Buying a used car (vectra maybe?)

jase1

Strider590 wrote: »

Because many are fleet owned and will have been fitted with cheapo nasty tyre's under contract with crapfit.

The standard suspension parts were rubbish and only last around 40'000 miles. The springs snap and the shocks become bouncy/unstable.
£150 will buy a set of Eibach lifetime guaranteed springs. £40 a corner will buy Bilstein B4 shocks.

With this combination the car will then have handling to compete with the very best German prestige cars and be far more comfortable.

You could say that of just about anything though -- you can import upgraded setups for most Japanese cars from the US for example. And they usually have pretty sophisticated suspension setups to start with, but they tend to be configured for comfort rather than performance, so you have more to work with.

Buying a boring fleet car that handles badly and "fixing" it up doesn't sound like the best approach to me -- leave that to the charvers.

As to the second car, yes, Japanese cars are the most reliable but at under £1000 I wouldn't be so fussy.

Strider590

jase1 wrote: »

Buying a boring fleet car that handles badly and "fixing" it up doesn't sound like the best approach to me -- leave that to the charvers.

Lots of car for the money and at least you know what the problems are, I haven't "fixed it up" i've returned it to it's original design conditions before the pre-release cost cutting (fleet market is very competitive).

The Vectra constantly surprises me with it's level of design, simple little things that somebody had to sit down and think about putting into the car, even daft things like auto-dimming rear view mirror, heated wing mirrors, auto wipers and the automatic bulb failure warning system. No gimmicky things that are used to sell smaller cars and then never used by the owner, just practical stuff. You have to assume the same work has gone into the bits you cannot see.

Changing the suspension is something you'd have to do on most cars eventually, I simply chose to source my own quality parts rather than allow some numpty to bolt on the cheapest crap going and wreck my cars ride (like they did with my Peugeot 306).

jase1

> You have to assume the same work has gone into the bits you cannot see.

Would that be like the suspension parts that last for 40,000 miles (your words)?

I am automatically suspicious of cars with automatic everything. Part of the reason Japanese electrics don't fail very often is the fact that they are simple and don't contain unneccessary complication on inexpensive cars. Everything you've mentioned falls into the category of "gimmicks", and while I'd trust them a lot more than I would on a Laguna, I'd still not trust them as they get older.

bigjl

Actually the Zafiras and Astra we have at work have been fairly soloid from a suspension point of view, they take lots of abuse without complaint.

Only one or two NHS Ambulance Trusts had Vectras, but the Met Police had several Vectra CDTis with the 3.0 engine, plus they had the pevious model in petrol V6 both 2.5 and 2.6. They were obviously a bit baggy when they got rid, and the diesel where remapped by Courtney Sport to improve drivability, not sure if they altered the suspension, but Eibach springs are a well respected mod to enhance the dynamics of a fleet barge, they would certainly improve the MK2 Zafira, though the MK4 Astra and MK1 Zafira suspension was better, maybe the extra weight of the MK2 Zafira and the last model Vectra along with the requirement for motorway refinement has compromised the dynamics.

Strider590

jase1 wrote: »

Part of the reason Japanese electrics don't fail very often is the fact that they are simple and don't contain unneccessary complication on inexpensive cars.

Wrong... The Japanese over engineer everything. The Honda Civic for example, each window switch has it's own CPU and data/error logging.
It's a window switch for god sakes!!!!!!!

Kilty_2

Strider590 wrote: »

Wrong... The Japanese over engineer everything. The Honda Civic for example, each window switch has it's own CPU and data/error logging.
It's a window switch for god sakes!!!!!!!

Care to substantiate this?

liam8282

Getting back to my OP, does anybody have any experience of motor auctions?

I am going to go to a local auction tonight.

Just a quick question, is the price you bid the price you pay, or do you add on auction fees? Or is that the seller who pays the fees?

Inactive

liam8282 wrote: »

Getting back to my OP, does anybody have any experience of motor auctions?

I am going to go to a local auction tonight.

Just a quick question, is the price you bid the price you pay, or do you add on auction fees? Or is that the seller who pays the fees?

Both the seller and buyer pay fees.


Be very careful at motor auctions, they can be dumping grounds for the motor trade.

Inactive

Strider590 wrote: »

Wrong... The Japanese over engineer everything. The Honda Civic for example, each window switch has it's own CPU and data/error logging.
It's a window switch for god sakes!!!!!!!

But they rarely go wrong..;)

jase1

Indeed -- a nugget of info I was given was only to buy from the main dealer sections of the auction rather than the cars at the back that are sold by independents.

The latter are being sold mostly for one reason -- they're stuffed, and will cost ££££ to put right.