brum brum.

[ayoub_ibrahim]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Paddy [MU]:
and a tie....dont ask!</font>

Paddy, can we have a pic of you sporting your new tie?

[Paddy]

Best i could do with no hands!



Cheers for the help lads, I'll get a proper pic of the car when it arrives.

[thecurse]

i myself have a lovely 1989 grand voyager le that i paid $1 for when it had 165,000 miles on it a year ago. it now has 195,000 miles on it and runs fine. only major work ever done to it was trany at 155,000 miles.

[ayoub_ibrahim]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Paddy [MU]:
Best i could do with no hands!</font>

Been to Saudi then Paddy?

[Paddy]

er....sorry?

[KvHagedorn]

Gurm, I am with you on the BMW bandwagon. Had a black 1980 528i for a few years until someone ran into it. ( )

Here the one I want now.. (hey, dreaming is free)



drool.

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Kind Regards,

KvH

[Paddy]

Unfortunatley, there is not a chance in hell that my budget would stretch even to insure that thing........

Hey Ayoub, any idea what the starting salary for a junior doctor is going to be in 2003?

giggle...one day...

I am not allowed to buy anything more for the computer until I have bought Andrea a dinner service first...

but one day...

[impact]

I wonder why americans are so excited about european cars and vice versa. It must have to do something with the human brain (dis)functions.

[Gurm]

Well, these UK folks seem all hot over Fords but only because of their limited budget and the insurance incentives.

No sane person anywhere is excited by American cars, except perhaps American muscle cars such as the Mustang or Corvette or Viper.

American engineering: Blunt Instruments, Bad Judgement.

- Gurm

P.S. Glad to hear someone else is on the Bimmer bandwagon.

P.P.S. Is anyone who has ever DRIVEN a BMW... NOT a Bimmer fan?

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Listen up, you primitive screwheads! See this? This is my BOOMSTICK! Etc. etc.

[Paddy]

Just out of curiosity, who designs and builds the space shuttle?

[Gurm]

Paddy:

The lowest bidder. How scary is that?

- Gurm

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Listen up, you primitive screwheads! See this? This is my BOOMSTICK! Etc. etc.

[Topha]

i vice versa means that europeans are fascinated by american cars, thats not true.

sorry to disappoint you

[Gurm]

Another interesting note here...

I just read, in the Reader's Digest (admittedly not the last bastion of responsible reporting), an article entitled "should you junk your old car?".

Their "expert" said that when your car has 70 or 80 thousand miles on it you should be finding it a final resting place, since it'll be too expensive to repair after that.

I'll say it slowly...

W H A T T H E # $ @ # %!

I _BOUGHT_ my BMW with 100k on the clock. I intend to drive it for another 150k AT LEAST.

Julie's Volvo (I must clarify that it is a REAL Volvo, which means rear wheel drive and made from solid steel) has 90k on the clock. It runs like it did when it was brand new. We've put 60k on it in two years.

Volvos routinely make it to 250k. Many make it 300k or even 500k. More than a few have made it a million miles.

BMW's routinely make it to 250k, many kissing 500k before passing into obscurity.

Mercedes have similar longevity.

Apparently the writer of this article is only an expert on cheap American cars, since I know Toyotas and Honda run forever (they don't run WELL but they do run).

Paddy, that's the only downside to the car you just bought. It has a lifespan of roughly 5 years or 50,000 miles - whichever comes first. Sorry to have to be the one to tell you.

- Gurm

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Listen up, you primitive screwheads! See this? This is my BOOMSTICK! Etc. etc.

[Rags]

You know, Gurm, I would agree with you that some domestic models are poorly made. But overall, they aren't as bad as some european models are. Ask yourself a question. What type of people generally buy the Ford Contours and Chevy Luminas? Now what type of people buy the BMW's? Think about this very carefully.

I have my own idea, and have some anecdotes of my own to add as well. The way I see it, the people who buy the cheap domestic cars are either cheap people in the first place, or have little money. They buy their car, use them as ashtrays and garbage cans, change the oil every once in a blue moon, only change the air filter when it's so plugged, the car won't function, they bump into curbs, they have cups in their cupholders from the last decade, etc. They don't take care of their cars. Now the people who spend 30K/40K+ on Beemers are much less likely to treat their investments this way, well because it cost a lot of money, and they tend to take better care of their investments. I have owned many cars since I have been able to drive, and have had four domestic cheap cars go 250K+ miles: 2 Pontiac Grand Ams (yeah, I know the horror!, both were fine transportation, and were cheap to own, and one went 325K miles), a Ford Escort (This was my true beater car, but I still cared for it, it went 275K miles), and a Ford Tempo (255K miles before I traded it). Now, do I have dumb luck? Not a chance. I know how to care for my autos

Rags

[KvHagedorn]

Wow, Matt.. I thought you were under 40! You must continually drive back and forth from Miami to Alaska at 120 mph to have racked up so many miles at your age.

btw, horror of horrors, I now also own a Grand Am. Not a bad little car really, but there is just something about driving that BMW that was really special. Even at almost 20 years old and over 150,000 miles, the thing was smooth as silk. And I really didn't take as good care of it as I should have either.. there was often trash in the back seat, I kept it parked outside, and there were a few dings here and there, but it was a great car. I did change the oil and filter regularly, and I doubt that the mechanical workings of the car would have given any signs of imminent demise for many years, as smoothly as it ran. I miss the thing.

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Kind Regards,

KvH