As you know, we decided to replace our old 9-5 Aero estate. We took delivery of our Honda CR-V on 19th October, and I advertised our 9-5 for sale on the local Gumtree equivalent and a Saab enthusiasts website at €1250. The ad had over 900 views on the Gumtree website before I had an enquiry, then I had two in one day. A lad in his mid 20s arranged to view it on 24th October. He turned up on time with a friend, gave it a very casual once over, and agreed to buy it for the asking price, although I threw in a set of winter rims/tyres which I had previously valued at €1250. He paid cash, and signed a standard Austrian buyers contract (needed to enable him to register it in his name) which stated he'd bought it as seen and test driven, without guarantee or further liability on my part. He then produced a set of number plates from his friend's car and put them on "my" car. The plates here are issued by insurance companies, and can only legally be put on a vehicle after it has been registered with this registration number (which is person-related rather than car-related). So I suggested he might not want to drive off in an uninsured, unregistered (to him) car, but he was happy to do so, and he did!
90 minutes later comes the text message "Motor kaputt, full of oil and smoking". He'd driven it the 100km to his home, and with around 10km to go hit the autobahn and I think floored it. He admitted he'd hit 160km/hr (around 100mph), whereas the motorway limit here is 130km/h. I suspect the head gasket went, as it already had an external leak but was pronounced sound internally. A bit ironic, as we have regularly cruised at 160 km/h in Germany. He couldn't stop as it was uninsured and unregistered so he drove it another 10km home.
I visited him the next day and refused to give him his money back.I had a look at the car and it did look really sad, the engine and underbonnet was covered in oil. He said he'd get a diagnosis and see his solicitor, which didn't worry me as everything was done properly. I gave him €250 back, and took the winter wheels & tyres away. He eventually sold it for €500, probably for spares, and I gave him another €200 back as a goodwill gesture. So I still have €800 and he's lost €300.
I was really pleased that the car had gone to someone who would drive it rather than as spares, but obviously my joy was short lived. Very sad end to a car that we took from 70k to 230k miles over 8 years, including numerous trips between the UK and Austria, and was totally reliable except for the two disabling breakdowns in the last year leading to our decision to replace it.
On a happier note, our CR-V is only the 120bhp 2WD version, but is a wonderful motorway cruiser. It has 300Nm, as against the 350 of the standard Aero. I was worried that it might feel underpowered after the Aero at 120bhp
, but that's not the case. It's roomy, comfortable and quiet, and the 55mpg is rather better than the 33mpg of the Aero. SWMBO is having trouble with seat comfort however, so ideally we need to transplant the Saab seats into the Honda.....
