November 2005
Hi all,
Well, this saga has been an ongoing one, which at long last, I hope to lie to bed.
After no end of problems with my current car, I have found a buyer, and will be passing it on this weekend. So, in the next fortnight or so (I have the missus' car until then) I will be looking to purchase my new one.
So, I'm looking for some words of wisdom from those who know.
First - my specs. I was a car with at least a 1.6 engine. I'm doing about 15,000 miles a year, so whilst economy would be nice, I'm more interested in being able to enjoy the drive to and fro work. And then the budget - I have £7k to play with - but the less the better!! I am looking to keep it for 2-3 years, so something that holds its value would be nice, but again, the enjoyment is more important.
My shortlist at the moment, after a fair amount of test driving. At the moment, it looks like this:
1.8 Ford Focus. Comfortable, and a nice drive. My feelings towards it are pretty.... Well, non existant. It seems a standard drive, with not much of the "enjoyment" factor to it. Whilst a pleasant drive, it doesnt strike me as anything special or fun.
1.6 Toyota Corolla. I took out the 1.8 Sport, and LOVED it, but couldn't afford it, so I am happy to settle with this. Still a nice drive, comparible to the focus, but I enjoyed it more. I don't know why I enjoyed it more, I just did. It was comfortable, handled well, and had nice acceleration, although it had to be worked.
And then, the dirty pleasure.
The 1.6 Alfa Romeo 147 (I also liked the 156!). It was a great drive. Not quite as good off the mark as the corolla, but it really is a drivers car. It was, simply a pleasure to drive. My concern is based around the Alfas rep though. They have a horrible history of breaking, and then costing a fortune to repair. And this is a concern.
At the moment, I am swaying towards the Corolla. A nice drive, affordable, reliable. The Alfa is in second, but if I was convinced it wouldnt break on me, I would buy it in an instant. The focus is in third, as its very plain.
I have also taken out a 1.5 Yaris, which whilst EXCELLENT fun, I could never fit my friends and family in, and a 1.6 Astra, which I hated.
I've not taken out a Civic, because I want to get a type R, and can't afford it - I see that as the next step on the chain in 2 or 3 years.
So, what are peoples thoughts? Any cars I'm not looking at which I should? Any of the three above stand out for either good or bad reasons?
Cheers guys and gals! Read more
Hi
I am not selling the car listed below, i am in the process of buying it, at least i want to buy it. I am asking for advice as i do not have a clue with regards to cars.
Basically i wanted to know if anybody has a clue on what the car is worth? Also has anybody got any experience of these cars, are they good cars etc etc.
Any help would be brilliant. The car is:
BMW 318i SE
4 Doors, Manual, Saloon, Petrol
1998 S Reg , 93,000 miles, Blue.
Clear lens kit, M-tec gearnob, M-tec steering wheel, Digital heating, Centre arm rest, Half leather interior, Air conditioning, Alloy wheels, Body kit, CD, CD Multichanger, Central locking, Child locks, Driver airbag, Electric mirrors, Electric windows, Power assisted steering, Sideskirts, Spoiler.
Thanks in advance Read more
Thank you all for your comments. I do not mind the sideskirts and spoiler etc, was actually looking for a done up beemer if im honest. I was just wondering, if on the whole the car was priced right. On first apperances i thought the car was very cheap coming from a dealer with everything it has. Obviously its not that much of a bargain is the general feeling i have got now.
thanks all
Hi
My father has an E-reg Audi 80 with a blowing exhaust. He took it to an exhaust place and they told him he needed a new system including catalytic converter. My father told him the car didn't have a cat and that he must have been looking at the wrong model. The bloke told him it was definitely the right car and my father took the car to an independant garage who also say it has a catalyst.
Now I thought you couldn't fit a cat to cars without fuel injection and lamda probe, ECU etc to measure the oxygen content in the exhaust and adjust the mixture accordingly?? This car definitely has a carburettor, however there is definitely also something round and cat shaped in the exhaust system.....
Any thoughts? Since the car is quite old I presume it doesn't have to have the cat fitted?
cheers
Rob
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for Mr Chav obviously the noise is the most
important thing!
I would say that was right!
Chav cars will be gutless and no-where near as economical (especially with those stupidly swollen body kits).
'cos sticking a big exhaust on will tune your engine!!
Just purchased a mk2 Jaguar which had been stripped then painted. i have discovered the chassis plate is missing which should have been rivetted to the nearside inner wing. I do have all the documentation which all seems in order. where can i obtain a replacement chassis plate? Regards Dave. Read more
Thanks for the information. Regards.
Anyone seen it? Absolutely superb and very cleverly done.
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Am I being thick here (and not for the first time)....what's
has Happy days got to do with a compact Citroen?
The advertising slogan on the Citroen website says "The Citroen C3 was designed for happy days"
Goto the Citroen website and watch the making of the advert for a full explanation.
Hi All,
Just logged in via aol, my service provider. There for all to see on the home page is news of a new government plan to reduce emissions - they're going to crack down on enforcing the 70mph limit in a big way.
I understand the need to crack down on said emissions, however I'm pretty sure the difference in efficiency of most cars between 70 and 80-85 is not massive - not enough to justify the cost of such campaigns.
Also, has anyone seen the amount of C**p being emmited by trains, boats and planes recently?
Surely concentrating the efforts on these other more polluting means of transport would be a) more cost effective and 2) have a greater effect on reducing emissions?
I'm not trying to stir up a pollitical debate with this thread...just maybe some unity amongst those of us that do use the motorways all the time and sometimes do travel a bit over the 70mph limit.
I'd also like to mention that I'm in no way a 3-figures-up all the time driver either.
There's an opportunity to vote on AOL - if you'd like to add yours, go to: channels.aolsvc.co.uk/motor/article.adp?id=2005111...3 Read more
This is already being discussed here:-
www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?t=36335
Thread locked. Please continue discussion in the other thread already started.
DD.
I want to run a second car (cheap £800) through winter - what is the best way to get insurance and where. The no claims discount apparently doesn't carry to a second vehicle. Read more
That sounds a bit iffy,my insurance takes two cars full no claims on both no problems.
I recently read in Honest Johns letters page in the Saturday Telegraph under the header "Cat fued". His reply suggesting obtaining a non original CAT for a Merc. to avoid the excessive cost of an O.E.M. part.
I've had to have a replacment CAT fitted to my Saab 9-3, I was quoted more than £1000 so I've had a non Saab one fitted at less than half the cost the justification being that the car although in excellent condition has done 100,000 miles.
But the engine management warning light still comes on.
Should Saab be able to reset this light to function normally and if so how much are they likely to charge?
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John S and Axleman,
Interesting news, 24hrs and 250 miles after the new (non original) cat was fitted the warning light has stoped coming on.
Why? there is no other problem with the engine. I think you are both on the right track, it took at least a day before the light came on after the original cat was affected by the fuel, now it's taken the same before the light has stoped coming on after the new (non Saab)cat was fitted. I don't know but maybe the sensor system (either side of the cat ) took this time to respond while any residual contaminents or conditions cleared from the exhaust system.
Saab said it should be possible to reset the warning sytem even with the non original cat using Tech 2 diagnostic equipment.
Fingers crossed this may not be nessesary.
Going back to HJ's suggestion to try a non original cat perhaps this experience may be of help to anyone horrified at the cost of having such equipment fitted by official dealers.
Paulm
A statement by our resident technical guru Aprilia in the Top Gear thread is the reason for this thread. He stated:
"Watched a German motoring programme a couple of weeks ago on ARD (main channel) and it was pretty technical - torque curves on the screen etc. I guess we Brits are a bit too thick for that sort of thing so its a choice between Clarkson's pregnant pauses and Mike Brewer going 'whoo-hoo'. Wouldn't mind so much if everything else was''t dumbed down too - that's why none of the young lads these days know anything useful about cars. Go into a main dealer and there's one chap who knows what he's doing and 4-5 learners who work on your car at £70 an hour and need showing where the oil filter is."
Whist I agree with his last sentence, I don't agree with his reasons for reaching that conclusion.
I picked up my fairly rudimentary DIY knowledge from helping my father and friends with their cars and bikes, when these were far more unreliable and needed lots of maintenance. I have never seen a TV programme on car maintenance and my father wouldn't have had a clue what torque was; although he was adept at decokes, ignition timing and renewing linings on brake shoes and clutch plates.
I did the majority of work on my early bikes and cars, but they were relatively uncomplicated. The last car I worked on was daughter's old Beetle when she was at university - and I recently discovered my old set of feeler gauges, which along with my slide rule, must qualify as my most redundant equipment!
Since then, whilst I have kept an eye on the famil's cars, even the older cars have not needed any work that I had the expertise and/or equipment to work on. The newer cars require servicing by the dealer or the warranty is invalid and the older cars require an MOT which is included with a £60 service.
The point being that my car-mad son has learnt nothing from me about DIY; he simply hasn't needed to. However he understands torque curves!
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I have a client, who is a builder, he has a van and know enough about it to get by, so when it started sqeeking during braking he took it to the dealer (from where it was purchased)to be inspected they checked the brakes and told him that he would need new pads in 6ooo miles not convinced he went home and checked one wheel to find the pad was down to metal. he now belives the dealership wanted to replace the disks and pads, so he poped down the local factors for the pads and changed them for himself.
I myself find if you drop hints like "I read this in the haynes manual" or " I have discussed this on a forum" the garage or dealer is less likely to try and swindle you and in fact be more honest. The best place though in any dealership is the parts department, they have loads of info on any car in there range and 9 times out of 10 give them the reg and they could tell you each part and how to fit it.
... my new purchase, that is - a 1996 Volvo 960, bought as a stopgap replacement following the untimely demise of our V-reg Espace. When I had it serviced last week I asked them to give it a rub over with the "mop", with the result that at least it's no longer faded - and actually rather shiny.
Alas the haircut has also taken off a lot of the touch-up paint which has left various panels, particularly the bonnet and front bumper, with a gajillion stone chips. It's made worse by the white primer, which contrasts rather too well with the dark purple paint. Other issues are a key mark that goes down the left-front witng and onto the passenger door, and various other sundry scratches around the car.
The question, then, is how to make the car look presentable for minimal outlay. I'm aware that the likes of Chips Away could fix it up, but given the number of chips etc I suspect it would be a fairly labour-intensive process. And the local guy quoted me £250 just to fix the scratch (!). Am I better off going to a back-street paintshop with a fistfull of twentys? Or would they, in all likelihood, mess it up? Is there a third option?
All wisdom gratefully received - anything to stop SWMBO commenting on how 'beat up' the new purchase looks
Cheers
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> Is that coloured car wax any good?
> It's only slightly more expensive than normal wax and may hide the scratches.
I've used the T-Cut version on black Fiat paintwork (which picks up small scratches and sworls easily!) and am happy with it.
However, I only apply the coloured wax every six months or so as there's some cutting compound in it too. Using normal wax in between, the colour lasts quite well.
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Urgh! Different log in! I didn't know I had another one.... Unless its the brothers!