Car Thread II

[Robbo-92]

I’m hoping my aging Civic lasts me till used car prices have come down a bit, was looking when I was bored at work this morning at smaller cars as one of the belts decided to go on my brothers car last night (luckily not the timing belt). There was a 2016 VW Up! for £10 k a 6-6 & 1/2 year old city car that probably cost about £14-£15k when new is still around £10k.

Even Fiestas (of which there is naturally loads) you’re looking at a fair price unless you go for something that’s been in a crash or has 125k miles on the clock for cars in the 2015-16 age range, I find I’m continuously kicking myself for not biting the bullet and getting something newer pre Covid, even an ST3 Fiesta was a reasonable price back then, granted it’d have probably been nicked by now but still

This was the Up! In question, https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-detail ... 2012169402

[OnlyShallow]

I don't really see the point in getting a replacement car, either new or second hand. I've still got my 07 Audi A4 Avant, with over 120K on the clock, I can fit a fridge freezer in the boot, beat most cars in a straight line (not tried this with the fridge freezer in the boot), it will happily drive across Europe for 2 weeks in the summer with a boot full of camping and kayaking gear.
No finance, only costs are £317 to insure, fuel, Mot and servicing.

Only issues are the rear wiper and the parking sensors stopped working.

Seriously fantastic car.

[Robbo-92]

Civic let me down on the way home from work this afternoon, seems like a pipe relating to the clutch went pop as the clutch just went to the floor and refused to come back up, could luckily pull into a side road and just stall it in 5th got to experience being towed though, which is a very weird experience if I’m honest! Hope it’s not an expensive fix, I don’t think the part will be but the engine bays are tightly packed on the 1.8 Civics (imagine the 2.2 Diesel is worse) I can see the labour being the expensive aspect, as it nearly always is.

[Peter Crisp]

[rinks]

And under £30k! (If you build it yourself.)

[Darkstalker90]

My wheels: 2007 530i so a 3.0 6cyl petrol - no turbos just naturally aspirated brute force.





Almost had it for 2 years now. Previous to this I had an FN2 Civic Type-R for a good 5-6 years. Before that was a 1.8l FN2, a Mondeo ST, and a Fiesta.

Really love it to bits to be honest. Hated the Chris Bangle exterior of these 5-series' when they first released but I had been completely the opposite for some years before finally buying mine. I feel that the styling has aged very well and still looks quite fresh, especially with the M-Sport bumpers, sills, wheels etc. BMW design was daring (and - some may say - shocking) during the mid-2000s and so it's disappointing to see that the 5 Series' that followed the E60 were all "safe" conservative shapes with minimal evolution. Compare the E60 to the E39 from the 90's/early 2000s and it was a total new car.

MPG is terrible being a 3.0 (averaging around 23mpg for a while now) but I knew that going into the purchase so I can't complain. Most panels and metal parts of the body are aluminium for weight-saving so rust isn't a worry either. Goes like stink in sport mode too.

Costs can be up and down but it isn't a money pit like some people like to claim. You just need to buy used BMWs that have had proper servicing done to them. This car has the N52 engine which is rock-solid and will give little issues as long as you do the basics such as regular oil changes. It also has a very linear power band so it just goes and goes wherever you are in the rev range.

Tyres (especially rears) are big money but other bits aren't bad at all. Replaced both rear brake discs with Brembos and the pads with ATE ceramic-coated pads the other week for little over £100 doing it myself, for example.

I've also (since owning it) replaced both headlamps (one was leaking, the other had age-related perishing), upgraded the bulbs, fitted a new radiator, changed the air filters, refreshed the wiper linkage system, had the wheels refurbed, and changed all of the tyres so that I have Continentals all-round. Sounds like a lot but it is a 16 year-old car now, so these things have to be expected. I want to keep it in good condition and own it for as long as possible regardless of whether I eventually spend more than it is worth.

Wheel refurb aside, the only things I have had to pay to get done was to fix a leak from the oil filter housing gaskets and to replace a damaged rear control arm.

Anyway, apologies for the big geek-out. I just love cars.

Previous cars:

Honda Civic Type-R (loved it but eventually got fed up with the rock-hard ride and creeping corrosion underneath)


Mondeo ST-TDCi (was intended to be a keeper but the turbo blew, and the "smart charge" system committed suicide, meaning the battery would sometimes charge, sometimes not.)

[False]

welcome to the thread bud, tidy car

[Robbo-92]

That Mondeo ST

Are the 8th gen Civics known for rust on the underside? Dread to think of the state of mine underneath Reckon mine is going to need another wheel bearing doing in the near future.

[jiggles]

I got myself a pressure washer with a snow foam kit and washed my car with it at the weekend and, despite the amateur level finish of my first attempt with it, I feel like I’ve entered a cheat code in terms of keeping the thing looking great.

[Robbo-92]

Embrace the dirt I call it free paint protection.

[Darkstalker90]

That Mondeo ST

Are the 8th gen Civics known for rust on the underside? Dread to think of the state of mine underneath Reckon mine is going to need another wheel bearing doing in the near future.

Mine had a lot of surface corrosion all over the bottom. Also, one corner of the exhaust heatshield had rotted away so that it banged up and down at speed until I bodged it with an oversized bolt. I just don't think they were very well undersealed from the factory. Mine was just about 10 years old when I traded it in for the BMW (on a 61 plate - very last of the FN2 shape) so it wasn't properly ancient or anything. I was only the second owner and it hadn't even done 70k so it was a relatively clean car.

You think "Oh, it's a fairly modern car so it MUST have proper rust protection" but no. Then, I remember that FN2 Type-Rs were low £20,000 cars new at the time - not the £40,000 ones that we have now, so a lack of premium build quality didn't actually surprise me.

Mine didn't have this, but there was also a factory recall for roof rust along where the top of the windscreen meets the roof so the corrosion underneath didn't entirely shock me.

[Robbo-92]

That Mondeo ST

Are the 8th gen Civics known for rust on the underside? Dread to think of the state of mine underneath Reckon mine is going to need another wheel bearing doing in the near future.

Mine had a lot of surface corrosion all over the bottom. Also, one corner of the exhaust heatshield had rotted away so that it banged up and down at speed until I bodged it with an oversized bolt. I just don't think they were very well undersealed from the factory. Mine was just about 10 years old when I traded it in for the BMW (on a 61 plate - very last of the FN2 shape) so it wasn't properly ancient or anything. I was only the second owner and it hadn't even done 70k so it was a relatively clean car.

You think "Oh, it's a fairly modern car so it MUST have proper rust protection" but no. Then, I remember that FN2 Type-Rs were low £20,000 cars new at the time - not the £40,000 ones that we have now, so a lack of premium build quality didn't actually surprise me.

Mine didn't have this, but there was also a factory recall for roof rust along where the top of the windscreen meets the roof so the corrosion underneath didn't entirely shock me.

Some of my heat shield is sat in the boot so that probably tells you what happened to that when I got mine back in 2014 (it’s a 57 plate) I checked for recalls but it had none outstanding, it has developed the rust where the roof and windscreen meet in the driver corner though, externally it’s not advanced past a little bit. It’s generally a solid and dependable car (until very recently when a bolt snapping caused the clutch pedal to go to the floor), but at the same time I’m aware that something will be a big failure on a MOT one day (probably the underside, as the garage I take it to did say it was showing signs of aging a short while back) so hesitant to put any money to fixing the small issues, it’s not anything special (just the 1.8 ‘Sport’ model) but it gets the job done. Reckon the engine will be the last thing to go on it to be fair.

[Lagamorph]

Lord help me but I find myself looking at the Renault Arkana and thinking "That looks quite nice actually"

[Darkstalker90]

Lord help me but I find myself looking at the Renault Arkana and thinking "That looks quite nice actually"

I didn't even know what that was until I looked it up. Looks like it was inspired by the BMW X4 or X6 in terms of shape.

I'm not really a fan of any SUVs really - I hate them, their blobby/non-artistic design, and the way they killed off traditional cars i.e. saloons, estates etc. But that's just me. We're all different!

I will say though, if it counts as an SUV, I do quite like the look of the Kia EV6 in GT trim. I'm also apathetic towards electric cars too so that one's a double surprise for me.

[Lagamorph]

Lord help me but I find myself looking at the Renault Arkana and thinking "That looks quite nice actually"

I didn't even know what that was until I looked it up. Looks like it was inspired by the BMW X4 or X6 in terms of shape.

I'm not really a fan of any SUVs really - I hate them, their blobby/non-artistic design, and the way they killed off traditional cars i.e. saloons, estates etc. But that's just me. We're all different!

I will say though, if it counts as an SUV, I do quite like the look of the Kia EV6 in GT trim. I'm also apathetic towards electric cars too so that one's a double surprise for me.

Electric cars are very much up in the air for if they'll work for me. At the moment I'm working from home, but that's only because our office flooded just before Christmas. Once things are sorted out we'll be forced to go in twice per week, which is a 150 mile round trip, so outside the range of a lot of electric cars still unless you pay a significant premium.

Annoyingly I see a lot of manufacturers going the route of Plug-In hybrid rather than full hybrid, which for me would be pretty much the worst possible option. At best a plug-in hybrid will get 20-50 miles on the electric motor before becoming a normal petrol car. Except it's also lugging the weight of a huge battery and an electric motor that are now doing sweet FA until you plug it in to charge, so fuel efficiency is suddenly lower than even a standard petrol, let alone hybrid.

Up to now I've had diesel, but the price gap between Unleaded and Diesel has become so great that any extra mpg from diesel is wiped out by paying 20p/litre more plus another £2-3k up front for the diesel engine.

[Red]

Both me and my husband have been convinced for weeks that there's something wrong with the rear suspension on the car, to the point that we took it to the garage today. They checked it all over, took it for a test drive, can't find anything I guess £36 for peace of mind is reasonable though. It must be one of those things where you think you notice something then in your mind it grows and you start to imagine every slight roll or pull or bump is an issue, and then you egg each other's paranoia on as well.

[Victor Mildew]

Might be bearings, or maybe the tyres are tracking in worn parts of the road and moving the car around, making you think the car is doing it

[Red]

Yeah - I guess we'll just keep an eye on it for now, see how it goes. We've really run it ragged this last month moving all our crap to the new house.

[False]

i was convinced on my last car that i could hear a knocking from the left suspension but i could never find anything - weirdly it started as i was looking at other cars so it must have been mental

current car i think the front discs are warped slightly but you only feel the faintest vibe on very heavy braking, still hasnt stopped me the last few weeks driving with the radio off and fingertips on the wheel trying to feel anything out of the ordinary

[BOR]

Generally, what's the opinion of the Mercedes cars?