OTOSOT 72

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An email before I forget, because it's from a listener called Neil, who refers to us as an

absolute duplicate of untroubled, fleshy meat cylindricals.

That's awful.

But this is not a question, but I just wanted to read it out before it gets lost into the

massive snippet in-box.

Neil says, I've got a Jag X-type spout, which is chassis number 502, an X Coventry factory

press car, and the oldest one left in the whole wide world, except for chassis number one,

which is in the Gayden Museum next to an Allegro.

It's a true early barn find car just without the barn part.

It's on an original Redgeplate 2001 genuine Y-Redge.

Find another.

Genuine one.

I don't want it.

All right, okay.

I love that.

That's a statement.

Neil says, I don't want it.

It has its usual problems.

Both sills, red paint issues, and now, alas, the ECU is fried.

Lovely cream interior and sat-enough system, AMF and radio stereo.

The screen, it all works.

It's four-wheel drive automatic gearbox.

It's on the other side of Peterborough.

Just come and pick it up.

I'll even deliver it to you for 40 quid, as in I'll pay you 40 quid.

It would make a splendid addition to the show's fleet.

Thank you, Neil.

This is a very kind offer.

It is.

We're still getting on top of our free Saab.

I think we have to say no to the free X-Type.

But I wanted to mention this just to put it out there,

because obviously, if you like X-Types, this is something a bit special.

It's the, according to Neil, anyway, it's the oldest X-Type still on or near a road.

So if anyone wants an X-Type, write to us hello at smithandsniff.com.

This is a possible, first of all, an exceptional highlight, I would say.

Oh, 2001.

It's technically not allowed.

Oh, bobbins.

But, well, yeah, I think, you know, there's leeway, isn't there, sometimes, for something.

Could we use our sway?

Could we use our heft?

Yeah.

Well, there we go.

So, yeah, if you want a bright red X-Type,

he's not said which engine is in it, but it's a spout and it's a four-wheel drive.

So it's definitely a two, five, or a three-liter, because, actually,

that's all there were at launch, when there's so, yes, anyway, get in touch,

if you'd like a Jaguar X-Type that sort of has a bit of a talking point to it.

Anyway, let's go on with some questions.

Can I start with one, which I think is really up your street,

because you know about this stuff much more than I do.

It's from Rich Tiso.

We know Rich.

Hello.

We do.

Hi, Rich.

Um, he says this is one of those boring car advice questions.

In May, I bought a 2004 MX-5, four and a half grand, which is strong money for a Mark II,

but it's top-spec 1.8 spout, so it's six-speed, slippy-diff leather, with a hard top,

lovingly restored and tastefully modified with care and intake, gravity-exhaust,

unspec brakes, fully polybushed suspension, and a proper roll bar.

There is, as they say, not a spot of rust on it, unlike my previous MX-5s,

which got used hard as dailies and rusted away.

This one is not going to get used on gritted roads, with the plan to stop using it in late

October, which leads to the issue.

I don't have anywhere covered to store it.

I don't even have an uncovered driveway, just a reserved spot in a residential car park.

My budget won't stretch to a professional storage place for the three or four likely months.

I don't think I'd be able to sweet-talk the British Motor Museum at the road into taking

it as a temporary exhibit, so I'm wondering about covers.

I've heard differing opinions about their use, risk of paint damage and trapping in moisture,

which is obviously the opposite of what you want, and if there's actually a benefit to them,

so I would appreciate your input.

The parking space is under a tree, if that makes any difference.

CMTMB rich.

There is differing opinions on whether car covers help or actually do the opposite,

so you can get lots of grades of car covers, which is why you can get ones from about

10 quid to about 400.

Personally, and I cover cars and I do various things, I would say in your situation,

if I'm going to be completely honest, there'd be two things I would do.

If you haven't, first of all, if you haven't already rust-proofed the car,

please rust-proof the car, because it's still going to get outdoor moisture and it's still

going to be exposed, and if it's a Mk2 or Mx5, it's going to want to start dissolving again,

so invest in that.

They're not paying me to say this, but I use built-hamber, B-I-L-T,

hamber, potions from S6, anti-crosion potions are really good and easy to apply,

and you can get a garage door on a ramp, but because you've got a hard top on your Mx5,

that's really good because it's going to reduce the ingress of water, so one school of thought is

a bit like my Boxster. I have a cover which just goes around the roof area, which is where water

would normally leak in, so it's a smaller cover which tethers around the wing mirrors

and around the back, like there's a waistband which goes around the back, and I actually think

that might work well. However, before you put a cover on the car and you can get really good

heavy duty, make sure you get one that fits quite tight to the car so it doesn't move like a piece

of sandpaper in the wind, and if the wind gets under a big cover, obviously it's going to want to

parachute it off the car, but detail the car before you cover it. The reason for that is because you

want to be as little friction as possible on the bodywork, so it does pay dividends to detail a

car quite hard before the bad months anyway, and I know this is all sounding very sensible

and consumer, but I think it is the right way to do it, so I would detail it, rust proof it,

and probably buy one of those covers which just goes over the cabin part of the Mx5

that's tailored around the mirrors, so that's my personal view, but if the tree is brutal and

drops a load of old toss, I'd probably get a tailored car cover, which is make sure you

get one that's breathable and fully weather resistant, and it has to be a fairly tight

fitting so it doesn't move in a blade, but you've got these words. Well, it's hard because I've

had cars which I love and I haven't been able to store properly, and you do worry about them,

and so yeah, it's nice to know that people are actually wanting to try and preserve these things,

so it's what a great spec car as well. What a great spec Mx5. Yeah, it sounds really good.

Rich, can you get bored of it and sell it to my daughter for 600 quid in the next 12 months?

Thanks. I've got a question from Ethan Hatch. Hi, SSGs. I'm a driving instructor. Big shout out

to all those SSDIs out there, sweet, sweet driving instructors. I'm currently, well,

there's a few that listen to this podcast, which is quite troubling really. I'm currently on the

hunt for a new car since my current 2021 seed has got some electrical gremlins. On occasion,

the car won't recognise the key and will refuse to start, then five seconds later it fires up,

like there was never an issue at all. As you can imagine, this is not ideal when nervous new

drivers get behind the wheel and the car won't start having been stalled a few times at a junction.

Oh, sugar. Maybe it's been over stalled as a learner car and it's just started to have a bit

of a hissy fit. Yes, VCUs had a meltdown. So my question to you both is what car is the perfect

car enthusiast's instructor vehicle? Currently, I'm set on an up GTI VW with some cheeky steel wheels,

so it's not to damage those lovely diamond cut loys that come with the car from the factory.

Let me know your thoughts. Many thanks, Ethan. Well, I mean, we do both like an up GTI and I

actually, yes, I was talking to someone that owns one the other day when I was filming and I was

looking around his lovely three-door example of the mark and it was amazing. And did they still

love it? They said it's fantastic. Extended ownership. He reeled off a list of other cars he's owned,

many of which were things like Lotuses, K-Trums, all kinds of and he said the up GTI is by far and

away the best car I've ever owned. Interesting. So he thinks he's going to keep it forever because he

can't. Wow. Because he loves the combination of sort of analogue and modern and footprint and

cheap to run and all those things. Well, now this is an immediate benefit. Well, I assume it is for

Ethan's day job because the up GTI still just starts on a trad key, doesn't it? So yes, if one

of his pupils stalls it, there's none of that sort of dabbing at a button and then realizing you've

got to have a clutch in and they're sort of getting all flustered and panicky. It's very simple. You

just turn a key. Yeah, exactly. So it sort of feels like that might be a benefit. It's small,

which I suppose is good for new drivers, but the visibility is decent.

The only thing that I remember from the up GTI is that it sometimes does that weird rev hanging

thing. Yes. Which is for emissions reasons. Yeah, it's to do with the injection, isn't it usually?

Just keeps the revs up when you put the clutch in, but I don't know if that's that kind of throw

off learners or is that fine? It's not majoring. It doesn't do it all the time. It seems to be

sort of only in certain circumstances and maybe only when it's cold. I don't know. I forget now,

but I will say, because I've thought about buying it up GTI many times. In fact, I was looking at

them only a couple of weeks ago. They sort of don't, they haven't lost as much money as I was

hoping. They've sort of leveled out. Well, we both had the opportunity to buy them when they were new

for not a great deal of money. And we're both annoyed that we didn't.

At one point when I was really, really thinking about it, I was looking up people who have put

them on steelies, whether it's because they're in a country where you have winter tires or just

because they thought they looked cool. And the good news is they look cool on steelies. It really

suits them. So that part of Ethan's plan would work a treat. I can't think of an alternative now

that would give you a little bit of delight, but isn't so aggressively sporty, because a Fiesta ST

I think is just a bit too spiky and really sharp throttle response, but hard to learn in, I would

say, as a result. Yeah, can you get, can you still buy up GTIs new? You can't, can you?

No, no, the up, the up in general is now dead. When did the up die? Two years ago?

Yes. Well, I've got a counter which is not as sexy, but you can currently buy it new,

which might be good for you as an instructor. I don't know. I really, really like the Kier

Picanto. And you can get the Kier Picanto, the new design language is a little bit more angular,

but not unnecessarily aggressive. But it's also available with a peppy little, I think it's GT

model, one litre turbo. And it's a great car. It's the outgoing version I took on the Lanzen

trial. And resilient car, good build quality and very enjoyable, enjoyable gearbox,

enjoyable chassis. It won't be a GTI, but it'll, it'll, it won't be that far behind, I wouldn't say.

So I borrowed one when I had my Panda 100 horsepower and I was writing about it in Eva

and I looked around and I was like, what is the today's equivalent of the Panda 100 horsepower?

And there really wasn't. And actually the, the Picanto with that little turbo engine was about

as close as it got. So I borrowed one and drove it back to back of my Panda. It was a nice little

car, but it wasn't as fun as the Panda. And I think the up GTI would be more fun. But you're

right. Those Picantos are very nice little cars and they feel very high quality considering the

price. Yeah, I agree. That's exactly what I was thinking. They do feel really good

quality for the model. Because I don't know what else. I mean, you know, the truth is that

if you don't have an ST, just normal fiestas are really nice to drive. Yeah. And would be

more learner friendly than the slightly aggressive ST. But some, but yeah, otherwise up GTI on

steelies. Yeah. I agree, mate. I have a question here from a listener called Andrew, who says,

I have a question. Well, that's nice. That's nice. Thanks for that. I realised I should have edited

that bit out of my head because that's why he's writing to this. He says, I have a question.

I really enjoy car auctions, especially those for classic cars. And the last two have both

resulted in a purchase for a friend, which I encourage him to do, and one for me with the

same friend pushing me on. The question is, what is your best auction purchase? And what,

if any, is the one you wish you hadn't? Oh, best auction purchase. Well,

I mean, eBay is classed as an auction, isn't it? Yeah, or our friends at Piston Heads,

or our friends at Piston Heads, exactly to do online auction. So I many years ago now would

have been 2008. I bought my Dodge Charger from off of eBay America. And it was the most expensive

car I'd ever bought. And I bought it blind. But I did buy it wisely. So I remain chuffed to pieces

about it. It was accurately described. And obviously, there was a lot of excitement waiting

for it to be loaded onto a ship and sent over here. Ra, ra, ra. So that's probably my best

auction. Yeah, I'd say that's probably my best in terms of sheer bargain. I mean, I've bought

my Allegro was an auction for 127 quid. I offered the guy 500 to end the auction early. And he

went, no, I'll let it run. And then I said, and then the hammer went down at 127. I went, okay, then.

So yeah, I know. I know. I know. So there's been some good ones. But I have bought,

I have I've got carried away with the auction, the auction excitement, like so many of us.

And then when the car is either delivered or I go and collect it, there is a there is a lackluster

reception to it to the point where I one of them I just went, yep, that'll go straight back on the

auction site next week. And it didn't. One of those being a Chevrolet Caprice classic wagon

that was two tone cream and peach. And I bought it unseen for not a lot of money. But it had been

here had the v8 removed from it and it had been converted to a straight six, which is a conversion

that nobody does. It was somebody I think a bought the car for its engine and then just slung a six

into it and had let I don't know a crash of children do the wiring in it. And it was so bad.

But I also reversed it accidentally on full choke into my neighbor's house, which I might

have regaled in a previous podcast. And he was furious about it. And I just gave me bad juju

about the car. So I was like, I don't I don't really want this car. I've just bought it because

it's cheap. And I just had a reality check and put it back for sale and off it went. So yeah,

what about you? I have never bought a car at auction. Have you? For myself. No. Oh, I have

bought I bought a car. Well, I was I was sort of involved in buying a car at a sort of auction in

God, like 20 odd years ago on old old top gear. When we we were at a classic car auction, this

very honest, but cosmetically tired Porsche 944 was one of the lots. Oh, and I was there with

Quentin. And he looked around this car, he went, that could be a bargain. And I was like,

oh, shit. And I was the director and I both went, really? And you could see us both thinking,

we should buy it. But then we were both a bit like, Oh, God, what we didn't do with 944 and

and according to what I, well, I think I'm going to buy it, frankly. Let's get bidding. But would

can you two do my bidding? Because if people see bloke off the telly bidding for that car,

it'll drive the price up or the auctioneer will start taking bids off the wall. So

we ended up doing the little finger to get I can't really got it for in the end, not much.

So he owned it. He did buy it for himself. Yeah, he bought it. I don't know what he did

with it in the end, I think he probably just because at the time he was running a garage

store with his brother. So I guess maybe just bought it for stock, get it get it spruced up

because it was it was like you could see it was a really decent car underneath, but it's just it

was red. So it faded. And it was quite exciting standing there doing the bidding and with Quentin

standing sort of behind us like behind a pillow going, yes, hold. Yes. Did he say hold? I might

be making this up now. I love that. It was definitely they were just sort of single word

instructions muttered from behind. It was really fun. I love that. And I've never

I've ever bought a car off eBay. Geez, I don't know that have. No, just quite bad isn't it?

It's quite bad, Rich. Well, hang on, hang on. You've bought an equal quest. Oh, yes. All right,

that counts. Yeah. And I forgot that from auction, my most recent absolute bargains

was obviously my Tesla P90D. Oh, yes. Which was just an absurdly cheap car, which I've just clicked

over 271,900 miles. Have you? Yeah, I've done shed loads in it. And I'm going to just keep

piling them on, although it is so dirty. I need to clean the damn thing. I don't I don't my Tesla.

So hopefully that answers the question there on that side of things. I've got a question from

Ryan Jones. Good day, you pair of Bill withering clutches. I have I have I have a some cash saved

up. I'm going to say it like that because that's how it's written down. Is there a word to know

which one is it? No, I can't try to work it out. I have I have a some cash saved up with a view

a sum of cash. Yeah, to buy something that will be a future classic currently in the vein of

nobody cares, but will surely be nostalgic and of value later on. I currently live abroad in the

Middle East to be exact. So I won't be using the car that much if at all in the UK on holidays.

Currently, I'm stuck on the idea of a Mondeo ST220 estate in performance blue, or perhaps a smaller

Fiesta Z Tech S in the same color. Both cars are relatively cheap at the moment. They are. Yeah,

I was talking to someone about these Fiesta Z Tech Estes, actually. But I feel will only

ground value having missed the XR2 boat emoji sad face. My question is, are there other more

interesting left field options you experts can suggest that maybe I've not considered? I'm

thinking along the lines of the Mark 1 focus chat, you guys did a few casts ago. Ryan Jones,

Ryan, this is good. I'm excited on your behalf for what may happen.

Hot off the back of goading people into auction buying.

So, well, I mean, the S220 Mondeo is quite a good shout, actually. And the good thing about

the Z Tech S Fiesta is the great fun to drive and there's no wet belts. So I wonder which era

he's talking about. I think he's talking about the mid 2000s one, because that's the best one,

I would say. The Fiesta that sort of looked like when Ford had started to try and do sort of more

solid looking VW-ish design. Yeah, is it the triangular headlights? Do they look a bit more

triangular with a curved edge? Yeah, I had to, if it is the one I'm thinking of,

which was the early 2000s Fiesta basically came out in about 2002, I'm going to say.

And I had in about 2005, I had a Fiesta ST of that shape as a long term from Evo.

Hmm. I did not particularly love it. It was okay. But the engine always felt a bit tight,

even with thousands of miles on it. It just wasn't a zingy engine. And the chassis was just a bit

lead footed. I think because the wheels and tires were too big. And while I had the long

term, I borrowed a Z-Tech S press car, just to see what that was like. And it was everything

that the ST should have been, but wasn't. It had a lovely, lively, revvy engine.

And because it had smaller wheels and tires, it didn't look as good. But it was absolutely

lovely to drive, because it really sort of flowed along a nice road rather than sort of

thudding down it. And it was, it was fantastic. Absolutely fantastic. But my worry in terms

of future classic would be that it's one of those ones where I think Ryan would have to play the

long game. Yeah. I mean, that's going to be the case with any of these. But particularly the Z-Tech

S, I think the attention is drawn to the ST. Fewer people want the Z-Tech S because

fewer people appreciated it, even though I felt it was the nicer car to drive.

And you'll have to wait until there are so few of them less that it becomes a real novelty,

because everybody looked after and kept the STs. So it's whether you want to do that.

If he means the Z-Tech S from the generation before, again, that was a lovely car. And I could

see those coming round more quickly, because it was quite a short lived model. And they were

delightful to drive. Yeah, they were. The thing about future classics is we don't know the future,

but what we do know is that anything that has a nostalgic draw and the Z-Tech S was a cheaper

car to insure and own than an ST. So there'd be a lot of younger people that bought Z-Tech Ss

because they couldn't buy an ST. And they've probably got all the memories attached to

the Z-Tech S. And by very definition, that might mean that the Z-Tech S has got a bright

future ahead. But I think the one, the round about the millennium was my favourite one,

which had the quite plucked eyebrow headlights. I don't know what you, they look like you've got

quite a surprised face, like someone's dug you in the ribs. That's the one I really like.

No wet belts in sight at that point. And a simple car. But if he wanted someone that let's quickly,

for one, give us something a minute to give him any alternative cars to sniff around.

The one day OSTs and on fiesta Z-Texes. Well, because this is the thing,

the folds thing is good because as we know, it seems like performance folds always hit a point

where they go a bit silly in value. And the 80s and 90s stuff is definitely sort of in its sweet

spot now. In fact, I'm wondering if we're going to start seeing the 80 stuff, but maybe we have

seen it sort of start to soften off a bit because the generation that coveted those cars and really

wanted them is, it's moved on now. But will an ST220, I don't know. But yeah, forward and

forward. I suppose a Peugeot 309 GTI6, they're already sought after and 106 rallies for that

matter, but they've not gone completely stupid. 306 is cheaper than a 106 rally, I would say.

But it's got to be good. Yes. And so if you want to use it, it's like you want it to be good,

but not so good that you dare not use it. So it's a tricky one. And obviously,

you've got to keep it in good order as well. Yeah. If you want to, at some point,

sounds like the plan is to sell it for more than you paid for it, but it's always going to be a

long game. Yeah, it is. It is. Golf GTI Mark V, the values have started to go up and they're hard

to find without rust. A massive fan of them. I really like the Astra GTC, the kind of like

2012 era GTC Astra, the three door one. Oh yeah. It's a really good looking car and it was pretty

good to drive from memory. They did a VXR version. It was a little bit cartoonish to me,

like the wheels. And usually rare you get a production car where the wheels are actually

too big, but some of those Astras, they sort of, there's something a bit odd about them.

There's got to be an Alfa Romeo. I tell you one car, the chap who I store my cars with,

Ignition Cars and Coffee Lewis, he bought an Alfa 147 GTA. Oh. And I've had to move it the other

day and it reminded me of how absurd and brilliant hot hatches were because there's this quite small

car with bulbous arches and it's got a 3.2 V6 in it. And you could just go, that's a lot of engine

for a small car like this. That's cool. And it sounds amazing. Yes. That era when hot hatches

felt like the engine was trying to burst out of the car a little bit. Yeah. Because the

Renault Sport Clio's had a slight sense of that. And I suppose the 205 GTi's did to some degree,

particularly 1.9. And then, yeah, that Alfa obviously is the zenith of that. I never particularly

liked those GTA Alphas though. They didn't feel quite sorted enough. But they, yeah, I mean,

there's not that many around anyway. So perhaps they could actually become just by dint of the

numbers game. They have got up as well. They probably won't ever saw in value because people,

in the medium term, are a bit worried about Alphas and the expense of

keeping them going and stuff. I don't know. Alfa 156 gets my vote if I was going to Alfa.

Yes. They do an Alfa 156 GTA Sport Wagon, which is rare AF and cool AF as well.

And I would have won over a Mondeo ST220, but I think it'd probably be more money to buy and

keep. And possibly less reliable. I don't know. I mean, you just, you just never know, do you?

But yeah, I was, I suddenly thought of those older BMW 3 Series, the IS ones that were,

you know, people seemed to like. I mean, there was that 320 IS, which was the Italian market,

yeah, sort of substitute for the M3. But I realized they've already taken off, you know,

they're sort of into the five figures easily. So that boat, I mean, it doesn't, because Ryan

hasn't said how much money he's got set aside. So I don't know. A really, really clean, tidy Mondeo

ST220 is staying in that nice blue. At some point in the future, someone will want that off you. So

why not? So. All right. Well, I think we've covered that. If you've got a question for us,

hello at Smithinsniff.com. Put Ottersot in your subject line. If it's a question, it helps us

to find them. Obviously, don't bother. If it's not a question, you just want to tell us something.

We'll do more questions answering next Friday, normal show on Monday. Until then, goodbye. Bye, guys.

Greetings Adventurers is the longest running Dungeons & Dragons actual play a comedy podcast

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