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Advice on replacement car.

As you lot have always given stirling advice when I've had to do work on the old Escort, I thought I'd let you all know that it is about to go to the local scrap heap.

In prep for the MOT I carefully ran through my own MOT checks where possible and gave is a lovely service. It passed in every area where I usually worry. The tester found a couple of small splits in the underbody that needed a weld before he'd pass it. I cursed about having to weld upside down to old steel, took the thing home and had a proper look. Scrubbing with a wire brush to take off the worst of the crud showed up a bit of a problem. The small visible split on the right hand side ran a bit further once the crud was gone. I'd have to weld a plate on to get to stuff that would take a weld and the plate would need to be about 3 foot long.

A 1994 Ford Escort with 128,000 miles on the clock has a nominal value that fluctuates according to the amount of fuel in the tank.

So the task comes to replacing it. I'm not rich and want something cheap and chearful. Budget is less than a grand. Performance isn't something I care about. The only people who will be using the thing are me and the dog. Handling is fairly important as far as it goes when buying an old car.

I do 40 miles a day, most of it down quiet country roads.

I'm willing to be steered away, but it looks as though a Pug 306 TD 96-

98 (98 high miler) would fit the criteria as long as it hasn't been abused. I took one out for a test drive this afternoon and was impressed by everything but the lying second hand car dealer who told me it was a lovely driving car. Well it was until you put your foot down or lifted off at which point it lunged to the right or left. The nearside front panel was pretty new and the driver's mirror was wobbly so somebody has fixed up some accident damage on that one. To be that bad it was something pretty major. Their mechanic suggested tracking until he experienced it and then wanted it on the ramps so at least they had someone honest working for them.

I know the turbo is going to be an expensive thing if it goes wrong but it gives me a car with a little bit of nudge when needed, 50mpg, still pretty easy to maintain and from what I've seen of pugs, not likely to rust away.

Any other suggestions? Any reasons not to?

Warwick

Reply to
Warwick
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Absolutely ideal, if you find a decent one that comes in on budget.

Reply to
SteveH

Good to see my gut feeling is backed up. I wouldn't have bought the Escort in the first place and the original spec was for a 306. Wifely pressure bought it. It wasn't bad 4 years ago and she liked the colour. When I was doing the magnet test, the superb salesman distracted me in perfect time that I didn't notice the filler on the wheel arches while doing the magnet tests. He was also good enough at talking that I didn't notice the overspray from the entire right hand side respray. I was in a comapny car back then and wasn't happy.. gut feeling. Servicing the thing since then has been a nightmare. SWMBO is driving a Skoda Felicia Estate 1.6 now. Damned easy to work on.

I ended up with the Escort due to Ford refusing to turn off the second airbag while we had a very small thing.

On the car front there are two left in driving distance in the county. It seems that the car I've opted for is somehwat in demand.

Warwick

Reply to
Warwick

"Warwick" >

I would look at a Vauxhall Astra. Much underrated and capable of stellar miles. Perhaps even a Vectra if the size fits. I don't rate the Pug as highly and am pretty sure the quality and durability is not up to that of Vauxhall. Just my opinion and experience from talking to fleet drivers. I know that the Vauxhalls have far fewer component failures over the short and long term though that is not to say that Pugs are unacceptable.

Huw

Reply to
Huw

Warwick ( snipped-for-privacy@affordable-afpers.co.uk) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

That much?

Reply to
Adrian

Look for a high mileage phase II Citroen Xsara HDI-110. They share the floor/mechanics as the 306. Only the phase II models went on to get the 110 HDI's. They are ugly but nobody gets chance to focus properly on them in motion as they are so rapid :-) and capable of being to chipped to 136BHP

Reply to
ToxOgrady

Reply to
dojj

=20

Well yes. When there's =A330 of petrol in it its worth =A335.

Warwick

Reply to
Warwick

Right, after 2 weeks of seeing and test driving every single worn out, damaged POS small diesel in the Midlands, I lowered my sights and budget a bit to get something (anything) that would go for a year while I save up a few more quid and get ready to shop around. Even then it took me 3 goes to find something I felt safe in.

An ancient 205 XLD 1.8 in white. 150,000 miles on the clock. No rust, no problems and a year's MOT from a place not known to give MOTs to anything that can limp onto the ramp. Rear wiper doesn't work and I may bother to fix that. The upholstery is 150,000 miles old and could do with some cheap covers. The pile of receipts for work done is big enough to re-assure that this thing has seen service. It was serviced at a main dealer for 100,000 miles.

Since my budget was a grand and this was well under half that, I'll get the timing belt changed (or is it a chain on this one?). I'll do a 6000 mile service tomorrow and treat it as if it hasn't been touched for

24,000. Engine is satisfactorily dirty without having any oil on it so no steam cleaned job. No rust anywhere and the magnet sticks to everything I'd normally suspect. It doesn't even have the syncro clunk problem that I've come across in a couple of pugs. No sticky throttle, no squeaks or odd rattles in the cab even. For the last 5 years it has been garaged and only done 2000 per year (MOT miles). The 8 mile drive home in it showed nothing to concern me.

On the downside, it is exactly what I *need*. 4 wheels, an engine and some brakes. It is pretty basic. When the optional extras were handed out this car didn't bother to wait in the queue.

On the *really* downside, the last owner liked to keep the car scented with Vanilla magic trees. The smell is embedded. I brought the handbook into the house to have a chuckle while reading it and my wife noticed the smell.

On the plus side, all the stuff that you'd expect to change every few years got done 18 months ago. New exhaust, new pads and drum shoes and new springs on the front suspension. The glows are new. It hasn't got a turbo so playing to find how much vegetable oil it'll happily consume isn't going to complicate things and being a pretty basic model means that there isn't half a tonne of extra wiring to work out what is going on with any problems.

Warwick

Reply to
Warwick

Nice.

Two methods of getting shot of it that I found to work most smells out.

1) Find a high hillside parking spot on a windy day, open all the door for at least an hour and let it air off. 2) Get a can of Neutidol, start the car, put the blower on max, close the doors and spray so the blower intake sucks it into the car and circulates. Also good for smelly aircon systems.

PDH

Reply to
Paul Hubbard

Paul Hubbard ( snipped-for-privacy@ntlworld.com) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

Then find a decent bodyshop to repair all the buggered door check straps where the wind's ripped the doors open hard...

Reply to
Adrian

Not lost any doors so far.

Could always just park with the windows down and let it air off.

PDH

Reply to
Paul Hubbard

Sounds like you've found the nirvana of bangernomics there Warwick. Should last you quite a while and they go quite well.

Reply to
Conor

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