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Thats an expensive radiator, have you enquired at a decent motor factors for a price?
Couple of hours work, few skinned knuckles, set of new Jubilee clips, half a gallon of anti freeze and you're back in business.
If you want a change then you could do far worse than a Civic, model up to 2005, durable well made car but needs to have been looked after, oil changes around 9k if i recall correctly.
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My mechanic is normally quite cheap, but he won't touch breakers anymore because of problems, so he said the radiator new is £140 and the hoses to get to the back are £60ish, so labour would be £100 because it's auto and got air con etc. I have seen breakers charge £30 just for the rad, but my mechanic says the age of the vehicle it's not worth spending the money on it and possibly causing other problems replacing such a big part? Thanks re the civic, I don't like typical womens cars, so want something with a bit of speed and comfort:)
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want something with a bit of speed
Why look at a Jazz then? It is NOT fast.
And comfort
An early Jazz is uncomfortable on bad road surfaces...hard suspension.
Edited by madf on 11/05/2012 at 15:22
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Madf I am trying to be good and buy a fuel efficient, reliable car, , hence looking at the jazz. When you say hard suspension is that like on the Citroen C3 because it felt quite rigid and I didn't like it, my old xsara has a great suspension. What would you recommend as a good automatic, that is comfortable, reliable and can accelerate quickly when needed?
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Aren't 'automatic' and 'fuel economy' somewhat impossible to match up? Especially on older autos.
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Bobbin I only have £2000, my xsara does 20mpg in urban and 40ish on the motorway, surely I can get better urban figures than that for £2000 even with it being an auto?
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Yes probably. So far the best suggestion to my mind is that of the Honda Civic. Decent amount of room inside and they are reliable.
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The Jazz is not a great car for motorway or even fast A roads - engine is pulling a rather noisy 3200/3400 rpm at 70 MPH, and the combination of high sides and lightness make it rather twitchy to drive in anything more than a gentle breeze. These shortcomings won't be an issue if you'll be doing mainly town driving. Town or motorway, you should get between 38 and 42 mpg (possibly up to 45mpg on longer runs).
My personal preference would be a Civic. Most Honda dealers are great, and you might strike lucky if you contact you local one and tell them what you are after - our local dealer never bothers putting anything older than 5 years on the forecourt, so you would need get a car that they would otherwise offload to auction.
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Thanks both, Tonto that has defintely put me off a Jazz! I'm from Cornwall, but live in the midlands and there is normally more than a gentle breeze most of the time on the journey. I find my citroen xsara deals with the amount of hills on the exteter bypass really well and maintains 70ish well even going up the hills, would you say the civic is as good? The civic is only a 1.6 isn't it, does that make it a bit slow in e.g overtaking situations? I live in an area saturated with pensioners driving at 30mph in national speed limit areas, so regularly have to overtake! I did speak to my honda dealer about a jazz and they just laughed for my money, but I'll try again re the the civic:)
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Here you go: www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/20121946971...p
Auto Civic, not bad mileage, although don't be afraid of high milers!
If you're willing to go manual, you can get a bigger engine and a newer car...
www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/20121846855...p
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Thanks Bobbin, ideally I'd like to buy something closer to home incase there are any problems with it? Looks a nice car though and a reasonable mileage, I have to have an automatic because of my work/health.
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To get a Civic worth its money you will likely have to travel, they hold just about the highest used value in their class and for good reason, about twice the price of an equivalent Focus/Astra..
Don't forget to look at Corolla as well, same quality and durabilty as Civic, but usually a bit cheaper for some reason.
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I just chose a postcode in the centre of the country!
Yes definitely have a look at Corollas. A friend of mine runs one in the wilds of North Wales and it copes very nicely.
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Hallington - given your journeys, really do stay away from the Jazz. We had one for 6 years - great car in most respects (reliable, bags of space) but really tiring on the motorway for all reasons I mentioned. I've only ever had civics as short term courtesy or hire cars, but found them much more stable and rewarding to drive.
Anytime my car was in for service, you'd always have one or two 'mature' drivers still bringing back their 9 or 10 years old civics for it's full dealer service - if you can get one of these pampered cars, I'm sure they would be a gem. Lots of mature drivers stay loyal to Honda dealers - hence my comments on having a word with one of them. They must get older cars traded in, but won't be asked putting a 5 or 6 year old car on their forecourt - no matter how pampered or well cared for.
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Thanks guys, this will be my second car purchase and being female with a young child means I'm hesitant to collect cars from too far away. I know how to maintain all the fluids and how to change an air filter and what sounds 'right', but feel as a woman people have tried to sell me death traps, at least locally I haven't wasted too much money looking? Gordon I didn't realise how sought after the civics were, thanks for the tip. I've looked at the Toyota corollas, but the body shape pre 2003 ish looks so old fashioned :(
Tonto I will call my local Honda dealership in the morning, you're right, I'm happy to have a 9yr old pampered car, mine was like that when I bought it:) my car had been citroen serviced, lovingly kept in a garage overnight and then I bought it lol! I have looked after the car, but not like that. Any thoughts on the bigger Hondas as I'm used to a 1.8 engine?
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I'm sure you'd be fine with the 1.6. They are not heavy cars, and the engines are very efficient and willing (although typically will need to be revved when you need a bit of extra oomph for overtaking).
Good luck!
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Thanks Tonto, fingers crossed my honda dealership will have something soon, as I miss driving, I've had a month of trying not to use my car because of the radiator :( Thanks for all the advice, I'm trying not to just buy something because it looks 'nice', but I think the civics look nice:)
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We have a 1.4 Honda Jazz 52 plate that we bought a few years back for 4K and 44,000 miles. Now done 70,000.
Only needed a new wheel bearing tyres exhaust etc.
The 1.4 is a lot better than the 1.2 and is realtively quick most of the time. Suspension can be hard. We get about 41 MPG mix of driving and up to 50 on the motorway.
I too like the Xsara but not the picasson version,. I had 2 of them.
Regarding the radiator try a specialist if you live in Midlands Warwick Radiators does rec-cons and some air conditing specialist such as SAC in Coventry will replace.
All the best
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