If it were down to me I'd ditch the car ...

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Bayerd

Über Member
Crankarm said:
I had a very reliable mint Pug 205 diesel which I reluctantly finally got rid of despite being an excellent cheap reliable car to run.

+1 for the 205 diesels, excellent runners. I sold mine as I was using a company car and it was sat doing nothing. I put 30000 on it in a year and sold it for more than I bought it for. Still wish I had it though....
 

Mad Doug Biker

Just a damaged guy.
Location
Craggy Island
By the way, I have a shower almost every day, so when I use public transport, I can hardly be described as being 'Unwashed', so stick that in yer exhaust pipe and smoke it! :smile::rolleyes:xx(.
 

Armegatron

Active Member
Owch! Ive just had mine MOT'd. Thankfully it sailed through so just £40 for that. I have had some knocking noise develop on the front and slight noise when braking on the back - both jobs Ive done myself and saved £100 in labor charges. Never worried about the insurance company kicking off, and the car is almost 10 year old so Im not too bothered about service history etc either.

I also bought a cable off ebay to read and clear engine management codes so if I get a light on I save £20 each time I clear or read the code, and its handy for aquiring beer tokens when reading friends codes for them.
 

summerdays

Cycling in the sun
Location
Bristol
A friend has gone car-less and she manages by a combination of things... public transport, cycling, hiring a car occasionally, and a car-share arrangement with her next door neighbour that she can borrow her car occasionally for doing a big shop.

It occasionally causes problems when their children need to be in different places at the same time, but it is probably helping them to become more independent rather than relying on the mum/dad taxi all the time.
 

skudupnorth

Cycling Skoda lover
Crankarm said:
Not my experience. I had a very reliable mint Pug 205 diesel which I reluctantly finally got rid of despite being an excellent cheap reliable car to run due to it being targetted twice by fiething scum and vandals. Then I bought Italian - Fiat which has been totally reliable in 6 years of ownership only needing oil and filter changes plus 2 new tyres which you would have to change on any car. Both have cheap insurance. Yeah the cost to keep the car legal for road use is about £350 - insurance, tax and MOT is money that could be channelled elsewhere but when you need a car in a rural area it is a necessary expense as without the car in the few occasions you need it, it would be a nightmare.

I have a friend who owns a VW Golf GTI Mk4 and he is forever cursing about the VW dealers' exorbitant charges for servicing and high cost of replacement parts which he puts down to the German factor. He's constantly looking for reliable independent garages/mechanics to do servicing he cannot manage himself.

I susepct all manufacturers and main dealers are cast in the same bunch of crooks mould. Best to get a really old reliable car and maintain it yourself. At least you know the job has been done properly.

Actually you are corect about VW main dealer being a tad expensive,i work for Porsche and i have had a customer with a Cayenne requiring a propshaft.The Cayenne shares many parts with the VW Tourag including the offending shaft,we are far cheaper with the Porsche badge on the item !!!! ...... still £600 though !
If you use independants though the cost will come down
 

skudupnorth

Cycling Skoda lover
As for reliability i find most cars built today are pretty good,even Kia's and the like are looking good value and are just as credible as any other brand.I have owned my Touran for nearly two years and have had to do nothing with it yet,not even service it due to it being on 20K cycle's.At the end of the day they all cost money no matter what you drive,thankfully all of our driving costs are cut by our two wheeled antics !
 

mark barker

New Member
Location
Swindon, Wilts
Mad Doug Biker said:
It depends who's on the bus with you at the time! :tongue:

Personally, I hate the bus, they are horrible dirty things, but at the same time, I realise they are necessary when I can't get a train (eww!! imagine THAT? a train!).

By the way, isn't a hire car in a sense, a form of public transport?? I mean, it's not just you who uses it and who's to say that the last person to use it wasn't the most unhygienic person ever in the history of the universe, and has left you a little 'surprise' somewhere?? ....and what about an airliner, you have to share the space with others, technically isn't that public transport? ...or a ferry? ...or a ... well, you get the picture!

The 'I'm to posh to use Public Transport' argument quickly falls down :biggrin:
LoL! I wish the issue was being too posh, but its far from it! My problem isn't how dirty the transport is, its the other people that use the transport that are the problem. Folks that want to share their tinny music from their ipods whilst shouting at their mobile phones about meeting up when they arrive in town. The same issues are found on trains, and I don't use them either. Fortunately planes don't have the same issues, so I don't mind them!
 

summerdays

Cycling in the sun
Location
Bristol
No my problem with public transport is that after cycling, being on a bus is so S L O W.... and you sit there noticing cyclists going by thinking I wish I was them.
 
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