Arragonis
29-04-2014, 10:06 PM
At some point in the mid-1980s a group of us, students so time off :p , decided to take a day off in Blackpool - we lived in nearby Preston at the time. As we drove through the outskirts of Blackpool we passed a garage.
On the forecourt was a mid-1970s Ferrari 308/GT4.
For those of you unfamiliar with the naming conventions of 1970s Ferraris this was a mid engined 2+2 coupe with a transverse V8. It was the forerunner to the 308GTB/S the GTS being the "Magnum PI" car which was all the rage at the time. This one however was the Bertone wedge shape - I like it myself - but it is not the Magnum Ferrari and so was of little value.
Anyway one of us with more money than sense decided to take a look. And was offered an immediate 2K discount on the £7K asking price (1984 prices). So he spent his (parents') cash and bought it. Blue. Cream Leather. A sound that would make a petrolhead have a wet dream in under a second.
He was king of the hill, college and the collective female student pants for weeks.
Until it went pop.
And of course it did because it was a Ferrari. You know, like a thoroughbred. A Racehorse. A Champion. That first problem was simple, an ignition issue. Except the parts to fix it would be about £1k - 1984 prices. So of course we bodged it.
And it went pop again, and again and again. And every time we fixed it cheap and sometimes not so cheap.
Eventually it went pop big time - the engine. Apparently something exotic made of special alloy in the bottom of the engine had broken and needed replacing - about £1.5K (1984 prices) plus specialist spannering to fit it - that was parts only.
At this point the Ferrari was sold - not sure if it was fixed or stripped for parts.
Why am I posting this ?
Well I kind of feel that Audi has decided that it's cars (or maybe just some of them) are like Ferraris - highly strung racehorses, thoroughbreds in fact just like Ferraris. Owners of them should expect them to be like this - unreliable, tempramental, expensive to cure.
Why has Audi decided to copy Ferrari with what can only be described as pretty ordinary cars ?
Why Audi as the maker of reasonably sensible big VWs has decided to make stupidly badly designed cars which entail supercar levels of expenditure to even do the basic tasks (such as servicing timing chains) - which pretty much condemns a whole generation to death as it is easier than a repair ?
And why is every spare part a 3 figure sum with only a few where the first number is a 1 ?
And why does an allegedly galvanised german car rust, or have badly aligned panels at 3 years old, or have leaks ?
And finally why does Audi decide that nobody buying one would buy another - well would you, really ?
This cuts both ways though. You see my friend who bought the Ferrari now runs a bank and has enough cash to buy a few play "supercars" - four so far. None of them come from Modena and none will because he has been burned by them once and won't be again. In fact none are Italian, or German. Thats about £2m lost in money.
And as for me I could buy a new S6 tomorrow, but I never will even if I won the lottery. Also no S4 or A1 or A3.
Not my loss.
Theirs.
On the forecourt was a mid-1970s Ferrari 308/GT4.
For those of you unfamiliar with the naming conventions of 1970s Ferraris this was a mid engined 2+2 coupe with a transverse V8. It was the forerunner to the 308GTB/S the GTS being the "Magnum PI" car which was all the rage at the time. This one however was the Bertone wedge shape - I like it myself - but it is not the Magnum Ferrari and so was of little value.
Anyway one of us with more money than sense decided to take a look. And was offered an immediate 2K discount on the £7K asking price (1984 prices). So he spent his (parents') cash and bought it. Blue. Cream Leather. A sound that would make a petrolhead have a wet dream in under a second.
He was king of the hill, college and the collective female student pants for weeks.
Until it went pop.
And of course it did because it was a Ferrari. You know, like a thoroughbred. A Racehorse. A Champion. That first problem was simple, an ignition issue. Except the parts to fix it would be about £1k - 1984 prices. So of course we bodged it.
And it went pop again, and again and again. And every time we fixed it cheap and sometimes not so cheap.
Eventually it went pop big time - the engine. Apparently something exotic made of special alloy in the bottom of the engine had broken and needed replacing - about £1.5K (1984 prices) plus specialist spannering to fit it - that was parts only.
At this point the Ferrari was sold - not sure if it was fixed or stripped for parts.
Why am I posting this ?
Well I kind of feel that Audi has decided that it's cars (or maybe just some of them) are like Ferraris - highly strung racehorses, thoroughbreds in fact just like Ferraris. Owners of them should expect them to be like this - unreliable, tempramental, expensive to cure.
Why has Audi decided to copy Ferrari with what can only be described as pretty ordinary cars ?
Why Audi as the maker of reasonably sensible big VWs has decided to make stupidly badly designed cars which entail supercar levels of expenditure to even do the basic tasks (such as servicing timing chains) - which pretty much condemns a whole generation to death as it is easier than a repair ?
And why is every spare part a 3 figure sum with only a few where the first number is a 1 ?
And why does an allegedly galvanised german car rust, or have badly aligned panels at 3 years old, or have leaks ?
And finally why does Audi decide that nobody buying one would buy another - well would you, really ?
This cuts both ways though. You see my friend who bought the Ferrari now runs a bank and has enough cash to buy a few play "supercars" - four so far. None of them come from Modena and none will because he has been burned by them once and won't be again. In fact none are Italian, or German. Thats about £2m lost in money.
And as for me I could buy a new S6 tomorrow, but I never will even if I won the lottery. Also no S4 or A1 or A3.
Not my loss.
Theirs.