A car?

Thinking about getting a car. Last vehicle I had (3 years ago) was a Renault Traffic Camper. Sold it for next to nothing as rust had got a good hold of it. Wondering what to go for now?

I only want to spend maybe £5000 at the most. What I can see of it having a real nice motor around here is just silly especially since I live on the corner as there is a good chance it will pick up scrapes or bumps. Apart from that there are a lot of people walking about with prams etc - will get scraped to hell and back in no-time.

I sometimes fancy a big diesel car - Volvo, Audi or maybe a BMW. It is amazing what you can get for your money with these. Great thing about them too is they are so incredibly economical for such big motors - even the 3 litre ones. Good chance I will get my money back too on a resale.

Other days I figure a small diesel will do so that I save on the cost of tax.

I know one thing and that is it need a big boot, probably big enough to put a bike in. Looking at hatchbacks, estates etc is is surprising how big a boot they have.

Small car: save on tax and fuel, suspect driving experience, spartan and motorways journeys could be tiring.

Big car: full tax, higher fuel bill (not that much more), much nicer to drive, luxurious and motorway driving relaxing.

As for repair bills I would only pick a car that has lots of 2nd hand parts readily available as my mate works in a scrappy , oh and he can service / mot it for me too.

Wotcha fink: big or small?

Re: A car?

The big cars are great if you are going to do the mileage and have the money to take them to specialised garages for repair..Putting out service lights can only be done in two ways having the car 'read out' on a dealer computer or taking the offending bulb out.
Having said that I know the price of a mercedes headlight is less than that for a Suzuki alto ! So small isnt always cheap.

Maybe you need to think of middle ground.. A mid sized car with a 1600 engine or so, nippy enough round town and not too much of a slog on the motorway.

Re: A car?

I have a RAV which is very practical, comfortable and I am not forever filling it with fuel.
Great for transporting a bike too. They rarely break down as its Japanese!
So I'd say it's an in between size.

Re: A car?

Avoid any car made in Korea such as Kia. They just don't stock all parts in the UK. I had a sorento and it took 2 months for a part to be sent. My wife has a Cee'd estate needed new wheels radio don't work properly and they do NOT honour their 7 year warranty . I had load of problems with mine as well.

At the moment Nissan seem to be a good bet, the squashi as i call it looks good value for money. Ok I have a new Nissan x-Trail top of range but it has a 1.6cc engine and returns around the houses about 48 MPG which ain't bad for a large car. First time with this mark and I just can't fault it. Comfortable- cheap road tax- economical-reliable and comes with all the extras included depending on version.



Japanese cars have fixed price brackets and in each you know exactly what you are getting as built in extras.

Nissan are also red hot if a car needs a recall. With mine (sept 2014 new version just released) they discovered that the auto stop system may not work on a shiny reflective road surface so recalled it straight away for a free fix. They don't try and hide anything and all I can say is I am most impressed with Nissan and certainly would recommend a look at least.

Generally I don't think you can beat Japanese cars for value and reliability.
German cars have such a bad way of marketing starting of with a base model and you have to pay for extras and servicing costs are high as well.

I am also a fan of Toyota having owned 3/4 Amazon's their big 4x4's but expensive on fuel being 4.2 cc engines but built like bricks but high on road tax and insurance

Re: A car?

Get a Ford Corsair or a Humber Sceptre - loverly ................

Re: A car?

Patsy

The only way Ford can sell cars is by keep changing the model and they are very light on the back (try one in the snow) .I had a Ford escort and a Ford Mondeo ztec estate and the Mondeo was new ( just released) and absolute rubbish, no power and went back several times and they could not find what was wrong. Terrible company, when I got mine they could not find the colour (blue) and then provided just one key and wanted to charge me £25 for a second key after paying about £1800 for the new car. Bloody cheek. I got rid of in within half a year of ownership.

I would not go near a ford with a barge pole even if the barge pole belonged to someone else

Humber Sceptre is an old make and spares will be hard to find let alone get a half decent version

Re: A car?

Don't like 'new' cars at all
You can get the older models that have been well looked after, seen a few on the roads, they look pristine - give me one of them against a new car ............

Re: A car?

Patsy

Everyone to their own, nothing wrong with second hand cars but you don't know how they have been driven. I always recommend getting an HPI check and a full AA mechanical check before buying, even from a dealer. My son nearly got caught out twice from main dealers after I insisted he had an HPI check one showing it was a crash repair and the other an HP agreement outstanding on it.

I never trust anyone if buying second hand even main dealers, too easy to fall into the trap of a used car looking good with low mileage and good sales patter.

Have been around cars for over nearly 60 years and worked on several different older makes in the past, my late father who was an apprentice at Talbots, before they became sunbeam talbot, taught me more about cars that possibly the general public would know.

Re: A car?

My father had an Humber Sceptre and it was a very comfortable cruiser in it's day: real plush job really. My uncle had the Ford Corsair and it was a great drive with a V4 engine if I remember rightly.

You can get them in great nick these days and a classic car sure has a lot going for it: no tax for one thing!

Re: A car?

My father alway had Hillmans , the first I remember even had a curtain pull down blind at the back. The one I best remember was the Minx , not the one with the flared rear wings the model before. Then The last which I was given when he died was a Hillman Hunter GT of which only 800 were built so they could go into production car races . 800 was the minimum allowed before they could be called production cars. That had twin stromberg carbs and a real devil to balance. The Rapier was basically the same but had zenith carbs and a different body obviously but the mechanicals were the same.

A great friend of my dads was Bic Healey of Austin healey fame and even i got to know him well as a child. Alway remember going to the motor show at Earls Court and i tried to pursuade my dad to get a Humber super snipe estate but he didn't. Next stop was to see Bic Healey on the Austin healey stand and have some nibbles and soft drinks behind the scenes on the healey stand.
When Healey and Austin linked up Healey continued to make speed boats for water skiing etc. Don Healey his dad kept a yacht in cornwall and his brother John owned a general store where my grandmother lived in Perranporth. He also owned a club called the bamboo club of which i was a member. Bic and dad often went seign net fishing with a few others in cornwall as well.

Oh and why was he called Bic? because as a kid he could not say biscuit but BIc Bic and the name stuck

AS a bye the bye when my father worked for Talbots he was asked to recover with the breakdown truck to go collect the race cars off the track at Brooklands race track and that is how and where he learnt to drive. He completed his apprenticeship by making a tool for some part of the cars, what I don't know but that was for his apprenticeship passing out final

Bit of my and family history coming out