A friend of mine in his mid twenties has recently qualified as a UK driver, and together we are trying to find a suitable car.
He has a fair amount of driving experience outside the UK, and will be driving approx 12k miles pa, most of it on a motorway commute, and working on projects away from home.
Budget is £2500, preferably less.
My advice is to only buy privately (too much mark up for traders at that price) and go for a 1.4/2.0 petrol...cheaper to repair than diesel? He wants a mid size car...I recommend a 1.6 5dr Focus, he fancies a 1.4 Civic, both low insurance groups, both with enough power to make daily motorway commuting stress free.
Any ideas please..
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(307 2.0 hdi 110)I had a paper towel sucked into my turbo i got it out and my car ran ok for a day then the Anti pollution fault light came on and it will oniy rev up ot 25000 can you help. Read more

Hey folks, new to site but looking for some advice.

We were rear ended by another driver a month or so ago. He admitted full liablity and alls well on that front.

Our insurers told us to take car and have 2 quotes done. Both garages said that given the fact its a 12 year old car, it was still perfectly drivable but was probably not cost effective to repair.

The other insurers then contacted us and said that they were sending their own engineer out to asses and to give a quote.

Now to the point of the matter. The only dammage to the car was the back left tail light was smashed , the thin band of metal below the light, above the bumper was dented in, the bumper had no damage, the boot lid fine ( no damage at all, not even scratched). And the panel between the petrol cap and the light had a small smooth dent about the size of a hand.

The insurance engineer came out and looked at the broken light, took the millage and the chassis number and then proceeded to tell me that the cost of repair would be estimated at £800 ish and that the car cost was less so the car would be a c or d write off. (A direct quote by the way).

We then got a cheque and a letter from the insurance company telling us that the car had now bee registered as a class B write off and the body should be crushed and some servicable parts could be sold for salvage.

Am i right to question this? The engineer spent about 5 mins in total looking at a broken light and deemed that my car should be crushed?

p.s. this car has passed its MOT's for the past 2 years with only superficial work and had its last MOT 9 weeks before the accident.
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(On behalf of a colleague ....)
Colleague started his Spacewagon one morning during the freezing weather last month but found the steering wheel wouldn't move. He pulled a bit harder and it freed up with "a bit of a bang". Since then it's pulling to the left but is otherwise OK - the car doesn't wander, and the steering is smooth and progressive.

Tyre condition, pressures and wheel geometry have been checked and a main dealer can see nothing superficially wrong.

If something had been bent by the power steering with tyres frozen to the ground or packed solid by ice I'd have thought the geometry would have been way out.

Any other suggestions welcome ... Read more

Well those of you with VERY good memories may well remember that a few months back i was after something fun for my boring current shape Astra.

Well I waited till my insurance premium was up to collect the added years no claims bonus.

Tried the Civic type R ek3 nice but a little chavvie for my taste and not enough toys.

Tried the Leon Cupra R great fun in all power bands but found the styling a little "dull"

Then went for a drive in a 2003 Toyota Celica T- Sport 190...

Never driven anything (in my price range) that has ever given me so much fun! Hitting "lift" whilst screaming round corners on A-B roads put a grin from ear to ear :D.

Its a fantastic looking motor reasonably economical too for the power it has and it really corners like its on rails. All the toys you could want climate control, CD changer etc etc...

So all in all well pleased I changed my "every other car you see is an Astra" for something a bit more fun.

Happy and safe driving to you all.

Cheers

Stu Read more