Convince me to stop being negative about sheds.
Discussion
This is pissing me off now.
Im looking for a shed, couple of grand mark. Im seeing cars with a dented door, a scuffed bumper corner, a seat rip or whatever and this is putting me off. Im looking at a V70 T5, in the price bracket, but a door has a gouge on it where someone has obviously hit a low post. Not massively deep, but deep and long enough to be clearly obvious.
For some reason this is putting me off. I keep holding off for that immacualte, single owner, 25,000 mile time warp car in my budget, and I should know that it just aint gonna happen. I guess it comes with always buying ex-demo or nearly new cars and worrying about every single stone chip or little mark on the alloys because of the age/value of the car.
Give me some shed stories.
Im looking for a shed, couple of grand mark. Im seeing cars with a dented door, a scuffed bumper corner, a seat rip or whatever and this is putting me off. Im looking at a V70 T5, in the price bracket, but a door has a gouge on it where someone has obviously hit a low post. Not massively deep, but deep and long enough to be clearly obvious.
For some reason this is putting me off. I keep holding off for that immacualte, single owner, 25,000 mile time warp car in my budget, and I should know that it just aint gonna happen. I guess it comes with always buying ex-demo or nearly new cars and worrying about every single stone chip or little mark on the alloys because of the age/value of the car.
Give me some shed stories.
un1corn said:
worrying about every single stone chip or little mark on the alloys
Surely this is the beauty of buying a shed? So that you never have to worry about stone chips, curbed alloys and people opening their doors into it in car parks. If you feel you would still get pissed off with any of these things I don't think shed motoring is for you...
s off at the lights.A shed car is never perfect. A shed car always needs work doing on it.
Perhaps it will give you a chance to practice your bodywork skills. See if you can knock the dent out with a little hammer. Then a bigger hammer. Then a sledge hammer. Eventually it will look like Father Ted's competition car.
I don't know where i'm going with this. Buy the car, don't worry about minor bodywork damage.
Perhaps it will give you a chance to practice your bodywork skills. See if you can knock the dent out with a little hammer. Then a bigger hammer. Then a sledge hammer. Eventually it will look like Father Ted's competition car.
I don't know where i'm going with this. Buy the car, don't worry about minor bodywork damage.
The Crack Fox said:
If you buy a minter you will be fretting about using it as a shed
Currently have this problem, replaced a scabby baby 4x4 with a much newer version as it came up at a stupid low price. The problem now is its not the same park anywhere, load with anything car... Miss the old one..I once bought a £2k, one owner, 38k mile Golf VR6 as a winter shed. No-one wanted them when petrol was expensive and the advert was terrible. It was filthy when I saw it, inside and out, it had a dented door, and the dampers were so completely fecked it drove like a trans-atlantic rowing boat. However once I had spent a weekend cleaning it inside and out, and spent some money on a set of Bilstein B12 dampers and good rubberwear I realised it was an absolute mintier than mint gem and that I'd be a clod to expose it to the salt, crap and useless driving of a winter.
So it joined the summer Porsche in the garage and I (much to the disapproval of the first Mrs SS7)went out an bought a VW Polo with a million miles instead.
SS7
So it joined the summer Porsche in the garage and I (much to the disapproval of the first Mrs SS7)went out an bought a VW Polo with a million miles instead.
SS7
The Crack Fox said:
If you buy a minter you will be fretting about using it as a shed
Currently have this problem, replaced a scabby baby 4x4 with a much newer version as it came up at a stupid low price. The problem now is its not the same park anywhere, load with anything car... Miss the old one..To my mind the only thing you should worry about when buying sheds is how sound they are mechanically. Because the majority of people are far more bothered about how a car looks and how many miles it's done you can pick up a motor that's rock solid and good for tens of thousands of miles more for peanuts, just because it's got a few dents/scuffs and/or has over 100k on the clock. I'd just think of the cosmetic imperfections as money that's staying in my pocket, but to be honest I'm quite happy if people are negative about sheds because it means they're cheaper for me!
Oh yes, and a £2k car is not a shed!
Oh yes, and a £2k car is not a shed!
My £350 shed went in for it's MOT after 6 months with me last week. I've done precesely nothing to it bar cleaning it, flling it with fuel, 2 tyres on the front and new front discs), and it had 2 advisories, one for a knocking drivers side ball joint, and 2 for the rar tyres being low on tread and perishing
Owning a shed doesnt have to be expensive! Although now it passed I can crack on with my list of jobs to do, much of which dont need doing, but I'll do anyway
Owning a shed doesnt have to be expensive! Although now it passed I can crack on with my list of jobs to do, much of which dont need doing, but I'll do anyway
Best thing about a shed is that you can leave it anywhere.
The other best thing about shed is that it is depreciation-proof (that is that it has done all of its' depreciating).
If it's priced fairly then theoretically you have nothing to lose (unless it explodes).
Love thy shed
Until shed
is dead
The other best thing about shed is that it is depreciation-proof (that is that it has done all of its' depreciating).
If it's priced fairly then theoretically you have nothing to lose (unless it explodes).
Love thy shed
Until shed
is dead
Our Shed was bought even though when we got to view the car it was apparent the seller hadn't been overly detailed on what was wrong with the car.
After a quick look round I found the cill was dented, the rear end had been shunted and repaired at some point, the door hinges were all in need of changing (common mk4 Golf issue) The front bumper trim wasn't colour coded yet the back was.
But its went well, was lowered and had nice Audi Wheels with good tyres on it and it was cheap. That was over 5 yeas ago and about 100k has been put on the clock since purchase.
Not all sheddy sheds are rubbish
After a quick look round I found the cill was dented, the rear end had been shunted and repaired at some point, the door hinges were all in need of changing (common mk4 Golf issue) The front bumper trim wasn't colour coded yet the back was.
But its went well, was lowered and had nice Audi Wheels with good tyres on it and it was cheap. That was over 5 yeas ago and about 100k has been put on the clock since purchase.
Not all sheddy sheds are rubbish
Like others have said, shedding is great. I love my £800 Volvo 940. Its got dents on it, scratches where I hit a gate post and cosmetically its seen better days but mechanically its sound, always gets me to where I want to go, and home again. I've had it three and a half years now and my only breakdown has been a snapped alternator belt! The aircon works, the heated seats work and its a lovely comfortable place to be.
Servicing is silly cheap, good branded tyres are £60 a corner (15's) and my parents spend more on one repair on their much newer cars, than I have spent in total on my shed since ive had it
Servicing is silly cheap, good branded tyres are £60 a corner (15's) and my parents spend more on one repair on their much newer cars, than I have spent in total on my shed since ive had it
Choose your compromise.
- Sub £2000
- Cosmetically ok.
- A desirable model. (Let's be honest, Volvo's T5 range is hardly a secret. The owners and dealers know what they've got.)
I don't think you find a car that is all three at once very often at all. I went through this for a while, looking for a Mondeo ST200. Settled for a zetec-s.
- Sub £2000
- Cosmetically ok.
- A desirable model. (Let's be honest, Volvo's T5 range is hardly a secret. The owners and dealers know what they've got.)
I don't think you find a car that is all three at once very often at all. I went through this for a while, looking for a Mondeo ST200. Settled for a zetec-s.
snotrag said:
un1corn said:
Give me some shed stories.
Shed stories (All Senator related because I've had rather a lot of them and when they got to years old or more they got silly cheap)
Senator 1 F64 MPM from memory 3.0 12V CD Auto
£350 in the middle of the last fuel crisis (back in) where petrol had spiralled and people were running a mile from anything with a big engine - it had a few days MOT left but had already been tested early and the failure points were documented so I knew what I was getting into - damn thing had a near full tank too.
Mot'd it and used it as a loaner PH'r Domster had left me in charge of fixing his Lotus Carlton/Omega so it helped him out with a car..... He had it a while - pretty sure he had to put a water pump on it while he had it (whoops)
It did need an arch
not too bad when you could get repair panels
Little skim of filler and a rattle can paint job kept it tidy
Think I sold it several years later for £100 more than I paid for it
Senator 2 K616 CBM Ex Polac 3.0 24V manual
185 K miles - picked it up from herts as a poor runner (ran rough went like stink) with no MOT £400 - booked MOT and drove home via the test centre - failed on a few easy fixes so drove home fixed and and then got it on the road. Turned out it had a new engine fitted at 175K miles so no wonder it went like a missile. Sold and bought it back 3 times each time making a few quid on it - finaly sold it for £750 and 215K miles and exported it to Norway (the buyer wanted running gear for a reckord)
Senator 3 K544 KNP 3.0 12V CD
This one is actually the reason why I'm not allowed two of anything anymore
I owned this 3.0 24V Senator auto in star silver with black leather
Never raced or rallied
Best car I’ve ever owned J905HAB or 5haby to it’s friends but while it was on the original basket weaves and still an auto I accidently bought another Senator
Anyway at the time of purchase it was running basket weaves and was a 3.0 12 V auto with black leather that happened to also be in star silver…….
When I say accidently most of my car purchases are accidents (I think of it as right place right time and Mrs BC thinks it’s wrong place wrong time and too much available overdraft – she might have a point)
Anyway before I go too far off track I’d better explain
The 12V was advertised in the local free adds with a running fault at £300 – I like adverts like that but the price seemed to be missing a 1 in front of it – it was a few years back, rang the seller and apparently it had an electrical issue and he’d thrown lots of money at it with 3 local Vauxhall dealers and none had fixed it – all had cost him lots of money and he’d had enough……. The fault – hmmm – well you could drive it for 30 miles or 30 mins and then it cut out and needed to wait 15 mins before it would restart then it was fine for another 30 miles or 30 mins. The owners daily commute was 35 miles and 40 mins time wise and he was extremely pissed off that the car required him to observe some ritual stop start process.
Well I didn’t need another car but it was cheap and I like a challenge so I went to see it and bought it.
Obviously I couldn’t take it home because then I would have two star silver Senators on the drive so I parked it at work and alternated which car I used on an almost daily basis.
Now I know the clever ones amongst you will say bit it has a different reg number – well Mrs BC is blind as a bat (bloody good hearing but eyesight is shocking – hence why she is still with me) so number plates are just a fuzzy blur – colour of a car and leather she’s on the button.
Downside is my daily commute is 2 miles or 5 mins so I wasn’t seeing the issues.
A fellow club member Will and occasionally of this parish needed a car and work were getting a bit snotty about my using the car park as overflow parking for my drive so I lent it to him – don’t worry I told him about the issue so he packed the tools he needed for an electrical issue
Will was working 40 miles away and for the first few weeks the car didn’t miss behave but then it did and Will knew he had 15 mins to find the fault – he actually took 5 mins and fixed by the roadside the car never missed a beat from then on (actually it did but that’s another story and I still get grief at monthly club meets from those club members who had a 90 mile ride in an AA truck)
So the fault – an aftermarket immobiliser that was over heating it’s circuits and killing the power to the fuel pump.
Anyway Will continued to use the car and I didn’t have a storage issue – however one day Will dropped the car back on the drive and I drove home in the J905 and ooooops looks like I had a snap……
Mrs BC’s reaction – I bloody knew you have two Senators it every other day for a while back my hand-cream kept doing a vanishing trick and then re-appearing like magic – it was driving me nuts!!!!
There were several other incidents that led to my more than one "ban" but I'd better not fill this thread up with them......
Edited by B'stard Child on Monday 19th January 18:03
The problem is that your budget is too high and you're hitting he paradox of choice. Halve your budget and you'll be thinkin "wow, leather and electric seats for £800!" Or "I can write this car off, sell the engine and alloys and still mame a profit!".
With too big a budget you start getting greedy.
With too big a budget you start getting greedy.
glazbagun said:
The problem is that your budget is too high and you're hitting he paradox of choice. Halve your budget and you'll be thinkin "wow, leather and electric seats for £800!" Or "I can write this car off, sell the engine and alloys and still mame a profit!".
With too big a budget you start getting greedy.
Absolutely agree With too big a budget you start getting greedy.
£400 on a 1.7 Puma - just that revvy Yammy engine on it's own is worth every penny. Had electrical gremlins, washer bottle gremlins, had to tinker with the parcel shelf etc. but all in all a great shed.
When chucking it around corners like it's on rails I think to myself £400 for this much fun just seems so wrong...
Your trouble is that if you are looking for a desirable car at that price it is likely to be in an undesirable condition. So why not change the parameters round; you should be able to get the world's best Kia Magentis for a fraction of that price. That's what I define as true shedding.
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