Buying a car

m_c

Stevepage said:

Do not touch a Vauxhall Insignia. I've never heard good things about them

I wouldn't go as far as saying do not touch them, as they're not really bad cars, they're just kind of dull.
I've never seen any major problems with them that weren't driver induced, but they're verging towards the whole Homer Simpson design thing. You can however get some brilliant spec ones for not much money used, and if I wanted a big mile muncher with reasonable comfort and features for not much money, I would certainly consider one.

digitalscream

m_c said:

TTony said:

IIRC the X or S type was based extensively on a Mondeo (being designed during Ford's ownership of Jaguar), so many parts should be available quite cheaply.

Definitely a lot of car for the money.

Possibly a bit too refined and classy for Emp though?

X type was essentially a Mondeo with a different body and the option of 4 wheel drive.
I'd treat any like I'd treat a 12 year old Mondeo. I'd be looking very carefully for rust, as Ford were still using woeful rust coatings at that time.

I'd personally be more interested in the couple of XK8s that popped up in that search, but I fear that - at 16.4mpg for urban driving - they may fail the "economical" requirement

TTony

digitalscream said:

m_c said:

TTony said:

IIRC the X or S type was based extensively on a Mondeo (being designed during Ford's ownership of Jaguar), so many parts should be available quite cheaply.

Definitely a lot of car for the money.

Possibly a bit too refined and classy for Emp though?

X type was essentially a Mondeo with a different body and the option of 4 wheel drive.
I'd treat any like I'd treat a 12 year old Mondeo. I'd be looking very carefully for rust, as Ford were still using woeful rust coatings at that time.

I'd personally be more interested in the couple of XK8s that popped up in that search, but I fear that - at 16.4mpg for urban driving - they may fail the "economical" requirement

That's a car that, if you buy cheap, it'll cost you plenty.  And I don't mean the fuel consumption.

I keep looking at Bentley GTs at <£25k.  But the same rule applies.  If you can't afford a decent one, you certainly can't afford a cheap one.

Bridgehouse

Saw this yesterday @Emp_Fab and thought of you... maybe an option?

crunchman

Who's organising the sweep stake on how long it will take this time?

thumpingrug

crunchman said:

Who's organising the sweep stake on how long it will take this time?

Its going into next year.  

TTony

thumpingrug said:

crunchman said:

Who's organising the sweep stake on how long it will take this time?

Its going into next year.  

And we’ll still be saying that in January ...

ronnyb

TTony said:

thumpingrug said:

crunchman said:

Who's organising the sweep stake on how long it will take this time?

Its going into next year.  

And we’ll still be saying that in January ...

Which January?

digitalscream

ronnyb said:

TTony said:

thumpingrug said:

crunchman said:

Who's organising the sweep stake on how long it will take this time?

Its going into next year.  

And we’ll still be saying that in January ...

Which January?

Pick one. That's the sweepstake.

Bridgehouse

I’m going all out for the sweepstake. 

Volvo V50

EricTheWeary

Cars mentioned on page one that weren’t the Civic:

VW Passatt
Toyota Auris
Skoda Octavia
Renault Wind ( sportified Twingo )
Ford Focus 
Mazda MX5 
And everything Kia and Suzuki and Mitsubishi.

So one of them. 

thumpingrug

He should really look at a DS3

Emp_Fab

digitalscream said:

ronnyb said:

TTony said:

thumpingrug said:

crunchman said:

Who's organising the sweep stake on how long it will take this time?

Its going into next year.  

And we’ll still be saying that in January ...

Which January?

Pick one. That's the sweepstake.

Now that's worth a Golden Lol  

Emp_Fab

EricTheWeary said:

Cars mentioned on page one that weren’t the Civic:

VW Passatt
Toyota Auris
Skoda Octavia
Renault Wind ( sportified Twingo )
Ford Focus 
Mazda MX5 
And everything Kia and Suzuki and Mitsubishi.

So one of them. 

Yeah, but they were suggested under different criteria.  Now I'm looking for something comfortable and and economic.

I want to feel like I am riding on a bed of air whilst using a teaspoon of petrol per 100 miles.



Stop it. No a hovercraft won't fit the bill.

octatonic

Get a Volvo diesel.

EricTheWeary

Emp_Fab said:

EricTheWeary said:

Cars mentioned on page one that weren’t the Civic:

VW Passatt
Toyota Auris
Skoda Octavia
Renault Wind ( sportified Twingo )
Ford Focus 
Mazda MX5 
And everything Kia and Suzuki and Mitsubishi.

So one of them. 

Yeah, but they were suggested under different criteria.  Now I'm looking for something comfortable and and economic.

I want to feel like I am riding on a bed of air whilst using a teaspoon of petrol per 100 miles.



Stop it. No a hovercraft won't fit the bill.

1.6 idtech diesel Honda CRV.

My sister has a terrible back and chose a CRV. The 1.6 diesel is a lot more refined and economical than the one in your Civic, should return nearly as good MPG in the CRV as in a Civic. 

The Skoda Yeti, the diesel wasn't terrible MPG and much loved of people with bad backs. The popularity of them for the motability scheme ( comfy ride, you can fit a wheelchair in the back) meant a lot of low mileage three year old vehicles hit the market, those will be five or six year old vehicles now. 

This isn't sexy. 

The upright van driver like experience is a change from cars like the Civic or your old Beemer but really it's the more comfortable way to drive distance. 

gubble

You go away for a few days, come back and find this thread has been resurrected !

Guys things like this are what makes this forum great - the thread that keeps on giving.

Anyone suggested a C-Class again yet?

strtdv

If you want comfortable reliable transport, you could always pay someone to hug you on the train

welshboyo

EricTheWeary said:

Emp_Fab said:

EricTheWeary said:

Cars mentioned on page one that weren’t the Civic:

VW Passatt
Toyota Auris
Skoda Octavia
Renault Wind ( sportified Twingo )
Ford Focus 
Mazda MX5 
And everything Kia and Suzuki and Mitsubishi.

So one of them. 

Yeah, but they were suggested under different criteria.  Now I'm looking for something comfortable and and economic.

I want to feel like I am riding on a bed of air whilst using a teaspoon of petrol per 100 miles.



Stop it. No a hovercraft won't fit the bill.

1.6 idtech diesel Honda CRV.

My sister has a terrible back and chose a CRV. The 1.6 diesel is a lot more refined and economical than the one in your Civic, should return nearly as good MPG in the CRV as in a Civic. 

We had a CRV for a while - terribly built car - horrible, horrible thing compared to the Civic's we had before it - pushed it back to dealer within 12 months (not literally!!) as it was so shit.

Could just be the one we had, but it was a real Friday Afternoon car, full of creaks/squeaks - it was a low miler ex-demo when we had it.

The 1.6 in the CRV was a lot thirstier than the 1.6 Civic we had before it and we just put that down to the bigger body size of the CRV.

Personally, I would avoid.

Snap

Eric - how many miles a year do you do?