After much indecision and procrastination I have finally bought myself a new car:
BA XR6 NA, Mercury Silver. Bog standard, no options. 12 months old, 25,000km on the clock. Ex company car.
The old car had just done 180,000km and was getting pretty ratty. The last 3 services it's needed extra work done, had to put a reco trans in but was becomming more dissatisfied with it. I was getting bored with it, with rego nearly due and needing new tyres by xmas the time felt right to turn it over.
The deal I got was pretty routine. $23K changeover drive away. $13K trade in which I could live with, I was going for $14K. Other Ford dealers only offered $11K on similarly priced cars.
I picked this car out because there is not a mark on the paint, not even fine swirl marks so it's never been through any automated car washes. No sign the car has ever been smoked in, was a country car (Ballarat) and the tyres still have heaps of tread for the mileage. Some I'd seen were only just roadworthy for the same mileage so I saw it as an indication this car has had an easy life. I wasn't too hung up on options as this is a long term keeper so resale isn't a huge issue for me.
This thing drives fantastic. I can't believe how much better than my old AU XR6 it is. It's a softer car that's for sure and the only thing I miss about the AU is the razor sharp steering it had. Every other aspect is a major improvement and I can see why the BA won COTY.
Anyway, hopefully the weekend weather will be good so I can go for a nice long drive. :s5 :s5 :s5
Cheers...........
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BA XR6 NA Mercury Silver (daily drive)
XC Fairmont Coupe (sunday cruiser)
www.fordcoupeclub.org.au
Good One. I upset the salesman when I told him that compared to my AU the BA felt like a Fairlane. You can sharpen it up a bit by putting a set of springs in.
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'03 BA XR8 Manual, Edit, Hi Flow Cats, HPX twin system, King Springs, Battens C.A.I.
God help you, you bought a BA??? Now you're in strife. It'll fall apart in three days and end up costing you 28 times what you paid for it. You should have stuck with the AU. Now that was an excellent bit of engineering.
Just kidding, congrats. I'm sure you'll love it and get many many k's of happy motoring out of it.
I drive, I vote and I'll go out of my way to see you out of government Mr Bracks. You lied your way into power and you lie to keep it. Enough lies!!! You're out of here!
23k change over with 13k trade in = 36k for the car you just bought! Maybe a bit much for a bog stock XR6 but still a nice car. Best of luck with it!
That's a fair call, I know I could have done a little better if I'd shopped around some more but this excercise was already consuming a lot of time and it was the best deal I could get. Searching Carsales and Carpoint reveals plenty of these cars at a going rate of $33,999 or $34K for the sake of round figures. Most would be company/lease cars and usually bog standard but you can pick one up with one or two options, like premium sound or electric rear windows if you look hard enough. Some are $1K cheaper but have generally done about 10,000 more Km or are a bit older as in '02 plated. By the time you add stamp duty and transfers to $34K you're looking at close enough to $36K anyway. The rego on my car was nearly due so they paid that as well so there's about $500 value added. This was the best deal I had on the table at the time so I thought "screw it, I'll go with this".
OK, time to go for a drive!!! :s3
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BA XR6 NA Mercury Silver (daily drive)
XC Fairmont Coupe (sunday cruiser)
www.fordcoupeclub.org.au
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Finally bought one
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