It's all relative, try taking many cars in for work and it's painful in comparison. A colleague of mine has just had the turbo on his VW Golf TDi (07 plate) replaced as it was rattling, I won't tell you the price, but you can by a bloody good coupe for it!

Older cars make more sense to me if you ignore the fuel price, take into account the usually cheaper running costs over a set period.

My V8i Landy for example, sailed through it's MOT again this time, no work needed, my mates 05 Reg Focus needed nearly a grand spent on it, and that was at non Ford prices.

My old company car averaged out over 12 months at £237 a month to keep it going, failure after failure as the miles piled on it, almost all Coops have passed the point where the main failures have been dealt with.

I had my clutch done this year, £320, ouch I thought, but on my company car, the clutch was almost a grand fitted! (Same place carried out both changes!).

So, I stand my ground! The Coupe is comparatively cheap to maintain, especially if you bare in mind that, it's Italian, it's a high performance car, it's italian and it's getting on a bit.

I'll admit you can get reasonable economy from the 20V engines, on a run, but, thats not really why you buy a high performance car is it?

When I use the Coop to go to work, a 25 mile round trip, I use the same amount of fuel as I do in the V8 Landy! Nothing to do with totaly different driving styles for each vehicle!

Anyway, the point is, if you can, keep them, mothball them for the time being if needs be, but pound for pound there is little to touch it, spend a bit more perhaps and get an Integrale, otherwise there really is little else out there that goes like the coop, looks like the coop and has anything like it's charisma!

G

look on the bright side joe if they are cheap enuf i might even buy another one just for the weekends

(im still here in the background )

There's a lot of truth in what Spee says especially when it comes to depreciation and servicing of modern cars. Plus they all look s**t because of all the pedestrian/passenger safety legislation. Modern cars are too complicated, heavy and ugly. Have you seen the front end of the latest Evo?.....

If you've got a good coupe, and the money's tight,keep it and run another older diesel(206/307)etc for everyday.

Spot on Alan, and I bet even with all the love and work you've put into your (Gorgeous!) coop, it's still cheaper to own that, than buy and run something newer with similar performance.

G

You can't beat a 306 Diesel for economy/speed and price, but finding a good one is getting harder, it's no secret how good they are.

Still, if you get one for 800-1000, and have to bin it at MOT time, it's still less than the depreciation on something more expensive. However, that 800-100 you spent on your frugal diesel (plus insurance, tax and any maintenance), could be better spent on running your Coop daily and the associated costs!

A classic case of false economy in most cases.

Mine is a second car, but when the Landy goes, and it will be up for sale after Christmas (should shift it, it's an LPG conversion and cheap to tax) it will be my main car until I find a daily hack, probably a Saab 900 Turbo or a Cinq Sporting.

The only reason mine is a second car really is I have a family and although it's a good four seater, anyone who has done it will know what a sod it is trying to insert a small wriggly toddler into a car seat in the back of a Coop!

G

dont know what all the panic is about. i brought mine off some desperate nutter who hadn't used it for 6 months. it had no mot 3 flat tyres and was under 2" of dirt and bird crap. he wanted 500 quid i offered him 350 and HE TOOK IT!!!!! result one jump start 3 new tyres and a whizz through mot and there i was with a not bad car. then the madness started. new exhaust followed by new wheels a chipped ecu, full autods le body kit a kicking new pioneer stereo and some other minor engine mods and i FCCUKing love it. i am never going to sell it and plan to attack the engine bay in the next 6 months hopefully to look like this but in blue [img]http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g45/cowboykarl/patsphotos021-5.jpg[/img]does that make me mad i hope so come on guys dont bail on them keep them. there coupetastic!!!!!!!!!

Couldn't have put it better myself!

If anyone wants to sell there coupe for £350 for desperation then I'm game

lol vmax i think i was extremly lucky to find the crazy fool who sold me mine lol there cant be two of them out there.but hey ho you never know

what people need to remeber is these cars were 20grand ish new for a reason!!!!!!! they have everything going for them sytling is superb up there with any italian supercar and to let them go for anything less than 2grand is a crime. dont devalue what is a future classic and iconic car.lol i sound like a ranting nutjob but hope it rings true guys hold on to them you will be glad you did in the long run. p.s there also 20grandish FAST!!!!!!!!!!!!

Some of us bought them new and have still not had reason to change them...

and why would you mr widget lol they are le nad de chein ;-)i smile everytime i get in mine

Agree with Spee on this. I've currently got a Megane 225 Cup that I'm selling. I'm struggling to sell, but will keep reducing it by a few hundred quid each month because it has to go. I'm losing more money per month on depreciation than I'd spend maintaining an older car.

Hence being in the market for a Coupe. I'd rather pay 0 per month in finance repayments, and stick a few quid in the bank for when the coupe needs some TLC (and use our 95 golf gti to get about while I DIY the coupe :))

Now is definitely the time to buy, sickening as what I paid for my non running one over here in Ireland would have bought me an ok one in the UK at the moment.

I don't know if anybody else here reads practical classics but they've a small section about cars they expect to become future classics and increase in value over the coming years. They listed the fiat coupe, MG F and VW corrado. To be honest though I can't see the prices going back up significantly for some time yet.

i payed 7k for mine 5 years ago dread to think what its worth now

Kev

This has to be post of the season and SO right (IMHO of course). Shout this out
'stop giving your coupes away for peanuts!'

HERE HERE ROB LOL but you should have added " OR WE'LL SEND THE BOYS ROUND GRRRRRRRRR"

[quote=nickg137]what people need to remeber is these cars were 20grand ish new for a reason!!!!!!! [quote]

More like £25000 fulled specced with leather/aircon/sunroof/metallic paint

it is crazy,i managed to pick mine up for £400 quid.does need a fair bit doing,but clutch cambelt etc all done.The car is worth considerably more in parts .defiantly easy pickings now

How come i can't sell mine at £700 if we're giving them away

Probably because it's a 16v non turbo IIRC (despite your avatar), unfortunately the least popular model (runs and hides from barnacle )

lol vickster does he need an angry 20vt like mine ;-) grrrrrrrr in my best tiger voice

Nope, a 20v n/a, the best sounding engine by far Grrrooowwwwllll

Poor deluded souls...

<fast show lady>



HA!!!!!



</fast show lady>

Well I for one have a full set of belts, front discs, oil cooler pipes etc this year so my coop is going nowhere until I've had my value for money out of them!

And yes 20V n/as do sound the dogs!

Going back to the new tax rules I was looking at MG ZS 180's on autotrader the other day and I was gobsmacked when I found two '02 plates with about 60,000 miles on for £1500, I could'nt work out why and then it clicked £400 to tax. As everyone has said the coupe is a bargain in every respect and I even find the fuel economy impressive 35mpg the last time I checked

Would that be at Angel Chef by any chance - £10 for all you can eat!!! My record is 10 plates - 8 starters (mostly crispy duck pancakes) and 2 main course.

Any, back to the thread....I'm about to become redundant and as I still have a loan on my car I may have to sell the car to clear the loan to reduce my outgoings. However at the moment the pay off amount and the car value are about the same, not good. But then if things get bad I may need the car to sleep in!
However I'm hoping to start my own business so I will be able to keep the car. (and the house!)

Yes that would be the Angle Chef, my god they must of rolled you out after all that lot ah but did you manage a mint as you left

Was it "waffer thin"?