As my '98 20VT nears 100k, shes looking her age

The year-old resprayed roof has somehow got a spot the size of a 2p coin which seems to have corroded away down the metal.
The bonnet is virtually white now where the laquer is peeling (reason I had the roof sprayed).
And I just noticed the same thing is happening down the whole of the passenger side.

It must have had a dodgy spray job done at some point in its life before my ownership.
The front bumper also needs spraying and theres a big dent in the boot lid where some tools obviously hit me in a car park somewhere, so that needs replacing.

In short - the bodywork is S**T. This winter has killed it.

I'd love to get a re-spray done if I could actually afford it. The thing is, I just dont know what to do. When I think of it logically its a 12 year old car with 100k on the clock and spending a couple of grand on a re-spray is just ludicrous.
But then when im walking back to her on a car park, my heart takes over. From a distance.. she looks awesome. Then when I get close I see her disgusting skin. Kinda reminds me of the "woman in the bath scene" in The Shining lol.

Im also having this intermitent problem with the boost, sometimes it overboots to like 1.5bar then sometimes it doesnt and pulls like a train, sometimes it runs lumpy and horrible then sometimes it doesnt....I feel like its teasing me.

I often think about sending her off to play with the other coops in the sky and buy a £300 banger. But I just cant.

MOT is in a month so I geuss that might help me make any hard decisions.

I'd like some opinions really. What do you reckon I should do?

Keep it

Seriously, if you love looking at it and driving it, then just get it sorted, so it runs well.

So what if it looks tatty? It's your baby and your transport.

Get the running problems sorted and see what it needs for an MOT. If it passes, then just look after it with a service, etc. If it fails, find out how much it'll cost to put right.

The £300 you spend on a bangor, could be put towards the Coupe - better the devil you know and all that.

The £300 bangor could be a money pit and money better spent towards the Coupe.

Forget about the paintwork for now and concentrate on having a well running, reliable car

Go with Theresa on this.
It's your car and you know it.
ps....100K is nothing for these beasts.
I am sure there must be a few forum members near you that you could ask to come and take a look at your boost probs......it sounds like nothing major to me.

It's probably just your pierburg valve up the creak. Speak to Flea and get a better one installed and it should be much better.

Don't part ways with her just because the body could do with some TLC. If you really love the car as you say it's worth spending the wonga on!

Just keep it as it is until its utterly riddled, at least you can enjoy it rather than enjoy the pennies you will get by selling it. Save any money you would spend on it and put it aside for a replacement car/coupe when this one gives up.

Maybe give it a good clean see if anything can be done to make it a bit better than it currentlly is.

IMO pointless wasting money on it, like you say 100k, 12 years old etc. Just not worth it, for the £2k cost of a re-spray you could just buy a better (overall) coupe (esp if you add in the money you'd get from selling/breaking this one).

Get the mechanical issues sorted out, and drive it as it is...

p.s.
The labour costs in Eastern Europe are far lower than in the UK, you could go to holiday in Croatia and get a quality respray done in 1-1.2k, spend the rest on trip, accomodation, food &wine :-)

Keep it. Use it, get the boosting sorted out(hopefully its an easy job) and just enjoy it. If you still can't justify it, i'm sure someone would buy it on here with the intention of restoring?? Or am i on my own there...

Keep it...your £300 isn't going to buy a whole lot of car...put the cash into the Coupe to sort the running and service her and enjoy her....after all...you can't see much of the paintwork from the drivers seat

I had the roof, rear pillars, rear 'haunches' and bootlid resprayed on my car last year along with refurbed and resprayed alloys. They made a real nice job of it too and all for £450. I'm sure if you shop around you can get her in somewhere cheaper than 2k! If you love it and it drives well, you can always get her mechanically sound and then save for paint. Alternatively run it into the ground and buys another - they do seem to be going silly cheap at the mo!

I know how you're feeling, my coupe is the same and I've completley lost the love for it now, can't be bothered with it anymore to be honest.
It was lovely when I purchased it in December 2007 but since then it has gone rapidly down hill, some of it my fault, some of it just sods law
I had a fault accident in it in feb 2009 on the rear quarter, got it fixed under the insurance and blow me, I had another mash up with a lorry in the same rear quarter in April this year, which looks like another insurance claim!
Just to cap it off, the turbo is starting to smoke at cold and it needs the cambelt changing in the next year or so and definately a suspension refresh as it rides really crap at the moment.
I cannot justify spending 2 grand on it to get it up to scratch, nor do I want to as I'm fed up with it and would rather put my money into something else, maybe another coupe, maybe another car altogether.
I'll probably sell it later this year for what I can get. Shame really.

Definately keep it as it's your pride & joy. I agree get the mechanical problems sorted first, so at least it runs smooth. Save up & get it sprayed later, i'm sure if you shop around you can get a full respray for allot less than 2k.

Moderator's edit: Stop trying to advertise your own company on our forum without seeking the appropriate permissions first, thanks

Well,

I certainly feel alot better about it now than I did last night. So thanks for the replies

I think Im gonna follow your advice - get it through the MOT (its sailed through the past 2 times so maybe 3rd time will be lucky again )

I'll also try and get this boost issue sorted out. At least then I'll have a full working coop. Even if shes a bit of an ugly duckling.

And then the paintwork. I dont know what I'll do about that. Nothing probably lol. Unless I find somewhere nice and cheap to sort a few of the problems out.

Long term I'd probably prefer to save up and buy another Coop. Nomatter what cars I look at as a possible replacement for my 20VT, I just end up back at "20VT".

Thanks again for the advice people.

I was in a pretty similar situation a few months back, coop had hit 100k, paintwork (although original) was looking very tatty, suspension was knocking and wallowy, cambelt's due soon...

...but I test drove several other cars up to £5-6k and honestly couldn't find anything I liked more than coop, so it's back from being resprayed next week and there'll be a pile of suspension bits waiting for it in my garage when it gets home. It might be crazy but I can't see me having any regrets, I'm like a kid the week before Christmas and can't wait til it's back.

And so what if it's all sat on a credit card...even paid back at a couple of hundred quid a month it's cheaper than the finance (and depreciation) of a new poverty spec snot-box.

Bite the bullet, do it and enjoy it for the reasons you got it for in the first place.

Same here, got a bit of rust under pinin badges, so get it done and a mop all over to get the paint nice.

Worth it to have a mint looking coop i recon.

^^^Spoken like a true coupe lover - that would be my choice.

If you're on a budget then its better to have a mechanically sorted coupe than a bodily sorted one.

Couldn't have put it better than ally-f!

I'd sell it and buy another. Some Niiice coops out there for not much.