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There’s the major problem with modern cars, many drivers cease to devote their attention to the road as the car does everything (or so they think).
Well the vast majority of people don't drive autos, and AFAIK everyone still has to steer and brake, so I'm not sure what 'everything' could mean.
I would argue that the mega-soundproofing on higher-end modern cars is more likely to be the worst thing for making people forget they're driving/feel cocooned.
A Toyota Aygo might work, noisy, and the auto lags a bit, but stick it in manual and use the paddles and revs, they’re quite an exuberant little car.
Yep, I have had one for 10 years. First one 95,000 miles and second one now 3 years old. The newer model is a lot better than the first generation.
I have had some fairly good sports cars in the past and I can honestly say I enjoy driving the Aygo just as much (all A/B roads and towns)
thanks all for your continued advice.
his test is monday, so he definitely wont be changing his mind. i, and probably he too, would probably agree on all the advice that manual will give him more choice, but, hes made his mind up. just to answer some of the points made......
yes hes self employed, but subbing, so ladders etc are all provided. however, theres still the chance that at some stage hed want to go it alone, so as you rightly say, his choices are limited. once hes (hopefully) passed and starting to actually get used to driving, id say he may consider retaking the test in a manual if he needs it, but he just wants to get 'on the road'.
and yes i agree with the point about newer autos being good, but his budget only stretching to older ones that maybe arent so good, certainly nothing with flappy paddles. maybe a bit of experience driving a sh1t auto gearbox will spur him on to either buying better, or taking a manual test, who knows.
anyways, back to the original question, he'll definitely buy an auto car, its just which one now. he doesnt want anything too small, i think the nissan note is about the smallest he'd go.
thanks again for your advice, its really useful.
Honda Civic, crv or accord, loads of autos out there. The decorator we use for any domestic work uses a Hyundai hatch back - I think it’s quite telling that he is neat and tidy enough to use his car rather than just sling it all in a van.
anyways, back to the original question, he’ll definitely buy an auto car, its just which one now. he doesnt want anything too small, i think the nissan note is about the smallest he’d go.
What sort of space does he need in there?
As ever, consider the insurance quickly. As a 'just passed' the 2.0lt Astra SRi he wanted will drain his bank account for a couple of years...Same Astra with a smaller engine for now will be mucho cheaper (other brands are available).
i think about astra size is about right for his needs. he'll have work gear plus a baby seat in there.
when i questioned the insurance on an astra (popular with young pups, ragging them and crashing them), he stated that he'd found that the cheapest option (and yes hed quoted as tho he'd just passed his test). that may have been a smaller engined astra tho, not sure.
cheers
fancy casting your expert eyes over a couple of focuses for the boy please?
i get a better feeling for the 1st one, 2 owners and low mileage, altho short MOT and no mention of service history.
he also linked me to a honda civic but altho it looks nice inside, i get the feeling that those nice little extras could start to go wrong (such as the window that doesnt work)
what do you think about the focuses? decent punt?
thanks
The 2009 era ford powershift can have serious issues as milage gets up. A gearbox rebuild is £2k, so I would stick away from that. Nice box when it's working though. So on that basis alone, the older one looks better.
Won't he need more space for tools and that?
Mileage doesn't mean a lot without service history and that seems massively expensive for a 15 year old Focus to me.
Could be a good car, but plenty of people seem to manage to kill even newish cars well within 50k miles. And it's almost guaranteed to have lived a life of doing short journeys, always driven cold. And of course many components perish with age, they don't always need to see a lot of action. Any car that age is likely to have you familiar with either your toolbox or the local mechanic, which is something you need to factor in to the overall cost.
That Civic looks a bit tired.
I once test drove a Civic, the squat hatch model after that version and before the current (which is what I now drive) and it was one of the harshest rides I've ever experienced. It felt like the wheels were directly bolted to the chassis.
Good luck for tomorrow.
Good luck for tomorrow.
thanks mate. just heard the good news, hes passed. really chuffed for him.
his next sentence was "when can you take me to see that focus?" 😀
Mileage doesn’t mean a lot without service history and that seems massively expensive for a 15 year old Focus to me.
hes told me that its got FSH, so thats promising. i do agree that that £2500 seems a lot of wedge for a car that old.
if he does indeed buy it (or any car come to think of it), whats the best way of ensuring hes legal to drive it away? in fact hes told me that he'd prefer his mate to drive it back first til he gets used to it. so either him/me/his mate would need to be legal to drive it away.
can you tax it there and then online? and how about insurance. id guess if youre not certain that youll buy a car youre going to look at, you wont have insurance in place, so what do people generally do?
cheers
Bought a car the other week, to save faffing about in case i didn’t buy it I just got one days insurance. Put all the details in before hand and then just paid for it when i decided to buy it, was about £25. The dealer was insured for me to test drive it and I think I would have had third party on my current insurance for a test drive as I didn’t own it then. Used day insurance.com
Taxed it online after I picked it up, that’s fairly easy online.
can you tax it there and then online?
Yes, and the tax isn't transferable so you have to. Or go home, tax it and go back to pick it up once you're done. I had a ballache with my current car as the previous owner gave me the slip off an old V5 so it had the wrong reference number which meant I could only do it for 6 months and only over the phone.
and how about insurance.
Either find someone with insurance to do the test drive for you (i.e. probably you) if the current owner has insurance. Or if it's a dealer he might be covered by their insurance. One of those times when it's actually easier/better to buy from a dealer. Both those Focus's look like dealers so should be alright. Just remember you can't drive it home on your insurance as it's no longer the dealer's car at that point. The easiest way would be to have quotes saved so you can just ring up the insurers, give them the quote reference and your credit card and you're good to go.
£2500 a lot for a 15 year old Focus, maybe, but Covid seems to have added a huge margin to dealer prices. When I bought my Berlingo privately they had inflated to £600-£900, dealers were asking £2500-£4000 for the same cars! Combination of more people wanting a 2nd/3rd car to avoid public transport and dealers struggling to get stock. Is it worth that, probably not in the sense you'll lose all that value once it's off the forecourt (privately they seem to be about £800-£1200 round here). Will it sell for that much, fairly likely unless demand suddenly dries up.
Both those Focus’s look like dealers so should be alright.
ahh, i was thinking that one was private, just had a look at the pics and it does indeed seem to be in a dealers yard doesnt it.
thanks for the info
£2500 a lot for a 15 year old Focus, maybe, but Covid seems to have added a huge margin to dealer prices. When I bought my Berlingo privately they had inflated to £600-£900, dealers were asking £2500-£4000 for the same cars! Combination of more people wanting a 2nd/3rd car to avoid public transport and dealers struggling to get stock.
This is indeed the case, I had that conversation with the dealer I bought my car from a year ago, and he was a bit crestfallen when I told him the repair and refurbishment company I work for, whose finished cars either went to dealers or auction has been bought up by Cazoo, making it even harder for dealers to get hold of decent low-mileage used cars.
ahh, i was thinking that one was private, just had a look at the pics and it does indeed seem to be in a dealers yard doesnt it.
hes asked, and it is indeed private. dunno why the cars in a dealers yard, mebbes have to ask that question. and the FSH (altho not advertised as such) may just be part history now.
still seems a decent enough car, yes a tad overpriced, but i think hes got his heart set on it now.
thanks
hes asked, and it is indeed private. dunno why the cars in a dealers yard, mebbes have to ask that question. and the FSH (altho not advertised as such) may just be part history now.
Not being a mechanic and tight with my money that’s the sort of thing which would make me think I’ll give this one a pass.
I'd be wary of any tdci with incomplete history.
dont think its a diesel mate. cant even see an engine size on the ad but it says gasoline?
It says 2.0L diesel. Ford Powershift autos were notorious for gearbox problems, I don't think it's a good choice personally and certainly not for that price. It's ancient, should be no more than a grand. As a first car you just want something reliable that isn't going to chuck silly bills at you. If the auto box does need work done, the car will likely be scrap because it'll cost more than it's worth to repair.
Also, it's not private because the listing is offering finance in the description.
Are we reading the same advert?
thanks mate. just heard the good news, hes passed. really chuffed for him.
Woop. Congrats Sadminipunk.
Also, it’s not private because the listing is offering finance in the description.
possibly not, its my first link of the three above ^^^. the facebook one, not autotrader?
linky again
Sadminipunk.
i like that name for him. it may stick 😀
On the private/trade thing, the ad states 2 owners from new in the past tense. I'd be raising an eyebrow too if they're telling you it's private. Private sales are mostly a thing of the past these days unfortunately, and many of them listed as private are one man wheeler dealers who snap up the cheap sales and relist for twice the price.
right, so you think there are signs that hes a buyer and seller do you? and i assume the downside to that is an inflated price? any other downsides to look out for?
thanks
any other downsides to look out for?
Somebody lying to you over a major purchase is a warning right there.
If they are a trader there is significant legal protection that they are expected to meet - as an individual, there are none. Much to be gained when posing as an individual, financially.
You can't tell he's a trader. That could be just his work car park. If he was a trader he'd have more cars in his Facebook history, surely. Hard to tell really, but I'd go check it out. Car looks mint.
OK apart from this in the background, but he's not trying to hide it!
cheers, ill pass that advice on to him.
he's also now looking at a hybrid honda civic and asked questions about whether these are any good. ive no idea, are they?
and again, its listed as a private seller but offering finance? am i right in this, so maybe a dealer again?
thanks
https://kmspecialistcars.co.uk/about-us/
Kevin Martin eh.
I take back that last post. 😀
haha you bad lad Dez 😀
hes been having a text conversation with my lad, says the story is it was a mobility car for the 1st 3 years, then his sisters mother-in-law bought it (yeah i know) and passed away last may.
im not clever enough to know why he isnt selling it through his business, or if private sellers have an advantage, why he doesnt sell them all privately 😀
good detective work!
EDIT: ive messaged the bloke myself asking if its his dealer yard, ill let you know when i get a reply.
EDIT EDIT: any advice on the hybrid? ^^^
Not a clue - except that a 1.3 auto will likely be pretty slow. You'd have to test drive I guess.
VW Polo auto not on his list? or Seat Ibiza?
VW Polo auto not on his list? or Seat Ibiza?
id guess they would be. he hasnt mentioned them yet tho but i can mention them to him to put in a search.....
/blockquote>
And no stock. Suspect hes folded and selling off anything not used to pay off debt.
And that Focus is ropey inside. Look at the seats. 48k miles, More like 148k
And that Focus is ropey inside. Look at the seats. 48k miles, More like 148k
With mileages on the mot history, how does an unscrupulous seller falsify the mileage?
hes replied now stating that covid has shut them down.
the service history is 'part' but bears out the mileage....
2007 - 4k
2008 - 11k
2009 - 17k
2015 - 36k
2018 - 46k
thanks for the help, im pleased ive got some supersleuths on my side 😀
EDIT EDIT: any advice on the hybrid? ^^^
My observation is I like buying a car where someone is faffed enough to keep up all the records, all nice and neat, like the car looks in the picture.
I once went with mrs_oab to view & test drive a Corrolla on a local second hand lot. The car was 'meh'.
Next to it was a neat looking Mazda 323, on the passenger seat a folder with 13 years of service history and bills, in date order, all in one ladies name at one address, from the same two garages. We bought the car, ran it for 12 months, paid for an MOT, a service and a new tyre in that time. We paid £600 for it, sold it for £650 when we moved to Scotland.
, its listed as a private seller but offering finance? am i right in this, so maybe a dealer again?
I think that's just autotrader providing a link to a finance company, not the seller offering finance themselves.
I think that’s just autotrader providing a link to a finance company, not the seller offering finance themselves.
ah that makes sense. any issues with a hybrid of that age? anything that he'd need to look out for?
Good info on [url= https://www.parkers.co.uk/honda/civic/hybrid-saloon/review/mpg-running-costs/ ]Parkers[/url] regarding the Accord hybrid.
Group 16 is a tad high for a first car. My son's was a 13 and we had to shop around a lot to find a policy - £1400 with black box I think it was.
£700 no black box 2nd year... til he wrote it off. Now he's gone group 28. Oh woe.
haha 😀
well the boys set on the focus, no matter what else i recommend, so..... we're off to fetch it in an hour or so.
"whats his address?"
"hes given me a postcode, says the car will be at the bottom of the road, thatll probably be his car sales yard"
"it isnt, ive checked"
"well as long as hes got the V5 i dont spose it matters"
"is he the registered keeper?"
"dunno, be reet"
"sounds a bit dodgy not meeting at the address of the registered keeper?"
"be reet as long as hes got the V5"
what could possibly go wrong? 🤣
well we're back, and pleasantly surprised.
the postcode was indeed the blokes house, he seemed decent, stories checked out, and the car looked to be in better nick than expected. few scratches here and there but nowt to worry about, nice and shiny, and not too shabby inside.
drove smoothly enough, seemed more sluggish than i expected for a 1.6 but im no expert, seemed to take a while to get up to 70 on the dual carriageway, but that may just be me being used to mine being nippier. hard to put my finger on it, it seemed heavier and more solid rather than nippy, more like an old volvo say. may not be a bad thing for a young pups first car tho.
the lad was indeed correct, 'be reet' 🙂
thanks all for your help.
Good to hear 😊
I remember driving a Ford 1.6 auto quite a few years back and the drive was similar. Good to be slow and steady in the first car anyway.
Such a relief when you get the kids something they’re haopy with eh!
aye, its welcome to the real world now.....
£2000 on a car, £900 to insure it, went to the post office to tax it and found out its another £280 😲
it needs a service, thats another £130.
he can start waving goodbye to his pennies now 😄
My old boss had a 1.6 Focus Estate with manual as company car. I do remember it felt pretty average when accelerating yet regularly was going faster than I expected...
If there is no proof of it being done I would get the timing belt changed as well. Look at it as insurance against needing a new engine!
Always a good feeling to get your first wheels though and £900, whilst a chunk of change, isn't outrageous for the first year's insurance.