Since the Coop died the death just before Easter I needed something cheap-ish to tide me over til I work out what I really want and squirrel away the cash to pay for it.
Had to be reasonably sensible and Italian, natch.
Hold onto your pants, but behold the sensible beauty of......this
Its a 2004 facelifted 156 1.8TS Veloce Sportwagon in Cosmos blue with 77,000 miles and a bookfull of stamps, and its....erm.....well it's half decent actually.
Lots of toys, reasonably comfortable and economical, and a generally nice place to be, aircon, leccy windows, computery thing.
The bonnet has a few stonechips, there are a few scratches here and there, and there is a small amount of laquer peel on the back pillar. The load cover has lost its return springiness. Oh, and the wheels could do with a refurb
Compared to the Coupe, it's certainly not quick, and wallows a bit, but a world of an improvement on the baggy 1.6 Focus I've been smoking in the meantime.
Driving and maintaining momentum takes a bit more planning, and overtaking needs lots more of a gap than in the Coop.
Had it 2 weeks, and done just over 600 miles in it with no fuss, a mix of a run down to Brighton and commuting, motorway and B roads.
The stereo shows how things have moved on.....its only a cd player and radio, no Bluetooth or aux in, so that's the first thing to replace.
