Estate car for commuting and camping

scotty1971

Thanks everybody for the very useful and informative advice.One other thing,alot of the motors come with automatic gearboxes,having never driven an automatic before,do they have more mechanical issues?

CKhalvashi

scotty1971 wrote: »

Thanks everybody for the very useful and informative advice.One other thing,alot of the motors come with automatic gearboxes,having never driven an automatic before,do they have more mechanical issues?

Not in my experience.

Best car my father ever owned was a Cavalier auto with the Isuzu gearbox ('H' reg).

The VAG DSGs aren't rated highly, but many others are.

scotty1971

CKhalvashi wrote: »

Not in my experience.

Best car my father ever owned was a Cavalier auto with the Isuzu gearbox ('H' reg).

The VAG DSGs aren't rated highly, but many others are.

VAGS DSGs? sorry don't know wha that means

CKhalvashi

scotty1971 wrote: »

VAGS DSGs? sorry don't know wha that means

VAG = Audi, Skoda, Seat and VW

The DSG gearbox in circles I float in isn't known to be the most reliable out there. Whether this is old reputation or still applies, I don't know.

scotty1971

so when you were saying an Astra is good car,where you meaning something like this?

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201607155870732?search-target=usedcars&make=vauxhall&model=astra&postcode=fk14le&searchcontext=default&page=1&radius=80&sort=locasc&onesearchad=new%2Cnearlynew%2Cused&body-type=estate&logcode=p&adPos=4

forgotmyname

If your after an auto find one thats had the gearbox oil changed. When you do eventually find one snap their fingers off and buy it. Too many will say it never needs changing. Then you moan because the gearbox has expired before you think it should.

scotty1971

forgotmyname wrote: »

If your after an auto find one thats had the gearbox oil changed. When you do eventually find one snap their fingers off and buy it. Too many will say it never needs changing. Then you moan because the gearbox has expired before you think it should.

To be honest i had never gave an auto a thought,there just seems to be so many of them about.Just not sure about them as i have not driven one.

bigjl

Andy_S76 wrote: »

Don't touch anything with the PSA 1600 HDI unit under the bonnet! It's a notoriously soft engine with numerous weaknesses including and most commonly turbocharger failure thanks to oil starvation which usually ends up killing the engine via metal fragments being ingested by the motor. Google PSA 1600 HDI engine problems and you'll find plenty of woe. Both the Volvo V50 and Mondeo use this engine but the 2.0 which strangely comes from the same source is a fine long lasting unit which has plenty of pull and will still achieve excellent fuel economy in either car. The 1700 diesel Astra estate uses an Isuzu unit and is nigh on bombproof, while Skoda Octavia is usually good news too. 1st garage you linked is local to me and one best avoided from past experience. All his stock is auction bought with paintwork or other issues which he cheaply repairs which during long term ownership will become a problem. Spend extra and buy from a main dealer which pulls its stock from fleets or their own trade ins instead of auction buys which the main dealers have more often than not rejected.

Did you just regurgitate parts of other posts to make the one paragraph monstrosity?

And almost all traders buy from Auction. Some may be closed Auctions but Auctions all the same.

And why do you think so many large dealers sell loads of their trade ins at Auction?

Simply because most of them are not good enough to be retailed.

Andy_S76

bigjl wrote: »

Did you just regurgitate parts of other posts to make the one paragraph monstrosity?

And almost all traders buy from Auction. Some may be closed Auctions but Auctions all the same.

And why do you think so many large dealers sell loads of their trade ins at Auction?

Simply because most of them are not good enough to be retailed.

Thanks for the English lesson. Though you'll find the information contained within this monstrosity, my first post on a forum (which just happened to spike my interest) is based on my experience as a salesman for a major dealer group and as a home trader over the last 20 years.

Sorry my punctuation and layout wasn't up to your exacting standards but my point regarding main dealer stock stands. They have access to ex lease fleet and trade in stock where the small backstreet dealer mentioned buys directly from local auctions where cars (excluding fleet stuff, which this may be) are often offloaded by main dealers because it's not up to their standards.

When buying from auction always remember that any car outside of elderly trade ins which are too old to retail and fleet stock are there for a reason. If it's an odd colour/spec or an undesirable model then fair enough a bargain might be possible but more often than not there's an issue that has seen the dealer which took it as part ex want to offload it through the ring.

I've stood at many auctions and found the bulk of it was of poor quality.

Andy_S76

One bonus regarding the diesel auto option is it does away with the troublesome dual mass flywheel. However many auto boxes are trouble enough in their own right.

While smooth and it doesn't harm fuel economy the VAG DSG auto is hesitant pulling out of junctions on a heavy throttle and isn't known for its longevity. It's also hugely expensive to replace if required, one friend of mine was handed a £6,000 quote to replace the box in his Audi TT V6.

Not sure about the auto box in the Mondeo or Insignia, neither option is popular but haven't heard of a problem but a quick net search will probably show up a few.

I'd avoid anything with a CVT (Continuously Variable Transmission) gearbox which are noisy and often troublesome.