I decided a month or so ago that with the purchase of a new house plus a daily 60 mile round trip commute in the Conwy valley (windy and snowy in winter) that I had to sell Meryl the Yellow Peril for winter and downgrade to something more suitable for windy, slippery roads. I also thought i needed something cheaper while I furnish a 3 bed house on my ownsome (I'm in a rented part furnished 2 bed flat at the moment). I planned to get another Coupé in March time, when I get a big fat bonus and the weather starts improving.

My chosen downgrade was a 1998 Brava 1.6 16v thing. It's (slightly) less prone to skids in the snow and will be better on insurance and juice. This comes ar bargain basement price from my wheeling dealing brother, who's spent the last month or so minting it for me.

Now, the Brava is getting MOT'd tomorrow, so all being well should be ready for me to take her on this weekend. So, by rights, Meryl should be up for sale about now.

But I simply can't make myself do it. I can't sell her.

Am I mad to garage her for the winter and furnish my house more slowly?? Or would I be mad to sell her and hope I get another Coop that I love as much in March?? Do I get the Brava as a 1st car so meryl can be treated as the 2nd car she deserves to be, or shall I just keep the Coupé as my only ride??

Help!!!

Youd be better off storing her with resale values so low and would never get what you would expect for the car in the current climate of sales for NA's at the minute and with xmas approaching the car market is slowing down anyway.

I run mine as a second car, I have a £400 Audi 80 as my daily run around car and it works well.

If you love your coupe, dont sell it ! I often regret selling my sprint blue coupe when I look at tht drab grey thing on the drive

Anyway, who needs a furnished house, chairs are so over rated !

if you can afford it, keep it as a 2nd car, i regret selling my coupe too but at the time it was the best thing to do :-(

sell her, then get a turbo when the bonus comes in. IMO if they make a faster model you have to have it, I could never live with a 20v NA if I knew they did a 20v turbo.

Same reason I'd never have a 911 unless it was a turbo etc.

Isnt it strange how we get attached to our coupes? Having just had mine squashed by a coach, it sits mangled on the drive, ready to be broken up and sold - but I gota leave it as long as I can

So I understand your dilema.

Park her in the nice garage on the side of your new 3bed - stuff the furniture - heat the garage so you and your baby are nice n toasty over the winter, install the plasma, fridge, toilet and phone (for ordering take away during the long cold winter), get your favourite duvet and make yourself comfortable in the passenger seat.

All problems solved - no skidding in the ice n snow! No need to buy furniture for the house! No sadness n mourning at the loss of your baby!

Personal hygeine may be a problem but it will all be worth it in the spring when the 2 of you drive off into the sunshine together - just as it should be!

Christ Im bored

(Ps I dont prefer boys and I have friends).

KEEP HER

Two choices:

1. If you are not bothered by speed keep your car if its in good condition. Very few good cars are out there now with carlt keep chopping them up . Have you recently done the belts, exhaust etc?

2. Alternatively sell her and upgrade to a Yellow 20VT with side airbag recaros!


BUT: It can take months to sell a car for the right price. Because they are so cheap people stick out for the best they can afford e.g. a 6speed, LE or Plus.

I vote sell and get a Yellow 20VT, or Sprint Blue 20VT or Green 20VT, or Red 20VT, or silver 20VT or ink black 20VT, or ............or an LE?..............or a plus.

Yeah original plan was to get rid for winter then upgrade to a turbo with my bonus - but will it be as good to me as Meryl has been?!

She's had new (fatter) exhaust a few weeks ago and new Goodyears and belt was done 20k ago so should be OK for now. She's going in for a once over next week, think slave cylider needs replacing, brake fluid's been going down very quickly. But hopefully it's just small fry. (Let's hope they're not famous last words!)

Yeah I don't need more than the 2 beds I already own in a 3 bed house - the other room's always been pencilled as a studio anyhow, so hom much furniture do I need?! Chair and something to put my decks and stacks on!! And as for dining room, well, eating at a table's over-rated and I have a really nice tub armchair for the living room - sod any guests they can sit on boxes - and be grateful!!

I knew you lot would make me feel better about a completely irrational decision!

Thats the spirit!

im the same ive got to spend 1700 for a rebuild this week, when the option of insurance came into things it would have been bye bye coop and i couldent do it!!
so im swallowing the cost of the rebuild and limiting my use oof the car as i have been given a nice 87' nissan micra as a runaround which i might keep as my daily runner and have the coop as my toy!!

There was a yellow 20v n/a on ebay last week from abergele which I thought might be yours and thought "What the hell is Nia doing!!"
I'd keep the coupe if you afford too although upgrading to a 20VT sounds good too!!

Sorry to burst the bubble but the DCi engines wnot take veggie and the short distance they will possibly run on it for will kill the injection pump only option is biodiesel. there is a place in rhyl that sells it i think but its still circa 80-85p/litre.

a nice 87' nissan micra

Somebody call trade descriptions!

Just keep the coupé Nia and upgrade to a blue one, oops i mean upgrade to a turbo one in spring.

Having two cars just means two lots of everything - tyres, insurance, petrol, etc. We've got three now and I hardly ever travel in anything but the coupé.

If your short of furniture you could get a couple of ricaro airbag seats off Carlt for proper cash and use them as armchairs until you get a Turbo coop. You should have saved enough for a couple of deckchairs by then so you could fit them in your new baby in spring

or look on fleabay for bits as thers loads of furniture on there. a friend has bought a leather sofa and 2 chairs and some other bits and bobs on there and saved a fortune till he can get new ones next year and they should easily last

And dont forget the bills of a turbo as well unless you do keep it standard...

The brava wont be much more cheaper to run to be honest and you will just be spending out on insurance for it that you would be better spending on some old banger for say £200 with tax and mot till march or something that you can just throw away as it were and that will do better to a tank, a small diesel like a clio diesel or something maybe a smidge bigger that will take abuse heavily like a pug 306 or 406 or 405 even. something you wont be bothered about battering and abusing as if you want to sell a car you will find that horsey smell could be hard to shift once it gets into the boot unless you use s really good lining on the boot of course.
PM sammiboo or H above and ask how their Brava does as sammi has a similar one i think and she does a bit better than she did on her turbo fuel wise but its not leaps and bounds better either and thrashing car to work when your running late will mean there wont be any chance of clawing back many mpg points...

I'm only spending £400 on the Brava (normal months beer token bill!) so I don't expect any kind of resale value from it. It's a brotherly favour!
It's arriving with 12 months MOT and 6 months tax and my insurance is nice and clean with 6 years no claims and my points having just expired in September. So the fuel is the only real cost. Any mechanical faults and it'll go back to my bro, he's always taken care of my cars for me - until Meryl! She scares him!!

I think I've decided. Meryl will be tucked up for winter with the odd blast out to keep her sain and the Brava will be my winter wheels

The Brava sounds too good to miss at that price. I'd deffo go for that option and keep Meryll nice and clean. That's what you want a £400 - £500 quid run about. Didn't know you could get Bravas for that, I thought you were thinking a couple of grand

Look into the group buy for a good car cover for her then as even indoors she will be better off having one. Id also run the aircon for about 15mins on fullblast with the doors closed on the car and a moderate temp to dry out the interior a bit as well to avoid moldy smells. then use vaseline on the door rubbers or some silicone based gel on them. also if she is standing still for months on end, chock the weels and take her out of gear and leave the handbrake off and maybe consider lifting her off all four wheels to avoid flat patching them. then come spring have some leather conditioner on hand and some good wipes for the soft plastic dash and other trim panels. also leave a crystal box thing in the boot, the ones that pull moisture from the surrounding area for wardrobes and like as the boot is the dampest part of the interior and can form mold easily as i think Jimbo mentioned before.

Im guessing it to be a T reg or earlier at that price chris. its not too bad. though you can buy cheaper cars for like £100

You know my thoughts on this.


Still chuffed with Natalia!

Forget all that car cover stuff, you could just use Meryl as a garden ornament like Pinin.

Wait, no I don't mean Pinin is a garden ornament.......... oh forget it

Yeah it's nice and cheap as it's basically cost price off my bro. He buys job lots and does them up and sells them on. The Brava's a 98 and it's done less than 50k so it should see me right as a mud-mobile for horsing around

...Pinin as a Garden Ornament - there's a thought... you'd double as a marvellous guard-Matt too!
...Could be tricky to navigate around with a flymo though...

lol instead of tom tom we have mat mat lol

Shall i turn left here Mat Mat?

'Well theres a pub so im game if you are!'

its a goo price and should see out the winter months. like i said Sammiboo is the Brava/o queen and knows the pitfalls and whats likely to crop up on them so always worth a question or two her way