Had 3 Superb Estates in succession as company cards from 2015-2018 Back then I was driving approx 60k a year (worked in car rental as a Regional Manager covering 15 locations) and they were head and shoulders over any of the alternatives at the time. All mine were from new and swapped after 12months due to mileage. 

Quiet, refined & comfortable. DSG and diesel would be my choice. Avoid Alcantara trim if possible as it gets grotty very quickly particularly if you are throwing bikes in the back and have kids that play sports. Had no real issues with any of the ones I drove apart from a few phantom EML lights being thrown on all of them.

With that being said and given the budget you are looking at it might be worth test driving a V90 to see if you like it. Far better refinement and road manners. Good infotainment and ADAS. In my mind a better piece of kit.

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202311153983495

Also bear in mind that a 7 year old Superb pre COVID was a 10k max car. Market will eventually adjust, wouldn’t be afraid of saving some money and buying one with 100k as they hold up well.

Best of luck with whatever you decide

Looks great bigsurfer. They are a reliable old tank, plenty in Autotrader in the 200k mile club. My BIL, who is living in Finland had a V50 with the 2.4D and it had well over 450km on it and that seemed to be the norm over there given how expensive cars are to buy new in Finland

Banshee Spitfire is awesome.

Speak with the garage first to see if they have identified the specific problem. There seems to be varying reports online of centre console failure after a jump start, with everything from a fuse to CEM module. volvoforums.org.uk has a wealth of knowledge, may be someone with Vida near you who is willing to help.

At £500 it’s worth twice that in parts so don’t worry I’m sure you will get it running. Keep us updated!

The VEA 2.0 4 cylinder. That of the notorious EGR valve issues! Went through all the recalls with Volvo with previous owner. Think the last rectification work was done at 140kms been trouble free for me ever since. I really should be shortening the oil change intervals given the mileage but it rarely uses oil between top ups and with my annual mileage I’ve kept it to the 28k oil change as I just don’t have the time to take it off the road!

Just back from a 4k trip through France Belgium and The Netherlands in my ’14 V70. Just clicked over 315,000km on the way home. Never really cost me anything outside of regular maintenance over the past 4 years. And only estate I know that’s wide enough to take a large frame widthways across the boot. No need to throw down the back seats makes a massive difference when clicking up miles (Sadly only with the gravel bike now given the LLS newer MTBs)

Old enough to remember the Roberts and the Cove but 14 year old me says they pale in comparison

For English speaking markets they should just rebrand to Fanny Tickler for maximum impact

Came across an Eastern Copperhead lazing on a trail while on holidays in Virginia…..Thought it was a stick until I practically rolled over it. Fumbled the bunnyhop and he got a smack of my rear tire. Was terrified to make my way back in case he was laying in wait 😅😅😅. The previous evening I had cycled straight through an enormous spiderweb which spanned two trees either side of the trail. Freaked out pulling the web off myself!

Might be worth a shot going to an electrical wholesaler that stocks a better brand. Thorn, Osram, Phillips/Signify etc. Most will come with 5yr warranty but are higher quality than what screwfix have on the shelf.

Not that much more expensive either

Thanks to my less than caring employer, and being categorised as an essential worker, lockdown didn’t really apply apart from April and May of last year.

It has now paid for itself several times over between car allowance and mileage reimbursement and thanks to the odometer reading is practically worthless. I’d still trust it to bring me anywhere reliably.

Now at a point that running it into the ground just to see what it will do is the only option 🤣

Fair points, which I’ll try to respond to. Yes, Seb had incredible success – but was also unceremoniously sidelined as soon as Ricciardo looked faster. None of us know what went on internally, but after bringing 4 WC had probably earned a little more respect.

As a Ferrari fan was delighted to see him move. Came agonizingly close in lesser machinery more than once.

Have his skills waned? Not quite sure….hunger and overarching desire to succeed at all costs, probably. Love to see Aston get the equation right and give Seb a competitive car next year as there are still flashes of brilliance to be seen there.

Red Bull toxicity seems to be shaped predominately by Horner, who has surpassed even Ron Dennis for being undignified in victory. Just like Ron was consumed with beating Ferrari at all costs with the mutters of favoritism, so it is with Horner & Mercedes. Toxicity driven out of a desire to succeed, but no way that is being shaped by Max IMHO. He is 25 years of age surrounded by people with way more life/management/political experience. Not sure if Dietrich Mateschitz envisioned his team winning like this?

While I agree that some of MVs racing has been on/over the limit this year, he has also produced some absolutely sublime racing. The move to the inside of HAM on the 2nd restart was faultlessly judged. Truth be told he is probably HAMs 1st true rival in competitive machinery in terms of raw talent since Alonso and HAM raced for Mclaren.

The antics of Jos, Horner & Marko only serve to take the polish off the talent and it could be argued that Ron Dennis and Mclaren did the same to HAM in his early career.

Mercedes & Wolff have recognized HAMs (mainly off-track/soft skill/mental tenacity) weaknesses and done everything to round out the edges particularly after learning from the Rosberg rivalry. HAM has never been mentally more strong and resistant to pressure.

Imagine if MV had the same coaching and support. Yet we have JOS making headlines as to why MV will never race for Mercedes this week.

Best thing for Max’s career would be to shake off Dad and the Red Bull toxicity. Or end up like Seb?!

This struck a chord on a number of levels. Had every issue of MBUK and re-read them countless times in the early to mid-nineties. Can also remember the slight shift in direction In the mag that caused me to drift away from it and eventually MTBing altogether for 10 years around 2000. At the time reading the mag felt very much like being part of a tribe so it’s sad to hear the abuse that Jamie endured.

Anyway welcome back Jamie, article made a great read and I felt the exact same way the 1st time I got back on a MTB. Can recall hitting the 1st bit of downhill singletrack and saying to myself WTF did I ever stop doing this?!

My gut would say water pump, don’t know your car’s mileage but if it wasn’t changed out last time the timing belt was done, more than likely it that what’s shagged. The original waterpumps on these used a plastic impeller and were a known weak point

43 here and although I don’t consider myself ‘old’ my attitude towards techy drops/jumps etc. has definitely changed. Suffered a very bad fall (non-bike related) and a concussion that affected my balance and coordination over 6 years ago. Even still I feel not quite as quick to react on the bike particularly in slippery conditions but it took almost 8 months after the incident before I could even ride with any confidence!

That been said I still like my DH but prefer more flowy stuff where being smooth and getting your braking/body position etc right to maximize momentum is very satisfying and I reckon I’ve never been as fast on this kind of trail. Tend to steer clear of the Hail Mary stuff these days

I definitely beat myself up for a while but finally came to the conclusion that nobody really cared or noticed apart from me, and most importantly I was still getting out and having a blast on the bike

Second a Banshee Titan. Awesome piece of kit. M looks to be in stock below

In Stock Here

@breninbeener – sorry to hear about the impact your ex is having on your daughter. Speaking from experience, the best that you can do in this situation is to support your daughter in finding ways to deal with the emotional trauma of an alcoholic parent. One of the other posters mentioned Al-Anon and this has really helped my partner who grew up in a chaotic household due to gambling and alcohol addictions.
It was not until she was in her late thirties that she began to recognize the impact living in an Alcoholic household had on her and the baggage it left her with. Make no mistake alcoholism is a family disease – it affects every person who has a relationship with the Alcoholic.
Your ex-wife will not change until she wants it for herself so nothing your daughter can do for her will sadly have any great effect, so as some of the other posters have said, the best assistance you can give your daughter(s) is to put her front and centre not your ex-wife.

Ten Years ago. Salsa El Kaboing. The rear seat stays flexed instead of having a pivot! Was actually a great bike, horrible chainsuck though!

And Now: Banshee Spitfire. Bought at the start of Covid from Pinkbike and immediately got impounded in German customs for 2 months!

Did big skid

Rozzers got mad

Got a summons

Job at risk

Russian Bush Itches

@molgrips given your car issues in the Merc thread, I would be avoiding self-levelling like the plague. It’s a when, not if, fail item. There’s a reason that you can find air springs and compressors on the shelf in just about every motor factors. Fine if your first owner, rolling the dice on anything 5yrs old plus

Eurocarparts are the UK distributor and frequently have heavily discounted deals on Milwaukee particularly M18 1/2″ you shouldn’t have to pay full price if you are patient and wait for the next Special Offer which should be along any time 😉

1/2 inch will more than meet your needs. Lots of commercial garages are now using Milwaukee tools and tend to go for the 1/2 inch unless they are working on heavy equipment.

@5Lab yes it’s very much down to the individual user- and what their driving pattern is like. In my experience, it’s short hop driving that’s likely to cause most issues where the engine never gets up to temp DPF cycles continuously being interrupted, etc.

One other thing to bear in mind the fuel economy gap has closed petrol vs. diesel in the past few years. Most modern petrol engines will do 40mpg without much fuss.

But going back to OP’s question, absolutely nothing to be scared of a 5yr old diesel with 100k once it has been well maintained and not ragged

To be honest, I’d be warier of buying a 5-year-old diesel with 50k miles! Most issues with modern diesels tend to manifest themselves as a result of short journeys i.e DPF blockages, build-up of carbon in Inlet manifolds, EGR vales etc.

I’d certainly pay close attention to service history and walk away if maintenance looks lax. You will have plenty to chose from.

Bought my 2014 V70 with 100K miles on the clock in Dec 2019 and have added another 50K miles since completely trouble-free. My wife bought her XC60 4 years ago with 100k now has 180K – only non-scheduled maintenance has been a brake caliper.

The only caveat is if you do low-mileage and lots of short hop commutes yourself you may be better looking at a petrol car. Diesel only really makes sense at 15K+ miles Per year

Bit the bullet on these for €26! in total, which isn’t much more than a set of pads F+R. I’m going to throw them on my Marin Nicasio+ gravel bike and see how they go

Any update on how people have found these after a winters worth of crud and shite?

Commencal

24″ Ramones due in stock in the next few days. I’ve one ordered for my 8 yr old Girl (In teal!!) and it’s replacing a 20″ Ramones that’s been great. A different kind of beast to a Frog or Isla bike in that they are built burlier, but I found that with my girl, she was much more confident on the Commencal than I ever imagined – she looks for stuff to jump off!

Hey P-Jay – it was similar to this a cheapie from ALiexpress but decently light. Frog also sell their cranks separately on their website so that’s an option too

Here

Waiting to order a Commencal Ramones 20 for my Daughter for Xmas. In Chrome and white…. unless ‘last years’ Orange one is discounted shortly.

Cable discs, rigid forks and plus-size tyres seems to be the way to go unless you’ve got £1000+ to spend.

I’ll probably get some Deore hydraulics for it… but I’m worried she’ll panic brake over the bars, I’m on the fence with that.

Got a 20″ Ramones for my 6-Year-old two Christmasses ago and they are a cracking little bike. She has really progressed her riding and is really confident on it. Santa is Bringing the 24″ version this year

I wouldn’t worry too much about hydraulic discs, the mechanical ones fitted are just fine. The only changes I made were to fit a shorter 127mm crank and sealed BB as the ones fitted are waaay too long and are made from pig iron. Also fitted some lightweight rotors. Between those three took nearly 2lb off the overall weight

Last model Volvo V70 with the 2.4 D5 motor. Possibly one of the best Diesel engines ever made, will easily do 500k+ miles. Based on the Ford modular Galaxy/s-max/mondeo platform but with much better NVH qualities.

Lots of space in the back and easier to load bikes on a roof rack etc.

Buy highest spec possible and maintain it well and it will be in the family for a generation

Well within budget.Avoid the D2 with the PSA engine (injectors) D3 Mondeo Engine (DPF DMF issues) and D4 (egr issues unless driving motorway miles).

Banshee Spitfire

Thanks much for the replies, I’m actually closer to large in size but the liteville sizes up quite small by modern standards. I had actually bought a 2019 Banshee Spitfire which then proceeded to be lost in shipping and led to a whole PayPal dispute etc. Which has led to me awaiting a refund and 7 weeks without a bike. PayPal dispute was just finalised Monday (though still waiting on funds to hit account)

So Sod’s law being what it is, earlier today the tracking number updated after 6 weeks of non activity and it looks like the bike is now imminently due to arrive. Have contacted seller to make him aware, the money has left his account but not hit mine, talk about mental!!!!

I had more or less decided on the Bird, now I don’t know what to do, worried that the Spitfire has been through the mill in the past 7 weeks but it’s a lovely piece of kit…..

I have a hard time believing you’d get any better than the Bird Aeris 145. A friend of mine just started riding his, really happy, another one ordered one yesterday.

Regarding Bird’s quality and service, I’ll just say I’m on my second AM9 (now a V3) and would pick the same bike even if my budget was the double or triple

Just looking the full build kits look decent value but no stock :( How have you found yours longevity wise – bearings, paint quality etc.

It will get worse. Chinese factories shut down a few months ago and components are in short supply globally plus demand has gone through the roof

Don’t think the spike in demand will be sustained given current economic outlook and I’m sure there is stock in the supply chain that’s going to need shifting but hey it is what it is 👍

Bike shops are running out of stock very quickly you may not have as much choice as you expect.

Noticed that alright! Hoping it may change in the next few weeks

I know for a 6 month old Transition Sentinel in Large and very good condition and great spec coming on the market soon. Will be around the £2K mark

Interested send me a PM

Brexit was always about frenzied deregulation, setting up a sweatshop on the borders of the EU and flooding the market with deregulated tat via leaky borders.

I don’t much care for realigning ourselves with the Americans, especially not under Trump or the GOP. Most people confronted with the cold facts would share those misgivings.

It’s quite astounding how the Eurosceptic agenda has been promoted relentlessly through the redtops over the last 20+ years to the ordinary people in the UK.

Brexit is most certainly not in the interests of the majority, but will make the privileged few wealthier and more powerful. The majority will suffer, with the most vulnerable being 1st in the queue.

Read today in the Irish press that we now have net migration from UK to Ireland for probably the 1st time in history…

He will finish the job started by his Hero Churchill.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_and_Tans

Not sure if I follow? Please enlighten us?