R35. Dirty, driven and used. So cool.
The new TOP ONE is 3 times bigger than the old.
Last Saturday my mate Ben was after an Alfa 147 which got me excited as I’ve owned one in the past (despite absolutely hating it at times…I loved it lots!). You’ve got to own an Alfa to really appreciate how amazing they are but you’ve also got to have the balls to buy one after hearing and reading about all the bad reviews.
I thought the best thing Ben could do is get an inspection done by Dedy at TOP ONE. Dedy goes all out when inspecting cars. If the car has been in an accident he’ll spot it, if anything at all is out of place he’ll let you know so you can make a VERY informed decision.
On the morning of the inspection Ben let me know that he completely whimped out of buying an Alfa and instead we were going to inspect a Mazda 3! We met up with the sellers at TOP ONE, the car was filthy, interior had been smoked in and what’s worse the entire car had been horribly resprayed (most likely a backyard job). The paint had a lot of dust in it and it was literally peeling off the rear 3/4 window. If Ben was to wash his car with a high pressure hose at a carwash we were pretty sure the paint would just peel off! There were a lot more issues with the car too, the funny thing was when Ben decided against buying the car (phew!) the sellers got aggressive on him. Bad experience? Yes. A little scary? Yup!
So we headed back to mine, hopped on carsales and hunted down another Mazda 3 to inspect. This time we went on vibes. A little more expensive than the cheapest cars listed, well written for sale description, nice area, nice guy on the phone and we were off to check out another car.
We got there and the experience and car was night and day, black and white completely different to the car we had checked out earlier. Great car, super clean, great seller, very honest. Everything just felt 100% right. I tried to play hard ball and drop the asking price by $2k by making a deal on the spot (I couldn’t help myself) but the seller had no intention of even dropping $500 on the car (tough!). I got a message from Ben yesterday saying he bought the car (and he got the $500 off) :)
Just couldn’t risk the Alfa, Italian coffee, shoes and food are one thing, but cars? I’m calling the car searching day ‘Yin and Yang’ Top one were amazing, loving your haggling skills Justin….
Picked it up last night, it’s a Minter! Old mates wife was nearly in tears when I drove it away, apparently he has only used Maquires cleaning products and it has been parked under cover all it’s life even at work. thx for your keen eyes Justo.