The Car thread - The Bear and Badger

isanbard

Driving a Disco is a bit like driving a sodding arctic mind. I've just seen one be driven right into the front bumper of a BMW X6 bus in the gym car park this week as the Captain of the Disco barge seemed to treat it like a VW Golf and just turned straight across when they came out the space.

If I was to get one I'd make sure it had just about every beepy 360 degree camera and warning doodab specced in just to be sure of not crippling the insurance in the first month or so.

Stopharage

Hmmm, thanks for the advice chaps. Just having a look at them now and they seem to fit the brief despite me never even considering them an option. Not sure that my wife will be too keen but we'll see. I just can't bring myself to spend £20k on some dullfest family monstrosity.

Syph79

While we're doing this, I have around £15-20k to spend on a car for work. I reckon I'll be doing 10-15k miles a year. I fancy an auto, saloon style car.
Was looking at a hybrid, like a Lexus IS, but this is an area of the market I know nothing about. What would you go for?

Jaco

The Disco 4 is a brilliant all round family car. Good engines, practical, will literally go anywhere, tough as old boots and easy to drive too (visibility is superb). I drove one a few years back and was very impressed (despite SUVs really not being my thing).

Get yourself a test drive.

Jaco

Syph79 wrote:

While we're doing this, I have around £15-20k to spend on a car for work. I reckon I'll be doing 10-15k miles a year. I fancy an auto, saloon style car. Was looking at a hybrid, like a Lexus IS, but this is an area of the market I know nothing about. What would you go for?

German, all day every day. But it depends what you're looking for – pace, style, economy, tech, handling, comfort?

Also, I'm assuming we're talking 2nd hand here?

Syph79

Absolutely. Can't and won't do new.

I'm looking for something that's economical, as I get paid by the mile - so I want that to go as far as I can. But style, tech and comfort are a plus too. Pace isn't the be all for me.

Jaco

Difficult to look past a VW Passat CC. Get the TDI and you'll have enough pace, comfort and tech for that budget.

Personally, I'd go petrol though. If it's mostly moterway miles, there won't be too much difference on 10-15K a year, and it's less likely to get a hammering by the tax man in the foreseeable future.

Alternatives would be the (boring) old faves: Merc C-Class, Audi A4 or BMW 3. Would probably be worth looking at the Skoda Octavia VRS and Superb too.

If you wanted to go a bit left field and you're not a badge snob, you could always look at a 3/4-year-old (ish) Ford Mondeo Titanium X. Or a Seat Exeo (that's just a previous-gen Audi A4 with Seat badges). You'll save a heap of money and they're excellent motors.

EDIT: Really left field and saving you a heap of cash. Mainly because I personally really like them.

Syph79

Ta. That's really helpful. I saw a newish Mondeo on the motorway the other day and I had to look again to see what it was, because it didn't look like I thought a Mondeo would at all. I'm not a badge snob and I'm not concerned about being boring either. I was planning petrol. Can't risk a diesel.

poprock

Bloody hell, batteries for start-stop cars are expensive eh?

Stopharage

Are they? The one in my 1 Series was only about £50 if I recall correctly.

regmcfly

My car is going in for MOT, dropped it off tonight. It's 10 years old, a 2008 Astra, automatic (fuck ye) and has 58000 miles on it. My brother in law who knows well more about cars than me has told me it should last me 5 years more. What's any other opinion?

poprock

Stopharage wrote:

Are they? The one in my 1 Series was only about £50 if I recall correctly.

The ones I need are coming in around a hundred quid more than regular batteries the same fitment. Roughly £280 … (Euro Car Parts’ current sale discounts ’em down by 45% though, so it’s alright).

Roujin

Yeah 58k on the clock is nothing boiiiii. Just keep getting it mot'd get it serviced once a year assuming you aren't doing many miles and you'll be grand.

Couple of belts and stuff usually come up for replacement between 60-75k so check the manual for that but you should be all good mate.

poprock

To be honest Reg, living where you do the most likely thing to kill off your car is rust. All that moist sea air, y’know? Your annual MOT will alert you to any structural areas starting to fall prey to decay, and give you plenty of warning (months, even a year) to decide whether to fix or scrap when it inevitably happens.

Jaco

What pop and Rouj said. Basically, Reg, it all comes down to maintenance and mechanical sympathy. If you look after pretty much any car correctly, service it properly etc., then you should get well over 200k out of it.

Syph79

Jaco wrote:

Difficult to look past a VW Passat CC. Get the TDI and you'll have enough pace, comfort and tech for that budget.

Personally, I'd go petrol though. If it's mostly moterway miles, there won't be too much difference on 10-15K a year, and it's less likely to get a hammering by the tax man in the foreseeable future.

Alternatives would be the (boring) old faves: Merc C-Class, Audi A4 or BMW 3. Would probably be worth looking at the Skoda Octavia VRS and Superb too.

If you wanted to go a bit left field and you're not a badge snob, you could always look at a 3/4-year-old (ish) Ford Mondeo Titanium X. Or a Seat Exeo (that's just a previous-gen Audi A4 with Seat badges). You'll save a heap of money and they're excellent motors.

EDIT: Really left field and saving you a heap of cash. Mainly because I personally really like them.

Number plate on that link isn't quite Syph, but it's very close

Jaco

Ha! Only just noticed that!

Clearly you're destined to have a cool old Saab...

regmcfly

Car gone in for MOT and have been advised it will likely fail for a number of things. Costs bandied about in the hundreds. It's at Peter Vardy Vauxhall solely because I have a service plan there. If it does, what are my options? Can I say to them I'll take it elsewhere?

poprock

You can take it anywhere you like, but if you take it elsewhere you should probably still return it to Vardy for the retest because retesting is free.

If you’ve still got a few days before the MOT renewal is due, you can still drive it around. If not (ie. the renewal date was today or has passed) then you can only drive it to and from MOT test centres. So in that case, you’d need to have the retest done at your alternative garage. Or trailer it about, which is daft.

Lord_Griff

Stopharage wrote:

Hmmm, thanks for the advice chaps. Just having a look at them now and they seem to fit the brief despite me never even considering them an option. Not sure that my wife will be too keen but we'll see. I just can't bring myself to spend £20k on some dullfest family monstrosity.

Discovery sport 7 seater. Job done.

regmcfly

poprock wrote:

You can take it anywhere you like, but if you take it elsewhere you should probably still return it to Vardy for the retest because retesting is free.

If you’ve still got a few days before the MOT renewal is due, you can still drive it around. If not (ie. the renewal date was today or has passed) then you can only drive it to and from MOT test centres. So in that case, you’d need to have the retest done at your alternative garage. Or trailer it about, which is daft.

Mot goes over on Thursday. Thanks for the advice. Further to my absolute lack of knowledge in any car related matter ever.

poprock

I bloody hate Vardy, by the way. They’re the ones who fucked me over on the wife’s car’s warranty. Fobbed us off with off-brand replacement parts when doing repairs, which affects the ongoing value of the car.

regmcfly

Car is paid off in December, shan't go back

poprock

If it helps, my colleague here used to work for them as an in-house designer and he says Peter Vardy himself has always been a dick.

Jaco

I’m sat waiting for my car to be serviced at my local main dealership and, for some reason, the massive main doors are wide open and have been all morning. On the coldest day of the year. In northern Cumbria. I mean, geez guys, brass monkeys would be asking for a blanket. It’s like a meat fridge in here.

Jaco

Peugeot in "decent looking bog car" shocker.

Having said that, is it just me, or is the front end over-fussy? I hate the '508' badge on the bonnet and the spangly grill. Other than that, it's a solid piece of design in and out.

Except for THAT steering wheel of course. What is it with modern Pugs and tiny, but massively-thick and fussily designed steering wheels?

So close, Peugeot. So. Very. Close.

poprock

It somehow looks like it has an overbite.

Jaco

I think it's those vertical strakes coming down from the lights.

It's so, so close to being a really good-looking motor...

Eric

Looks like they have ripped off the Cameron front end to me.

Edit: Camero even!

Roujin

Would rather Citroen just started making the C6 again tbh.

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