If you had the chance to buy this car, would you?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Zip
  • Start date Start date
R124/LA420 said:
FWIW, I have a friend with wealthy parents, who, on passing his test @ 21 was given a 1990 Sierra Sapphire Cosworth,not only that, he subsequently had it modded to in excess of 350BHP. Incidentally it was the 2wd model, not the 4x4. He now has a "Prodrive" Subaru of some description, and to my knowledge (he'd have let on, I'm sure) ,he's never had a bump in 16 years driving.

A far better driving record than I have thats for sure! :o


When my friends and I were all passing our tests around the same time (1996 ish). One lad who had been left money by a relative bought a lovely old style XR2.

He passed his test, picked up a mate and 15 minutes later parked it backwards into a field :D

Another lad whose surname was Breakspear couldn't help but write off every car he was bought/given so we nicknamed him Brakes-Fail. He literally gave up in the end!
 
Zip said:
Im a quiet guy by nature.
Ive driving some RWDs before even if they wernt very powerful and have already learnt my lesson not to corner like you can in FWD.(long driveway incident. Back end slipped out and when i went to correct i got a face full of sun had me driving and bouncing across a paddock)

You lost control of a car on a DRIVEWAY?

Please, buy something sensible. Get a few years experience, then buy something like that.

Even I've gone through the 'Am I ready?' thoughts when chosing to go for a 5 Series and I'm 22 and have been driving for 4 and a half years...

The very fact you seem to think I'm talking purely about speed tells me you just don't have a clue - no offence, it's simply becuase of the comparative lack of experience :)

Nobody plans to throw 8 grand in a ditch and it doesn't even have to be becuase you were driving like a smacktard - simply not being able to get out of trouble when you make a mistake could cause a problem.

We all like to think we are perfect, we all like to think it wouldn't happen to us and we all like to wheel out the examples of our mate Bob who had an F355 Spyder as a first car and never crashed but they are the exception not the rule.

There are several posters on here, for example, who bought powerful RWD cars at a young age. Almost all of them had incidents or, worse, wrote the car off as a result. Some of them have for obviously reasons not mentioned this on the forum and I'll go into no more detail as a result but this rosey image that whatever the age, any car is just fine and dandy is frankly silly and reckless.

I don't subscribe to the buy a horrid little underpowered rotbox, but there are extremes, you know :)
 
[TW]Fox said:
You lost control of a car on a DRIVEWAY?

Please, buy something sensible. Get a few years experience, then buy something like that.

Even I've gone through the 'Am I ready?' thoughts when chosing to go for a 5 Series and I'm 22 and have been driving for 4 and a half years...

The very fact you seem to think I'm talking purely about speed tells me you just don't have a clue - no offence, it's simply becuase of the comparative lack of experience :)

Nobody plans to throw 8 grand in a ditch and it doesn't even have to be because you were driving like a smacktard - simply not being able to get out of trouble when you make a mistake could cause a problem.

We all like to think we are perfect, we all like to think it wouldn't happen to us and we all like to wheel out the examples of our mate Bob who had an F355 Spyder as a first car and never crashed but they are the exception not the rule.

There are several posters on here, for example, who bought powerful RWD cars at a young age. Almost all of them had incidents or, worse, wrote the car off as a result. Some of them have for obviously reasons not mentioned this on the forum and I'll go into no more detail as a result but this rosey image that whatever the age, any car is just fine and dandy is frankly silly and reckless.

I don't subscribe to the buy a horrid little underpowered rotbox, but there are extremes, you know :)


I was driving a hilux ute so theres no wieght on the real wheels and the driveway was long with think dusty/sandy surface and the sun got my right in the face and i couldnt see past the steering wheel :o

I know other circumstances apart from speed can have you in a ditch like road condition, weather condition, tire blow outs, other nutters on the roads etc etc.
Thats also a reason im going to do an advanced driving course so i can get out of trouble better then what i can now.

If you think this car is to powerful for me please recommend me a car that you think would be suitable and ill have a look at them.
But dont forget ill be driving more 5 hours straight sometimes and on roads where semi trailers and road trains drive out through the middle of no where.
So i would like comfort and i would like to feel reasonably safe :)
I also want a bit of power because if i do overtake someone i want to get past and back on my side of the road as quick as possible
 
Zip said:
If you think this car is to powerful for me please recommend me a car that you think would be suitable and ill have a look at them.
i will genuinely be amazed if Fox doesn't answer this with the Mk2 V6 Mondeo.
it's better equipped,newer,more powerful and safer in a crash scenario than that model of 3 series.
and with the RS pack it looks better IMHO too.
 
The_Dark_Side said:
i will genuinely be amazed if Fox doesn't answer this with the Mk2 V6 Mondeo.
it's better equipped,newer,more powerful and safer in a crash scenario than that model of 3 series.
and with the RS pack it looks better IMHO too.

There arnt really that many mondeos in Australia so that could be difficult to find :o
 
The 3-series is also in a different league if he did want to drive it properly. As said though that could well be a recipe for disaster :/ Completely different cars.

Mondeo wise, arnt they called ford falcons down there?
 
Jez said:
The 3-series is also in a different league if he did want to drive it properly. As said though that could well be a recipe for disaster :/ Completely different cars.

Mondeo wise, arnt they called ford falcons down there?

Nah a mondeo is a mondeo like you get and a Falcon is an Austrailian built ford and are either a V6 or V8 RWD :)
 
Nope they did actually sell the Mk2 Mondeo in Aus but it was very rare, didn't sell very well and there are only a handle of ST24's around.

Still think it's too potent for a new driver but at least it's handling is a tad more neutral than a BMW.
 
If you have the option of a common (assuming they are?) V8 RWD ford then why are you looking at banged up old 80's bimmers?

I'd love for ford to have sold a RWD V8 here, i'd probably own one. Ford reliability and cheapness+V8+RWD=win? :)
 
[TW]Fox said:
Nope they did actually sell the Mk2 Mondeo in Aus but it was very rare, didn't sell very well and there are only a handle of ST24's around.

Still think it's too potent for a new driver but at least it's handling is a tad more neutral than a BMW.

So what do u suggest fox :)
Ill take it into consideration.
There were only 200 ST24s imported down here and they can still cost $12000+ :o
 
I genuinelly don't know - I am not that familiar with your car market really :(

Actually you had FTO's sold over there didn't you, officially, considered the 1.8 GR? It's not fast enough to get you into trouble, looks pretty cool as well, and has the bare essentials in terms of kit - climate control etc.
 
Jez said:
If you have the option of a common (assuming they are?) V8 RWD ford then why are you looking at banged up old 80's bimmers?

I'd love for ford to have sold a RWD V8 here, i'd probably own one. Ford reliability and cheapness+V8+RWD=win? :)

Australian cars are death traps tbh :(
I also hate them, Commodors and Falcons arnt the best built cars in the world and a lot of the older models are drivin by people that you lot would call "chavs"
 
You get lots of jap stuff there dont you?

MR2 non turbo perhaps? Great handling but not so much of a death trap as the turbo model. What about a mazda MX5?

To be honest ive no idea how expensive anything is or how easy anything is to get hold of though, for car buying advice down there you would be best off on an aussie forum i'd have thought :(
 
[TW]Fox said:
I genuinelly don't know - I am not that familiar with your car market really :(

Actually you had FTO's sold over there didn't you, officially, considered the 1.8 GR? It's not fast enough to get you into trouble, looks pretty cool as well, and has the bare essentials in terms of kit - climate control etc.

I think we did get some FTOs down here.
If they are sub 10 grand or not full of mods is a different matter.

If you want to have a look around ill give you some car sites.
www.carsales.com.au
www.carsguide.com.au
www.drive.com.au
www.carpoint.com.au

They might give you some indercation of what our car markets like aswell :)
 
Jez said:
You get lots of jap stuff there dont you?

MR2 non turbo perhaps? Great handling but not so much of a death trap as the turbo model. What about a mazda MX5?

To be honest ive no idea how expensive anything is or how easy anything is to get hold of though, for car buying advice down there you would be best off on an aussie forum i'd have thought :(

There is a fair bit of jap stuff down here but some are still quite expensive.
Take a scoob for example. Standard 1996 WRX imprezas are still going for arounf 20grand and the STi versions are going around 30 grand.
MX5s are out of my price range aswell im pretty sure.
There might be some MR2s around but even they can go well above 10k in some cases.
The Australian car market sucks :(
 
I think its more that the stuff we are used to is expensive down there, i am sure there are other bargains like the V8 fords you mentioned.

What about a V8 holden saloon (the one like our Vauxhall Omega), that thing must be a beast! :D
 
I dont like Australian built cars, ive heard to many horror stories with them either braking down or getting writtin off.
They really dont like getting writtin off either.

I prefer European or Jap cars personally, they usally have a much better build quality.
I also like to be different :)
 
Back
Top Bottom