cars - who owns one? (1 Viewer)

[Denny Oubidoux]

i only ever had wheels once - a seat inca which i got from work so i didnt have to pay for it myself, exactly the way i want any future cars to be. i found having no back windows on the sides a pain in the ass though, turning right at a junction and hoping for the best is a nightmare if you've pulled up in such a way that you cant see if whether or not there is anything approaching from the left.

it was handy for carrying shit around in but i didnt really miss it when i had to give it back. why not go for something spacious while youre at it, something that you can get the drums and amps etc into too?

 

[Corey]

I do. It's a police car and it's well-weapon.

 

[RSJ]

i had a fiat punto, think it was a 99 model. It broke on a very very regular basis and never quite ran right. Any time i brought it to a mechanic, they'd say "serves you right for buying a fiat".

In summary, i only ever had one car and i got burned bad.

 

[thairock]

I have two . A '91 Mitsubishi L300 Van and a Nissan Terrano 4x4 .

The van is wickedly reliable and it's handy as anything . It hurtles up hills in 3rd no bother.It is , however , a little on the shabby side , basically , you can't put the mother in law in it .

The Terrano was got for reliability in winter as I live in a ski resort
area ( mind you , that didn't help last winter when I hit that patch of black ice and spun off the road , backwards into a 10ft ditch .)
It's 3 ltr. diesel and automatic ( which is kinda annoying but at least you can eat a sandwich easily while driving) and surprisingly economical .
It helps that driving here (NZ) is not so expensive . Insurance is optional - but cheap if you decide on it -(we do).
Fuel is also relatively cheap and there is no excise tax on diesel , although you do pay a road user charge (RUC) relative to your milage ,ie . you buy , say , 5,000 kms worth of RUC's at about NZ$35 per 1000 kms (and when you've almost used them up , you buy more - simple).

I've had a few used cars in my time and they've all been pretty reliable . The Japanese vehicles have been brilliant , but I think my favourite was the GMC Vandura we had in Canada , you could easily fit a double bed sideways in the back and it still only came to the back axle! pure A-team (although it was 2tone brown - not flattering).

Driving isn't for everyone but I love it and although I'm happy to ride share and care about the environment , there is nothing like having your own transport for that sense of freedom . There are some relatively long distances to cover here when on a road trip but I am happy to be behind the wheel especially on the pretty good roads here .

It's nice to also live in a town with no traffic lights and plenty of free parking - not something I recall much of from driving in Ireland .

 

[thairock]

Like this - only red and without the cool fireman stuff.

and Terrano like this only two tone wine and white in colour

And imagine a poo brown ,long wheelbase , rusty version of this

 

[broken arm]

i had a fiat punto, think it was a 99 model. It broke on a very very regular basis and never quite ran right. Any time i brought it to a mechanic, they'd say "serves you right for buying a fiat".

In summary, i only ever had one car and i got burned bad.

someone described the punto as a bomb on wheels.

 

[RSJ]

Ah bomb is a bit harsh. Faulty canister of mace maybe.

 

[maims bond]

if you're into reliability and economy/emissions then you can't really go wrong with a Diesel Audi, something like an A4. They will easily do 50mpg and are one of the most reliable cars out there. Not sure about the UK but in Ireland the second hand car market has plummeted and there are some great deals to be had.

If you buy from a garage/trader see if they'll give you a 6/12 month warranty on parts etc. That way you can be sure that they're selling you something they know runs well.

I would never buy a new car. As soon as you drive it out of the showroom it depreciates by at least 15%. There's one simple rule in buying used cars: insist on a car with a full service history, and actually examine it to see if anything was done to it outside of the normal plug/oil changes. Also, never buy anything without an NCT, no matter how cheap.

 

[broken arm]

I would never buy a new car. As soon as you drive it out of the showroom it depreciates by at least 15%.

even if the new car was only 1 grand more expense that the cheapest 2 year old used version?

the price has dropped £2500

 

[Anthony]

It's nice to also live in a town with no traffic lights and plenty of free parking - not something I recall much of from driving in Ireland .

hahahahahahahahahaha!!!

 

[maims bond]

even if the new car was only 1 grand more expense that the cheapest 2 year old used version?

the price has dropped £2500

if it's 2 years old i'm assuming the mileage is pretty low? 10-15,000 miles? I would go with the 2nd hand model every time as long as it has a service history and valid MOT. What you want to watch for on some 2nd hand cars is the expensive service jobs such as the timing belt, which is very expensive but only needs to be done around every 50,000 miles (depending on the car). You should also beat down the price of 2nd hand cars as much as possible and it's often easier to do this with a private seller than a garage.

 

[Cryptid]

I has a 98 Opel Astra (95 model). About 77k miles. Got it serviced yesterday - drives really nice after it. Got a speed wobble fixed, some weird screeching that was caused by the exhaust, and some other stuff. What jbrad said about cost. I figure it costs me about €2k per annum to keep a car..

Service - €200
Tax - €300
Petroleum - €500 (which isn't a lot - only €10 a week - I don't use it much - many people would spend about €1k or €2k a year on petrol)
Depreciation - €500
Fixing stuff and other maintenance - €200 (this will happen, e.g. tyres)
Insurance - €400

Total: >€2k. That's a lot.

Best thing about a car: the stereo. Buy a good one separately and get it installed. It is happiness.

 

[MDR]

it looks right. that kind percentage makes me think about stuff like 'what if nobody was allowed anything bigger then a 2 litre.' in a well designed car a 2 litre should easily move 5 people and baggage. the popularity of jeeps, suv's, sports cars, drift cars (in the sticks) must account for a few %. then the rally championships to some extent are private cars, then people own boats with 14litre v12 engines that require giant jeeps to horse them about. basically it all us coastal peoples fault.

At the peak of the celtic tiger, SUVs accounted for 8% of new car sales, so say about 4% of total cars on the road. Also SUV drivers tend to driver fewer miles (because anyone who drives a lot won't buy one because of the fuel cost) but we'll ignore that. If all SUV drivers drove a toyota prius instead mthey would cut their emissions by about 2/3 so their actual apportionment of CO2 emissions would go to 0.32% to 0.1%. Small beans really when you consider the amount of hulabaloo about them.

Remember when single occupancy drivers were the enemy?

Anyway, I'm not an environmental naysayer or pro-pollution nut, I'm just interested in how little influence actual evidence has on public debate.

 

[MDR]

I was told to buy japanese - they're reliable, supposedly parts are cheap, and they're easily repaired if theres issues down the line.

True. Honda has sold over 15m VTEC engines and has never had a single engine warranty claim.

 

[snakybus]

At the peak of the celtic tiger, SUVs accounted for 8% of new car sales, so say about 4% of total cars on the road. Also SUV drivers tend to driver fewer miles (because anyone who drives a lot won't buy one because of the fuel cost) but we'll ignore that. If all SUV drivers drove a toyota prius instead mthey would cut their emissions by about 2/3 so their actual apportionment of CO2 emissions would go to 0.32% to 0.1%. Small beans really when you consider the amount of hulabaloo about them.

Remember when single occupancy drivers were the enemy?

Anyway, I'm not an environmental naysayer or pro-pollution nut, I'm just interested in how little influence actual evidence has on public debate.

Is this in Ireland or the US or globally, Ro?

 

[ann post]

At the peak of the celtic tiger, SUVs accounted for 8% of new car sales, so say about 4% of total cars on the road. Also SUV drivers tend to driver fewer miles (because anyone who drives a lot won't buy one because of the fuel cost) but we'll ignore that. If all SUV drivers drove a toyota prius instead mthey would cut their emissions by about 2/3 so their actual apportionment of CO2 emissions would go to 0.32% to 0.1%. Small beans really when you consider the amount of hulabaloo about them.

Remember when single occupancy drivers were the enemy?

Anyway, I'm not an environmental naysayer or pro-pollution nut, I'm just interested in how little influence actual evidence has on public debate.

you know the prius has a massive carbon footprint due to the parts sourcing?? your better off in your diesel i'd say.
short trip driving consumes more and expels more then long hauls though, is generally dirtier.2% isnt much at all though, anyways. the side i'm interested in is probably mostly engineering based, like although x5's and x6's must be great to drive, they are pretty much one of the most pointless vehicles i've ever seen.

"BMW restyled the X5 in 2007.... Weight increased by 400 pounds, to 5000 pounds"

like the pre 2007 model i'm sure wasnt vastly different, but make it 400 pounds heavier just in case sorta thing. i'm still thinking about an aygo.

 

[broken arm]

at the end of the day no car on the market is sustainable - prius or no prius (even though the greatest life cycle impacts of cars are during the use phase),
the idea of personal car ownership isn't sustainable,
the global and national growth trend in personal car ownership isn't sustainable,
the impact on human health through poor air quality caused by cars (in particular, excuse the pun, diesel one) is not sustainable,
building communities that enforce car ownership is not sustainable.

even the president of Ford said that the idea of personal car ownership will be a thing of the past .

 

[ann post]

their deadly for outrunning lions though.

 

[Cryptid]

at the end of the day no car on the market is sustainable - prius or no prius (even though the greatest life cycle impacts of cars are during the use phase),
the idea of personal car ownership isn't sustainable,
the global and national growth trend in personal car ownership isn't sustainable,
the impact on human health through poor air quality caused by cars (in particular, excuse the pun, diesel one) is not sustainable,
building communities that enforce car ownership is not sustainable.

even the president of Ford said that the idea of personal car ownership will be a thing of the past .

I'd say you're a barrel of laughs in Tescos.

 

[broken arm]

I'd say you're a barrel of laughs in Tescos.

who me?

It's Tesco not Tescos.