Buying a car

BigBearKris

Ossyrocks said:

I just bought a car, just sayin.

Sending back the three year old Skoda bought on finance. No need for that kind of expense in my life these days. 

Got an 07 plate Toyota Yaris for £2k with full service history. Drives great! If it lasts 8 months I’m up financially.

Rob

It'll probably last 8 years with no big issues. 

I have 2nd civic now (2nd as the first one was involved in a bad accident) and apart from tyres and fuel and mot it didn't cost me a penny. 15yo cars. 

RaymondLin

Ossyrocks said:

digitalscream said:

Ossyrocks said:

I just bought a car, just sayin.

Sending back the three year old Skoda bought on finance. No need for that kind of expense in my life these days. 

Got an 07 plate Toyota Yaris for £2k with full service history. Drives great! If it lasts 8 months I’m up financially.

Rob

The real question, though, is...when did you start looking for a car?

Ha ha. Checked autotrader a couple times. Found a dealer nearby with a few interesting cars. Went to visit once, agreed sale with a deposit, delivered the following day. Maybe 3 hours effort total.

It’s a decent car.

Rob

When I bought my Yaris, it was 60 miles away in Cardiff so I sent my brother in law out to test drive it to make sure it’s mechanically sound and he paid the deposit down for me (I bank transferred it to him) and I went and picked it up on the weekend.  I didn’t even see the car until I picked it up.

That’s what I call “just get a frigging car”.

I kept that Yaris for 5 and a half years.

LastMantra

CHRISB50 said:

I have 2 friends who are mechanics. Both have always said avoid French cars.

My old man is a pretty knowledgeable and experienced mechanical engineer. He's been driving citroens for about the last 20 years. Hasn't had any major problems.
Not sure how many miles that adds up to but on average spends most of his working day driving. 
My first car was one of them (bx?). Was a nice, quite fun, car to drive.
Admittedly the brakes failed once (it was an old car by then. He got it second hand and ran it for a good few years)...which was rather...exciting.
Pretty sure my dad fixed it fairly easily. 

ICBM

LastMantra said:

My old man is a pretty knowledgeable and experienced mechanical engineer. He's been driving citroens for about the last 20 years. Hasn't had any major problems.

Not sure how many miles that adds up to but on average spends most of his working day driving. 
My first car was one of them (bx?). Was a nice, quite fun, car to drive.
Admittedly the brakes failed once (it was an old car by then. He got it second hand and ran it for a good few years)...which was rather...exciting.
Pretty sure my dad fixed it fairly easily. 

BXs were notorious for hydraulic suspension pipe leaks - I had one before my Xantia estate, not counted in the 20 years of reliable French cars since then . It was the last 'unreliable' car I've had - but to be fair to it, it always got me home because Citroën designed the system so it failed in a predictable way... rear suspension first, so you got plenty of warning. I did once do the last few miles to the garage with no suspension at all though, that was not much fun! After the BX they started making the tubes out of stainless steel so they no longer corroded, and my Xantia never suffered from it. I can still remember the tell-tale smell of Citroën LHM hydraulic fluid though .

ronnyb

Most problems with French cars now seem to be electrical. They do make good diesel engines though. The 1.9 diesel used in the 205 / 309 was a decent unit as is the 2.0 hdi that followed it. The 1.5dci Renault engine also used by Nissan and Mercedes seems to be largely trouble free.  

WiresDreamDisasters

digitalscream said:

WiresDreamDisasters said:

digitalscream said:

WiresDreamDisasters said:

Emp_Fab said:

TTony said:

So.

After xx pages, the answer is 

<insert whatever car Emp buys>

If that’s the answer, WTF, really, WT-fecking-F was the question, because that really doesn’t seem to be the answer to any requirement that I saw posted.

You might want to make this a sticky template, to save everyone from having to type the same thing when I eventually do buy a car.

I sense the reason why this thread has generated so much hostility is that my procrastination is delaying the gratification desired by so many to say "Nyeeeehhhhh - I told you so..... / What did you buy THAT for - that's a bag of crap / OMG, they're death-traps" etc etc etc.....

You were just a little eager on the starting pistol son.

You love the drama and attention. I reckon you've cracked one or two out whilst reading this thread.

You should be careful, there. When you start looking for a car, we may end up with a similar megathread where you're agonising over which car, except you'll have bought and sold the same one three times while having another two sitting outside your house that you never want to drive and yet another in a mate's garage...

Nah. Fiesta. For the first two years. After that, do a rental thing once the market really kicks off. Car ownership will be a thing of the past eventually I reckon.

"Nah, I'm going back to simplicity, I just need three or four pedals..."

Probably go automatic eventually too!

Emp_Fab

Have you thought about a Veloster Drew ?  Nice with an automatic box.....  'speshly in green....

Emp_Fab

OH MY GOD... OH MY GOD.... OH MY GOD !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'VE FOUND ONE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

LIME GREEN - VELOSTER SPORT - AUTOMATIC - AND WITHIN BUDGET !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

SouthpawMark

Emp_Fab said:

OH MY GOD... OH MY GOD.... OH MY GOD !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'VE FOUND ONE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

LIME GREEN - VELOSTER SPORT - AUTOMATIC - AND WITHIN BUDGET !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If you don’t buy it within 48 hours I think the mods should ban you for causing mental anguish to certain posters. 

JerkMoans

Emp_Fab said:

OH MY GOD... OH MY GOD.... OH MY GOD !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'VE FOUND ONE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

LIME GREEN - VELOSTER SPORT - AUTOMATIC - AND WITHIN BUDGET !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

\m/

(which of you naughty pranksters put a fake ad on Auto trader..?)

RaymondLin

He’s not going to buy that, it’s about 200miles away in London.

stickyfiddle

RaymondLin said:

He’s not going to buy that, it’s about 200miles away in London.

Half a day's round trip? I've gone further than that for bloody guitars!!

TTony

Emp_Fab said:

OH MY GOD... OH MY GOD.... OH MY GOD !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'VE FOUND ONE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

LIME GREEN - VELOSTER SPORT - AUTOMATIC - AND WITHIN BUDGET !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Bugger!

And just after you decided that a diesel Toyota Avensis estate was the car for you.

TTony

RaymondLin said:

He’s not going to buy that, it’s about 200miles away in London.

Surely one of us would drive it to Wales for him?

Just to get this thread over with ...

Emp_Fab

I'm looking at the MOT history now.....  a couple of things that may or may not be important;  No advisories on the most recent MOT (just done), but the previous on in 2018 has (among trivial items like a bulb and a nail in a tyre etc)

• Nearside Front Inner Road wheel with a slightly distorted bead rim (4.2.A.1a)
• Nearside Rear tyre stepped

and the one before that in 2017

• Nearside Rear tyre mishapen

Suspension & geometry isn't my forte, but would anyone with better knowledge than me care to advise if this looks dodgy ?
...because, of course, I'm imagining an incident where it's been slammed sideways into a kerb and the whole left side suspension is bent out of alignment.

Kilgore

Wrong colour.

 That one is Spanish lime green. Emp is after a Portuguese lime green. Very subtle difference but important.

RaymondLin

Emp_Fab said:

I'm looking at the MOT history now.....  a couple of things that may or may not be important;  No advisories on the most recent MOT (just done), but the previous on in 2018 has (among trivial items like a bulb and a nail in a tyre etc)

• Nearside Front Inner Road wheel with a slightly distorted bead rim (4.2.A.1a)
• Nearside Rear tyre stepped

and the one before that in 2017

• Nearside Rear tyre mishapen

Suspension & geometry isn't my forte, but would anyone with better knowledge than me care to advise if this looks dodgy ?
...because, of course, I'm imagining an incident where it's been slammed sideways into a kerb and the whole left side suspension is bent out of alignment.

Can't you fix that with a spanner and a OBDII reader?

  

Refurb wheel, about £75 each.
Wheel alignment when getting new tyres, which you should as those on there are ditch finders.

At most it's all fixed with new set of shoes for like £500/600.

But then you can't see this anyway….

TTony

Emp_Fab said:

I'm imagining an incident where it's been slammed sideways into a kerb and the whole left side suspension is bent out of alignment.

Surely you could imagine something better than that?

How about ... dark, quiet country lane.  Music playing softly on the radio.  Driver and their “friend” heading off for a romantic weekend.  Then, strange lights over the horizon, disappear and then immediately reappear just over the hedgerow.  Clock on the dashboard starts running backwards.  Radio scans through all the channels. They try to get out, but doors lock.  Car starts to move to the right, tyres dragging across the road.  The hedgerow vaporises and the car is pulled towards the strange lights ...

There, I’ve started, leave the rest to you.

As long as the oil was changed afterwards, it’ll probably be OK, and - on the lightning never (etc) principle - you’d be pretty safe from alien abduction when you’re driving that car.

RaymondLin

stickyfiddle said:

RaymondLin said:

He’s not going to buy that, it’s about 200miles away in London.

Half a day's round trip? I've gone further than that for bloody guitars!!

So would I, and I did as well.  Was quite a thrill to be honest driving all the way back from Yorkshire.  Had a smile all the way home.

RaymondLin

TTony said:

Emp_Fab said:

I'm imagining an incident where it's been slammed sideways into a kerb and the whole left side suspension is bent out of alignment.

Surely you could imagine something better than that?

How about ... dark, quiet country lane.  Music playing softly on the radio.  Driver and their “friend” heading off for a romantic weekend.  Then, strange lights over the horizon, disappear and then immediately reappear just over the hedgerow.  Clock on the dashboard starts running backwards.  Radio scans through all the channels. They try to get out, but doors lock.  Car starts to move to the right, tyres dragging across the road.  The hedgerow vaporises and the car is pulled towards the strange lights ...

There, I’ve started, leave the rest to you.

As long as the oil was changed afterwards, it’ll probably be OK, and - on the lightning never (etc) principle - you’d be pretty safe from alien abduction when you’re driving that car.

It probably just hit a pot hole if anything else.