jblackmore Posted July 14, 2005 Report Share Posted July 14, 2005 Some friends have just bought three classic turbo hatchbacks which are famously unreliable, and we want to document who has to spend the most money per mile to run these cars ! The cars are a 1990 Renault 5 GT Turbo, 1989 Ford Escort RS Turbo, and 1994 Fiat Punto GT Turbo. Total spend between the cars is running at £1000 per week (after 6 weeks!!) The project is online at www.TurboMoneyPit.co.uk with full accounts and details on the cars and problems/money spent so far. If anyone has any advice, suggestions, or stories of their own turbo car nightmares, please drop by and sign the guestbook or see the car stories page to add your story to the site ! Also, we would really like to get an MG Metro Turbo owner and a Mazda RX7 Turbo owner involved, so if you or anyone you know has bought one of these cars in the past few months, and is happy to share their financial woes with the interweb population, please ask them to get in touch via guestbook or the car stories link on website! Thanks a lot. James, Dan, John and Rick. £6k spent on 3 cars in 6 weeks for 310 miles covered Failures: Turbo, Clutch, Crankshaft, Conrod, Radiator, Head Gasket... Visit www.TurboMoneyPit.co.uk - for full details Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sinfield Posted July 14, 2005 Report Share Posted July 14, 2005 One has to ask why ? but best of luck guys. If you are so worried about money, may I suggest a 48K (major job) service on a Porsche with new pads and tyres all around, then a 56,000 service on a Saab Aero (repairing a dodgy air con system) with a couple of front tyres to boot. All in the space of two days. Now that is expensive... Rob PS: And for good measure the central heating boiler chose the same week to blow up as well. Add £800 to the above... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SeanKHotay Posted July 15, 2005 Report Share Posted July 15, 2005 [ QUOTE ] One has to ask why?.... [/ QUOTE ] That was my, question, too, but if it floats your boat (no additional money pit puns intended...) If it's anything, I think I have the N/A Money Pit competition covered rebuilding a vintage SAAB rally car. (pic attached) After the intial $3K purchase price, I'm up in the high $1xK range and haven't even addressed the new roll cage, updated safety equipment (belts, seats,e tc), nor computer...surely in the $2xK range @ when I'm done...just in time to ball it up around a tree on it's re-debutante stage rally. Say, what's the $-to-£ exchange rate now? What?! About 50:1? Ahh, forget it...that's chump change to you Brits. Thank you, Mr Bush.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sayerbloke Posted July 15, 2005 Report Share Posted July 15, 2005 The dollar has been recovering recently. $1 = £0.56 [£1 = $1.76], the lowest it`s been in a long time. Still, the Saab is looking good! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sinfield Posted July 15, 2005 Report Share Posted July 15, 2005 Is your Saab the one on the right or in the middle.......! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jblackmore Posted July 15, 2005 Author Report Share Posted July 15, 2005 [ QUOTE ] One has to ask why ? [/ QUOTE ] Thanks for the feedback, but have you never run an impractical car then ? Why did you do it ? I thought this forum was for car enthusiasts so explanation wouldn't be required :-) Latest news is John is in 'Head Gasket denial', apparently a common condition where people think their car is overheating for some other random reason, ie the radiator is not new enough :-) I put a poll on the site for people to vote why they think Johns car is overheating so drop by and let us know what you think ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saab Posted July 15, 2005 Report Share Posted July 15, 2005 Hello there lads, welcome to the forum. Sounds like a perfectly reasonable way of spending some time and money to me - good luck with it and I'll have a look at how things are going. As a turbo owner too I'll watch with interest although my car seems fairly reliable.........touch wood [ QUOTE ] I think I have the N/A Money Pit competition covered rebuilding a vintage SAAB rally car. (pic attached) [/ QUOTE ] Looking good mate - always liked the 99 should make a cracking rally car, after all the pedigree is there - let us know how its going. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saab Posted July 15, 2005 Report Share Posted July 15, 2005 [ QUOTE ] have you never run an impractical car then ? Why did you do it ? [/ QUOTE ] I would have thought an entire thread could be devoted to this can of worms - in a moment of madness I sold my Mk2 Golf and bought a 1965 Volvo Amazon which I had spotted lurking under a thick coat of dust at the back of a railway arch. I then tried to use it as a daily driver. In London. In December. The combination of dynamo electrics and slow moving heavy traffic made every journey an exciting event - mainly because you never knew whether you would actually make it to your destination Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SeanKHotay Posted July 16, 2005 Report Share Posted July 16, 2005 JBlackmore, now I think I'm 'getting it'...you're taking a few unreliable turbo cars, seeing what breaks and how much you rack up trying to fix them. Guess I was thinking of a turbo money pit as some sort of blown exotica...fun when it runs but doesn't most of the time...instead of much cheaper blown fun. (Hmm...someone could get the wrong impression if they just read the end of that last sentence...anyway...) Also, sorry for the inadvertant NA money pit threadjack but, for those others asking about my money pit: Sayerbloke: I gagged when it hit 1.47:1 for my holiday (from 1.39:1 just a month before). And, recall, the Euro was on par w/ the dollar... "Come to the ol' US of A for the exchange rate"...oh, yeah, forgot that they'all hassle yous furriners...nevermind... Bobski: Middle, you silly man! The blue behemoth on the left gets it to & fro... (edited as I can't tell my left from my right...pity my driver/co-driver) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rhyds Posted July 17, 2005 Report Share Posted July 17, 2005 Try www.triple-m.co.uk for metro, maestro and montego turbo owners Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jblackmore Posted July 29, 2005 Author Report Share Posted July 29, 2005 Love the triple-m website - would be good to get someone from there onto turbo money pit too !! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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