I think most people on here have a modicum of mechanical sympathy. I’d never drive a petrol or diesel car hard on a cold engine. With my current Kuga PHEV, I try to do the same. I can get from home to work on battery, but there are only a couple of places where it’s safe to overtake and you really want the extra punch of the petrol engine then, so that you’re minimising your time on the wrong side of the road.

I get the petrol engine to kick in a mile or so before I’m going to get it working hard, so that it’s at least a little bit warmed up first.

I’ve got mine (company car) for the lower benefit in kind taxation than a conventional petrol or diesel, but I do plug it in. We get reimbursed for business mileage at the HMRC rates, which vary be engine size, so the better the MPG I can get from it, the better for my pocket. I’ve average 119 mpg over 24,000 miles so far. To be fair, that doesn’t reflect the cost of home charging, but on an EV night rate, it’s still only around £1 for a full charge, which gives around 30 miles range on winter and up to around 45 miles in summer.

Sounds like air in the system. Some cars (VW Golf seems to get special mention) are difficult to fill

My 2001 1.4 16v Octavia(same oily bits as similar Golf) was a doddle to fill after a new radiator was fitted - After filling kept squeezing large hoses and topping up then run up to temperature (fans running) with the header tank cap removed. Checked level and replaced cap - job done - perfect thereafter. Header tank is high up with pipes feeding from many places.

A previous Fiat Punto was a nightmare to bleed as the "header tank" was at low level next to the radiator feeding the cooling system from the bottom. No wonder head gaskets used to fail shortly after a coolant refresh!! It had bleed valves near the heater matrix. Myself I chose to refresh the coolant live - filling and draining at the same time. Wasteful but no air introduced in the system....

I met him a number of times when I bought a car from Kerridges and when car came back for servicing or repairs. He was real old school a very nice man and he had a first class dealership. The service department was second to none.

To the OP,
I share you frustration and so do many others regarding prices .

My good friend this week purchased a Cat N car which means it’s been in a crash but not structural damage (that would be a cat S car).
He got a Suzuki Celerio 18 plate with 36,000 miles and a service history including the copart report and photos of the cars damage so he could examine exactly where it had been repaired.

The car came with a fresh service and a brand new 12 month MoT all for the price of £3900 m which is considerably cheaper than the cheapest forecourt price for a similar aged and mileage of around £7,000.

He would never consider a car that had been in an accident and repaired but current car prices and his budget determined this to be the best option.

There are pitfalls, it will be worth less than a non recorded car when he sells it but he paid far less so no big deal.

You do have to be careful, any seller not wanting to disclose the post accident pictures should be avoided or spend £10 for a car check which normally will link you to the copart auction sales picture of the car in a damaged state.
A full test drive is a must, likewise make sure you know what your looking for and even consider spending £50 on having your local mechanic attend to give his thoughts,

Also you need to choose more simplistic cars that are easier to fix.
Why?
A simple Suzuki Celerio has cheap parts, plenty of bolt on parts and not many gizmos or gadgets to go wrong.
The more technology and higher the original price of the car, generally the more difficult they are to put right after an accident regardless if they are Cat N or Cat S.


I was watching a YouTube video today of a salvage mechanic who had purchased a fire damaged Audi A1 and was having to replace the wiring loom for the entire car which involved stripping out the entire interior! A huge undertaking,

Mechanics working on Japanese and Korean cars may not need be so experienced as mostly they see cars under warranty needing simple maintenance.

My local Joint Suzuki and Fiat / Alfa Romeo dealer employed separate mechanics for both marques....