Be Excellent To Each Other

<steps up>
<adjusts tie>

Ahem...

A burnt out wreck stuck in a furrow?

Thank you

<steps back>

It says "stuck in a rut" on the card, but I'm going to accept that.

I would have gone for "out of his depth"

"rusted back doors"

"not as useful as he used to be"

Left ruined in a field at the mercy of a farmer.

Plenty of room in the back for golf clubs.

Car bought! If I can get there i'll pick her up tonight

Ooooh! What is it?

I hope you're not talking about that burnt out wreck!

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/200890401493

Gold badges and everything!

Lexus, baby!

How many miles?

That's excellent for the money! WoW! Did it take you long to find it or are nobody buying big engined cars nowadays?

Big engined (petrol) cars are practically free nowadays.

I'm looking quite hard at a Mondeo ST200 for £700. It's pretty much flawless.

We could do with a second car (again). I'll add it to the lsit to look at for cheaps if/when we move to a more insurance forgiving postcode. Somehting like that lexus would be acebest. Given we do so few long trips nowadays, the economy hit wouldn't be so bad, no? Short trips being about 10-15 mile commute or something like that.

It'll add up for sure - you need to take a guess at how many miles you do each year and then work out the difference in cost for a 25MPG car and a 40MPG car.

Over a 6,000 mile year the price difference is £550 ebtween 25mpg and 40mpg. Which isn't a great deal.

120000.

I had one before and when the exhaust went I put it up on ebay as spares and got £300 for it, so if it is a total pup then I shouldn't lose much at all.
11 months MOT though, hopefully it will last a while.

It's cheap, I would have priced it at £900, but Grim... is right, nobody wants them.
However there are always lots of poor condition big cars out there for sale and they never get sold, but the good ones at a good price come and go the same day. You need to be keeping an eye out and ready to buy quickly.

The lexus will do 22mpg combined, my last one did anyway, so it'll be a few pennies more than that. Not much more though

I done a chart assuming 1 gallon is 4.54 litres and fuel is £1.3 a litre.

That's not a chart, that's a table.

potato, tomato

I'm back, with car in hand. Well, not in hand, parked outside, as my hands aren't that big, and typing this would be difficult, but... you know.

Short version : It's great.

Longer version : I had an LS400 about 5 years ago, so knew what I was buying. It doesn't disappoint, mechanically she seems pretty good. No untoward noises, picks up smoothly, glides along as expected. Slight judder when at 80+mph but it has recently had a puncture repair on a front tyre and it wouldn't surprise me if that is the cause. Might get the wheels balanced and tracking looked at. Pretty much everything works in the cabin, the only thing that doesn't is the electronic boot release.
Cosmetically she is a little tired but about as expected for the age, interior trim is in relatively good condition, a few marks and scratches, and the fuel cap release switch has snapped off at some point and has only had half of the switch put back on
Externally she looks great from a distance, rear bumper has a few scratches, and a couple of rust bubbles starting on the doors, but nothing major.
A bit of service history with her, but no handbook or service book. Last receipt is for a full service done 3 weeks ago, with new brake pads all round, so that should last a while. A note on there that the power steering is leaking a bit of oil, so i'll need to keep an eye on that and keep it topped up i expect. (also on the note that a replacement pump and pipe is £1400, so I won't be getting it replaced any time soon!)

Other than that, all good. Very comfy and lovely to drive. The replacement exhaust in pretty much brand new as far as I can tell and it really sounds awesome, proper V8 rumble. Doesn't fit the style of the car in the slightest, but I find it amusing rather than annoying.

Looking at my list, this is car number 23. Not too bad in 19 years of driving

Amateur, man. I'm on 15 in 8

I'm sorry man, hope you're not offended, but I have to be brutally honest here and say it's pretty ghastly IMO.

Still, each to his own.

Heh, sure it isn't stylish in the slightest, but the £595 it cost me goes some way to healing that particular blight

That's just *so* cheap though to be fair. Amazing.

I think the ghastliness might be part of the perverse appeal! Like rangerovers.

And Vegan food.

Gold badges and stupid exhaust included, it's awesome in its chintzy attempt at class.

It seems I can get a new power steering pump and hose for £200ish shipped from the states, which might be worth doing if it leaks a lot.

It's the one off Street Fighter, it's way classy.

Oh man, that is totally what we are doing to it if it lasts till the next beex cottage.

Meh, I can lease one for £150 a month.

You donkey breathed time waster!

My leaky power steering turned out just to be a loose hose, so I'd say check that first. Could also be seals on the rack itself. Unless you've actually seen that it's that pump leaking, then ignore me completely.

I haven't actually checked, but the paperwork from the garage that did the last service seemed to indicate it was the pump, and it is a known failure point. I'll have a look myself when I can be arsed It's more likely to be a perished rather than loose hose at this age, I would expect, but if it is just that, then quids in!

Could also be air control valve apparently.

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/I_am_constantly_adding_power_steering_fluid_to_a_1994_Lexus_LS_400_with_what_may_be_a_power_steering_pump_or_hose_problem._How_can_I_find_out_where_the_problem_is

Aye, but a leaking ACV dumps fluid into the engine, rather than onto the floor, as I understand it?

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/ ... 315135552/

This is so you MaliA.

I'd never be able to park it. Actually, something like that,it probably woouldn't matter.

Mr Bean's one million pound insurance payout for his dinged McLaren F1.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/cla ... llion.html

Omega V6? I am working on permission to swap teh ka.

Looks alright, at this end of the market you buy on condition rather than anything else

You could do a lot worse than having a look through here at the sort of stuff that is available
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topi ... n+Basement
and keeping an eye on what people post up every day.

Thanks, dude!

Although, on a "stuff i want the car for this does it all. I could get all manner of things in there, and room in the back for dogging.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/251224295104? ... 1555.l2649

That looks pretty bloody great for what you are after, if I think your requirements are what they are.

That look sinteresting. yeah.

basically the requirements are "much cheapness*, slightly comfy** and can I fit two bikes in the back without removing the wheels***".

*Mainly due to wanting to move house and, as it turns out, having an extra room means a whole extra roomful of furniture to purchase. madness!

**a bit posh would be nice,

***Hydraulic discs make me nervous that i won't be able to remove the pisons if the disc is not in tehway. the same fear of electricity escaping from plug sockets.