Not too sure about an 8 grand Passat oilrag, even if it was a V6 with knobs on. I would be much more interested in the right Octavia for that money or less though.
Call me a bigot if you like.
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I aggree in part but the Passat is a lot bigger and if you need a large family car....
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I traveled to Leigh to look at this Focus that was described as being in exellent condition and 1 owner. It had done around 70k. I got there the first thing I noticed was two cheap chineese tyres and two others which I had never heared off. I then see a load of rust round the rare wheel arch. I was tempted to report for false advertising.
It happened so many times. It is amazing how much of a tale tyres can tell. If an 80k car has four good Contententals on you know its probably been cared for by a safety concious owner.
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I tend to buy premium tyres, they don't cost too much on my tiny 16" rims, and I also use them as an indicator of the care that a car has received.
However, there are some cases where budget tyres are a sensible choice, my friend has a Tigra with 17" alloys, the Continentals that came fitted from the factory are about £130 per tyre, she needed to replace two. As a low mileage driver who only ever seems to tootle around the town we settled on a pair of Maxxis tyres for about £65 or £70 per corner. Saved her a wedge of cash and they will last several years. They also came out pretty well in the AE tyre tests so I have no safety concerns, especially as the only limit she is likely to break is the 5mph one at Asda!
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When buying my cars, nearly always privately, the first thing I look at are the tyres. A decent set of matching premium make almost always indicate that the owner has not scrimped on servicing and maintenance. I am a case in point...spending £300 on a full set of Michelins when the car cost £995.
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I will sell you mine for a couple off grand less than that as ive lost faith in the car, its the 2 littre tdi 140 Se with full leather suposedlly better than the old 1.9 but i wouldnt say that is the case,
i have just been offered £6200 trade in for it so its days are numbered.
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Back to the subject of the VW Passat, as mentioned by the OP in the openining post to this thread....
Whilst SWMBO was at the Garden Centre in St Albans, I wandered over to the nearby VW dealership to have a look at the Passat CC in the flesh. I was very impressed by the car, and even more impressed that the dealer was offering over EIGHT GRAND off the price of a brand new one! That worked out to a 25% discount. Brand new. Not pre-registered. Wow!
The Passat on offer is 4-Wheel drive. I am sorely tempted by it with winter just around the corner, and with unpleasant memories from last winter and my RWD car.
SWMBO doesn't like the idea of chopping the BM, since she belongs to the school of "buy a car new and keep it until it falls apart" - so it has caused some friction between us.
I'd feel better if anyone knew any compelling reasons to avoid the Passat CC. Are there any, dear backroom experts?
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"I'd feel better if anyone knew any compelling reasons to avoid the Passat CC."
In three words - electronic parking brake.
In general although I'm a fan of VAG cars I wouldn't have a Passat. Audi A4/A5 - more quality; Skoda Octavia - cheaper and as much room; Golf - more compact with the same engines.
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Now that you mention it, I remember seeing several posts in various threads which are critical of the electronic parking brake.
However, would this matter so much in an automatic? The only time that I use the hand brake on my automatic is when I park the car.
You are right that the Audis are better quality - and also available in AWD. But an A5 is significantly dearer than the Passat - is it really 7-8 Grand better? Hmmm...dunno.
Good call about the Octavia, though! A good quality car, and available as a hatchback. To me, it looks very bland though (like the regular Passat Saloon, in fact).
And SWMBO doesn't like it because she's thick.
Whilst at the VW dealership, I did look at the new Golf as well. The Golf is more compact, as you say. (A little bit TOO compact for me). I want to like the Golf, but I can't. On paper the Golf looks great, but it the exterior styling is boxy and boring, the inside styling is drab, and the quality of the materials and switchgear isn't as good as the Passat CC.
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The Passat on offer is 4-Wheel drive. I am sorely tempted by it with winter just around the corner and with unpleasant memories from last winter and my RWD car.
Don't need 4WD, get a reasonable set of alloys from that auction site or even a cheap new set from someone like Rochord tyres (they have a handy tool that lets you see various wheels on your type of car), and buy yourself a good set of winter tyres, the difference is remarkable and not just in snow.
if you keep the car long enough to get the use from the winters then the cost is minimal.
Lady LDO sounds like a good sort with head screwed on proper like.
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+1 on the winter tyres recommendation.
Assuming ground clearance, there is very, very little that a FWD car with good (i.e. newish) winter tyres can't do on tarmac in the snow.
The problem is, in bad winter weather in the UK, the 99.9% of other muppets slithering around on summer tyres in adverse weather conditions.
Ice is another thing, however. Winter tyres would only guarantee a higher exit speed off the road into the trees. If it's black ice everywhere the only things that'll help are studded tyres, and there ain't much of a market for those in the UK...
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This stuff about winter tyres is interesting. I'd never thought about it.
Presumably, all I have to do is have a set of Alloy wheels with winter tyres fitted to them, and simply get them swapped over with the current set of all-weather wheels. I can then store the wheels that I have removed somewhere, and put them back on the car in the Spring.
Some questions, though.
1. Are there ANY downsides to this?
2. Anything to be careful of with all this swapping of wheels?
3. Is it better to get professionals to do it, so as to get some sort of guarentee that everything is done right?
4. Apart from the usual concern over the tread of the tyre wearing, are there any special considerations to look for with winter tyres? e.g. Should they only be used for one season, or can they be safely stored until next winter.
And just to re-iterate, we are talking about a RWD car with wretched run-flat tyres here. Which means of course no spare.
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For what it is worth. My 54 Plate Passat on 45k still has the original tyres on the back.
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That`s what i expected to see on the one I was looking at. The Punto van I have now is on 30,000 miles. The original rear tyres are only a quarter worn (or less) and the fronts slightly less than half worn on the second set.
Needless to say they are all the same make..
I`m still not sure how that Passat I looked at ended up with rear tyres like that - unless it`s had a damaged tyre. Even so, the almost worn out rear right bridgestone must surely have come from the left front? with it having most wear on th( outer edge.
Edited by oilrag on 05/10/2009 at 13:32
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>>Some questions, though.
>>1. Are there ANY downsides to this?
Just the initial cost of wheels and tyres and the time spent twice a year changing over.
>>2. Anything to be careful of with all this swapping of wheels?
Just swap the wheels over one at a time and use the jack as instructed in the manual. Or get your local garage to do it.
3. Is it better to get professionals to do it, so as to get some sort of guarentee that everything is done right?
>>Get the tyres fitted and balanced professionally.
4. Apart from the usual concern over the tread of the tyre wearing, are there any special considerations to look for with winter tyres? e.g. Should they only be used for one season, or can they be safely stored until next winter.
>>They should last at least five seasons depending of course on your mileage. Don't store them vertically, stack them horizontally on top of each other so they don't "flatten"
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Good answers, thanks. I shall run the proposal past my financial controller (a.k.a. SWMBO).
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Yes, winter tyres really are all they are cracked up to be.
Don't let electronic handbrake put you off. I've got one now, and really can't see a problem in using it. Of course it might be a bit of a bind if it went wrong. ;-)
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Don't let electronic handbrake put you off. I've got one now and really can't see a problem in using it. Of course it might be a bit of a bind if it went wrong. ;-)
You can say that again the handbrake is suposed to self release when you pull away but that only happens now and again,
i have had the car with the cursed electronic handrake for about 10 weeks now with it failing to activate 4 times (have to rely on the gearbox) and failing to release once and self releaseing during the night twice,
i have been driveing for 19 years and never had to call out a recovery firm untill the damn handbrake wouldnt release leaveing us stranded in Edinburgh but thats progress for you.
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Oilrag, with your attention to detail which verges on the obsessive (not a criticism), I just cannot imagine you being happy with any car that has been owned by someone else!
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LDO, all i can add to NeilS's good answers are to keep the tyres you arn't using in the dark and fairly cool if you can.
There are many very good winter tyres around, few runflats though, so might have to find your self a space saver and jack/wheelbrace or if you don't need the boot empty carry one of the summers, or obtain a can of goo and pump kit from breakers or similar (don't like the idea of them meself but you'll need some sort of emergency kit)
Sorry for pinching your thread here Oily (and apologies Mods), we got carried away again..;)
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4. Apart from the usual concern over the tread of the tyre wearing are there any special considerations to look for with winter tyres? e.g. Should they only be used for one season or can they be safely stored until next winter. >>They should last at least five seasons depending of course on your mileage. Don't store them vertically stack them horizontally on top of each other so they don't "flatten"
Buy a wheel tree.
It stores the wheels stacked and keeps the tyres separated as the wheel is suspended in the middle on a plastic plate.
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They're doing them in Lidl in a few weeks for a fiver.
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Just check what tyre width they will take.
I think the normal size is 225, if the tyre is wider then they will touch when stacked. No good for BMW318's and their 265 tyres :)
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I`m still not sure how that Passat I looked at ended up with rear tyres like that -
It's quite possible someone in the list of folks that have handled this car has done a bit of swapping around, to get themselves a good set, it does happen with fleet type cars.
I think you had that gut feeling this car wasn't right Oily, sometimes you just know.
Similar to an 2 or 3 year old 20K miler Amazon we test drove, things just didn't add up, the steering wheel was at 10 o'clock, it definately didn't come out of Japan like that.
One rear tyre had been renewed, but i think the N/S/F had taken a blow severe enough to burst that tyre and bend the steering..takes a bit of doing on one of those..and they'd fitted it to the rear for camo.
The hydraulic suspension wasn't working right, so they topped it up and hey presto it worked.
All this and summat else i can't remember on a Toyota approved used, i bet Epsom HQ would have had a blue fit if i'd complained to them, the dealer (not our v good local i hasten) seemed surprised we didn't want the car..;)
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I`ve given up anyway GB... Actually I am too attentive to detail Bobby and recognize that it doesn`t really benefit me in a material sense.
The longest I`ve ever kept a new car is 6yrs (although SWMBO`s Punto is 7.5) there is always the chance that I may keep one of them `long term` though, in which case it will pay off. Maybe ;-)
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