New car - suggestions

[Saracen]

... but from the number of Audi, VW and BMW cars I saw stranded on the M4 over the weekend I have to say the Germans were showing some European unity with French cars on their ability to fall apart

I think it was a Subaru that had the bonnet smashed into the windscreen though, blimey that must be a scary thing to have happen to you!

Good grief. They holding a demolition derby on the M4, or something? Likes like a scene out of a dystopian post-apocalypse film. There weren't zombies stumbling around, by any chance?

[DanceswithUnix]

Good grief. They holding a demolition derby on the M4, or something? Likes like a scene out of a dystopian post-apocalypse film. There weren't zombies stumbling around, by any chance?

lol, from the standard of driving I think the zombies were all in lane 3

There did seem to be more breakdowns than usual, at one point the Waze app told us to give up and take a scenic route, and to be fair Newport was more scenic than I expected.

[Zak33]

Is it still a good idea buying a diesel, giving the current concerns and groundswell of political,opinion against them?

5 to 6 year old yes..they've all dropped in value partly from age and miles and partly from your concern about diesel


new? Consider petrol but remember.. the petrol turbo's everyone sells are next in line for a "they're killing us all" kicking so if we're honest.. running a car is going to get expensive, period.

And electric aint the answer as theyre getting to the age now where the batteries are due to fallover

Cars are evil .. period

but essential...period


and fun... period


balance it all off against itself

[directhex]

theyre getting to the age now where the batteries are due to fallover

http://www.bmwblog.com/2017/04/24/bm...tter-expected/

tl;dr: just on Nissan's crappy battery design, nobody else is having significant range loss.

[kalniel]

http://www.bmwblog.com/2017/04/24/bm...tter-expected/

tl;dr: just on Nissan's crappy battery design, nobody else is having significant range loss.

Beemers good. A colleague of mine bought a second hand Prius and had to replace the battery system which was over 50% of the price he paid for the car :/

[Xlucine]

I've got a beemer engine. All the parts places want £40 for a thermostat, not including fitting

I think it was a Subaru that had the bonnet smashed into the windscreen though, blimey that must be a scary thing to have happen to you!

So much for their secondary bonnet catch!

[EndlessWaves]

I would suggest a BMW 320d. You really cant beat BMW`s diesel engines for reliability and power delivery.

Oh indeed, they only sometimes self-destruct due to the timing chain failing:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/arti...acturing-fault

[Dashers]

16 mile daily commute? Go electric and rent a car for long trips. I've got a leccy, which is currently entirely in use by the mrs, but it's a great commuter car, £175/m all-in.

[Gerrard]

16 mile daily commute? Go electric and rent a car for long trips. I've got a leccy, which is currently entirely in use by the mrs, but it's a great commuter car, £175/m all-in.

Unfortunately, I don't think the "premium" for an electric car makes up for the savings, especially if you then have to rent or run a second car for other uses.

I would say Skoda is a solid choice. My friend had an Octavia VRS estate and one lucky benefit he found was that you could just about get 3 child seats in the back, so something to consider as "future proofing" just in case.

[Biscuit]

No love for Honda on this thread?

[norman044]

Have you considered a hatchback like a golf? they have a huge amount of room and fold down seats in case you need to load anything big. My moms golf has as much room as her old ford estate and has lasted well, currently at 230k miles on the clock.

[cptwhite_uk]

I currently have a Golf Estate looking for something a little bigger

[Saracen]

My only thought is that with all this clean-air stuff currently .... erm, in the air (sorry) ... I wouldn't be buying diesel at all, at least until the dust settles and the direction of future restrictions, regulations and/or punitive charges, becomes much clearer.

[spacein_vader]

My only thought is that with all this clean-air stuff currently .... erm, in the air (sorry) ... I wouldn't be buying diesel at all, at least until the dust settles and the direction of future restrictions, regulations and/or punitive charges, becomes much clearer.

That's a fair assessment, particularly if you're interested in the impact of your cars emissions rather than their financial impact on its owners.

I would say however that unless you regularly drive somewhere that either has or is looking to introduce congestion charging that it's unlikely any changes to legislation will negatively impact on cars already on the road.

[Zak33]

http://www.bmwblog.com/2017/04/24/bm...tter-expected/

tl;dr: just on Nissan's crappy battery design, nobody else is having significant range loss.

cos they started crap to begin with

[Zak33]

My only thought is that with all this clean-air stuff currently .... erm, in the air (sorry) ... I wouldn't be buying diesel at all, at least until the dust settles and the direction of future restrictions, regulations and/or punitive charges, becomes much clearer.

well that's over half your car choices gone then

go to Auto trader... untick New and Nearly New....

leave everything else

right now.....397,386 cars for sale

open up the fuel selector option

Petrol 173,405
Diesel 218,874

if you all choose Petrol (carry on....)
Diesel cars will keep getting cheaper.

then they'll sell ok anyway.

In my opinion, and I know very little about cars, the damage has been done already


and those petrol turbo's are imminently going to get a good kicking too......

if you like a diesel and can afford it.... buy it.

as they get older they do tend to cost more to run, in particular the euro stuff (ford/vaux/renau/pug etc) but hey.. I bought a 96k mile 2.2CDTI Civic for my missus in Jan 2012 and we just sold it in May 2017 with 153k on it. Only stuff it had was proper servicing... and normal pads, discs, clutch wipers tyres etc and a single relay


just changed it for a Subaru Forester Boxer diesel 61plate 61k on it

didn't look for even one moment at a petrol