January 2005
Living in Montpellier in France, i want to splash out soonish and get a reliable motor, something extremely economic and cheap to run. Diesel is a must. But want to avoid garrage bills and costly servicing. Was thinking either about a credit option or saving up and paying cash on a used or cheapish new motor. Plan on keeping the motor for quite some years, between 5 and 10.
Can anyone reccommend something that meets these criteria. Not bothered by mod cons, but safety very important.
thanks
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Hi all.
Looking at buying a Mk3 Mondeo from auction. Budget is approximately £5k and the car purchased will be run until the end of its useful life, so residual value and resale prospects are a complete non-issue. Not shy to high mileage if the Mk3 is as a solid as the Mk2.
Ideally I am after a Ghia X, either a 2.0 or a 2.5 V6, no preference. Would love a TDCi but they will probably be out of budget. Condition is important. Would like a nice one, not a shed.
So then guys, what can I expect for £5k? How old am I looking at, and what sort of mileage? I'll probably be contacting Joe Dowd the auction buyer and asking if he can source one from BCA. I had contact with him last year when I was on the hunt for my Mk2 and although he was unable to find me a car, he was a thoroughly nice chap and I'd like to use him again.
Cheers! Read more
I never checked, sorry!
After going into a garage to fill up..heard a shout not to damage Buffy from paint damage..Car was Smartcar.I looked at Chap refuelling. He said its his wifes name for the car.any more weird and wonderful names given to motors.even better why do you give a car the name.Assuming anyone does??
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Steve Read more
Cheers Dave, will do.
And RF, you're nothing but a tease :p
i would like to purchase a vw golf tdi, preferably 2.0litre engine. BUT the prices for the used cars in the u.k are like 6k. I'm looking for a cheap used car dealer in Germany but so far have found nothing, any help????
Cheeers Read more
I do speak German.
Having done a national search for the cheapest 1999 on, 110 bhp Golf with less than 150k kilometres on it (it's a 1.9, not 2.0 - 2.0 TDis are only in the latest Mk V Golf) is about 8k euro, or £5,600. 100k mile 1999 Golf TDis are actually cheaper in this country if you do a national search on AutoTrader, link to your left.
(That excludes a ?5k 53 plate estate - a mistake surely - and a Bora, which would be cheaper here, too.)
Some new cars may be slightly cheaper in Germany, although the strong euro and the fall in new car prices here has wiped out most of the savings you could make four or five years ago. However used cars in general hold their value better there, with virtually no fleet market dumping three year olds through the auctions, and it's a lot of hassle and expense to go there, buy a car and drive a left hooker (don't even think about getting it converted) when you probably won't actually save any money anyway.
Unfortunately used Golf TDis are very desirable because they have a great image, are fast and economical, not too bad to insure and have a reputation for reliability. That's simply supply and demand so there's not much scope for saving money by importing - all of those factors apply in Germany too.
Hi
Please see link - I have just come up with an easy solution and hope HJ/Telegraph can help
www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?f=2&t=28...6
We feel that most respectable garages will be prepared to do this if the customer asks!!
The thread/link is about garages using your car to have fun in or use for their convenience!!
As you may be aware, we took our MB into a local MB dealer - the car had clocked up 25 miles and not fixed as waiting for "parts"!! We can safely assume the mileage would of been greater if they had bothered fixing the fault and then testing the MB
For the record, we live in London - so to do 25 miles, takes some doing!!
The Lucian Deville Solution Is:
Garages must provided a mileage varification note, IE, when the car is left at the dealer, you and their representative agree what the mileage is. This should then cut out most of the excess mileage and the theft, it is theft of petrol, wear and tear, and drving your pride and joy without your authority for reasons it was not agreed.
If you car is collected from your home/work place - same procedure to be carried out if you want this to happen.
We feel that if HJ/Telegraph camapigned for this LD solution - most main dealers will have to do nothing more than have a small piece of printed papaer that both parties can sign.
Reasonable mileage for test drive - well not 25 miles like our car, or the poor guy that had an extra 200 on the clock.
I hope HJ can help as it is a simple solution that will cost about £1 to administor
Thanks
LD
PS: The MB dealer has large glass area next to the waiting/tea/tv/relax room - but most people drop off their car as the servicing/repair/fault finding may take hours/days!!
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Just get the service receptionist to toddle outside and write the
milegae down on your service booking sheet. simple as that
Our sentiments exactly. However, this service by must be standardised and not optional at the request of the poor motorist.
I'm planning to buy a Punto for my wife and I've been looking on BCA Auctionview for a while. Not that many of the right age/spec appear and when they have, I can't get to Blackbushe. One caught my eye that went through for the second time today - but as luck would have it, I couldn't be there. Looking on Auctionview this evening it's going round again next week and I may be able to make it!
Why would it go round three times? Didn't make the reserve? Red key missing? Boy racer body kit?
Should I be suspicious? Popular cars don't normally go round that many times - do they?
Chris M Read more
Thanks for the replies. I may pay Blackbushe a visit as I'll never know what I missed unless I see it for myself.
I've never bought brand new and never bought from a dealer. In 25 years eight have been from auction, four direct from a company and a couple of private buys. Agree that once you get them home you can find things you missed when looking, but I've never felt I made a bad buy. Fingers crossed it will stay that way! My philosophy is the time to have doubts is before you make your decision, not afterwards!
Chris M
Casting around last night for a few parts and wanted some ball park figures as to what cost would be I became sooo frustrated with various online parts dealers. It doesn't seem to apply to just one dealer but seems to be pretty widespread.
First they ask for the make, then model, year, part etc. then e-mail or phone number, finally click on complete, and what comes back? A price? No, a message along the lines of 'we will check our stock and contact you with our prices', Que???
If you want a hi-fi component, dishwasher, etc do Curry's, Dixon's, Richer Sounds et al say 'we'll contact you when we feel like looking up the price'? Do they as heck, they give you a price there and then and take you straight to an order page if you want to buy.
Just what is it about the motor trade that makes everyone so coy about their prices, is it just historical or are they all really that worried that someone might undercut them by a pound or so on a gearbox or brake disc?
It really is about time some of them were a little more up-front about this, after all this internet thing has been around for a while now and people like to shop using it.
Is it just some great plot to try and stop us shopping around, because if it is I've got news for the motor trade, it doesn't.
Has any one else had the same trouble or is it just me being a bit sensitive this week?
Cockle Read more
>> There is a very big MB dealer I often use
for
>> parts. Normally I would go in person or telephone,
but
>> I had a long query about a part so took
the
>> opportunity to e-mail.
>>
>> Several days later I was passing in the car and
decided
>> to drop in and asked whether they had dealt with
my
>> query. The response was, "Oh, we've got e-mail mate,
but
>> no one every looks at it". Great.
>>
I owned Audis/Fords/Vauxhalls - but never a MB, but have family
that own new/old MB,s - so we know how the service
centtres deal with people after they've sold the car.
We purchased a C class o few weeks back - they're
booking is four five weeks in advance if you want a
curtsey car -
I feel you get treated sliglty better judging by my sis
experience - over approx ten years they bought a few new
MB's and recently bought their second S-class - they get trated
like royality.
A work colleague has a Classic, manual A-class, they get treated
like "dirt"
LD
I have been dealing with MB for over 20 years. Unfortunately I think things have gone downhill in recent years - they got rid of a lot of the smaller dealers and now actually own (indirectly) most of the larger ones. Caused a lot of ill feeling amongst the dealers.
In terms of buying parts etc. they are no different to any other dealer, although their availability does tend to be better on older models.
If you've one of the more expensive models then yes, you will get the usual fawning etc., but they still say rude things about you as soon as you're out of earshot and bleed your credit card white.
The problem with the A-Class is not so much the service, more the fact that it is not a very good car - lots of bits seem to wear out prematurely and service costs are out of line with its market segment. See my post in Technical about 'coding' the ECU...
How easy would be to fit a current model Mondeo Ghia X auto dimming rear view mirror to my '98 Mondeo? Is there any wiring nessecary? What about cost from a main dealer?
Thanks in advance. Read more
Dave
Oh and by the way i have had it on over a year now with no trouble whatsoever it was very simple job it took no more than 15 mins only trouble was idetifing the feeds as there was quite a few i did write them down in the wiring diagram in the haynes but i cant recall which ones they were with out checking
Memory seats (not needed)
Central locking
Reverse light
earth
Robert H
Ive seen a few threads recently with people querying the price differential that now exists between petrol and diesel.
Ive just watched an article on Working Lunch which stated that duty on diesel is 3.1p more than on unleaded petrol. (50.19p on unleaded v 53.26p on diesel)
This difference would then be increased (albeit slightly) by the VAT.
As an aside the duty on "red" diesel is 4p!! Read more
My own feeling about this is that as diesels are more efficient, Mr Brown must increase the duty in order to get the same return as a petrol.
We have a few cars in the family, including my 'classic' Mercedes which I'm thinking of selling. The Mercedes is on a 'classic car' policy which the insurance company tells me does not accrue any no-claims bonus.
We are thinking of replacing the Merc with a reasonably modern sports car for use at the weekend - could be a Jap import like a Skyline, or even something like a Ford Puma - totally undecided as yet.
Anyway - does anyone know how I might be able to insure this additional car for sensible money? Obviously no classic car policy will cover it. I have full NCB on my other car (as wife does on hers) and I never made a claim on the classic car policy. Come to think of it, never claimed anything from anyone for a long time. Read more
I was so stunned I paid in full immediately over the phone! It must be because I have 8 years ncd and am now over the grand old age of 30.
teabelly
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Avoid "mod cons" like the plague ~ I wouldn't buy anything from any of them! ;-)
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L\'escargot by name, but not by nature.