Slight Altercation

[L1OFF]

Had a bit of bad luck today, had to go the the shops (Volvo in for service) and while parking the A110 a Vx Corse decided to reverse into me.



Front Bumper



Creased Wing

[s111dpc]

That’s really annoying - hope you’re able to get it fixed soon.

[croyde]

Oh bugger!

We have to share the roads with them. I sold my Alpine last year and did think about getting an Emira but as only cars it was only a matter of time before some dimwit would have damaged it.

Sorry, must be gutting

[L1OFF]

Does make you think is it worth having a decent car these days what with the state of the roads and the muppets we share them with.

[Soloman Dodd]

L1OFF said:

Does make you think is it worth having a decent car these days what with the state of the roads and the muppets we share them with.

The trouble with that is you are committing yourself to a life of driving rank rusty old sheds.

[croyde]

I didn't. I got a brand new Dacia Bigster

Very liberating knowing that I'm not worried about knocks and I've already kerbed 2 of the alloys.

Far more liberating was taking ownership of a brand new Duster back in 2021 for only £10.5k

I lost twice that for owning a Disco 3 for 3.5 years from new.

Sold the Duster 3 years later for £9.3k.

In hindsight I should have just kept it as a second practical car and kept my A110.

[Yuri75]

Soloman Dodd said:

The trouble with that is you are committing yourself to a life of driving rank rusty old sheds.

Indeed. One can buy a nice car and only use it sparsely, running a shed alongside it to take the brunt. But even then, you cannot control other drivers, cyclists, road conditions and what not - even if you pick your Sunday outings carefully. In the end, the only way to preserve a car is not to drive it which kind of defeats the point IMHO. So I'll happily drive my A110 on a daily basis, and accept the risk that someone else will damage it. In fact, I have already collected a scuff on the front bumper that wasn't there when I bought it and as much as it annoys me, I still maintain that the joy of driving it a lot far outweighs the grief of this (so far minor) wear and tear due to inattentive people.

[Richard Piggott]

Yuri75 said:

Indeed. One can buy a nice car and only use it sparsely, running a shed alongside it to take the brunt. But even then, you cannot control other drivers, cyclists, road conditions and what not - even if you pick your Sunday outings carefully. In the end, the only way to preserve a car is not to drive it which kind of defeats the point IMHO. So I'll happily drive my A110 on a daily basis, and accept the risk that someone else will damage it. In fact, I have already collected a scuff on the front bumper that wasn't there when I bought it and as much as it annoys me, I still maintain that the joy of driving it a lot far outweighs the grief of this (so far minor) wear and tear due to inattentive people.

This

[Yuri75]

That being said, with parts availability apparently being spotty, I might be tempting the Gods with my approach...

[bigglesA110]

Yuri75 said:

Soloman Dodd said:

The trouble with that is you are committing yourself to a life of driving rank rusty old sheds.

Indeed. One can buy a nice car and only use it sparsely, running a shed alongside it to take the brunt. But even then, you cannot control other drivers, cyclists, road conditions and what not - even if you pick your Sunday outings carefully. In the end, the only way to preserve a car is not to drive it which kind of defeats the point IMHO. So I'll happily drive my A110 on a daily basis, and accept the risk that someone else will damage it. In fact, I have already collected a scuff on the front bumper that wasn't there when I bought it and as much as it annoys me, I still maintain that the joy of driving it a lot far outweighs the grief of this (so far minor) wear and tear due to inattentive people.

Thats the approach I take with mine. It's still a 3rd car and is a bit 'high days and holidays' but I don't worry too much about using it. It got a stone chip or two over its 16k miles but I figure at £50k in absolute terms it was a lot cheaper than a lot of other mundane cars these days, it's humble bones aren't made of unobtanium and there's plenty of aluminium bodied cars out there so the trade has some idea how to straighten it, even if you have to be picky about who you send it to. Things like headlights and glass probably bother me more, but even then the price of an LED Matrix headlight on any Merc / Audi is going to hurt the wallet.

It's an act of self denial to not use it and I remind myself that all these concourse cars from decades ago are 95% only that way because they've had paint and a lot of restoration. They look wonderful today but will have lived a life too.

That said, I'm not careless and I'm fortunate to live in the countryside so I'm not battling urban tanks all day. But all of our cars still scrub up nicely even at quite high miles so it's as much about taking care in terms of the things you can control.

[s111dpc]

bigglesA110 said:

Yuri75 said:

Soloman Dodd said:

The trouble with that is you are committing yourself to a life of driving rank rusty old sheds.

Indeed. One can buy a nice car and only use it sparsely, running a shed alongside it to take the brunt. But even then, you cannot control other drivers, cyclists, road conditions and what not - even if you pick your Sunday outings carefully. In the end, the only way to preserve a car is not to drive it which kind of defeats the point IMHO. So I'll happily drive my A110 on a daily basis, and accept the risk that someone else will damage it. In fact, I have already collected a scuff on the front bumper that wasn't there when I bought it and as much as it annoys me, I still maintain that the joy of driving it a lot far outweighs the grief of this (so far minor) wear and tear due to inattentive people.

Thats the approach I take with mine. It's still a 3rd car and is a bit 'high days and holidays' but I don't worry too much about using it. It got a stone chip or two over its 16k miles but I figure at £50k in absolute terms it was a lot cheaper than a lot of other mundane cars these days, it's humble bones aren't made of unobtanium and there's plenty of aluminium bodied cars out there so the trade has some idea how to straighten it, even if you have to be picky about who you send it to. Things like headlights and glass probably bother me more, but even then the price of an LED Matrix headlight on any Merc / Audi is going to hurt the wallet.

It's an act of self denial to not use it and I remind myself that all these concourse cars from decades ago are 95% only that way because they've had paint and a lot of restoration. They look wonderful today but will have lived a life too.

That said, I'm not careless and I'm fortunate to live in the countryside so I'm not battling urban tanks all day. But all of our cars still scrub up nicely even at quite high miles so it's as much about taking care in terms of the things you can control.

In total agreement with both you chaps. Mine’s just clocked 18k in two years