Wow, Rufus3, you certainly like to be blunt. Are you from Yorkshire by any chance?
The point is that, and I feel it is rhetorical, the Three Wheeler is a production car, but built like a kit car, with all of the faults too. For this we pay a premium, quite a hefty one if you look at what is available in the kit market, and for this premium, one expects profesionals to design and build a character car without silly little faults.
None of us are stupid, and we catagorically don't expect the levels of quality and reliability that you would expect from a modern production car. I would also go on to surmise that many of us have been brought up in an age where motoring was more of an 'adventure' and you always kept a tool wrap or box in the boot, along with spare plugs, belts and other goodies to keep the car going.
I'm sure that some of us have also built kitcars or renovated an old 'classic' at some time, so we know all about maintaining a stiff upper lip, however, it doesn't mean that you have to put up with stuff that you shouldn't have to, and why should we be modifying stupid little things because the manufacturer didn't do it? For example, a mudguard over the rear tyre. It's fun to do, yes, and satisfying, but.....
I can tell you all about holding value too. I thought the same as you, my Three Wheeler [or 5 speeder as Martyn quite rightly calls it], has just lost me a little over £3000 in 12 months. Now whether you consider this good or bad is a personal thing, but I have, in the past, assembled a Caterham kit, run it for two summers and sold it for around £500 more than I paid. OK labour of assembly is not costed, I did it for fun, but I just mention this as an example, probably one that you hadn't thought of?
I think your sentiments are right Rufus, but please try not to be so condecending, even if owners' views about the deficiencies of the car are annoying to you.
I look forward to hearing your continuing experiences though.
