Daily swedish turd - going going GONE

[capri_rob]

So the 330i has been served and I took a £1500 kicking on depreciation in 8 months of ownership

Very pleased to be back in a cheap throwaway car

Bought this in the dark for £600 with 8 months MOT and 2 months tax.

Has working a/c, a good CD player, awesome heater and thats about it !

As bought



115bhp 16v 1.8 Donk - not bad at all quite torquey and 30-35mpg easy round town


Essential factory option metal dog guard


I have now picked up a set of 16" Alloys from ebay for the bargain price of £80 - 2 pairs of budget tyres fitted with loads of tread




And today got a megabargain - full heated black leather interior from a T4 with all the doorcards and wood trim £95 !
Very pleased to find the looms in place for the heated seats behind the blanking plates in my car so will just be plug and play after a clean

[e30topless]

nice buy Rob, for 600 sheets it's a decent daily tram

[TheHeap]

Done 30,000 miles in one of these albeit a s40.
Faultless drive and comfortable to boot.

[B7]

That is the future of motoring right thare! Can't go wrong Rob.

Kos rang me today and offered me a very tidy Scorpio Grananda. 118k, fully loaded inc the leather. For the cost of a good meal for two at the Ivy!!!! Shame it ain't the 24v bt at least it has 6 cylinders. What it burns in fuel will still be less than depreciation on some £15k underspecced drolemobile!

[capri_rob]

Including the wheels, leather interior and fluids & filters it now owes me about £850

I figure I'll drive it until the MOT expires and if it fails on more than £300 of work I'll take the interior out, wheels off and weigh it in and get my dosh back on the trim & wheels on ebay - either that or use them on another V40 - I'm quite taken with it

[Kos]

That is the future of motoring right thare! Can't go wrong Rob.

Kos rang me today and offered me a very tidy Scorpio Grananda. 118k, fully loaded inc the leather. For the cost of a good meal for two at the Ivy!!!! Shame it ain't the 24v bt at least it has 6 cylinders. What it burns in fuel will still be less than depreciation on some £15k underspecced drolemobile!

Still got the turd, the owner is thinking about weighing it in and I refuse to let him do that !

[capri_rob]

Busy day yesterday - took the worn, torn and slightly smelly cloth interior out and replaced with this :




Had to drill the rear doorcards to take the manual window winders - no wiring for motors in place so no way I would attempt to retrofit rear electric windows


Also replaced the standard plastic wheel with a much thicker sports leather wheel. First time I have removed an airbag - to say I was clenched is an understatement !

Just got to sort the airbag and heated seat wiring under the seats and replace the ashtray/switch panel with the wood stuff to finish it off.

[capri_rob]

More executive action today :

Before


After


Also done a full service over the course of this week - plugs, filters and oil flush today

Booked in on Tuesday for a cambelt as it looks fooooooked and the VVT pulley is ratting its nuts off which requires a special tool to replace so its going to a local independent specialist.

Still owes me less than 2 months depreciation on a new car though

[B7]

Look at you with your bit of Walnut!! ****ing executive!

Any pics of da rimz bruv?

Looks like a good daily this, improved on the cheap and acheiving exactly what you wanted.

[Kos]

Every one loves a vulva

[capri_rob]

Look at you with your bit of Walnut!! ****ing executive!

Any pics of the rimz bruv?

Looks like a good daily this, improved on the cheap and acheiving exactly what you wanted.

Before 15" Steelies & Trims


After 16" Alloys


There is a slight clearance issue on full lock to the right on the drivers side which I need to investigate as the back of the wheel is rubbing on the inner arch slightly

They are a standard size wheel for the car and the tyres are the right size so may be a tracking issue - I've had it up in the air and theres no evidence of anything being damaged and it drives and stops in a stright line with no pulling either way.

If the worst comes to the worst I'll just put the steelies back on ( which dont rub ) at MOT time

Sorted the heated seat wiring on Saturday too - all working - just in time for summer

[B7]

Ah, I never noticed the photos above as they are not disimilar to the hubcaps and not the alloys I was imagining if I'm honest but yes! An improvement none the less.

I thought these:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Volvo-V40-S40 ... 2258wt_721

or these

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SET-OF-4-VOLV ... _309wt_721

But you've created a great practical cheap daily there.

[capri_rob]

Ah, I never noticed the photos above as they are not disimilar to the hubcaps and not the alloys I was imagining if I'm honest but yes! An improvement none the less.

I thought these:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Volvo-V40-S40 ... 2258wt_721

or these

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SET-OF-4-VOLV ... _309wt_721

But you've created a great practical cheap daily there.

Cheers Trev

I would have preferred the top BBS ones in your link but to be honest at £80 for the ones I bought with 4 good tyres it was too good a deal to pass up

[B7]

Blimey, Can't go wrong. When the tyres wear out, weigh them in and look for another set

[Kedge]

Nice progress Rob, can't believe an E46 can still depreciate so much in such a short period of time!

[capri_rob]

Nice progress Rob, can't believe an E46 can still depreciate so much in such a short period of time!

The problem was when I bought mine it was cheap given the mileage and spec and there werent many around, when I came to sell they had all taken a kicking and seemed to be quite a few for sale

I dont really plan on getting burned again with an expensive ( i.e over £2k ) car. Its just not worth it.

[capri_rob]

So after 5 months or so with this turd I'm getting itchy feet again.

Its been uber reliable, everything works and its got a new cambelt and VVT pulley so the engine is good for mega mileage.

However despite what I've spent on it its worth no more than I paid for it, its got 3 months MOT left and I suspect it will need suspension components refreshing for the MOT - one damper is leaking at the front so obviously will need a pair and there are the occasional other knocks and clonks from the front end which could mean top mounts, wishbones, balljoints etc - so I could be into an easy £300 - £400 of work to MOT it for another year.

I have an Alfa Romeo shaped itch which seems to be growing by the day in the shape of a shed money ( no more than £1k ) 156 Sportwagon 1.8 or 2.0 Twinspark with a manual box, leatherzzz and the Teledial style wheels

I kind of know I will regret it the second I ditch the V40 as its so dependable ( especially when looking at replacing it with an Italian turd ! ) but I really dont know if I can be bothered to spend the dosh to get it through the MOT when it wont be worth any more than £500 - £600 afterwards - and I could probably chop it in now whilst theres still 3 months left on the current MOT, get £400 or so as a p/ex ( i could probably break it for more than that ) and put the money I would have spent on the MOT works towards a new turd with a longer MOT

Talk to me ! What would you do ?

Part of the reason I like cheap cars is being able to chop and change without losing much money

EDIT LOL Just re-read the thread

Including the wheels, leather interior and fluids & filters it now owes me about £850

I figure I'll drive it until the MOT expires and if it fails on more than £300 of work I'll take the interior out, wheels off and weigh it in and get my dosh back on the trim & wheels on ebay - either that or use them on another V40 - I'm quite taken with it

[capri_rob]

Its reliable and you want to swap it for an Alpha?

Bonkers innit

Got lots of cars I want to own and I've never had an Alfa - going from super sensible to a bit nuts

[DanThe]

At least get something a bit fast? Which would mean the V6 shitter, and uber bills!
If you 'have' to try one just buy one with some rent and test, drive it for a few days then sell it quickly. Dont sell the volvo to buy it though, you will regret it

[capri_rob]

At least get something a bit fast? Which would mean the V6 shitter, and uber bills!
If you 'have' to try one just buy one with some rent and test, drive it for a few days then sell it quickly. Dont sell the volvo to buy it though, you will regret it

No V6's Dan - won't go over 2L for a daily sh1tter

Whole point of changing now would be to get something with significantly longer MOT than is left on the V40 turd - I only like putting cars through a MOT which I am confident will pass without major expense.

A pair of new front dampers on their own for the Volvo is about £170 from ECP and then you get into the "whilst its in bits" mentality of top mounts ( another £80 or so for the pair ), drop links etc etc Plus whatever else it might need

I've never had a Thai Lady Boy either and I won't go nuts....

Save your money and really go nutz don't do cheapskate nutz

Nope - daily sh1tters cost no more than a grand. I've had a gutful of chucking money away on depreciation.

[DanThe]

Can of brake cleaner does wonders for leaky dampers

[capri_rob]

Can of brake cleaner does wonders for leaky dampers

Way ahead of ya pal

I'm gonna have it up in the air at the weekend - need to find if I can identify any of the occasional knocks - If I can clean up the dampers and just put a pair of droplinks on it to tighten things up I might wing it through an MOT and see how it goes

[capri_rob]

Well the swedish turds fate has been decided today

Had it up in the air today - found at each side of the back end it has 2 x suspension linkages plus a droplink for the anti-roll bar - all of which are fooooked
Both rear springs are cracked - I believe this isnt necessarily an MOT fail now but as it would all have to come apart to replace the linkages anyway they need doing
Then at the front it needs a pair of front struts and the CV gaiter on the passenger side at the gearbox end is leaking. It may need other bushes etc at the front - by the time I'd got that far I'd lost interest,

If I had a proper lift and all the tools I'd fix it, but I dont have the energy or inclination to try and do suspension stuff on the road with the car on axle stands - plus its a good £300+ in parts alone that I know of.

So I've stuck it on Autotrader and if I dont get a bite in the next week or two I'll try and part ex it

[capri_rob]

And its gone ! For asking price £675 to the first person to view

Using the E30 for a few days until another daily turd arrives

[Jesus325iTouring]

2002 Ford Focus estate, tdci, leather interior, alloys etc £200? Oh the auto box has a slight fault so you can only smoke about at 30 mph

[capri_rob]

It is to be replaced on 24th August

Watch this space