The 'Great Keep Your Car Tip Top For Less' Hunt

IanatSeaton

If you are unlucky enough to need a new Catalyser when renewing your exhaust ask for the old cat to take away when they have removed it. You can get £20 for one at the local scrap yard as they contain titanium or some such valuable metal.
I did this last week after a tip of from my grandson who works in the car parts business. The supervisor at the garage I was using admitted that it is mine to take away and they have no problem giving it to me, and added that amazingly very few customers ask for them and they are saved up for the staff Xmas party fund.

pippppster

Excellent advice.....ever notice how so many cars race up to red lights? All that unnecessary wear and tear on the brakes (and engine).

I now drive at 60mph on the motorway. Saves a good 10% on fuel compared to 70mph, never mind the speedsters doing 90 or 100. Much kinder on the engine (mass produced cars are not designed to be driven at 80mph or more for extended periods). And much lower carbon emissions, so better for your carbon footprint.

And it does not take much longer. On a regular 120 mile trip up the M1, which I often make at night with clearer roads, it adds about 15-20mins to the journey time. During busier times it makes little difference, since speedsters simply arrive at congestion quicker, having used unnecessary fuel in the process

jonfev

pippppster do you realise this is 2007. Whilst cars in the seventies may not have been designed to run at 80mph for very long, if at all, modern cars most certainly are. Whilst it may be virtually impossible to do this very often on our congested roads, cars are designed for world markets so they need to travel at over 80 all day on French motorways, German autobahns etc. Italian drivers treat this as a minimum speed limit.

Are you sure your name isn't Sam Tyler?

I would also argue that inappropriate speed is also dangerous, not increasing (or decreasing) your speed to suit conditions can be as dangerous as excess speed. Your arbitory 60mph speed limit won't save you much cash if you are involved in an accident that your self imposed rule has contributed to.

pippppster

jonfev wrote:

pippppster do you realise this is 2007. Whilst cars in the seventies may not have been designed to run at 80mph for very long, if at all, modern cars most certainly are. Whilst it may be virtually impossible to do this very often on our congested roads, cars are designed for world markets so they need to travel at over 80 all day on French motorways, German autobahns etc. Italian drivers treat this as a minimum speed limit.

Are you sure your name isn't Sam Tyler?

I would also argue that inappropriate speed is also dangerous, not increasing (or decreasing) your speed to suit conditions can be as dangerous as excess speed. Your arbitory 60mph speed limit won't save you much cash if you are involved in an accident that your self imposed rule has contributed to.

Nonsense. I drive 12000 miles a year, the vast majority of which is up and down the M1. I find that when I used to drive at 70mph to 75mph I was regularly tailgated by people who think that speed limits do not apply to them, making accidents much more likely, not less likely. Nobody is going to tailgate at 60mph in the inside lane. I arrive much more relaxed than previously. As for bog standard cars being designed to be driven continously at 80mph plus, the vibration levels are disproportionately higher at such speeds, causing much more rapid wear and tear. I do possess a degree in Engineering Vibration, and I used to work for Jaguar, whose cars are (not surprisingly) more robustly designed to be driven at high speeds for longer periods.

ioscorpio

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charlieheard

MORPH3US wrote:

I would be interested to know where the 65% figure came from Charlie... I always understood that the figure was (on average) 20% per year which on a £10,000 car = £5120, NOT £3,500.....

I know depreciation is costly, but I would say 65% after 3 years is on the high side.....

...

BTW, my tip is a) get a haynes manual (already been said), but b) source your (new) parts online or through a motor factor (look up in yellow pages) because they will be LOADS cheaper than Halfords etc...

M

According to Which?, most cars lose between 60-65% over 3 years. Some do better, some do worse - for individual cars, have a look at What Car's depreciation calculator, or the other sites I mentioned in my earlier post.

Sourcing cheaper car parts can be good, but could also be dangerous. Common parts will be made by a variety of suppliers, and the competition will tend to keep prices down, but also drive down the quality - manufacturers will cost-cut to keep competitive. Uncommon parts are likely to be made only by the original manufacturer and maybe one other. The "other" will tend to be cheaper, again by cutting costs (and quality).

Buying from the dealer will almost certainly be more expensive than buying elsewhere. You may be lucky and get the original manufacturer's product cheaper if you buy elsewhere, but you may also get the cheaper copy. This will inevitably wear out or fail sooner than the original. Would you want lower quality brakes?:eek:

Then again, even original manufacturers cut costs. I run a tax-free MG, and that had 5 rotor arms fail in a year on a car that drives less than 1500 miles a year! Turns out that Lucas sourced loads from somewhere cheap and many were dodgy.

duckula67

golddustmedia wrote:

Practical lesson;
My Ford Orion, drove it like I stole it. Lasted 8k miles over 2 years. Repairs in excess of £1500.
My VW Passat, drove it like grandad. Sold it after 60k miles in 1 year. Servicing and maintenance under £500.

Sorry but the lesson there is not how you drive, but which car you drive!
Passats are built in Germany
Orions were built in Britain
Sorry to have to say it but German engineering is second only to Japanese!
I owned several Fords including an Orion and they were very poor (I now own a BMW but refuse to rise to your comments about that, I'm better than that )
Seriously though Ford has greatly improved its brand over the last 10 years or so. I finally talked my missus into getting a Focus based on reviews, and we are both very impressed. She had a Peugeot before that, what a pile of ****.
DONT BUY ANYTHING FRENCH !!!!!!! YOU WILL REGRET IT

olykun

Have an LPG system fitted! I had one fitted about 2 years ago, I only do about 10,000 miles a year, and its just recently paid for itself. When I say paid for itself, I mean that the amount extra I would have spent on only petrol had I not had the system fitted, is the same as the amount as the cost of fitting the system. So from this point onwards I am saving, its taken 2 years to get to this point, and an initial investment, but now its about 50% less compared to the cost of running on petrol.

I plan to keep the car until its dead so this should be at least another 5 to 10 years (I hope). Insurance is about 10% more, and you cant go on the eurotunnel, that's about it on the bad side. Its good for the environment compared to petrol, you save loads after the payback time, with my system the car runs beautifully.

If you are considering going for this the best advice I can give is find a reputable fitter. There are a massive number of systems out there and they all work in different ways, a good fitter will be able to advise on what is best for you and fit it well, he will also be there if you need after sale service.

A tip if you do have LPG already. Most systems allow you to start on petrol and then when the engine gets to 30C its switches over to LPG automatically. So for the petrol side of things use BP Ultimate or something like that, avoid supermarket or small traders fuel. Because you are always running the engine on petrol when its cold, it will appreciate good fuel.

duckula67

pippppster wrote:

I now drive at 60mph on the motorway. Saves a good 10% on fuel compared to 70mph, never mind the speedsters doing 90 or 100. Much kinder on the engine (mass produced cars are not designed to be driven at 80mph or more for extended periods).

Except German cars, which are designed to be driven on Autobahns where there is no speed limit !!!!!

aloiseb

pKaTz wrote:

I think I read on this site that some supermarket fuels are not all they're made out to be.

(from a posting on 28/2/07)


This is creepily prescient don't you think.......