Cars you wouldn't buy and why

**X-AHH** · 03-01-2021, 02:09 PM

Thought this might be a bit of a fun subject to explore. It's not aimed at any particular brand of car or an attack on anyone's personal preferences.

Let's see if we can have a bit of fun with it.

Rules:

The vehicle must be for sale at the time of posting your choice.

One vehicle per post.

You must present at least 5 reasons why you wouldn't buy it.

$20k maximum price but no minimum.

I'll start the ball rolling with this little gem.

https://www.gumtree.com.au/s-ad/gawl...-ss/1264399472

Reasons.

1) The bonnet scoop isn't large enough to suit my discerning taste.
2) It's not black enough (mirrors don't match) so lacks the really tough image.
3) Not personalised enough. Where's the low profile tyres etc?
4) Can only be driven at night.
5) True sports cars don't have a towbar.
6) No interior and I've run out of milk crates and cushions.
7) No dyno or 1/4 mile data provided.
8) It's a Holden.

Can anyone find something better/worse than this one?

Bossxr8 · 03-01-2021, 09:48 PM

Anything made in china.

Because it’s made in china x 5.

roKWiz · 04-01-2021, 08:05 AM

Secondhand.........Anything with a computer in it or DPF on it.

xahh, where would I start on gumtree.

lra · 04-01-2021, 11:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bossxr8

Anything made in china. Because it’s made in china x 5.

plus,
Diesel > nuh.
Turbo'd > nah.
Less than 2 litre > nope.
Less than 4 cyl >no way.
Hybrid > well, maybe, and if it fitted the above exemptions.
Electric > as a local shopping trolley only.

Doesn't leave much for my personal choice, except to stay with my Oz built dinosaurs.

asagaai · 04-01-2021, 12:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lra

plus,
Diesel > nuh.
Turbo'd > nah.
Less than 2 litre > nope.
Less than 4 cyl >no way.
Hybrid > well, maybe, and if it fitted the above exemptions.
Electric > as a local shopping trolley only.

Doesn't leave much for my personal choice, except to stay with my Oz built dinosaurs.

Could I interest you in my 3 cylinder 1.5 litre turbo ST Fiesta ...

lra · 04-01-2021, 12:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by asagaai

Could I interest you in my 3 cylinder 1.5 litre turbo ST Fiesta ...

Ummmm ........... not really. Hope you are not offended.
I am sure that it would probably blow my Commodore ute and Terri into the weeds for acceleration and handling, but as that TV advert says 'not my cup of tea'.
At age 73, 183cm and 100kg, my current driving priority is being able to get out and still be capable of walking after a quick 800km trip.

**X-AHH** · 04-01-2021, 01:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by roKWiz

Secondhand.........Anything with a computer in it or DPF on it.

xahh, where would I start on gumtree.

Well mate, perhaps start with and ads containing "needs work" or "restorers delight" or "unfinished project" or "rust in the usual places"

My aim here was to stick to the rules, present specific examples of the type of car that nobody really wants to buy, not to generically target vehicles made in a specific country, eg China etc. as this will head down a completely unrelated and dangerous path.

Can anyone find a car worse than the one I found?

roKWiz · 04-01-2021, 01:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by xahh

Well mate, perhaps start with and ads containing "needs work" or "restorers delight" or "unfinished project" or "rust in the usual places"

Bought my straight, rust free van 2 1/2 years ago, $1100 incl 6 month NSW rego, passed NSW rego 6 months later straight up, now Vic rego, new coil thats it. Used most days alongside a equally dated ($1500) ebay truck bought under similar circumstance with rego.

Bargains can still be had but these days aren't so much on classified sites.

The "Rollerholden" on gumtree would be my crap pick.

.:4:. · 04-01-2021, 01:53 PM

Well, its a car i have owned, only for a year, 2012, and it was a nice car but there are good reasons it was sold. My ex wife did the standard 1 kid you need 7 seats thing. Id imagine youd be able to get a 2008 mazda cx9 for 20k these days. Ours was 30k 8½ years ago and was the luxury one.
But for the family daily, it was an absolute pig on fuel. Being on 20s, tyres also werent cheap. Whilst it made a quoted factory 204kw at the motor, being as heavy as it was, it inspired no pants movement driving it. Tight car parks were a mission as it had the turning circle of a cruise liner. But the main thing that annoyed me was whilst it had memory keys, theyd only move the seats. So unlike my fairmont, youd have to move the mirrors and change the ac etc everytime you swapped drivers. And my ex wife was 5"3'. Im 6"2'. And being the family car, that was a 20 second irritation every other time id drive the thing. But it was a nice car, just no need for it. It was traded for a 2012 fg. That was a much more practical family runabout. Probably could have gotten away with something smaller, but, rear wheel drive...

asagaai · 04-01-2021, 02:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lra

Ummmm ........... not really. Hope you are not offended.
I am sure that it would probably blow my Commodore ute and Terri into the weeds for acceleration and handling, but as that TV advert says 'not my cup of tea'.
At age 73, 183cm and 100kg, my current driving priority is being able to get out and still be capable of walking after a quick 800km trip.

Not offended at all, just thought it was funny that my daily had 3 out of 4 no go zones for you.

Totally agree about long distance driving- nothing beats my FGX XR8 for comfort over a 14 hour driving day- big Australian Fords built for long distance driving in this country.

Sprintey · 04-01-2021, 08:11 PM

OK let's stick to the rules

https://www.gumtree.com.au/s-ad/minc...gon/1238257063

it looks clean

150,000kms,
DSG
Twincharger

11K

Do you feel lucky?

And, is it worth it compared to 11K's worth of Corolla?

oldel · 04-01-2021, 09:10 PM

That's nothing. I'm still thinking about a bmw wagon (a 3L i6 with ~170kw is a nice thing to have). The older ones are more reliable and better built, but the 2001-2004 does have the 3L M54b30.

This thread isn't going to age well if you use GT links because they disappear when sold - and sometimes get reused for a different car, but anyway...

There's a good one for 5k, but it's in tas. On the mainland there's a non running one for $3k which is disappointing, but the most expensive one on GT right now is asking 5.5k
(Pre covid price for them was about $5k and I turned down a local one for $4.4k)
1. Deep in the text of the ad the seller stated the engine cooked and maybe that is going to effect the price!? Huge LOL for me.
"I understand as non running hurts the value but..."

2. seized and needs a new cyl head most likely too

3. also silver (yuk)

4. also only looking at e39s because it's hard to find an e34

5. $5500, you've got to be joking, that's top price for a decent running one. This needs an engine rebuild, it's a $1K car now

https://www.gumtree.com.au/s-ad/ende...4d-/1264285049

Pre covid a non runner would be under 1k which is why I got into M5x bmws. If you're used to ford falcons then you could easily work on a M5x i6, and be used to suspension, brake and gearbox issues. Even the 3k non runner in GT is a joke. Pretty much need to join a specialist facebook group for the model of car you want to buy these days as GT and car sales are the rip offs and traditional forums don't have much of an active sales subforum anymore either....

smoo · 04-01-2021, 09:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by oldel

That's nothing. I'm still thinking about a bmw wagon (a 3L i6 with ~170kw is a nice thing to have). The older ones are more reliable and better built, but the 2001-2004 does have the 3L M54b30.

This thread isn't going to age well if you use GT links because they disappear when sold - and sometimes get reused for a different car, but anyway...

There's a good one for 5k, but it's in tas. On the mainland there's a non running one for $3k which is disappointing, but the most expensive one on GT right now is asking 5.5k
(Pre covid price for them was about $5k and I turned down a local one for $4.4k)
1. Deep in the text of the ad the seller stated the engine cooked and maybe that is going to effect the price!? Huge LOL for me.
"I understand as non running hurts the value but..."

2. seized and needs a new cyl head most likely too

3. also silver (yuk)

4. also only looking at e39s because it's hard to find an e34

5. $5500k, you've got to be joking, that's top price for a decent running one. This needs an engine rebuild, it's a $1K car now

https://www.gumtree.com.au/s-ad/ende...4d-/1264285049

Pre covid a non runner would be under 1k which is why I got into M5x bmws. If you're used to ford falcons then you could easily work on a M5x i6, and be used to suspension issues.

Is that another victim of BMWs plastic cooling system and the assumption these cars can be driven like a Toyota, Falcon or 3.8 Commodore... Haha.
Jokes aside thats not a bad mileage before something inevitably let go and you would struggle to find a better all round car for the era than one of them.
I looked at an E46 330i wagon a few months ago and they're too small to be practical imo. My German shepherd wouldn't fit in the back of one with the seats up. Plus the plastic PCV piping/fittings was ****ing oil and there was no history of preventative maintenance on cooling system - knock a grand off to do it myself & source everything from the US. That being said I think the E46 is the last great BMW before build quality, reliability, styling and electronic complexities turned for the worse.

oldel · 04-01-2021, 10:15 PM

Wait, you actually found an e46 330i wagon?
I gave up on them because I could only find 320i for sale and thought they must have never sold them in australia. Ideally I wanted a 540i wagon or a 330i wagon and gave up on both and was only 'settling' on a 530i wagon. I'd go a for a 330i touring if they were out there.
Neither are as good as an e34 because later models have window reg problems and other lower build quality 'cheapness' such as switches and leather etc, but I'd given up on finding an e34 touring too.

Ideally I want a wagon with man trans and the biggest engine for it's class, or something good enough to turn into the next project car and do a man trans and larger engine upgrade...

E: probably will be a 5 series as I know how tight those 3 series are with the i6. Looking to replace my bmw sedan and falcon ute for one large wagon, and I'll probably be better off getting a non runner 525/28 wagon and do the swap myself. I'm annoyed at the overpriced and ugly silver non runners for top dollars though. I wish I grabbed that sweet looking blue one last year.

Franco Cozzo · 04-01-2021, 10:29 PM

Check out this 2006 Alfa Romeo 159 JTS Manual.
https://www.carsales.com.au/cars/det...SSE-AD-6755579

1) Italian

2) Small capacity Alloytec - MY GOD LADS
3) Tow bar?!
4) Interior looks like it was designed by Franco Cozzo
5) Owner lives in inner SE suburbs

**X-AHH** · 04-01-2021, 10:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Franco Cozzo

Check out this 2006 Alfa Romeo 159 JTS Manual.
https://www.carsales.com.au/cars/det...SSE-AD-6755579

1) Italian

2) Small capacity Alloytec - MY GOD LADS
3) Tow bar?!
4) Interior looks like it was designed by Franco Cozzo
5) Owner lives in inner SE suburbs

The baby poo coloured seats and door card inserts all match each other, just not the rest of the interior or any other part of the car. What the hell were they thinking?

Sprintey · 04-01-2021, 11:31 PM

Slightly off topic, when you do a search on any of the car sites there's a 'kms - high to low' selector. Is there any reason why someone would go searching for the highest kms car they can, apart from competitions like this?

oldel · 04-01-2021, 11:35 PM

No, unless you want an ex taxi. I guess if they offer low-high they feel like they may as well use reverse order for something?
I've never used km low-high or high-low because that's just a criteria to use if you've otherwise got a bang on result for other more important features.
Often no point touching kms at all if you are trying to sort out the more important features like cyl, body style etc, or pin point years for engine or model changes. By the time I've done that there's like only 1-3 results anyway

**X-AHH** · 04-01-2021, 11:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sprintey

Slightly off topic, when you do a search on any of the car sites there's a 'kms - high to low' selector. Is there any reason why someone would go searching for the highest kms car they can, apart from competitions like this?

I quite often use that search method to find out what the cheapest vehicle of the type I'm searching for is selling for. It's sort of a worst case scenario for the price bracket. If you can find one for the same price with much less KM on the clock, it could be a good deal.

roKWiz · 05-01-2021, 03:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Franco Cozzo

Check out this 2006 Alfa Romeo 159 JTS Manual.
https://www.carsales.com.au/cars/det...SSE-AD-6755579

1) Italian

2) Small capacity Alloytec - MY GOD LADS
3) Tow bar?!
4) Interior looks like it was designed by Franco Cozzo
5) Owner lives in inner SE suburbs

Architects seem to love these.

**Polyal** · 05-01-2021, 03:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by roKWiz

Architects seem to love these.

I love the design (and the 156) so you can throw engineers in that group too.

CyberWasp · 05-01-2021, 04:50 PM

1935 Plymouth Rat Rod - Unfinished Project.

https://www.gumtree.com.au/s-ad/pros...rod/1262616080

1) I would have no idea on where to begin on such a project.
2) I have no mechanical or body work skills.
3) Nothing lines up
4) It runs and drives - For how long and is that with the aid of gravity?
5) Transport cost to get it home
6) I don't want to get a tetanus shot each time to work on it.

roKWiz · 05-01-2021, 04:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CyberWasp

1935 Plymouth Rat Rod - Unfinished Project.

https://www.gumtree.com.au/s-ad/pros...rod/1262616080

1) I would have no idea on where to begin on such a project.
2) I have no mechanical or body work skills.
3) Nothing lines up
4) It runs and drives - For how long and is that with the aid of gravity?
5) Transport cost to get it home
6) I don't want to get a tetanus shot each time to work on it.

Love the Bedford truck front sheet metal.

Franco Cozzo · 05-01-2021, 07:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by roKWiz

Architects seem to love these.

Because they're all about form over function

They are a nice looking car on the outside, but Italian cars man the only one I'd own is an Abarth 124 because its built in the Mazda factory in Japan and its on the same platform as the MX5.

Its basically an MX5 with some balls under the hood and a matching hairy LGBTQIA+ nutsack hanging off the rear bumper.

Its a barbers car, not a hair dressers car - functional and quick hairstyle

**anobserver** · 05-01-2021, 07:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sprintey

Slightly off topic, when you do a search on any of the car sites there's a 'kms - high to low' selector. Is there any reason why someone would go searching for the highest kms car they can, apart from competitions like this?

Im guessing price sensitive buyers who want a specific car and take the risks. The ones who overlook or ignore mechanical red flags because ""its a .....".

Maybe they just want one but cant really afford it, so get the cheapest possible example.

Syndrome · 05-01-2021, 07:49 PM

Anything made by Ford or General Motors. The former because they screwed Australia. The later because of the image that was associated with the Holden brand.

In Focus · 05-01-2021, 08:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sprintey

OK let's stick to the rules

https://www.gumtree.com.au/s-ad/minc...gon/1238257063

it looks clean

150,000kms,
DSG
Twincharger

11K

Do you feel lucky?

And, is it worth it compared to 11K's worth of Corolla?

Well, to be pedantic it doesn't have a twincharger but a regular turbo, so that reduces the risk by about 25%.

**DFB FGXR6** · 05-01-2021, 08:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fiji

I wouldn't buy any car with more than 100,000km. Once at a car show I saw a car which looked good but when I looked inside and I noticed a post it note stuck over the top of the km. The owner must have been embarrassed of the high mileage

No good

Also I wouldnt buy any AU falcon because I dont want to be heckled and laughed at.

Mate, that's already happening.

hayseed · 05-01-2021, 08:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DFB FGXR6

Mate, that's already happening.

Too True...

Pis-ton broke · 05-01-2021, 08:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CyberWasp

1935 Plymouth Rat Rod - Unfinished Project.

https://www.gumtree.com.au/s-ad/pros...rod/1262616080

1) I would have no idea on where to begin on such a project.
2) I have no mechanical or body work skills.
3) Nothing lines up
4) It runs and drives - For how long and is that with the aid of gravity?
5) Transport cost to get it home
6) I don't want to get a tetanus shot each time to work on it.

that price is way out there, he's got his hand on it. there's two pictures only, he's fishing for idiots.