not all old cars are "bangers" like the BBC want us to believe

Code readers aren't very expensive either, relatively less than a CO meter or strobe used to be.

It's not very complicated, it's just another steering rack

Ok. You've nearly convinced me I'm wrong ! ;-)

I know someone that's ordering an i10. Without a test drive. Bit worried now he's found out they are bolted together in India as he deals with problems caused by sub contracting work to India all day every day.

He got pulled and breath tested last Xmas. He was in his wife's car which turned out to have run out of MOT some months before. As he passed the b.test they let him off but I can't believe they fell for "my wife forgot to get it done", like it's not his JOB.

and lots of Prelude's have the 4WS fuse pulled for some reason.

Lots of cars have passive, it's just a compliant subframe mount.

And some import Celicas, and Skylines too.

But they aren't. Even the MK2 Golf has an element of rear steer built into the suspension. It's simply a case of having the right bushes arranged properly on a lot of cars - nothing to do with fancy electronic sensors and actuators.

"Doki" gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying:

Depends what you're talking about. If it's passive, compliant-bush, rear- steer, then yep. If it's active rear-steer, then it's a damn sight more complex than that. And that's what's on some of the '80s/90s Jap technowankfests.

If you cannot afford a new car (likely to be a good reason many people own cars over 10 years old - except collectors etc) then, surely, choice is limited to cheap second-hand cars. I also think that people with old cars may be less tolerant of new car first year depreciation and, as you say, may choose not to do it. Time will tell but, regardless, the Government will claim it's been a great success.

I don't know owt about the system in Ireland, but this new hair-brained scheme here lasts a year and only applies if you've owned the car for at least a year - so at least it's vaguely thought through in that respect.

On a £5.5K - £7K I10, Chevy etc that £2K takes care of most of the 1st year depreciation. Whatever's it's worth after 3-4 years is going to be about par loss for number of years car ownership.

Peter Hill gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying:

Because, of course, the one year value won't be hit by the fact that most have been sold dirt cheap now...

Few will be bothered by a 1 year book value, it's what it's worth in 3 or 4 years time that will tell. With sales starting from such a low baseline there could well be a shortage of 3 year old cars in 3 years time.

What's a 3 year old Chevy Kalos 1.4SX 5dr with under 20K miles, air con, grey metallic paint and alloy wheels on a '06 55 plate worth? Located inside M25, north. My brother paid £6.8K for his, they a had a £1500 off deal. I think on private sale he's still got over 1/2 the cost left in the car. Is that £1500 off reflected in current prices? Did it affect prices at all?

...also (or 'more like') a prop to the credit business.

Exactly, good point. Popular private cars are secondhand purchases of company cars. Why pay new prices at all?

Similar thing happened to house insulation support grants, a free benefit to the well off.

Who is paying for those benefits? - I am because I can't afford to take them. Doh!

Incidentally, my 1993 Saab 9000 has all the modern emission reducing devices and does 35-40 mpg, the same as any modern 2L petrol car.

The only light in the tunnel is that my 'old banger' now probably has increased in value :-)

As long as my car goes well in a straight line, I'm happy. Few cars can manage this.

But it's been coached in 'green' language...

Perhaps that depends where you are, but here in Wales it seems to be a free benefit for anyone elderly and with a roof over their head. No questions asked about ownership of the property, etc. There's clearly a massive scam going on too, judging by the way the installers overspecified how many rolls were needed for my mum's house and carted half of them away with them. And how someone's listing huge quantities of exactly the same brand of insulation (Isover) on eBay.

...except by modern emissions standards it's a gross polluter.