Seriously?

[XC90Mk1]

It may be very difficult at times to discount car choice based on forums and word of mouth.

My father has owned a series 1 discovery (300tdi), series 2 and series 4 taking the first to 140k each.

They were used off road and lugged stuff about but never broke down (they were well serviced).

I too have owned cars that are unreliable without incident. Indeed my current XC90 would not be considered all that reliable.

I have long looked at the Bentley Arnage. These really do appear to be a total bargain and companies like flyi Spurs do offer some reasonable priced spares.

I should imagine that the truth is more likely to be that you need to understand the issues and make sure you are not afraid to dirty your hands for some excellent reliability.

[360beast]

Originally Posted by XC90Mk1

It may be very difficult at times to discount car choice based on forums and word of mouth.

My father has owned a series 1 discovery (300tdi), series 2 and series 4 taking the first to 140k each.

They were used off road and lugged stuff about but never broke down (they were well serviced).

I too have owned cars that are unreliable without incident. Indeed my current XC90 would not be considered all that reliable.

I have long looked at the Bentley Arnage. These really do appear to be a total bargain and companies like flyi Spurs do offer some reasonable priced spares.

I should imagine that the truth is more likely to be that you need to understand the issues and make sure you are not afraid to dirty your hands for some excellent reliability.

Don't even get me started on the Arnage! Put it This way, I'd rather work on a GT than an Arnage!!! They are less problematic granted but they are do difficult to do anything on.

As part of the service you have to take the covers off underneath and they have one for the engine and two for the sides. The drivers side one has the brake pedal linkage hidden and you have to lubricate/grease it. I once had to change a switch in the mechanism which was covered in grease and yet the dowel inside had rusted soid, they gave me two hours to do the whole job and it took me two hours to get the dowel out! Then it took me another three hours with my hands squashed in a tiny space covered in grease to finish the job.

In the last few months I was there four Arnages needed all the rear hard brake pipes replacing as they had rotten (the Arnages main weakness is rot, several had to be welded behind the drivers front strut) and to get to the brake pipes you have to drop the entire rear subframe out which is not a small task, it is a 3-4 day job to do it all.

If you have deep pockets and don't mind either paying extortionate garage fees for repairs or have access to a ramp and a very large selection of tools and diagnostic equipment then yes I'm sure they would be fine to own but then even the drive isn't that good. The Arnage is the only car that made me feel car sick when driving it!

[Othen]

Originally Posted by Othen

This old bus looks interesting:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Volvo-240....m46890.l49286

… the seller claims it is not a barn find, but then offers no explanation as to why it last passed a MoT test in September 2013 with these advisories:

Advisory notice item(s)
Nearside Rear coil spring corroded (2.4.C.1b)
Offside Rear coil spring corroded (2.4.C.1b)
Rear Brake hose has slight corrosion to ferrules (3.6.B.4e)
Exhaust has a minor leak of exhaust gases (7.1.2)
front brake back plates corroded
rear tyre inner sidewalls cracking
slight brake bind on offside rear
exhaust life limited
front grill loose offside

,,, nothing serious, but another 8 years of dilapidation not sitting in a barn :-)

£750 sounds about right to me, it would be nice to think someone might save it, but at the end of the day it is only 32 years old, so just an old bus that might take more than it is worth to put back on the road. Perhaps the banger derby beckons?

PS. Having re-read the ad: I think the seller means it is a barn find, but he/she has a 9 year old’s ability at written English.

I'd been keeping an eye on this old bus (the one with the ad written by a 5 year old), and thought it had done rather better than I'd expected it to when it made £1470 at auction (yesterday I think).

I gave it not much thought until eBay sent me an email this morn saying it had been re-advertised:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/402937318071?ul_noapp=true

... another short auction. It is hard to imagine that the first auction didn't contain a good deal of shill bidding - I wonder why our primary school educated seller thought that would be a good idea.

Having attracted my attention I'll keep a closer eye on this one - we may see a number of 'sales' before it finally disappears from our screens :-)

The seller (in his/her inimitable primary school style) claims (sic):

Relisting due to another big waste if space time waster winning then saying don't want it

... so the other possibility is that someone took a look at it close up and has realised it is a pile of crap :-)

[Othen]

Originally Posted by 360beast

Don't even get me started on the Arnage! Put it This way, I'd rather work on a GT than an Arnage!!! They are less problematic granted but they are do difficult to do anything on.

As part of the service you have to take the covers off underneath and they have one for the engine and two for the sides. The drivers side one has the brake pedal linkage hidden and you have to lubricate/grease it. I once had to change a switch in the mechanism which was covered in grease and yet the dowel inside had rusted soid, they gave me two hours to do the whole job and it took me two hours to get the dowel out! Then it took me another three hours with my hands squashed in a tiny space covered in grease to finish the job.

In the last few months I was there four Arnages needed all the rear hard brake pipes replacing as they had rotten (the Arnages main weakness is rot, several had to be welded behind the drivers front strut) and to get to the brake pipes you have to drop the entire rear subframe out which is not a small task, it is a 3-4 day job to do it all.

If you have deep pockets and don't mind either paying extortionate garage fees for repairs or have access to a ramp and a very large selection of tools and diagnostic equipment then yes I'm sure they would be fine to own but then even the drive isn't that good. The Arnage is the only car that made me feel car sick when driving it!

Getting an objective opinion from first hand experience is so useful Luke - thank you.

As a result of yesterday's tangent I think I'm over my Bentley yen, but if I ever change my mind I'm taking you with me to inspect the car first!

:-) Alan

[Laird Scooby]

Originally Posted by Othen

Getting an objective opinion from first hand experience is so useful Luke - thank you.

As a result of yesterday's tangent I think I'm over my Bentley yen, but if I ever change my mind I'm taking you with me to inspect the car first!

:-) Alan

What's that noise? It's the sound of Luke being the first human to break the sound barrier running away from another Bentley!

[360beast]

Originally Posted by Othen

Getting an objective opinion from first hand experience is so useful Luke - thank you.

As a result of yesterday's tangent I think I'm over my Bentley yen, but if I ever change my mind I'm taking you with me to inspect the car first!

:-) Alan

I'll happily come with you Alan if only to take you to the looney bin on the way home 😋

Originally Posted by Laird Scooby

What's that noise? It's the sound of Luke being the first human to break the sound barrier running away from another Bentley!

😂😂 I wondered why my boots had worn out so quick.

[Othen]

Originally Posted by Othen

I'd been keeping an eye on this old bus (the one with the ad written by a 5 year old), and thought it had done rather better than I'd expected it to when it made £1470 at auction (yesterday I think).

I gave it not much thought until eBay sent me an email this morn saying it had been re-advertised:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/402937318071?ul_noapp=true

... another short auction. It is hard to imagine that the first auction didn't contain a good deal of shill bidding - I wonder why our primary school educated seller thought that would be a good idea.

Having attracted my attention I'll keep a closer eye on this one - we may see a number of 'sales' before it finally disappears from our screens :-)

The seller (in his/her inimitable primary school style) claims (sic):

Relisting due to another big waste if space time waster winning then saying don't want it

... so the other possibility is that someone took a look at it close up and has realised it is a pile of crap :-)

That old bus sold for £1410 this time round - a bit more that I thought it might have been worth (but then what do I know).

:-)

[Laird Scooby]

Originally Posted by Othen

That old bus sold for £1410 this time round - a bit more that I thought it might have been worth (but then what do I know).

:-)

I wonder if it will stay sold this time?

[Othen]

Originally Posted by Laird Scooby

I wonder if it will stay sold this time?

... I sort of wonder whether there might be a scenario where the winning bidder turns up to collect the motor and finds the sea air has turned it into Fred Flintstone's car - in that case it may re-appear next week :-)

[Laird Scooby]

Originally Posted by Othen

... I sort of wonder whether there might be a scenario where the winning bidder turns up to collect the motor and finds the sea air has turned it into Fred Flintstone's car - in that case it may re-appear next week :-)

You may well be right Alan, I'm always amazed how many buyers never perform any sort of "due diligence" in regards to the location of the time.

That said some years back i was caught out by similar. In fairness i only found the item in the last 30 seconds of the auction and didn't have time to review the listing fully before placing my winning bid. I won it because it went cheap (no it wasn't a budgie! ) and then had an email from the seller and that contained the reason it was cheap. It was in some far-flung location in the British Isles with no postal delivery offered. I explained to the seller how i found the listing at the last 30s and apolgosed for not reading fully but if i'd known there was no postal option i wouldn't have placed a bid. It was a small item, perfectly reasonable to assume it would be posted as well so my mistake was understandable.
The seller graciously understood (i suspect he'd had similar mant times before) and Second Chance offered it to the next bidder down. Every other time i've bought something i've always checked the location, postage/delivery options etc.

Checking where the item is, investigating the likely background and so on is something everyone should do - caviat emptor and all that!