This weeks Classic Irish bargains that I'm not buying

elperello

https://touch.adverts.ie/vehicles/fiat-124/31263912

This sold quickly today.

I think someone got a bargain.

tc20

Fiat 127, okay technically not Irish as its a Spanish LHD import, but its here, on Irish plates.

Asking €4k.

https://www.donedeal.ie/vintagecars-for-sale/1975-fiat-127-903cc-good-car-ready-to-use/34388546

I was looking at the Saab 9-5 the dealer has for sale when i looked at his other ads and saw the Fiat.

https://www.donedeal.ie/cars-for-sale/saab-95-tourer-2-0t-auto-new-nct-high-spec/34974954

unkel

That Saab is a lot of car for the money. Had a great ownership experience with my '01 9-5 back from 2011-2013

Arthur Daley

The 127 is still very Ireland in the 1970s. As the 127 sold like hotcakes in Ireland as a mark 1 and mark 2. The brown and fake wood dashboard add even more nostalgia.

Even though it's a left hooker from Spain. And a 4 door saloon which wasn't sold as a Fiat in the UK or Ireland.

tc20

@Arthur Daley oh very much so, it did get me thinking and you've confirmed it, I couldn't recall them ever being a 4 door model here.

Edited to add, I had another look at the ad and noticed the steering wheel has a Seat badge, the grill & bootlid are badged Fiat.

tc20

@unkel yeah, I've always had a hankering for the 9-5, more so the wagon. My BIL has an 06 saloon, and when they've been well kept, they're a nice old barge for not a lot of money.

KevRossi

The 'FIAT' is a SEAT, or I'm 90% sure of that. Possibly exported to Portugal as a FIAT and back to Spain later as they were a much loved car there. Or someone just stuck some FIAT bits onto it where it was easiest to do so. Changing the grill and badges is easy, the steering wheel needs some more tools and some experience.

They were well liked in Spain as they were usually very reliable, the couple of issues it had were very easy to fix. Plenty of spares from crossover models and thanks to the climate they didn't rust like here.

Spain had their own versions of other European cars, such as the Renault 7, a 4 door saloon version of the R5.

Seems the Peugeot 309 was built as the Spanish drew up a neat version of a 5 door Peugeot 205 and they decided to go along with it in Paris. The Spanish were building it either way, though probably a bit shorter than the actual 309. They were also trying to expand into markets such as Turkey, Morocco, Algeria and Egypt where new saloons were very popular.

I'm very sure that FIAT never built a 4/5 door version, but I stand corrected.

tc20

^ spot on KevRossi, I saw an R7 on holidays a few years back (Spain I think) and had to do a double take, similarly in Turkey I came across a few different variants of what we would see here. More modern stuff too, like a booted/saloon version of the Clio, and a Peugeot 301

CoBo55

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121046071#Comment_121046071

That Clio looks hideous.. South Africa has similar oddball looking yokes, we hired a cheapo Toyota that kind of looked like a Starlet it had a carburettor, I thought first it was a single point injector but it was an actual carburettor, this was in 2006.

Arthur Daley

Citroen also do a booted version of that 301 called the c-elysee. No volume for a long time now for these in RHD.

Of course Seat rebadging Fiats was a thing in the 80s when they launched into RHD markets with the Seat Marbella a rebadged Panda, and the Seat Malaga was really a Fiat Regatta.

unkel

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121046221#Comment_121046221

It was a lot earlier than that, SEAT produced their versions of small FIATs from the 50s

KevRossi

Excellent price I think for this. Original Irish reg, 27k miles and seems to be in excellent condition all round. Auto as well so unlikely to be trashed. Even has the original 12 inch wheels and the original radio.

1986 reg. NCT to Jan 24, €3,000

https://www.donedeal.ie/vintagecars-for-sale/nissan-micra-1986-auto-27k-miles/34637582

unkel

I learned to drive in an '85 Micra 😁

(instructor's car, almost brand new)

CoBo55

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121058172#Comment_121058172

Not auto I hope😆😆

Great little car, so well made compared to British cars.

unkel

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121058332#Comment_121058332

Haha, no! My kids are and will be learning to drive in an EV though. Different generation!

CoBo55

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121058419#Comment_121058419

Mine can drive both, they learned in manual, still handy to have we aren't quite there yet.

unkel

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121058579#Comment_121058579

Mine are all girls and they have no interest in classic cars. I own 4 cars, all electric or ICE automatic. I agree with you in principle that it is a nice skill to be able to drive a manual, but in practice, this need is now gone.

You can now buy beginners banger EV cars for a few grand. And you generally can't hire a car now until you are 25, mine are only teenagers, so by that time virtually all rental cars will be EVs too

It is also considerably quicker and cheaper to learn to drive in an EV than in a manual ICE car

I am from the 20th century, my children are from the 21st century 😁

That said, I just bought myself a '98 Mercedes SLK 230. Couldn't help myself. Now bring on some nice weather please!

JKerova1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121042578#Comment_121042578

There is a lot of love for that era of the 'dame edna' Saab 9-5. I had one for a year and never really warmed to it. It was very reliable and was one of the few cars I ever owned that had a fsh from new. But it had the 1.9 diesel engine that sounded and drove like a tractor. Even though it was a 2009 the tax was like 710 a year. It wasn't massively well equipped either for a luxury car. Great cup holders though.

unkel

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121066156#Comment_121066156

All diesels sound and drive like a tractor. You should have been a bit less miserable and forked out for the higher running cost of the petrol one. But I guess almost nobody in Ireland did the right thing back then. The percentage of diesel car sales in Ireland was the highest in the world. For shame. This statistic will never go away and will forever be a blemish on the Irish people.

oceanman

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121066162#Comment_121066162

whats wrong with diesel?...iv had some great diesel cars over many years.

jimmythedivil

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121066162#Comment_121066162

I have a diesel in my Volvo and it sounds great. That was a particularly rough engine in those Saabs.

CoBo55

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121066162#Comment_121066162

That's a bit harsh, the spiel we were fed was that petrol was the spawn of the devil and diesel with its lower co2 output was going to save us from being engulfed in a tsunami or other type of natural disaster. Cheaper cars, better mpg and of course cheaper tax made it a no brainer choice for people. In 2014 it took me months to try and find a petrol car to buy as petrol was more suited to my driving back then.

unkel

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121066227#Comment_121066227

It causes cancer.

@CoBo55 - you are right of course, the government (green party) encouraged diesels by making their motor tax / VRT cheap as they mistakenly believed diesels were good for the environmnent as they had lower CO2 emissions and the other emissions were taken (as per the manufacturers) for granted. And Ireland wasn't the only country doing this. Of course these other emissions were all lies brought on by cheating software, we only got to prove that later.

CoBo55

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121066623#Comment_121066623

I only have my EV a few weeks having made the transition from a phev and I can honestly say it's the best move I've ever made I love the driving experience.

oceanman

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121066623#Comment_121066623

so you think the new EV,s are going to save the planet.....you might want to do a bit more research on that.

unkel

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121069765#Comment_121069765

LOL, not another one

Both my EVs have run 100% on the sun from my own PV panels for the last 4 months. Zero emissions, fully renewable. Anyway, that discussion is for the renewable energy forum or the electric cars one. Not for in here.

Arthur Daley

Coming back to Seat, it appears from VAG comments today that its days as a mainstream brand are numbered. They will favour Cupra as a niche brand more in the future.

I think it is unfortunate but we will probably see a lot of brands killed off by 2030. Lancia, Alfa, Vauxhall, even Opel may do well to survive.

CoBo55

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121070103#Comment_121070103

I'm seeing more and more of the new Opel's on the road over the last few months, very nice looking cars in fairness, one model is very Ionic 5 looking.

w124man

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121066162#Comment_121066162

I understand your stance on this as you are an early EV adopter and cant really see past your nose and with such biased opinions based on who knows what - alternate facts probably - you shouldn't moderate a forum on motoring issues!

unkel

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121082135#Comment_121082135

I don't moderate on a forum on motoring issues.