Well as you all enjoyed my KTM post :cough: I thought I’d write a piece on my car buying exploits Am looking for a group 1 or 2 insurance super mini to‘share’ with my son as my old pug is just about beat So the top contender is the Aygo or variants – no car tax, 60+ mpg, cheapest insurance, only using for short trips/ about town Other possibilities on our list VW Up / Vauxhall Corsa Ventured out with a purpose yesterday to some new cardealers in Salisbury VW – to look at the UP – unfortunately no one came over so I was unable to tell them we didn’t like the horrible plasticy interior , plentyof people ‘in offices’ sadly no one came over the threshold – am I that scary? Citroen – this special edition car has social media magic boxGPS location if he goes missing (he’s nearly 18 not 4) – looked decidedly unbothered about making a sale and I still don’t know what was so great about it –apart from a few red bits of trim – son though was naff anyway Peugeot – salesman looked younger than my son, wasn’t sure if they had any pre reg for sale and didn’t seem keen to find out – rest of staff too busy eating doughnuts – when asked if they did a red one ‘yes but they do fade in the sun unless you have our protective coating at an extra cost’wft – what sun . Told us Peugeot havebetter depreciation that Toyota (his only sales pitch) Vauxhall – showroom a pile of rubble (literally) – says itall – not sure if I want to traipse to Southampton to look at Corsa’s Ford – son refused to enter showroom as looked ‘dingy’ – had to agree Toyota – ah yes at last some service – praise the lord a bloke who doesn’t think I need to get approval from a man before I get my wallet out – going back Saturday for a test ride
There is a national car dealer with the name G*** H******...........the personnel being the epitome of secondhand car dealers. Bargepole, touch...............I would not. AL
I drift into a never ending rant about this sort of thing and it's not just isolated to car dealers. The truth is that there are lot of people out there at work that just can't be arsed, they turn up for work, watch the clock go round, do as little as possible because it all brings 5pm, friday night and the weekend and that is why we have a nation of scroungers and country is F****D!!.
I find it hard to believe that salesman who are on very low basics , don't want to earn their commission by selling a car. I go to work to earn as much money as possible and 99% of salesman will be exactly the same. So if lots of dealerships aren't showing any interest what's going wrong? Maybe they feel that you won't result in a profitable sale ?
Thats perhaps a little sweeping and very outdated - my line manager has a Citreoen C1 and loves it, no problems at all, and my parents have a Pug 307 and love it, no problems what so ever, both are extremely reliable cars. the C1 (or its pug or toyota variant) is a great little car which is extremely unlikely to give any grief. The diesel runs on fumes, and is free road tax, but be aware they are a bit lightweight if you take them on motorways - you can feel a little vulnerable the Corsa is a fiat 500 / panda / Alfa MiTo underneath, and the Fiesta TDCI 1.3 is a fiat engine, ironically its the same unit under the ford branding as the corsa / 500 / Panda / Alfa MiTo. The modern car is so heavily developed there really are no lemons any more, how the vehicle is looked after is everything to its reliability - its badge is no real indicator at all, especially if its a new car.
I too have a french motor being a c3 1.4hdi.....a motor shared by many others such as the fiesta fusion 206 306 etc. its been ok so far I traded down from an e36 M3 coupe. was my pride and joy in estoril blue but 2 things scared the shit out of me. 1. the escalating cost of fuel. 2. the vanos failing. so with my very boring sensible head on it had to go. it was a beast and every time I see one I want it again !! TRIVIA TIME... did you know the e36 M3 had a straight 6 engine. it was developed from the mclaren F1 which was a V12. it is a close cousin of that engine and technology the bmw engineers basically chopped the engine in half with re cast crankcase obviously. 321hp of pure vanos music... F1 had 640hp
Since the Peugeot 107 I bought for the wife was made by a Toyota factory in the Czech republic, I do not consider it to be a French car at all. Same goes for the Citroen equivalent.
correct - so you'd think there would be a bit more competition between the brands - end of the day customer service is going to win if the prices are similar which they appear to be,,, I'm a Customer Services manager for a worldwide company - our prices are not the cheapest but our customer service is the best I guess I just expect better - but no different to my last experience of buying a new Jeep 20 years ago - they are still more interested if you'r a man Anyway better do some work :wink:
I have traded cars for years and refuse to have anything with a Shitroen or Renault badge unless I have to. I have had my fair share of trauma's with these peasant mobiles. Nasty hateful things, based on life experience lol
No one makes small cars quite as well as Fiat, suprised no one has suggested a 500. I just bought a Panda as a cheap run around as I generally only drive within a 6 mile radius of home,its as cheap as chips to run and suprisingly good all round. I even did a very rare for me long trip a few weeks ago and it was no bother,very comfortable . Only niggle is the road noise from those god awful eco tyres, they must be a hard wall compound or something for less rolling resistance.
The 500 adds another grand to the insurance for whatever reason ! I'm sure the insurance companies make it up as they go along
Mrs shadow has a Mini Cooper Each time I drive it I get an urge to listen to show tunes and discuss interior design
Rubbish, thats sexist:tongue:. Nothing girlie about a 500 Abarth. Go get back to your Allegro:biggrin:
if you want a fiat 500 that is far cheaper and more durable look at a ford KA, they're the same car. Ford bought the platform from fiat, but had the issue that it would be sold in countries that fiat weren't great sellers in such as Scandinavia, so had to beef up the car accordingly for durability etc. Most car dealers are all sharks now, whatever they sell from kia's to ferrari's (actually Ferrari salesmen are probably worse). Annoyingly you get arrogance and indifference as the way the nation has become trained to follow brand and the 'well you just have to' attitude means that the buying public can be royally bent over a barrel. Also the salesmen aren't really interested in selling cars so much as products as this is where the proper commission is made. GAP Insurance - huge earner for the salesman after finance. Tyre and wheel cover - nice fat commission on this Starguard / Diamond Guard sold under various names but is actually Diamondbrite - Don't touch this with a barge pole. It's over proced and the monkey valeter at the dealership never puts it on right. You're better off giving your money to a professional detailer and having your car loo nope, its just that VW have built up such a reputation ("just like a golf") that they sell themselves. They don't bother trying to sell anything as you'll walk up to them and be grateful. For the snob who wants a golf but can't stand the smell of common, there are Audi who will smile at you as they hand your pants back to you on a plate after having pulled them down royally. They're just VW's with designer clothes. If you're going to buy VW, the thinking man's VW is a skoda. Get this, I knew some designers who used to work for VW on the skoda models. They actually made the interiors look intentionally cheap so that VW sales wouldn't be impacted, and the same goes with the Audi - which is why spec and options lists seem to stop for no good reason. Margins on a citroen are pretty poo, so there's not a lot in it for him. Probably hadn't met his targets the previous month anyways! Just like Citroen, margins are pretty low and salesmen don't get many incentives to shift cars. Whenever you get the paintwork blag just ask what the paint and bodywork warranty is - as for the coating... that'll be the diamondbrite cobblers. And no, they don't depreciate better than a toyota as the aftersales is shite and nobody trusts anything out of france and italy after the warranty period - no they're not that bad, but the stigma is still there. Pity as beneath the chavtastic exterior they're actually a very good solid car. Ford – son refused to enter showroom as looked ‘dingy’ – had to agree The safest bet really, good support and aftersales and the car will always sell since they're solid dependable and bullet proof. Just be prepared for his face to drop if you say you're paying cash (i.e. not financing it), you'll probably find he'll hard sell gap, wheel and bodywork gloop cover. Also, he has a certain number of cars he needs to shift every month other wise the manufacturer holds back on concessionary part prices etc, might be worth showing him some interest but dragging it out a week or so. Not always the case but sometimes it works, as salesmen are given products to shift or push harder than others. enjoy
I'm on my third Skoda Octavia 140bhp diesel - the first two being got rid of after reaching 120000 miles. Fabulous cars, reliable, 50+mpg, cheap to insure, and pretty quick.
I agree there... there is NOTHING wrong with small french cars, especially the clio - considering the abuse these cars endure they are an excellent little car. My old housemate michael had a basic clio on a 54 plate. it got an MOT and oil change once a year, and thats as far as it went in terms of maintenance. It never caused any problems, he's owned it from nearly new, and still has it to this day. The Pug 406 HDi is also a truly excellent car, far better than the mondeo or vectra - both worthy of the term dross (especially the vectra) The most unreliable car i've ever had? a ford... a 96 Mustang, beyond unreliable. By contrast my Renault 11 Turbo never let me down. Sev - check the reliability ratings for the current ford Ka - its pretty much stone last in any survey, while the Fiat 500 remains very close to the top. Alfa Romeo managed a top ten in the JD power survey the other year as well. You cant go by old stereotypes any more. Ford Ka - reliability index 47 http://www.reliabilityindex.com/reliability/search/95 Fiat 500 - reliability index 21 (lower is better) http://www.reliabilityindex.com/reliability/search/76 As supplied by Warranty direct, so unbiased and takes dealers out of the figures. You are statistically more that twice as likely to have problems with the Ford than the Fiat.
