March 2009
Yet another 'what car' thread I'm afraid, but hopefully this one is more tightly focused.
We need a new car to replace the ageing (and duff) Pug 206, and my much better half now has her sights set on a brand new car. Now I'd normally never consider a brand new vehicle, but there are some good deals it would seem at the moment. Plus yes, I am weak and even I am tickled at the thought of my first brand new car.
Anyway after a hard weekend hitting the dealers we have a short list:
Toyota Yaris 1.33 SR
Mazda2 Tamura
Honda Jazz 1.4 ES
The Jazz is probably our favourite and the most useable, but it's the most expensive to buy. The Mazda is the smaller sporty one, the cheapest and frankly looks lovely in white with graphite allows. The Yaris is the middle ground, being bigger and more sensible than the Mazda 2.
The other half wants to do a PCP deal to get a new one. Now I've always been wary of these, but at the moment Toyota (5.9% APR) and Mazda (6.3%) are doing good deals with frankly silly monthly payments. Honda isn't and it's their poor finance (10.2%) that is making the Jazz the most expensive.
We could actually pay it by cheque and then pay ourselves back monthly. The benefits being no interest, and the fact that the money is earning nothing at the moment in the bank. The disadvantages is that effectively locks away £12k and we'll be looking to move house towards the end of the year.
As you can imagine between the cars and the finance I have 101 things going through my head and I'm trying to juggle so many factors, hence the plea for an objective opinion. So if you have any thoughts on the choice of car or the method of financing then please let me know
Thanks
Douglas
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A guy buys a car and finds inside a pictorial history of how it's been welded back together from scratch
englishrussia.com/?p=2348
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I think it's probably real. The seller just had a weird sense of humour in
wanting the buyer to know the history of the car.
I thought it was real too. I have often been amazed by how a bodyshop can turn a number of disparate chunks of metal into a car.
I have just been to France/Belgium/Holland/Germany by car and have the following up to date comments and info.
1. Check in for the Tunnel at Folkestone was a doddle, 2 minutes.
2. Security outbound was a 100% check of all vehicles for explosive residues. Steering wheel and door handles checked, took about 5 minutes.
3. Cheapest diesel in all 4 countries was Belgium @ 83 cents a litre; the rest were nearer 1 euro.
Note that, on a Sunday and public holidays, almost all garages off the autoroutes sell fuel from unmanned forecourts which accept bank notes and may, or may not, accept UK issued debit and credit cards.
4. No evidence of the dreaded French police checking beam deflectors, reflective jackets etc.
5. The Antwerp ring road Eastbound seems to be a fulltime traffic jam, 45 minutes for 4 miles at tea time on a Thursday;Westbound OK.
6. Major hassle trying to draw my own cash out of ATMs with a UK bank card. Rejected by 4 German banks including one at an international airport and by 3 in Holland. This leaves one short of cash and wodering if it will work as a debit car when paying a bill at a shop or restaurant.
7. Excellent service from a well known UK supermarket in Calais. Ordered a shed load of drink on line; got a phone call fom them telling me about 2 items they couldn't supply and when I got to their shop my order was packed in a trolley, ready to be paid for (with a card that did work!) and put in the car.
8. Getting thru the UK 'Border' at Calais was a typical shambles, just like the average UK airport. 3 queues, each with 25+ cars in them, and slow intrusive questioning about purpose of visit to UK, pace of birth etc. Missed my booked train due to this.
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Not had any problems with ATMs in Germany over past couple of years and never told them I was going abroad!
Re 8, never had any problems either... wonder if its when you come back that causes it... I always try for late morning early afternoon on a Sunday!
hello, over the last couple of weeks on 3 occasions when turning the ignition key the ignition lights appear as normal then on the spring movement to start the car there is nothing, starter does not engage, no clicking, just dead. leave it for a few minutes and it starts normally. is it likely to be the starter motor or a immobiliser problem. any help is appreciated thanks Read more
thanks peter, i will try the wire next time it happens
Hi,
My Ford Mondeo 2.0 lx Auto has started stalling at low revs, every time I come to a junction or slow down, it stalls. It will start again, but I have to give it some rev's.
I had a older mondeo before this one, and it did the same thing, that was down to to cat convertor, is it possible to be the same thing, or are there other things which may cause this.
The reason I am asking is, I would like to know a few symptoms before I take it to a garage.
Many thanks Read more
In a bid to get a bit fitter I'm now the proud owner of a Brompton folding bicycle.
And great joy, it fits - just - under the safety net in the boot of the CC3, which means I can run with the bike in the boot and the roof down.
Pleased about that, because I ordered the bike before Christmas, which was also before the CC3 was thought of, so there was no opportunity to try it.
Despite the credit crunch, there is still a wait of about 10/12 weeks for a factory order Brompton.
Mine's a six speed with carrier, mudguards and dynamo lights.
I've gone for pale green with dark green extremities.
Eh? Well, it is a country Brompton, rather than a town one, and the colours roughly match my caravan in leafy North Yorkshire.
First impressions after a couple of rides are good. Some people criticise the riding quality, but that is helped enormously by plenty of air in the (upgraded) tyres - about 100psi.
I bowled along with some mountain bikers for a stretch and kept up easily - the gearing gives the Brompton a fair turn of speed, despite the small wheels.
Speaking of which, I think it's Tarmac or hard-packed surfaces only, but since a canal towpath is the limit of my off-roading, that should not present a problem.
Some of the switchgear is not fantastic quality for a £700/£800 bike, and it's all Brompton's own so there's no chance of an upgrade.
Good news for 2009 is a decent saddle is now standard.
The best and cleverest thing about the Brompton remains the fold, which is still the neatest you can get at any price.
I test rode a perfectly serviceable Dawes which was about a third of a price, but it only really folded in half into a wedge shape and there's no way it would fit in the boot of the CC3 with the roof down.
I'm hoping this portability means I will carry the bike regularly in the boot this summer and it will get some use - we shall see.
I will close with a word of thanks to backroomer Bromptonaut who set out the options for various makes of folders in a very fair minded post in a thread before Christmas.
He's a Brompton fan, and now, so am I.
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I've been looking at 08 Vectra Design/SRi (150) diesel autos. They were £8199 @ Trade Sales last week, today are £8799. Motorpoint are £400/£500 dearer on both accounts! Do people realise there is a recession? Read more
I went into trade sales in Slough the other week, they hardly any cars in stock compared to around this time last year!!!!
One complete holding area on one side of Bath Road was completely empty, just what's in their showrooms, what they have in front of the empty holding area next to the footpath & dozens of vauxhalls on the other side.
Hi,
I bought a Picasso recently with a 12 month MOT, as well a 12 month warranty.
The car was needed somewhat urgently due to family circumstances, so for piece of mind I booked a AA inspection. A few minor things came up, along with the more disturbing "those front brakes are an MOT failure mate".
My first course of action was to contact the garage with a view to them arranging and paying for the cost of the parts and labour. Long story short and after a barrage of abuse from said trader (who would appear to be bipolar, due to his change in viewpoint regarding customer service!), I am now looking for somewhere to report him for issuing 'dodgy' MOT's.
To complicate matters, the trader doesn't do the MOT's (this is backed up by the details on the MOT) - so any advice offered as to who to complain to about either/both would be appreciated.
I appreciate that I should have got the car inspected prior to purchase, but unfortunately that was not an option.
Thanks!
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I would not take the report of an inspector from either of the 2 big organisations as gospel I have had various customers bring cars for post inspection work which clearly didn't need doing. On one occasion an item not even fitted to the car was reported as 'not working'.
....courtesy light switches on a 78 Civic...there weren't any !
Mot inspector can't remove things from the car, so....wheel trims to check if all wheel nuts are there, shopping in boot to check for corrosion...etc, etc.
Ted
No, not some Daily Mail scare story but bought to us by the Telegraph.( Video News )
tinyurl.com/9efgh9
I read this today and did so twice just to make sure I had it correctly. So we have reached the stage where an unpaid parking ticket ( and that could be one you are contesting ) would be used to prevent you from leaving the UK under the new border rules.
Now I can understand wanting to stop some body suspected of being involved in say a Hit and Run or a fatal RTA where charges have been made. I could even handle it if it was because you faced charges such as driving with no insurance... but Parking Tickets ?
How many of our London posters on here haven't felt the need to challenge what they think could be a wrongly issued ticket and yet for that, could be denied a business flight because it stands as an unpaid parking fine.
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' Give it a couple of years in operation and then it will have spread to
an unpaid gas bill or an outstanding Library book.
Aye. we arre allll dooooomed.
hi all.........
i have another car thats been off of the road for a while .....
the battery went flat so i keep it on charge ...
would it be ok to use it in the clio to keep it conditioned, it's a 76ah from my frontera, i know it's alot bigger in power, would the altenator cope....
i would rotate the batteries to keep them both ok ........
CHEERZ........AL.......... Read more
i'm not sure how the charging system works exactly....i thought the larger battery would need
more work to charge it ....
It will just take longer to charge - the actual charging current is quite small compared to the rated output of the alternator.
if i understood what your saying.... the alternator cant be overloaded by the bigger battery......
Correct, as I say the battery charge current is regulated. The rated output of the alternator is how much current it can theoretically produce to power active circuits, i.e. ECU, ignition, light, HRW etc.
will it then charge the battery to it's full capacity but just take longer.....
Yes.
Browse
Unusually in this climate I've actually just sold a house! Now down in Cambridgeshire with the better half. We've currently got money in the bank, but will need it in about 6 months when we buy a bigger place.
One thing I will note, the dealers are not discounting at all, but they are bidding over the odds in part-exchange. Makes sense I suppose, they can get away with saying they are not discounting new cars
Now narrowed down to two cars: Mazda 2 and Jazz. SWMBO decided the Yaris was too dull and I couldn't put up a convincing defence against that