Be Excellent To Each Other

But i'm not arguing for no speed limits on high streets or country roads. I was talking about the motorway speed limit, sorry if that wasn't clear.

A few years back, I made a random post in a random forum on Pistonheads, idly wondering what had happened to my old MGB I owned from 1992 to 2001. I posted the reg number on the off chance someone would know.
I've had an email today from the current owner, who found my post, and who has restored it to concours condition. He is going to send me over a photo

It's weirdly satisfying to know she is still out there and in much better condition than I ever restored her too!

and here she is! a bit better condition than when I owned her...

Bloody hell.

Money pit.

Aye, must have cost a fortune!

Whoops! It appears my MOT is out of date. Only by 2 weeks, not 5 months though, i'm not a total idiot

It passed with no advisories.

I know you were all worried.

Interestingly (well, to me anyway), I have been playing around with figures regarding buying a cheap car to use as a station car for when I move.

Doing the trip in the subaru

Petrol : 103.9
mpg : 21
miles per day : 12

£2.70 per trip.

250ish working days a year, minus holidays, assuming I can work from home 1 day a week = 180 trips.

180*2.7 = £498 a year in petrol

Now, what about if I buy a £500 Micra that does at best 45mpg?
That works out at : £1.26 a trip. A significant saving! Or is it?

180*1.26 = £227 a year in petrol

Saves me £271 a year in fuel costs, but add on the extra cost to tax (£125 a year) plus insurance, plus MOT, plus running costs, plus cost to buy etc...

This seems to indicate that I should carry on using the Subaru (or replace it with and even more stupid car with a lower mpg, as it makes fuck all difference really!)

Yeah, you won't save money running a second car for that low a mileage.
Not even the finest of man-maths can make that work for you, and you should only use man-maths to justify good stuff not Micras anyway.

It makes even less sense when you consider that i'm planning to drive in the winter and cycle/pedelec in the summer.

You could possibly make the sums work on a 50cc scooter that does 100mpg and £15 a year tax....

Oh, I've bought a Ford Puma!

Trooper is helping me to collect it on Thursday. I've not seen it yet, so hopefully it's not a complete dog.

I did think about that, but the combination of the roads being 60mph and wanting to still drive in the winter I imagine, make that a nonstarter.

Oh yeah, it would be miserable in winter. I wasn't seriously advocating it. The most economical vehicle would be an old cg125 or similar that won't depreciate at all, and will still return above 100mpg but it's no fun at all when the weather is poor.

I liked the Puma that Lady T had, it was fun - a little rascal. We were very sad to see our cars go when we moved away.

This is the first of 5 pumas...

Are you going to do a real life BETEO race series?

We actually are, at the nurburgring.

That sounds pretty neat. Hope the standard of driving has improved since I last played Forza with you lot.

(I was one of the worst, admittedly)

Man, I'd love to do that.

What's stopping you?

He needs a friend.

Plus money, car, time etc.

Plenty of time to get a car.

Tempting. If I can flog the MX5 before then and get a Puma, and if I can get the three days off work, and if girls are allowed and Jem can also get the time off work...

Or you could take DavPaz

Oi!

It's ok, my massive bonce wouldn't fit in a Ford Puma anyway.

Thanks to the kindly Trooper giving me a lift, I have my steed!

That looks nice and tidy. For £500 I think you can be pleased it's not on fire.

This weekend we're off car shopping for my GF. I think she should buy a nice MX5, but I suspect a Citigo beckons.

53,000 miles!

£550, though. The extra £50 clearly goes a long way.

She could buy my MX5!

Indeed, though for her every day car she wouldn't contemplate buying anything older than her Punto and with higher mileage.

If my Garage wasn't full of bikes, a scooter and an arcade machine I'd have it for myself as a weekend car, but alas it *is* full and I'm not moving house.

I'd buy it, but latest house developments may mean zero monies after the move, if the move happens!

I would get it but I would need to shift the ka on and check insurance prices.

Nice Puma, grim.

I've been buying bits all morning. It's like real-life Forza!

*impact driver noise (brrvvvv)* *car instantly drops 6 inches*

nice looking thing, 1.7 variable valve? (1.7? Am I making that up?)

incidentally if people are looking for offensive sideways machines with poppy-up lights, my mr2 would be an excellent place to start...

1.7 Zetec. It's pretty ace, to be honest. The gearbox in those things is sublime.

I got a 1.7 Ford Puma as a hire car back in, ooohhhh, early 2000 I'd say, down in Milton Keynes. I was there on a training course for Novell Zen Works. We flew into an airport some distance away (London Luton? Was that a thing back then?), so there was a fair haul on the motorway there, and then a few nights in Milton Keynes, and then back to the airport again.

Anyway, point being, it was a fantastic little car, and of course Milton Keynes was a great place to have a spin in it with it being such a 'roadey' sort of place. (Lots of roundabouts to zoom around!)

I remember it as being really peppy to drive, great handling, not insanely quick but it 'felt' very quick if that makes sense, just a joyful little car to chuck around the place.

I have a Puma! It's very yellow...

£370, can't complain.

Blimey. What's wrong with it?

I like that.

The colour

Overheating occasionally, apparently. Plus the usual rusty wheelarches.
Should just need a new thermostat...

That won't take long to fix then. Excellent.

Puma fight!

I have a theory that it just has airlocks in the system, so doesn't actually need any parts to fix it. Reading up, Puma's are notoriously difficult to bleed the coolant and not get airlocks, and it recently (2 weeks ago) went to a back street garage to have the "coolant switch" replaced, according to the receipt. What's the betting they just didn't know how to bleed it properly...

Ooh, pretty good, I reckon.

So why are Puma's so special? Have I missed something?

You know what I'm like for collecting things. Don't get me started!