New car needed

We've just had a our 05 petrol Scenic MOT'd and it failed. A couple of small things and the CHECK AIRBAG thing, so probably £400 in total I would guess. They said it could be the cable under the seat or a full replacement for £300 (hmm, I wonder which one it's going to be?). Plus it's got an oil leak, the clutch is slipping and it has a few dents/scratches.

We think we might get it through it's MOT as a minimum and then get rid. What would you recommend? I've been looking at Ford Foci (plural) but maybe not that reliable? Or maybe a Honda Jazz for the right price.

Any help is appreciated!

 

For around £1500.

 

The 'check airbag' thing is likely to be the cable under the seat. The electronics for the airbag system are very, very sensitive, so the connector on the cable under the seat has to be a perfect connection. Over time, like any connector, it corrodes and oxides, probably not even visibly noticeable, but noticeable to very sensitive electronics. An honest mechanic will disconnect that, clean it with contact cleaner, re-seat it, and see if that fixes it before asking you to spend any major money on it. A dealer will probably stick it on the computer, take whatever the computer says as gospel, and charge you a fortune.

But, in any case, its Renault, its nearly 10, and the clutch is slipping and oil is leaking. I believe a clutch kit (supplied and fitted) is likely to be around £300, and once they start to slip, they tend to go quite rapidly (in my experience at least).

That said, £1500 will buy you a lot of car if you choose wisely. You can have Gothilda for that But I'm assume you want something a bit younger than a 17 year old tank, and a but shorter than a bus. What about a nice BMW 3 series? I think I'd steer clear of Ford. I don't think they've built a good car since the Mk2 Escort. Some people tell me that Ford is ok now, but they are usually the same people that constantly bore me with their latest tales of inexpensive but frequent car woes. Remember, Ford = Fix Or Replace Daily.

 

Corr really?! What about this? http://www.gumtree.com/p/bmw/2004bmw-compact-316ti/1082114590

 

Possibly. I'd see what @longk or @fat controller have to say though. They know their cars better than I do, but certainly if I was after a smaller car (ie smaller than Gothilda), I'd quite fancy a BMW 3 series. Never owned one, but been a passenger in a few. They feel solid and responsive and they're not bad looking. You'd probably want to use independent garages for maintenance though, all dealers are over priced but I've heard BMW dealers are worse than most.

 

This one's prettier:

http://www.gumtree.com/p/bmw/bmw-316i-2002-1.8cc-4-door-saloon/1082141556

And it has a tow bar

 

Ha, Cleveland Street. That's where we got 'Percy' from! I never even realised BMWs were an option. Christina has always been after an Audi.

 

Yes, I suppose so JWK. I can put him in the front as longer as there is no airbags though, or I turn them off.

 

How did you get to it JWK?

 

Sorry, drifting slightly off topic, you've reminded me of when I scrapped my last 940, dear old Helga. I advertised on a car forum that if anyone wants any easily accessible bits before I call the scrap man, let me know and I'll salvage them. Someone wanted one of the magic electronic boxes, and described its location as inside the dash, behind the glove box. Sounds easy enough I thought. It turned out that the ONLY way I could get to the last two bolts was to stick my legs over the back of the front passenger seat, then hang upside down like a bat with my back arched over the front edge of the seat, head in the footwell, looking up. All this on my drive, for all passers-by to see. I heard some amusing comments. After removing said component, I then got back onto the interweb to quote the part number to the chap that wanted it. Apparently that age of 940s had either of two different ones of these gadgets. One is somehow cleverer than the other, and the one I'd removed after my contorted escapade was the dull boring one, not the version he was hoping it would be, so it was all for nothing (except for the value of hopefully amusing anecdote).