Sylvester

Thanks - thats really useful info as I can compare to the Whatcar site.. this says p/ex of £17,310 for that age and mileage so pretty much spot on. So makes me feel comfortable with the number I have calculated for the base. Of course it depends on what the offer was against... if you are willing to share can you tell me the rest of the deal ( ie car you were trying to buy and how much you got off it ? If you do not wish to share then no probs. If you are willing to just let me know then drop me a pm. Thanks again.

Its in the sig.... The most sellable colour of course...

As mentioned in another thread I need to change my Zed for something I can transport my wee girl ( and future sibling ? ). Previous experience in trading in cars has left a bitter taste in my mouth so was wondering if you guys could advise if I am being overly optimistic again... I know the important thing is the price to change ( ie trade in and discount off RRP ) rather than just the value a dealer will give you for the Zed but it is useful to have an idea what the Zed should be getting. I have based my valuation of the base car on the Whatcar internet site valuations. Strangely they do not have a value for a 54 plate on the site or in their book for this car so a bit of maths.... My car has 13K miles on it today. Their value for a 2004 04 plate with 13K is 17,590 Their value for a 2005 05 plate with 13K is 19,610 So taking the middle point for a 2005 54 with 13K I get 18,600 To this I reckon to the following additions for the extras... Paint Protection ( full armourfend installation) 200 Rays 500 parking sensors 50 Grounding kit ( might take off and resell ) 0 Paint matched front and rear splash guards 50 Alezan leather 150 Tyres ( Toyo T1-Rs with around 1000 miles on them ) 100 Total £19,650 Depreciation is running at £168 per month from the whatcar site numbers so this would need to be factored in if I was to order new replacement with a waiting list of course. What do you reckon ?

You wait guys.... another couple of years and the flavour of the month will not be CO2 pollution but noise pollution.... then all you with aftermarket exhausts and pop chargers will have to pay even more tax and those with the BOSE system an extra surcharge on top of that. Then it will be colour pollution... so watch out all you UYs! Then it will be light pollution so those with Xenon headlights pay more and every time you turn on the lights £10 is deducted from your bank account... Then to save water you will be taxed every time you use the windscreen washer... and god help you if you clean your lights..

Thanks Digsy. I know what you mean ref the GTi - several mags say save your money cos the R32 is not any/much quicker and is 4 grand more and the Gti is a sweeter drive. I may not be right on this but I have always thought/assumed that 4WD will be safer than front wheel drive given 6 months of the year we have inclement weather. Assuming they wear the same rubber I think cornering grip (constant speed) and braking will be slightly less in the 4WD due to to the extra weight but I am assuming that any kind of speed change while cornering would be safer and traction would be considerably better especially in the wet. I think the R32 looks a bit better than the Gti ( which looks a bit boring according to the Mrs ) and the R32 will be far less common. Also I have never owned a 4WD car and always like to try something new in the next car - although 4K just for this is a bit much. Perhaps more importantly my manhood would object to having less than 200BHP now.... It would also always bug me that I had not bought the top of the range.. Oh and I have always spent as much on cars as I could afford or the Mrs would allow so buying the Gti when I could get the R32 would be a bit of a waste ...lol Then again 4K buys a lot of skiing..... So, if anyone has any view on 4wd vs FWD then would be interested to hear. Thanks

Yeah agreed... after sleeping on it ok its got lots of space and toys and is good value for money but I would struggle to live with the dull looks and apparently after 3 years it would be worth a massive 30% of original value Also read some rather scary descriptions about how the electronics decide what mode of chassis set up it is going to use ( normal or sport or snow or something like that...) which would be fine if it did not change half way round a corner!!! Leaning towards a manual Golf R32 now. ( Review of the DSG gearbox in latest EVO was quite dmming I thought ). With the space problem fixable via roof mounted thule type box for the few times a year I will need it I don't need anything bigger ( and the Golf is quite a big car these days anyway ... and it'll fit easily in the garage). I can even get a new one with several extras within my budget. Residuals are excellent. Its very safe - really like the idea you get rear curtain airbags as standard and can specify rear side airbags as option. Goes OK. Want the security and all year round ability of 4WD ( yesterdays snow was scary! ) Need to sort out a test drive. You know that in all my investigations looking at a huge range of cars not one comes anywhere close to looking as great as the Zed. Parked it clean and in the sun for the first time for months the other day and looked back at it and thought to myself I am really gonna miss just looking at her...

Well I had missed it first time round so thanks for the repost.... watching the way he took those corners and the sound of burning rubber brought back happy memories of the day I took the Mrs to the hospital for the birth of our daughter.... OK - so we went slowly in her Corolla the day before but still bought back some nice memories....

http://video.google.nl/videoplay?docid=-2936769343621667560

OK having considered the estates have decided against them mainly cos they were too expensive to get the performance or would be too old/high mileage. Think there is a lot of mileage (sic) in looking at a family size car and using some roof rack extra storage solution for the few times a year it is needed. Now don't laugh but I am looking quite favourably at the moment at the Mazda 6MPS. Other than a bit dull in the looks department ( I can overcome that by convincing myself it has Q-car attributes ) it has strong performance, loads of toys, 4wd ( safety in mind given its job ), good dealer reputation and reliability and its quite cheap - I can get fully loaded new within my budget. Discuss....

Mark Sylvester comes from being dressed in a full size Sylvester outfit ( for charity rather than pleasure.... ) when I met the wife for the first time.

The fact you can not disable the passenger airbag and no isofix in the front seat meaing I gotta sell her..... sometime soon..... ish Oh and the fact that the front bumper how has a scrape on it cos I misjudged the garage on Monday night... Expect the last one is just a gripe for me....

yeah - I bet that is just what is going through his mind at the moment.... I am SOOOOO lucky...... lol

He may have been doing 100 when the accident started...ie clipped the astra - may have travelled some distance and scrubbed off a lot of speed before the final impact.... giving him time to contemplate his future job prospects....

True - but if the Mrs gave you a budget of £27K it would be rude not to use it all now wouldn't it!

Think the Legnum stopped being made in the late 90's or early 2000's didn't it ? In that case way too old.

But I am only 43 years old and have no plans to grow up anytime soon Kidding ( a bit ). Possibly a better financial prospect initially for performance/toys per pound second hand than the above although not sure long term. Performance only just creeps in under the limit (6.9) for the manual 3.0V6 too. Worth thinking about if I could get a great deal ( ie including the optional tartan slippers ).

OK - update time ( although I expect you are all bored with this by now... ). Following a grim couple of months healthwise the Mrs and I are starting to get our lives back together and making plans ( dont you just LOVE it when the Mrs starts making plans..... ). Anyway, we(!) have now decided that the Mrs is going to keep her current Corolla ( it does her fine running around town ) and my next car will now not only need to allow me to transport current budle of joy at times but also deal with trips to Wales for family visits and holidays and erm... be able to cope with potential future additions to the family.... So in typical negotiation style I agreed I would take the hit and get an estate car ....as long as it has got some poke....and of course to get that I need a bigger budget than originally planned ( told you I was working on that side of things..... . So, I now have my car plus £10K give or take ( probably best not to push things so lets say £10K or take ). Car as per sig below with 13K on the clock - so I reckon in the region of £17K trade in giving me a budget of £27K. Criteria... as much poke as possible ( guide - 0-60 less than 7 seconds ) but.... Needs to fit in the garage so as wide as the Zed plus 2cm max ( so 1730mm) Length should be ok as I can go up to 4800mm but I don't need all that ( hence looking at small estates really ). Need to have good residuals ( So no French crap ) Needs to be reliable ( So no Italian rubbish ) I need to keep running costs as low as possible ( so no high mileage exotic types like an RS2 ) Ideally less than £20K miles. Some Warranty left would be nice. I know it takes the T5 out the list but no Volvos... I could not live with the ribbing my 2 mates would give me ( both Volvo owners ) for all the years I have taken the **** out of them while I have had sports cars... ) Probably some others I cant remember right now... So... short list I have come up with is 18 month old BMW 3 Touring 330i ( I know I said I was averse to the BMW image but anyone else think the Touring image is different to the M3 image ? ) 18 month old BMW 3 Touring 330d ( I know I said no diesels but this thing is bloody quick and good mpg.... might struggle at the price though as they are a bit more expensive than the 330i ) 3 or 4 year old Audi S4 Avant ( Probably a bit near the exotic/expensive side and will need to be higher mileage to afford one... but I would love to own a V8 sometime in my life..... ) 3 or 4 year old C32 AMG Estate ( mega fast in a straight line but crap in the corners ? Plus also maybe v expensive to maintain.. ) I've ditched everything else I could think of due to not meeting the criteria above or sheer predjudice but let me know if I have missed something. Anyone diven/owned any of the above ? Comments ?

errr yeah that was kinda the point of the joke.....

I do hope that is real.... if so what a guy! Of course another alternative would be to find an island as far away as possible from here and just dump all the criminals there....

Not true... his Zed is knackered.... Or am I the only one who loves his Zed..

oh and forgot to say... from the sound of the video apparently they have renamed the car to a Neeesun 350Zeeee

New engine sits a bit higher in the engine bay apparently ( so it will not have as low a centre of gravity as our current cars so will not be as good... ) Looks like there is only an inch or two in it though and we all know that a couple of inches dont make any difference... right

Probably not a good idea to answer those questions on an open forum.. Hope the piccies don't show any undeclared mods. If they do then pull them quick. Hope you are ok mate.... totalling a car is a gutting feeling but if you live to tell the tale its a great pub story! One less red one too... :-((

Fanatastic news mate. Bet you are on cloud 9 at the moment - I know I was 15 months ago. Tip - write down now all you can remember about the day - every detail. You can then show it to her when she is older! My Mrs started doing this last night and we remember loads of details but have probably forgotten loads of others already.. Aww.... I wanna go home a give my little girl a hug now!

A flat of her own to escape from you and the baby! No, that would be HIS present Ah - I see you have met the Mrs then....