Dad, i wanna buy an AU XR6 ute....

[jphanna]

i have come to conclusion that there are 2 types of private car buyers.

1. buy a decent car and keep it, and really care for it for years

2. buy a ****ter every year or 2

i am the former. my son is the latter.

EA falcon, daihatsu charade, bmw 3 series, mitsubishi van.....and now an Auxr6 ute. he just turned 22.

a week ago he narrowed his search down to 2 utes. one in normanville 125kms away, 180,000kms, Xr6. no service history. The other, a stock au with comprehensive service history owned by another country person.

i love country cars, the motors rev harder and feel better compared to thier city only driven relatives.

i bought 4 country cars over the decades myself. every one had great motor.

we roll up to the first car. xr6. had mandatory burnout rims on rear, but rear alloys still come with car. front end panels not straight, front lights cracked, rear light cracked and small dent on left. not looking good....pop the bonnet, oil level mid range, black, coolant bottle was brown, and every instinct in my body said run for your life.

we driven 125 kms so we better take it for a run, just to see what an Au drives like, for 'research' purposes. being in the country, 100kph road was half a km away........i drove it first. what a revelation!!!!! huge grunt, revs in every gear without hesitation, the motor was absolutely alive and ready for action. i got my son to drive and i stayed on road to watch for smoke as he changes gears. none present.

i havnt driven a lot of v8 in my life, about 3 or 4 4.9-5.8 falcon coupes etc, and i thought this was a quicker car. maybe it was modified?

i assumed all AU drive like this, so i told my son, based on the body condition and no service history, its a bucket of **** and what a waste of a drive. we set our sites on the stock au with proper service history and owned by a responsible person who doesnt do burnouts with his ute.

2 days ago i drove the stock ute. 240,000kms. 5 speed. i hadnt got out of second gear and i thought, this is chocking. 3000rpm and it was protesting, breathless and struggling. this is what i expected to be normal for a falcon with this mileage. we got up to 100kph, in 4th gear, and i flattened it.....nothing. no pull at all. this car has all the right aspects for a father to give the go ahead for a son to buy. service history, new tyres, new clutch, perfect body, just a few scratches but i knew my son would get bored with this in 2 weeks.

that afternoon i gave him the go ahead to buy the burnout ute from normanville.......

yesterday we changed the oil, oil filter, plugs, air filter, coolant reservoir, coolant and a few hoses. we took off the burnout rears stockies and put the proper tickford alloys on.

took it for a small burn. temp sits on a third, doesnt move, oil pressure on 5 out of 7 digits on gauge. GRUNT is unbelievable for a hammered 16 year old scrubber. now we sit and wait to see where the oil levels are, and coolant level, in a weeks time. that will give us an idea of what big repairs he may have in near future.....

sometimes buying a scrubber used car, can be quite an experience. BTW he paid $2500.00 on the ute, and we spent about 180.00 on parts on a good service yesterday.

'dad, for $2500, nothing i could have bought goes like this' he ,may be right.

[Boosted8]

Great story, I enjoyed reading. I probably would have taken the one which has a decent body though. Good AU engines are readily available for just a few hundred bucks.

[XB GS 351 Coupe]

Intersting read, and makes sense, and engine that has been caned will always drive better.

My engine builder has always told me to run engines in the exact way that you want them to perform.

[XD 351 Ute]

Lol, I went looking at an XH the other day, similar story to the neglected AU.
Leaking rear calipers, excessive diff backlash, quite suspect motor and few other odds and sods.
Went well, drove great but was full of rusting seams........everywhere.....
If it weren't for the rust I would have bought it and worried about the impending timebombs later!

Ed