Head or Heart???

WildV6

WildV6

Club Member
Feb 2, 2008
6,788
2,351
Devon, UK
Hey All, sorry not been around of late, had loads on with work and also the Focus went wrong again! Anyway, I am in a bit of a quandary.....read on.....

Due to the fact that I am changing my job as from tomorrow, I will be earning quite a lot less than I did before, in the region of £4k, therefore, got to make a few decisions.....about whether I keep my coug or not? If I go with my heart, then I would keep it, as love the car, I'd always wanted one and finances at the time allowed me to buy one. However, my head (or certainly the sensible part at least) says to let her go. As most of you know, she doesn't get out much and sits under her cover for much of the year, and costs me around £600 a year to keep her insured, taxed and mot'd. She's only done about 3k miles in the last 4 years.

If I do decide to let her go, then she will be returned to almost standard, as have all the original bits, so wheels would be back to oem, rear Roush spoiler would come off and be sold separately, along with the MIJ exhaust system. The only thing which would stay is the suspension, as would cost too much to remove and put the old springs back. All the carbon wrapped bits would also come off and be sold separately.

I'm not going to rush into this and need to give it a lot more thought, as I have put a lot of me into that car and have always loved it and always been proud of it too.

So guys, what do you think? Should I listen to my heart? or go with my head?

I have have a tear in my eye and a lump in my throat, so will end here. I don't need to make a decision just yet, but may really have to look at this going into 2017.

I'd appreciate any comments. Thanks guys.
 
Tim, i think it's better to keep it, it only works out to just over a tenner a week, about 3 pints or couple of bottles of cheap wine.
Where could you get the sort of enjoyment that goes on giving you so much fun for such a cheap price
 
I too had this decision to make a while back, mine was based on being self employed at the time, I chose to sell my 2 cougars, but look at me now.. I'm back into cougar ownership, back on the board, and back enjoying the fun...banter...upsides and downsides of owning a cougar.....:LOL: only you can make this choice you have given yourself, we can all offer words of wisdom and advise... BUT.. it's YOUR decision, if you do sell... you may do like I did and miss it, so get another one at a later date... if you don't sell... you still got the best of both worlds... a great bunch of cougar lovers and a great car.. (y)....even if you do get rid, you can still be a part of the owners club..(down side is you will still see loads of great coug's, and this may make you envious and jealous tho...)......:cry:
 
I have an MGF which doesnt get a lot of use but costs me roughly £10 a week to keep on the road and as Lazybones points out its only roughly 3 pints a week so where else could you get as much enjoyment for that kind of money.
 
lazybones said:
Tim, i think it's better to keep it, it only works out to just over a tenner a week, about 3 pints or couple of bottles of cheap wine.
Where could you get the sort of enjoyment that goes on giving you so much fun for such a cheap price
Click to expand...

I agree as your car is in such good condition, one day it'll be worth some money- but you need to do what's best for you and Rachel. It's not like you won't be welcome here if you do sell. I change my mind over what to do with mine virtually every day and now it looks like I might have a buyer again. It's not in the same league as yours though.
You could always cut down to a limited mileage policy and only tax it in the summer, if you haven't already. The Focus has cost you much more than that lately (although I don't know why).
Have some trifle and think on it(y)
 
I don't have the full story of the Focus, but I seem to remember you use it to haul work equipment? I infer from Matt's post that it's needed a lot of work recently, so you may be following the sunk cost fallacy to keep it alive.

I know nothing of your finances, (and my situation is very different from yours) but if I was considering selling my "toy" to reduce my costs, I would do so in a heartbeat if it meant I could fund a work vehichle which was a reliable one instead of a money sink.

What this all hinges on is whether your work car is now stable and you can negotiate classic car insurance on the Cougar. Without data points - which are none of my business - I would go for whichever decision benefitted my family first, and allowed me to keep my project car last.
 
.
Old-ford-fran said:
I too had this decision to make a while back, mine was based on being self employed at the time, I chose to sell my 2 cougars, but look at me now.. I'm back into cougar ownership, back on the board, and back enjoying the fun...banter...upsides and downsides of owning a cougar.....:LOL: only you can make this choice you have given yourself, we can all offer words of wisdom and advise... BUT.. it's YOUR decision, if you do sell... you may do like I did and miss it, so get another one at a later date... if you don't sell... you still got the best of both worlds... a great bunch of cougar lovers and a great car.. (y)....even if you do get rid, you can still be a part of the owners club..(down side is you will still see loads of great coug's, and this may make you envious and jealous tho...)......:cry:
Click to expand...

Thanks for the advice, that's the thing, if I did sell we could never afford to buy another one, even if they are fairly cheap. Unfortunately owing to being in rented and unable to afford a mortgage, another coug would be out of the question. Not only that, I love my car and another coug would never be the same, and I certainly couldn't afford to do the things I have already done to mine.
 
In my humble opinion cougars are at the bottom of their market, surely they can't get any cheaper so long as we can stop them rotting away.
Mine is a second or even third car. I can't financially justify keeping her, but I counter this with the fact that I can't financially justify selling her. She gets insured all year round but is only taxed for the summer, some years I haven't taxed her and spent the time tinkering. Worth the money for the enjoyment of doing just that.
You gotta do what ya gotta do, but repent at your leisure.
 
backseateducation said:
I agree as your car is in such good condition, one day it'll be worth some money- but you need to do what's best for you and Rachel. It's not like you won't be welcome here if you do sell. I change my mind over what to do with mine virtually every day and now it looks like I might have a buyer again. It's not in the same league as yours though.
You could always cut down to a limited mileage policy and only tax it in the summer, if you haven't already. The Focus has cost you much more than that lately (although I don't know why).
Have some trifle and think on it(y)
Click to expand...

Thanks Matt, yeh, already got it on limited mileage of 3k a year, but still £350 a year covering all the mods. Yes, the Focus has cost a bloody fortune, but it's not worth selling as they aren't making great money at the moment. It's just been given the all clear by Ford, so hopefully nothing more with it...fingers crossed. The Focus is now Rach's daily runner.

Hmmm...trifle, now there's an idea lol!!

- - - Updated - - -

Mako said:
I don't have the full story of the Focus, but I seem to remember you use it to haul work equipment? I infer from Matt's post that it's needed a lot of work recently, so you may be following the sunk cost fallacy to keep it alive.

I know nothing of your finances, (and my situation is very different from yours) but if I was considering selling my "toy" to reduce my costs, I would do so in a heartbeat if it meant I could fund a work vehichle which was a reliable one instead of a money sink.

What this all hinges on is whether your work car is now stable and you can negotiate classic car insurance on the Cougar. Without data points - which are none of my business - I would go for whichever decision benefitted my family first, and allowed me to keep my project car last.
Click to expand...

Hey Chris, Thanks for the advice. The Focus was my daily runner back and forth to Exeter, but was only hauling my butt lol!! I now have a Mondeo Titanium X Sport Diesel that I use every day. The Focus now belongs to Rach who uses it every day for work (only hauling her small butt! Lol!!).

The coug sits on my drive and maybe gets driven twice, maybe 3 times a year. Now, I know it's only costing £600 a year to keep it running etc. but as I said, due to my new job and taking a huge pay cut, means we will have less coming in, which makes things a bit more difficult. As I said, I'm going to have to give it a lot of thought.

- - - Updated - - -

mabo said:
In my humble opinion cougars are at the bottom of their market, surely they can't get any cheaper so long as we can stop them rotting away.
Mine is a second or even third car. I can't financially justify keeping her, but I counter this with the fact that I can't financially justify selling her. She gets insured all year round but is only taxed for the summer, some years I haven't taxed her and spent the time tinkering. Worth the money for the enjoyment of doing just that.
You gotta do what ya gotta do, but repent at your leisure.
Click to expand...

Yeh, that's the issue, I don't want to get any where near repenting. I know that I would kick myself daily if I let her go. May have to think about sorning her over the winter months, which would save some money I suppose.
 
If it were me, I wouldn't sell it. You've had the car for years and it's no secret how much you love it. I know selling it would break your heart but I think the process of 'standardising' her would be even worse. The main question you have to ask is what difference, brutally honestly, would £600 make to you when spread over a year? If the wolf truly is at the door then I totally get it - I've been there myself. If not though and it's more that paying to tax and insure her feels like an annoyance, I think you'd regret getting rid almost immediately.
 
Relliott6879 said:
If it were me, I wouldn't sell it. You've had the car for years and it's no secret how much you love it. I know selling it would break your heart but I think the process of 'standardising' her would be even worse. The main question you have to ask is what difference, brutally honestly, would £600 make to you when spread over a year? If the wolf truly is at the door then I totally get it - I've been there myself. If not though and it's more that paying to tax and insure her feels like an annoyance, I think you'd regret getting rid almost immediately.
Click to expand...

Yeh, true Rich. Paying out isn't the annoyance, it's I just don't want Rach and I to get into any debt. Personally I don't think I could ever part with her, not without a fight anyway lol. The wolf aint knockin yet, and if it did, then I shoot the bloody thing (the wolf, not the car lol).
 
Tim, yours is one of the iconic cars in what we refer to as " the family " of cougar owners and I think it would be a tragedy if you decided to standardise it. As others have said, £600.00 a year is not a lot of money and if you can afford it, keep the cougar. Why not just tax it for 6 months of the year and try to get a restricted mileage insurance for it, like a classic car insurance, where you are only allowed to do 1500 or 2000 miles a year. If needs must and you do have to sell it, I would sell it as is and I am quite sure that someone in the club would bite your hand off for it. I appreciate that you are looking for inputs from other members regarding your decision, but, ultimately it is your decision and you should be the only one who makes that decision based on the true facts of how it would affect you in the future. My own personal decision would be to keep it because as soon as you let it go you would regret it and probably be looking for another one soon.
 
You have to do what is right for you and your wife. It is that simple really. Everyone here has given you great advice but all said and done you have to live with your choices. My only piece of advice is always go with what you believe to be the right choice for both of you. That is all that matters. Good luck with it all.
 
If you decide to sell, sell it complete Tim. If you decide to keep her and have time to work on her if only as a hobby then do that, SORN. Follow what has been said above but ultimately it is your decision but you know what a heartache it will be to see her go up that road with somebody else in the drivers seat.
 
I guess you have to think what would you get for it and if you need that money enough for other things.
At the moment it seems Cougars are not raising much money . . .
 
The only way to get decent money for it is to make it stand out from the rest and that would mean leaving all the bits on it but believe me once it is gone you will regret selling it , it will always be your baby and you will never feel the same about any other car.
I found out the hard way and listened to my head but should have gone with my heart (y)
 
I've just had a thought.

How far does Rach drive for work? Could she use the Cougar as her daily? It would give you brass in pocket from the sale of the Focus, would reduce your tax and insurance liability, and would allow you to keep the car.

How practical would this be? I mean, it doesn't let your Cougar be a garage princess, but might work as a compromise?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.