How do you choose a car?

[tractorman]

The "new" Golf was collected on Thursday; my neighbour was going to town so I blagged a lift.

There were two things I liked about it and made comments to my friend at the time - the solid colour and the steel wheels. When I collected it, it had alloys and the sellers implied it had always had them and, after a good dose of T-cut and polish, it is metallic (it was a dull and miserable day when we saw it!). I thought no more about the wheels until this morning, when I was washing it (before I did the T-Cut thing) and noticed they were 205-55-16 tyres (instead of 195-65-15). I checked the very good service history and found two receipts for the smaller size, so I fear the "garage" has spotted the decent tyres and swapped the wheels! I shall be having words next week, though I may have to keep them - and let my insurance know that he car is modified after all!

The old Golf was worth more than I thought - the insurance man was desperate to knock points, so mentioned one or two stone chips that had been touched in on the bonnet, and a slight scrape on the NSR wheel arch that I hadn't got tidied up (too cold!). He said it was one of the best ones he'd seen - after I said I reckoned it was worth £2000 - £2200 (what I would have to pay for another similar one). The offer was £2500 and some small change, so I reckon that was more than fair (nearly top book price)!

[hobby]

Best family car bargain has to be the Nissan Note

Nah... Skoda Fabia estate, virtually same size but miles bigger than the Note and the other strange little beasties like the (con)Fussion, don't need the extra headroom as I don't wear toppers and Skoda put the space where it could be used, in the boot, rather than over your head... Also has the advantage of having a damn good reputation for reliability... If I had to but a second car to run around in it'd be a Fabia Estate SDi... Room, comfort and simple, economical engine... Not very fast, though... If you really want to fit the quart into the pint pot and don't mind quirky looks then the Roomster is hard to beat....

Only reason we swapped to a Golf Estate is that they don't do the Roomie in diesel auto trim, more's the pity...

As for how do i choose a car? - well it has to be able to fit a folding wheelchair and all the other gubbins we have to take away with us and not be all that large (Mondeo class is too big!). That means boot space of around 500l... Also diesel for economy and auto so youngest daughter can drive it... Soon narrows it down!

[bnicho]

I buy my moderns on practicality, reliability, resale and price. I buy my classics with my heart and never use my head.

[Xantia-nut]

Ay up!

My ol' Xantia is my only car.

It starts.

It goes.

It stops.

RESULT!

[rich.]

I buy my moderns on practicality, reliability, resale and price. I buy my classics with my heart and never use my head.

that makes two of us..

[3xpendable]

I’m with Martin on this one, I tend to buy whats easy to work on and what is relatively cheap to run. I have had 7 cars since buying my first when I was 19 but that doesn’t include my classics, ‘2nd’ cars and cars I’ve bought to sell on:

1990 Rover 414si – The head gasket was gone, so was the gearbox and the bonnet was a different colour but I paid £50 for it and my poor dad towed it home and then spent time and money fixing it up over the summer ready for me to commute to uni, poor sod.

1991 Rover 414sli – The local garage had this with a headgasket gone and offered it to me for £100, so as it was newer and a lot better than my si I bought it with the intention of using my old one for spares, I had it a week before discovering the block or head was porous so I scrapped it and sold the green one for £250.

1994 Ford Fiesta Freestyle – This was my mums car and she bought a newer automatic so I decided to buy this as I knew the car, served me well for 2 years but sold it when offered a stupid amount of money for it, which led to interim use of:

1990 Mercedes 190E – It looked gangsta with AMG wheels but was a manual so heavy to drive and thirsty as hell. Luckily it was only an interim car I used for a month while finding a new car, which lead me to:

1988 BMW 325i E30 – I saw it in the corner of a local auction, as a dealer part-ex. I’d always fancied an E30 325i, and this one was an auto and had a towbar which I wanted. Despite it not idling well, having no oil filler cap and a flat battery I drove it home (60mls) and it was the best car I ever owned. Fun to drive, nippy and did all the rough work I wanted to do. It was even used by all the family but it eventually started to die.

1994 BMW E36 325i – I was happy with BMW, and E30’s were then too collectable and expensive so I went for the later shape. Again an auto and with a towbar, this car wasn’t as fun to drive as the E30 but did the job well. I had it for 4 years until it recently had problem after problem, and with a 90mile round trip to work I sold it. This is the only daily driver I ever specifically chose.

2001 Ford Mondeo – It’s a manual, which I would rather not have, but it has a lot of service history and drives well. So for £400 I couldn’t refuse it as I could sell it for double that tomorrow if I wanted. I was looking at an estate but the boot is so big on this I don’t need one. This was literally bought as something “that was available” as most of my cars are. I usually like to have something different, but now I just want a cheap reliable practical car.

For my daily driver I used to stick with BMW but now I’m not so fussed, there is nothing much out there that inspires me but if I were to look for a car I’d mainly be looking for something automatic, with a good boot and cheap to run. Having said that, I am looking at either a Mini Cooper or a Chrysler Crossfire for my Mrs

[52classic]

Hmm, interesting thread this, OP has reminded me just how scary buying a new (secondhand) car has become these days!

Since the late sixties I've frequented car auctions on a regular basis, either for entertainment or as a buyer and I don't recall ever being caught with a total lemon.

Now it seems to me that the buyer's premium coupled with the emergence of ebay have put the kybosh on that game. Even a few years ago, if I thought that I would travel a couple of hundred miles to collect a car that I had already bought, on the strength of just a few grainy pictures and the seller's own description then I would have volunteered for certification but it seems that is what you have to do now!

As for type of car, my recollection in times past is that I always knew the EXACT make, model and spec that I wanted to own next. These days I cannot tell one modern from another and choosing one would be as exciting as picking a 'fridge at Currys!

Mercifully, I have managed to indoctrinate my whole family with the notion that late model cars are an extravagance we need not afford - So with my son's help I do get to pick the family fleet and indeed we're having a change around as we speak.

Mrs C needs a small automatic with reasonable build quality, dateless appearance and for which there's a Haynes manual available - So we went for an A Class Merc.

Daughter wanted something out of the ordinary and 'girly' so up popped a Citroen Pluriel to replace her Series 1 Twingo.

I want a grown up sized 4x4. Reliable, auto and more economical than the Pajero which is overdue for change - so I'm scanning for a CR-V.

Son now does a lot more mileage than hitherto so his Imprezza got the chop in favour of a 'sensible' Peugeot. However, I have spotted the occasional Boxter on his watch list so there may be hope for us yet!


Classics though, are another matter. The list of stuff on my bucket list is getting longer all the time.

[Richard Moss]

I buy on impulse every time! Sometimes I regret it but most of the time it works out well. I would probably never have bought my 1996 Jeep Grand Cherokee if I had applied logic but no regrets at all. It has brought a whole new hobby with it (dune bashing) and a whole new group of friends. Easy to work on, simple design, cheap parts and great fun to drive offroad .
My daily driver is a 2003 Monaro CV6 (badged as a Chevrolet Lumina here) and again was an impulse buy. Smooth, reliable, economical (honest) and generally impressive all round. One of the best cars I've ever had and also no regrets.

I should never have bought the Alfa 166 3L a couple of years ago, though!