September 2023
Hi there,
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Had a call from my darling mother yesterday to say that her 42,000 mile 2009 59 plate Honda Jazz which she’s had from new has failed its Mot due to structural rust underneath. This is a car that’s never seen a motorway, it doesn’t go out at night and almost never leaves the town, especially in icy salt covered roads, yet it is now rotten underneath despite a lifetime of sleeping in a dry garage.
It can be saved with a bit of welding, but when this is needed it’s pretty much curtains for the car as it’ll be rusting heavily elsewhere. It still looks ok on the body though, it’s mechanically perfect and is mint inside. Shame. I will fix it but it’s likely going to be traded in for something newer.
Now we get to the point of my ramblings. I decided to take a look at used prices for the Mk II Honda Jazz and I’m finding similar aged autos with similar miles at daft prices in excess of £7k in some cases! To me the price doesn’t reflect the likely lifespan left in many used cars on the market today. I’ve recently seen a 2009 Golf 1.4 up for £4,995 locally, again how much life is left in that? These are cars that would be sub £2,000 in a sane world with real risk priced in but today they’re two to three times their real value.
Now, do I fix it and try to convince her to keep it or is it time to offload it to keep her confidence in driving? Prices on replacements are absolutely daft at the moment and with demand very much outstripping supply on good small petrol engined cars I don’t see prices dropping back to sanity anytime soon and she doesn’t use it enough to warrant spending a lot of money. Read more
I use VHT paint on our exhausts Our 20 years old Yaris is on its original one as is our 11 year old Jazz.,
I am looking at buying a Peugeot 307CC 2004 plate as it only has 45k miles on the clock but at the moment the roof won’t open. Windows will go down but roof won’t open. I’m being told in most cases it should be a relatively cheap fix but concerned it could be something more serious and expensive. What are the common causes and fixes or should I avoid this car as it might cost me £1,000’s to fix? Read more
It's almost 20 years old but repair costs would not be relative to its current value in reality its what it would have cost to fix when new ...
True, but that is simply because cars depreciate in value, but labour costs don't....
We are looking at a used vw tiguan for around £6k as we like its mix of reliability ( if properly maintained ) and looks
Anything we should also consider in the 4x4/SUV market for that price ?... Read more
Or just pumping them up.
Hi All
I am contemplating a 5-seat SUV, mainly for city driving over weekends. Annual mileage 6-7k so not looking at Diesel / Mild hybrid / PHEVs.. Budget was £20k but unable to find a good car, so have extended to £25k (ideally) or £30k (comfortable stretch). ... Read more
For £25-30k there are a wide range of entirely capable SUVs available new or up to a year old. They will have the benefit of warranty for at least a couple of years and probably a level of kit and gizmos at probably the equal of an older premium motor.
An older premium motor will deliver a feel good feeling. But older premium motors are more likely to go wrong (a function of age and mileage) and when they do cost more to repair....
We are currently deluged/submerged by robot registrations for the forum. There are too many for us to cope with anymore It is overwhelming.
As fast as we disable accounts more appear.... Read more
Tangential but related.
I've been partly involved with teaching academic (particularly scientific) writing for the past few years, but stopped (apart from a bit of proof reading) recently, apparently in the nick of time....
Hi guys! Would appreciate your opinions/thoughts.
Story in short: very happy owner of Volvo XC90 (really happy), diesel. Car was bought second hand from volvo dealer, full service history from volvo, 6 years old in Nov 2023, just 50k mileage. ... Read more
I had a high pressure pump 'lunch itself' on a diseasel Focus. I'd bought it second hand, so had no idea if it had ever been mis-fuelled. However, I'd just paid to have the timing belt replaced (what is a clavis gauge?) and the garage that did it admitted using an impact driver to slacken the camshaft bolts. I've always wondered if the shock load could have caused the pump to fail.
Messing about with camshaft and crankshaft, (now sadly deceased) recently I came across the suggestion that impact drivers were bad for them, academic for me since I dont have one, and academic for almost everyone else since there is very little chance that pro mechanics will be persuaded not to use impact drivers, since this would cost them a huge amount of time....
In June 2023, I purchased a vehicle.
Before buying, I spotted what seemed like rust in a walk-around video provided by their salesperson. When I raised my concern, I was assured it was just dirt and would be cleaned. However, upon receipt, it turned out to be rust.... Read more
Not sure if it's the same engine as mine which was 2010 (DC4B engine) with 93k on the clock, but I wouldn't have another as mine blew up! Faulty injector seals soot up the engine oil and because of the design you dont have any external evidence. Mine clogged the oil pickup and seized within 10 seconds of the oil light coming on. Cost was 6k to repair so I got rid. It also had rust underneath. Wouldn't have another, which was a shame as it was very practical despite constantly breaking something every 2 months. Not hyundai's best effort.....
I have a just purchased a Mokka SE turbo 1.4 petrol automatic and have a faint ticking noise when accelerating is this common ?
Ken Read more
It turns out that someone had fitted a new timing chain and the camshaft was one tooth out.
Must be a pretty poor engine design or made with poor quality components to need a new chain on a relatively new car. How many miles has it done? Chains normally last the lifetime of the car.
Hi,
I bought a Suzuki Celerio car, second hand 2015. As I am illiterate on the subject, could you please inform me on what type of fluids I have to add inside the container under the annotated labels in the images at the below links? Please let me know if I have to fill up the containers... Read more
Many years ago I had a company Vauxhall, in fact a few.
Local Vx dealer would put a sachet of fluid on the passenger seat....
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Don’t try to jump it! Friend of mine had a similar issue with his Toyota Yaris Cross Hybrid, the Toyota supplied (RAC I think) breakdown provider attended and tried to jump the car resulting in a blown “main fuse” and a bill for £500. He of course reminded the dealer that it was Toyota’s own recovery provider that caused the damage and the costs were rightly waved. 12v battery issues are very common on Hybrids and EV’s.