Might be time to change the car blues

I know but in some ways I would like a change but not to another estate that offers diddly squat in real terms. If I can't find a suitable deal that doesn't suite cash wise I wont be changing and that does damage their pockets because low mileage near new always drop by the tax at least although some try to avoid selling that cheaply. It's a case of finding the right car really. The advice from a friendly dealer is to sell mine privately. There latest trick for some time has been to give poor part exchange deals even when I bought my current one.

I haven't looked at Citroen. I may do but had an unpleasant warrantee problem years ago. The dealer I bought it off was privately owned. I had the problem when Citroen UK took over. They even started only filling oil to the min level during services as well at the same time. Take a car in for service and it might come back with something not working especially while it was under warrantee - probably removed and fitted to another car. There were other odd things about the car which as it all upset me I managed to get mentioned on the TV. I'll bet that caused them some worry at least.

A replacement cam belt etc on a V6 Passat didn't work out well. I can only assume that the parts fitted on replacement at 60K were not as good as the originals. It went at 95K and fortunately I did know a mechanic who was capable of fixing things like that - new head etc. I'd guess they may all be chain now should = 100k plus.

A Saab proved to be ok. When I had a problem it was fixed. If expensive - a new clutch was, a man from GM turned up looked and it was replaced FOC. Sadly they have gone but in some ways the X-Type is a better car. The clutch lasted for 42k rather than 26. It's a bit quieter too.

John

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I expect most older cars don't have the features of new models, burn more fuel and give off more pollution.

Don't Vic most if not all of the things I want in a car have been about for a long long time. Fuel consumption is an interesting one. Deisels are great but if they are only used for short trips the particulate filters act up and having to have one of those changed can make the fuel savings a bit of a joke. Mine has a little red light which comes on if there are signs that this is happening and there are instructions on what to do. Go drive at a certain speed for a certain time till it goes out. Seems this is unusual and it never has come on due to my driving profile. Just like petrol engines and catalisers they probably periodically dump excess fuel down at times to get them very hot. it's done because they can't have them failing too soon.

Electric power steering is pretty new but the idea has been kicking around for some time. It was reckoned that cars should shift to 24v batteries when it came in. I suspect that will happen at some point.

Electric parking brakes are around and nice to use but that could also be done with the ordinary brakes and may be. It wouldn't surprise me if this was a cost saving as well from a manufacturing point of view.

Hooking a mobile phone into the sound system isn't new either. Just more widely spread. Lots of things are much the same.

A lot of the bells and whistles are pretty cheap as far as making them goes but a good way of pumping up prices. Things like keyless ignition etc probably save money but is sold as an extra.

Stability control just uses the ABS controller and doesn't add much cost in real terms. Neither does the same style of traction control. I've designed software into them to do that several times.

One interesting fact is that some will find their road tax bill going up next year. I'm told that the min rate will be £120 per year. Not sure about higher rates but one dealer reckoned that all will be £120. Another reckoned that it will still be CO2 based. The problem with diesels isn't CO2 as has been recently mentioned on the news.

John

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Edited By Ajohnw on 18/06/2016 21:19:38

Still got my SAAB 93 - bought new circa 18 years ago, 110k miles and runs like a dream . Was thinking of getting rid of it but decided instead to give it some TLC . A couple of jobs to do yet and I hope we will be together for a few years more! It is a very comfortable car with a bit of "grunt!" ( A bit thirsty though ..... and the right pedal is very inviting.......!

Norman

The best car for load space I have owned was a 2004 Honda Accord Tourer, lovely car as well.

Edited By V8Eng on 18/06/2016 22:07:49

My '94 nissan 200sx died last year and has just had it's engine resurrected (at vast expense) such that i might well consider a total bodywork and interior refurb too. For me it's been a super comfortable car I fit in and at my size they're not easy to find. I've been suffering a GT86 meanwhile - which is great fun and I may well keep - but the suspension and bucket seats do make it tiring after 90 mins or so...

Two years ago I scrapped my 2001 VW Passat 2litre petrol when it decided it could run OK on 3 cylinders at 150k miles - exhibiting one severely oiled plug; RAC man tried new plug on the offending cylinder but it did not help.

I bought a 3 year old BMW 320d to replace it: Initial cost maybe not that cheap, but 161 horsepower and just £20 road tax (£21 renewal this month). I get typically 56/57 true mpg; car display says a bit better at around 60mpg - (I could make comments about how mpg data is averaged may not give true average of MPG, but a bit late for a Satuday night, and it is not that far off), However, annual tax and fuel costs are £500 lower than the passat, so I am a happy bunny!

Martin

The fuel consumption on my X-Type generally show 40mpg often a touch over. At the moment it's 38 as it's only done short trips for a lot longer than usual. i do use it to go some hundreds of yards to the local shops every now and again especially if it raining. That hammers the consumption figures. I checked the figures it comes up with not longer after buying it and they are pretty close. I go to Pembrokeshire often which is why the 40 usually shows, That's a round trip of 400 miles of pretty hard driving with motorway to Monmouth. I might do from say 40 to 80 miles while I'm there. Sometimes more. This doesn't empty the tank. A fill up costs about £65 at the moment following that. The worst with higher prices was about £70+ a bit I worry more about the £ notes than the mpg and have never worked it out. Seems pretty good to me. The fill up was cheaper recently. Sub a £ a lt but it's back up now.

Unless I was running a silly car I used to buy cars just coming up to the MOT. A 911 and one or two others had to be older. Much older in some cases especially the 911. I don't do the sort of mileage I did then now but what I found was low mileage more or less as new doesn't really cost much more than 3 years old and usually changing every 3 except the nearly new needs running for about 6 years. Taking a Passat to 100k and changing proved to be a very bad idea but I changed due to the engine blow up. I wasn't confident about the repair but intended to run it into the ground. It had an Audi V6 engine in it. I was doing a very high annual mileage at the time. Away on hols somewhere or the other every weekend.

John

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Thought I had found a suitable deal yesterday. I was offered the car at 2 prices one 1k less than the other. Just before leaving I asked how much money does that work out at when the px was taken off. I wrote it down.

Later on in the evening I suddenly thought that the number didn't make sense so checked the figure. The price quoted on the car was fine but the cash needed was £1,500 too high on the lower priced car buying method.

Money can be saved by buying on pcp and paying off in the 14 day cooling off period as the manufacturers add to the deposit. Trouble is that finance companies don't like people doing this and it seems they can charge some nebulous amount of interest at a daily rate. So far it's been impossible to find out what that interest rate would be. PCP sounds great but people who try and pay it off well into the period can have problems - legal advice seems to be don't sign anything they send out to people who want to do that. Getting an extra 1k off sounds great but could lead to a lot of hassle so guess I will pass on that, It would be more on some makes.

John

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If you have to brag why not keep the clunker for a bit longer and buy some decent workshop equipment and get in there and actually do something. ???

Brag ??? and thanks but I already have decent workshop equipment and do what I choose to do with it. I do keep an eye out for a certain replacement lathe but do I really need - no and so far not one single suitable worthwhile buy in something like 5 years.

Maybe you got out of the wrong side of the bed this morning. Or maybe you view me as being like yourself as this is why you would post a thread like this. I just thought it might be of interest and as finding decent replacement car deals can be very irritating gets some of that off my chest.

John

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I changed cars 5 years ago and will change again next year probably. The old car did 29mpg the current one does 43mpg. The old car didn't have bluetooth, cruise control, heated front seats or a USB socket for media. All items I like to use on the car that replaced it. New cars generally fare better in crash tests as well. Nothing wrong with keeping a car for twenty years if that's what you want to do but don't pretend it's built to modern standards of safety, economy and convenience.

Interesting thread, certainly a bit different. Using PCP to buy a car and getting the sweetener and paying off in full in the cooling off period is a fair tactic. The car companies may or may not like it, but until we just bought a Q3( for the other half , nothing on offer from Audi as an inducement) we've bought 1 new VW and 4 new Audi saloons that way and not a peep out of VAG finance, quite helpful in fact. Saved quite a bit of money that way, enough to buy a new miller then some. The inducement's on offer are usually for models where there is max competition in the market place.

There can be all sorts of reasons Vic. On this one my wife would prefer 4x4 type seating these days. I'm not sure I could live with most of the people carriers. Me and seating - that may get worse as I age. Also in this case it may turn out to be the last one I buy. That has worried a me a bit. A very elderly guy in a showroom changing cars because he now needs an automatic.

The other thing about keeping for a very long time is the cost when they have to be changed. They don't get cheaper. The other aspect is that the people who will be buying my current one reckon it will very probably spend less than 2 weeks on their forecourt. That helps my finances.

Running costs in my case, a touch less on fuel and a lower insurance rating - not that this will cause them to reduce it but if I change company it might. I'm not that fussed about the extra bits and bobs but it will be nice to use them. It has the bits and bobs I know I need. That's always been the main thing for me.

John

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My last Volvo had 270k on the clock when I replaced it. It was still going strong but I needed to change to a LHD car. I doubt if many current models will last that long. OK it was a bit thirsty at 27 mpg but I wonder what the carbon cost of making a new car is. It might be good for the economy to change your car every three years but good for the environment? I doubt it.

Russell.

I tend to keep my cars for as long as possible, approx 15yrs between cars, as I try to get value for money. My last car was a Mitsubishi Shogun Pinin SWB ( 1800cc ) 3 door which I bought new in 2001, as it would fit nicely in the garage, but later on as granddaughters were getting bigger it became a bit of a squeeze in the back, I thought afterwards should have got the LWB 5 door, hindsight is a wonderful thing innit' anyway I was out window shopping last August & came across a 2010 Hyundai Tucson 4 x 2 ( 1996cc ) with only 20k on the clock, as my Shogun was also low mileage, 67k, due to my contracting work abroad it was garaged up 6 mo. of the year, I decided to make enquiries.

The garage gave me the history, I female owner, full service history, 4 new tyres, alloys, & a proper full size spare wheel, the lady owner just didn't like driving it...     & had gone for a smaller car, after some negotiating I managed to get a decent price for my Shogun Pinin... Parkers guide rating 'good' ... so the deal was agreed. I am well satisfied to date, same tax band as the Shogun, only a couple miles less mpg, & very close on the insurance comparison, as I don't do many miles per year, 5 - 6k p.a. the slight differences are acceptable, & the granddaughters are now much more comfortable... & the eldest has commented ... 'More street cred' granddad' ... ( ref' to school runs where there is a gamut of 4 x 4's, SUV's, Audi's & BMW's, 15 / 16 plated, Tucson's, kia's , Hmm kids  ). Hopefully this one will also last the distance.

George.

Edited By mechman48 on 20/06/2016 11:55:42

Re Bazyle's query -

I have a Berlingo, top spec model automatic (go-faster idiocy long since passed!!). As a load carrier, it is the equal of my (some time back) other Citroen BX 19 Turbo. That one did 328,000 before it was dragged off to the scrappy. The Berlingo suits a nadgered wrinkly very well - easy to enter doors, easy 'boot' lid access, sliding side doors and it has spent the last month or more as a two seater with MASSIVE load capacity - wardrobes, bookcases etc for our move back to the rebuilt house.

For those who just HAVE to have a 'Chelsea Tractor', I would recommend the Honda CRV - more particularly the imported ex-Japan versions - but be aware that they are/were larger dimensioned than the UK produced version.

rgds

Bill

Crikey. I just traded my 1989 Toyota Camry with 280,000km on it on a 2010 Corolla with 60,000km on it (about 35,000 miles). I expect I will get well over 10 years and 100,000km out of the new car trouble free like I did out of the old one. Well over.

New discs you say you might need? Discs, like pads, are a consumable and these days are as cheap as chips to replace. Not even a factor in the long term really.

Like Neil, I'm just grateful to drivers like yourself who keep the rest of us supplied with sub-$1,000-a-year vehicles.

If you have nowt to do one afternoon then drop into a 'great wall' motors. I stumbled into one by accident (desperate for the loo and thought it was subaru next door)... very polite staff out here in rural town compared to the pushy suits in London and insisted on making very nice coffee and biccy's for the non-buying drop-in.

Huge space, very comfy seats, a towing capacity you wouldn't believe but acceleration that my granny could outpace on foot and china cheap. Not vehicles likely to be on anyone's top list but suprisingly worth a look if you plan on huge loads off-road. But for nipping to the shops the subaru BRZ is heaps more fun.

Forester with Lintran dog box .. not much of a quality pic, but tells the story. Two big Labs carried easily enough on short - medium mileage trips.

Drawbacks .... a gas guzzler; 30 ish mpg (petrol) and relatively high servicing costs.

Good things .... excellent cross country performance, comfortable and reliable. Plus it will carry a Myford M Type long bed and stand all the way from Yorkshire to Powys!

I'm about to drop mine on 86,000 because I'm out of the working dog scene and something cheaper to run would be nice. Still got the all electric, singing, dancing, auto box Skoda diesel Octavia so a little runabout would suit.

Eug

Edited By Eugene on 20/06/2016 13:50:26