Mum`s New Car

[tiny gsy]

Monday night, there was little to do so my mum suggested going to have a look around the garages for a new car for her. She set a limit of around £2000 to find her a half decent car that she could take to france but would also be fairly reasonable over here. The main stipulation was that it had to have a big boot.

After a couple of garages, we found a 2.5 gsi Vectra for sale for £2000 with a full Irmscher bodykit and agreed we would return the following afternoon after work to enquire about it. As it happened, a close friend works in the parts department of the garage that it was for sale al so I got him to look into it and find out the history etc of it.

This was it:

About 330 on tuesday afternoon I received a call from my mate to inform me that the car had sold within half an hour of them opening that morning and that it had only been put on sale at close of day the night before! What he had found out though, is that behind it was a 2.5 vectra sri in red that the paint had faded on (have a look at the pink car behind the astra next to the black one) that because of the faded paint it would be possible to get for less.

After i finished work that day, I collected my mum and we drove to the garage to have a look at it. My mate appeared with a small amount of polish and a couple of rags so that i could see for myself that it would polish up. did the usual checks on it and it didn`t seem to be too bad other than that, the wipers needing replacing and a couple of spots of rust. Checked for smoke on start up and there was nothing at all from cold so I was well impressed. Took it for a test drive and although lacking power in comparison to the impreza, I was quite impressed with it, and also of the sound of the v6 even through its standard exhaust.

Once we returned, I popped into the parts department to see my mate and find out what he had managed to dig up about the car. I also checked to see if it had had the cambelt changed and did the usual oil and fluids checked. After a short while, the salesman returned and started to give me the usual spiel about how once polished they were going to put it up on the forecourt for £2000 but had decided against it whilst the black on was for sale. After a bit of negotiating, stating that I have the materials to clean it up myself and so didn`t feel it necessary that they do it, and that the rust patches would need some attention and the wipers etc I offered him £900 for it. All I can say after that is his jaw practically hit the floor in disbelief as he said "sorry" thinking he`d misheard me. After I repeated my offer he seemed to take me quite seriously and then stated that he would accept no less than £1000 for it. Again I tried to haggle it down a bit further but after a bit of thought, I gave in and settled for the £1000 that he wanted for it. At the moment, the car is currently sat in my grans driveway where I have started cleaning it up a little, compound polishing the door shuts and the inside of the boot and bonnet in preperation for the batteries being fully charged on my polisher. I also noted the engine fan was a bit noisy when operating so I will be investigating what that could be over the next few evenings.

My mum has stated that she has no wish to drive the car until it was all clean for her and so potentially, her first drive of it will be on saturday as that is when I believe it will be completely ready for her

[tiny gsy]

My mum has now taken delivery of her vectra from me, as she`s now happy with the way it looks.

It started off looking like this:

After a bit of compound polish it was starting to look much better though, note the difference between the two sides of the bonnet!

And finally, once the wheels had been cleaned and i`d given the whole car a polish, inside and out, it looks like this:

[steves scooby]

looks good

[joe_lane]

Nice one Tiny.

They're good motors.

I'm using a diesel Veccy as my daily driver and it's great!

Nice to see dealers being realisitc with their trade ins too. A mate of mine managed to get an S plate 20th anniversary disco the other day for £600. Needed a new turbo which the dealer he bought it off didn't know was £287+vat lol. Full valet and it'll be going out at £3500.

The trick to Vauxhall red paint is Auto Glym. Put some super resin polish on it after a good wash and leave it on overnight and polish off the next day. Do that every Friday for a month or 2 and the AG builds up a really nice coat of resin that stops the paint oxidising.

Seen lots of people try other methods and waxes but thats the only 1 I've seen that really works.

And makes the paintwork look stunning!

Edited June 24, 2008 by JoeKont

[tiny gsy]

Cheers mate, as much as I dislike autoglym`s stuff I may give that a go.

[monkip1]

I currenyly drive a vectra 1.8 ls, i personally think its a pice of ****, unconfy seats, no air con, just about got elec windows and rear heated windows lol, but i cant argue as its cheap on tax insurance and fuel, but i wouldent mind a upgrade to a 2.5 V^ gsi one day but en that day comes im sure he impreza will be driven daily

[kevlorn]

pretty reliable motors are vauxalls...........my father-in-law is on his second,knocking up over 150k on his first with no problems,and his second is aproaching 200k and it runs like a dream..no probs what so ever,and alot of short, around town journey's.....

[joe_lane]

My diesels just over 200,000.

And no faults to speak of.