haha, thanks Chris, a useful quick history lesson there and all is clear now
"If your thinking of running veg or bio forget the mpg now. Just buy a cruiser and enjoy it" - Cheers Karl, I am actually thinking exactly that. My favourite vehicle is the 100 series Amazon. I think I will just decide on that and sod the fuel, it will only motivate me to unpack the processor and get my arse in gear learning how to make it myself!
100s - Not sure whether to spend 6-8k on a 150k miles plus Amazon, or 10-11 tops on one with well under 100k. I have seen one with 78k miles on it, drove it home for family to play with for half hour. It's bloody mint at least on surface, its wax oiled underneath and at a very quick look it doesn't appear rust under that and given the mileage I would say it was done early in its life if not when brand new. But its asking price of 12k so too much really but i think they will move on it as nobody can get finance for it due to age. However on a 1 hour test drive to nip it home for a bit, I noticed a fair list of faults which i would hope the dealer will sort before i buy (as for top whack i want EVERYTHING working properly)..
steering wheel rake control not working (dud motor probably)
horrible squeak by driver's right ear when driving (may seem small but loud and annoying as hell)
rear right wheel seized up occasionally, after reversing off drive to take it back it squealed down the road a few meters before apparently unseizing
centre arm rest catch not working so it kept flipping up when driving
horrible wobble from steering wheel (whole truck vibrates) when braking
hefty clunk like kick up the arse when it changes gear, that could have been due to seized wheel maybe