Looking for the impossible. 2 cheapies
Discussion
I've been lurking for a while, mooching for ideas but at page 25 or so I thought "you're going round in circles you clown". So I'm asking for help. This is probably going to be a bit waffly but believe me when I say this is the pruned version.
I currently run two cars.
1)1997 BWM 318ti. I've had her since 2001, she's at 150k and stupidly reliable. She's been the low hanging fruit for a while but .... yeah. She is far too good to weigh in.
2) 2003 Volvo V70 D5. Bought two or three years ago, sight unseen off Ebay for £1300. I have zero attachment to it. She's got Volvo delivery miles of about 190k. Reliable apart from the tyres need checking (why DO tyres always look down now!).
My car usage is mainly commuting to and from work which can be 8-20 miles each way some urban, some A road and dual carriageway. Other use is taking cats to the vet to the smallest car park in history. I live in a village, at the top of a hill and my road isn't gritted. Sometimes I do a long run on motorways (to collect stuff or visit relatives).
I love the BM. She's fun to drive. She needed a bit of underside welding for the last MOT and will likely need another £300 next year. But she starts on the button. BUT ... I don't like taking her in small places because of muppets who can't get out of their doors (she's Fiji Green). She doesn't have cruise control which never used to bother me but does now. Despite being 5 speed, she averages about 30-35 mpg which is great. I find I don't drive her much. Because I drive for work, I generally don't get into a car for a fun trip. So she's living on the drive a lot. But but ... it's the Green Machine.
The Volvo was bought to haul stuff. Namely stupidly large cat climbers. But wardrobe-sized, kitchen units have been involved. It's a Volvo. She's mechanically fine but has a few irritants. Tyres going down that I can't solve being one. (Done resealing, really don't want to buy new rims for this thing). But what I REALLY don't like is how low down she is. She seems worse than the BM. My eyes are always at headlight level (I'm 5ft 5.) And that is annoying the life out of me. When Fiat 500s (not the XL, the normal ones) tower over you, I have to wonder what on earth has happened to cars recently. I do like the pretty much vertical tail gate and wide aperture. The Octavia hatch was cavernous but there have been times where that vertical tail gate on the V70 was the difference between getting something in and not. I also like being able to drop the passenger seat flat (do other cars do that?) The width of the V70 with very little ingress of wheel arches is also great. I got 12 cat carriers in there one day and only dropped the rear seats; didn't have to remove them.
So while I am a cheapskate and fully appreciate the better the devil you I am seriously thinking of changing cars. But I can't figure out what. Budget is as low as possible (preferably under £2k per car). Yeah I know. I have no self-restraint (the BM cost me a years wages and was twice my then budget) but I do have to be realistic. I have a major thing about reliability. I work shifts and I cannot be doing with "the car won't start". So if the budget isn't good enough, it'll have to shift. But I cannot splurge huge amounts.
I don't care about which fuel (I do have a diesel card though). Manual is more fun to drive, but auto is easy-mode (I drive them for work). I have it in my head autos cost more to fix but that maybe me thinking of the 1980s. After the fiasco of a 306 DTurbo, I said I'd never have another diesel because of cost of repairs but the Octavia and the Volvo have both been fine. I still never want to touch another Pug though.
My random thoughts were:
1) Another hauler for rare use/motorway cruising, maybe AWD (debating if I need to lug the extra weight/potential issues around), higher than the V70, ground clearance. For when work is at a bomb site. Fuel economy wouldn't be such a bother if it's not a daily driver.
2) Small-ish car for day to day use; work and vets. BUT I still don't want to be too low down and I don't want to drive a tiny car. My sisters 307 got hit head on by a BMW last year and she was lucky to survive. I do NOT want to be in a tiny car if that happens.
Having full no claims on two cars, insurance shouldn't be too stupid. I'm paying about £45/month for tax on the two current cars combined. I am a cheapskate and would prefer not to have to remortgage if an indicator bulb requires changing! I don't want to go the lease route. I'm self-employed and if I'm not working I want to know I haven't got to find lease money.
What I've considered (this is going to be a mess)
- XC70
- XC90 - too high to lift large things into on my own?
- Aygo - small? cruise control?
- Meganne 1.5DCI 2008+ but it's French
- Superb 3.6
- Yaris - size?
- Golf 2.8 4motion
- S40 but I can't recall why
- newer v70 - I think they got taller?
- S Max ( someone turned up with a sofa that was an inch too high for the V70 but went in that; bet the V70 has more length capacity though)
I like nippy cars (there's a few dodgy islands where it's boot it and hope). I don't like to shout "look I have a 0-60 in 5s car" (even if it can). I do like comfortable now; the locale appears to be part moon-crater.
At this point I think I need a stable of cars.
Any thoughts appreciated. Thanks in advance.
I currently run two cars.
1)1997 BWM 318ti. I've had her since 2001, she's at 150k and stupidly reliable. She's been the low hanging fruit for a while but .... yeah. She is far too good to weigh in.
2) 2003 Volvo V70 D5. Bought two or three years ago, sight unseen off Ebay for £1300. I have zero attachment to it. She's got Volvo delivery miles of about 190k. Reliable apart from the tyres need checking (why DO tyres always look down now!).
My car usage is mainly commuting to and from work which can be 8-20 miles each way some urban, some A road and dual carriageway. Other use is taking cats to the vet to the smallest car park in history. I live in a village, at the top of a hill and my road isn't gritted. Sometimes I do a long run on motorways (to collect stuff or visit relatives).
I love the BM. She's fun to drive. She needed a bit of underside welding for the last MOT and will likely need another £300 next year. But she starts on the button. BUT ... I don't like taking her in small places because of muppets who can't get out of their doors (she's Fiji Green). She doesn't have cruise control which never used to bother me but does now. Despite being 5 speed, she averages about 30-35 mpg which is great. I find I don't drive her much. Because I drive for work, I generally don't get into a car for a fun trip. So she's living on the drive a lot. But but ... it's the Green Machine.
The Volvo was bought to haul stuff. Namely stupidly large cat climbers. But wardrobe-sized, kitchen units have been involved. It's a Volvo. She's mechanically fine but has a few irritants. Tyres going down that I can't solve being one. (Done resealing, really don't want to buy new rims for this thing). But what I REALLY don't like is how low down she is. She seems worse than the BM. My eyes are always at headlight level (I'm 5ft 5.) And that is annoying the life out of me. When Fiat 500s (not the XL, the normal ones) tower over you, I have to wonder what on earth has happened to cars recently. I do like the pretty much vertical tail gate and wide aperture. The Octavia hatch was cavernous but there have been times where that vertical tail gate on the V70 was the difference between getting something in and not. I also like being able to drop the passenger seat flat (do other cars do that?) The width of the V70 with very little ingress of wheel arches is also great. I got 12 cat carriers in there one day and only dropped the rear seats; didn't have to remove them.
So while I am a cheapskate and fully appreciate the better the devil you I am seriously thinking of changing cars. But I can't figure out what. Budget is as low as possible (preferably under £2k per car). Yeah I know. I have no self-restraint (the BM cost me a years wages and was twice my then budget) but I do have to be realistic. I have a major thing about reliability. I work shifts and I cannot be doing with "the car won't start". So if the budget isn't good enough, it'll have to shift. But I cannot splurge huge amounts.
I don't care about which fuel (I do have a diesel card though). Manual is more fun to drive, but auto is easy-mode (I drive them for work). I have it in my head autos cost more to fix but that maybe me thinking of the 1980s. After the fiasco of a 306 DTurbo, I said I'd never have another diesel because of cost of repairs but the Octavia and the Volvo have both been fine. I still never want to touch another Pug though.
My random thoughts were:
1) Another hauler for rare use/motorway cruising, maybe AWD (debating if I need to lug the extra weight/potential issues around), higher than the V70, ground clearance. For when work is at a bomb site. Fuel economy wouldn't be such a bother if it's not a daily driver.
2) Small-ish car for day to day use; work and vets. BUT I still don't want to be too low down and I don't want to drive a tiny car. My sisters 307 got hit head on by a BMW last year and she was lucky to survive. I do NOT want to be in a tiny car if that happens.
Having full no claims on two cars, insurance shouldn't be too stupid. I'm paying about £45/month for tax on the two current cars combined. I am a cheapskate and would prefer not to have to remortgage if an indicator bulb requires changing! I don't want to go the lease route. I'm self-employed and if I'm not working I want to know I haven't got to find lease money.
What I've considered (this is going to be a mess)
- XC70
- XC90 - too high to lift large things into on my own?
- Aygo - small? cruise control?
- Meganne 1.5DCI 2008+ but it's French
- Superb 3.6
- Yaris - size?
- Golf 2.8 4motion
- S40 but I can't recall why
- newer v70 - I think they got taller?
- S Max ( someone turned up with a sofa that was an inch too high for the V70 but went in that; bet the V70 has more length capacity though)
I like nippy cars (there's a few dodgy islands where it's boot it and hope). I don't like to shout "look I have a 0-60 in 5s car" (even if it can). I do like comfortable now; the locale appears to be part moon-crater.
At this point I think I need a stable of cars.
Any thoughts appreciated. Thanks in advance.
Edited by Truckscarscats on Saturday 21st December 19:44
Easy one, for the large car go with this:
RX 300 SE-L if you squeeze you're small car budget & haggle hard you can get this:
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...
SE back in budget
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...
Small Car with some poke:
1.6T Astra 180 Design Sport
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...
SRI
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...
3.2 A3 Sport over budget but haggle & you should get close
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...
2.0T S Line
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...
Mazda3 Sport
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...
RX 300 SE-L if you squeeze you're small car budget & haggle hard you can get this:
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...
SE back in budget
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...
Small Car with some poke:
1.6T Astra 180 Design Sport
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...
SRI
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...
3.2 A3 Sport over budget but haggle & you should get close
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...
2.0T S Line
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...
Mazda3 Sport
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...
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