Regularly browsing ebay for cars you'll probably never own!

[Heaveho]

It's a sickness, and although I think I'm quite generally self-aware, I've really only recently realised how much I do this. The question is, move the game on and start buying, or just accept that it's a fools paradise to do so, and be content with scoping out stuff I'll never have!

The list from perhaps a year now, in no particular order....

Fiat Coupe 20VT
Corrado VR6 ( in my defence, have had one 20 years ago }
Lexus IS-F ( again, been there )
R8 of various vintages and flavours ( pattern already developing here, had a couple )
Honda NSX
Honda CRX VTEC
Boxster 981
Gordon Keeble ( pointless, never on ebay )
Skoda Superb estate 3.6 ( possible replacement for our IS300 Sportcross )
Audi TTRS
Elan M100
Supercharger Mk1 MR2
Delta Intrgrale
205 GTI
Corolla GT Twincam
Lexus LS460 and IS250 ( can't believe how little money for how much car )
R5 GT Turbo

There'll be others I occasionally look at ( Maser Quattroporte, Alfa Quadrafoglio ) but theyr'e both never gonna happen, regardless of circumstances. I haven't completely given up on some of the others though.

I'm suspecting this isn't just me?

[England87]

I do like a good nose through the classifieds on here and autotrader, I have the opposite problem though. I find something I like only to find it’s sold and the ad hasn’t been removed or that someone is coming to look that evening. I’ve only been browsing private sales, I did try a trader sale at the weekend. Car described as A1 condition, excellent bodywork, turned up and it was a wreck. I said I wasn’t interested as the bodywork was terrible and the trader then got all confrontational

Putting me off buying!

[Truckosaurus]

I'm sure 80% of Autotrader's traffic is just dreamers like us scoping out our dream Lotto win garage, or even the champagne-tastes-beer-money-budget cars we'd have if we had a large enough driveway.

I just wish the UK Autotrader had a number of cylinders filter option like the American autotrader.com site (I know they are not related companies)...

No harm in looking, I bet there's plenty of proper fantasists who actually ring dealers up and arrange test drives of cars they are never going to buy.

[Origin Unknown]

Maserati Granturismo.

I have now been looking at these for coming up two years, but it's the financing that's putting me off. I am financially cautious by nature.

I have savings but wouldn't look to use more than £1,500 from them as cash reserves are essential to me.

So £30k for a 2012, great spec. 1500 deposit and it's 500p/m over 5 years. I can afford it, but something stops me moving forward. I'll probably never own it.

[PistonBroker]

Sitting down on a Friday night and scrolling through eBay's cars section - distance nearest first - is one of my favourite things. Loads of stuff ends up in my watch list but I haven't bought a car for years now.

I'm also fascinated by 'noreservecarsreading' as well - loads of their stuff ends up in my watch list.

I'd buy Auto Trader when I was 11 and daydream, so I think this is just what I do!

Then again, when I lived near an actual auction house I was changing every other week - lost count at 70-odd cars owned - so I think maybe I've just exhausted myself!

[anonymous-user]

The mythical £4K Porsche Boxster. Well, they do exist at least on paper, but let's be honest the repairs are soon going to add up. The other problem is I need a car with back seats and as a second car I have nowhere to park it and know it will barely get used if I buy one.

Plus I borrowed a 987 S years ago so I know a 986 2.5/7 will just feel ancient.

[DWDarkWheels]

I trawl the usual websites daily on this very exercise. Often it leads to a model I'm unfamiliar with so off I go to Youtube and Wikipedia to learn more. It's a while since I bought a car but it's all good clean fun for a car enthusiast.

I did randomly buy an old FTO a couple of years ago which only paused the browsing

[NGRhodes]

Its gets worse if your retired, my Dad now has the time to go look at them...

[hammo19]

I have this virus too, it’s taken over my life. Every spare minute I’m on the bay and the tree. It’s so bad I change my spare car every 3 months. I don’t think there is a cure, especially when I have a wife who seems to want to ensure the virus continues.

I bought one of those £4K Boxsters a month back, they exist in reality and it’s not looking like any repair bills coming our way, you just have to do your homework.

[Heaveho]

hammo19 said:

I have this virus too, it’s taken over my life. Every spare minute I’m on the bay and the tree. It’s so bad I change my spare car every 3 months. I don’t think there is a cure, especially when I have a wife who seems to want to ensure the virus continues.

I bought one of those £4K Boxsters a month back, they exist in reality and it’s not looking like any repair bills coming our way, you just have to do your homework.

Bravo on the Boxster, It's dangerous territory! If you get it wrong the bills can come to more than the price of the car. I bought a 987 4 years ago and still have it, I thought it was cheap then, but even with just routine servicing, tyres, recent Brembo discs and pads all round and a wheel refurb, things get relatively pricey for a not very valuable car.

Lack of available space is what keeps things reasonably sane for me, but one mans sane is another's madness. I have the Boxster, an Evo and a Mk1 MR2 in the garage, and a Lexus and Ford Connect outside. This is in a city centre! I had to knock down a utility room and raise the floors in the rooms above the garage to get a ramp in to allow space for 3 cars indoors.

[Heaveho]

Moved to car buying, when the thread is about cars you'll probably never own.....there'll come a time when I understand how the minds of others works, but today won't be it!

[anonymous-user]

I spend far too much time on ebay looking at old american v8's. I'm not entirely sure why either, I do want one but can't imagine ever being happy putting that much petrol in one to go anywhere! And I don't mean performance cars either, more like big, obscure wafty things with seats that look like armchairs

[keo]

Heaveho said:

Moved to car buying, when the thread is about cars you'll probably never own.....there'll come a time when I understand how the minds of others works, but today won't be it!

Mods strike again.

[anonymous-user]

hammo19 said:

I bought one of those £4K Boxsters a month back, they exist in reality and it’s not looking like any repair bills coming our way, you just have to do your homework.

I found one 20 minutes away a couple of weeks ago, same owner for the last 14 years, 75k miles, never failed an MOT, W reg and the guy said he would take £3.5K for it. As it was pouring down with rain I agreed to see it at 10:00AM the next morning.

At 9:30AM I get a text message saying it had been sold. I think it was a bargain, but probably a blessing in disguise as I literally have nowhere to park it.

[Speed Badger]

I have this disease. At occasional intervals I will Ebay and auto trader it up for a Porsche 911 GT3 991.2 manual. Unfortunately I do not have a six-figure sum burning a hole in my pocket.

However a 997 Turbo manual can be had for around £48k (and upwards), which is not beyond the realms of ludicrousness...

[fooman]

£4K Boxter? Someone should have told me I just spent £4K on a Panda!

(Actually I've know the Boxter is probably the best budget sports car around at the moment if you get a reliable one, but daughter needed something to learn in and I couldn't face insuring her on one...)

[Justin Case]

Heaveho said:

Moved to car buying, when the thread is about cars you'll probably never own.....there'll come a time when I understand how the minds of others works, but today won't be it!

It is quite easy to understand but not to comprehend. In the minds of the mods not buying cars = buying cars.

/another victim

[Heaveho]

fooman said:

£4K Boxter? Someone should have told me I just spent £4K on a Panda!

(Actually I've know the Boxter is probably the best budget sports car around at the moment if you get a reliable one, but daughter needed something to learn in and I couldn't face insuring her on one...)

Coward!

[Lester H]

Yes I regularly visit Autotrader, which often leads to E Bay. I tend to look, with little intention of buying, at cheapies ( must have read Shed too often now) or I put in ultra low mileage. There are depressing features, though: The seemingly huge number of Category S and N; cars badly prepared for sale with grubby interiors; awful photography, often revealing grotty backgrounds ; as discussed here yesterday- obscured registrations. Finally, the naff “Here we have for you today this Vauxhall Tigra....”

[Barrie c 66]

Currently looking on eBay at mini Cooper's. Getting tempted, keep looking at all sorts though.