Subaru. How reliable really?

But it's slow as hell and bits will fall off. If I needed to have a cheap, frugal, reliable car I'd get a Swift again. The GTi did 45mpg, was cheap to tax and insure and was 100% reliable. If I wanted to be extra tight you could get a normal model for peanuts. Not quite as soul draining as an AX diesel!! Either that or some mid 90s TD barge mobile.

You end up paying fees and shit though dont you? Its not quite as simple as swapping credit card balances. My mum has recently swapped as she's renting her house out and had to have a survey done, plus other random rubbish and IIRC is costed her around a grand to swap with lots of messing around too. I guess it's something you have to tally up when you're ready to do it.

Reply to
Carl Gibbs
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Yes. That's what we've done.

In fairness to the Principality BS, they offered us a corking deal to keep our custom when our original fix expired.

Reply to
SteveH

Heh, you could be right - jap petrols are well known to bloody brilliant on fuel. Especially the smaller ones, and not modern enough to have all the latest safety equipment weighing them down, combined with the very latest emissions s**te restricting them.

Yup - true. Suppose it depends on the situation you're in at the time. If I was in a position whereby I could guarantee my mortgage outgoings for the next ten years or so, and it was at a time where my finances didn't allow all that much flexibility, then it might be worth a bit of a penalty from the current provider for the sake of 10 years' peace of mind compared to the uncertainty of rates going up. As with everything, it's all relative to a whole load of different stuff though.

Reply to
AstraVanMan

You must drive like a pussy. I've sat looking through lease end summaries of many cars, and the ones for turbo imprezas are scary to read - very normal to have a set of brakes and tyres every six months with the service, and lunch a gearbox and clutch annually, or more often. If you want a fast point to point small-medium saloon car for smooth but quick drives then a 3 series is the most sensible purchase. Imprezas are bought to be driven hard, if you're not doing so then what was the point of buying it?

Reply to
Tim S Kemp

Unfortunately one has to choose ones car by the running cost and available cashflow. Hence me dropping the Volvo and getting the A class diesel.

Reply to
Tim S Kemp

Or a very economical newer car if you can cope with it. A 3 yr old low miles Ibiza running 40mpg costing 6k should cost minimal amounts over 3 yrs and

60k and sell for 2000 quid at the end of it. Modern motoring, quality car, low costs. Plenty of other options out there, old cars that are run as daily drivers /can/ be big moneypits.
Reply to
Tim S Kemp

I'd hardly call £4k depreciation 'low cost'. I could buy 6 cars for that.

Reply to
SteveH

Yes, it's 4k loss in value, but zero in repairs (warranty), low insurance, modern car, reliability and I do run high mileages. The volvo stung me for

10k in depreciation in 30 months (and 90k miles).
Reply to
Tim S Kemp

Nah, ours just floated on the AIM, and we have just launched a new sub company doing fully managed VOIP platforms. Of course the MD is telling us how the VOIP company is the saviour of the group, and how it doesn't matter about the "traditional" parts of the company because they aren't core anymore. Only thing is, the "traditional" parts of the company are the ones that made the year on year 100% growth for 6 years running. And I was there for 5 of them. And I was told the buck stopped with me regarding the technical sid of Dialup VISP service, and I now control the ADSL VISP services setup. But that isn't inportant anymore.

Reply to
NeedforSwede2

That would be so lovely. On a dry monday morning, when I smoked I could go down to the canal side and play count the condoms.

Reply to
NeedforSwede2

I knwo what you mean. Fuel, tax and insurance isn't a problem. But one=20 major repair and I would be shafted. Mind you, I would be the same with=20 any car ATM.

--=20 Carl Robson Car PC Build starts again.

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Reply to
NeedforSwede2

There would be no warranty on a 3 year old car - or it'll be a 3rd party warranty / dealer warranty with an exclusion clause for most of the things that are likely to need a warranty fix..... then, if you want to maintain the warranty, there's main dealer servicing costs.... whereas, if the Fiat goes expensively wrong tomorrow, I flog it on ebay for a couple of hundred quid and buy something else. Total cost = £600. However, it's low mileage with a stack of history, so it's likely to at least see the year out, with only routine servicing. It's still a fairly modern car, the only thing it's really lacking is climate.

Reply to
SteveH

I never mentioned car loan. I said personal loan. No stupid restrictions=20 that car finances place on you, no wonderous baloon payments, or lease=20 buy, or personal hire plans.

A straight cash loan, at a rate of 50% of what I currently pay. I need a car for work. If I don't borow something toward it, the limit=20 would be about =A3300. For that, it must not need a whole new brake system= =20 for the next MOT, it must not need cosmetic or structural body/chassis=20 work, and it must not need any major suspension work.

Now of all the cheap cars I've bought. All of them needed either=20 shocks/springs, bushes, discs or welding. And some of them needed all of=20 that.

--=20 Carl Robson Car PC Build starts again.

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Reply to
NeedforSwede2

Mate I've driven Skodas. I know slow and dull as standard.

Reply to
NeedforSwede2

Yes, that's sort of what I assumed. Still doesn't make a lot of sense, IMHO.

Cosmetic work isn't an issue for me. The commuting hack is a tool to get me to and from work, hence the assorted s**te I tend to buy. OK, some of 'em I haven't kept for long, but none have cost me a lot in depreciation.

To be fair, your ideas for cheap cars have been spectacularly silly - things like GT4s / Saab Turbo Cabrios *don't* make good commuting fodder. Primeras, Mondeos, even Alfa 155s and Fiat Mareas and all sorts of other cheap and mundane or unpopular s**te are ideal for the task in hand.

It would be *very* easy for me to take out a loan for a car, but I'd regret it until the day I had finished paying it off.

Reply to
SteveH

You've not bought a used car from a main dealer for a while have you? Most manufacturer branded warranties provide the same cover as a new car warranty, the second year extension is a negotiation point when buying, and just about everything that is covered under new car warranty is covered.

Main dealer servicing is not a condition of warranty under EU law IIRC. Mercedes get around this with the Mobilo 30 yr by making the cover run for 2 yrs after a dealer service, so the price of the service includes 2 yrs mobilo life for up to 30 yrs old. You can service anywhere you like.

Reply to
Tim S Kemp

Hmmm, I've no doubt that most main dealer warranties are pretty decent, however, you pay through the nose for them. Main dealers ask frankly stupid prices for stuff they bought at auction for peanuts.

Erm, I think you'll find that a dealer backed warranty *can* enforce main dealer servicing. It's only the original manufacturer warranty that is covered by EU law - even then, getting a dealer to pay up on a warranty when you've had your car serviced outside of the network is going to be a major PITA.

Reply to
SteveH

well, I generally buy a new car every year and I don't spend more than £300 on each one not had to do much repair work on any of them (some months I could hardly afford to fuel them but HAD to go to work)...

When you say it must not need work for next MOT, for £300 you can get a car with a 12 month MOT but it's not likely to do much more than that without repairs, if it does, your lucky... if not your down another £300 to either repair or replace (about 4 months loan payments)

Last one was an L reg Rover 623iS costing £300, very nice and comfy car, had a couple of minor niggles with it, needed rear pads at 6 months old and I part ex'd it with a the cracked passenger mirror it came with..

One before was an M reg Renault 19RT TD £250, this was a fantastic car, it lasted me 11 months before springing a fairly major oil leak, other than that, no work done at all, it always chucked up a brake warning lamp but nothing appeared wrong and it did 15000 miles like that.

Montego 2.0DLX again an M reg, cost me £230, was a real heap but when I changed it at 12 months on it actually sailed through MOT with no advisories and I gave it to the wife!! Again, nothing much done on it. Got scrapped eventually as some scrote broke into it and broke the steering column.

I could go on but I won't as it would get boring.... I actually chopped the Rover in for my Scooby and while it is an awesome drive and so much fun, I do wonder if I should have spent my normal amount and not 10 times more, at least I paid in cold hard cash so I can get shut at any time.....

Oh, my daily runabout is currently a 1.3 automatic F reg Metro, cost me £100 for 6 months(ish) running around. Quoted £75 for the welding to be done, it would then give another 12 months (fingers crossed). When that's gone, I have the replacement in the garage already, a Volvo

740 GLE, MOT'ed till Oct (but that all I needed) for £92....

So I've actually figured out, if it's a heap to get to work and back only, I only need £200 a year, going to try for less after Oct :) sure the guys at work take the piss but then they pay more in two months of repayments than I do all year...

And if your wondering why I drive the metro? £45 to fill the Subaru's tank, A bottle of Millers octane boost (it's an import with jap ecu tweaks 100octane min) all for 160miles of driving..... costs a lot to go to work everyday in it lol

Whereabouts do you live? plenty of deals like those above in Manchester and even more towards the south...

Please note I am not trying to teach you to suck eggs, I'm sure you know all the above, but even though my list is full of heaps, I've really enjoyed them, I think because I didn't care if somebody scratched them or they got broken into.

Reply to
Tim Anderson

All of my cars tend to have fingerprints embedded into the passenger side of the dashboard.

Fraser

Reply to
Fraser Johnston

I'm talking about the "budget" end of supermarket bread that is stale before they even pack it.

Reply to
NeedforSwede2

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