November 2008
I have been looking for a car for a while as my Wife is expecting our first babies (twins), therefore a Zafira should fit the bill for family transport.
Noticed a deal on delivery mileage Mar '08 plate 1.9 (120) diesel design model in silver, blue or black metallic for £11998 + £375 for the met. After much haggling the dealer thru' in 12mths road tax, zafira mats, a full tank of diesel and, the first service for £50.
Is this a good deal?
I asked for the above (except service bit) plus free metallic and supaguard. They refused. They only offered the car in silver saying it was a one off. However, on looking leter at the company website others are available at other branches.
Should I try another branch of the same group selling the same car to see if they can offer me more? Will a group's branches compete for business?
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I've posted on another part about my immobiliser, but as my ac doesn't work i dont know the answer. I have found somewhere that my 97 r grand voyager suffers from ac problems. The front screen air vent or something?
Now my screen vent pumps out hot air, but don't know about cold air yet!!!
When i change the mixture button, face to feet to screen etc, i get a clicking ( it does change position ) as if somethings caught. Now what i want to know is, if there was a problem with the screen ventiing, would this stop the heat going on it? Or will this only effect the AC flow to the screen. Think they call it an evaporator failure?
But untill i get my ac working i cant really test it.
Could it be something broken in the mixture thats making the clicking noise? Could i quicly wip off the top of the dash and look down in it?
Any help would be appreciated.
Brad Read more
do you know what mate, your a breath of fresh air. If i could buy you a BIG drink i would. You've been more help than any chrysler garage ive ever spoken too. Thank you.
Any idea on the screen vent? As i say mine works with hot air, but can't test the ac yet.
Was just going to watch the re-run of Sunday's TG on Beeb 2. I missed most of the Sunday one, only to discover that Bill Oddie, Kate Humble & co. are on instead. Ms Humble is quite scenic but I am a bit disappointed. If the JC gaffe was/is the problem why not edit or bleep it out for goodness sake ?
:-( Read more
"is the new Insight based on this car?"
No
www.theregister.co.uk/2008/11/05/roadpricing_trial.../
I dont think this has been posted - If I'm wrong then mods please delete. Read more
Then there's the "environment tax".....the charge for disposing of your old tyre and waste oil after a service. Think I'll take along my Halfords waste oil container next time my car goes in for a service, ask them to stick the old oil in because I can take it to the tip myself.....the old tyres make a nice Gatso necklace....oops there's another tax! ;-)
Have any of you heard of or used this site - www.autoebid.com/ ?
I read about it today on Moneyweek.
>>new cars, try Autoebid.com says Whatcar. On average, using this reverse auction site ? on which dealers bid each other down to win your business after you have specified the model you want and the price you are prepared to pay ? saves buyers around 24% or £3,000 on the list price of a new car. Given how over-priced the UK car market still is relative to those in Europe, you'd be mad not to give this a go if you are serious about buying a new car at the moment. <<
Although I do wonder, with so many pre-reg and nearly new used bargains on the market, the price of new cars would have to be incredibly cheap.
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I have looked on their web site a few times but never bought from them. It does seem a good concept, getting dealers to bid for your business.
Is it me or do you hear an advert for Mitsubishi at least every 30 minutes on commercial radio? Go on ebay and there they are again! Wherever you go theres an ad giving you huge discounts well beyond the norm.
Now I might be suspicious especially with suggestions that Mitsubishi have taken over the UK Importer, The Colt Car Company, but is this panic advertising?
I do understand that the manufacturer will have a vastly bigger advertising budget to Colt Cars but there still appears to be far too much especially in a shrinking market.
I'm sure that the Japanese will make a better job of things compared to the current management team who I notice have already started to 'drift' away to look after dealer development and the 'pensions' scheme!
Will this be a 2nd Rover situation, will these cheap cars be a nightmare to maintain due to a withdrawal or aftersales availability! I for one am starting to wonder! Read more
With the collapse in the value of used cars and cars being written off rather than repaired because of their low value in relation to repair cost, does it then follow that we should all see a dramatic reduction in our insurance premiums as a result ?
Think I know the answer to this one but if payouts are lower how can the insurance industry justify not reducing the premiums ? Read more
As it turned out it actually saved a good bit of money in the 2 years since so they did do me a favour.
The galling thing is that i had been with them for 9yrs, 2 cars,house and travel insurance with them and not one problem ever.. i even recommended them to friends and family.
It was the sheer arrogance of them, even when i tried to argue my points of protected no claims and the fact that the car was parked when it was damaged, that made me take all my business elsewhere.
No way did we deserve the increase in premium that they quoted for
As for cutting off one's nose, i don't like being taken advantage of..
Hi all
Just thought I'd seek your advice on something! I'm a musician based in London and as such don't use my car all that much - about 6k a year, mainly once a week on journeys out of town to gigs etc. I've been happily inhabiting the world of the £300 Cavalier/Mondeo etc over the last few years, with very little problems, however I've noticed that the prices of Alfas have tumbled sharply over the last few months.
I don't have very much of a budget for motoring, and tend to buy cars on the basis that the most I'll ever need to spend is the £350 to replace them. BUT... I'm still a petrolhead and have always wanted one of these ever since they came out... now they're within reach!
I'd be buying at the low end of the price range - £800-1000 - there seem to be a good selection of them around at the moment around this price with long MOT/service history etc. I'm aware that these cars can and will go wrong, but at that kind of money I'd hope for no more than a couple of years out of it, and could wave goodbye if something went horribly wrong.
From the owner's reviews I've read it sounds like they were either awful from day one or surprisingly reliable, so by my logic one that's made it to 8 years old with 100k+ on it is probably one of the latter :-).
So... is this madness? I'm already aware that the cambelt situation will need checking out VERY carefully, and the horrid Selespeed gearbox avoiding altogether. The Sportswagon makes more sense for me, and as mpg isn't a massive issue I love the thought of the V6 - it sounds horribly complicated to work on though, so at 155bhp perhaps the 2.0 twin Spark would suffice :-)
Cheers all!
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Having had a 2004 156 2.0JTS for some 3 years before our Panda I love the 156 - And Alfas in general.
As with some of the advice above I'd say:
1. Find a good independent that you're happy using.
2. Be prepared to spend money in order to keep it in good shape.
I'd say do it. Life's too short to spend it in boring cars!
Just wondered if anyone else out there has experienced a recent fall in their MPG? My wife and I have noticed a fall in the MPG of our two very different cars. Mine is a Honda Accord Tourer 2.2CDTi, which I have had since new in 2006. Its MPG has always been averaging 42 MPG. Now in the past couple of weeks its MPG is struggling around 39 MPG.
My wife's Mondeo 2.0 Zetec has done exactly the same, it has dropped from 37 MPG to 34 MPG.
Very odd as nothing else has changed apart from the price of fuel. No change to our journey patterns, no change to type of petrol or diesel used, or where we buy the fuel, yet both cars are using more fuel.
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As prices have fallen, I've run the Accord on V-Power diesel for the last five tanks.
Normally I get a pretty consistent 41-42 mpg. Over the five tanks that has climbed steadily until the last got 47. I have no idea why, but that improvement will easily pay the extra 6p a litre, so I'm going to keep experimenting.
Either that, or the car is finally run it at 77k! :-)
The car misfires on attaining optimal engine temperature (90 degrees) and the check engine light comes on. After switching off the engine and back on, the misfire disappears. When the engine is left off for a while, the check engine light also goes off.
Diagnosis indicated ''Misfiring damage and Insufficient fuel on cylinder 4''. I have since changed the coil and spark plugs but the problem recurs. Anyone who can help? Read more
This could be a failing injector thus the lack of fuel. Throwing parts at it is not the right approach a good Merc Indi would soon find it, may be by swapping injectors round and checking the fault actually moved cylinders. Do not use this car too much as the lean mix on that pot may damage the cat. Strange the misfire goes away if you restart the car. When misfiring can you distinctly feel/ hear the misfire is only on one pot not random. Regards Peter
Browse
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Most Vx dealers round my way ( Hants / Dorset border) have more or less permanent 'special' offers of delivery mileage Vectra 1.8 base models ( or similar) for around 10K, I do wonder where they all come from.