Damage limitation on a snotter

Damage limitation on a snotter

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Discussion

Farmer Geddon

212 posts

105 months

Wednesday 25th May 2016
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CX53 said:
RedAndy said:
Primera. same qualities as the K111 micra, but in a car that's actually big enough to get in. Similar to Mondeo in handling/drive, but has a nicer ride I think.

I'm talking about the P11 or facelift 144. AVOID the cheese wedge later cars. too much Renault in them and the reliability average suffered.

Avoid diesel as they arent much more economical than petrols. 1.8 is the engine of choice. almost as economical as the 1.6, almost as powerful as the 2.0.

accept some rust on panels and pay no more than £400. Want a beautiful one? double the price.
Not a bad shout, popular taxis of the time.

This one looks great for the money, could probably knock 50 quid off https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/172179306245
As mentioned a few times now, these are brilliant. Can't get much better for sub 500 notes!! Will be a lot more comfortable than a smaller car too, and less emasculating if you care what people think!

KaraK

13,177 posts

208 months

Wednesday 25th May 2016
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stedale said:
Bill said:
KaraK said:
Did a fair few miles in a 2006 2.0 petrol one a few years back (it was a work pool car), and it was..okay. Not great but okay.

Pros:

  • Huge boot, it's like a freaking TARDIS in there!
  • Decent ride.
  • Impessively easy to drive around town for it's size.
  • Sounded suprisingly fruity for a 2 litre four-pot
Cons:

  • Awful, awful seats - obviously different people may find them more comfortable depending on their size/shape but for me they were properly painful. After 2 hours driving in it I could barely stand.
  • N/S Rear brake calipers seized multiple times - either the Mazda dealer who did the work was fleecing us or there was some sort of design flaw there.
  • Front-end felt very floaty at any sort of speed (50+) and I just never had any confidence in it. Not a problem in a commuter though!
Overall as cheap-as-chips commuter if you can live with the seats (or they don't affect you like they did me) then I think they are a decent shout.

Edited by KaraK on Monday 23 May 14:12
Interesting. The base seats are pretty awful, and the only thing that's gone wrong in 4 years is a seized rear caliper, but I'm impressed with the handling of ours.
Come to think of it I have had to replace 2 seized front callipers. Infact, I had a series of brake issues but finally got to the bottom of them and it wasn't the cars fault.

Handling is good and I can't say I've suffered from a light front end at speed??

I've done 70k (95k on odo) in mine over 7 years and it feels the same as the day I got it.




Edited by stedale on Tuesday 24th May 23:22
To be fair that one is the only Mazda 6 I've driven so it may well have been something wrong in the setup on that car, either in the geometry or the tyres. To be honest I always put it down to the steering being over-assisted simply because of how easy it was to drive around town.

wormus

14,502 posts

202 months

Wednesday 25th May 2016
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Farmer Geddon said:
if you care what people think!
...that you deliver kebabs for a living?

xeon

68 posts

152 months

Wednesday 25th May 2016
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What is the general opinion on a Rover 45 in terms of reliability and comfort? There is one close to me with 12 months MOT for less than £300. No info on service history though.

JB8

381 posts

144 months

Wednesday 25th May 2016
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I may know of a tidy MK1 Focus, which the owner would be happy to let go for £500.

Based in Yorkshire, PM if interested.

Chainsaw Rebuild

1,997 posts

101 months

Wednesday 25th May 2016
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HughG said:
I recently bought a £700 Yaris 1.3. For 25miles/day I'd urge you not do it to yourself! Its fine for my 1.5miles to the station when its raining and I cba to cycle, but the couple of times I've had to take it to the office (60miles each way) it was been tiresome.
Why is it tiresome? I was considering one as a cheap run about.

405dogvan

5,326 posts

264 months

Wednesday 25th May 2016
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Chainsaw Rebuild said:
HughG said:
I recently bought a £700 Yaris 1.3. For 25miles/day I'd urge you not do it to yourself! Its fine for my 1.5miles to the station when its raining and I cba to cycle, but the couple of times I've had to take it to the office (60miles each way) it was been tiresome.
Why is it tiresome? I was considering one as a cheap run about.
I had a Yaris for a week once and it wasn't a nice car to drive far - in fact it kinda reminded me of an Austin Metro I once had.

It was nice in-town, reasonably comfy/roomy and practical - but the moment speeds rose over 40-50 the noise inside was OTT, the ride wasn't great (going from wallowy to crashy at-random) - it just did not work in that environment at all.

The bro-in-law borrowed it because his other half fancied one - took it 10 miles before bringing it back saying "not a chance"...


405dogvan

5,326 posts

264 months

Wednesday 25th May 2016
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xeon said:
What is the general opinion on a Rover 45 in terms of reliability and comfort? There is one close to me with 12 months MOT for less than £300. No info on service history though.
Where to start - I'm assuming K Series so you know the drill on that (headgaskets, headgaskets, headgaskets - evidence of cambelt age - evidence of care in oil/water levels).

Body parts are basically hensteeth (gold-plated ones) - most of the rest of the car is fixable from scrap bits/pattern parts.

I'm assuming £300 is a private sale (no dealer would bother with cars at that price) so it's not a fortune to lose but you will want to go over it to find out what's wrong (not if there's anything wrong - what IS wrong)!!

Bear in mind that 12 months MOT means very little in terms of whether the car will work - just that someone managed to get it past a tester so your job is to look for the real issues ;0

Edited by 405dogvan on Wednesday 25th May 21:51

HughG

3,538 posts

240 months

Wednesday 25th May 2016
quotequote all
Chainsaw Rebuild said:
HughG said:
I recently bought a £700 Yaris 1.3. For 25miles/day I'd urge you not do it to yourself! Its fine for my 1.5miles to the station when its raining and I cba to cycle, but the couple of times I've had to take it to the office (60miles each way) it was been tiresome.
Why is it tiresome? I was considering one as a cheap run about.
its a few things, comfort, noise, awful stereo, and although it may seem trivial the gear change is horrible.

There's no reach adjustment on the wheel, its noisy and the radio is too tinny which combined are headache inducing.

It was mainly bought to save me getting drowned on the bike going to the station on wet days and for that it is fine!

CX53

2,964 posts

109 months

Wednesday 25th May 2016
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Just been out to the shops in my colleagues Jazz with the CVT-7 gearbox, it seems pretty good. Not sure if in budget but would tick all the boxes.

JKRolling

537 posts

101 months

Wednesday 25th May 2016
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Skoda fabia looks pretty good vale. Ive see ones with fsh new tyres and 12 months mot with around 70,000 miles on it for £750. Thats a 1.9 d

Chateauneufdupape

Original Poster:

390 posts

100 months

Thursday 26th May 2016
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Thanks for all the Input everyone, lots of food for thought here!

I've been spending some time on Google and also ebay looking in to some of the options suggested. I'm quite keen on some of the jap options for reliability, but open to anything reliable.

My problem is a lot of the cars im interested in don't have good praise for their auto box's, which is annoying. Any thoughts or experience here gratefully received, I want an auto to make for more relaxed comfortable commuting, so a hideous auto box would defeat the point.


rallycross

12,744 posts

236 months

Thursday 26th May 2016
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Most jap auto boxes from this period are the same - a basic 4 speeder they work ok and are robus
have had 2.0 auto Primera and 2.0 auto Accord both drove fine and were reliable still at 100k plus miles.
The 2.0 Primera auto has 115-130 bhp and a 4 speed auto they go find not too sluggish.

405dogvan

5,326 posts

264 months

Thursday 26th May 2016
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Chateauneufdupape said:
Thanks for all the Input everyone, lots of food for thought here!

I've been spending some time on Google and also ebay looking in to some of the options suggested. I'm quite keen on some of the jap options for reliability, but open to anything reliable.

My problem is a lot of the cars im interested in don't have good praise for their auto box's, which is annoying. Any thoughts or experience here gratefully received, I want an auto to make for more relaxed comfortable commuting, so a hideous auto box would defeat the point.
Most cheap/small/family cars that have autos have awful stty autos designed for Grandma - few will have newer electronic/CVT/paddle boxes (in your price bracket more like NONE) and any that do will be liabilities in terms of likely repair costs/issues.

If you want a decent auto - you're going to have to look at older BMWs, MBs or maybe a Lexus but this is the opposite of 'damage limitation' really.

End of the day, truly cheap cars are "what you can find locally" - no point looking for a specific car because it's not worth travelling far so you're restricted to "what's for sale" AND with cheap cars you buy 100% totally on "actual condition" because for £500, things WILL be wrong and it's a case of minimizing that...

J4CKO

41,284 posts

199 months

Thursday 26th May 2016
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Search locally for the Jap Auto, preferably owned by an older person who services is every year, has looked after it and preferably has had it from new, avoid the nutcases paying three grand for worn smooth german diesels.

If its used as a Mini Cab, then generally its going to be pretty bombproof.

GeordieInExile

683 posts

119 months

Thursday 26th May 2016
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How's about a lovely Puma? You'll find a usable one for 500 quid, no problem.

Get the 1.7 and don't worry if it has scabby arches, they all do.

david.h

408 posts

247 months

Thursday 26th May 2016
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Ignis Sport, loads of fun & Recaro seats

layercake

422 posts

103 months

Thursday 26th May 2016
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http://retrorides.proboards.com/thread/189526/1996...

u can't really go wrong good as new and jap engineering, that or as someone else mentioned the infront is a toyota wink carina e

Qubit

142 posts

122 months

Thursday 26th May 2016
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My choice would be between petrol Primera (not p12). Focus mk1 (probably not diesel). And my preference; mk1 Skoda Octavia, either petrol or diesel. Elegance spec is comfy enough, well put together, loads of space and good economy from diesel or decent performance from 1.8t version.

Chateauneufdupape

Original Poster:

390 posts

100 months

Thursday 26th May 2016
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I appreciate that a small auto of this sort of age/at this end of the market are never going to be as good as the newer 7 speed bmw autos or DSG etc but Im not expecting miracles, just something reasonably good for what it is.

Got a few lined up to have a look at tomorrow on my day off so will report back