smallbrother
Elder Statesman
Errors aplenty, progress slow, but progress nonetheless!
Posts: 2,269
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Post by smallbrother on Apr 29, 2021 20:58:48 GMT
With our youngest rapidly approaching his 17th birthday I have started looking for a small car in the $2 - 3 k range, Citroen C1 and similar.
What I am finding is loads of choice available but very few with any sort of service history.
Am I unusual in only buying cars that have been maintained? (OK, I know records can be fiddled but you can always ring up the garage if their stamp is in the book.)
I am amazed these vehicles keep going for 50-60 k miles.
Pete.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 29, 2021 21:07:34 GMT
Hi Pete
I think I'd be guided by what car has the cheapest insurance...17 and male will be very high, much more than the cost of the car.
Pete
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smallbrother
Elder Statesman
Errors aplenty, progress slow, but progress nonetheless!
Posts: 2,269
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Post by smallbrother on Apr 29, 2021 21:23:07 GMT
Hi Pete I think I'd be guided by what car has the cheapest insurance...17 and male will be very high, much more than the cost of the car. Pete With me as the owner I got a quote of 240. (Compare the Market) Very high excess of 1300 but pretty good I thought. That was a Citroen C1. Pete.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 29, 2021 21:26:07 GMT
Lucky you...my grandson's was thousands and that was with a black box fitted to ensure he drove like an old man. Mind you much depends on post code...
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lesstoneuk
Part of the e-furniture
Retired Omnibus navigation & velocity adjustment technician
Posts: 373
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Post by lesstoneuk on Apr 29, 2021 21:39:55 GMT
Be careful with a C1, we had an 08 plate. Leaked like a sieve through the door seals. Not sure if it was the actual sealing strip round the door or the window rubbers. It is a known, common problem with them. We would come down in the morning to at least an inch of water in the foot Wells.
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kipford
Statesman
Building a Don Young 5" Gauge Aspinall Class 27
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Post by kipford on Apr 29, 2021 22:23:07 GMT
Pete What about a Hyundai i10. We have a 65 plate 1.0 l one as a run about, very pleased with it.
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Gary L
Elder Statesman
Posts: 1,208
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Post by Gary L on Apr 29, 2021 23:06:29 GMT
Pete What about a Hyundai i10. We have a 65 plate 1.0 l one as a run about, very pleased with it. Toyota for me. Never had one go wrong. Nor my sister. Nor my two daughters. Having (several lifetimes ago) studied their TQS I know how much commitment goes into keeping it that way. Gary
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smallbrother
Elder Statesman
Errors aplenty, progress slow, but progress nonetheless!
Posts: 2,269
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Post by smallbrother on Apr 30, 2021 6:46:59 GMT
What about missing service records?
Am I being too fussy?
Pete.
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Post by durhambuilder on Apr 30, 2021 6:57:45 GMT
I had a C1 for a couple of years and replaced it with a vw up, completely different car and infinitely better admittedly at a greater cost. Always check the mot online, you can go back to 2006 or so and gives an indication on how well the car has been maintained or whether things have had to be done just to scrape it through another test.
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Post by Cro on Apr 30, 2021 7:11:34 GMT
Pete What about a Hyundai i10. We have a 65 plate 1.0 l one as a run about, very pleased with it. Toyota for me. Never had one go wrong. Nor my sister. Nor my two daughters. Having (several lifetimes ago) studied their TQS I know how much commitment goes into keeping it that way. Gary You sound like my family! I've had 2 corollas, now on a Rav4. Dads had 2 ravs and now has the C-HR. I'd avoid Citroen like the plague, everyone I know who has had them has had big problems and they just don't seem to last. I have to admit I don't know if a record of service history quite carries the weight it used too with modern cars, doesn't mean they aren't being looked after though. I'd look for a Polo or similar if you can, Jess had one for years and was a great car. Adam
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Post by ettingtonliam on Apr 30, 2021 7:41:00 GMT
I had a secondhand Citroen Picasso for several years, and although it had a good carrying capacity, it suffered from being too complicated, especially in the electrical department. It was prone to flashing a message saying 'danger of freezing', usually on a hot day in July!
We had several Polos, and yes, they are good. Main dealer servicing tends to be expensive.
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Post by Roger on Apr 30, 2021 7:42:57 GMT
I'd check the J D Power survey before buying any particular car, because you'll be surprised at who makes the most reliable cars and gets the highest level of consumer satisfaction. Spoiler alert, French and German cars mostly do worse than Japanese and Korean ones, but there are a few exceptions.
It's also worth googling for common problems with whatever model car you're considering. I wouldn't trust personal recommendations, a sample of one isn't of much value. However, for what it's worth, in my experience, Japanese models have proven to be extremely reliable, but that only accounts for seven different models over the years, from Mitsubishi, Nissan, Toyota, Lexus and Mazda.
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Post by chris vine on Apr 30, 2021 8:05:47 GMT
Hi Pete,
I always give the opposite advice to the received wisdom on buying second-hand cars: Buy the newest car with the highest mileage. In my experience, it is age which makes cars unreliable and not mileage. Modern cars seem to be able to do an easy 150,000 miles with little sign of wear. However, with age there are so many things which start to go wrong: Corrosion, moisture ingress to wiring looms and electronic parts, plastics (in door locks, window winders, sunroofs,) get brittle and break, moisture in brake fluid to damage ABS pump, etc etc... If a car is only a few years old and has 100,000 miles on the clock, it must have done most of that on motorways - so long journeys, not so much damage/wear to brakes, suspension, exhaust etc.
The 15 year old car with only 10,000 miles on the clock could easily be a ticking time ...
Just my thoughts after owning several quite old cars!
All best Chris.
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smallbrother
Elder Statesman
Errors aplenty, progress slow, but progress nonetheless!
Posts: 2,269
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Post by smallbrother on Apr 30, 2021 8:10:31 GMT
Toyota for me. Never had one go wrong. Nor my sister. Nor my two daughters. Having (several lifetimes ago) studied their TQS I know how much commitment goes into keeping it that way. Gary You sound like my family! I've had 2 corollas, now on a Rav4. Dads had 2 ravs and now has the C-HR. I'd avoid Citroen like the plague, everyone I know who has had them has had big problems and they just don't seem to last. I have to admit I don't know if a record of service history quite carries the weight it used too with modern cars, doesn't mean they aren't being looked after though. I'd look for a Polo or similar if you can, Jess had one for years and was a great car. Adam I've had a number of Citroens down the years and never had any problems at all! I know loads who do avoid them though. Have I just been lucky - hard to say isn't it! Pete.
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Post by simplyloco on Apr 30, 2021 8:33:32 GMT
I had a secondhand Citroen Picasso for several years, and although it had a good carrying capacity, it suffered from being too complicated, especially in the electrical department. It was prone to flashing a message saying 'danger of freezing', usually on a hot day in July! We had several Polos, and yes, they are good. Main dealer servicing tends to be expensive. My friend's Polo wasn't reliable, but I don't think he kept it in mint condition...😂
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lesstoneuk
Part of the e-furniture
Retired Omnibus navigation & velocity adjustment technician
Posts: 373
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Post by lesstoneuk on Apr 30, 2021 10:34:27 GMT
I had a secondhand Citroen Picasso for several years, and although it had a good carrying capacity, it suffered from being too complicated, especially in the electrical department. It was prone to flashing a message saying 'danger of freezing', usually on a hot day in July! We had several Polos, and yes, they are good. Main dealer servicing tends to be expensive. My friend's Polo wasn't reliable, but I don't think he kept it in mint condition...😂 I've always heard that French electrics are an abomination. French diesels engines are excellent, petrol engine not so good. I had a citroen BX19, great while the hydraulics played ball. The seals blew in the steering rack so once the tide was out in the hydraulic reservoir you had no steering, no suspension and no brakes.
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tigermoth
Seasoned Member
Birthday 27 Aug 1941
Posts: 141
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Post by tigermoth on Apr 30, 2021 11:59:00 GMT
Well the worst car the wife ever bought was a Chevrolet Orlando, built in Korea I believe, we owned it for 18 months and it spent 10 of those at the dealers being repaired, engine was a pain in the butt, it was 3 years old when we got it with a full service history, the main problem was the injectors, first problem was we were driving along and the engine went into emergency mode and flash up particulate filter problem, took it back and were told that we were driving to slow (we were coming back from London at the time on the M1 and had been doing about 80 all the way) and were told to drive flat out in top gear for 20 mile or so, pointed out that I would be doing around 120 and asking for a ticket. Was then told to drive it in 4th flat out, what can you say!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The injectors used to need cleaning every 1000 mile or so, the garage never sorted out the problems with them, the garage took them out and sent them away to be calibrated, went to see how they were going after a week and were then told they had only taken them out the day before and sent them to a local agent, I told the garage to tell the agent who they were for and he would do them right away (I knew the owner) they sent them back saying they could not do them as they were a specialist job, they then sent them to two other companys who also could not do them, in the end after 6 weeks I told THEM which place to send them to, who promptly said that 2 of them were knackered and would be £800 each, in the end I found two rebuilt injectors for £400 each.
There were lots of other problems and we later found out that they had another Orlando in the workshop and were swapping parts off of that one to try and find out what was wrong with ours while they were waiting for parts for that one as well.
That is a very short version of an 18 month saga.
We now run two Astra estates and mine has 160,000 on the clock and has had the battery replaced once, been serviced at the prescribed intervals by a friend, and has never let me down once, the wife's has 75,000 on the clock and will soon need a new clutch (seems a common mileage for replacement) that one has also never let us down except for a fuse in the washer circuit when she first bought the car. Both cars have a full service history and both have towed a balloon trailer all over the UK and Europe without the slightest problems.
Norman.
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uuu
Elder Statesman
your message here...
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Post by uuu on Apr 30, 2021 12:05:46 GMT
At that price range, I'd not expect a full service record. I keep invoices for my own cars, but the book is not stamped.
I sold my father-in-law's Peugeot cheaply. The couple that bought it were thrilled - it was for their 17-year-old - it already had dents in every panel!
Our current Fiat 500 has been an amusement. The pedal assembly dropped off, which was scary. The wiring to the rear hatch failed, the dealer wanted to do a complete loom replacement, but we found a repair kit on the web that was a fraction of the price. There's a breather hose that fails every year of so, which makes it smell. Currently, the radio has stopped and the passenger window detaches itself from its winder. We still love it, though.
Wilf
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Post by cplmickey on Apr 30, 2021 13:41:35 GMT
Pete What about a Hyundai i10. We have a 65 plate 1.0 l one as a run about, very pleased with it. I hired one once when my car was in the garage. Absolutely amazed by how well it went and it was very economical. OK it's not much bigger than a roller skate but I really enjoyed tearing up to the Peak District for a fell race and down to Loughborough for band practise in it. Ian
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Post by andyhigham on Apr 30, 2021 14:10:48 GMT
I also hired an i10, a great little car and very agile. I also once had a VW Up as a courtesy car, amazing load space as there is another boot under the boot floor
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