Nearly bought a new car last night

[hogweed]

Despite a great deal of money having been spent on it over the last few years, the Rover keeps letting me down – 3 times now in as many months:


1. Front spring broke, had to be towed;
2. Little pin came away in the rear brake drum, locking the back wheel on a busy roundabout. Managed to free it by reversing, and got to a garage, but everybody was booked up solid, so it was 2 weeks to get fixed. And he noticed a rear shocker leaking, so spent a bit replacing both of them.
3. Gear lever suddenly went funny, accompanied by clunks under the bonnet – sounds like the selector cables. It’s in for diagnosis today, but still could be weeks before I get it back unless it’s very quick to fix.


So over the last few days, I started looking at replacements, up to an absolute maximum of £10k. Second hand motors are expensive these days, aren’t they… Mazda 6 diesel was quite nice, but characterless.


Last night, we went to see a BMW 318D SE which was in almost mint condition. 10 years old, but genuine 19,000 on the clock, and looked and felt it. It was a delight to drive, a fair bit quicker than the Rover, and very tight on the bends etc. Auto box, which I could grow to love in my old age.


But it completely lacked any character at all – it was soulless. And the trim seemed a bit plasticky and cheap. I’ve owned Beemers in the past, and they were much better than this.


Having said that, I might have bought it and settled for a life of bland but probably dependable motoring… had it not been for the fact that it had a faint odour of stale cigarette smoke combined with Febreze or something equally repulsive. The smell was still in my nostrils hours later.


This saved me from buying – and probably regretting – I dunno. Cautiously driving the old girl down to the garage this morning, I could REALLY feel the difference in quality between it and the BM, so have (unwisely?) decided to chuck even more money at it. Could be anything, this time, from a little clamp to fix the selector cable, to a 2nd hand gearbox (and would that be any better than mine?) or whatever.


I feel kind of trapped in a no-win situation. I’m a pensioner these days, and can’t afford to buy anything which would be a real replacement for the Rover. Meanwhile I’m buzzing about in the TF, which has an engine warning light (O2 sensor) but is running OK… for now…


There’s a part of me which would like to buy this, but I think the expense if anything did go wrong could be eye-watering…