Classified Find - Audi B3 Coupe

Rationale screams 'run-a-mile' when I view everything about this classified ad.

For starters, there is one solitary photo, of the exterior, so for all we know, the interior could be covered in feces and blood.

Secondly, the ad description is scant. A brief one-liner. Year, engine size and of course that the car is in "good condition", but the seller would say that, wouldn't they.

Thankfully, the connected world we live in allows us to easily investigate further.

With the car's registration plate visible (one pro of this advert at least) we can have a sneak-peak at the car's history file, and well, the news doesn't get much better.

This Audi Coupe hasn't been taxed or MOT'd since 2007. Which means, if previous custodians have followed the law-of-the land, the car has been SORN and not driven in 13-years.

No cars like sitting idle for long periods of time, especially ones approaching their third decade.

Let us try and take these negatives and turn them positive.

The lack of up-to-date documents and probable lack of use could be used as bargaining tools to knock a few sheets off the asking price, which, if the car is even half as "good condition" as the seller describes, is relatively reasonable at €1800.

If you did manage to haggle a few euro off the price and the car is in decent shape, you could have an appreciating asset in your custodianship.

Ok, it's not the Audi Coupe that people are tripping over themselves to buy. It's not the halo S2, the turbo-charged, quattro four-wheel-drive monster that would punch through 150mph thanks to a 230bhp 5-cylinder engine.

The Audi S2

Nor is this Coupe one of the more prosiac 5-pot cars. It doesn't even come with Audi's USP, their quattro all-wheel-drive system. No, this is entry-level, front-wheel-drive, four-cylinder motoring.

It still produces 140bhp however, which in a car that weighs less than 1200kg isn't exactly shameful. It will still feel brisk, even by today's standards.

Plus it will have that early-nineties tactility that is lacking from modern cars; and this was also a time when German engineering was of the OTT variety, meaning these machines are built as solid as they come.

Isn't it a handsome car too. This was a time when Audi was all about less-is-more when it came to design. Today's Audi's are fussier than the lense of a kaleidoscope. Let's see if they age as well as the Coupe has.

Would you be brave enough to take the plunge? If the underside isn't riddled with rot and the interior all in place, you wouldn't lose money. Just look at the prices of run-of-the-mill cars from decades past are fetching, once they reach classic status.

People have a yearning for motoring from simpler times. As cars become more complicated and increasingly disposable, the cars of the 20th century are gaining appeal.

Buy this, treat it well for five years and then enjoy a healthy return on your investment. It's better than having the cash in the bank.