I get on well with my father-in-law, not only because he?s a violent womaniser who abandoned his wife and children, but because of the way he laid his cards on the table when we met. His first words to me were - You may think I?m just a Polish peasant but I?ve got enough money in the bank to fly to England and kill you if you harm my daughter. Fair enough. Anyway, I had an argument with him on New year?s eve that might interest backroomers. He told me I was stupid to sell the old 605 with only 130k miles on the clock as his Passat is now showing 487k and still going strong. That?s rubbish I said, you?ve told me on several occasions that it?s on its third engine. You can?t claim starship mileages if the engine, the very heart of the car, has been changed. You?re disqualified, I told him. He wasn?t having any of it.
Remember when Trigger received a medal from Peckham Council for having the same broom last for 20 years? When asked about his achievement he replied - it?s had four new heads and three new handles. Well I think this is the same thing. And I?m right, aren?t I?
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Well I think this is the same thing. And I?m right, aren?t I?
To my mind yes that's correct.
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I would agree with you, when people talk about the life span (in miles/K's) of a vehicle they nomally refer to the engine life span.
Perhaps you should see how keen he is on buying your high mileage car, according to him all it'll need is a new engine before long!
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And I?m right, aren?t I?>>
Well no, the engine is not the only part that wears out on a high milage vehicle. What about the suspension, exhaust, tyres, interior trim etc. Even arguably metal fatigue in the body, chassis. The engine is one part the makes up a sum of parts. Whether it's replaced or nor imo is irrelevant..
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The engine is the key component to longevity. It's more than just a part it's the heart of a car. Suspension, exhaust, tyres, etc are just consumables.
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You're right BBD.
--
Espada III - well if you have a family and need a Lamborghini, what else do you drive?
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Maybe it depends how easy it is to change the engine and how much it would cost.My car is on 4000mls,second time around,only the body and a few bits are original.
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I think this is still an achievement in spite of replacement engines.
Co-incidentally enough my dad is Polish and also drives a Passat and is also (like most Poles) a bit eccentric !
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By the sounds of him, I would´nt want to argue your (valid) point too vigorously with him,BBD. He might throw a crankshaft in your direction, or something...
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let him throw it, as he will be halfway to an engine rebuild if he does.
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By the same argument he could claim to have been married for 50 years but on my third wife....
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
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>>> You may think I?m just a Polish peasant but I?ve got enough money in the bank to fly to England and kill you if you harm my daughter.
Huh, what an attitude... I already like that guy :)
BTW: Do you communicate in English ?
- - - - - - -
I am the only Pole over here.
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Why not?
People still regard the Flying Scotman as being the Flying Scotsman but due to the rigourous testing of boilers and rebuilds required over the years very little is still original, I believe there used to be an 'in' joke in the rail fraternity that the only original part of the Flying Scotsman was its nameplate!
Even if you won't accept the argument for a car you have to admit that for him to have put up with the same vehicle for 487k he deserves a medal! And that's still pretty impressive mileage for a Passat.
By the way, is his 487k in kilometres, that I might regard as cheating a little.....
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He?s a taxi driver so I guess it doesn?t take quite so long to build the miles up (km in his case, sorry I didn?t clarify). In fact I did offer him my 605, perfect for taxi work, I only wanted 500 squid for it because lets face it, it?s useless in Poland being RHD, and basically I would have given it to him but he wasn?t interested. I got a lucky break, a lad in Lodz heard me talking about it at a party and bought it there and then. He?s converted it to LHD and I saw it last week, they?ve done a fantastic job. He?s really pleased and so he should be, when it was valued for registration for the import tax (axiza) they estimated it to be worth about 2,200. A throw away car in the UK, but a cherished vehicle here. Cost to convert was 800.
I used to think there was a business opportunity there, but the conversion was beset by problems, every time they thought they were getting there they found something else, which meant often driving hundreds of kilometres to scrappies trying to find parts for a car that was never very popular. Typical problems- wiring loom too short to reach the dash in it?s new position, airbag, mine was a facelifted version and the first dash they found was the old version. Stuff like that. But there are garages that specialise in that here, I?ve been checking them out for my 406 - again worth here more than twice what I paid in the UK.
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