Hi all,

Sorry – another boring car thread.

Input shaft bearing on my 2003 Civic is dying, and will cost more to fix than the car is worth (£5-800 apparently). Only want a car for another 15-24 months I think, so was really hoping the Civic would last until then, but never mind.

So, looking for a car that;

Max £2k
Will retain as much re-sale value as possible in 15-24 months time
Holds 4 people
Bikes can be carried (although I won’t need to carry bikes until Winter)
Reliable/not expensive to maintain
Not sleep-inducing to drive
Is reasonably efficient, and won’t break the bank to insure
I do roughly 10-15k miles a year

Not sure whether to get something cheap (under £1k), which I won’t mind if I scratch up, and basically get scrap value for when I come to sell (but run the risk of it dying before then), or spend a bit more on something nicer, with better potential resale value, but more risk of loosing value if it gets scratched/dinged up.

For reference, been looking at Civics, Fiestas, Golfs etc.

Oorrrr, so tempted to get a Mk1 MX5 (old enough that an extra year and few thousand miles don’t matter, and easy to buy and sell), but obviously can’t carry 4 people…

Any thoughts?

Cheers,
Duane.

I’ve loved the mx5s we’ve owned…

How about a 3 series touring? They keep value well.
I’m selling a celica 2003 plate, sits 4 and carries bikes. £1900 or thereabout it’s been drop dead reliable. Ticks most of your boxes but isn’t too easy on fuel.

Max £2k
Will retain as much re-sale value as possible in 15-24 months time
Holds 4 people
Bikes can be carried (although I won’t need to carry bikes until Winter)
Reliable/not expensive to maintain
Not sleep-inducing to drive
Is reasonably efficient, and won’t break the bank to insure
I do roughly 10-15k miles a year

If you know that the rest of your Civic is sound then you might be better off sticking with that.

If it’s a POS anyway, I’d go for a mid-sized or even large car. Small cars are a bit pricey due to demand – as I found out when buying our Fiesta.

I really liked my old Mondeo, the squarer shaped one.

Hardly the most outlandish list of demands matt_outandabout – but don’t let us stop you being a smartarse.

I’d go for your second cheaper option. A 2k car isn’t likely to be guaranteed problem free and you have more to lose than two or even three bangers over the same period, with a good chance of one lasting the distance. My 1995 Peugeot 205 has done 60k and is still going strong, cost £400; although you may want something that the neighbours don’t think has been abandoned outside your house (my wife wasn’t happy).

I would think spending the money on your current car would be worth it. I spent £600 on mine recently but it has a new mot so hopefully will last another year. It may or may not. But a new car would have been at least a grand.

Fix the civic – better the devil you know.

+1 for fixing the Civic.

chapaking – bit harsh in turn. Out of bed on wrong side?

If you can put a ceiling on what to spend, might – might – be worth fixing the Civic. Is there a way of getting a ghost MOT done on it by local garage to check the rest of it out for ‘hidden’ issues that would bite you in 9 months time?

FWIW we nursed our old car about a year over what we should have, it went from getting through MOT to broken clutch, bust battery, shocks and ultimately failing MOT in a big way in about a year, sold for £80 to local mechanic..

chapaking – bit harsh in turn. Out of bed on wrong side?

Possibly, but when I see the same names constantly trying to put other people down with pathetic smugness it gets my goat a bit.

First rule of bangernomics

Dont spend more than you can afford to walk away from.

Second rule is – the more you spend the more you lose.

Id spend a grand on something diesel and french thats 10years old(simple ecus and minimal sensors) around 60-80k with fsh that way the max you willl lose is 800 quid.

Sleep inducing to drive it is but cheap to run and could still sell it for what i paid easy.

Thanks for the replies.

Will have another think about repairing the Civic. Going to contact some mobile mechanics to see how much cheaper they are. The car still has about 9 months MOT. Only problem is the car has other issues (perfectly drivable, but annoying) – that I was looking forward to getting rid of!

Not sure if I can get much more than scrap value for the Civic (maybe if someone who fixes up cars, maybe a few hundred?). Or if it’s smarter to fix the bearing on the Civic, and sell it next year…

Trailrat – I thought French cars had dodgy electronics?

I would just repair your current Civic. Whatever you buy is an unknown and could have potential bills around the corner. The Civic you know the problem and how much to fix it.

Is the car for everyday use or weekends?

If it’s infrequent longer trips then look at the don’t own but hire what you need option.

I don’t use a car during the week so I reckon I can get 2 in 3 or 2 in 4 weekends of car hire for better value (zero insurance, duty/tax and repair bills) small car for solo trips bigger one/van for longer bigger trips.

Car is used everyday for commuting, as well as longer drives (eg Derby to Edinburgh) a couple times a month.

I think what I’m worried about is spending a load of money on the car now, using it a year, and then it not being worth anything then, as opposed to getting rid now, spending a bit of money on something newer, and getting most of that money back. I just guess getting that money back is in no way guaranteed.

And the Civic is pretty horrible to drive – it has sticky steering (requires a new steering rack I believe to fix), and it handles terrible.

You and everyone else , makes em great value. – 3 year old van with 32k on the clock for 3800 quid ….. It was a 12 grand van when it was new !

At 10 years old if it all still works chances are itll continue to work for some time yet , bathtub failure model n all that.

Certainly has never been my experiance of dodgy electrics my had my van for 68 k it just ticked over 100k /9 years old the other day , needed little more than wear and tear and most importantly nothing electrical. A wheel bearing a couple of bushes , a seal on the drive shaft and a clutch after i melted it towing my mates lwb hi top transit home 🙂 cheap for parts and easy to work on.

Ive had such good value out of mine i bought another for the mrs after her 2000 pound golf expired terminally ….. How ever not before it required some expensive repairs to the steering rack and rear electrics( natch vw in electrical shocker over a french motor :o) due to poor design considerations. We have had it a year and already its cost less than the golf did in its first year…

Trailrat – so something like Clio/Megane, or a 206/307?

How bad is input bearing btw ?

Have you changedor at least checked the gearbox oil level ?

Ive kept old bangers with dodgy sounding boxes going simply by changing the gear box oil (after finding out it was mostly water and congeled oil…. )

Keep it going for another year and then stick it on gumtree for double scrap value – someone will bite.

At the price you are looking at it’s a lottery, there is a good chance if you pick something reliable and look after it you will get some decent cash back. Other side is it could just have all those “shit happens” failures in the next 12 months.

….still think you should buy my celica, ticks your boxes and has toyota reliability. 🙂

I bought a Ford Focus estate for just under a grand, W plate, not had any issues with it in 3 years.

Aplogies, I was not meaning to be smartarse.

It does seem the combination of price, reliability yet fun and cheap to insure is a rather difficult tension. I would suggest Toyota Corrolla or Avensis, possibly another Honda Civic or Accord. Failing that an older Ford Focus.

But none are exciting or interesting.

Trailrat – think the bearing is pretty bad, makes noise in 1-4 gears, but not got much to compare it to.
Not checked/topped up gearbox oil, a mate said it wouldn’t make a difference now that the bearing is already knackered?

When does it make the noise…..

Did they say input bearing or clutch release bearing ?

As ive said i have had noisy boxes that have quietened down with fresh oil….

Never had a bad input bearing to my knowledge though, but thats not to say i havnt ….. MOstly they whine or whirrred.

When i had a bad release bearing i ended up just driving with my foot under the clutch to stop it 🙂

Just run the box till it gets really bad.

Whilst doing that get a 2nd hand box off fleabay boosh I’d then find some one to do it for pound notes

“Whilst doing that get a 2nd hand box off fleabay boosh I’d then find some one to do it for pound notes”

While being very careful for 1 many mechanics wont fit parts they didnt source as it just creates hassle.

2 even the same engine on the same year can have different boxes hence the use of vin to id.

In bangernomics stylee, I bought a 1.8 focus last year for 500 quid. I drove it for 14 months, then the clutch went. Banged it on eBay as spares or repair and got 150 for it. Total cost of ownership for a years transport – 350 quid plus a new tyre to get it through an MOT. You can’t really argue with that.

If you give my dad £1800 you can have his Octavia VRS. Its getting on a bit now. Think its a 2001 model but done only around 70k miles. He really doesn’t want such a powerful car anymore so he wants shot of it, though his efforts to get it sold so far have mainly involved asking the neighbours if they know anyone that wants to buy it. Apparently this is how cars are sold in deepest darkest Ayrshire!

^ estate or hatchback ?

We’re selling an MX5 Mk2.5 for about £1600, 2002 1.8. It’s well good, we’ll be buying another when we don’t need something as practical.

For £1500 you could have my (scruffy, high mileage, but reliable so far) 1.6 petrol 58 plate Mondeo estate, mot til December.

There’s a fix for that steering rack. Ex-Mrs Engineer’s Civic had a new rack under warranty and then it happened to the new one after 12 months. Honda wanted £1000 to fix it! I was going to do it just before we split up (!). It involves a few bolts and some WD-40, apparently.

Find another garage & fix the Civic.
You know its history.

Boxes tend to be the same I agree with ancillary components though.