Daily driver advice

higs356 · Post by **higs356** » Wed May 06, 2009 6:22 pm

Will you be doing motorway miles to commute ?
If so a 6 speed diesel might be a good option ...this might put the VAG options back in the mix Seat VW Audi Skoda

dab72 · Post by **dab72** » Thu May 07, 2009 10:25 am

Dont think you could go far wrong with a Honda,they may be a bit non discript but i bought my civic 8 years ago (as a stop gap,) i have just covered 70thou miles in it and i can honestly say all i have had to spend on it is the cost of 4 new tyres, 1 exhaust and brake pads, I have thought about getting a new car but kind of think i will wait until the honda refuses to drive anymore.

shoestring7 · Post by **shoestring7** » Thu May 07, 2009 11:17 am

If you want a 6cylinder option, I enjoyed a Golf mk3 vr6 last winter. http://thecarlistblog.blogspot.com/2008/10/dubbin.html The std suspension is shocking, but decent dampers make all the difference. The old think was suprisingly rapid once warmed up; around 190bhp in 1300kgs is pretty good even by modern standards, and I got 35mpg on A road motoring. Its also a bit of a 'Q' car.

Decent late models with sensible miles are avaialble for you budget.

SS7

jonat127 · Post by **jonat127** » Tue May 12, 2009 12:30 am

Tested a BMW 728 last Friday, lovely drive but LED's on dash were all dicky so, no sale.
On Saturday I went for the sensible option.
Honda Accord - ok but not a very impressive drive, it felt a bit under powered and, to be honest, cheap.
Ford Mondeo - I was surprised to find that the seats were hard and not very comfortable. Although it was claimed to be a genuine 37000 mile car the history looked a bit dubious.
Two more no sales!
Then the seller of the Honda offered me a Volvo S40 - I was surprised how refined and comfortable it was. However, as I was not expecting to test one of these so I had no idea whether the price he was asking was reasonable or not so I left and went home.
Today I have borrowed a rather down at heel BMW 523 from a friend at work. It drives very well but needs a fair bit of tidying on the body (dinks on the doors and scuffs on the bumpers plus a dent in the rear valance, no rust though). However, as he is thinking of selling we may come to an agreement if he is realistic with his pricing.
It's a 1998 R with 65000 miles and cloth interior (which is in very clean and undamaged condition). The dash LED's are starting to fade!
Prices seem to vary wildly on ebay and autotrader.
Does anyone have access to Glasses and can you look up the private purchase/sale price.
I think he paid £1800 6 months ago on ebay. I was thinking £1200 seems more realistic?
Thanks
Jon

guy_spyder550 · Post by **guy_spyder550** » Tue May 12, 2009 7:04 am

What about a Subaru Legacy 2.5?

I run a Impreza 2.0 Sport (non-turbo) it's been reliable as clockwork over the last 5 years I have owned it. Not the fastest of cars but drives nice

impmad2000 · Post by **impmad2000** » Tue May 12, 2009 8:43 am

jonat127 wrote:Tested a BMW 728 last Friday, lovely drive but ..

A friend of mine had one of these. It was the most expensive mistake he's made !! Fuel tank, electrics, over heating etc. It was never right !!

Nige · Post by **Nige** » Wed May 13, 2009 8:37 pm

bit of a curve ball but what about this?
http://www.impactbumpers.com/forum/inde ... =10160&hl=

jonat127 · Post by **jonat127** » Thu May 14, 2009 11:09 am

Nige, can't see the link, need to be registered and I'm not! Give us a clue?

I'm warming to the BMW I have borrowed (see previous post) it is a very nice drive and with a bit of work it could be a very smart car.
Any advice on the pricing? 523i SE, 1998 R, 65k, scruffy body, clean cloth interior.

Jon

Nige · Post by **Nige** » Thu May 14, 2009 11:19 am

I've cut & pasted the info below

"BTCC commemorative special edition. 1999 'T' registration. Metallic silver. 5 door hatchback. Full leather interior. OZ wheels. Taxed to end Oct. Will be sold with 12mths MoT. 117k miles with service history. New battery & exhaust. Regrettable sale - it is my late father's car. I am selling on behalf of the estate (car is currently reg'd in my name). Was originally my company car so all history is known. In unmolested condition.

£1495"

I'm not really a Nissan fan, though never considered them really, but for the price this looks like excellent value, its a GT model so should be abit more fun than standard

Ian Donkin · Post by **Ian Donkin** » Thu May 14, 2009 5:08 pm

jonat127 wrote:Nige, can't see the link, need to be registered and I'm not! Give us a clue?

I'm warming to the BMW I have borrowed (see previous post) it is a very nice drive and with a bit of work it could be a very smart car.
Any advice on the pricing? 523i SE, 1998 R, 65k, scruffy body, clean cloth interior.

Jon

E39's are fabulous cars and take huge mileages really well - you can probably find a good one at that money rather than a tatty example; the only thing to be careful of on the early petrol ones is that the cylinder bores had a habit of wearing early in their life = big nasty bills. They used to replace engines under warranty, but doubt you'd benefit from that now...

My old 525d Touring was just sold again on eBay - a 2001 facelift car with very full history - and that made just £2,500!

Forget Fords, Nissan's, Honda's etc - well cared for E39's are brilliant; they weren't voted the best executive car year, after year, after year, for nothing.

Gary71 · Post by **Gary71** » Thu May 14, 2009 5:52 pm

Ian Donkin wrote:
jonat127 wrote:Nige, can't see the link, need to be registered and I'm not! Give us a clue?

I'm warming to the BMW I have borrowed (see previous post) it is a very nice drive and with a bit of work it could be a very smart car.
Any advice on the pricing? 523i SE, 1998 R, 65k, scruffy body, clean cloth interior.

Jon
E39's are fabulous cars and take huge mileages really well - you can probably find a good one at that money rather than a tatty example; the only thing to be careful of on the early petrol ones is that the cylinder bores had a habit of wearing early in their life = big nasty bills. They used to replace engines under warranty, but doubt you'd benefit from that now...

My old 525d Touring was just sold again on eBay - a 2001 facelift car with very full history - and that made just £2,500!

Forget Fords, Nissan's, Honda's etc - well cared for E39's are brilliant; they weren't voted the best executive car year, after year, after year, for nothing.

Everything he said

£1200 will buy something really nice. 528SE with all the toys, M-Tech suspension etc

james912 · Post by **james912** » Thu May 14, 2009 6:04 pm

Have you thought about Alfa's at all?
We have a 156 (W) which has done 60K and had no problems with it since we have owned it as our run around car. It did have the gearbox problem sorted prior to our ownership, but you can pick them up cheap now (in your price range) and you get a lot of car for the price and the drive is great. Ours is a 2.0 Selespeed, full leather all options etc and is worth about £1500 I think at the moment.

Good car though although people do seem to think they are prone to breaking, but we have had nothing but good driving out of it.

smallspeed · Post by **smallspeed** » Fri May 15, 2009 9:13 am

i love e39 bmw's, they're great, im on my 3rd at the moment! in your pricerange you should be able to find a 100 - 125k mile early car (1998 ish) and look out for a 528iSE.. They have a larger engine than some of the cars that you're looking at but more poke and hardly any worse mpg than a 523/520/525.. Also the SE comes with lots of goodies like leather, a/c heated seats, elec windows, mirrors, etc..

not sure where you're based but if you're close to leic then drop me a PM and come have a go in mine (its no 528iSE but it will give you a rough idea)

if you're looking for a merc, there is a later model e-class (post w124 shape with the round headlights) in navy blue on the next street from me for sale with LPG conversion for £1200.. I dont know any more details than that but can find out if you're interested

finally, i know people will probably flame me for sugesting it, but you can get quite a lot of rover 75 at the bottom end of the market right now, and they are not a bad motor; most of the electronics and anciliary items seem to have been robbed from the E39/E46/X5/E38 BMW's.. just depends whether you can put up with the twee image!

jonat127 · Post by **jonat127** » Fri May 15, 2009 10:37 am

OK here goes with the replies:

Nige: Nissan loooks lovely but it's a manual and I want an auto (I get terrible back aches when driving long distance in a manual, Porsche excepted of course)

James: I haven't tried an Alfa but need a lot of legroom and Italians tend not to do that! Also I am trying to narrow the search!!!

Ian: I read about the Nicasil (sp?) bores on Honest John's website. What is low mileage? Is there a point at which you can say it is past the danger zone?

Smallspeed: Not near Leicester unfortunately, I have ruled out Merc, and I tested another friends Rover, it was a nice drive but not enough leg room for me.

Cheers
Jon

Gary71 · Post by **Gary71** » Fri May 15, 2009 11:10 am

jonat127 wrote:Ian: I read about the Nicasil (sp?) bores on Honest John's website. What is low mileage? Is there a point at which you can say it is past the danger zone?

The Nicasil problem usually shows up early, so any E39 with more than 70K on it will be well past it's problem area.

My Brother in laws E39 528SE had a full history when he bought it and that recorded an short engine swap at around 15K if I remember correctly. He recently sold it for less than a grand. I should have bought it