Buying new car vs. maintaining an older one.

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Re: Buying new car vs. maintaining an older one.

Post by white exec »

Michel wrote: 19 Jun 2018, 08:12
white exec wrote: 19 Jun 2018, 06:51 Plastic headlights do not survive exposure to bright sunlight - 000 000's of cars here with yellowed and matted lights, impossible to completely polish out.

I agree this is an issue on cars with older plastic headlights, but I've not seen it being an issue with post 2010 cars.
I don't think the polycarbonate used for plastic headlight fronts has changed that significantly.
Quite possible that "post 2010" cars just haven't been exposed to UV for long enough for the irrevocable damage to take place; it takes a few years for this to begin to show up.
But are we really saying that headlights (at up to €500 a throw, if with sealed fronts) should be replaced after this time? Perhaps we are.

OK, northern Europe doesn't get the intense and virtually daily high UV levels we do here (Mediterranean), but it can't be too much to expect cars to survive something as predictable as sun in Spain, can it?
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Re: Buying new car vs. maintaining an older one.

Post by myglaren »

Michel wrote: 18 Jun 2018, 20:37
myglaren wrote: 18 Jun 2018, 17:42 ....although the driver's interior door handle did snap off on Saturday :(


They all do that sir.

Fixed at long last - ran out of excuses not to do it.
IMGP1533.JPG
Easier than expected although getting the door card back was a bit tricky.

Took the opportunity to spray lots of white grease on the window winder mechanism/wires.
Also took the window controls to bits to clean the contacts - was easy the last two times I did it but reassembly a pain this time - the membrane with the carbon pads in it had 'grown' and wouldn't realign properly.
That took longer than the door handle.

Also found lots of pins in the bottom of the door card?
IMGP1534.JPG
Car goes much faster now 8-)

Found a spare wire in the door - would that be for the lights in the bottom of the door, if they were fitted?
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Re: Buying new car vs. maintaining an older one.

Post by GiveMeABreak »

Pins - as in needle type pins? Not sure about those Steve - unless the last owner was a seamstress! :-D

As for the wire - if it is near the bottom middle, then probably for the puddle / kerb lights, or for the anti intruder 20,000 volts taser :-D

I'm thinking of getting one solely for those people that 'trolley' your car doors with their supermarket trolleys. Had one the other week. Got back to the car almost the same time to see a bloke's door resting against mine - I said "thanks a lot" - to which as I moved it off, he said "wasn't me"! I gave him a mouthful and drove off later to scrape and polish off his white paint!
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Re: Buying new car vs. maintaining an older one.

Post by myglaren »

I'm presuming they were there to poke out the washer jets but how they ended up there is a mystery.

Mine has so many dings and scratches I don't worry about new ones - got a nice one a couple of weeks ago when a car transporter wanted to occupy the space I was in - I really must nail the bumper and wheel-arch liner back on. Too hot today!
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Re: Buying new car vs. maintaining an older one.

Post by GiveMeABreak »

It's my OCD I suppose - I spend a lot of time polishing and cleaning it - so I hate it when some ignorant couldn't care less attitude types can't be bothered to respect other people's property.

I have to admit, his missus was rather on the large side and blocked the aisle in the supermarket - so we already had a queue where nobody could pass her as she was piling up the trolley with more cakes. Aldi doesn't exactly have a lot of room in the allocated parking bays - so I normally tend to park opposite the main road in the carpet place car park and wheel the trolley across the road because of this issue. On this occasion I was in a hurry though and sure enough guaranteed a scratch, so out with the Mantis paste.
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Re: Buying new car vs. maintaining an older one.

Post by myglaren »

Mine was pretty much out of shape when I bought it and I haven't done anything to improve it other than clean the inside, none too successfully, but it is far better now although you may be inclined to doubt that.
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Re: Buying new car vs. maintaining an older one.

Post by daviemck2006 »

That’s one good point about having a disabled badge, I get bigger parking spaces and less likely to bash or get bashed. I need the door fully open to get tn and out nowadays. I only use disabled or end spaces.
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Re: Buying new car vs. maintaining an older one.

Post by 10mbc »

This thread is so old... but so actual for me :)

So, in 2012 I had a used Citroen C5 2.0i 143hp from 2005, between the payment, the petrol, the reapairs and other, I was broke. This was a very expensive car for me to have at that time.

Going forward for a bit, had company cars for 5 years, all good but, as usual, I had to move on, lost a lot of time at that company.

In 2018, I bought a used Skoda Fabia 1.6 TDI 90hp from 2011 and I had to do some repairs, but I managed to find all the problems and had it working well and sold it. Of course, I had to diagnose it myself as it seems I am having a hard time finding a good diagnostician. The EGR was bad but 2 shops were not able to find the issue. I had to learn how the TDI engine works and what it behaves alongside the turbo, the EGR and so on and them have somebody replace the part. It was fun... if it wouldn't be so frustrating. Then I decided to sell it because I was not comfortable diagnosing the car's problems myself. At this time I was a bit more specialized so I was not absolutely broke for the first time.

In the first time of 2019, I bought the best used car I ever had, it was a 2008 Dacia Logan Prestige 1.6 16v 105hp. It was a 1 owner car and that owner was my colleague. It had some minor issues, brake shoes on the back, some shocks and a steering pump sensor but, besides that, it worked great, HOWEVER we had our first long jurney (600 km both ways) and my back was really hurting from the bad seats. It was just terrible. Another problem was that, even with the AC being optioned on this car, there was no cabin air filter and all the dust and the smells from outside will just go inside. After 3 months I sold it and I was really salty as this was a good car mechanically speaking, but it was not a good fit for my needs.

At this point, in September 2019, I ordered my first new car (owned by me) and it arrived in October 2019. It was a base model Hyundai i30, white, with a 1.4 MPI petrol engine making 100hp. Being a new car, it worked flawlessly, absolutely no issue in 1 year and 9 months that I had it. I had done 16 000km in this time. Problem is that the car was a bit bland - because it was the base model, there was no powerful engine or many options added. It had a basic radio with bluetooth and USB, a nice steering will wrapped in leather and all the buttons on it but that was about all. The region I live in is a hilly one and I could use a bit more power. When I was driving through the mountains, the power was even less (because of the elevation) and I was forced to use the first gear for a lot of uphill roads. Because I did not enjoy the car, the full insurance was quite some money I decided to sell the car and get a better one - maybe same model but a better engine and some more options. I did sell the car with about the same money I bought it (thanks to this situation we are in at this time) and put the money in an S&P ETF. Mind you when I bought the i30 I was starting to learn a lot and I already had an acceptable job, I had some money from the previous car, I had some money saved and borrowed some from my parents, that I quickly returned.

Now I had no car and no money (all being invested). I started to look for a cheap car, I started talking again with my old Citroen C5 mechanic and asking him how it's doing and if he is still working on Citroens. I have looked for a C5 in the online sites and I think I checked about 5 of them, starting from 1800 euro to 3000 euro, petrol, diesel, automatic, manual, estate / sedan. They were all bad. Just bad, in an unrecoverable state. Then I talked some more with my mechanic and he told me that a client of him wants to sell his C5 and I should take a look as it's a good car. Well, it was the best of all I have checked and the cheapest :) This is a 2003 Citroen C5 2.0 HDI Sedan with about 300 000km on the clock.

Now, after 9000km done with the car, I still have some annoying problems and I'm just not enjoying the process of diagnosing it and my mechanic I think it's kind of busy so he cannot work very often on the car. I got the car with 1250 euro, I think I am about another 1000 euro in it, the car got new tires - both winter and summer, new headlight / windshield wiper stalks, new windshield, a used cd player, new mats, disc brakes and may more. To be honest, renting a car each time I went on a trip would have been more expensive so I kind of got my money's worth and maybe I will still get some money for it when I will sell it, but not that much I would say.

However, now I am thinking about getting a new car or an almost new car. The options on my shortlist, right now, are as follows:
1. Get a manual 1.0 TGDI (3 cylinder) 120hp Kia Ceed from 2019, 21k on the clock for 12 000 euro, still 4 years left on the warranty. I has 17inch alloys, android auto, navigation, parking sensors, rear camera, auto climate and other options but no heated seats and steering wheel and no lumbar adjustments.
2. Get a manual 1.5 TGDI (4 ciylinder) 160hp, Mild Hibrid Hyundai i30 brand new for 17 500 euro, 5 years warranty, 16inch alloys, wireless android auto, rear parking sensors, rear camera, auto climate, heated seats am lumbar adjustments in the driver's seat. I'll have to wait 6 months for this one.

There are, of course, other differences but they don't make a great difference for me, these are the main ones. Why I'm comparing a Kia Ceed to a Hyundai i30? Because they are about the same car and the i30 has a better price in Romania compared to the Ceed and I could not find a suitable i30 on the used car market.

Why there is not a french car in the list? I think the new french cars are not at the same level they used to. In the same way, I think that Kia and Hyundai from the 2000s were less that their french counterparts.

This is what keeps me awake at night and I shared it with you. Please feel free to add your thoughts.
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Re: Buying new car vs. maintaining an older one.

Post by dave »

I need to buy a euro 6 diesel, a megane or 308 estate would be ideal, used car prices are pretty rapey at the moment, 3-4 yr old with sat nav is around 10k

I'm tight & would want a c-class for that sort of £, now a euro 5 petrol would do-

Image

note max power type alloys once seen on most Nova's ?

I'm sure there lots of different shades of silvers... if it wasn't 5 hrs away I go & have a proper look.
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