What age car to go for?

love_lifer

thanks again for all your comments and advice

this morning i have looked at and driven a 2011 diesel for 6k. its lovely , ex company so 142000 on clock. but full history and good spec. i use the motorway minimum 3 days a week. and i love a practical gadget

what is 4 or 6 pot, are they cylinders? as i said i had the last one 14 years so I'm out of practice as a car buyer.

robatwork

pot = cylinder, yes

142000 is probably due for another camchain change, and is pretty high mileage in 5 years.

The BMW I had was also the worst car I owned, and I am thankful I got that out of my system. I can now look at any make (but still struggling with Skoda after all the jokes about them in the 80s).

love_lifer

yes its hard to forget the skoda jokes isnt it? I've overcome the bmw ownership shame though and am out and proud now

Richard53

robatwork wrote: »

I can now look at any make (but still struggling with Skoda after all the jokes about them in the 80s).

My wife has just placed an order for a Skoda. I was the same, all those jokes about heated rear windows warming your hands and doubling the value by filling the tank, but I know a couple of people who have them and they seem pleased. We took one or two for a test drive, and I have to say I was very impressed indeed. I'm not a fan of modern cars and will probably never buy a new car again, but if I did a Skoda would be very high on my list.

bigjl

I read the Met Police report years ago, where they assessed the suitability of various Skodas for Police use.

Five years later or so the Met now has Octavia estates (I think they are VRs'), the LAS has Skoda estates (4x4 2.0D with DSG) and HEMS have a mix of Skoda VRS' ( Petrol and manual I think), I think most of the Blue ones have been replaced with Red and at least one Octavia Scout (diesel manual).

I think that tells you everything about how good the Skoda product is for the price, though Insuspect the Volvos are more robust. When the Holes Office provided cars for the LAS for use on Op Plato they were XC70's, with synthetic leather interior and the D5 lump.

prowla

Until a few weeks ago I had an '02 e39 and e46, but after a few problems and niggles I decided to change to a brand-new beemer.

The 525i will probably go down as my favourite car ever, but it was eating money; in the past year the ABS control unit went as did the water pump, which took out the fan belt and resulted in smoke under the bonnet!, it was also losing oil - possibly the head gasket (it was doing it before the water pump went), and there was a smell of toast inside. The headlights glass had gone dull, so needed replacing (or polishing) and a reversing sensor had gone. It was also coming up to needing a new set of boots. Apart from that (oh, and a dent in the left wing) it was pretty much perfect.

The 320i was one I bought cheap, but its fan belt let go on the motorway (within 2 weeks of the 5's water pump/fan belt, coincidentally), it was burning oil too and also had rust appearing, but the trade-in was just £50 less than I paid for it, so it served its purpose. It was a very nice car too. Oh, it also had the passenger air bag warning light issue (I had a 3-series before which also had that).

gilbert_and_sullivan

My sons 2007 325, around 220hp 3 litre 6 cyl, petrol estate is proving reliable and more economical than expected, doesn't come with Diesel overpricing, nor is it fitted with stupid sized wheels that crack, new runflats for the standard 17" wheels from around £80, not Chinese rubbish either.

I'd be most wary of buying any BMW Diesel now, unless priced low enough to warrant another engine should the one fitted not have been serviced religiously healthily ignoring the makers routine from day one, BMW are not alone in this, many makes have problems with their Diesels and none of it helped by extended service intervals.
4 cyl petrols as found in 1 series (same in 3 series i don't know?) had timing chains of cheese too, so maybe rule out any BMW 4 pot?

trilla1337

This thread has a pretty heavy bias.

I've owned three BMW's with increasingly larger engines and have had an excellent experience. I drive pretty hard but I do keep the maintenance as a top priority.

"Older BMW's are more reliable" is a complete anecdote and is nothing more than that. I currently own and maintain an '07 530D which is an absolute workhorse and my wife's '57 118i.

I would not recommend purchasing a vehicle with 146,000 miles on the clock. If your budget is £7k you should be able to get a significantly cheaper car than that. You can for instance purchase an E87 one series which is effectively a hatchback E90 3 series with about 40k on the clock for £7-8k.

You're more than welcome to purchase my wife's 118i which has been immaculately maintained though the bodywork is is a little battered now ! It's only got 70k on the clock.

love_lifer

You're right there's better deals out there, the high miles one was the first I've driven since mine and I was impressed but fortunately didn't act rashly. Your posts have been really helpful and I'm looking at others now though the diesels seem to predominate. And the great mpg, after 14 years of 25-30 mpg, is very appealing

love_lifer

so, i have the possibility of a lovely bmw 320d. but the car insurance is giving me a headache. my company will charge an extra 540 to insure it. mine is baout to be officially written off. i paid the insurance for it last month in full.

am i tied to my insurer now? will i lose my paid premium on my written off car if i go elsewhere? im completely confused so any clarity would be great