For a long time I wonder who bought cars from Car Supermarkets?! - I mean the ones local to me are like a tank of sharks, you can't go in without being escorted by a pushy, slightly psychotic salesperson, it's smells of BO and whilst every car is supposed to have 200 point check or something, those checks didn't seem to include replacing missing trim, sorting small parking dents etc.
I suppose if you're not interested in cars and just want the appropriately sized box on wheels and seats they work.
Personally, I spend about 2 years dreaming about what my next car should be, and how it will make me instantly and permanently happy. Then another 6 months of messing around with autotrader / finance calculators and 'man maths' to pretend I can afford it, in fact that it will save me money! Then a few more months trying to look at them at dealership without anyone talking to me and finally, when I'm mentally prepared... I visit a dealer with some intent, surprise the salesperson by knowing every single tiny, pointless detail about it, and make them a nervous offer based on the yearlong soul-searching man maths I've spent an hour a day on and usually agree something close. The salesperson will give me all these things to make me excited, but I'm full of anxiety and dread because I've spent too much, it's too selfish, I should have bought something cheaper to buy and run. I'll pick it up and can't even crack a smile because I'm in bits, maybe by the time I get home I might enjoy it a little bit, then I'll love it and I will be happy, for a bit and then remember possessions can't make you happy or unhappy, but when I'm happy, I love it. You can probably see why Car Supermarkets don't really do it for me.
Agree with Op, modern cars are all getting a bit bland and dull to drive
Exactly how many have you driven, as a matter of interest?
I knew exactly what I wanted, I was even able to supply VIN and registration to my local dealer, as the cars were going through refurbishment, as ex-Motability cars, but it seems that the good cars are actually bought from Motab by the dealership then sent for tidying up.
While my dealer was looking online, one popped up down in the Southeast, that had been in for repairs, but I had to make a decision then and there, to put a deposit on it.
Five years on, I’m still driving it, and couldn’t be happier with it.
But then, I’d been in the incredibly lucky position to be able to drive many, many cars and so discover which ones were absolute misery to drive after half an hour or so, and which ones were still fine three hours later. I can actually attest to the fact that a Smart fourtwo was a great little car to drive from Cornwall to North Wiltshire, with only one stop for a piss and refreshments.
Going back 20-25 years ago when second hand automatics where less common, we went to a big local second hand dealers to look at one but it had been sold by the time we got there. The "salesman" confidentially said they'd be able to source a similar one very quickly. We both came out convinced that the way he'd said "sourced" left us in no doubt he meant "stolen to order". Very odd.
the trick is for the dealer to keep the spare keys for the car they've just sold incase another customer comes in looking for something 'very similar'. 🙂
I've driven a fair number of different cars via cycle race sponsorship. Race promoter goes to some local dealer who provide cars for the Commissaires during the race.
I was at the world champs in glasgow and beside a team car that pulled up to assist a rider with a puncture. It was one of the most unhappy and distressed smelling cars I ever experienced! It just smelt of overly hot everything. Not sure if the city circuit they use in Glasgow is particularly taxing for the support cars - several thousand right angle corners - but I made a mental note to give Peter Vardy's a miss if was in the market for a motor any time soon 😆
Exactly how many have you driven, as a matter of interest?
Me personally, about 30 in the last 5 years. Everything from a mokka pretty woeful to an xtrail, ford edge and forresters. All around scotland.I fully agree with the statement all disengaging blandness. My citroen ax was more entertaining. My old panda fire was hilarious.
Forward reverse, left and right + radio. All a car needs.
Previously i would get a shanner and keep it ticking along. But we need a car that can just be good to go and reliable. I don't have off road parking let alone a garage for general stuff. So newer is the order of the day for the first time ever.
Can just about summon a co sideration for shape, anything from a focus estate up to a berlingo will do. I don't care what the spec is, the colour, the engine doesn't make any difference.
Actually a heated windscreen would be pretty handy. And LEZ probably sensible.
Checking out cinch.
Forward reverse, left and right + radio. All a car needs.
You can't say that none of it matters then start complaining about character...
None of it matters as in it doesn't make a difference. They are all in essence perfect.
The character of an old car is at any moments one of the five key areas might fail.
My last 2 cars I bought from mates, most painless car purchases to date. I sold the first one on to another mate, which was also painless.
So do you know anyone selling anything you fancy?
I was at the world champs in glasgow and beside a team car that pulled up to assist a rider with a puncture. It was one of the most unhappy and distressed smelling cars I ever experienced! It just smelt of overly hot everything. Not sure if the city circuit they use in Glasgow is particularly taxing for the support cars - several thousand right angle corners - but I made a mental note to give Peter Vardy's a miss if was in the market for a motor any time soon 😆
At the Worlds, the teams are all supplied with the same cars - in the case of Glasgow I believe they were all Kia. It's for a number of reasons - overall fairness, sponsorship reasons, to stop the actual WorldTour team riders turning up with their trade team cars, to stop the well-funded nations bringing a fleet of top end cars while the "lesser funded" nations have to cope with whatever they can afford to hire... Etc.
The problem is that the team car drivers are people from that nation (they're not supplied by the organisation) so when someone who's only ever driven a ninth-hand Lada at a road race in Timbuktu is given the keys to a new Kia, they're not necessarily the smoothest driver in the world with it...
When my car needs replacing I'll probably just buy another the same.
My mechanic friend always says:
"Buy whatever you like, they're all shit"
I found something I liked the look of at Kazoo. Bought car, car arrived a few days later, car was exactly as described, no nasty surprises, still have car. I'd buy from Cinch next time, they seem to have directly replaced Kazoo in terms of market share.
Previous car, I bought my wife's car from her. It had seats and a steering wheel. I knew the history.
Come to think of it, the one before that was hers, too. It also had seats and a steering wheel and I knew the history.
One before that I bought from kid's schoolmate's parents. I'll spare the details...
I'm not fussy on exact model, as you may gather I'm way past car snobbery, cars are much of a muchness now, it's not the 70s.
My wife spent absolutely ages messing about with local test drives and the like before going to a (other side of country) local dealer that "offered delivery" because "that's the exact right car I want". The dealer was not local to us. They began messing her about on the very first email, the messing didn't stop, my wife insisted on going through with the sale because "there isn't another one like it available", car arrived with several undocumented cosmetics, they dithered and messed about those, they didn't get sorted, emails went unanswered for ages unless followed up with a phone call where action was promised and failed to happen. They were a shitshow from the get go. The car is ok, but the service she received was dire.
If you're buying remote, buy from somewhere that does it properly.
Or buy one you already know from someone you know.
Exactly.
AM radio minimum.
40 going on 68
I think the combination of modern cars, online sales and distance selling regulations have made the actual buying process much easier.
The days of the old dodgy car dealer who would try to cover up a fault and punt it on to an unsuspecting customer are largely over. In fact we seem to have gone to the other extreme with dealers being expected to fix issues that crop up on old cars months after they have been sold.
It's now easy to see how the price being asked compares with the market average. If you still like to haggle you can go for one priced a bit higher and talk them down or you can just buy something that is below market average and know that you are paying a fair price.
It seems to basically be a numbers game these days. Dealers buy at trade price, fix any issues they can find and sell on knowing that they will have to fix any issues that crop up in the near future, so a small percentage will end up costing them money but hopefully they make enough overall to make a profit. There is no incentive for them to sell anything with a known issue though as it's just going to come back and bite them.
You can take the gamble yourself if you like and just buy from one of the auction sites that allows private bidders. On average that will be cheaper but obviously it could go wrong.
I find test drives largely pointless. The dealer is far more likely to spot a fault on a test drive than I am. Fair enough if you have a strong preference for a certain driving style then you might want to see if the car suits you, but I've lost count of the number of cars I've driven over the past 20 years (mine, my wife's, children's, courtesy cars, hire cars) and to be honest I could live with all of them. Some feel a bit more sporty, some are set up more for comfort, but they all do the job.
I've bought a couple of cars towards the lower end of the market (~£5k) for the kids over the past few years. Both bought from the other end of the country based on pictures and a chat with the dealer. One did throw an engine fault after a couple of weeks and needed a new timing chain (around a grand) but the dealer worked with my local independent garage (and the warranty company) to sort it out at no cost to me. The fact that I could have just rejected the car and got my money back if I wanted made the process pretty much stress-free. The other one has been faultless for the year we've had it.
At the newer end of the market you may still have the manufacturer's warranty anyway so you can often get any issues sorted out before the warranty expires.
So, the buying part I don't find to tough. Deciding what to actually buy on the other hand is a nightmare. I've been looking at newer EVs for over six months now and can't find a single one that I actually want to buy.
"Buy whatever you like, they're all shit"
This irritates me. Today for a few grand you can buy a car that has sorted handling, is quiet, comfortable, economical, powerful, safe, and will probably do 150k miles with minimal repairs. Given how they actually work, this is absolutely a triumph of engineering, it's amazing. You should talk to someone about what cars were like in the 60s and 70s if you want a reality check. Or even the 80s - compare the Mk2 Fiesta 950cc that I first drove in to the 2015 Corsa that my nephew is about to buy a generation later, it's absolutely no comparison.
Think about type of car (i.e. body type, fuel type, anything you really want) conduct autotrader search, speak to owner, arrange to go see car, see they aren't total loons, buy car.
Worked for my Golf GTi, the seller did say I was the only sane person who contacted him about it, everyone else wanted to come in with low offers then argued why their price was right. Then also worked for the Octy estate I also have, pano roof, VRs model (although diesel) comfy mile muncher that can be good on fuel if driven well from a family who were being shipped over to Washington DC with the military. Both have been pretty normal in respect of maintenance etc, the Golf has had some expensive problems like the heater matrix going and the compressor for the aircon needing replacement, but it's at 100k miles was paid off years ago and remains a pleasure to drive IMO.
My boss swapped out a Lexus SUV petrol as it was 'costing him too much money' replaced with an electric that's on 30k miles deal over 4 years, but he's done 20k in less than the first year and now lives a lot further from work than he did. So PCP deals, don't do them unless you have some clear ideas on your mileage and usage patterns!
You should talk to someone about what cars were like in the 60s and 70s if you want a reality check. Or even the 80s - compare the Mk2 Fiesta 950cc that I first drove in to the 2015 Corsa that my nephew is about to buy a generation later, it's absolutely no comparison.
With cars (and to a certain extent, bikes) people stick to what they know plus (in most cases) it's a very expensive purchase so there's always an element of "just making do" with what you've got and you know the foibles and limitations and just sort of put up with it all.
And then when you get behind the wheel of something new, it's amazing how good it feels.
After working on RideLondon one year, I had to drive a massive Ford pickup truck back to the vehicle drop off point near Heathrow (it was one of the tech support vehicles which had been carrying gantries and lighting rigs, it wasn't used in the actual race convoy). For such a colossal vehicle, it was actually quite scary how well it drove. Light steering, cameras and sensors everywhere, super comfy and quiet inside. I remember Land Rover style utility vehicles from years back being rattly and loud and crap steering. This was like a couple of armchairs with a small warehouse behind them.
Although it wasn't pleasant trying to squeeze it along the insanely busy 3-lane A4 on the way out to Heathrow, I'd have been a lot happier if it had been about a foot narrower...
compare the Mk2 Fiesta 950cc that I first drove in to the 2015 Corsa that my nephew is about to buy a generation later, it's absolutely no comparison.
Or compare the Mk1 escort that I put into a ditch aged 17 with the suzuki swift that my son wrapped round a tree at 19. Thankfully he had ABS and 7 air bags to help him walk away. I didn't even have a seatbelt*, just a lot of luck.
Modern ICE cars really are amazing for anybody who remembers what cars used to be like. My current car has just ticked over 150,000 miles and the only things that have needed replacing in all of those miles are tyres, brakes, suspension bits and one ABS speed sensor (at 120k). It's still on the original exhaust, clutch, timing belt, alternator, water pump etc. That old escort was considered to be knackered at 60k.
*OK, the car had them but I'm not even sure they were inertia reel and anyway I was far too cool (i.e. stupid) to wear one.
You can have my E-class Estate for 4.5k. It will swallow everything you require of it. Quite sad to be letting it go tbh and I don't tend to get attached to metal things. In answer to your OP I used Car Supermarket. Other than quite a lot of pressure to get everything together quickly as things move fast once you buy the car, it has all been fine so far. Car arrives on friday, hopefully the same one as in the video they sent over.
You can have my E-class Estate for 4.5k
Model/age/spec/mileage? 🙂
Model/age/spec/mileage?
15 plate, Night Edition, 164K with new subframe. Pretty sure this is against forum rules, sorry mods
"Buy whatever you like, they're all shit"
This irritates me. Today for a few grand you can buy a car that has sorted handling, is quiet, comfortable, economical, powerful, safe, and will probably do 150k miles with minimal repairs. Given how they actually work, this is absolutely a triumph of engineering, it's amazing. You should talk to someone about what cars were like in the 60s and 70s if you want a reality check. Or even the 80s - compare the Mk2 Fiesta 950cc that I first drove in to the 2015 Corsa that my nephew is about to buy a generation later, it's absolutely no comparison.
This is from the point of view of a guy who has spent the past 30 years working on them, from his perspective most of what comes in through his doors is there because it's got issues.
I'd be sick of that too...
I've had my fair share of old runabouts, and I agree, modern cars are pretty good. Except the A class I had, what a disappointment that was!
This is from the point of view of a guy who has spent the past 30 years working on them, from his perspective most of what comes in through his doors is there because it's got issues.
No bias there then. Everything breaks eventually or for many drivers....if treated badly enough. .
Normally I put “Passat” “estate” & “<50000” into auto trader. Then go buy one of them.
worked the last few times that the current Passat went nearish 200000
given that I just did that and the prices were a surprise, I think I’ll let the current one get nearer 200000
I suppose if you're not interested in cars and just want the appropriately sized box on wheels and seats they work.
yes, that about sums me up: it’s transport. It’s not important.
