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[Nick W]

Why does it have to be an Astra or Focus? They are a bit boring. I like interesting cars.

There's an Alfa Romeo 156 for sale near me that looks really nice. My friend had an Alfa years ago and it was really nice. Has anyone got any experience of these cars?

Thanks for all the advice.

Lots of people have experience of Alfas. None of those experiences are good. They are automotive masochism.


An Astra or Focus is only boring because they are cheap to buy and own. Even the problems are boring and cheap. Buy an Omega for a few hundred quid and that's just the start of your expenditure. Buy an Astra for a few hundred quid, spend £50 on service parts and you probably won't need to open the bonnet for a couple of years.

[STEMO]

I had an Alfa 166, pearlescent blue with red leather, 3.2 V6.......sounded lovely.


The headlamps permanently pointed at the floor 2ft in front of the car, the windscreen wipers use to just turn themselves on, but wouldn't work when it rained, the indicator and light stalks felt like the gear change in a BL front wheel drive.....stirring porridge, if you tried to indicate or flash your headlights, you didn't really know which one you were doing.....erm......Great car as long as it was daytime, not raining and there was no one else on the road. 

[Tick Tock]

Sadly when my old girl gives up the ghost I think I'll find myself driving a Focus estate....... 

The thought of that however will keep her going for a bit longer!    As long as the sill covers stay on that is...   

Bond the sill covers on with sikaflex,they will be the sills then 

Probably won't be the first time that's been done!! 

[baggers]

The tester told me to scrap it. He said it needed £1000-£1200 worth of welding.

Depends who's doing the welding.

And whether you want a proper job doing or plate and cover just to get it through but then it will just come back as a bigger job and a lot more expensive.

[Field Marshal Dr. Opti]

I had an Alfa 166, pearlescent blue with red leather, 3.2 V6.......sounded lovely.


The headlamps permanently pointed at the floor 2ft in front of the car, the windscreen wipers use to just turn themselves on, but wouldn't work when it rained, the indicator and light stalks felt like the gear change in a BL front wheel drive.....stirring porridge, if you tried to indicate or flash your headlights, you didn't really know which one you were doing.....erm......Great car as long as it was daytime, not raining and there was no one else on the road. 

Italian brio beats German practicality any day.

[ted_one]

I've got to say that since looking at those pictures of the rust,I've just been on the Carz2 website checking on the availability of replacement sills,just in case,mind you if my cars were to be in that condition ...then they'll be on a one way trip up to Nottingham for the attention of Nigel (Omegas52)

[baggers]

Quote Trevor.....''every Omega is a money pit''  say's it all really

Sorry but I have to strongly disagree.

A good Omega well looked after doesn't cost the earth.

[baggers]

.....

It cost £400 to have the old cills removed, new cills made up, and welded on. .....

Though on the face of it, that's not exactly back pocket change, in the grand scheme of things, that's not too bad considering you could easily spend that sort of money on dealer servicing ...... eg it cost me £265 for a new thermostat fitted to that green French thing of SWMBO's (just one of the failures on this 27500 mile car)

Agreed, though is it worth it on a £500 car - your £265 spent is, I guess, a lot lower % cost of your car's value.

That depends on how you define worth & value ...... cars are worth what people are willing to pay or what they mean to the owner 

Also how do you get accurate value, when I put my 2.2 into webuyanycar, they offered me £50   

So on the face of that, two new rear tyres are worth 3x the value of the car.   

Even normal Autotrader prices, I could at absolute best get £300 for my 2.2? That's about the same, as 4 new tyres. Which I will have done by this time next month. 

A lot of prices you see are ridiculously cheap for what can be a really good car.  Book prices for really nice examples are a total joke.
It's worth what someone is prepared to pay when they know there is a minter staring them in the face like new, then take a look at a newer car £k's more that doesn't compare to the Omega your selling.

[baggers]

And re: sills...  I'm looking into using Carlton sills, which seem to be in much more abundance than Omega ones. However, I really need to sit a Carlton/Senny sill next to an Omega one to see the physical differences. The little lugs for the sill covers will be one difference, but these can be added, without too much trouble, if required.

I know a guy who used Mk 2 Cavalier arches on his Monza. You look at the queue of people who spot that. Its not exactly a long one.

I have some genuine Senator full sills that have stashed away for if ever the Omega requires any.

[baggers]

Would a Daewoo Matiz but any good for me do you think?

Not unless you want more trouble.  Assuming it's an early Daewoo your looking at.

[Kate]

Okay then a Focus or Astra would be perfect. Thanks for the advice.

What about a Beetle though? VW are supposed to be reliable aren't they?
I know they tell pork pies sometimes but they are good quality cars surely?

[Stargazer57N]

I thought you had to take the car back for a retest within a certain period, a month is a bit too long, I think.

The retest period is 10 working days, so 14 days if the garage you use doesn't test on a weekend.

[Stargazer57N]

Hi Kate, it looks to me as if the first tester missed some corrosion hence the prescribed  area fails. And maybe the second tester was being a little bit OTT with his tolerances. You could contact the DVSA and appeal the decision. Or probably  better take it back to Halfords for a full re-test and see if they fail the corrosion and if they do ask them why it was not picked up on the previous test, and if they get funny ask for a DVSA appeals form. you might get the cost of your MOT's back at least.
I,ve been a MOT test for 30 years and it annoys me when things like this happen as it give us testers a bad name but more importantly it costs car owners money for nothing.

Pete

[biggriffin]

I see on guntree there is a weasel estate for sale in kernow,
Done something right at least

[Stargazer57N]

I thought you had to take the car back for a retest within a certain period, a month is a bit too long, I think.

The car has to be taken back within 14 working days for a partial retest, only the failed items need to be tested. After that time  it a full retest, basically a fresh MOT test.