My history. 80's/90's hatches, RSs, 911s and a few bikes
Discussion
Cheers cooped up, not too much left now.
So as I said earlier my R1 was the thing I owned for longest. I think It was early 2011 when I finally sold it.
Total lack of use as I’d been doing the car track days. I had planned to keep it as it wasn’t taking up much space etc but I got it out after winter and the alarm didn’t recognise the key fob anymore so I had to pay £100 to have the alarm ripped out. The clutch had started sticking too, so it was suffering from standing about.
The last pics I took of it. Probably a little while before I sold it. I could still get it to clean up almost like new. Awesome bike!
Back to winter 2012/2013 now and still missing the track days after not having kept Jamie’s Leon.
A few of my mates who race (usually from March til September) said we should all buy karts to play with over the winter.
We’ve all done loads of karting so decided to buy 4 stroke Honda pro-karts. The good thing about the 4 strokes is the lower noise levels. Our nearest good track, Warden Law in Sunderland, stops the 2 strokes running at teatime due to noise restrictions, but the 4 strokes are allowed to run until 8pm. Great stuff.
As is usually the way with these things though, we hardly used them at all though so mine was sold early 2013.
Anyway, back to the cars next time.
So as I said earlier my R1 was the thing I owned for longest. I think It was early 2011 when I finally sold it.
Total lack of use as I’d been doing the car track days. I had planned to keep it as it wasn’t taking up much space etc but I got it out after winter and the alarm didn’t recognise the key fob anymore so I had to pay £100 to have the alarm ripped out. The clutch had started sticking too, so it was suffering from standing about.
The last pics I took of it. Probably a little while before I sold it. I could still get it to clean up almost like new. Awesome bike!
Back to winter 2012/2013 now and still missing the track days after not having kept Jamie’s Leon.
A few of my mates who race (usually from March til September) said we should all buy karts to play with over the winter.
We’ve all done loads of karting so decided to buy 4 stroke Honda pro-karts. The good thing about the 4 strokes is the lower noise levels. Our nearest good track, Warden Law in Sunderland, stops the 2 strokes running at teatime due to noise restrictions, but the 4 strokes are allowed to run until 8pm. Great stuff.
As is usually the way with these things though, we hardly used them at all though so mine was sold early 2013.
Anyway, back to the cars next time.
Ok, so at the start of 2013 after selling the kart I was left with the GT3 and the 325 Coupe for work. I was still missing the track days though so again I began looking for something that could possibly replace the BMW for work and also take in a couple of track days in the summer. I didn't want a dedicated track car sitting there for both space and money reasons.
So how’s this for coincidence, the brother (Stephen) of “Amethyst Girl” still lived near my parents and used to chat to my dad whenever they saw each other walking the dogs. Stephen was looking to trade in his car for something a bit newer so my dad said “Tell me what you get offered and our Mark will probably have it off you”.
A week or two later and this was mine -
Honda Civic Type R EP3 in Nighthawk black. 99k miles, 4 owners and a good straight totally standard car. Stephen was a policeman and very fussy, so I knew he wouldn't touch anything that wasn't totally right.
I was fairly happy with this. A big step down in terms of refinement, comfort, engine noise and even looks in my eyes from the E46 but it did handle brilliantly and certainly put the fun back in to driving.
Trouble was that it had the same problem my lasses Mini had had. They’re great when blasting about full belt, but stiff, bumpy and plastic-y when driving slowly. Since I don’t drive hard on the road as you just look like a hooligan, the Type R wasn’t really me. Pretty much like the Leon really.
I kept it though with the intention of doing some track day over summer 2013. I’ll show in my next post though why I didn’t get to do any. Nothing bad mind and nothing to do with kids.
So how’s this for coincidence, the brother (Stephen) of “Amethyst Girl” still lived near my parents and used to chat to my dad whenever they saw each other walking the dogs. Stephen was looking to trade in his car for something a bit newer so my dad said “Tell me what you get offered and our Mark will probably have it off you”.
A week or two later and this was mine -
Honda Civic Type R EP3 in Nighthawk black. 99k miles, 4 owners and a good straight totally standard car. Stephen was a policeman and very fussy, so I knew he wouldn't touch anything that wasn't totally right.
I was fairly happy with this. A big step down in terms of refinement, comfort, engine noise and even looks in my eyes from the E46 but it did handle brilliantly and certainly put the fun back in to driving.
Trouble was that it had the same problem my lasses Mini had had. They’re great when blasting about full belt, but stiff, bumpy and plastic-y when driving slowly. Since I don’t drive hard on the road as you just look like a hooligan, the Type R wasn’t really me. Pretty much like the Leon really.
I kept it though with the intention of doing some track day over summer 2013. I’ll show in my next post though why I didn’t get to do any. Nothing bad mind and nothing to do with kids.
melvster said:
Another great update Mark, thanks for posting. Love the GT3 
Hiya matey, hope you're well? I thought it was you when you posted earlier in the thread but wasn't 100%.I see you've got yourself a little pocket rocket now. Great stuff! Have you had it on track or not? A quick Clio is still on my list to own at some point. May even do it soon as I have to have a juggle about with cars soon. It'll be nothing like yours mind. Probably an early one.
Enjoy it anyway.
Ok, apologies to the posters above for not replying. I think you should always reply if someone has taken the time to post. Not sure if you are even still about but thanks. Indeed I'm not sure anyone is still following but I'm nearly done anyway. 
So it's summer 2013 and I have the Civic and the GT3, now there isn't a twist as such, simply normal life and priorities taking over. We had been looking to move house on and off but with only a few villages we wanted to live in and prices in them being very high, we hadn't found anything... until now. All revealed in this thread below. -
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
So always intending to keep the GT3, I did at the same time realise time and money would be out the window for trackdays for the foreseeable, so I sold the Civic and bought a a 4x4, as the village we moved to doesn't even get gritted sometimes and although it's only 5 miles from the nearest town, it feels a lot more remote than that during winter.
Enter the big, green, heavy drinking machine -
Now I quite liked this Pajero. Big, wafty and torquey but by god it could get through some diesel! It was a double whammy too as I'd gone to this a heavier on fuel car and we'd also moved out into the sticks a bit, so had tripled our mileage to work etc. I was putting £90 to £100 of diesel in per week. That may not be much to some but that's mortgage money where I come from. It had to go.
I sold it straight away on Ebay.
It went on a Thursday night and I needed a car for Monday for work. It's never good buying a car in a hurry. I put in a 30 mile radius search in all the usual places and ended up with this. -
Alfa 156 2.4 JTD Veloce.
This is the most love/hate relationship I've had with a car! I liked the styling and the Italians know how to do interiors. It was unreal on diesel averaging in the low 50's mpg. It sounded great for a diesel with it being a 5 cylinder, it was great for tip runs and it drove really nicely, even on the twisties. However it kept giving me hassle in the form of aux belts squealing despite being replaced along with all pulleys, the alternator went, the thermostat jammed, then so did the new on within a year, the clutch was biting high, etc.
I ran it for just over a year, mainly due to being busy with house, or it would have gone sooner.
More to follow, although we are into 2015 now, so nearly there.
So it's summer 2013 and I have the Civic and the GT3, now there isn't a twist as such, simply normal life and priorities taking over. We had been looking to move house on and off but with only a few villages we wanted to live in and prices in them being very high, we hadn't found anything... until now. All revealed in this thread below. -
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
So always intending to keep the GT3, I did at the same time realise time and money would be out the window for trackdays for the foreseeable, so I sold the Civic and bought a a 4x4, as the village we moved to doesn't even get gritted sometimes and although it's only 5 miles from the nearest town, it feels a lot more remote than that during winter.
Enter the big, green, heavy drinking machine -
Now I quite liked this Pajero. Big, wafty and torquey but by god it could get through some diesel! It was a double whammy too as I'd gone to this a heavier on fuel car and we'd also moved out into the sticks a bit, so had tripled our mileage to work etc. I was putting £90 to £100 of diesel in per week. That may not be much to some but that's mortgage money where I come from. It had to go.
I sold it straight away on Ebay.
It went on a Thursday night and I needed a car for Monday for work. It's never good buying a car in a hurry. I put in a 30 mile radius search in all the usual places and ended up with this. -
Alfa 156 2.4 JTD Veloce.
This is the most love/hate relationship I've had with a car! I liked the styling and the Italians know how to do interiors. It was unreal on diesel averaging in the low 50's mpg. It sounded great for a diesel with it being a 5 cylinder, it was great for tip runs and it drove really nicely, even on the twisties. However it kept giving me hassle in the form of aux belts squealing despite being replaced along with all pulleys, the alternator went, the thermostat jammed, then so did the new on within a year, the clutch was biting high, etc.
I ran it for just over a year, mainly due to being busy with house, or it would have gone sooner.
More to follow, although we are into 2015 now, so nearly there.
yellowstreak said:
Marky911 we're so glad you're back! I like the Alfa but feel that there must be something a bit more AWD coming if that had replaced a Pajero!? Keep it coming please.
Thanks yellowstreak, I wish I could say an RS4 Avant or something but alas I'm a man of meagre means now. 
cat with a hat said:
awesome thread
Thank you, it's maybe fizzled out a bit. That's the unfortunate difference of being chilled out with a bit of spare time over Xmas when I started, to now being back in the daily grind working long hours and STILL renovating our house. Leins said:
Only just seen this thread now, excellent reading!
Thanks, I'm glad it still kills a bit of time for some readers. Biker's Nemesis said:
You're from the North so I bet you're well dodgy.
I also bet you went to the same High School as I did.
Eh up Jon, I hope you're enjoying the summer. Yeah you know me, I'm as dodgy as they come. I'm wanted in every county for crimes against automotive fashion. I also bet you went to the same High School as I did.
I went to Cramlington High mate. I thought you were a Bedlington lad?
PS Didn't get down to Croft that day or I'd have said hello. I had a free day but the house had other ideas.
Right I should get this wrapped up next update. Cheers.
Well I never. Didn't know that. I went to Parkside Middle too. It's houses now.
Just starting a nightshift then I'm free from 7.45am til 10pm on Monday. Yippee. Aim to finish thread soon.
Yeah was a nice day for that croft day. I miss the track days and even spectating. Hoping to get some sort of normal life back next year. I've forgotten what it's like to tinker with cars and bikes. Off to Silverstone for moto gp next month.
You still in Bedlington then? I know you were on about moving.
Just starting a nightshift then I'm free from 7.45am til 10pm on Monday. Yippee. Aim to finish thread soon.
Yeah was a nice day for that croft day. I miss the track days and even spectating. Hoping to get some sort of normal life back next year. I've forgotten what it's like to tinker with cars and bikes. Off to Silverstone for moto gp next month.
You still in Bedlington then? I know you were on about moving.
Thanks lads.
Yes Lee, the 964T rocketed just after I sold it for £25k. As is always the way. I sold my 964 C2 manual coupe for £12k back in the day.
Still it's not about the money, although it's a nice bonus. It takes the shine of the ownership if all you end up doing is watching the odometer and the classifieds.
Scho, I seen your thread the other day but didn't get time to post. I'll head over there now.
PS Forgot to say Lee, regarding the number of "I told you so", It could have been dozens, but luckily for me my old man doesn't rub salt in my wounds when I'm beaten. He could have though, lots.
Yes Lee, the 964T rocketed just after I sold it for £25k. As is always the way. I sold my 964 C2 manual coupe for £12k back in the day.
Still it's not about the money, although it's a nice bonus. It takes the shine of the ownership if all you end up doing is watching the odometer and the classifieds. Scho, I seen your thread the other day but didn't get time to post. I'll head over there now.
PS Forgot to say Lee, regarding the number of "I told you so", It could have been dozens, but luckily for me my old man doesn't rub salt in my wounds when I'm beaten. He could have though, lots.
Edited by marky911 on Sunday 12th July 21:30
Wow! Thank you everyone. A friend text me this morning (Paul who I bought my GT3 off, funnily enough) and said the thread was on the main P'head page. As I've said before I'm very happy it has struck a chord with so many people. I guess it's a very common path us petrol heads all take, always looking to move up and tinker.
Busy as usual but I will get the thread upto date at some point. All down hill though in the last 12 months. For those who haven't clicked on my house refurb thread earlier. We bought an old house that bled us dry, so unfortunately I was backed into a corner and the GT3 had to go last year. Gutted but to a couple of people above who asked about mileage, value and use, yes it does make you look at it in a different way, which isn't why I'm into cars. So whilst I miss the GT3 it's probably one of the cars I have the least memories in. The 964T on the other hand is the one that got away. With hindsight I should have stopped there but hey, I'm glad I owned the GT3.
Red997 yes I remember speaking to you on here after you got rid of yours. At least your back in one now, good stuff. I'm hoping to be back in a 911 by the time I'm 40. I'm 38 next week. It won't be anything special mind, maybe a 996C4S or 997.
On the plus side I may be off to the Porsche experience centre to drive a Cayman GT4 soon thanks to my mate Paul above. I'm there the weekend before too for the moto GP, so still some petrol head activities happening to tide me over.
As for cars, the current steed is a Volvo V70, the old boxy one. I found myself borrowing my dads for putting my bikes in etc so bought my own. There's been a couple of cars in between but no exotica. I'll fill in the gaps soon.
I'm away and have limited internet for now but managed to get on tonight just to acknowledge the comments.
Once again, thanks very much. I've enjoyed rambling on, so it's good some people have enjoyed it too.
Cheers.
Busy as usual but I will get the thread upto date at some point. All down hill though in the last 12 months. For those who haven't clicked on my house refurb thread earlier. We bought an old house that bled us dry, so unfortunately I was backed into a corner and the GT3 had to go last year. Gutted but to a couple of people above who asked about mileage, value and use, yes it does make you look at it in a different way, which isn't why I'm into cars. So whilst I miss the GT3 it's probably one of the cars I have the least memories in. The 964T on the other hand is the one that got away. With hindsight I should have stopped there but hey, I'm glad I owned the GT3.
Red997 yes I remember speaking to you on here after you got rid of yours. At least your back in one now, good stuff. I'm hoping to be back in a 911 by the time I'm 40. I'm 38 next week. It won't be anything special mind, maybe a 996C4S or 997.
On the plus side I may be off to the Porsche experience centre to drive a Cayman GT4 soon thanks to my mate Paul above. I'm there the weekend before too for the moto GP, so still some petrol head activities happening to tide me over.
As for cars, the current steed is a Volvo V70, the old boxy one. I found myself borrowing my dads for putting my bikes in etc so bought my own. There's been a couple of cars in between but no exotica. I'll fill in the gaps soon.
I'm away and have limited internet for now but managed to get on tonight just to acknowledge the comments.
Once again, thanks very much. I've enjoyed rambling on, so it's good some people have enjoyed it too.
Cheers.
Wawaweewah! Where did that time go??
Not sure who's still around in these parts but loose ends play havoc with my OCD, so I'm gonna get this thread up to date soon.
To be honest we had a sh*t 12 months from summer '15 to summer '16 but that's life eh. When P'heads made my thread Thread of the day and my mate Paul text to tell me, I was actually in Cyprus with my wife as she needed a break badly. Anyway things are calmer at the moment.
Right then so when I started this thread I'd had to sell the GT3 due to the house and had found myself in the Alfa as a daily.
So I naively thought the bulk of the work was done on the house. It sort of was but I'm still busy now on the outside. With that in mind though I thought I could spare a bit for a toy or something to tinker with.
Max budget £3k but preferably less.
Only criteria was RWD, and decent sound even when just cruising about.
That ruled out 4 pots, so I still haven't scratched my MX5 itch and it ruled out 80's hot hatches as I didn't want FWD.
I do want an old hot hatch again soon but not yet.
So browsing this forum one day and this thread pops up.
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=147...
So off I went on the train to Cambridge from Northumberland.
I do like a good car buying trip.
328 Sport manual.
Nice car that I paid £2k for. I know where I am with E36s so thought why not.
Matt was a nice lad and the car was as described. Got it home without any dramas and carried on using the Alfa for work while I formulated plans of LSDs, etc, etc.
I renewed the window regulator bushes and did some other small jobs.
I also had my friendly dent guy come out and remove the dents in it. This is a no brainer. He removed every dent, even a bad one in the roof. It's an amazing skill.
Whilst poking about on the World Wide Web, I came across another thread.
http://www.bmwforums.info/bmw-projects/7946-techno...
Sod's law. You wait for a manual 328 Sport then 2 come along at once.
I spoke to Dann the owner of this and we agreed a price of £2800.
So £800 more than my blue one but with every mod I was planning for the blue one.
So off I went on the train to Watford from Northumberland this time.
Again Dann was a great lad. Proper enthusiast and the car was an absolute peach. It drove like a brand new car and sounded gorgeous. Really really nice.
So now I had 2 328s.
So at this point my Alfa had given me it's fair share of bother and it was only a few months away from its MOT, which I didn't know it would fail but I wasn't overly confident it would pass either.
So I sold it for about £800.
That car cost me the most out of any daily banger but hey ho, you win some, you lose some.
So I began using the blue 328 as my daily with the Technoviolet car my good weekend car. But doing this made the weekend car kind off pointless as it was too similar to my every day one.
So I removed the plate from the blue one and sold it, getting my £2k back.
I was using the good 328 as a daily now, just while I found a banger again.
I really wanted an old Volvo V70 as I'd been borrowing my dad's quite a bit for cycling events and they're just proper load luggers.
My mate Craig had a Golf GTI diesel sitting there doing nothing so he said "Don't rush into buying something as look where that Alfa got you, borrow the golf".
It's a cool old car. It's an anniversary or something (I'm not clued up on veedubs) and it's covered 250,000 miles.
Craig's brother bought it when it was only a few years old and put most of those on. He gave it to Craig for free. Not bad.
So what was supposed to be a quick lend, turned into 3 months while I searched for an old volvo that didn't look like it had spent most of its life on the Gaza Strip.
In fact I put more effort in a search for a £1000 Volvo than I had for some 911s.
That's it for now..
Cheers.
Not sure who's still around in these parts but loose ends play havoc with my OCD, so I'm gonna get this thread up to date soon.
To be honest we had a sh*t 12 months from summer '15 to summer '16 but that's life eh. When P'heads made my thread Thread of the day and my mate Paul text to tell me, I was actually in Cyprus with my wife as she needed a break badly. Anyway things are calmer at the moment.
Right then so when I started this thread I'd had to sell the GT3 due to the house and had found myself in the Alfa as a daily.
So I naively thought the bulk of the work was done on the house. It sort of was but I'm still busy now on the outside. With that in mind though I thought I could spare a bit for a toy or something to tinker with.
Max budget £3k but preferably less.
Only criteria was RWD, and decent sound even when just cruising about.
That ruled out 4 pots, so I still haven't scratched my MX5 itch and it ruled out 80's hot hatches as I didn't want FWD.
I do want an old hot hatch again soon but not yet.
So browsing this forum one day and this thread pops up.
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=147...
So off I went on the train to Cambridge from Northumberland.
I do like a good car buying trip.
328 Sport manual.
Nice car that I paid £2k for. I know where I am with E36s so thought why not.
Matt was a nice lad and the car was as described. Got it home without any dramas and carried on using the Alfa for work while I formulated plans of LSDs, etc, etc.
I renewed the window regulator bushes and did some other small jobs.
I also had my friendly dent guy come out and remove the dents in it. This is a no brainer. He removed every dent, even a bad one in the roof. It's an amazing skill.
Whilst poking about on the World Wide Web, I came across another thread.
http://www.bmwforums.info/bmw-projects/7946-techno...
Sod's law. You wait for a manual 328 Sport then 2 come along at once.
I spoke to Dann the owner of this and we agreed a price of £2800.
So £800 more than my blue one but with every mod I was planning for the blue one.
So off I went on the train to Watford from Northumberland this time.
Again Dann was a great lad. Proper enthusiast and the car was an absolute peach. It drove like a brand new car and sounded gorgeous. Really really nice.
So now I had 2 328s.
So at this point my Alfa had given me it's fair share of bother and it was only a few months away from its MOT, which I didn't know it would fail but I wasn't overly confident it would pass either.
So I sold it for about £800.
That car cost me the most out of any daily banger but hey ho, you win some, you lose some.
So I began using the blue 328 as my daily with the Technoviolet car my good weekend car. But doing this made the weekend car kind off pointless as it was too similar to my every day one.
So I removed the plate from the blue one and sold it, getting my £2k back.
I was using the good 328 as a daily now, just while I found a banger again.
I really wanted an old Volvo V70 as I'd been borrowing my dad's quite a bit for cycling events and they're just proper load luggers.
My mate Craig had a Golf GTI diesel sitting there doing nothing so he said "Don't rush into buying something as look where that Alfa got you, borrow the golf".
It's a cool old car. It's an anniversary or something (I'm not clued up on veedubs) and it's covered 250,000 miles.
Craig's brother bought it when it was only a few years old and put most of those on. He gave it to Craig for free. Not bad.
So what was supposed to be a quick lend, turned into 3 months while I searched for an old volvo that didn't look like it had spent most of its life on the Gaza Strip.
In fact I put more effort in a search for a £1000 Volvo than I had for some 911s.
That's it for now..
Cheers.
Edited by marky911 on Tuesday 21st March 07:58
Thanks Liggle, that's some reading! Yeah I loved the late 90's. I aim to add a Fiesta RS Turbo to the fleet one day hopefully but the price of things now is crazy. 205GTi's and XR2s going for £10k.
Hi Jake, thanks for the comments. Things are ok at the minute. Just life stuff. You have good years and bad years eh.
My mate Craig still has the golf. He has a van for his work and a 911 for weekends so the golf just sits about.
I could maybe buy it but to be honest it's a bit of a young lads car. I'm 40 in August.
Also some aspects of it feel their 250,000 miles. The suspension is crashy which may just be due to the car being small and having 18 inch wheels, but maybe not.
I'd describe the gearchange to be like stirring a bowl of soup, but that would be an insult to bowls of soup everywhere.
Plus you summed it up yourself with the word "tractor". It's just to rough and grumbly for me. I'd rather get half the mpgs in my Volvo but waft along in comfort. Plus I think boxy volvos are cool.
Which brings us nicely onto said steed.
It took me a daft amount of time to find an old shape V70 in decent condition with a manual box. This one popped up on eBay or P'heads one day and I almost dismissed it as it looked a bit chavvy.
No front number plate, funny grille and standard little wheels painted black.
I thought I'd get in touch anyway and find out a bit more. I'm glad I did as Matt the seller was a real Volvo fan and the car was actually really well looked after having had loads of parts over the years, including recent timing belt, water pump etc. So it was basically good to go for another few years.
It had average miles of 154,000 but was totally rust free as old volvos generally are.
We agreed a price of about £700. It may have been £750 and off I went on the train to Kettering this time.
Matt picked me up and the car was exactly as described. Totally original apart from the bits above.
Actually one part it did have that I was very pleased about was the V70R front bumper. Deeper than standard and a rare part.
I paid Matt and had a lovely uneventful drive home.
Once home I had my dent guy remove about 15 dents from it. I fitted an xc70 grille, a set of Volans (wheels) and a few other items such as mats etc.
The Volans cost £400 and 4 Kumho Ecstas cost £300 fitted. So the wheels and tyres cost the same as the car.
Wheels make a car though, so have to be right, even on a daily banger.
I then gave it a couple of goings over with my D/A and it turned out quite nice.
^^^^
You'll notice my old reg from my GT3. I bought the Volvo in August '15 exactly a year after selling the Porsche and the retention came up for renewal (it now lasts 10 years not 1) . It was either pay more money to renew the retention or assign it to a car for free. So from one red curvy sports car to another.... or maybe not.
I added state of the art iPod connectivity.
..and gave its interior a shave with a beard trimmer.
I still speak to Matt sometimes and he's busy building a big power engine for his latest old V70.
I'd love a V70R to replace my car but again manuals are rare plus mine costs enough on petrol and that's without a turbo.
It's now on 173,000 miles and has cost nothing to run apart from my initial spend, which was all by choice.
Actually it has needed one front and one rear caliper due to the old ones seizing. So £42 and £75 respectively.
It earns its keep -
I hit a deer in it near my village, which killed the deer unfortunately, but the Volvo came away with just a minor bash on the lower edge of the front bumper. Unbelievable.
So no plans to change it as I can't afford anything that I get excited about.
Why put 5 or 10 times more money into a different boring estate?
What would it do that my Volvo doesn't?
Even the stereo is really good.
I'd love a V70R as I've said or if money was no object an M5 V10 touring, but then I think how much do I want to spend running a daily workhorse that I rarely have time to wash, let alone pamper.
So the Ovlov will be here for as long as it keeps passing mots. Which it just did last week.
More to follow. Maybe a slightly more P'heads car again.
Thanks for reading, if anyone is.
Hi Jake, thanks for the comments. Things are ok at the minute. Just life stuff. You have good years and bad years eh.
My mate Craig still has the golf. He has a van for his work and a 911 for weekends so the golf just sits about.
I could maybe buy it but to be honest it's a bit of a young lads car. I'm 40 in August.
Also some aspects of it feel their 250,000 miles. The suspension is crashy which may just be due to the car being small and having 18 inch wheels, but maybe not.
I'd describe the gearchange to be like stirring a bowl of soup, but that would be an insult to bowls of soup everywhere.
Plus you summed it up yourself with the word "tractor". It's just to rough and grumbly for me. I'd rather get half the mpgs in my Volvo but waft along in comfort. Plus I think boxy volvos are cool.
Which brings us nicely onto said steed.
It took me a daft amount of time to find an old shape V70 in decent condition with a manual box. This one popped up on eBay or P'heads one day and I almost dismissed it as it looked a bit chavvy.
No front number plate, funny grille and standard little wheels painted black.
I thought I'd get in touch anyway and find out a bit more. I'm glad I did as Matt the seller was a real Volvo fan and the car was actually really well looked after having had loads of parts over the years, including recent timing belt, water pump etc. So it was basically good to go for another few years.
It had average miles of 154,000 but was totally rust free as old volvos generally are.
We agreed a price of about £700. It may have been £750 and off I went on the train to Kettering this time.
Matt picked me up and the car was exactly as described. Totally original apart from the bits above.
Actually one part it did have that I was very pleased about was the V70R front bumper. Deeper than standard and a rare part.
I paid Matt and had a lovely uneventful drive home.
Once home I had my dent guy remove about 15 dents from it. I fitted an xc70 grille, a set of Volans (wheels) and a few other items such as mats etc.
The Volans cost £400 and 4 Kumho Ecstas cost £300 fitted. So the wheels and tyres cost the same as the car.
Wheels make a car though, so have to be right, even on a daily banger.
I then gave it a couple of goings over with my D/A and it turned out quite nice.
^^^^
You'll notice my old reg from my GT3. I bought the Volvo in August '15 exactly a year after selling the Porsche and the retention came up for renewal (it now lasts 10 years not 1) . It was either pay more money to renew the retention or assign it to a car for free. So from one red curvy sports car to another.... or maybe not.
I added state of the art iPod connectivity.
..and gave its interior a shave with a beard trimmer.
I still speak to Matt sometimes and he's busy building a big power engine for his latest old V70.
I'd love a V70R to replace my car but again manuals are rare plus mine costs enough on petrol and that's without a turbo.
It's now on 173,000 miles and has cost nothing to run apart from my initial spend, which was all by choice.
Actually it has needed one front and one rear caliper due to the old ones seizing. So £42 and £75 respectively.
It earns its keep -
I hit a deer in it near my village, which killed the deer unfortunately, but the Volvo came away with just a minor bash on the lower edge of the front bumper. Unbelievable.
So no plans to change it as I can't afford anything that I get excited about.
Why put 5 or 10 times more money into a different boring estate?
What would it do that my Volvo doesn't?
Even the stereo is really good.
I'd love a V70R as I've said or if money was no object an M5 V10 touring, but then I think how much do I want to spend running a daily workhorse that I rarely have time to wash, let alone pamper.
So the Ovlov will be here for as long as it keeps passing mots. Which it just did last week.
More to follow. Maybe a slightly more P'heads car again.
Thanks for reading, if anyone is.
Edited by marky911 on Tuesday 21st March 23:43
Cheers MD, yes we've had a few similar machines and no doubt experiences.
Next for us is a little pocket rocket. Not too dissimilar to your Mini maybe, in ethos anyway.
Thanks Jake and yes the Volvo is staying. It's on 173k now. We are selling my wife's Focus soon and even though it's only done 62k miles, has every mot and tax disk from new and we are the second owners buying at 3 years old, I'm still choosing to let it go over the Volvo. The old Volvo is just great and for some weird reason I just really really want to keep it.
Ok, this week is an exciting week.
We are collecting a new car on Saturday morning for my wife, but I'm rather excited too.
She’s had her ’08 Focus for years now. She’d usually change much more often but we’ve had bigger fish to fry, what with doing the house up for over 3 years etc, plus her and I having health scares and things.
Anyway it's funny how things go and certainly how our car hunting went last Friday.
We had a test drive booked on an Infinity Q30 and completely believed we’d be buying it.
They are to Nissan, what Lexus is to Toyota, using Merc components and built at Nissan in Sunderland, so we thought “quality car and we can buy British”, what with Brexit an’ all that.
Anyway, long story short, bad budget creep kicked in, no car available in our ideal spec and it was very sluggish (1.5D). Nice interior but the car itself was generally bland and just didn’t excite us. Disappointing as we honestly thought that we'd have been leaving a deposit.
So it was almost closing time at the Silverlink, which is a big area of car dealers in the north east and we popped into a different manufacturer dealer on the way past. Great sales lad. No slavver, just honest and helpful. We ran out of time so booked an appointment for 9am the next morning, to test drive a bog standard car, as my wife was changing cars to save on fuel and running costs primarily. We then drove the version I liked. The result? Well we left a deposit on this.
The pics don't do it justice. Loads of nice little touches and styling bits.
Press pic.
So bear with me…
It’s a Fiat 595 Abarth. These have been a guilty pleasure of mine since they were launched. They look cool, have Italian flair and sound like old skool 80’s RS Turbos and Renault 5 GT Turbos, which I grew up around.
Of course they're so girly I could never own one for me and my wife generally needs a decent boot as she's a teacher. So why now? Well we wandered around the dealership when we first passed on Friday night and were like kids in a sweetshop. These cars are just so much fun. Not mature, not a premium product, but they just make you smile. Then sitting in the corner of the showroom was a brand new Trofeo model. It has telemetry for trackdays, different wheels and most importantly a mental exhaust. Honestly I don’t know of any cheapish hot hatch that makes a noise even half as good. It’s bonkers. It has a few other bits too like Apple Car Play, full digital dash with loads of screens for telemetry, sport mode etc. Sport mode moves the speedo out the way and the rev counter appears in the centre of the dash. Very 911.
We paid £500 for the metallic Record Grey paint and it comes with yellow accents, centre caps and calipers. Apart from that, thats it. It’s bordering on chavvy but you know what, I don’t care. For once we are going with our hearts not our heads and it feels bloody great.
Anyway, we both just loved that exact car so we’ve bought it. It’s honestly the most excited I’ve been about a car for years and years, 911s included. It’s like being 18 or 19 again. Obviously I love my 911s but buying a 911 for me is one half “excitement”, other half “I hope this thing doesn’t bankrupt me”.
Buying this Abarth is just pure excitement, worry free. It feels good I must say. I knew I’d own one one day and that time has come.
So like I say collection is Saturday then I'll spend the day giving it a good polish etc as we didn't go for the supaguard or whatever it is.
First job over the bank holiday weekend was to make an Abarth sized hole in the garage.
An Infinity or anything normal would just live outside but because I'm as excited as my wife about the Fiat then I'll give it some garage space.
It works out better for her to, as because I like it a lot, it will get pampered more than something dull would have.
Anyway I have my own stuff to update this thread with but that's where I'm at this week. Roll on Saturday.
Cheers.
Next for us is a little pocket rocket. Not too dissimilar to your Mini maybe, in ethos anyway.
Thanks Jake and yes the Volvo is staying. It's on 173k now. We are selling my wife's Focus soon and even though it's only done 62k miles, has every mot and tax disk from new and we are the second owners buying at 3 years old, I'm still choosing to let it go over the Volvo. The old Volvo is just great and for some weird reason I just really really want to keep it.
Ok, this week is an exciting week.
We are collecting a new car on Saturday morning for my wife, but I'm rather excited too.
She’s had her ’08 Focus for years now. She’d usually change much more often but we’ve had bigger fish to fry, what with doing the house up for over 3 years etc, plus her and I having health scares and things.
Anyway it's funny how things go and certainly how our car hunting went last Friday.
We had a test drive booked on an Infinity Q30 and completely believed we’d be buying it.
They are to Nissan, what Lexus is to Toyota, using Merc components and built at Nissan in Sunderland, so we thought “quality car and we can buy British”, what with Brexit an’ all that.
Anyway, long story short, bad budget creep kicked in, no car available in our ideal spec and it was very sluggish (1.5D). Nice interior but the car itself was generally bland and just didn’t excite us. Disappointing as we honestly thought that we'd have been leaving a deposit.
So it was almost closing time at the Silverlink, which is a big area of car dealers in the north east and we popped into a different manufacturer dealer on the way past. Great sales lad. No slavver, just honest and helpful. We ran out of time so booked an appointment for 9am the next morning, to test drive a bog standard car, as my wife was changing cars to save on fuel and running costs primarily. We then drove the version I liked. The result? Well we left a deposit on this.
The pics don't do it justice. Loads of nice little touches and styling bits.
Press pic.
So bear with me…
It’s a Fiat 595 Abarth. These have been a guilty pleasure of mine since they were launched. They look cool, have Italian flair and sound like old skool 80’s RS Turbos and Renault 5 GT Turbos, which I grew up around.
Of course they're so girly I could never own one for me and my wife generally needs a decent boot as she's a teacher. So why now? Well we wandered around the dealership when we first passed on Friday night and were like kids in a sweetshop. These cars are just so much fun. Not mature, not a premium product, but they just make you smile. Then sitting in the corner of the showroom was a brand new Trofeo model. It has telemetry for trackdays, different wheels and most importantly a mental exhaust. Honestly I don’t know of any cheapish hot hatch that makes a noise even half as good. It’s bonkers. It has a few other bits too like Apple Car Play, full digital dash with loads of screens for telemetry, sport mode etc. Sport mode moves the speedo out the way and the rev counter appears in the centre of the dash. Very 911.
We paid £500 for the metallic Record Grey paint and it comes with yellow accents, centre caps and calipers. Apart from that, thats it. It’s bordering on chavvy but you know what, I don’t care. For once we are going with our hearts not our heads and it feels bloody great.
Anyway, we both just loved that exact car so we’ve bought it. It’s honestly the most excited I’ve been about a car for years and years, 911s included. It’s like being 18 or 19 again. Obviously I love my 911s but buying a 911 for me is one half “excitement”, other half “I hope this thing doesn’t bankrupt me”.
Buying this Abarth is just pure excitement, worry free. It feels good I must say. I knew I’d own one one day and that time has come.
So like I say collection is Saturday then I'll spend the day giving it a good polish etc as we didn't go for the supaguard or whatever it is.
First job over the bank holiday weekend was to make an Abarth sized hole in the garage.
An Infinity or anything normal would just live outside but because I'm as excited as my wife about the Fiat then I'll give it some garage space.
It works out better for her to, as because I like it a lot, it will get pampered more than something dull would have.
Anyway I have my own stuff to update this thread with but that's where I'm at this week. Roll on Saturday.
Cheers.
Cheers lads.
Hi RC -
I've read the fiesta is better in a few ways, maybe more useful sensible ways, but the Fiat makes up for it in fun or character. I guess you'd have to sample to one to see if it works for you.
Being able to say it's mainly for the daughter is a great excuse though. I think an unwritten rule in owning one if you're male and over 25 is claiming it's actually for the wife/daughter/any other female in the household.
Anyway, 2 more sleeps.
Hi RC -
I've read the fiesta is better in a few ways, maybe more useful sensible ways, but the Fiat makes up for it in fun or character. I guess you'd have to sample to one to see if it works for you.
Being able to say it's mainly for the daughter is a great excuse though. I think an unwritten rule in owning one if you're male and over 25 is claiming it's actually for the wife/daughter/any other female in the household.
Anyway, 2 more sleeps.
Thanks MrTidy. The Minis are great fun and the R56 moved things on a lot from the earlier model.
There must be a load of us blokes sneakily borrowing the keys to our wife's cars whenever we can.
Hi RD, that break up must have been a grim time. It must make you appreciate what you have now even more. Well done for succeeding. Inspirational stuff!
There must be a load of us blokes sneakily borrowing the keys to our wife's cars whenever we can.
Hi RD, that break up must have been a grim time. It must make you appreciate what you have now even more. Well done for succeeding. Inspirational stuff!
Cheers Niall! I appreciate the comments.
Well, collection day is here. I've an hour or two sorting the garage, then it's shower and off to the dealer's for tennish. (But I haven't got a racket, I hear you say - old Sean Connery joke).
We'll then get the car home and get it polished and waxed etc. It has been prepped by the dealer obviously but since we haven't taken the option of Supaguard (or the dealer's gap insurance, much to their protesting ) I want to get some decent protection on the paintwork.
Anyway, here goes what should be a fun day.
Have a good weekend everyone.
Well, collection day is here. I've an hour or two sorting the garage, then it's shower and off to the dealer's for tennish. (But I haven't got a racket, I hear you say - old Sean Connery joke).
We'll then get the car home and get it polished and waxed etc. It has been prepped by the dealer obviously but since we haven't taken the option of Supaguard (or the dealer's gap insurance, much to their protesting
) I want to get some decent protection on the paintwork. Anyway, here goes what should be a fun day.
Have a good weekend everyone.
Edited by marky911 on Thursday 11th May 23:36
Cheers lads! Best day I've had in ages that.
More in depth post in a day or so but basically I'm smitten. Bonkers little car that has no right to sound as good as it does.
Gonna be burning the midnight oil I think. I've had the car up in the air with the wheels off etc. Proper cleaning session.
This is what I'm currently looking at.
Hi Craig - Haven't seen much of you on here lately? Or have I just missed your posts? You still in the Type R?
Steve - Thanks for the comments. Glad it filled a few minutes of your time.
Hi Jake - Yes it's actually better than I'd expected. When I test drove one it didn't feel quick as it was big straight roads, however today on the country roads near mine it came alive. Twitchy bugger mind when hitting crests and bumps while cornering hard. Just due to the short wheel base I guess, nothing actually wrong.
Awesome fun though. Reminds me of my old RS Turbos and my 205GTi, as far as engine and handling go, respectively.
Anyway one more coat of wax to go and then some C4 Gtec stuff on plastics. The C4 can wait til morning actually.
I've stayed away from my house stuff today as I didn't want anything spoiling my mood.
I'm happy as Larry in the garage. Old skool hip hop on (Tribe called quest), another guilty pleasure of mine and I'm just pottering about.
It's like the hassle free days of old.
Anyone who thinks cars are just a form of transport are missing out.
More in depth post in a day or so but basically I'm smitten. Bonkers little car that has no right to sound as good as it does.
Gonna be burning the midnight oil I think. I've had the car up in the air with the wheels off etc. Proper cleaning session.
This is what I'm currently looking at.
Hi Craig - Haven't seen much of you on here lately? Or have I just missed your posts? You still in the Type R?
Steve - Thanks for the comments. Glad it filled a few minutes of your time.
Hi Jake - Yes it's actually better than I'd expected. When I test drove one it didn't feel quick as it was big straight roads, however today on the country roads near mine it came alive. Twitchy bugger mind when hitting crests and bumps while cornering hard. Just due to the short wheel base I guess, nothing actually wrong.
Awesome fun though. Reminds me of my old RS Turbos and my 205GTi, as far as engine and handling go, respectively.
Anyway one more coat of wax to go and then some C4 Gtec stuff on plastics. The C4 can wait til morning actually.
I've stayed away from my house stuff today as I didn't want anything spoiling my mood.
I'm happy as Larry in the garage. Old skool hip hop on (Tribe called quest), another guilty pleasure of mine and I'm just pottering about.
It's like the hassle free days of old.
Anyone who thinks cars are just a form of transport are missing out.
Edited by marky911 on Saturday 6th May 22:36
Thanks Chicken, I'm glad some people who haven't seen it before are enjoying it.
Cheers MDK, glad it filled some time. Yes, the good old early days of Max power eh. Back when we thought 15 inch alloys were big.
Renault 11 Turbos. I'd forgotten all about those. The thinking man's R5 Turbo..... maybe.
How rare are those now? I can't remember the last time I ever saw one on the road. Likewise the big 21 Turbos. Cosworth performance but very much under the radar.
Right then, I'm not great at doing collection day reports so I'll keep it brief-ish. I won't fill the thread with a bazillion photos of every single feature and item on the car. That's not because I don't think the car is great, I do, but you can find out all the info on them elsewhere.
I'm sure I'll add little updates here and there though as we learn things about the car and hopefully enjoy some great trips in it.
So collection day came and I still had a bit of tidying left to do in the garage before we headed down to the dealers.
We made space eventually though.
My wife had done a mammoth shift in the garage and shed the day before, sorting things out while I was at work.
Obviously once the house renovation is finished I'll dump a lot of the gear I have or store it in the garage loft, then finally I'll be able to plaster the garage etc and make it a nice place to spend time in.
For now we can keep two cars out of the elements though, so that's great.
So we got down to the dealers and collected the car. As I've mentioned in another thread times have changed (or at least they have at the more mainstream dealers) and you don't even get a bunch of flowers or anything anymore.
I guess the days of people saving for years to buy a new car have gone and people just lease or pcp things these days, so less loyalty etc.
It was still a special occasion for my wife though as it's the first new car she's ever bought.
The car is enough anyway though, with or without the flowers.
The salesman brought the car round to the front, then spent a good while showing the missus the different features such as the Apple car play and different dash layouts etc.
I'd just like to say at this point a big thanks to the salesman Lee Lightley at Richard Hardie, Fiat at the Silverlink. Great lad and as I've said earlier, none of the patter you sometimes get from salesmen, just a good honest service with no pressure. If you're ever in the area and in the market for a Fiat, I highly recommend you look him up.
There was one niggle I spotted on the car before we left (and another later) and that is that the twin exit exhaust isn't perfectly level. It's nothing, but it's enough that I noticed it. I've been assured this will be dealt with at the cars first check over in a couple of months.
So anyway, all done and we could hit the road.
The next photo removes any element of surprise regarding what I've been up to car wise since the 328 Sports but anyway, that's for another day.
We went the scenic way home which involved passing by some old haunts of mine from all those years ago, including Tynemouth and Whitley Bay seafront, before heading inland back home.
Home without issue.
Driveway getting a bit full.
(The Focus actually went to its new home tonight. A guy came up from Leeds and was very happy with it.)
Bye bye Focus. It's been no bother at all that car.
Anyway, once home we put my car away and went out for lunch in the Abarth.
On the way back home and about 4 miles from our village a guy that lives along the road from us came flying up behind us in his new M5, I thought "I'll see if he can drive or if he's more of a poser" (I'm not exactly Jenson Button mind) , so I warned my wife I was going to have a bit of fun.
I pressed the sport and diff buttons (it's not really a diff) and took off. It was great fun and the car was squatting, twitching and all sorts. It's a little go kart.
Anyway it turns out that M5 man can drive and I couldn't really gap him. I did a smidge in the bends but he quickly reeled me in on the sweeping stuff. To be expected with 4 times the power of the little Abarth. Awesome fun though and it's great having a decent amount of ground clearance when attacking bumpy twisty B roads.
When we backed off and pootled into our village I said to my wife "It's a twitchy bloody thing isn't it" and she replied "I know, does the sport button make it do that? I'm not pressing that". "No love, me driving like a teenager makes it do that."
Like all hot hatches it can bring out your naughty side. I won't be doing that very often though, even if it is huge fun.
After that it was time to get cleaning. Obviously it was mint anyway but I wanted to get some protection on and they're only new once so I wanted it done straight away.
So it was up onto jacks to get the wheels off.
I cleaned everywhere and treated the suspension to a bit of ACF-50 and the arch liners to some "protect and shine".
I washed the wheels and gave them a good coat of Poorboys wheel sealant in and out, then refitted them.
Gtechniq C4 trim restorer on all the black bits. There's a lot of plastic on this car, almost as much as my old Nova from years ago.
I then used some Pinnacle Glass treatment with rain repellent on the outside of the windows and some Autoglym glass cleaner cream on the inside.
After that it was just the bodywork to do. No swirls obviously so I just gave it a coat of Autoglym super resin polish. Still my go to polish after all these years as it has some fillers and things in, rather than just being a totally clear wax coat.
Finally I topped that off with a layer of Collinite Marque D'Elegance which is a hard wax and will last for months.
I forgot to take many "after" pics.
The result - Well pretty much the same as it was but at least now I know it's all protected that bit more.
So that's it really. The little Abarth is now performing daily duties perfectly, as you'd expect.
Me and my wife are both smitten with it. It's got so much character for a mainstream new car, it honestly has.
Almost one week in and it's covered with flies and dust so I'm going to invest in some snow foam to try and get the bulk of the dust and debris off before hand washing.
So my final comment is basically anyone in the market for a small fun car, you must try one of these.
Even if you think they're not your thing. Have a test drive, what have you got to lose?
As I've said my wife loves it and that's the main thing.
Happy wife = Happy life.
That's it for now. A few of us are away to do the NC500 this weekend. Setting off tomorrow. Can't wait. Im overdue a lads weekend. Have a good weekend everyone.
Cheers MDK, glad it filled some time. Yes, the good old early days of Max power eh. Back when we thought 15 inch alloys were big.
Renault 11 Turbos. I'd forgotten all about those. The thinking man's R5 Turbo..... maybe.
How rare are those now? I can't remember the last time I ever saw one on the road. Likewise the big 21 Turbos. Cosworth performance but very much under the radar.
Right then, I'm not great at doing collection day reports so I'll keep it brief-ish. I won't fill the thread with a bazillion photos of every single feature and item on the car. That's not because I don't think the car is great, I do, but you can find out all the info on them elsewhere.
I'm sure I'll add little updates here and there though as we learn things about the car and hopefully enjoy some great trips in it.
So collection day came and I still had a bit of tidying left to do in the garage before we headed down to the dealers.
We made space eventually though.
My wife had done a mammoth shift in the garage and shed the day before, sorting things out while I was at work.
Obviously once the house renovation is finished I'll dump a lot of the gear I have or store it in the garage loft, then finally I'll be able to plaster the garage etc and make it a nice place to spend time in.
For now we can keep two cars out of the elements though, so that's great.
So we got down to the dealers and collected the car. As I've mentioned in another thread times have changed (or at least they have at the more mainstream dealers) and you don't even get a bunch of flowers or anything anymore.
I guess the days of people saving for years to buy a new car have gone and people just lease or pcp things these days, so less loyalty etc.
It was still a special occasion for my wife though as it's the first new car she's ever bought.
The car is enough anyway though, with or without the flowers.
The salesman brought the car round to the front, then spent a good while showing the missus the different features such as the Apple car play and different dash layouts etc.
I'd just like to say at this point a big thanks to the salesman Lee Lightley at Richard Hardie, Fiat at the Silverlink. Great lad and as I've said earlier, none of the patter you sometimes get from salesmen, just a good honest service with no pressure. If you're ever in the area and in the market for a Fiat, I highly recommend you look him up.
There was one niggle I spotted on the car before we left (and another later) and that is that the twin exit exhaust isn't perfectly level. It's nothing, but it's enough that I noticed it. I've been assured this will be dealt with at the cars first check over in a couple of months.
So anyway, all done and we could hit the road.
The next photo removes any element of surprise regarding what I've been up to car wise since the 328 Sports but anyway, that's for another day.
We went the scenic way home which involved passing by some old haunts of mine from all those years ago, including Tynemouth and Whitley Bay seafront, before heading inland back home.
Home without issue.
Driveway getting a bit full.
(The Focus actually went to its new home tonight. A guy came up from Leeds and was very happy with it.)
Bye bye Focus. It's been no bother at all that car.
Anyway, once home we put my car away and went out for lunch in the Abarth.
On the way back home and about 4 miles from our village a guy that lives along the road from us came flying up behind us in his new M5, I thought "I'll see if he can drive or if he's more of a poser"
(I'm not exactly Jenson Button mind) , so I warned my wife I was going to have a bit of fun. I pressed the sport and diff buttons (it's not really a diff) and took off. It was great fun and the car was squatting, twitching and all sorts. It's a little go kart.
Anyway it turns out that M5 man can drive and I couldn't really gap him.
I did a smidge in the bends but he quickly reeled me in on the sweeping stuff. To be expected with 4 times the power of the little Abarth. Awesome fun though and it's great having a decent amount of ground clearance when attacking bumpy twisty B roads. When we backed off and pootled into our village I said to my wife "It's a twitchy bloody thing isn't it" and she replied "I know, does the sport button make it do that? I'm not pressing that".
"No love, me driving like a teenager makes it do that."Like all hot hatches it can bring out your naughty side. I won't be doing that very often though, even if it is huge fun.
After that it was time to get cleaning. Obviously it was mint anyway but I wanted to get some protection on and they're only new once so I wanted it done straight away.
So it was up onto jacks to get the wheels off.
I cleaned everywhere and treated the suspension to a bit of ACF-50 and the arch liners to some "protect and shine".
I washed the wheels and gave them a good coat of Poorboys wheel sealant in and out, then refitted them.
Gtechniq C4 trim restorer on all the black bits. There's a lot of plastic on this car, almost as much as my old Nova from years ago.
I then used some Pinnacle Glass treatment with rain repellent on the outside of the windows and some Autoglym glass cleaner cream on the inside.
After that it was just the bodywork to do. No swirls obviously so I just gave it a coat of Autoglym super resin polish. Still my go to polish after all these years as it has some fillers and things in, rather than just being a totally clear wax coat.
Finally I topped that off with a layer of Collinite Marque D'Elegance which is a hard wax and will last for months.
I forgot to take many "after" pics.
The result - Well pretty much the same as it was but at least now I know it's all protected that bit more.
So that's it really. The little Abarth is now performing daily duties perfectly, as you'd expect.
Me and my wife are both smitten with it. It's got so much character for a mainstream new car, it honestly has.
Almost one week in and it's covered with flies and dust so I'm going to invest in some snow foam to try and get the bulk of the dust and debris off before hand washing.
So my final comment is basically anyone in the market for a small fun car, you must try one of these.
Even if you think they're not your thing. Have a test drive, what have you got to lose?
As I've said my wife loves it and that's the main thing.
Happy wife = Happy life.
That's it for now. A few of us are away to do the NC500 this weekend. Setting off tomorrow. Can't wait. Im overdue a lads weekend. Have a good weekend everyone.
Edited by marky911 on Thursday 11th May 23:39
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