Car batteries are actually quite fragile and don’t like being dropped. It is very easy to damage the plates inside and you wouldn’t be able to tell. I’m not sure I would trust a parcel company to deliver it safely.
Just go to your local trade parts place, they all sell over the counter to non trade people and they will have handled the battery correctly.
Oh, and don’t buy one with a two year warranty- cheap batteries are a false economy. Ideally buy Bosch or Yuasa.

*Edit* I just spotted the “occasional use” bit- In that case definitely go for a good brand with a four year warranty. Car batteries thrive on regular runs and hate being left unused for any length of time.

^^^This^^^

If you want a nicer car (lets face it, you’ve got an old Astra- I don’t blame you) then fair enough.
However, if you are looking to actully save money overall trail rat is right. Spending £5k up front to save future fuel bills probably won’t work. Astras aren’t that thirsty and are pretty cheap to fix if they break. Your new car would have to be exceptionally economical and totally reliable to make the difference.

Mmmm, Beaver…

Most disappointing thread content ever!

It might well be worth looking at the next size up, you can get a better car for the same money.
Think Mondeo rather than Focus, Accord instead of Civic, Avensis not Auris etc.
I went out to buy a Mazda 3 and ended up with a much nicer Mazda 6 for the same money.
I wouldn’t recommend a vw, skoda or audi at your price point as they will all have the 2.0 pd engine which is plagued with injector faults (older 1.9 and newer common rail engines are fine however).

You are looking at cars that are 6 years old and have done a few miles. There is no guarantee that it will be appreciably more reliable than your current (older, but considerably simpler) car. And don’t expect a warranty to cover anything: the two most common problems with modern turbodiesels- dpf’s and dmf’s- are generally not covered by warranties.

I would be willing to bet that if you tally up everything you spend on your new car over the next two years (including accounting for depreciation) and compare to just keeping your astra and coughing up more for fuel – it’ll be about the same.

MoseyMTB – Member 
Do you know what the road tax (12 months) is on the 2.0TDCI?

Ok, your £5000 car will probably depreciate by £1000-£1500 over the course of the year and you’ll probably spend more on that on fuel. Service and mot will add another £200-£300. Add on insurance and you are probably looking at a cost of £3000 to run the car for a year. *
So does it matter if the road tax is £100 more? It is a tiny fraction of the cost of running your car. Depreciation and reliability should be top of your wish list, road tax is insignificant.

* And thats assuming nothing breaks- modern turbodiesels are very finicky and large bills are not uncommon.

I don’t get this fixation with road tax. The difference between £30 and what you are paying now is about two tanks of fuel- whoopee doo.
As said above depreciation and fuel are the biggest motoring costs*, road tax (or vehicle excise duty for the pedants) is a drop in the ocean compared to those.
I recently repaired a car belonging to an old duffer who told me with great pride how he had traded in his old Jazz for this new hybrid “No road tax, you know. I don’t want to give that b*****d George Osborne a single penny I don’t have to”
I didn’t like to mention the four grand VAT he had just paid…

*Unless you buy a French car, in which case you need to factor in large repair bills as well.**

**A slight generalisation, granted. I’m sure there must be the odd reliable French car out there.

From what i understand, the same engine is used in both Peugeot and Citroën cars.

It is a Peugeot / Citroën engine, but it is at its most unreliable form when in a Ford. Somehow Ford managed to completely cock up the oil feed to the turbo causing endless problems. It’s very well documented- avoid!

jekkyl – Member 
VW anything, there’s a reason they cost more.

Correct, it’s because they are overpriced.

Anything Japanese will be most reliable, Toyota, Honda, Mazda.

If you are considering buying a dull, boring soulless Vectra try an Avensis instead. Equally dull, boring and soulless but with the added bonus that it will never, ever go wrong.

scottyjohn – Member 
I really like the look of them, but a friend who is an AA man said it was the car they see the most problems with. He advised to never touch one with a barge pole. Might just be anecdotal rubbish, but hes a good guy and I trust his opinion

I would have to agree with my colleague on this one!

In the last week I have towed 3 early (59/60 plate) 2.0 diesel’s with cooked engines. There is a plastic ribbed coolant junction on the front of the engine that develops a hairline crack. This causes a gradual loss of coolant leading to catastrophic overheating. All three drivers said there were no warning lights or overheating showing on the temp gauge.
Be very wary, keep looking- there are better cars out there.

Hora- to be fair Ford were starting from a pretty low base…

Ford have really upped their game in recent years. Transits can be a bit dicey but their cars are generally very reliable. The only real exception is the 1.6 diesel (ironically a Peugeot/ Citroën engine) focus. They completely cocked up the installation of the turbo plumbing leading to endless problems.
The 2l diesel and all the petrol engined cars are pretty solid.

The Fiesta is expensive, but it is a genuinely good car. It is also very reliable. The DS3 is very pretty and somewhat cheaper than the Fiesta but I don’t advise you Google “Citroën reliability”- you’ll break the internets…

They were obviously clueless numpties- Focuses (Foci?) use a transponder system so if they didn’t have the key no amount of hotwiring will get it going.
It sounds like they have made a mess of your ignition lock so you might as well try violence to get that bit of metal out, you are not likely to make it worse- and you might get lucky and find the key still works.
Is the steering lock off? If so remove the plastic cowlings round the column and see if you can remove the electronic switch from the end of the ignition lock assembly. You may be able to operate the lock with a screwdriver to operate the switch. Tape your key next to where you would normally put it so the transponder works.
Good luck!

Thanks for the replies.
A lot of the more popular stuff I have managed to find as mp3s, but some of the more obscure stuff I’ll have to do myself.
I’ll check out those two links.

I’d be very interested in an answer to this as well.
I bought a converter from Aldi, but with over 100 albums to record I was hoping that I’d be able to just pop it on the deck and that the software would recognise the gaps between tracks etc.

Why do you think they wear masks?

My 8 yr old is at the local state primary, which has an “excellent” ofsted rating.
Last year (year 2) was a disaster. Without wanting to boast, my lad is pretty bright and is consistently top of his class in most subjects. Unfortunately year 2 is all about getting as many kids as possible through their Sats exams.
This meant my son was basically ignored all year as he didn’t need any teaching to pass his Sats; all the teachers attention was on the less able kids. Having freewheeded for a year he is finding it a bit of a shock having to work again.
This is at one of the best state schools in the area, I dread to think what the inner city state schools are like.
I’m desperately trying to raise the funds for private secondary education.

Why “non Japanese”?
If you want a cheap 4×4 that works and is reliable then a Japanese one is your only choice.

As you have probably worked out from the replies above petrol is the way to go.
A second hand Peugeot is a brave mans choice. The 207 is far better built than a 206, but is still likely to have reliability problems a plenty.

A petrol Fabia would be a sound choice, very little goes wrong. Or, even better, buy a petrol corolla verso- nothing will go wrong.

They are awful things to drive- gutless, mushy brakes, mushy steering, mushy gearchange etc, etc.
BUT, they are practical and pretty reliable. We get very few problems with the petrol ones, unlike the diesels which have all kinds of issues.

” I understood that generally people aren’t driving around with the other on full beam but that only having 1 bulb working gives an overvolt supply to it leading to it being brighter (and reducing life). “

This is an urban myth I’m afraid; I won’t bore you with the O level physics, but the way they are wired means they won’t recieve more than the battery voltage no matter how many blow.

HID systems are different again, they run at several thousand volts. Repairing those is not the job for an amateur as that voltage is comfortably enough to stop your heart….

Hi, Actual AA bloke here (not aa – member).

I would say that at least 50% of the people I go out to who have broken down don’t even know how to open the bonnet, let alone find the dipstick.
I stand at the front of the car, say “can you pull the bonnet lever please”- cue lots of fumbling around and an eventual embarrassed request for help.

As for headlights, we go out to loads where “both headlamps suddenly went out, must be an electrical fault”. Ninety nine times out of a hundred it is two blown bulbs. The owner invariably then asks why both failed at once. They don’t like being told they didn’t both blow at once and that they’ve probably been driving with just one headlight for the last six months…

To answer the question above, a modern diesel with 100k on it is not ” just run in” but rather ” just about to cost a fortune”. 100,000 miles is about the point turbos let go, and DPFs and DMFs finally cry enough.
If you are really lucky the previous owner will have already done this, if not then you need deep pockets

Nice to look at but they are pretty unreliable.
As mentioned above EGR valves coke up constantly, you will need an alternator every 3 years or so, coil springs seem weak, electric power steering packs up, dpf, dmf, they love going into “limp home mode” for no particular reason- the list goes on and on.
You could buy a nice accord for that money which will never go wrong.

Common fault on Suzuki carry/ bedford rascals. I’ve freed load of them off over the years. Leave it in gear with handbrake off if it keeps happening.

Thunder Road
Racing in the streets
Outlaw Pete* (just to p**s off the Springsteen aficionados)

*I know, I just like it. Ok?

Get it done.
I speak from bitter experience- I had a cam belt fail only 15k after it had been changed- I hadn’t replaced the waterpump and it seized. £800 repair bill for the sake of an extra £40 to fit a new pump.
Fit a genuine Honda pump- it won’t be much extra and it’s peace of mind.

I’m going to sound like a stuck record but…
Japanese all the way.  Preferably a Honda,  but Toyota,  Nissan, Suzuki or Mazda are all good.
The Korean stuff (Hyundai, Kia) are also very reliable but rather dull to drive.
Don’t consider anything French or Italian.
If you must have a European car then Golf’s and Focus’s (foci?) are your best bet, but neither will be anything like as reliable as a Japanese one.

My god, there are a load of holier than thou dogooders on this thread.
Why don’t you have a nice sit down, slip off your sandals, enjoy some nice vegan falafel while watching the lib dem conference.
Meanwhile, the roads will be safer for the rest of us.

[Quote-harrisp – Member
There’s nothing wrong with French cars, they might not be as well built as “premium” brands, but then they don’t cost as much, but french unreliabilty is pretty much a myth now days they are as reliable/unreliable as just about every other brand out there]

With all due respect I’ve got to disagree with you on this.
I work as a roadside patrol for a well known motoring organisation so I see first hand what is breaking down.

Blimey, small world! Hello again.
Good luck with advising on car purchases- I get asked all the time. They listen carefully, nod wisely and then completely ignore everything you said and buy a 206 anyway, because they look ‘cute’…….

Correct!

I’d avoid anything French, especially anything Peugeot. French electrics have improved, but they are still worse than anything else.
Go Japanese for reliability, the Honda Jazz is the king in this category, but it’s a bit dull. Suzuki Swift? Good value, a bit funky and well bolted together.
If you really want European the Fiesta is much nicer than a corsa, and more reliable. Polo’s are nice, but overpriced.

Hi, I work as a patrol for a well known motoring organisation so I see all the problems.
The s max is a pretty good car. They do suffer from the dual mass flywheel breaking up, I’ve seen a few of those and it’s £1000 to fix. The dpf (diesel particulate filter) will block up if the car only sees town work.
They can suffer from dodgy dashboards but these don’t stop the car, just annoying niggles.
Have a look at a Mazda 5, similar amount of space but with Japanese reliability.