SWANSONG....

[mrges]

Ah well, looks like last weeks spell of gorgeous, warm and sunny weather will be the lasting memory for me and me (soon to be departed) 5....called into a dealer on Saturday and nailed a deal on a replacement set of wheels - and the good bit is (well, sort of...) that it should be ready for collection in the next week to 10 days. It is in the country at the moment, should be delivered to the show room next day or so, then shipped out again to have the seats covered.

Since this has been on the cards I have been driving everywhere in the 5 - and have put on almost 2000km in just over a month (the Golf doesn't know itself, getting such a rest!).

Just out of interest, I never realised the importance of number plate letters (or so I am led to believe). Some dealers offered several hundred less for a trade in value, and when I eventually asked one (Drogheda) why there was sooo much variation he told me that Dublin plated cars sell almost everywhere, but that plates from places other than the "D", or east coast, don't sell as fast in Dublin and the surrounding areas, so this is factored into the value they give you. I brought this up with a few others, who agreed, and said as a general rule of thumb "DL" plates tend to be the hardest to shift (outside of Donegal, of course!). And finally, whether it is a sign of the times, or whether some dealers have a ready market for a MX5, the trade in value for the car varied by 8K (being traded against the same car) - a remarkable difference.


Will post some pics when the new machine is in my hands.

mrges

[mx5ash]

SO what you getting??/

[mrges]

Hi Ash.......I'll keep ya guessing for now! Tell ya what, I'll drip feed some clues, one for each post, and first to get it right can have an unused "MX5 Ireland.com" sticker (I have one left that I didn't use).


Clue 1. 170bhp (can't make it tooooo easy).



BTW, Ash - the house is taking shape nicely - and WHAT a garage, really glad to see you are prioritising!!


mrges

[aquarian5]

Hi Ash.......I'll keep ya guessing for now! Tell ya what, I'll drip feed some clues, one for each post, and first to get it right can have an unused "MX5 Ireland.com" sticker (I have one left that I didn't use).


Clue 1. 170bhp (can't make it tooooo easy).

.....Hmmmm let me guess......
Audi A5 1.8T ???

mrges

[mrges]

Hi aquarian5,

Fraid not.....and I suppose clue 1 should have had the official "168" bhp - not 170 (but who is counting).


Clue 2. 258 lovely torques

mrges

[aquarian5]

......drat....

Ok sticking with the Audi theme......

Latest Audi TT then....


Regards John

[mx5ash]

rx8

[mrges]

A-HA....the secret is out! So much for me other clues:

2 doors
0-60 = 7.5 secs
4 seats (sort of...)
German
Quattro

and then the sucker punch....or maybe I should have mentioned this earlier and it may have put folk off.......it drinks from the same pump as trucks do!!


Congrats John - PM me your address and I'll have the sticker in the post asap.


mrges

[mx5ash]

Mmmm very nice, you may leave the forum now. Thank you for your time.
http://www.tt-forum.co.uk/forum/





























Only messin mate, wouldn't mind a spin in that if you come to a run sometime.

[mrges]

No problem!

As mentioned earlier, will post pics here when I get it.


Graham.

[fabfiveferg]

Good stuff Graham. Congrats on the new wheels.

You do like the smell of a new motor don't you

[Stig]

Graham,

I'd like to take thank you for single handedly propping up the economy with your new purchase - fair play.
Now if only you'd go out and buy a few semi detached house in moate or somewhere like that too!
Look forward to the pics........

rgds,

O.

[aquarian5]

Cheers Graham....yippee...

Thought it would be in the Audi line alright....congrats on the new purchase and enjoy.

Did you say that you had traded in or were selling it privately?

What was the issue with the seats, are you selecting leather or something??

Actually if you meet up with any of the mx5 crew you can donate the sticker to one of them, I got one from Ash earlier in the year.

Hope to see the new wheels at some stage.

Regards John.

[mrges]

Ferg, to paraphrase Kilgore in Apocolypse Now
"....I love the smell of a new car in the morning....smells like.....victory"!!! (If only they could bottle the stuff - I'd save a fortune....).

Ollie - ordered the car from Michael Moore's in Athlone (after trawling round the country, and making numerous phone calls I ended up back at my local dealer). I was actually surprised by the number of people browsing, and buying, from them. They had a second hand (one year old) TT, and a brand new white one - retailing at over 50K - and during the couple of weeks I was "negotiating" both were sold (damn - maybe they will be as common as muck round here).


John - I ended up trading in - tried to sell privately, and it was the lowest priced MK3 on the car sites - but not one call. I think I got a good price for the car, given the "current economic climate". As I said previously the trade in offers varied by 8 grand. I even considered buying the car up North and was in talks with Agnews for a couple of days, however the trade in price I got here actually made the car cheaper to buy in the south (taking the VAT and VRT into consideration).

With regards to seats, it comes with leather/alcantara, but with two girls (aged 7 and 8 ) I know the chances of Actimel, orange juice or the like getting on the alcantara are high, so I wanted the seat backs covered in leather too - sooo much easier to wipe the stains off (ooeerrr missus). So it is the seats that are holding things up at the moment - once they're trimmed the keys should be in my hands in jig time......


I'm leaving the sticker on the back window - so the new owner might be encouraged to log onto the site and say a big hello to y'all. I still have one sticker unused......if anyone wants to send me their address I'll forward it on (and if not it will go on the garage window).

mrges