Buying a car

steveledzep

I never believed that diesel was the correct solution for you.  What you looking for now then Emp.....a Veloster ?

Emp_Fab

Nah... I've kind of gone off them now.  The front is alright but the arse is just fugly.  Plus, I'm no fan of Hyundai now - unless they respond favourably to my complaint.  I don't have a clue what I'm after now.  Whatever it is, it's got to be lighter than the Japanese tank I'm in now.

steveledzep

Budget ?  I'll keep an eye open.  I know my cars and I'm quite local to you.

thumpingrug

Emp_Fab said:

Thanks @DiscoStu  

After more driving in the car, I'm slowly coming to the conclusion that it's not really what I'm after.  It'll do for the moment - and will be a godsend in looking for something else, but I can't see me getting on with it.  I've tried every combination of seat height, rake, distance, steering wheel position - and I just can't get comfy in it.  Besides that, it just feels like I'm sat in a velour low-slung buggy seat behind a huge Massey-Ferguson tractor engine.  It sounds like it too!  This 2.2L Diesel lump is not what you would call refined......  more like something borrowed from a British Rail shunter or used to keep the lights on in Bongandanga to keep the lions away at night.

Not making this up but the whistle from the turbo reminds me of the Swansea to Paddington 125 pulling out of the station !

Darn!  My estimate of 6 months was out by a massive factor.   The boy lasted 24 hours.   

The train keeps rolling..

welshboyo

Emp_Fab said:

  I don't have a clue what I'm after now.  

I think its safe to say we all worked this out on page 1...

octatonic

thumpingrug said:

Emp_Fab said:

Thanks @DiscoStu  

After more driving in the car, I'm slowly coming to the conclusion that it's not really what I'm after.  It'll do for the moment - and will be a godsend in looking for something else, but I can't see me getting on with it.  I've tried every combination of seat height, rake, distance, steering wheel position - and I just can't get comfy in it.  Besides that, it just feels like I'm sat in a velour low-slung buggy seat behind a huge Massey-Ferguson tractor engine.  It sounds like it too!  This 2.2L Diesel lump is not what you would call refined......  more like something borrowed from a British Rail shunter or used to keep the lights on in Bongandanga to keep the lions away at night.

Not making this up but the whistle from the turbo reminds me of the Swansea to Paddington 125 pulling out of the station !

Darn!  My estimate of 6 months was out by a massive factor.   The boy lasted 24 hours.   

The train keeps rolling..

"Lunatic realises old banger isn't 'Rolls Royce comfortable' shocker" 

TTony

Emp_Fab said:

I don't have a clue what I'm after now.  

Start a thread asking for suggestions?

RaymondLin

MX-5.

keep both cars. One for work, one for fun.

you still have about £2k left over after getting that MX-5.

Octafish

Emp_Fab said:

Thanks @DiscoStu  

After more driving in the car, I'm slowly coming to the conclusion that it's not really what I'm after.  It'll do for the moment - and will be a godsend in looking for something else, but I can't see me getting on with it.  I've tried every combination of seat height, rake, distance, steering wheel position - and I just can't get comfy in it.  Besides that, it just feels like I'm sat in a velour low-slung buggy seat behind a huge Massey-Ferguson tractor engine.  It sounds like it too!  This 2.2L Diesel lump is not what you would call refined......  more like something borrowed from a British Rail shunter or used to keep the lights on in Bongandanga to keep the lions away at night.

Not making this up but the whistle from the turbo reminds me of the Swansea to Paddington 125 pulling out of the station !

Here's a radical suggestion. Maybe test drive a variety of cars rather than trying to buy over the internet base on spec, country of manufacture, glove box spec? Nah forget it, what craziness I speak....

crunchman

Or just accept that you can't have any fun on the roads these days.  Just keep the Honda and spend the extra money on a Custom Shop Les Paul / Masterbuilt Custom Shop Fender, or whatever else floats your boat.

ICBM

Emp_Fab said:

I don't have a clue what I'm after now.  Whatever it is, it's got to be lighter than the Japanese tank I'm in now.

One of these? Lightweight, comfortable, fun to drive, also comes in green.

crunchman

ICBM said:

Emp_Fab said:

I don't have a clue what I'm after now.  Whatever it is, it's got to be lighter than the Japanese tank I'm in now.

One of these? Lightweight, comfortable, fun to drive, also comes in green.

And easy to fix

Bridgehouse

crunchman said:

ICBM said:

Emp_Fab said:

I don't have a clue what I'm after now.  Whatever it is, it's got to be lighter than the Japanese tank I'm in now.

One of these? Lightweight, comfortable, fun to drive, also comes in green.

And easy to fix

And you could carry a box of eggs over a welsh mountain field

EricTheWeary

Bridgehouse said:

crunchman said:

ICBM said:

Emp_Fab said:

I don't have a clue what I'm after now.  Whatever it is, it's got to be lighter than the Japanese tank I'm in now.

One of these? Lightweight, comfortable, fun to drive, also comes in green.

And easy to fix

And you could carry a box of eggs over a welsh mountain field

You see a lot of 2CV rallies across France in the summer so nice social aspect too. On HubNut ( youtube) he's just driven a 2CV to Croatia and back, I haven't watched it yet but he does seem to have completed the journey in some way. But certainly an ideal car if Emp wanted to get his bag of spanners out. I had a landlord who had a 2CV and he could service his with pretty much just the tools he used for his pushbike ( he was a very keen cyclist). 

ICBM

EricTheWeary said:

You see a lot of 2CV rallies across France in the summer so nice social aspect too. On HubNut ( youtube) he's just driven a 2CV to Croatia and back, I haven't watched it yet but he does seem to have completed the journey in some way. But certainly an ideal car if Emp wanted to get his bag of spanners out. I had a landlord who had a 2CV and he could service his with pretty much just the tools he used for his pushbike ( he was a very keen cyclist). 

I was in Croatia last week and we saw quite a few of them - both obviously restored foreign ones on holiday/rally and a couple of older local-looking ones.

I had three of them - technically one was a Dyane, but that's really just an estate-bodied version of it. They were pretty easy to maintain - although to be fair, like all old cars this goes along with *needing* to quite a lot, compared to modern cars. They also do have fairly severe limitations as daily transport, to be strictly honest - not just the lack of performance and refinement, the main reason I gave mine up was that we had kids, and they're just not big or safe enough to put proper modern child seats into.

They also use perverse spanner sizes - mostly the odd-number M threads, especially M5 and M7, with similarly odd-number socket sizes. Not a problem if you've got a full set of course... just a bit strange!

EricTheWeary

ICBM said:

EricTheWeary said:

You see a lot of 2CV rallies across France in the summer so nice social aspect too. On HubNut ( youtube) he's just driven a 2CV to Croatia and back, I haven't watched it yet but he does seem to have completed the journey in some way. But certainly an ideal car if Emp wanted to get his bag of spanners out. I had a landlord who had a 2CV and he could service his with pretty much just the tools he used for his pushbike ( he was a very keen cyclist). 

I was in Croatia last week and we saw quite a few of them - both obviously restored foreign ones on holiday/rally and a couple of older local-looking ones.

I had three of them - technically one was a Dyane, but that's really just an estate-bodied version of it. They were pretty easy to maintain - although to be fair, like all old cars this goes along with *needing* to quite a lot, compared to modern cars. They also do have fairly severe limitations as daily transport, to be strictly honest - not just the lack of performance and refinement, the main reason I gave mine up was that we had kids, and they're just not big or safe enough to put proper modern child seats into.

They also use perverse spanner sizes - mostly the odd-number M threads, especially M5 and M7, with similarly odd-number socket sizes. Not a problem if you've got a full set of course... just a bit strange!

My landlord worked from home doing software for traffic management systems from his house in the Shropshire countryside and probably only used the car once or twice per week, I have a memory of it being fairly uncomfortable but he didn't have to use it for a daily commute. My current commute includes over 20 miles of the M5 each way and that would probably be a bit scary in a 2CV. 
When I was a teenager our next door neighbour drove a Renault R5 which is sort of an overgrown toy and he would give me a lift to college sometimes. Even compared to that the 2CV seemed basic, I have a vague memory that you could unbolt any of the seats in about two minutes if you wanted extra cargo load.

ICBM

EricTheWeary said:

Even compared to that the 2CV seemed basic, I have a vague memory that you could unbolt any of the seats in about two minutes if you wanted extra cargo load.

You can get *all* of them out in two minutes - they're literally just held in by door-bolt-type catches.

Yes, the 2CV is very basic - it was designed in 1948 (arguably even earlier than that, although the pre-war prototypes are actually fairly different from the production series) and only slightly updated until the early 70s with a slightly larger engine and better brakes, then made unchanged until 1990. So although it was actually a very advanced design for 1948, it's really very primitive now.

If you're used to the sort of crash protection you get in a modern car, they're terrifyingly unsafe - they're so narrow that your shoulder touches the door at all times, and all that's between you and the outside world is a single hollow pressing made of steel not much thicker than a beer can. Motorcyle protection levels, basically.

My last modern car (Renault Grand Scenic, 5-star NCAP rating) was written off when someone drove into the side of it, and my daughter was sitting on the side that was hit - she was completely unhurt, and there wasn't even any intrusion into the cabin. If we'd been in my old 2CV I'm certain she would have been injured, possibly seriously.

I do still love them, but I wouldn't want one as a daily transport any more.

TTony

crunchman said:

  Just keep the Honda and spend the extra money on a Custom Shop Les Paul / Masterbuilt Custom Shop Fender, or whatever else floats your boat.

Please, don't mention the boat.

As far as I know, it's still buried , stern deep, in the estuary mud.

(That was another of Emp's epic threads.)

Danny1969

The 2CV is the strangest car I've ever driven but probably the most fun. Couldn't get on with the gear change, it's basically a bent piece of metal yanking on another bit of metal  ...there's an art to it that I don't pocess

Emp have you though about hiring a car to see what it's like first ? in Portsmouth you can hire a car for 3 days for about £80 

Might be easier to hire one to see what it's like comfort wise before you buy one 

RaymondLin

Car hire is an idea but unfortunately, I don’t think the kind of cars he is looking to buy will be available for hire.  As in that he is looking at the bottom end of the market, meaning they are all older, last generation or 2 generations behind.  Car rentals almost always have the current models for hire, unless you are talking about classic cars.