Mmmm

"Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell." (oppisitelock) 10/01/2014 at 12:43 • Filed to: None

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KirkyV > Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell. 10/01/2014 at 13:41

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I really hope they sell an absolute bucket load of these. You can get old 3-series for nothing, and Jags depreciate substantially faster than BMWs, and more examples floating around can only help matters.

motusid > Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell. 10/01/2014 at 13:47

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I'll try it out too!

No petrol manual variant. Boo!

Celestial Black, Odyssey Red, or Dark Sapphire Metallic?

Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell. > KirkyV 10/01/2014 at 13:52

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Me too, that and I hope they're well made. 3 series are cheap but a huge amount of them succumb to rust within the first 8 years.

KirkyV > Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell. 10/01/2014 at 13:56

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Indeed. The two biggest issues, from my perspective - that of someone who could never buy something like this new - are cost of maintenance, and rust.

I really don't understand how rust is still such a major issue on relatively modern BMWs; my 14-year-old 106 doesn't have a speck - while there are certainly exceptions, almost all PSA cars from the same era had excellent rust-proofing - and I'd expect a luxury car manufacturer to be able to invest a lot more in rust-prevention than a French volume brand.

Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell. > KirkyV 10/01/2014 at 14:06

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Maybe it's just planned obsolescence, my Panda is on it's way to 10 and it had lines of rust around the boot handle because the handle was bolted on too tight by someone at some point and it rubbed the paint. I fixed that and the only other rust is spots at the very edges of the wheel arches and on some stone chips that I'm repairing too.

I'm not sure how reliable beemers tend to be mechanically though, still see a fair few e46's surviving so it surely cant be that bad.

Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell. > motusid 10/01/2014 at 14:07

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Hmm strange you can't combine petrol and manual. I was hoping they'd have the blue you can get the XFR in but it isn't there.

KirkyV > Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell. 10/01/2014 at 14:12

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I've always been slightly scared by the idea of owning one used. They might well be decently reliable, but when something does break, I know that parts are going to be incredibly pricey compared to what I'm used to.

Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell. > KirkyV 10/01/2014 at 14:18

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To be honest I fret about any used car. The panda seems to be in great mechanical shape but I still worry about stuff being wrong all of the time even though I still haven't found anything wrong with it mechanically. It'd probably be the same with any car I buy. I'd always buy cars proportional to what money I'm making anyways, I could've stretched to a bigger or more powerful car but it would've been too risky financially in the long run.

KirkyV > Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell. 10/01/2014 at 14:22

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It doesn't really worry me all that much, honestly: I think my very first car being as reliable as it has been, and so cheap to maintain, has given me a rather zen attitude about the whole thing. I still consider the potential for things to go wrong when looking at other cars, but I'm only really scared off by serious, systematic issues - the rust on Ford SportKAs, for example - or the potential for particularly costly repairs.

Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell. > KirkyV 10/01/2014 at 14:28

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I think the main worry on mine is the turbo failing which is a £200 piece. Doesn't have any symptoms though I put next to no miles on it so it'll likely be fine. The Panda has a pretty good reliability record.

Rust is my main fear with cars too, my gf's micra is mechanically very reliable (although the clutch is on it's last legs likely due to her driving) but it's already developing hole sin wheel arches and jacking points. It only has 40k miles on it...

motusid > Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell. 10/01/2014 at 14:33

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Read somewhere (I think on another oppo post) that the blue (French Racing Blue) is only available on 'S' models. But there is an XE-S model, i'm confused.

KirkyV > Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell. 10/01/2014 at 14:34

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Ah, yeah, I see why that'd worry you. I don't think there's a part on my car that'd cost more than £100 to replace.

That's Micras for you, I suppose. Mechanically solid, rusty as the Titanic, and so shit to drive you actually wish they'd get a move on with the whole 'turning into a pile of oxidised metal' thing.

Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell. > KirkyV 10/01/2014 at 14:56

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Yeah your car is a lot more mechanically simple, one of the bigger downsides of diesel really, more parts to break.

Yep, she always asks me to park it for her because she's bad at parking. I purposely started parking it like shit so she stops asking me to drive the thing.