The dark destroyer has been driven away by the new owner today. I forgot just how nice it looked when it was all clean and it did cut me fairly deep to see it driving away for the last time.

Im positive its gone to a good home however and the new owner is a forum member (ill let him spill the beans) I hope your very happy with the car mate

Sadly I also have to see my Mr2 off as well as I have lost my workshop and its not something that I want to have parked out side during the winter

all in all, its been a realy sad day but im hoping I get my hands on a well priced LE soon

Good stuff, look forward to welcoming you the 'elite' LE owners club!

I'm not sure we should let him have one! Some might think you and Vickster are in competition to own the most cars!

You will have to beg!

and IF any one sees me looking at a black LE, slap me, I just cant have a black car where I live, its dirty in 2 seconds

hey hey now every one form a queue to start slapping lol

but on a serious note, sorry to hear you sold it but good times your getting an LE!

lesson No1...

do not mess with wire's this time lol

Great stuff Sam

Thats Chrono out too...

Vinci is probably best then.

Vinci or red, shame they never did a yellow LE

Shame?

Perhaps not the word I would use...

sam, i have to ask, what are you expecting an LE to give you that your last coupe didnt?

i mean, correct me if im wrong, but an LE is exactly the same car, save for a plaque and some add on bits you could fit to any coupe?!

is an LE really worth anything more?

im not trying to be patronizing, really, i am just curious.

no, Its a question I was asked today already. Its a hard one to justify

6 Speed box > I do a lot of motorway miles
Seats > There lovely, And I could have put some in my Coupe, but there so expensive its not worth it

The final fact is if Im going to plow money in to a car, I want it to be the top spec car thats going to retain at least some of the money I put in to it

I could have dressed the inky to look like a LE, but its just not, I could have put a 6 speed box in it, but when you cost the price of the work required again, its not worth it

and im a snob

What about a plus Sam?

If I can get one thats not going to need work and the body work/paint is in good nick, then a plus is defiantly a poss....

yeah, but i think you have kind of written yourself into a corner there, IF its too expensive to dress a standard coupe in LE trim, because the trim is too expensive etc, is it worth it at all?

i mean, an LE, might look the part, but underneath its still a bog standard coupe.

when you say that even if you had have dressed your old car in LE bits, it still wouldnt be an LE... but the answer to that is in the message, an LE is exactly that, a coupe dressed in some flash bits!

ok the 6 speed is an attractive option, i will agree but will it lower fuel consumption that much?
i mean its another gear yes, so your rpm might be a bit lower at cruise than on a 5 speed, but the gear ratio's will be shorter on the 6 speed to accomodate the extra gear - i.e you will be up and down the gears more = more fuel burnt.

seats - again i do agree with you, they are VERY nice, but the point you made says it all, they are too expensive, so is it really worth buying a whole new car, which is 99% identical to your old one just for seats, a plaque and another gear?

sorry rant over

no shiny, The gear ratios are the same on the 6 speed box, all bar 6th gear which I think brings the cruising RPM down a fair bit on the motorway.

On a midlands to scotland trip, or midlands to london trip that I make 2-3 times a month then were talking about a lot of saving money wise

I don't think I have talked my self in to a corner at all. Go look at what well maintained 20vt's are going for, and then look at what LE's are going for

Looking at it from a money side, if you have a car thats worth 2k, and a car thats worth 4k and you get in a bill for belts at £450 and say a clutch at £480 You have to think about it at that point if its worth kicking the money at a 2k car....that desesion isn't so hard when you know the car retains some value, or the repair bill wont equal the price of the car

The bigger point is that I have been made painfully aware of book prices for cars resently, god forbid my old inky had ever had a prang the insurance company would have given me very little for it, and not all insurance company's offer buy back...

So whats the point of sticking 3k for a respray, LE seats, 6 speed box for the insurance man to say its worth 1k AND you having to pay a premium insurance for "modifications"

I loved my inky and would drive across the world in it if needs be, I dont begrudge the money I have spent on it as its been a bloody great car and never let me down. But its not a LE, nore would it be cost effective to turn it in to a LE or plus

The point im trying to make is that there is some logic here, seats, gearbox, and all the other little bits add up cost wise and for the price they will cost, you may as well go and get a LE

Bare in mind I have now had 4 Coupes.......

fair point, well made.

but, everything else aside, do you really belive that an LE of the same age and mileage of a standard coupe is really WORTH twice the money?

supply and demand mate, economics 101

There are less of them, more people want them, prices adjusted.

Are they worth it? thats a subjective question and entirely down to what you your self place value on...

So, grey or pink then, nice choice!

Go for a black one, you love washing cars surely!?

G

nice one sam glad your got a sale good luck in your search for a decent LE
Should be back here myself soon

I liked my old sprinty 20vt much more than my LE if it must be told. Maybe because it was my first coupe and maybe because it was such a lovely example helped, my LE is just as nice a car but I don't have the emotional attachment to it like I did my first one.

I would just go for the best example of a coupe you can find Sam, I looked at plenty of "mint" LE's that were shocking before finding this one and even this one isn't mint by a long shot, it is a nice example of a coupe though.

I have done something very bad to my shoulder and it now clicks and grinds when I polish cars... its something that i'm looking to avoid!

A polished black one looks, well stunning...but requires far to much work to keep it like that

yeah, i guess.

well hope you find what you are looking for mate.

Thanks Shiny, I doubt I will ever find "the one" however

But on a serious note Sam, your thinking is good.

If you want a keeper, the LE and to a lesser extent, the Plus is the way to go, especially if you are plowing money into them, you'll never make it back and no coop will ever be a pukka classic like the Integrale for example, but they will be sought after and the LE and Plus are the ones they'll be looking for first with a standard 20VT being a compromise if all else fails. It's the same with any other classic, it won't be any different when the coop is old and grey.

Best of luck with the hunt.

Gareth

i think that may be the problem!

i love my 20v, have done ever since i bought it over a tatty 20vt.

ive had it maintained and brought back to life with different wheels and odds and ends, and i still love it.

however, every time i see, or see a picture of a broom yellow, I WANT ONE!

and, to make matters worse, at the end of the month i will get my final pay packet, and redundancy money from my old job.... which i should spend on bills etc, and the increase in fuel getting to my new job but...

Sam buy a red LE then in 3 months when your fed up with it and done all the jobs on it I'll buy it off you

I have a nice X reg Met blue plus, 1 owner from new and paint work excellent.

I could be tempted to sell for the correct money.

Get a red LE Sam, I think they are great and agree that a black car takes too much cleaning to look good.

Sam, your search is over my friend, here it is:

The special one



A plus moonie would be my special one BTW

I look forward to reading all about the quest for the LE. Next spring I will also be looking to buy a mint plus - so finding out how you go on will be of interest.

PS if it was spring I would have been interested in the Rice Basket

Good luck getting yourself an LE Sam, and I don't think any justification is necessary - as a fan of the Coupé why would you not want to invest in one of the limited edition models?

I'm already thinking I'll get an LE at some point, just not sure exactly when