‘250k miles and not out!

A quarter of a million miles – tick

Back in June 2020, after my Cadillac expired spectacularly in a cacophony of valves meeting pistons, I needed a reliable estate-come tow car… sharpish. PC’S Matt Tomkins put me in touch with Danny Hopkins and a deal was quickly done on his Toyota Avensis, which fitted the bill nicely. Danny had taken the car on from its first owner, Jeff Taylor, at 238k miles. He had given it a big service and then lent it on to a friend in desperate need of a set of winter wheels. The mileage was creeping ever closer to the magic 250,000 and Danny aimed to put it there, but then he heard of my dilemma and suddenly the baton was passed to me – with the caveat that I was to take the car to the big number. Challenge accepted.

It’s served me well, and proved its towing capabilities returning a wooden special I’d bought from Norfolk to North Wales, moving my girlfriend’s car to a restorer’s and plenty of other useful tasks including loading the roof rack with so much wood from the breakdown of the ‘I’m a Celebrity’ set that the suspension was bottoming out! At 251,000 miles, and just before the MOT was due, I sold it to a local garage for £100. Having since received a refund of £112.50 from the DVLA for the unused tax, man maths tells me I made money on it, right? It needs further work, as a running issue is currently getting in the way of smooth progress, but I hope someone can take it on again.