New car

[stephec]

As I drive so infrequently now I've gone the 'fun' route and bought a Mustang. It is possible, just, to fit a bike in the back but I need to remove the front wheel and sometimes one or both pedals lol.

If Carlsberg did answers.........

 

[Fab Foodie]

Dacia or Renault?
If you look closely you can see they have different badges.Certainly in Brazil the Sandero and Duster I've seen there are badged as Renaults.

I regularly get hire cars, the booking is for "Astra 1.4 or similar". There's been a fair variety over the past 18 months and they are just that, all similar.
Only notable one was when they had run out so I got an upgrade to a BMW M525 diesel. After a couple of hours on a motorway even that was 'meh'.

Brazil is an odd market though, look at the Ford Corcel, a Ford style body on a Renault 12 chassis ... all the overhangs and proportions are wrong!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Corcel

I get all kinds of hire car too, and they're much of a muchness, some are dogs, some surprise, most are just Eurobland, partly because they're all pretty competent. Few are remotely desirable. Biggest disappointment was the Jaguar XF.

 

[Stephen C]

What engine is your Jazz a 1.2 or 1.4?

1.4, but in reality it is about 1.3, still drives spritely enough with one or two people, obviously a bit more sluggish with 5 and a full boot!

 

[stowie]

Yep, and I believe some manufacturers treat swirl flap malfunction due to soot build up as "wear and tear" so the £800+ fitting of a new manifold is down to you Mr Customer. In my case the swirl flaps had failed sending crap into the engine. Which is nice. But since the flaps had actually detached then it was fixed under warranty.

The EGR is really a stunning piece of kit. Pretty much by design it screws up your engine within the lifetime of the car. I see forums where the advice is to strip down the EGR regularly and clean, but seeing as I have trouble locating even the windscreen wash bottle, I don't think mucking around with the engine is such a great idea.

So I then vow that my next car is a petrol one and then I see that they are getting all very complicated with things like the 1.0 focus ecoboost.

Instead of all these gubbins it might be neat if people didn't use their cars as much - especially for sub 5 mile journeys which form the bulk of car travel. If only someone had invented a machine that was simple, cheap, didn't emit poison and could propel someone quickly and efficiently over these kinds of distances - maybe a machine that worked on human exercise which might make us a bit healthier as well.. if only someone could invent something like that...

 

[vickster]

I have a skoda Fabia vrs estate. It is immense fun, dsg auto, £140 tax. Probably 40mpg. I do 4k miles a year if that and mostly urban, so fuel economy not a priority. Not especially cheap to buy or insure. Under a year old, 4k miles, over 5k off list

 

[fossyant]

We were in a fairly new Avensis Taxi last week, and the array of warning lights that were lit on the dash. The car was running fine though.

Never been a big fan of diesels, but these days you've got to be doing some miles in them just because of the DPF issues. That and the few £k premium for a diesel version. I'd never save a few £k in fuel. Same joke with hybrids as well, the premium doesn't justify the fuel saving unless you are a big mileage user.

I think I might go and invent those vehicular things stowie mentions. Might even have a few (9 and half) in my garage somewhere.

 

[sazzaa]

Instead of all these gubbins it might be neat if people didn't use their cars as much - especially for sub 5 mile journeys which form the bulk of car travel. If only someone had invented a machine that was simple, cheap, didn't emit poison and could propel someone quickly and efficiently over these kinds of distances - maybe a machine that worked on human exercise which might make us a bit healthier as well.. if only someone could invent something like that...

I'd love to bin my car but it's just not practical, I can't take my kid anywhere on a bike, can't do a weekly shop on a bike, can't take my snowboarding stuff up a hill on a bike, and I'm still not a big fan of cycling in snow and ice, this being my first winter cycling.

 

[Cletus Van Damme]

1.4, but in reality it is about 1.3, still drives spritely enough with one or two people, obviously a bit more sluggish with 5 and a full boot!

Ok thanks for that. Couldn't care less about speed anymore, just reliability and running costs.

 

[Over The Hill]

My two penne'th would be to not go too small.

The actual cost of running a very small car is not much different to running a smallish car. Fuel, car tax and insurance are not far off for each.

But the safety and usefulness of the bigger car are often overlooked and the bigger you go the more comfort on the odd longer journey.

So I would not go down too small. Putting that into models I would say a Peugeot 107 is a bit too small but a 207 a good point to stop at going down in size. Trimming down that bit more really shows.

 

[oldfatfool]

We have just passed swmbo's C1 onto our son, ordered a new Peugeot 107 today. Essentially the same car but Peugeot garages have some fantastic deals on atm, from £6k for the 3dr base model, £7k if you want a/c and other bits. Once run in the C1 was returning 50+mpg around town and the new engine in the 107 is reputedly more economic and with £0 rfl when the eeeejits point out I don't pay road tax, they are right!!!

Fine for 2 adults, swmbo as managed a weekly shop dropping the back seats, we couldn't manage with it as an only car due to having dogs but for general running round (even with 3 adults) the c1 was generally the default transport especially with its ease of parking etc.

 

[mattobrien]

My then girlfriend and now wife and I once saw an Audi RS6 0. For anyone who doesn't know it is a reasonable sized estate car with a 500bhp engine. She said to me that see wanted one, to which I asked why on earth would she need one of one. She replied "to get to the shops really fast". I ceased arguing, knowing when I was beaten...

 

[junglegusset]

I'd recommend a Golf but they aren't really 'small' cars anymore. They are 'small family' cars. If mine ever gives up I will be looking at another one or maybe a Skoda. The TSI petrol engines are almost as efficient as the diesels. I'm a believer in not replacing them until they are completely knackered... I. E not cost effective to repair.

 

[Nigel-YZ1]

Is this a 1.3?


What engine is your Jazz a 1.2 or 1.4?

Sounds good for my choice of either of these 2 motors then I have to admit with the Jazz I usually see old people in them, personally it does not bother me as it seems hugely practical. I need to look at a few, as with the Suzuki I will get a newer car for the same cash and there is just me and also my daughter when I have her so not a problem having back seats down.

It's classed as a 1.2 (1243cc), but with 100hp it feels bigger.
It's worth a test drive. Gearing is low, and the engine is torquey, but really takes off above 3500 rpm. Dealers were doing the 'VAT free' thing when I got mine as few are trading them in, so I got a new one for not much more than second hand would have been.
Forget the extra toys and get the base model. It's the same engine with a great equipment spec. Alloys and aircon are just a flash waste of money for me. I'm 6'2" and I fit nicely.

 

[Stephen C]

Ok thanks for that. Couldn't care less about speed anymore, just reliability and running costs.

I'm not too worried about speed, but it's a nice engine size as a compromise between economic town driving and being able to cruise comfortably at 70mph for long distances, again with good mpg.

 

[AndyRM]

Fiat Panda.

Small, practical, cheap to run, fun to drive, fits a bike.