Iħjut Il-£8000 Porsche Boxster S – bargain jew diżastru?

L-idea ta 'Boxster S irħis tidher kważi tajba wisq biex tkun vera, imma xi kultant jista' jkun ta 'min jieħu ċ-ċans. It-telefon daqq u wara ftit sekondi biss ta 'smigħ lill-persuna fuq in-naħa l-oħra, qalbi għereq.
Kien missieri – li għandu 76 sena iżda għadu ossessjonat bil-karozzi – irid ikun jaf x'ħsibt dwar l-idea li jixtri tifel ta' 14-il sena Porsche Boxster S.
Kif fid-dinja suppost tirreaġixxi għal mistoqsija bħal dik f'għodwa miżerabbli f'Jannar?
Bi tweġiba l-ewwel fakkartlu fl-età tiegħu, u mbagħad mort f'xi dettall żgħir dwar kemm Boxster ta '14-il sena jista' jiswa biex jirranġa meta, mhux jekk, imur ħażin.
Iżda sa dak iż-żmien kien diġà tajjeb fil-pass tiegħu, u qalli kemm minn bargain dan l-eżempju partikolari deher li kien, u dwar għaliex kien diġà għamel moħħu li kien se jixtrih.
Allura f'dak il-punt iddeċidejt li nisma '- il-flus tiegħu li jisparixxu l-plughole meta l-kontijiet jibdew iduru, wara kollox. U f'dak il-punt l-affarijiet marru mill-ħażin għall-agħar.
Jappartjeni għal raġel Ċiniż sabiħ ħafna li jdoqq li jgħix f'Twickenham, qal missieri. U huwa lest biss 15,000 mil.
U kemm irid iċ-Chinaman sabiħ minn Twickenham għall-Boxster S possibilment arloġġ tiegħu? Staqsejt.
Tmien grand, huwa wieġeb. Għalkemm Qed nittama li l-infern jieħu sebgħa u nofs.
Oh Alla, ħsibt, huwa verament se jixtrih. U f'dak il-punt x'tista 'tagħmel? Allura ssuġġerejt li għandu jmur u fil-fatt isuq il-karozza qabel ma jgħaddi kwalunkwe flus f'daqqa frenzied ta 'naïvety tal-karozzi. Li għamel l-għada stess, u ġie lura saħansitra aktar entużjast minn dak li skopra.
Il-karozza inkwistjoni kienet proprjetà tal-istess persuna Ċiniża sabiħa minn ġdida, jirriżulta, u deher li kien ġenwin daqs kemm jiksbu. Hed xtratha fis-sajf tal-2000 minn Porsche AFN f'Chiswick.
Mhux twil wara dan mar jaħdem fl-Amerika għal ħames snin, għalkemm, matul liema żmien kiseb AFN biex jieħu ħsieb il-karozza billi jmexxiha fuq bażi regolari, mill-kontijiet kollha.
U meta ġie lura fir-Renju Unit użaha bħala t-tieni karozza, bħala ġugarell, bażikament, u kompla jġibha serviet mill-AFN u kellu kull kont wieħed biex jipprovaha.
Kellu wkoll barnuża elettrika ġdida fjamanta, u kien għadu kemm kellu 1100 xogħol imwettaq fuqu biex jirranġa tnixxija żgħira f'wieħed mill-ħarir tiegħu. U meta x-xjuħ tiegħi saqha d-dar ftit jiem wara, wara li nfirdet b'7700, naħseb li jista ', għal ftit sekondi biss, kien l-iktar raġel kuntent fid-dinja.
Ftit tal-jiem wara mort u tajt ħarsa lejha, u ma stajtx nemmen għajnejja - għax hemm, bilqiegħda fuq is-sewqan ta 'Ommi u Dads, kien dak li deher qisu Porsche Boxster S ġdid fjamant. Deher, tabilħaqq, bħallikieku kien għadu kemm ħareġ mil-linja tal-produzzjoni.
Allura saqha madwar il-blokka għal ftit u ma kienx hemm daqshekk whiff ta 'squeak minn kullimkien. L-umidifikaturi xorta ħassewhom sbieħ u perky, il-gearbox dehret bla difetti, kif għamlu l-istering, il-brejkijiet, ir-rispons tat-throttle, in-nota tal-egżost, l-operazzjoni tal-barnuża, il-kabina, iż-żewġ stivali quddiem u wara ... int issemmiha, il-karozza dehret perfetta.
Mhux biss deher qisu Boxster S ġdid fjamant iżda deher li jsuq pjuttost bħal wieħed ukoll.
U issa qalbi m'għadhiex mgħaddsa - fi kwalunkwe rata, mhux qabel ma sseħħ it-telefonata stramba li jmiss dwar il-karozzi. . .

The idea of a cheap Boxster S seems almost too good to be true, but sometimes it might just be worth taking the chance. The telephone rang and after just a few seconds of listening to the person on the other end, my heart sank.
It was my father – who is 76 but still hopelessly obsessed by cars – wanting to know what I thought about the idea of him buying a 14-year-old Porsche Boxster S.
How on earth are you supposed to react to a question like that on a miserable morning in January?
In response I first reminded him of his age, and then went into some minor detail about how much a 14-year-old Boxster might cost to fix when, not if, it goes wrong.
But by that time he was already well into his stride, telling me how much of a bargain this particular example appeared to be, and about why he had already made up his mind he was going to buy it.
So at that point I decided to listen – its his money that will disappear down the plughole when the bills begin rolling in, after all. And at that point things went from bad to worse.
It belongs to a very nice sounding Chinese man who lives in Twickenham, said my father. And its only done 15,000 miles.
And how much does the nice Chinaman from Twickenham want for his possibly clocked Boxster S? I enquired.
Eight grand, he replied. Although Im hoping hell take seven and a half.
Oh God, I thought, he really is going to buy it. And at that point what can you do? So I suggested he should go and actually drive the car before handing over any money in a frenzied outburst of car naïvety. Which he did the very next day, and came back even more enthused by what hed discovered.
The car in question has been owned by the same nice Chinese person from new, it turns out, and he seemed to be as genuine as they get. Hed bought it in the summer of 2000 from Porsche AFN in Chiswick.
Not long after that he went to work in America for five years, though, during which time he got AFN to look after the car by running it up on a regular basis, by all accounts.
And when he came back to the UK he used it as a second car, as a toy, basically, and continued to get it serviced by AFN and had every single bill to prove it.
It also had a brand new electric hood, and had just had 1100 of work carried out on it to fix a small leak in one of its sills. And when my old man drove it home a few days later, having parted with 7700, I think he might, just for a few seconds, have been the happiest man on earth.
A couple of days later I went over and took a look at it, and I couldnt quite believe my eyes – because there, sitting on my Mum and Dads drive, was what looked like a brand new Porsche Boxster S. It looked, indeed, as if it had just come off the production line.
So I drove it round the block for a bit and there wasnt so much as a whiff of a squeak from anywhere. The dampers still felt nice and perky, the gearbox seemed faultless, as did the steering, the brakes, the throttle response, the exhaust note, the hood operation, the cabin, the two boots front and rear… you name it, the car seemed perfect.
Not only did it look like a brand new Boxster S but it appeared to drive pretty much like one, too.
And now my heart is no longer sunk – at any rate, not until the next bizarre phone call about cars occurs. . .