Stick Or Twist?

[eleveneleven]

After a year without a car the time came for me to invest in some wheels, doing roughly 7k per year, leasing was out the question this time. I initially wanted a lexus GS300 or something equally as wafty but quickly talked myself out of it due to potentially high running costs. On went the sensible hat and with it sensible requirements (affordable, comfortable but above all else reliable.) figured if I was going to buy cheap (£5k budget) the last thing I want to be doing is spending money on it..

Anyway in my search I came across a 07 Honda Accord 2.0, 1 owner from new, 61k miles FSH with Honda, absolutely immaculate inside & out. Not a massive fan of the styling but it ticked all the sensible boxes and the price was reasonable so I bought it.

So far it's been the car I expected it to be. general maintenance aside I'm pretty sure I could drive this thing for another 10 years and have little to nothing go wrong. It's bulletproof hassle free motoring

However...as great as the car is, I'm just not bonding with it. I find myself wondering what could have been had I involved my heart instead of just my head.

so question is

do I stick with what I have? The Accords a peach without a doubt and despite its lack of character, gets me where I need to go without fuss. Would I be making a mistake letting a car like this go in favour of something that's going to cost more to run and could potentially cause me more headaches down the line?

Head vs Heart what would you do??

[Haws]

I'd stick with it.......... for now. Right up to the point where I saw something I really liked.
If the car is as bulletproof as you think it's going to be there's not much point in changing it when you don't know what you actually want.

If it were me I'd keep an eye on the classifieds until something I saw something that popped up and thought, Hey, I really like that. It's then when I'd change.

[ZX10R NIN]

Do you know roughly what it is you fancy? Once you know that, then it'll be time to twist.

[ChrisH72]

I felt much the same about my 1.8 Civic. It was fine and served a purpose when my son was born as reliable family transport. But I never really liked it. I think what made it worse was that I loved my Celica that I had before it. Should never have sold that really.

After the Civic I had a BMW 325i coupe which I bought on a whim. Saw it on a local forecourt and pulled in just to have a look. The dealer offered me a test drive and I was totally seduced by the 3.0 straight 6 and also the step up in quality.

I enjoyed the Beemer much more than the Honda although it has to be said it did cost me a lot more to run.

[Mr Tidy]

If you aren't bonding with it maybe it isn't a keeper - life's too short for that! Always assuming budget won't be an issue.

But before you change you need to work out exactly what you want.

I had a cheapy shed 1500cc Mazda 323f years ago that cost peanuts to run, but was just so boring. So after 6 months I replaced it with an E46 BMW 325ti that cost much more to run but was so much more fun I didn't care!

[eleveneleven]

I've been looking at either a Lexus GS300 or a E90/E92 BMW 325i. Seems to be slim pickings for the GS as ideally I would like 2008 onwards so I can use E10 fuel. There's some good clean 325i's out there though by the looks of it.

I have no idea what both are like reliability wise..

My dad has an IS250 with 130k miles and if that's anything to go by the The GS should be solid as a rock. As for the 325i I have no idea.

ZX10R NIN said:

Do you know roughly what it is you fancy? Once you know that, then it'll be time to twist.

[Jamescrs]

Life is too short for boring cars, if you don't gel with it move it on for something you do want.

[Mammasaid]

Here's the thread for you!

https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

[Mr Tidy]

eleveneleven said:

I've been looking at either a Lexus GS300 or a E90/E92 BMW 325i. Seems to be slim pickings for the GS as ideally I would like 2008 onwards so I can use E10 fuel. There's some good clean 325i's out there though by the looks of it.

I have no idea what both are like reliability wise..

My dad has an IS250 with 130k miles and if that's anything to go by the The GS should be solid as a rock. As for the 325i I have no idea.

I think all the E9* 3 Series can run on E10, the straight 6s definitely can, but BMW recommend using 98RON fuel whenever it's available which means Super Plus and that is only E5 for now - or E0 with Esso in most parts of the UK.

I had a 2006 E91 325i that had done 132K when I bought it and drove really well - the only issue I had was a dead electric water pump. So it overheated in less than a mile. RAC towed it to my fixer but new pumps are £250+, although you'll probably only need one in the time you have the car as they seem to last anything from 60K to 90K miles. It was still going strong when I sold it on 139K.

To buy a 2005 E90 330i that has now done 115K and still pulls really well and has only needed some new rear shocks other than oil changes, etc.

The biggest issue with IS250s seems to be that post 23 March 2006 registration manuals are in a silly tax bracket.

But you really do need to decide exactly what you want.

[eleveneleven]

Mr Tidy said:

But you really do need to decide exactly what you want.

You're right I've decided It's going to be a Lexus, a GS300 or IS250 depending on which one I can find in the best overall condition.

I've got a handful of bookings planned this week to see both and I've put the Honda up for sale on Auto trader so we'll see how things turn out.

[ZX10R NIN]

The IS250 is only high tax if you go for the manual the autos are sensible, tbh I'd go for the IS250 they actually go well once you stoke them & they go where point them, they also don't need a cambelt unlike the GS.