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Car advice (Read 109166 times)

Fultonius

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#425 Re: Car advice
July 21, 2017, 07:56:42 pm
I need some suggestions!

The Renault Zoe/Future Tesla plans are on hold due to lack of suitable charging points.

I have around £9k to spend and want:

Estate (to fit the bike in)
45+MPG
0.-60 <7 seconds  8)
Comfy motorway cruiser (arm rest, bluetooth, good seats, cruise control)
Good fun to drive

I'm not too fussed about residuals as I'll be getting 52p/mile to drive, and probably driving it into the ground. I could go cheap & efficient (i.e £3k, 50mpg+) but I will be spending 10hrs a week in it, so I want to enjoy those 10 hours!

Just test drove this:

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201707107247146?atmobcid=soc3

Which is very nice but priced a bit high I think.  Very much NOT a renault zoe  :-[

Fultonius

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#426 Re: Car advice
July 21, 2017, 08:30:41 pm
P.S. Work currently involves driving up and down about half a mile of pot-holed gravel "site access" road. Clearly 18" wheels and low-profile tyres are not ideal...but....but....M sport!

Mike Tyson

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Mike Tyson

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#429 Re: Car advice
July 21, 2017, 08:43:02 pm
I love car shopping!

Fultonius

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#430 Re: Car advice
July 21, 2017, 08:59:53 pm
Good stuff, keep 'em coming! (preferably <100 miles from Glasgow, but I can travel a bit further if it's really good)


tomtom

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#432 Re: Car advice
July 21, 2017, 09:51:21 pm
None of those links work for my btw...

Fultonius

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#433 Re: Car advice
July 21, 2017, 10:24:17 pm
Weirdly Autotrader links don't seem to work on mobiles, I noticed the same; works fine on the PC though.

Mike Tyson

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#434 Re: Car advice
July 21, 2017, 10:48:35 pm
Sadly your choices seem limited to BMW, Audi, Merc, Skoda so basically zee Germans. They do know how to do the type of car you're looking for very well though. Not much from the Far East either.

Fultonius

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#435 Re: Car advice
July 21, 2017, 10:52:34 pm
I still have reservations about huge wheels, low suspension and daily gravel road driving...

Wondering about something like an A4 Avant Allroad, 2.0tdi chip tuned to 220 bhp... 

Edited to say: shame the MPG is more like 35 than 45...

Mike Tyson

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#436 Re: Car advice
July 21, 2017, 11:02:43 pm
The tax is silly on some too. Just looked at an A6 that fits the bill, but it's £520 per year! Crazy.

Mike Tyson

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#437 Re: Car advice
July 21, 2017, 11:27:40 pm
This fits the bill I think, and isn't too far (I think!)

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201705215685061?atmobcid=soc3

Duma

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#438 Re: Car advice
July 22, 2017, 09:47:39 am
I've got a A3 estate s-line quattro and def wouldn't want to take it up and down a potholed lane, it goes round corners nicely but isn't that comfy compared to my old passat tbh.

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Paul B

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#439 Re: Car advice
July 22, 2017, 01:02:56 pm
My Octavia vRS isn't doing too badly making two site visits a week up site access tracks to reservoirs (potholed an patched with 150mm stone). The tyres on it seem far more sensible than I had on the 3-series (M-sport touring) but then again I took that to the same sites.

tomtom

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#440 Re: Car advice
July 22, 2017, 01:54:35 pm
XC70 D5 awd. Bit of a tank but fast comfy and toughened.

TBH - from your list it's going to be German, diesel or a Volvo.

Or... Saab 93 Estate. There's a couple of v6 awd rocket ships out there.. bad fuel economy, but fit an lpg kit??

tomtom

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#441 Re: Car advice
July 22, 2017, 02:02:54 pm
Quite a few 12-14 reg Fabia VRS estates about... petrol - decent sized boot, Dsg box, 0-60 in 7.0

Fultonius

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#442 Re: Car advice
July 22, 2017, 03:56:50 pm
My Octavia vRS isn't doing too badly making two site visits a week up site access tracks to reservoirs (potholed an patched with 150mm stone). The tyres on it seem far more sensible than I had on the 3-series (M-sport touring) but then again I took that to the same sites.

Are you generally preferring the VRS?  What BMW did you have gain, you had loads of problems didn't you?

Paul B

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#443 Re: Car advice
July 22, 2017, 04:29:18 pm
I had loads of problems but to be fair to the car, many of them were self inflicted by buying a (relatively high spec) car at 140k miles ('04 320d touring with a stupidly long list of optional extras). For instance, I should've noticed that it was running cool when I bought it. I had to fit a new DMF/clutch (fairly unsurprising given the mileage), replace the thermostat (should've spotted this really) and replace the wiring loom (I'll let myself off on that one). Beyond that I had an awful lot of tyre issues that may or may not have been related to the alloys being quite old/knackered (combined with Sheffield roads). I traded it in for the Octavia at 198,950 miles (and looking on the DVLA website it's still going).

I really like my Octavia (11 plate, ~100k miles). The boot is massive (I can easily fit loads of climbing gear and our quite large dog in the boot leaving plenty of space. Likewise, with the seats flat I can fit my bike in without issues. It'll come to the south of France in Dec with bike, dog and climbing gear and I can't see space being an issue. Undoubtedly the ride is less harsh and the massive lump of torque makes it a pretty 'lazy' drive. However, it's simply not as good to drive or as involved as the 3-series. I drove the 3 around Lancashire when house hunting in snow/ice and never found it impossibly bad but driving back from Kendal on one particularly wet day was terrifying (we passed an almost identical 3-series touring that had spun off into the central reservation). On long drives the 3-series was a nicer place to be with far less road noise and just a better level of finish all-round. I'd have bought another one but the boot profile slopes inwards both towards the back of the car and also from the roof which I thought compromised the space a bit too much (for the dog). I was probably wrong with this but the Octavia was far better value.

Fultonius

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#444 Re: Car advice
July 22, 2017, 05:02:25 pm
I had loads of problems but to be fair to the car, many of them were self inflicted by buying a (relatively high spec) car at 140k miles ('04 320d touring with a stupidly long list of optional extras). For instance, I should've noticed that it was running cool when I bought it. I had to fit a new DMF/clutch (fairly unsurprising given the mileage), replace the thermostat (should've spotted this really) and replace the wiring loom (I'll let myself off on that one). Beyond that I had an awful lot of tyre issues that may or may not have been related to the alloys being quite old/knackered (combined with Sheffield roads). I traded it in for the Octavia at 198,950 miles (and looking on the DVLA website it's still going).

I really like my Octavia (11 plate, ~100k miles). The boot is massive (I can easily fit loads of climbing gear and our quite large dog in the boot leaving plenty of space. Likewise, with the seats flat I can fit my bike in without issues. It'll come to the south of France in Dec with bike, dog and climbing gear and I can't see space being an issue. Undoubtedly the ride is less harsh and the massive lump of torque makes it a pretty 'lazy' drive. However, it's simply not as good to drive or as involved as the 3-series. I drove the 3 around Lancashire when house hunting in snow/ice and never found it impossibly bad but driving back from Kendal on one particularly wet day was terrifying (we passed an almost identical 3-series touring that had spun off into the central reservation). On long drives the 3-series was a nicer place to be with far less road noise and just a better level of finish all-round. I'd have bought another one but the boot profile slopes inwards both towards the back of the car and also from the roof which I thought compromised the space a bit too much (for the dog). I was probably wrong with this but the Octavia was far better value.

What MPG do you get out the VRS. Cheap one here: http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201705014987058?postcode=g115hh&model=OCTAVIA&body-type=Estate&radius=100&make=SKODA&advertising-location=at_cars&sort=sponsored&aggregatedTrim=vRS&onesearchad=Used&onesearchad=Nearly%20New&onesearchad=New&page=1  Audi A4 Allroad would be good for the rough tracks, but only really gets around 39MPG which, with the added cost price will be a lot more expensive over 3 yrs (my ballpark time period).

tomtom

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#445 Re: Car advice
July 22, 2017, 05:23:51 pm
There's a toughened up Octavia isn't there? Scout or something. And a 4x4...

Fultonius

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#446 Re: Car advice
July 22, 2017, 05:53:21 pm
Yeah, just been looking at those. Seem to be a few around the £4-£6k mark. Bit dull but I'll make a lot more out of my 52p/mile (by my calcs, I'll make £4.5k owning it over 3 years, doing around 9k miles per year) Cha ching!

Much better MPG than the similar audis. Bit slow, but could probably get it tuned to around 188 BHP which is still a long way off the BMWs 245 bhp but I do think I'll wreck a low-profile 18" wheeled sports suspension car...

There's no real compromise. Basically I want a diesel powered WRC rally estate car, with cruise control.  8)

Paul B

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#447 Re: Car advice
July 22, 2017, 06:01:44 pm
MPG varies depending on how much Nat drives it and whether we're driving to and from the Depot (motorway) vs. Kilnsey (country roads, maximising evening potential). I'd struggle to drop it below 45mpg. When you start considering tyres, servicing, tax and depreciation 45p a mile won't return a profit!
Remember the 11 plate is only 175 (approx) bhp. I'm not sure it'd handle much more. My folks have the 190 bhp Golf all track which is nice but doesn't feel noticeably faster.

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#448 Re: Car advice
July 27, 2017, 08:37:34 am
After some advice with what to do with my old shed now I've just bought a new one. It's dented, scraped, 13 years old, 160,000 miles, knackered suspension, knackered brakes, passenger window doesn't open, and as of yesterday, the spare tyre is on. It's worth about £800 in good condition apparently, which it's not.

On a completely unrelated note, does anyone want to buy a vintage/retro Skoda Fabia estate as a restoration project?

tomtom

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#449 Re: Car advice
July 27, 2017, 08:47:09 am
As you're a mate sling me 20 fa's and I'll take it off your hands...

 

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