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Surprised people don't look after their PCP cars, I'd be concerned about penalties for it not being in perfect condition when I came to change - if I had one.
Edited by Trilogy. on 11/10/2019 at 08:50
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Surprised people don't look after their PCP cars, I'd be concerned about penalties for it not being in perfect condition when I came to change - if I had one.
Dealers are turning a blind eye to get another car out the door, often they use it as leverage. They’ll wave the repair fees if you take another one.
Edited by SLO76 on 11/10/2019 at 09:16
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Brilliant advice SLO which my daughter took when she bought her Mazda 3 2015.
Not so my partner who today took delivery of a Renault Captur. The dealer told us they had to give up Honda as they expected them to keep a full range of demo cars and the workshops made little money as they are so reliable.
What an admission.
Keeping an eye open for the electrical gremlins on the Captur.
Can you reject the car within 18 days for a full refund ? Its a demonstrator with 3000 miles ?
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Good list SLO, and for the most part i'd agree.
However, while the Mazda 2 in the sub £4k supermini class is a brilliant little car, and great to drive, it is about the least spacious option in its class. So if that, and/or practicality is a factor, i'd swap it for a 1.4 Jazz.
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Good list SLO, and for the most part i'd agree.
However, while the Mazda 2 in the sub £4k supermini class is a brilliant little car, and great to drive, it is about the least spacious option in its class. So if that, and/or practicality is a factor, i'd swap it for a 1.4 Jazz.
More practical and probably even longer lasting but I just don’t like driving them, it’s utterly drab to pilot while the Fiesta, Mazda 2 and Suzuki Swift are great fun which is important to many supermini buyers. I don’t know how Honda got the Jazz so wrong on the road and I say this as someone who’s profited plenty from flogging them over the years. I’ve never had an enjoyable drive in one. But they are very reliable, practical and I think quite handsome little cars.
Edited by SLO76 on 12/10/2019 at 15:41
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the Fiesta, Mazda 2 and Suzuki Swift are great fun which is important to many supermini buyers.
Honestly SLO, i'm not sure i'd agree there. From what i see on the roads, a great many drivers (including youngers ones) have absolutely no concept of how to drive on a winding road, and their concept of being fun to drive would go about as far as how quickly the car can get away from the traffic lights. Not that the Jazz would excel there, but then neither would any other supermini of equivalent power. I get the impression that most, certainly younger drivers are far more interested in insurance costs and smart phone conectivity than how much fun the car is going to be to punt down a country road!.
However, with driving enjoyment on the cards as well as extra space and practicality (from a supermini sized package), from personal experience, i'd probably look at a Ford Fusion. I know you are not so keen on them, but we had a 1.4 petrol for 3 years and i loved it. It may not have the ultimate handling ability of the Fiesta, but it was great fun to thrash down a twisty road, to the point that, if going to or from our nearest city, Aberdeen, i'd often take what is locally known as 'the coast road' (his is an alternative route which runs about half the distance between Peterhead and Aberdeen and is a lot more twisty, with some interesting corners, humps in the road, and with much less traffic than 'the main road'!). No, it wasn't fast, but it had 'adequate' performance (a completely alien concept to the modern driver!), was usefully more spacious and with a bigger boot, while taking up virtually the same road space as it's mechanical twin, the Fiesta.
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Insurance is obviously very important to younger drivers, but there's not that much difference between similar sized mainstream cars with similar powered engines. A 'yoof' wouldn't be seen dead in a Jazz, and probably the same for a Fusion, both which are very worthy cars for their practical use of the car's footprint and low running costs.
Most round my way seem to stay with the old faves, Fiesta, Corsa (though to a lesser degree), small VWs, Pugs, Citroens and Renaults.
TBH, many younger drivers (especially blokes) think they're God's gift to driving and tool around at break-neck speeds, even if they haven't got the skill to back it up, especially on windy/narrow/unfamiliar country roads. As long as the car is reasonable to insure (compared to rivals), a bit of street cred and can do a ton, I doubt if they care two hoots about reliability, practicalty or safety for that matter. A shame really, but not surprising.
As an example, a former colleague (about 19 or 20) ran a early-mid 2000s 1.4 Fiesta, and complained rather late in the day that he was spending a fortune on petrol. He then admitted to me that he was regularly topping 90 on his way to work down the A1.
Not that long after, he forgot a van was in front of him and drove into the back of it coming out of our work car park, writing his car off in the process. He then (whilst essentially skint) thought he got a good deal after shelling out (via a loan) £7k on a diesel Megane, presumably thinking he could now bomb down the A1 and cost him less in fuel. Needless to say he didn't receive anywhere near £7k for the written off Fiesta. Nicely out of pocket and now in debt, just as he was going to college on day release. Class.
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I see you're still being paid by Mazda SLO. ;-)
Still waiting on that commission cheque... c’mon Mazda!
Well, I've often thought Skidpan was on VAG's pay roll. No doubt he'll have some snide remark to make about SLO's choices. As a Mazda 2 driver these days I wholeheartedly agree with SLO's remarks.
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I see you're still being paid by Mazda SLO. ;-)
Still waiting on that commission cheque... c’mon Mazda!
Well, I've often thought Skidpan was on VAG's pay roll. No doubt he'll have some snide remark to make about SLO's choices. As a Mazda 2 driver these days I wholeheartedly agree with SLO's remarks.
Ditto, given I'm an owner of a gen-1 Mazda3 of nearly 14 years from new.
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Great list SLO, with some brilliant suggestions - as always, from one of the most knowledgeable about used cars on this forum. Buying Japanese is generally a good idea unless said Japanese car is masquerading as a Renault. I think perhaps the most important category you've missed - best car for under £1,000 - the finest bangernomics car. Many people like this budget level.
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I think perhaps the most important category you've missed - best car for under £1,000 - the finest bangernomics car. Many people like this budget level.
The problem with picking the best £1k buy, as has come up many times on the forum, is that you simply can't rely on a £1k Mazda, Toyota or Honda, being any better than a £1k Renault. It depends so much on how the car has been treated by previous owners. You really just have to buy on condition, MOT history, and gut instinct Probably why SLO didn't do a bangernomics choice.
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“I think perhaps the most important category you've missed - best car for under £1,000 - the finest bangernomics car. Many people like this budget level.”
Bangernomics is another thing altogether worthy of its own thread. I love running cheap sub £2k cars and beating the system. It can be done reliably but it’s more complex than buying at these two price points.
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Just about every well looked after Japanese car will be more reliable than a comparable well looked after Renault.
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Bangernomics also depends on having reasonable mechanical knowledge and the tools and enthusiasm to fix issues as they arise, a completely different cross section of punters than those who never raise the bonnet.
This is another area where good Japanese cars can be a better bet, they are normally designed to be worked on and the screws bolts and materials used in suspensions for example don't usually seize solidly in place.
Interestingly, i only discovered in the last few weeks that Japanese car's Philip's screw are not, they are a different profile entirely (JIS) so after half a lifetime of working on and running Japanese cars i now have the correct screwdrivers to undo the screws with...something else than doesn't tend to seize in place.
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Just about every well looked after Japanese car will be more reliable than a comparable well looked after Renault.
Exactly my point, a neglected Toyota may well be less reliable than a well looked after Renault, especially something simple (which it should be anyway for bangernomics) like a 1.2 or 1.4 Clio (pre-keycard!).
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