Time to expand the fleet??? Maybe / Maybe not

m_2975 · Post by **m_2975** » Sun Jul 23, 2006 11:07 am

Hi Guys,

I just went to have a look at a preety BX that's for sale over here in Australia. It looks very nice. I love the colour and the fact that it has exactly 60,000 miles on it makes it quite rare.

Took it for a drive and apart from a new clutch it's a drive away affair.

The guy wants 2000 pounds for it, which is very reasonable for a car like that here You wouldn't get a BX banger here for less than 500 pounds. Remember that the car has Factory Air Conditioning (Including the extra blower and internal/external air flap), power windows all round, power mirrors, full sized radiator, short bonnet, boot spoiler and alloy wheels.

I kind of don't really have a need for it apart from fixing the clutch and putting it in my garage and pampering it. That's what it deserves.

What do you guys think???
I have visions of turning into Billy and running all over Australia saving BX's. Oh My God! I think I have the BX bug! (I think I had it already

)

Stewart (oily!) · Post by **Stewart (oily!)** » Sun Jul 23, 2006 11:39 am

Thats a very pretty looking BX you have there, buy it and drive it

Stewart

Barnsley BXer · Post by **Barnsley BXer** » Sun Jul 23, 2006 7:14 pm

Agreed Stewart.That's one nice car Aussie Billy

Stinkwheel · Post by **Stinkwheel** » Sun Jul 23, 2006 8:04 pm

looks lovely

ed4ferrets · Post by **ed4ferrets** » Sun Jul 23, 2006 11:40 pm

Do it!!

tim leech · Post by **tim leech** » Mon Jul 24, 2006 12:15 am

Geti it bought!

m_2975 · Post by **m_2975** » Mon Jul 24, 2006 4:46 am

Thanks for your input guys.

I REALLY want to buy it but it's not quite the right moment for me to buy. I have an already paid for holiday in october to go on, of which I need spending money and I have a lovely BX already that needs its final touches at the panel shop.

Knowing the speed at which BX's sell in this country I am reasonably sure that it will still be for sale in November when I am ready to buy (and have enough money!).

Keep your fingers crossed for me and I will keep hoping!

tim leech · Post by **tim leech** » Mon Jul 24, 2006 9:06 am

He who hesitates is lost matey, is it worth trying to knock the guy down to a price you can live with and still go on holiday?

M · Post by M » Mon Jul 24, 2006 9:24 am

£2000?

£2000?

My godfathers!
Thats 5 year old Xantia HDi money. Not that its not a nice BX - just would go for less money over here.

((((Thinks - I wonder how much it would cost to crate up some cheap Cits and ship them out there))))

Can anyone explain why prices for second user cars seem so expensive elsewhere (lik Oz, France, The Netherlands etc?)

tim leech · Post by **tim leech** » Mon Jul 24, 2006 10:20 am

Limited availablilty I would expect, wonder how many Bxs were sold in australia! plus with the sunnier weather I expect they dont rust, not many Bxs go to the crusher nowadays because of menachnical probs as there fairly cheap to fix, seems to be rotten boot floors and inner wings that do it.

m_2975 · Post by **m_2975** » Mon Jul 24, 2006 12:34 pm

Well £6000 would only just buy you a 1999 Xantia SX with about 40,000miles on it over here!!!

There were a few thousand sold over here during the 6 years that they were for sale. Not many by the UK standard.

I had a brief look through all of the car sales websites and I fould just 4 BX's for sale in the whole of Australia.

Not many to go around, but they are fast disappearing. The harsh sun means that the plastics are just crumbling and the owners are just not willing to pay the money to repair. They are in banger territory over here and it is where a lot of them will fast approach the crusher.

A few weeks ago I saw a BX on the back of a truck. The truck that takes the crushed cars to the smelter. It was flat as a pancake and I only recognised it by it's metric alloys and side mirror that were mangled amongst the other bombs.

I can only come to terms with it by thinking that the car had done more that it's fair share of good service to the person that owned it.

So therefore this is my driving force behing buying this BX. Securing its future as it deserves a good life that I will no doubt give it.

I can't knock the guy down any further than £2000 as he originally wanted £2200.

As for the holiday, well I am going to spend some time with my parents (they are paying the airfare) as they have little time to just spend time together with me. I told them that I wanted to buy it and they went nuts.

The usual "you don't need another car" and "what for" so if I blow my money on the car and don't have money for the holiday I think that my life will be a misery and I will be thrown out of the house!

I had the same problem when I bought my beautiful blue BX. I was still at school, doing my final year and didn't have any way to pay for it. I dreamed of it every day for 9 months and when I graduated and got a job I marched into the dealer and asked if the car was still there and sure enough it was. I bought it then and there and drove it home.

I'm kind of hoping the same thing will happen with this car. As I always say to people, all good things come to those who wait. I'm waiting now and I hope to hell that it's still there in November.

Tim (or anyone else for that matter), if you're interested in providing a 6 month interest free loan of £2000 i'll go and buy it tomorrow.

tim leech · Post by **tim leech** » Mon Jul 24, 2006 3:29 pm

Lol if i had £2000 mate I would! But i dont sorry, BXs are SO cheap over here, how much would a container cost you to Oz from england or a roll on roll off ferry? If it was less than £1000 you could buy the nicest BX over here ship it over and stlil have £500 change!

m_2975 · Post by **m_2975** » Mon Jul 24, 2006 11:15 pm

Very good Tim!

What an idea. Only a few problems.
-I would need an import permit ($$$$$)
-I would need an engineers certificate here to be able to register it as it doesn't have an Australian compliance plate ($$$$$)
-Most UK BX's only have half the features. (Half size radiator, single engine fan, single blower fan, no airconditioning or aftermarket, plenty of underbody oxidisation, etc)
-A non shipped BX engine (No parts for a UK spec engine in OZ)

It's about £1500 shipping plus all of the charges here in australia as mentioned. Nice option and if there was a car that I really wanted then yeh, but I love this one and I don't have to travel the world for it. I like to see what i'm buying so that spare £500 would be spent on airfares to the UK to look at a car.

Oh Well, thanks for the thought. It's much appreciated that you are thinking of possibilities for me

I'd love to live in the UK and I plan to some time in my life. This way I can be inundated with BX's

Thanks

m_2975 · Post by **m_2975** » Mon Jul 31, 2006 1:26 pm

My heart is broken. The car has been sold and i'm not the owner !

Time to start saving so that I am ready to pounce when the next one comes along!!

cavmad · Post by **cavmad** » Mon Jul 31, 2006 1:38 pm

Michael, is that £1500 for shipping per car or per container? I`ll bet if it`s per container you could get a couple in a forty footer plus as many spares as you wanted too.
Someone `over here` could weigh up any suitable car for you and report back and dependant on what dock it had to leave from it could be taken there without too much hassle I would have thought.
I managed to export a heavily crashed Nissan patrol 4.2 diesel to Iceland about a year back and the only real problems encountered were with the buyers.

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