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• Lexus Gs or Mercedes E class - Next car??? 17 Apr 2012 (Forum)
  Background Retired now doing appreox 4000 per year. Mostly low mileage journeys. Head says Give up car and use taxis when needed and/or hire car for any longer journeys Heart says Luxo barge at 2/3 year old to last next 5/7 years then will be 75 and driving will be hell by then.   Budget can be p to 20,00 Realise issues with diesel and DPF so wondering if Mercs are good/bad in this respect.
• peugeot 307 sw 2002 - Dull thud when trying to start, and won't start at 26 Nov 2011 (Forum)
  Do these motors pressurise for any reason? If there is a possibility of the timing belt being dead, and the car being 250,000kms old, I will have to sell for spares and get another car. But not a Pug, I am sick of the orange particle filter lights coming on, 500€uros, and the diesel additive running out, another 400€uros.
• what car to buy - opinions please?? 25 Jul 2010 (Forum)
    Don't like it, the build quality is rubbish, it's got lots of creaks and rattles, it keeps losing power, and the road noise is worse than my old Fiesta. So I want to change it.  I wondered if anyone had any opinions re similar sized cars.  Ideally I want to spend between 10000-11000, and I guess what matters most to me is a car that feels well put together and is quiet!
• Honda Civic UK (1995 - 2000) - 96 1.6 Automatic-Handbrake does not hold 28 Sep 2009 (Forum)
  Its mum's car. !996 N reg/5 door with 54k She says when in drive with the handbrake on the car moves forward, with a groaning noise coming from the rear brakes. I have tested it myself and it does seem that the passenger rear caliper is not working, as the car lurches to one side when moving forward.
• LPG conversions -- resale values 3 Dec 2008 (Forum)
  I was having a look at a couple of LPG conversion websites, and was wondering about the resale values against a diesel car. Say, for the sake of argument a 2.5l petrol car cost about £3000 at 4 years old because of the fuel consumption. A similarly-powered diesel car may well be the thick end of five grand at the same age due to the superior MPG, but with an LPG conversion costing between £1500-2000 it seems to me that the petrol option would be cheaper and more fun as well.
• Ford KA, KA2, KA3 (1996 - 2008) - Ford Ka, good first car? 1 Sep 2008 (Forum)
  My daughter is hoping to take a test soon and wants to buy a car to practise in and drive once she's passed her test. (she's unable to add herself to our cars insurance) She has a max of £1,500 and likes the Ka. At this price there are quite a few available. I have to go and look at a few in the next day or so, so is there anything I should look out for ( I believe they can have a tendency to rust) and is it a good buy?
• Idle thoughts on new road tax. 4 May 2008 (Forum)
  I was going to update my car which would be a decent profit for a dealer. With the new road tax coming in I have changed my mind as the old car will save me a good bit bit on road tax as time goes by and still runs ok. My neighbour has a similar car to mine but newer and I guess much more carbon efficient yet he will pay more tax than me.
• San Storm convertible? 16 Jul 2007 (Forum)
  James May (who was hosting the event) likened the San to the Japanese Q cars, because of the size of it. Don't know what other people think, but for £10k I'd put my money into a 2nd hand MX-5. You could get a nice 1.8 with low mileage and only 2 or 3 years old for that money.
• Porsche Boxter - deposit paid! 28 Jun 2007 (Forum)
  Not sure if anyone cares about this but there are some who doubted I would ever buy a sporty car. Well I just put down a deposit on a black P reg Boxster 2.5 (private sale)! Having looked it over inside & out, it didn't look much more than 3 years old which says a lot about the build quality.
• Suggestions for 'sports' car? 10 May 2007 (Forum)
  At first I thought about a Honda S2000, but a quick look at Autotrader showed only a few imports from Japan and 2000 registered models (I'd prefer the new car to be 4 years old max.) Never been keen on BMW's, a Lotus Elise and MX-5 are too small, so I'm struggling really. Does anyone have any suggestions? Thanks in advance for any thoughts. S6 1SW
• Games you play in the car 29 Jan 2007 (Forum)
  an item on the thread on minicabbing has reminded me of being a bored kid on long journeys and one particular game the old man invented to keep us kids interested it was a spotting game and you recieved points depending on the quality of 'spot' the points went like this: 1 point for... a front seat person in a car wearing a hat 1 point for ...a front seat person in a car sat on a beaded seat cover maximum points were for a 'double beader, double hatter' which i'm fairly sure was never achieved.
• French cars: are they still unreliable? 19 Dec 2006 (Forum)
  They are also very nice well-specced cars (when they go!) and depreciate faster than the cost of a last years pop idol winners CD, so represent an excellent bargain at 12-18 months old. What do you think, still more trouble than they're worth or are they finally worth taking a chance on?
• Mondeo running costs (for saddos) 4 Sep 2006 (Forum)
  Well, if anyone ever wondered how much it costs to run a car, in this case a 2l petrol Mondeo estate, I can give you chapter & verse. If you aren't asleep by now: It is an ex-company car which I ran from new and bought off the company when it was 3.5 years old.
• Sony XR-6459 car radio wiring 30 Jun 2006 (Forum)
  A friend gave me her old car radio (sony XR-6459) when she got a fancy new one with a cd player. I want to put it in my car, but am unsure of the wiring- I've got the speaker wires which are dark green/dark green black, white/white black, pink/pink black and grey/grey black (I may have got them a bit wrong- colour blind and struggling!!)
• What Irritates Me About Dealers 3 Dec 2005 (Forum)
  I always drive a quality car under 3 years old, which I usually buy nearly new either privately or from one of the car brokers now quite common. I dont tend to have much trouble with my cars, but on numerous occasions when I have phoned my local dealer to either ask their advice or a technical question they start by asking me "did you buy it from us".
• Secondhand Value? 12 Oct 2003 (Forum)
  Just what is the appeal of such cars? Who buys them?
• New car? 6 Oct 2003 (Forum)
  I\'m considering a new car (well new to me, it\'ll still be best part of 10 years old!). I fancy a bit of luxury for a change, and despite swearing i\'d never buy one because of the stigma attached to them, i am tempted by an BMW, either 323 or 325 (the E36 model, 1991ish onwards).
• Car advice needed please 18 Jun 2003 (Forum)
  I need a new car! Car is needed for short journeys to the station , town, and as I have to drive to work 5 days a month 5 x 150 mile round trips to London (clear run on the way in, traffic on the way out) And the occasional trips away whan I have time off.
• The Backroom New Car Reliability Survey 5 Jan 2003 (Forum)
  Now I know we get real individual horror stories appearing in the backroom, but I thought it would be nice to collect details of all faults (however minor, but required fixing) in one place. I propose a survey of new cars up to 3 years old on a rolling basis. Please for the usual reasons no dealer names or emotive rants. I propose the following format: Make/Model/Date Of Purchase: Private or Company Car?: Age and Mileage when fault occurred: Brief description of fault: Fixed first time by dealer?
• BTCC - to professional ? 22 Nov 2001 (Forum)
  I watched some old British touring car videos yesterday ( 1992/3/4/5) and soon came to the conclusion this truly was a Golden era for touring cars. Some of the racing was superb - real overtaking, spectacular crashes and great characters.