Dealing with temptation?

Perhaps as sad as it sounds, the Soarer was a car that I spent many years aspiring to. I've wanted one since I was about 15, and never thought I'd be able to own and run one at such an early stage in my driving career. It's not even a matter of "Meeting your hero", the car is everything I wanted it to be, it's fast, comfortable, handles extremely well for a "luxury" barge and looks (again, subjective) fantastic. It is certainly the right car for my needs right now without a doubt.

The next step car that I aspire to is an E34 M5, a GOOD one in the right colour (Daytona Violet :cool:) which I obviously have absoultely no hope whatsoever of being able to afford to buy and run right now. That being said, there are loads of cars that I want to experience that I'd be able to afford if I sold the Soarer.

I don't "aspire" to own a MR2 Turbo, but I certainly do want to own and drive on, even if it was for just a few weeks/months. I'll say exactly the same for just about every "interesting" car you can buy for sub £3,000.

I am half tempted at travelling the modification route to try and bring back interest. Subtle things like sorting out the bodywork, a set of supra alloy wheels, electric seats, etc, but I can't help but be a little bit worried that I'd end up spending thousands on a 20 year old car that I'd still bored of...
 
A ****ing good thrashing.

I can consider as many replacements for the ST as I like, but every time I take it out and give it a good spanking, all that disappears. This is why I don't think I could ever have something that wasn't fast and sharp.

Straight to the point :D

I wouldn't know what to do with air con for example. Never had it and this hasn't affected my comfort much at all, mainly as I'm a real man. Would most likely strip it out to save some more weight ;)
 
It think the problem is that I enjoy the car buying process far too much. The hours of research, the trolling auctions, keeping tabs on eBay, viewing cars, etc. I find all of this exciting...

Why not do all of that, and just not buy a car at the end of it all?
 
Straight to the point :D

I wouldn't know what to do with air con for example. Never had it and this hasn't affected my comfort much at all, mainly as I'm a real man. Would most likely strip it out to save some more weight ;)

Once you have it though it becomes one of the things that's difficult to live without. I find it a bit wierd using a car without remote central locking too and imagine I'd feel the same way if I ever had one with keyless start.
 
I can't afford to change cars that often, and don't want the hassle. So I look at the best/most suitable car for the money, and with any luck it lasts me a long time. Worked with the MX5, and hopefully with the Mondeo :)

I mean sure we all aspire to own something awesome with a big supercharged V8 but I don't have my head in the clouds :)
 
Once you have it though it becomes one of the things that's difficult to live without. I find it a bit wierd using a car without remote central locking too and imagine I'd feel the same way if I ever had one with keyless start.


You only need keyless go to stop working once in a bad spot and you soon get over not having it next time round.

I'd never have it again.

As for changing cars, wait till you have the money for a decent upgrade, and when you get to the point that you dont want to keep upgrading, make sure you buy right so you dont get bored too quick.
 
I've had my A3 for almost 2 years now and i love it as much today as i did when i bought it, it's the longest i've held interest in a car, however, i won't say i've not thought about shopping it in, earlier this year i went shopping around for an A4 cabriolet to trade mine in, but every one i looked at, i compared to mine and i would think, this doesn't have the Bose sound like mine, or this doesn't have the nav like mine, or i don't like the leather as much as i like mine, in the end i thought what's the point, i obviously have the perfect car for my needs right now, so i gave up looking as i have what i need :)
 
I deal with it by having the best car i could have, without spending a fortune on top for very little return. This makes changing it impossible, as there is nothing else that i could possibly buy that would be remotely justifiable. A new generation S-Class which i would want to own will be £30k. Not really worth it given the money plowed into mine, and how nice mine still is.

That and i have had a few other cars as well as my main one. Which i guess scratches the itch when it comes to car shopping.
 
I have the same problem and it got me into a lot of trouble financially when I was a bit younger, only just managed to pay it all off.

I'd a buy a car, mod it with a credit card I remember spending nearly a grand on an exhaust system FFS when I think back its absolute madness, then i'd get bored and sell the car start looking for something else, couldnt find what I wanted and because I have no patience i'd settle for something that would start the vicious circle again, did that for ten years nearly, not healthy
 
Another thing that puts my mind straight is how anal i am with cars. I know if i buy anything else ill spend way too much putting it "right" in my mind. On the 328 ive spent nearly £1000 on bushes/mounts/tyres and other thing that should be right from the offset.

I'm glad I'm not alone.

Every car I've ever owned is "not quite right". I always feel that I could improve something so in some cases I mod the car, in other cases I just buy a new one.

The Mini is great. It's quick, fun, handles well etc. but lately I've been thinking that it doesn't feel as tight as it should be, and it's definitely rattled and squeaked a bit more since I came back from those awful French roads. My choices are to polybush it and bust out the dynamat or just buy a new car. If I buy a new car then I'm pretty sure that after 3 months I'll notice a rattle or something and the process repeats.
 
experiencing the same thing atm, really finding myself wanting a small sports car despite just having bought a motorbike I know that it would just be a lot of stress to run the van the bike and a car as well which is what stops me from giving into tempation, there is however a nice looking mx5 about 5 miles from me which is really testing me resolve ! :P
 
My cars are so awesome I don't ever want to get rid of them. Simples :D

I think genuinely they have so much of me in them I get attached to them and can't sell. I need a barn.
 
Money. I love cars but they ain't cheap.

When my car was new and worth a decent amount if I had sold it I couldn't get insurance on anything and now I can it really isn't worth that much anyway. So forget it, I'll probably wait until it dies and spend my money on more fun stuff for a few years and also have a decent wedge when it is new car time.
 
By knowing I have the right car as I miss driving it while away and cannot wait to get back behind the wheel in 6 months. :D

Plenty tempts me, but they would be toys and not replacements. Anything I plan to upgrade to from the S2000 will be an (as it's been put in this thread) aspirational purchase.
 
When my car was new and worth a decent amount if I had sold it I couldn't get insurance on anything and now I can it really isn't worth that much anyway.

This is why I dont understand why people buy expensive newish cars in the way you did. You end up like you are now.

Why, when you could only insure an average, generic car did you spend a vast sum on an average, generic car that was worth a decent amount only to end up in the situation that once you COULD insure a good car, you can't afford to buy one because you spent all your money on an average, generic car?

Had you just bought something crap and banked the change by the time you could insure a good car you'd also have had the money to buy a good car.

Yet I just get flamed when I point this out in 'What £10,000 first car with a 1.1 engine' threads..

btw, I've no idea what you drive, I'm just assuming its fairly ordinary given your comments.
 
[TW]Fox;16848451 said:
This is why I dont understand why people buy expensive newish cars in the way you did. You end up like you are now.

Why, when you could only insure an average, generic car did you spend a vast sum on an average, generic car that was worth a decent amount only to end up in the situation that once you COULD insure a good car, you can't afford to buy one because you spent all your money on an average, generic car?

Had you just bought something crap and banked the change by the time you could insure a good car you'd also have had the money to buy a good car.

Yet I just get flamed when I point this out in 'What £10,000 first car with a 1.1 engine' threads..

btw, I've no idea what you drive, I'm just assuming its fairly ordinary given your comments.


You only get flamed cos you tell the truth in a blunt way, not because its not true.... you see :)
 
[TW]Fox;16848451 said:
This is why I dont understand why people buy expensive newish cars in the way you did. You end up like you are now.

Why, when you could only insure an average, generic car did you spend a vast sum on an average, generic car that was worth a decent amount only to end up in the situation that once you COULD insure a good car, you can't afford to buy one because you spent all your money on an average, generic car?

Had you just bought something crap and banked the change by the time you could insure a good car you'd also have had the money to buy a good car.

Yet I just get flamed when I point this out in 'What £10,000 first car with a 1.1 engine' threads..

btw, I've no idea what you drive, I'm just assuming its fairly ordinary given your comments.

Would you have a free Vauxhall Astra with under 10k in the clock, or a new 1 lite polo or nothing?

That was my option. My Grandma bought it me for my 21st Birthday for safety reasons as I had a H reg Escort for 2 years.

I couldn't really argue, it was for "safety" reasons and for getting to work reliably in my Grandmas mind so a fast older car wouldn't have been acceptable. and considering what I had it was a considerable step up and has kept me happy for a few years. Only now am I wanting something better. Being the 3 door and the quite good deal I got for it, I think it is actually worth quite a bit, if I wasn't so lazy/ have other interests I could easily get something faster.

I agree with you, but you can't assume everyone's circumstances are the same.
 
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/Goes to make a cuppa and gets comfy ...and 1, 2, 3 ....go.

It isn't interesting really unless Fox is going to claim a 1 litre Polo or nothing is better than a Vauxhall Astra or that arguing with a 70 year old lady that is giving you a 10k gift is a good idea.

I had a crappy old Escort for 2 years that was fine and had every intention in waiting to get something decent but I didn't want to be ungrateful.
 
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