azekeil

Yeah. I looked up some bits and pieces after I wrote this, and wikipedia suggests the earliest anything will come into force is 2013, so I don't run a high likelihood of any decision I make now being affected by that :)

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gerald_duck

I might be selling my car later this year. If I spot a suitable replacement. Though it might not be quite the style of V8-powered car you meant. (-8

I don't know how the doughnut feels, or what his current transport arrangements are, but the most practical solution might be to get one old Passat turbodiesel estate for the household to share. Reliable, good fuel economy, lots of space for trips to IKEA, handy with kids around.

My hunch is that road pricing schemes will fuck everyone and everything roughly equally. Besides, if you let them affect your decision-making, the bastards have won. (-8

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I had actually considered a LS300 for a while. It might be quite nice in terms of luxury, but no, it's not quite the style of V8 I was thinking of :)

Unfortunately old TDs (and most newer TDs) are still high up in the Road Tax ratings, and with reports of the top tax band going to £400 per year next year (and probably only going higher after that) I'm keen to avoid that. I also dislike selling (and buying) cars intensely, so I'm keen to do it as infrequently as necessary.

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easternpromise.livejournal.com

I'd go with the Yaris or other small car personally. I've had my Micra for a number of years and the thing's virtually bullet proof (touchwood!). I've only ever had two occasions where it wouldn't start - once the distributor cap had busted (cost me £8 to fix) and the second time the battery had b0rked. To give the battery its due, it was 10 years old at the time!

Japanese cars are generally reliable, and fairly economical to run. I probably only spend about £30 a month on fuel, and that includes trips down to Bristol every now and again, plus I drive it quite a bit more now than I used to...

On the other hand, an older, well maintained Golf (if you want a bit more meat on your car) wouldn't be a bad choice either.

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I know the driving position you need to use (as I frequently drive the same cars as you), and I honestly think you just won't be able to comfortably fit in some of the cars you have considered. Hell, *I* can't get comfortable in a micra for instance, and I need less room than you.

What I would honestly suggest, is go off to a car supermarket type place, you know, somewhere where with literally hundreds of cars, and sit in them. You're never going to buy from them, but it's a good way to size up cars for comfort, etc. Maybe even take a couple of test drives to find the sort you want.

Once you've picked a car (or a shortlist of possibles), then worry about where to get it.

You use your car a lot, so I don't think it would be wise to not have one, though I can certainly see the logic in getting someting smaller. I still say an older fiesta would do you well, reliable and SO easy to maintain, with dirt cheap parts if anything does fail.

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I used to own a Renault 5, made for small French people *shrug*.

I am planning to check my ideas by going and sitting in cars, certainly - a car supermarket is a good place to try that.

The trouble with anything older than 2001 is that it won't qualify for the reduced road tax.

If I save £170 per year on Road Tax (going by this) and £150 a year in insurance, and possibly £300 on fuel, that will be an extra £620 a year. Or, in other words, the cost of buying the newer car will have paid for itself in 3 years, and I'll have the benefits of a newer car. That's not taking into account any other Road Tax rises.

I suppose the bulk of my proposed savings do come from insurance and fuel, so worrying about the tax seems less useful. But I'm concerned that Road Tax is going up, and there have even been some plans to increase it hugely being flaunted about by the Lib Dems in the past.

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A reanault 5 is a perfectly comfortable car, much more so than a micra! I honestly don't know about a yaris, they just look tiny to me. *shurg*

As for tax...
Cars older than 2001 will still be banded, just less bands. Any car with less than a 1.5 litre petrol engine (roughly) will be in the £115 a year bracket. Now, while that admittedly isn't £35 (very few cars will actually make that bracket, and probably none that would be pleasant to drive any distance you couldn't just walk), it's still a good sight less than the £300 top bracket (which will probably be £400 soon).

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True; I hadn't realised that about older cars not over 1549cc..

I guess I'll just have to drive a couple of Yaris' and see whether I want to go for a new car, or whether I'd prefer to go for an older car again.

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I can recommend the Passats - I had an old Mk2 Passat for a fair few years, which only died at about the 192,000 mile mark. It was the 2.0 petrol five-cylinder GL5, though, so not as efficient as you might be wanting.

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The Skoda Felicia (the one before the old Fabia before the cake Fabia) was pretty cheap when new (my mother got her 1.3 estate for 7.5K, new), and should be easily into the affordable bracket now. They're sturdy and surprisingly comfortable. Also, surprisingly roomy. The 1.3 is a touch underpowered for the estate if you're facing steep hills with a full load, though (he said, with memories of Blue Bank at Whitby).

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Heh :)

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Yeah, could be doable. I am biased towards Japanese cars though.

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Ah. Fair enough. I have to say my recent 1.6 Nissan was very reliable, and fairly economic, although that may have had something to do with the fact that, being the 100 NX coupe, it weighed sod-all. Decent boot, though, partly because the back seats were munchkin-only.

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gerald_duck

Pfft!

I ran my previous car (Ford Granada Scorpio 2.9i V6 4X4 five-door) until it was getting somehwat unreliable at the 250,000-mile mark. My current car (Lexus LS400) is still going strong at 220,000 miles.

I'm genuinely disappointed to hear of a Passat only being good for 192,000 miles; I was thinking of buying a VW Phaeton next, and was expecting high-mileage strengh. Then again, I'm guessing it was the two-litre engine that packed in?

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gerald_duck

Actually, I found the previous generation of Micra (the one they disbanded in about 2000ish) quite comfortable to drive. Certainly it was way nicer than the Fiesta, Corsa or Clio. (Ka and Yaris are both also quite good.)

A Fiesta will break. Lots. Consider something from the Volkswagen family (i.e. VW, Audi, Seat or Skoda) instead?

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gerald_duck

The Yaris really doesn't have much poke at all to it. It's OK in town, but frustrating on motorways and a downright embarrassment on single-carriageway rural roads. Maybe a Honda Civic or Toyota Corolla would be better?

I mean, you don't need a small car as such, so there's no point going to absolutely the tiddliest car in any maker's stable.

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No... I guess I have to really work out what I want a car for. If it was just me I'd have just the bike and be done with it. But a car will be useful for a number of reasons - children, shopping, comfort, safety, etc. I know what I need it for, but not really what I want it for.

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You really shouldn't discount German cars. They're manufacturing is really quite excellent you know.

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And also expensive.

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You're shorter than us though, plus he uses a LOT of legroom (even more than me).

That's really not my experience of Fiesta's at all, and I've had experience with several. They've all been reliable, and have all had extremely low maintenance costs, yet been quite acceptable to drive.

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This was the Mk1.1, really, rather than the Mk2, mind - and I inherited it from my dad in about '93 after a few years as the family car. It finally died sometime after 2000, so it did pretty sterling service, and had acted as a student taxi for quite a few of those years, too. It wasn't so much the mileage which killed it as the years. It could probably have been kept running, but it wouldn't have been economical - the bodywork needed work, and the engine would have needed a major overhaul. Regular maintenance and cleaning might have helped, too.

Build qualities have no doubt improved since!

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Not true, you're just being predjudice based on the likes of BMW and Mercedes! A lot of VW cars aren't expensive, and Skoda and Seat (both owned and run by VW) are really quite cheap.

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Hm. The older ones weren't, and the newer ones tend to be more expensive.. I guess it's worth a look, but as I said to

gerald_duck, I guess I need to work out what I want out of a car. I know what I need out of a car. I figured performance isn't important because I have the bike for that, plus car performance certainly comes at a much greater price than bike performance ;)

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oholiab.livejournal.com

http://www.marcusglenn.com/index2.html

If you can expand your £5000 up by £1500 you can afford a Spartan tank :) Forget all of this car wank.

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Yes, but you said you hadn't decided wether or not to go for a newer or older car yet, which is why I mentioned it...

plus car performance certainly comes at a much greater price than bike performance ;)
Oh, so very yes!
That said though, it's quite true that you don't need high performance from a car, but you also don't really want to get stuck with one that's going to start losing speed going up a hill when it isn't even that heavily loaded. Just remember how frustrating the old Mondeo TD you had was (which was a really bad example of one unfortunately).

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Did I ever mention that I love you? Cos I do, you know. :)

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Well, yeah. I'll have to take some smaller cars for a reasonable test drive and work out if I'm happy to buy one knowing how rubbish it'll be on longer journeys.

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Er.. thanks, I think ;)

Still, I'd have no problems parking ;)

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moosipher.livejournal.com

I read the tags for this entry as - "Bike, Car, Monkey" - and thought - "there is NO CONTEST - Travelling by Monkey is the way forward!!"
It may have been a long and somewhat confusing day :)

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dylan.livejournal.com

Dude, you so need to buy one of these and then we can head off on another road trip.

Saving money is for old people

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nairoz.livejournal.com

I have a friend with a Yaris, and they're like the frickin' TARDIS - I'm comfy in one, and well, you know how much space I take up :P

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Heh. I'm quite tempted. But it's a V6, not a V8. Find me a V8 and talk me into it ;)

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mandalorean.livejournal.com

Well anything V8 is gonna hit you in the wallet regardless, so if you plan is to get your costs down it's not going to be a logical step. But, then you know that anyway. :)
I currently own a 1994 Honda Civic 1.5 LSI along side my BMW R1200S motorbike.
The bike and the car are pretty economical, currently the bikes getting 55ish MPG which is amazing! Not quite as fuel efficient at Donington though ;)
The car is pretty close on MPG too. In a low tax bracket, and good on insurance. I will, hopefully, be changing the car for a newer civic in the new year. I'm not fussed about having a fast or powerful car as I have my bike. I'd rather the car be cheap and slow with the ability to get the shopping, if you know what I mean. ;)
However if I only lived 7 miles from work, I'd be straight on the mountain bike when the weathers good. Remember, the only way to get bike fit, is to ride, regardless of push or motorbike :)

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mandalorean.livejournal.com

And I must take a new icon picture of the Ohlins. I mean look at that chicken strip!!!
Thats not there anymore by the way ;)

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Yeah, I realise that about V8s. But like biking, sometimes you just gotta do it ;)

7 miles I could probably do, but not then go on to do a full day's work and ride back again afterwards. I'm hoping to increase my fitness though, which might then make it a possibility.

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