My mate and I spent most of Saturday going around all the local garages looking for a car to use for our rally. Unfortunately no luck, cars for £333 just don't seem to show up in car lots, probably because they are worth nearly that in scrap value. Plus they take up valuable space that could be used for more expensive cars. We even tried main stream dealers in case they had received any part ex's they wanted to get rid off. More bad luck, they're not allowed to sell them to the public because they are legally obliged to offer a warranty, and they don't want to.
We thought about going to a car auction, but they're mainly in the week and neither of us wanted to waste a day off work. That left of course, the good old Bay of E. We did a local search for cars up to £400, few nice cars popped up, one in particular seemed to tick all the boxes tough. We popped over today to take a look it, an hour later we parted with our crispy £333 and have the below to show for it.
1995 BMW 520i Tourer Automatic
159k on the clock
16" alloys
Tow bar
Climate control
Power steering and ABS
Electric windows
CD player
Front/rear fog lights
Sport/winter modes
MOT until June 12
Two tyres have recently been replaced and the other two have a good few thousand miles left in them. The spare is a full size 16" alloy with decent tyre. New front brakes. Drives tight as a drum, feels like a saloon when hammering it around the corners. We would have preferred a manual, but beggars can't be choosers. The auto box isn't perfect, but it does the job. As the rally involves 2,500 miles of driving, I think we'll be thankful we don't have to change gear! It came with a bit of service history, not too much, but enough.
Now the bad points. There's some rust on the front passenger door and both rear arches, but not enough to fail an MOT over. The front windscreen has a huge crack in it though, so needs to be replaced as soon as possible. That's it really.
Immediate plans are for us to get the windscreen replaced, then give it a service. For £333 we're really pleased with it!
Please look here for more information on the rally and why we're doing it - https://www.facebook.com/teamgraysonrally
Please donate here, you'll be helping change lives - http://www.action.org.uk/sponsor/teamgraysonrally
Our route for the rally - http://tinyurl.com/d4bl3nf
