Thanks for your reply.

Yes - I've since found I could have had the tracking done cheaper.

And, yes the roads are bad in this City & have a lot potholes.

If the potholes are the problem and not oversensitive tracking on the Vectra - I get your point.

But I'm worrying about how much more the Vectra is going to cost me - and I wondered if the Mazda 626 would be more robust and not need things replacing all the timenlike this Vectra.

Oh! Do you mean, that somewhere along the line of ownership, the mileage could have been re-wound/clocked?

I did think of a Mazda 6 (thank you so much for doing the maths for me). But I was put off by the frequency of the reviews that mentioned "total and premature clutch failure". Also it has air conditioner faults that lead to engine shut-down.

Then I started rearing about Dual Mass Fly Wheels that are in modern cars and the problems & expense of those (& how they are related to the clutch)..... I'm female and motoring technology/mechanics is not my area but trying to read up on these modern cars makes my head spin and makes the choices frightening.

It's made me feel that with newer modern cars, they are rarely financially feasible to be fixed. Is this how things are going as the car gets older? I can't afford a car that's only a couple/few years old.

I understand now - low mileage looks so enticing but on a 13 year old car it takes on a different meaning.

Re: Mazda 6 cluch problems: it's mentioned in the HJ Car by Car Reviews. It's not clear if it relates to the diesel, it's just a short statement/paragraph about it. I do like the Mazda 6 and was so disaapointed reading about the clutch problems that could cost £1000 (including flywheel or maybe more).

I don't do the miles to warrant diesel, so I am looking at petrol.

Does the Mazda 6 have a Dual Mass Flywheel? Is that something that can go before the clutch or is it the clutch that affects the DMF?

I know you said your clutch was ok at 105k, but I'll be looking for an older Mazda 6 and I won't know how previous driver drove it. Just preparing myself for the worst case!

I really do appreciate the time people have taken to put me right so far. Such a relief!

I'm thrilled there's no DMF on the petrol Mazda 6. The Mazda Dealer didn't tell me that when I was wringing my hands with worry about the potential cost of having to replace it - he just agreed that they are expensive!

When you say "Mk 1 6" platform - do you mean the 2002-2007 Mazda 6?

Low mileage including short runs doesn't mean the car is about to expire, which you could easily think judging by the hundreds of posts i have read adding fuel to this argument.

Short stop start running comes under hard or arduous use so servicing will have to reflect this. If such a car has had an annual service including oil change then its probably done 2 to 5k between changes instead of the 12 to 25k which others seem to think is fine...despite the required servicing often being 9k intervals maximum for average use.

As always there are exceptions and every car and its *seller* should be judged on its merits, i've seen high mileage cars driven by idiots who ride the clutch and thrash the living daylights out of cold engines, these high mileage cars won;t be covering 200k trouble free, nor would a barely and carefully driven car still running the same oil 5 years later.

Generally genuine Japanese petrol cars are as reliable and durable as they come, its the Diesels that need careful research, some very good some not so and some as in Mazda 6 are barge pole jobs.

**if it waddles and quacks its a duck, if the seller is a wide boy or half wit don't expect the car to be pristine carefully driven and immaculate.