Shed money + Barge + Daily Commute = Mental?

[Captain Muppet]

I used a E34 535i as a daily for a while. It was ace. Made me happy on empty B roads and made me comfortable everywhere else.

I'd buy another one tomorrow if I had space to park it.

[em177]

Get the biggest, comfiest V8 with the most wood and leather you can. You never know if they'll ever be an opportunity to get one again as a daily (doing more miles, fuel cost etc) so may as well scratch the itch.

Get over to the smokers barge thread. Tell us what your exact criteria and you'll be amazed the car you can get for your cash.

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

[Loplop]

Captain Muppet said:

I used a E34 535i as a daily for a while. It was ace. Made me happy on empty B roads and made me comfortable everywhere else.

I'd buy another one tomorrow if I had space to park it.

E34's a proper 'useable' but still civilised tool. Too many people are asking daft money for them now though, Dad bought a mint 540i a year ago for £350 and it's worth (if numerous classifieds are anything to go by!) another grand on top of that now!

[HD Adam]

I have a 97 Audi A8.

Cost 1k so shed money and I do approx 800 miles, mostly motorway, per week in it.

It's the V6 model so no rocket ship but averages 35mpg on the trip computer so not too bad and very wafty.

If you can find the right car, then go for it.

[Loplop]

Ren Esis said:

An Audi A4 in B5 form is also a car I've been heavily considering. My brother had one as a 2.8 quattro and I remember being very impressed by them. Does anyone have any experiences with the 2.8 variants? I know the BMW 2.8 can be quite frugal when you're not hooning but it seems the VAG lump struggles to hit 25mpg no matter what how light you are on the pedals.

Yeah they're no the best on fuel even if they do sound quite nice, a 2.0T one would offer similar performance to a 328/528i but then you lose pretty much all 'barge' aspects!

[chongwong]

http://classifieds.pistonheads.com/classifieds/use...
way under-budget, but could be a bit of a steal?

[larrylamb11]

Obvious answer - Jaguar XJ8
A very lovely place to be, you will feel like Chairman of the Board and all this for shed money.

[jimxms]

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1996-Lexus-LS-400-Privat...

LS400, apparently in good nick, MOT 08/13, decent colour, currently at £500. Plenty of green left over to burn

Edited by jimxms on Tuesday 11th December 15:06

[jas xjr]

three hours a day on public transport . just buy anything with tax and test , quickly

[S10GTA]

Ren Esis said:

sitting in traffic for an hour a day probably wasn't the best thing for the engine, so I stopped taking it and got the public transport instead (3 buses each way..!!).

Ren Esis said:

3 hours a day travelling.

Ren Esis earlier in the post said:

less than 10 miles from my house

Is anybody else confused. How does it take 3hrs to do 10 miles? Get a pushbike!

[stoocake]

S10GTA said:

Is anybody else confused. How does it take 3hrs to do 10 miles? Get a pushbike!

I used to have to get 3 buses to cover 25 miles in my first job after leaving school and it would easily take 2 hours each way, if all the buses were running on time.

[_Neal_]

S10GTA said:

Is anybody else confused. How does it take 3hrs to do 10 miles? Get a pushbike!

As I understand it it's 3 hours in total (10 miles each way) which if you're getting 3 buses, and it takes an hour each way by car (see elsewhere in the original post) seems pretty reasonable.

My vote would be for something like an E39 520/525i (probably auto - due to traffic) - there's a few in the classifieds at your budget, and they're a very well-built car.

[Six Fiend]

Loplop said:

Captain Muppet said:

I used a E34 535i as a daily for a while. It was ace. Made me happy on empty B roads and made me comfortable everywhere else.

I'd buy another one tomorrow if I had space to park it.

E34's a proper 'useable' but still civilised tool. Too many people are asking daft money for them now though, Dad bought a mint 540i a year ago for £350 and it's worth (if numerous classifieds are anything to go by!) another grand on top of that now!

A mint E34 540i has been worth over a grand, nearer 2 for years. He got that very cheap indeed. I'd like another and consider up to 2k reasonable for a rot free example with no issues...

[LouD86]

Has to be a Lexus LS400. Waft to work, ultimate luxury, heated leather in the winter, and if you need to do a long distance journey, what a car to do it in. Will reach at a push late 20's on a long journey to. Happy days!

[320touring]

my e36 326i touring (bought with snotter budget)has Climate control, leather seats, trip computer etc.

very comfortable on the motorway, decent MPG, and is small enough to hoon about at the weekends..

I'd recommend similar as an alternative to an e39 5'er.

all the comfort of a barge, but with the added "hoonability" of a smaller car

[pwd95]

Ren Esis said:

An Audi A4 in B5 form is also a car I've been heavily considering. My brother had one as a 2.8 quattro and I remember being very impressed by them. Does anyone have any experiences with the 2.8 variants? I know the BMW 2.8 can be quite frugal when you're not hooning but it seems the VAG lump struggles to hit 25mpg no matter what how light you are on the pedals.

Got one of these as my daily. Absolutely beautifull car. Only 39k on it when I bought it so in time warp condition. I'm only 3 miles from work so only avarages around 24 for me. probably do an easy 30+ on a run. Get one.

[Loplop]

Six Fiend said:

A mint E34 540i has been worth over a grand, nearer 2 for years. He got that very cheap indeed. I'd like another and consider up to 2k reasonable for a rot free example with no issues...

True... I'm being a bit devious in the sense that this car had a 'running' problem. Suspected headgasket failure, so £350 to break it wasn't too bad.

However once we started finding receipts for O2 Sensors, £1500 Autobox rebuilds and a hefty receipt for fully rebuilt Big Redd brakes we knew something was amiss. Car actually drove, just had the power of a 520i and sometimes even what I'd like to call a 718i (felt heavy and asthmatic.) After a couple of weeks it got diagnosed as a fueling problem, take the pump out the tank... Everything seems to be okay but let's try freeing it all up a little. I know, let's change the little gauze type filter on the bottom of the pump too, pop it back in... Definitely feels more like 280 horsies now! Pop on a set of genuine 18inch Alpina wheels with Michelin Pilot Sports all round and bob's your uncle!

[g3org3y]

320touring said:

my e36 328i touring (bought with snotter budget)has Climate control, leather seats, trip computer etc.

very comfortable on the motorway, decent MPG, and is small enough to hoon about at the weekends..

I'd recommend similar as an alternative to an e39 5'er.

all the comfort of a barge, but with the added "hoonability" of a smaller car

Echo the above.

[SuperHangOn]

£1500 is a very healthy budget these days!

I've ran loads of old barges, no real scare stories apart from the range rovers! Best have been the Merc W124 and LS400.

Have a hankering for a Jag XJ or a W140 Merc.

Edited by SuperHangOn on Tuesday 11th December 16:38

[bert11]

less than 10 miles you say ... how about cycle to work and buy a proper PH car!