Which is better, only one way to decide........ Fight

Really?

Mind you, the current 3 is a bit bigger than the E46.

The S60 was bigger than the E46, which was the competition at launch.

Funny how cars are growing - my 156 is only the size of a MkII Focus, yet on launch it was tested against the 3-series, Mondeo, C-Class and A4.

My 75 is absolutely dwarfed by modern 'small' family hatchbacks.

the boot lock not working was what i thought as that's what all

I found the problem by testing at both ends of the wire, then decided it would be far easier to run another wire through instead of trying to find the break.

Sod's Law then took hold and meant that as soon as I had the wire threaded most of the way through out popped two broke ends of the old one

- it could have been an even easier fix with a soldering iron and some heatshrink. Oh well.

I never notice unless I park mine next to an S, 7 or Flying Spur...

Often park it next to a clients W220 S class and mine is about the same size!

Hmmm. I wonder who is in need of a reality check. Do you really think that a dull VAG shopping trolley is going to be hugely enlivened by adding a diesel engine?

I like the TDI engine. I like the Octavia, for what it is, but it isn't an exciting or particularly interesting car. You WILL get bored of it, and if you lumber yourself with debt to get hold of one you WILL regret it.

Tuning for more power is easy, agreed. The handling options are the same for the 2.0 and the TDi, and unless you spend serious money changing the geometry of the suspension they are limited to spring and damper rate tuning - you can't radically alter the handling nature of the car. Stiff and bouncy won't suit your motorway lifestyle or help you resell when you do get bored of it, so the options are really very limited.

Seriously dude; the Octavia is a good car - for those people who just want to move about cheaply and reliably. A diesel version of a car which HAS ALREADY BORED YOU surely can't be a good choice?

Not if he buys sensibly.

He's paying cash given the loan is off relatives rather than HP and so if he decides later on its not for him, he can quite easily flog it on given this kind of thing is always in demand and if he buys sensibly now, he won't lose much of his money in the process.

I'm not sure that's true; at least I think the effect is probably more that since cars have generally got heavier, they can have heavier wheels &tyres and still have the same ratio of body mass : unsprung mass (i.e. the upwards push on the body of accelerating the suspension/wheel/tyre back downwards after it's been pushed up by a bump is proportionally less on a heavier car) To be fair, some cars have moved over to more advanced suspension designs, and some use slightly lighter materials to reduce the unsprung mass, but the largest effect is simply that cars are generally lardier!

If that's the case, you should be looking at a 406 HDi. That's been the cabbie's choice of reliable, economical transport for several years now.

It's a problem for me. My drive is very short, snd if modern cars keep growing I'll not be able to fit them on. The Leon fits with a very few inches to spare.

Can I just mention that the use of the word "enlivened" really reminds me of that episode of Father Ted with the article in some magazine entitled "Brick enlivens dull floor".

Anyway, a 2 litre petrol one will be enlivened to a reasonable extent by the TDI, but I, like, totally see your point, man.

Not round here it isn't. Almost all Skoda Diesels, except for some Avensis/Carinas/Accords, and a few very mint white W124 diesels.

For the Octavia, I would be looking at an Octavia 2, not one. The car I most liked driving was the Celsior, which why I've considered the more barge like Superb with its soft cruiser chassis than the Octavia.

Do I look like an Asian cabbie from Bradford???

For some reason the German server isn't playing ball with letting me download the original post, but anyway...

Economics not your strongest point then, I take it?

Yes, prices have bombed and may well continue to bomb.

But that applies to almost *EVERYTHING* on the market, not just the select few cars.

And stuff that's cheap to run is likely to lose less than the juicier stuff, especially if the economy continues to collapse as it has been?

We're still in the midst of something of a kneejerk reaction economically right now - if anything, given his existing car is worth f*ck all, (sorry, but it is), and is unlikely to lose much more than it already has, Elder might be better off sticking with that for a bit longer to see if prices continue to drop sharply, which I somehow doubt they will for all but the most expensive to run stuff.

If he can't wait because the Saab is looking ever more fragile, then I stick by the recommendation he gets something sensible like the Octavia as relatively, it won't bomb worse than most other things out there right now and it is all relative in a situation like this for the bulk of stuff out there.

The key is to get a decent deal on whatever it is he buys, relative to whatever the going rate is for what he chooses to buy at that particular moment in time... something I didn't do when I bought the Passat, but which I will be if / when I replace it given I'll be paying cash this time, and again, this is something, regardless of where the money has come from, Elder will be doing.

Ouch. your cruel words wound me.

Yes, but the more expensive the car, the more it is going to lose.

If carl wants to spend lots of money and get a nice shiny car, that's his prerogative and good luck to him, but I don't think he needs to, and unless you do really need to spend the money, now is not a good time to do it. Of course, if he were to keep the car for a long time then it would all even out, but he is Carl...

I'm not looking to be cruel... the fact is your argument was and continues to be flawed... again.

MOT is due in February. With it having proper servicing and repairs, and not having anything obvious failed/broken it should't have a problem. Unless the CAT is shagged and it screws up on emissions. Plan is, replace it with something minty with a fresh ticket and decent ammount of tax on it.

That is the plan

Probably a superb/octavia2 yes. Don't want a big petrol engine this time. Times they are hard, big petrols are nice, but additional cost to insurance, additional cost to fuel, additional costs to tax, and faster falling residual values that people will remember far beyond this current down turn.

Better to get a diesel now, save on tax, save on insurance, save on fuel, and have something with some resale value, even if it is just to a bradford cab driver. Times they are hard, why make them harder for 10 minutes fun. You can have fun in any car as long as it is solid, reliable, and comfy.

I would be happy spending on something older, but SWMBOd is sick of me constantly checking this and checking that. What she doesn't realise is that all I check is oil, water, tyres etc, nothing magical and I'm still going to check them just as regularly.

It was always faults that made me move on though, because the repair cost of that niggle was always too much to spend, but eventually the niggle was to much to put up with.

If I get something 4 years old, with some kind of warrenty, in the colour, model, spec I want, that doesn't need a master computer to change the seat position, and a good service history I will be fine with it.

And not a stupid one at all, so long as you use the advantage of being a cash buyer in a shitty financial climate fully. :-)

January will be an ideal time to get something else - you'll find someone cleaned right out from Xmas desperate to sell at the best of times, never mind when things are this uncertain financially, and it ties in nicely with getting something in place prior to the Saab MOT coming up from renewal as well.