October 2005
tinyurl.com/a2vsq
I know, we all say we wouldn't buy a car that's been in an accident, but surely if it passes an RAC inspection and the work's been done by someone decent (ie not the people who did Polo, which I'd double check as it's just down the road from this car!), it's got to be worth a look at this price?
Isn't the fact that it'll be worth less when I come to sell it on balanced out by the fact that I'd be paying half what it's worth for it in the first place?
How bad does damage have to be for a virtually new car to get written off?
Any opinions (but particularly straight forward yes or nos which don't then go into a ramble about what car I *should* get instead of a Golf) welcome! :)
Thanks! Read more
If the folks who promise to pay me some money actually cough up, I want to buy a car -- some time between now and Christmas.
Since I work from home, I don't need it for commuting: it will be used for a strange mixture of local runs (shopping etc) and relatively frequent longer journeys, including five trips logging Ireland of abt 1000 miles each. I reckon on a total mileage of about 10K miles a year.
I don't have children, but do have a small dog and lots of friends who will need lifts, so I need four doors and enough rear legroom for an adult woman without undue squeeze. So I reckon on a mid-sized car (Ford Focus etc).
I have set myself a max budget of £5,000, but would prefer to get change out of £4,000. I'm not fussed about image or anything, except that I prefer to avoid anything looking bling or posh.
My ideal choice would be a Honda Civic or a Toyota Corolla, for their reliability, but both seem far too expensive. I also like diesels, but it seems that they are too expensive to buy used (£1,000 premium) and also that these new common rail diesels potentially face big repair bills, which could be crippling on an older, cheaper car. So I'm thinking that I'll have to go for petrol.
Looking through the option, it seems that I could get say a 2001 Ford Focus 1.6, or a rather newer Nissan Almera, or have a wide choice of Citroen Xsaras.
I have ruled out a Vauxhall Astra (good value, but the ride is horrible), anything FIAT (reliability), Seat Leon (looks nice, but pricey), VW Golf (price), Peugeot 307 (reliability) and a Mazda 323 (steering too light, I found a 1992 model deeply scary to drive).
My first question is about the Xsara. It looks tempting, but I have doubts abt the reliability of Peugeot/Citroen petrol engines: I have been told that they do good diesels, but not-so-good petrol engines. Is that fair? (OTOH, Xsaras are cheap enough that I could maybe get a reasonable HDI and still have a few quid set aside for any repairs).
The second thing I am wondering is how to buy the car. I was looking at the auction prices for Nissan Almeras on www.smag.co.uk, and they seem to be a lot lower than the asking prices on autotrader (3yo lowish mileage Almeras at around £3000, aginst £4K to £4.5K on autotrader) ... so it seems to me that the most economical way is to use an auction buyer such as Joe Dowd, and then pay a few quid for a warranty. I'm not a mechnically-minded sort of person, so I'm wondering if it's too much of a risk. Any suggestions? Read more
Yes?
Hi, Acer have brought out "the new Acer N35 as a complete navigation system on the palm of your hand . . . "based on a Pocket PC . . . Microsoft® Windows® Mobile? 2003 Pocket PC Premium Edition . . with integrated GPS. Simply turn the Acer n35 on, flip up the antenna, insert the 256 MB SD-Card that holds "map'n'app" and off you go".
It can be can bought on the web, complete with maps for UK and Ireland, for £235 (P&P?). This is a lot less than Tom Tom is/was.
Features
* Samsung Processor at 266MHz
* 64MB SDRAM
* 32 NAND Flash Memory
* SD (SDIO)/MMC Slot
* 3.5" transflective TFT
* 256MB SD Card (UK and Ireland maps)
* Destinator 3 Software
* Integrated GPS receiver
* Dimensions: 120 (L) x 72 (W) x max. 20 (H) mm
* Weight: 165 g
* Built-in microphone and speaker3.5 mm stereo earphone jack
* Rechargeable 1000 mAh Li-ion battery 8-hour battery life
Any opinions on this? Hope this is not old news. I have just seen a review dated May!
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Ah, the old 9600 baud RS232 serial - my favourite kind of data stream.
Translation: I have no idea what you're on about. Sounds like you know what you need much better than I do. Personally I'd prefer to have a dedicated satnav unit and a separate laptop - but if you have neither at the moment it's an expensive approach.
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Life is complex; it has real and imaginary parts.
Hi: Recently the driver's and driver's rear footwells have been soaking when it rains. The passenger-side footwells are fine. The driver's footwell is dry around the pedals - so water probably isn't coming in from the front, and I can see no evidence of water penetration from the doors. But there's a pool of water in the driver's rear footwell - presumably from last night's torrential rain (happened a few times - keep soaking water up...). There's a sunroof - but no evidence of water leaking through it, and the lower internal sides of the car, above and around the footwells, all feel dry.
Any ideas gratefuly received!
Many thanks!
frmarcus Read more
It's a MK4 if the year is 02.
Hi guys, I've got a friend who needs a new car sharpish.
He's got a budget of around about £500 and so far his eye has been caught by A 1995 Rover 214 SLi with the half leather interior and alloys etc.
The one that he's most interested in though is a Saab 9000 2.0 Turbo CSE. It's a 1993 model with supposedly a full history, new brakes, and a recent Turbo. It's got 8 months test but no tax and is up for £500 no offers. Obviously we're aware that the tax takes the car up to nearly £600.
I've read the CBC breakdown and it seems reasonably favourable, but there wasn't much mention of the 2.0 Turbo model, which I suppose is a good thing in a way!
Just wondering what people's opinions are on this particular one, as I have to say that I'm quite impressed that such a large, smart looking car can be had for so little, but I have no idea what to watch out for, and suspect that he may leave himself liable for some huge bills with this car over the next 6 months.
I should probably add that he needs the car ideally to last about 6 months before he can look at sorting another replacement, and he can't really afford for much to go wrong with whatever he buys.
The other contender is a 1996 Escort which I know the some of the history of as it's been in my family for the last couple of years.
Any suggestions appreciated!
Blue Read more
Thanks for the input everyone, just thought I'd update you that he did manage to get himself sorted.
The family Escort deal didn't come off as we couldn't reach a good middle ground on price, and there were some alarming warning signs about the nice looking Escort ("I'm selling the car for a friend...")
He ended up qith a 1994 Mondeo TD LX with an indicated 115K but true mileage more likely to be about 150K. It's tidy enough for what he paid for it, the engine is whisper quiet for a diesel, still has plenty of pull (for a 1.8TD anyway) and it doesn't smoke.
He paid £375 with 10 months MOT and 3 months tax.
Think it should give him some reliable service, touch wood! :-)
Blue
Is it a legal requirement to produce your licence for an accompanied test drive as I was told by a main dealer today? Read more
I took my licence down and went on an accompanied test drive. It was a SAAB 9-5 2.2 turbo diesel, what a racket in town traffic! Really amazed that a modern diesel on a big car could still be so be so coarse. Terrific power delivery accelerating from 50 upwards though and the wind and tyre noise took over at speed.
Right, there I am thinking I've got meself a safe, comfortable car for the price of a new Almera. Volvo S80, and it is lovely to drive around.
However, now that I'm driving it for longer periods, I noticed something potentially unsafe!!!!!!!
It's and auto, and when I press the brake pedal, the edge of my shoe sometimes is almost touching the left edge of the gas pedal. I must have driven 100 different automatics from small cars to luxury cars, and it's never been a problem.
Ok, I have big shoes (size 12), now I have to be conscious when driving of pivoting my foot slightly over to the left when braking. I'm concerned in an emergency stop I might end up with my shoe going partly on the gas pedal.
The gap seems awfully small between the pedals on this model. Volvo are the last company I figured that would not test all shapes and sizes of drivers.
Anyone had similar experience? Read more
My gut instinct would be that this is just a case of you needing to get used to a different pedal layout, rather than it actually being a safety issue, after all, every manufacturer (if not every model) has a different layout.
Hello everyone
I'm now the proud owner of my own business dealing in horse tack. Going to start going into stocking feed, and delivering it to local yards.
This means, Polo Saloon will no longer be able to used to its full potential, and I'm looking to get a 4x4.
Having previously had a Discovery, I quiet like that, but seeing as my budget is about £2-3k it would have to be quiet an old one, and looking at HJs breakdown on it, I'd be better of avoiding it.
What other suggestions do people have. It needs to be good at going across fields and over pot holes. Also, due to Baby Kenny arriving in March, needs to be easy enough to put baby seat in back.
Any help would be much appreciated.
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Well, on this note, before it gets shut down....
No need. It just got heavily pruned. This time nothing of worth got deleted, only the endless waffle.
DD.
I have a 1999 V reg Fiat marea 1.6 petrol with 80000 miles, Just recently when the engine is fully warmed-up, it will not idle. Generally it drives perfect with no misfire or lack of performance, but as soon as you slow down to idle speed just below 1000rpm it stalls. It starts up every time but cuts out at idle.
Any ideas on the source of the problem and were to look, many thanks.
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Many thanks for advise Roger, the site looks very useful.
This has been running for a while now and Manchester is considering a similar charge. Is there any evidence that it's actually working and the roads in London are less congested or are motorists just paying up? Read more
>>Those using the bus in London outnumber the car drivers, and the congestion charge has made bus journeys much quicker.>>
The key to success of any congestion scheme is if public transport is of the standard and cost required to encourage people to leave their car either at home or use a park and ride scheme for the final part of the journey.
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What\'s for you won\'t pass you by
Browse
I would concurr with the view that a Cat D shouldn't be an issue, however I would like to know exactly what damage was done to it and what parts were replaced or repaired.
However, that aside, is it a good buy?
From what many have said here you're trading the cat D status for low mileage and paying around the same price.
You may find the higher mileage example may have been more extensively repaired but not written off by the insurers, so that may not be a great comparison.
Or you may find the interior on this one has been replaced with a lower spec one, and the wiring repair is poor and likely to give problems in 6 months.
So, if you are still interested - find out exactly what the situation is.