My car came with some sort of “Rugby players’ association” sticker on the back window, from the previous owner. I left it there for the exact same reason. Nobody has picked fights with me so far, either.

Americans are really weird. Who the hell could possibly want a 50-hp diesel auto Corolla for 3 fucking grand when you could get dozens of turbo petrol-powered cars that get decent mileage on their ridiculously cheap fuel for the same price? I could sort-of understand something more interesting like an old diesel…

Yeah, I thought the same thing. In this case you aren’t even buying someone else’s project, you’re buying someone else’s someone else’s project. Double-CP.

I’m in Yoorope. OBD2 only became mandatory in the early 2000s over here, sadly.

Nah, it’s a Volvo S40. Although it is a Mitsubishi underneath, so I guess you could say it’s a little bit JDM!

I know what you mean. One of my cars has an OBD-style diagnostic port, but it’s not actually on the OBD2 protocol. Which means no diagnostic tool in the world (other than the manufacturer’s own) can read codes off it.

It has nothing to do with money. I would never hand over the keys to my 20-year-old, 500$ Volvo to someone I don’t know.

That’s exactly what I do. The best way to get the highest quality/price ratio is to find out what the supplier that makes the part you want to replace on your car is, and then buy it from an online shop. That way you avoid all the dealer and/or parts store markup and get the same part you’d get from the factory for a…

Plastic is a terrible material for anything involving high temperatures or stresses. Whenever I notice I need to touch something plastic while doing maintenance on my 20-year-old car, I just order that stuff beforehand because there’s 95% chance it’ll break on removal.

Great point. That crap chinese idler/tensioner would have failed just the same on an 03 Corolla as it did on the Benz.

Nah, crack it loose with a socket wrench instead. It has better contact surface with the nut, so you have less chance of rounding it off. Always works for me (I don’t live in Michigan, though!).

Definitely the best color combo for this car, specially if it has the awesome cloth seats. I once saw one just like that twice in the same gas pump in the span of about a week. Was the first 480 I ever seen in person, and I remember it looked much cooler than I expected. I’ve wanted one ever since.

Which, incredibly, would still have been much cheaper than the alternative!

300€ per car is a lot of money though. How many cars were believed to be cheating again, 500.000? That would have cost them 150 million euros. In hindsight the whole ordeal is going to cost them exponentially more, but I can see why they would be tempted. I’ve heard of far worse cost-cutting in the past.

Whenever people shit on the PRV, I like to remind them that it holds the record for fastest speed trap in Le Mans, and will probably hold that honor for at least another decade.

Nah, Portugal.

Wow, very thorough article. Incredible work! The only thing I’d add to your checklist is brake fluid. I’ve experienced first hand the effect of having old brake fluid boil while going down a mountain road and I can tell you that all the best discs and pads in the world won’t do anything to help you slow down. So now I…

A million times this. Inspections, at least in my country, are just a way to make shops more money. They will fail you for ridiculously minor things like slightly fogged lights or an inop fog light if they really want your extra cash, and then completely gloss over dangerously worn suspension or mismatched tyres. I…

I guess they agree with you. Otherwise they wouldn’t have stopped at the 850, and would also include the V70, V50 and/or V60 in there.

I’m a simple man. I see an 850 post, I give a star.