Gutted :(

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This sounds like a typical female overreaction, I'm sure it will blow over. Either way you are going to be left short and now she wants to make you take the depreciation hit on it as well. If she's really sticking to her guns, buy banger after banger and she'll soon cave in.

It'll be a real shame if it goes as it's one of the nicest VXRs around.
 
MrLOL said:
what sort of running costs is an S4 going to throw up.

whats servicing like ?
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its effectively an old banger, so all servicing can be done at independants. it wants oil changes every 20k, but being half sensible youd do it at 10k, but things like replacing a cambelt or a clutch/turbo costs a fortune and shed have you nailed to the highest branch of a tree by your nutsack

tyres are 225/45/17 so £70 a corner gets you Kumho ku31s but as with any car thats slightly interesting, there will be heavy costs waiting in the background somewhere
 
[ui]ICEMAN;15455465 said:
Makes me realise how lucky I am, my wife said I needed to change the Cayman S for a family car so she helped me buy a 911 C2S :)
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Now you're just rubbing it in :eek:

OP, get an Audi S4 B6 and tell her it's a 1.6
 
Or just get it resprayed a different colour and remove the VXR badges. We all know women cant differentiate between cars other than by colour.

My sister once nearly got into the mk4 Astra I was parked next to instead of my car - apparently it "looks just like your car, its silver!"
 
Wether the car is expensive to run or not is surely relevant to income? Outgoings?... Disposable income.

As has been said many a time in this thread for a Sport model of a saloon car your running costs are inline with other models such as the Mondeo ST220 and Octavia VRS.

So, I believe the underlying issue is money coming in.

There is no point having a real nice car if you cannot have good times with the family. Holidays etc.

I am a real sofite for material items, I love owning nice tangible things. However, not at the expense of things I would enjoy doing with friends and family.

If you're struggling at christmas or to afford a holiday, then your partner is making a sound arguement. I am not wanting to pry into your private finances, just putting a different perspective on things.

What are fuel costs like in the VXR?
 
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MrLOL said:
i'm a little bit perplexed as to why its lasted this short
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the mad thing is, my S4 had its remap to 320bhp and 350lbft 60k miles and 4-5 years ago. the audi is 4wd, so where the vxr can just wheelspin excess power away the audi has no real choice other than to put it all down to the road and the drivelines on these things are bombproof

im tempted to guess there is something more to your clutch failure, but no one will know until there has been a bit of diagnosis
 
If it's your car, and you pay for it, then she needs to calm the **** down. I can understand her getting upset over £800 needed to be spent on 'your car', but once it's done, it's done.
 
Bad situation to be in mate :(

As people have clearly pointed out the running costs really are not that bad at all. I have probabally spent the same on an ST24 in the same amount of time. It is the luck of the draw with cars, no matter what you buy!

What is there to say that even if you buy a fiesta or something that the engine wont blow up and need replacing?

On the tyre front, go slightly cheaper. I recently got some budget budget tyres for mine, 18" for £45 fitted. Now I have noticed on the same corners I go round I get a slight tyre squeal but nothing too major if pushing hard. They do me fine for my boring commute, however depending on how you drive most of the time may not suit your driving style! If she is that bothered tell her you can buy these ditch finders for £45!

As you say, better the devil you know...give her a slap.
 
This is how I see it, she is being a little unreasonable saying she will leave you if you don't change your car, but why don't you play the situation, tell her there is no way you can change the car at the drop of a hat, tell her the clutch needs fixing before you could sell it anyway (who is going to buy a VXR off someone who cannot afford to replace the clutch, Fox posts about this all the time when ads say about unable to afford car etc) and that once it's fixed you will sit down with her and look at the viable options of what you could change to after christmas, explain it's the wrong time of year to be selling a car.

Let her cool down, think that you are willing to listen to what she has to say, believe me if you bend over to her demands now it's only going to get worse.

On the driving side of things, you just need to slow down, stop driving the car so hard.
 
I don't understand the issue really. 40k from a clutch on a powerful car like that is pretty reasonable. What's the problem here? If it's the £800 just get it done at a decent specialist for 3/4 the price.



Leeum said:
When you say 'driving it hard', are we talking hard launches off the line etc.?
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If he was doing that, it wouldn't have lasted 40k.
 
NathanE said:
I don't understand the issue really. 40k from a clutch on a powerful car like that is pretty reasonable. What's the problem here? If it's the £800 just get it done at a decent specialist for 3/4 the price.





If he was doing that, it wouldn't have lasted 40k.
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Read the thread, since the remap and driving it hard it lasted 5-6k.
 
i dont think its reasonable for a clutch to last only 40k. the original clutch in my golf lasted 155k miles, it started out life as a company car so i doubt it was treated with kid gloves. i put a new clutch on mysellf, 60k miles later, driven hard on a regular basis and no problems.

in terms of something more powerful, my s4 had 265bhp until 67k miles and 320bhp there after and its now on 115k miles and the original clutch. 40k is not right which makes me think there is more going on
 
matt100 said:
2) Your car has the potential for reasonable running costs but a clutch and 2 sets of fronts in 20k miles points to the fact you drive like a tit, you're a father, you shouldn't be launching everywhere like your hair is on fire.
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10k from a set of fronts seems quite good to me on a powerfull fwd car. Running fairly soft tyres (Goodyear F1's) on my 200sx I don't get much more than that on the front and a lot less on the rear. Even the Kumho's on the front of my last hack Mondeo were looking worn after 12k.
 
anticonscience said:
Read the thread, since the remap and driving it hard it lasted 5-6k.
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So it's done ~35k pre-remap and then a further 5-6k post-remap?

Again, sounds reasonable to me. This is a big engined Vectra that weighs almost 2 tons.

:confused:

It is often said that clutches die quickly if their usage pattern alters. So if he's suddenly started driving it like he stole it then it's probably cooked the clutch.
 
I'd break out the flowers and try to woo the **** out of her.

Its interesting how different relationships can be. My gf knows that cars are my thing and that I won't give them up for anything, just as I wouldn't ask her to give up her hockey or anything else.

Personally I'd try to talk her round, try and convince her that this is the final costly bit and provided you dont drive like a twonk, you should be ok.

Quoting a dealer price was a big mistake. Source an cheapish aftermarket clutch and get a backstreet or a mechanic mate to fit it. I know we're talking totally different cars but when the clutch conked on the Skivvic, I got an Exedy for £100 and got it fitted for another £100. Obviously will be more as the clutch will be bigger and rated more, not to mention the engine is mounted longitudinally, and car/engine/box is bigger.

But the key is always to lie when talking to women about money.

I wish you all the best. Don't give up your dream for this - you'll regret it and resent her.
 
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