Cheap, Reliable Commuter Car

[sleepyhead]

Not quite what I was looking for but...

Mitsubishi Galant

Kinda ticks the right boxes...sort of...lol. Most likely a shed though for £1250...that and it will fall into the new Road Tax band too. Oh and insurance would be a awful as well!

So for a fiver shy of £2k...this Honda Accord I think looks good? Or perhaps a higher mileage and cheaper Honda Accord? Anything to look out for (as this particular place is near me so can drop by at the weekend and have a look see).

Oh and target purchase date of end of Nov/beginning Dec to run around, sort out niggles if any and use it for the Christmas runs I will be required to do.

[Vimeous]

Not quite what I was looking for but...

Mitsubishi Galant

Kinda ticks the right boxes...sort of...lol. Most likely a shed though for £1250...that and it will fall into the new Road Tax band too. Oh and insurance would be a awful as well!

So for a fiver shy of £2k...this Honda Accord I think looks good? Or perhaps a higher mileage and cheaper Honda Accord? Anything to look out for (as this particular place is near me so can drop by at the weekend and have a look see).

Oh and target purchase date of end of Nov/beginning Dec to run around, sort out niggles if any and use it for the Christmas runs I will be required to do.

I know I love Honda's BUT I reckon I can trump that Galant with this one!


It's a sensible estate with enough power to pull a trailer and old enough to avoid monster tax

Oh and if you're shy on that one why not a BMW 525tds touring - great motor for little cash

[MadduckUK]

nice steering wheel grandad!

[sleepyhead]

I know I love Honda's BUT I reckon I can trump that Galant with this one!


It's a sensible estate with enough power to pull a trailer and old enough to avoid monster tax

Oh and if you're shy on that one why not a BMW 525tds touring - great motor for little cash

Insurance is going to expensive (relatively speaking) for both of those.

Think something like a Honday Accord will do nicely though some of the Mondeos on paper look nice too. it has the creature comforts which will mean I can cart my mum around quite happily in

[Guy]

I know I love Honda's BUT I reckon I can trump that Galant with this one!


It's a sensible estate with enough power to pull a trailer and old enough to avoid monster tax

Oh and if you're shy on that one why not a BMW 525tds touring - great motor for little cash

VR4! *Drools* What about a Legacy GT-B?!

[Zak33]

Poor old Howard...still thinks Diesel are expensive to buy and maintain and only worth it on long journeys.

Poor misguided old boy...well...young chap. Howard.....that is not true anymore ... it's just not.

Nowt wrong with diesel.

[Howard]

Ah, so all the reliability issues surrounding modern common rail diesels are just in my head then? Fair enough. No there's nowt wrong with diesel if you like the power delivery and clattery idle, it's just that everyone seems to say "OMG I must buy a diesel MPGZ!11" nowadays, and it's not always necessary

[GavinS]

Depends what diesel cars you're talking about. If you're talking about the old agricultural indirect engined cars eg. older VAG diesels, Peugeot XUD etc, then yes, they are more economical that the equivalent petrol car assuming the purchase price is the same for both of them.

If you're talking about modern(ish) CR direct injection engined cars, the long term, high mileage reliability is pretty shocking, with failure rates far higher (and far costlier) than the equivalent petrol engined cars. The TDCi engine is a classic example with significantly higher than the norm failure rates for the diesel pump (which needs to be coded to the car) and injectors. Unless you're doing absolutely massive mileages, the repair costs (and you WILL get engine repair costs) will negate the savings in fuel.

It's not really surprising since the many of the manufacturers source the same injectors which operate under extreme pressures - something like 1200bar. The Bosch injectors seems particularly vulnerable. I've even heard of fuel pump failures with the TDDi engines. Cost? About £900, and you're unlikely to be able to use an indie (is there such a thing as a Ford indie) as it has to be coded to the car. Add replacement injectors and you're looking at costs of up to £2,000. The 320d has well known problems and again, significantly higher failure rates compared to what are essentially unburstable M52/M54 petrol engines. Ditto Volvo D5. Ditto Renault. Even Mazda can't avoid catastrophic failures with their diesel engines. Personally, I wouldn't touch a high mileage (ie >80k miles) common rail diesel engined car using Bosch or Delphi injectors with the bargepole - the exception being the Honda Acccord CDTi unit which I believe has the pump and injectors designed and manufactured in house.

[kalniel]

There are plenty of diesels around before common rail became, er, common, that work great - you just have to ignore the occasional black clouds on heavy acceleration.

Examples include Astra DTi's, peugeot DT, etc.

[0iD]

I'm going to say a Micra, I drove ours 115k, super reliable, 1L engine goes for ever on a tank of petrol, cheap on parts/tyres/exhaust/insurance. Just superb lil runabouts.

[schmunk]

I'm going to say a Micra, I drove ours 115k, super reliable, 1L engine goes for ever on a tank of petrol, cheap on parts/tyres/exhaust/insurance. Just superb lil runabouts.

But. It's. A. Micraaaaaaaaaarrrggghhhhh!!

[Fatboy40]

I'm going to say a Micra...

I'd agree that models from the 90's are rock solid, but can the same be said about the newer ones ?.

I'm wary of the fact that with Renault owning 44% of them it may have had an effect on them ?.

[sleepyhead]

Micra doesn't quite satisfy the needs

[sleepyhead]

Oh I forgot to ask as well...

The plan is the de-tax and un-insure the MX5 whilst I do some long term repair project to it. A couple of questions arise from this:

1. How easy is it to cancel 1 insurance to be used on another car? What if I don't want to use the same insurance company?
2. How do I re-MOT and re-tax the MX5 once I want to bring her back on the road. To get Tax I need MOT and to get MOT I need Tax (to get the car to an MOT station without paying for the car to be trailored).

[dave87]

Ah, so all the reliability issues surrounding modern common rail diesels are just in my head then? Fair enough. No there's nowt wrong with diesel if you like the power delivery and clattery idle, it's just that everyone seems to say "OMG I must buy a diesel MPGZ!11" nowadays, and it's not always necessary

Howard, swing by your local Honda dealer and try something like the Civic or Accord CDTi. I think it will change your mind

[Konan555]

Poor old Howard...still thinks Diesel are expensive to buy and maintain and only worth it on long journeys.

Diesels and Autos always hold on to values significantly higher than their petrol counterparts AND the servicing is always at a higher rate. I'd prefer to go with a more agricultural mid 90s 90horse or there abouts Diesel if I where really that interested in another 10mpg, they're lest costly to put right, much more economical and you can write off £300 of golf when the engine dies.