Why did I buy it? It has chassis rot and it leaks, but then they all do that. It's slower than the Westfield it replaced, doesn't handle as well, costs more to insure and is going to be a source of trouble. It does sound good though.... and it is a useable car and 1 year on it is still here.
I'll use these pages to list all the joys I have in keeping this car on the road. As with any new purchase of a used specialist car there are bound to be loads of jobs to do.
The S3 was purchased to replace the Westfields because I wanted something more practical (ie. has a lockable boot and a useable hood) and could accommodate this 6'2" freak. Top advice is never to buy the first car you view and never view in the wet. It wasn't quite the first car I viewed (that was reserved for a scruffy S3C in a dealers "showroom". That car had cracked bonnet, cracked indicator lenses, sagging doors (they'd worn into the tub), corroded alloys, peeling veneerer dash, delaminating screen and a scruffy hood - and that was just from walking around it. Combined with a 6995 price tag, I just wasn't interested. Didn't drive it or even fire it up. Left the showroom unimpressed.
The following week I viewed car number 2. It was raining which is never a good thing when viewing cars. It leaked, was kept outside most of the year, the nearside door mirror had been ripped off, the passenger seat was split. Underneath didn't look good. Corrosion on the outriggers and what looked like a rust split in the offside trailing arm. I didn't really want that amount of work this year so wanted to walk away. I don't know who's side Louise was on but she wanted me to drive it and see if I liked it. I reluctantly agreed so off I went with the seller for a quick loop of his town. Still didn't want it though but the seller needed to sell and he ventured a price way under the asking price and this reflected the required work (or so I thought) and a deal was struck.
