Zen and the art of Merc free motoring

[s500surrey]

Owning a S500 you get pretty precious about dings, scrapes, near misses, servicing ripoffs and alloy scuffs. So, the other day I picked up a 10+ yr old VW Golf for £1000 and have been driving that back and forth through London traffic.

Still have the Merc but its out when I *want* to drive or tear up some autobahn...

What a relief! It's auto Zen... freeing yourself somewhat of material attachment. This morning some dude hit the back of my car and scuffed the bumper. Did I care? Not one bit. I'm not even going to file an insurance claim..The VW's already done 110,000 miles and keeps running.

Thoroughly recommended - life's too short to worry about depreciation & service bills.

Anybody else had a similar experience?

Happy motoring

 

[scumbag]

yes.

My reliable comedy car! I carefully backed (at speed) straight into the barrier around the lamps in my local gym. (For the flat earthers round here, Obviously the lamp sprung up out of the floor as I neared it).

a lady in a just parked TT told me I had hit the barrier, which was actually quite nice of her altho totally unessacsary as she looked concerend about my car and i was having a bit an uncontrollable laugh due to my sheer stupidity. but I really didnt not care one bit. It cost me £1000, 2 years ago, and interestingly is worth at trade value £250. Mind you, i did a VMAX attempt up the M606 a few weeks back and I could have sworn it was 71mph. it may well have been 70.5mph, but i was really moving. and the handling is brilliant, it has the latest in jelly filled shocks!

I have often thought about leaving it unlocked and seeing if some kind theif would lock it for me.


Had I done it in the merc I would have cut the lamp down.

I think the best thing is, if you look at bit mad while driving, the people who are getting close suddenly move out of the way and give you room.


My brother has a Land Rover defender in that powder blue colour, its almost a million years old and is held together with dents. Nobody but nobody argues with him while he drives about round town! even busses pull out of the way!



Thing is, Imagine if you only had that car! would you feel the same!

 

[Birdman]

......Thoroughly recommended - life's too short to worry about depreciation & service bills.
Anybody else had a similar experience?
Happy motoring

I inherited a 16 year-old BMW 325SE from the parentals, who were about to trade it in and hence onto the scrapheap. I'll take it off you I said, it's too good to go to the nackers. By the time I'd fixed the exhaust, got it MoT'd and serviced I'd laid out over £500. Then, because it was just a set of wheels, I lent it to the lad and when his girlfriend forgot to put it in park it rolled away, hit a wall - and cost another £500 to fix. The wall was OK. Then it needed new discs and pads which was £300. Just when all seemed well the gearbox stuck in third and stayed there. That was all in year one.

Start of year two, I've replaced its rusting brake pipes to get it through the MoT. The equally rusting fuel pipes need changing next. Whatever, it's just a car. Sometimes even free is expensive. But it fetches the morning paper and allows me to travel incognito, which can be useful.

 

[jeremytaylor]

I used to drive my 2CV to the train station every day. Never even locked it. Well, what was the point? I mean, who would nick that?

 

[Shude]

My old Astra got pretty beaten up while I owned it but I really only cared about reliability, getting me to work and back etc.

Running a second car, bearing in mind that it likely depreciates, needs maintenance, fuelling, MOTs, insurance etc is simply not worth it IMHO unless your "pride and joy" is particularly special, which more than 99% of cars are not.

 

[Flash]

Nobody but nobody argues with him while he drives about round town! even busses pull out of the way!

Sprinters have the same affect....!

Some cheeky b@stard (old man) in a Tesco car park slightly bumped in the rear bumper of the Sprinter reversing out (no damage what so ever to either vehicle as was approx 5MPH). I still nevertheless noted down his details and he starts winging "..but yours is a commercial vehicle and mine is a car... why do you want my details..." He even tried driving off before I stood in his path stopping him.

I then told him that my Sprinter is worth considerably more in terms of market value than his Ford Focus and is more shinier/immaculate... He did not know what to say then…!

 

[Ian B Walker]

I can see the logic in this and it has started me thinking of alternate transport to get to work. Hmmm might just invest in a scooter. Anyone got one cheap?

 

[Satch]

A little far away from the do not care it if gets nicked/scratched/keyed class but with car supersites are offering things like this I do wonder why we bother with daily transport/utility cars that are just a source of angst & depreciation:

Ford Mondeo 2.0 Zetec Estate £ 8,699
Year: 2005 '05'
Mileage: 16,190 mls

Boring as hell but still in warranty, reliable, drive well enough and whilst you would not go out of the way to abuse it never, ever going to care either.

The difficult bit is deciding what the "proper" car should be.

 

[Glenn Smith]

We always run two cars, the previous 2nd car was a porsche, cheap to insure, reliable, good fun (no room for baby seat though), bought for £2000 used for 4 years and sold for £2250, admitedly spent a bit on it but done the work myself and enjoyed every minute. never worried once!! I'll see if I can do the same with the Jag

 

[A-AvantGarde]

A little far away from the do not care it if gets nicked/scratched/keyed class but with car supersites are offering things like this I do wonder why we bother with daily transport/utility cars that are just a source of angst & depreciation:

Ford Mondeo 2.0 Zetec Estate £ 8,699
Year: 2005 '05'
Mileage: 16,190 mls

Boring as hell but still in warranty, reliable, drive well enough and whilst you would not go out of the way to abuse it never, ever going to care either.

The difficult bit is deciding what the "proper" car should be.

My daily drive is an 06 Focus TDCI, done 12,500 miles in 4 months so it makes sense !!! Funded by the company yet also tax efficient, I do look after it and it's surprising fun to drive...

 

[prprandall51]

yes.

My brother has a Land Rover defender in that powder blue colour, its almost a million years old and is held together with dents. Nobody but nobody argues with him while he drives about round town! even busses pull out of the way!

Driving an old Land Rover creates a Zone Of Fear an the immediate surrounding atmosphere. In simple terms (I don't want to get too technical) this is an area surrounding the Lanny into which other drivers just know that the shagged-out steering and rubbishy old brakes cannot prevent 2.25 tonnes of heavy iron wandering.

My greatest joy is driving my LR through town centres - especially conjested, narrow one way systems. It's the way that you have to start turning the steering wheel 50 yards before the need to turn the corner that makes you realise why there is no-one on your outside. Not even a white van. Shame

 

[Flash]

Not even a white van. Shame

You should try me then sometime...

Old Land Rovers I have always thought of as being harmless being driven by a farmer/red kneck... It would even fit in back of the Sprinter...

 

[prprandall51]

You should try me then sometime...

.... It would even fit in back of the Sprinter...

They may not be big in dimensions, but they weigh a lot and they have passive crumple zones - i.e. the crumple zones fitted to the car you come into contact with Mine is wrapped in a cosy protective cage made of scaffold poles so I wouldn't even get my paint scratched! Bring it on

 

[Flash]

They may not be big in dimensions, but they weigh a lot and they have passive crumple zones - i.e. the crumple zones fitted to the car you come into contact with Mine is wrapped in a cosy protective cage made of scaffold poles so I wouldn't even get my paint scratched! Bring it on

I would have probably cleared your path with the CDI engine turbo kicking in before you even get a chance to side swipe/ram the Sprinter or react and would be disappearing long into the horizon...

I agree with your points about it not having a crumple zone etc…

 

[imadoofus]

Each morning, when I step out of the front door, I dither about which car to take.

Sometimes it depends upon how far I'm going, and who I'm going to see (the Mercedes for long distances / classic car fans). Often, though it's a spur of the moment thing, and for all of the above no parking worries / economy / minor scuff reasons above, I'm using the Volvo easily 50% of the time.

PJ

 

[Seamster15]

My current 2nd car and daily runner is an 11 year old Citroen zx 1.9d. It does a reliable 50 mpg, and it does'nt matter if someone bends it.

Plus if we have a Fuel stike again, I can just chuck in some cooking oil! LOL

 

[merc-c]

My current 2nd car and daily runner is an 11 year old Citroen zx 1.9d. It does a reliable 50 mpg, and it does'nt matter if someone bends it.
LOL

I sold my old zx turbo diesel to a frined in work for £500 3 years ago.
still going well and no rust anywhere