Info On Which Car To Buy, Please.

I haven't looked at this for ages so here are a few belated observations from my experience in the trade.

Well..............Toyota have recalled as many cars worldwide over the last five (I think that was the figure quoted) years that all the other manufacturers put together!

The drawback of the heated screen is that it is not compatible with the antiglare coating that a lot of manufacturers use now. I would rather have that.
Also modern engines are far more thermally efficient now (to comply with EEC emissions targets) that they warm up far quicker and so there is practically no difference in the time taken to defrost a screen now.

Kia. Chuck in the pre-payed service plan that most dealers offer and it's a no-brainer.

Heated seats should be law. Mine are on even in the summer!

Frankly I find modern Fords very poor. Just a personal opinion based on the number that we take in for warranty repairs, especially engines and gearboxes.

Pretty easily done nowadays. If they don't hit their target their whole discount structure changes so it is better to sell a few cars at a loss than lose the higher rates of discount.

Except for the maybe 50% of Imprezzas (mostly, but any of the other models with the highly tuned flat four as well) that are running like turds because the crankshaft is twisted

I would have spent 600/700 quid on keeping it going rather than move into the world of modern motoring.

Well proven in the trade to be a money pit maybe

 

Most cars these days appear to be a totally mixed up mess, engines from other manufacturers and all kinds of bits from places you would least expect.

Just, DON'T BUY A BLOODY DIESEL , how the hell they got everyone to buy these things is a mystery to me?
They stink, they push out loads of black smoke and rattle like crazy.

 

Only if they are behind me, the amount of times I've followed one of these and they have put their foot down leaving a cloud of black smoke behind is unbelievable.
Bearing in mind we were all told how great they were for the environment.

Too much emphasis put on CO2, which is naturally in the atmosphere anyway, and never killed anyone, and not enough on soot.

 

Is it still mid 1960's in mid Kent That is not a modern diesel you are talking about.

 

There are one hell of a lot of Minis , what should I be wary of @longk

 

I've got a diesel - it sounds like a bag of spanners and accelerates like a slug - I don't give it a second thought as I have no interest in cars. Some insecure people do see them as a status symbol and a measure of success in life - I'm not one of them .

 

That must be the Mid-Kent diesel you have

 

Thanks for the input longk. We quite like the look of the Kia Venga, I took one out for a test drive and it seemed ok. It handled well enough and felt comfortable, my only real quibble was that it was a little sluggish when trying to pull away quickly at a roundabout or T-junction.

 

You should be able to ignore the ones that spontaneously combust now on the basis that they've all torched themselves or been recalled.
So;
Dodgy head gaskets and water pump drive clutches.
Premature timing chain failure (mostly the turbo models)
Gearbox issues on hard driven cars
Build up of carbon in the engine leading to rough running.

 

Ahh , so it's just a car
Presumably a similar fault list could be written about most other cars . Thankfully nothing above raises any concern