7-series-740i-e3...

Pretty shoddy advert, doesn't necessarily mean it's a bad car though. No rust apparently.

Sunroof, CD changer and TV, nice. Fingers crossed!

I'm waiting to hear about the fuel tank..I want it to be a good one!

[anonymous-user]

ChocolateFrog said:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/262693292427

What are people's thoughts on this? I know there's a whole load of reasons why you shouldn't, miles, VED, potentially dodgy dealer etc but I'm intrigued it would make a good replacement for my trusty volvo.

Is that engine and gearbox combination a good one? Do they do high miles?

Edited by ChocolateFrog on Friday 28th October 14:27

No no no no no no avoid like the plague
Sister in law has one, it throws so many electrical faults and breaks so much that you'd think it's an Alfa. And that's just an insult to the Italians.
R320 CDI 2007.
Terrible fuel economy, terrible drive.

[StrokesUK]

So as an update from some months ago, in case you remember, I've decided to run the Bentley Turbo R and to hell with the inevitable consequences. Hoorah!

[anonymous-user]

StrokesUK said:

So as an update from some months ago, in case you remember, I've decided to run the Bentley Turbo R and to hell with the inevitable consequences. Hoorah!

Seven posts?

[SimonConnell]

sleepera6 said:

Seven posts?

I've made plenty of decisions at 1am which I have either come to regret, or have reversed upon waking up the next morning...

[carinaman]

ELUSIVEJIM said:

BMW E23 728i SE

89,600 miles

£5,495

Getting very rare. Will only increase.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1986-BMW-728i-E23-SE-AUT...

Ripple on upper rear bumper towards NS by rear lamp, NS edge of rear no. plate?

dme123 said:

bob-lad said:

damon80 said:

Barge or not? :-/
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/VAUXHALL-VECTRA-VXR-2-8-...

Can't argue with the in-gear performance of these things. Respond really well to chipping too I believe?

Not.

Yeuch. Chav tat, even with a decent engine in it. Just LOOK at the horrible thing.

MoT history check says first used in May 2006 so it'll be a £500 per year road tax?

[E65Ross]

damon80 said:

Barge or not? :-/
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/VAUXHALL-VECTRA-VXR-2-8-...

Can't argue with the in-gear performance of these things. Respond really well to chipping too I believe?

hateful cars

[Bonefish Blues]

I remember Evo really praising theirs against more exhalted company?

[E65Ross]

Bonefish Blues said:

I remember Evo really praising theirs against more exhalted company?

Not sure. Certainly in respect to barges, I pay absolutely no attention to EVO magazine at all. They knocked a current gen Audi A8 down to 3 stars because it didn't have much in the way of steering feel as wasn't much fun when pushed to the limit

They don't jusge a car on what it's for, more on how it performs on track or country roads. The Astra may be good at that, but from having been a passenger in one I can say they aren't a barge. Crap seats, crap interior, crap ride quality...

[Bonefish Blues]

I worry myself with my ability to retain irrelevant stuff...

http://www.evo.co.uk/vauxhall/vectra/14196/mitsubi...

[Lowtimer]

Well, yes, but nothing in that test is a proper barge. The E90 3-series isn't a proper barge, it's a small sports saloon, and the other three cars are even less bargey.

All capable of fast progress over the moors but so is any decent hot hatch or a Lotus Elise. Wrong judging critera altogether for this thread.

(Yes, yes, it is firmly established that I am not above turning up at Barge Loser Conference meet-ups in a Porsche or a Merc SL, but as Emerson put it, "A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds".)

Edited by Lowtimer on Saturday 29th October 08:45

[Lowtimer]

sleepera6 said:

StrokesUK said:

So as an update from some months ago, in case you remember, I've decided to run the Bentley Turbo R and to hell with the inevitable consequences. Hoorah!

Seven posts?

I consider that some of the most effective low-key semi-lurking we've ever seen. I am very happy that you are keeping the Bentley and hope that it does not prove financially ruinous. Would be very good to see you at the next Losers' Conference as and when we sort one out.

[StrokesUK]

SimonConnell said:

sleepera6 said:

Seven posts?

I've made plenty of decisions at 1am which I have either come to regret, or have reversed upon waking up the next morning...

Haha, the decision had been made a month or more ago, I'm just very slow to post!

Obviously I'm not running it as a daily as it would ruin me, which brings me to a nice surprise - the insurance is £180! For a 27 yr old on a 6.75 litre turbo I had expected a lot worse...will be seeing a lot of this though

[Croutons]

Bonefish Blues said:

I worry myself with my ability to retain irrelevant stuff...

http://www.evo.co.uk/vauxhall/vectra/14196/mitsubi...

Infrequently, a 2.5 or 3 litre Mondeo will pop up on this thread, which generally gets a good press. A Vauxhall however, gets either a stiff ignoring, or worse. Which, given the praise heaped upon other things here, is rather odd. If you look around, you'll be surprised how many Vectras are still on the roads, at all model levels, while prestige cars of the era have rusted away. Vectras are anonymous and you don't notice, unless you look. They're fairly easy to work on, parts (even with a VXR tax) are plentiful and cheap, and so long as they don't have tin worm (hello Mercedes fans!) they romp on just fine.

Yes the steering is a little wooly, and the 2.8 is nose heavy so suspension wears. Many cooking models suffered from Peco exhausts and smoked rear lights, which further alienated the cognoscenti when, knowing their market, Vx added the same from the showroom. "Elegance" was not on the spec sheet. But your high end Bmw buyer was not looking for one of these, the Evo article shows the list price equated to a 318i (and Vx would doubtless discount from that anyway).

But, 251+ bhp from a 2.8 with a turbo, and yes they respond well to software mods, they have a cult following and many are fastidiously maintained.

This one is cheap atthe BIN, but will never be for thread, who hates the post 03/06 tax penalty, before alloys and zorsts are looked at. A shame. It wasn't just a good car "for the money", the VXR was a good car!

[S3_Graham]

namealreadytaken said:

CharlesdeGaulle said:

S3_Graham said:

Are you actually after a 300se? I know a friend is trying to sell his and is having all kinds of trouble with people messing him about.

This one: http://retrorides.proboards.com/thread/192910/1990...

Edited by S3_Graham on Friday 28th October 14:55

I'm surprised this didn't get more threadist-love. Looks decent for rather less than thread minimum.

Thanks for the suggestion, I did see that advert before and whilst it's cheap as chips am looking for something a bit nicer.

Have a chat with Alex, I think he is being a harsh on the car. Plus would probably take an offer. An awful lot of cash in your pocket to make it as good as the red one.

[CharlesdeGaulle]

Croutons - very well put. Some interesting points made there. I don't want one but I see your point.

[0a]

The 190 is back and I'm very pleased. The back story was that a fiat scraped the front wing a few months back. I wasn't too irritated as it was minor and the wing had the only bit of rust on the whole car. I thought I'd see who the insurance chose to fix it and I was pleasantly surprised when I was directed to a nice old chap who used to sell mercs back in the day and who paints lots of jag e-types in his spare time.

After a long chat we agreed to do the "right thing" and it has ended up with a new wing, - and the whole front end painted and blended in. It looks great. The only issue I have spotted is that the outside temperature display now displays -38. I am in Scotland but it's not that cold. I take it the sensor is unplugged.

The cost of the unpainted wing alone was £660 from Mercedes. Ouch! Thanks careless fiat 500 lady.

Edited by 0a on Saturday 29th October 13:14

[olly755]

Croutons said:

Infrequently, a 2.5 or 3 litre Mondeo will pop up on this thread, which generally gets a good press. A Vauxhall however, gets either a stiff ignoring, or worse. Which, given the praise heaped upon other things here, is rather odd. If you look around, you'll be surprised how many Vectras are still on the roads, at all model levels, while prestige cars of the era have rusted away. Vectras are anonymous and you don't notice, unless you look. They're fairly easy to work on, parts (even with a VXR tax) are plentiful and cheap, and so long as they don't have tin worm (hello Mercedes fans!) they romp on just fine.

Yes the steering is a little wooly, and the 2.8 is nose heavy so suspension wears. Many cooking models suffered from Peco exhausts and smoked rear lights, which further alienated the cognoscenti when, knowing their market, Vx added the same from the showroom. "Elegance" was not on the spec sheet. But your high end Bmw buyer was not looking for one of these, the Evo article shows the list price equated to a 318i (and Vx would doubtless discount from that anyway).

But, 251+ bhp from a 2.8 with a turbo, and yes they respond well to software mods, they have a cult following and many are fastidiously maintained.

This one is cheap atthe BIN, but will never be for thread, who hates the post 03/06 tax penalty, before alloys and zorsts are looked at. A shame. It wasn't just a good car "for the money", the VXR was a good car!

Agreed, well said. I confess to keeping a tentative eye out for an ex-Plod VXR in a dull colour with all the fripperies removed, but with the (allerged) Courtney fettling. Found this one too late earlier on this year. http://forums.m3cutters.co.uk/showthread.php?t=148...

NOT a barge IMO, but I do love a sleeper.