Car Talk

[Cal]

3 hours ago, grendel said:

I have looked into this 'new' leasing car ownership and have to say that if you do a high mileage its not for you, most have some kind of penalty payment per mile if you are going to be doing more than 12,000 miles in the year, this means I would be paying additional fees on over 20,000 miles every year, that puts the costs well above the overall purchase cost and paying for your own running costs.

plus there is the point - is running a brand new car greener that running an old second hand car, the second hand car spreads its eco costs for scrapping over a longer number of years than getting a new car every 3 years every time, even if it does kick out additional pollution by being older. its biggest environmental impact comes when it is scraped and dumped in landfill. it is my thought that cars should be made to be 100% recycleable.

We know very few people who actually own their cars now. Most prefer to lease and give them back after three years for a new one.

We have always bought ours and run them until they become unreliable. My current 2005 Nissan Almera we bought when it was 12 months old with the intention of keeping it until it became unreliable. We have had it 13 years now waiting for it to become unreliable 

The OH bought himself a Hyundai I30 diesel earlier this year. Again we will keep that until it becomes unreliable. It is a really nice car to drive, nothing exciting but it eats up motorway miles effortlessly and it hardly reving at 70mph. 

[grendel]

50 minutes ago, ranworthbreeze said:

Hi Grendel,

Most accountants usually say there is not much difference in purchase or leasing. I however have also been concerned re the mileage each year and the penalties for the condition of the car at the end of the lease. I have always opted for ownership and at times have kept my cars longer than I should have done, also I am getting a bit old in the tooth for lying under cars these days.

I do like to keep my hand in however so I might still do a few jobs.

Regards

Alan

Alan, there was a time when I thought nothing of swapping out an engine in the evening after arriving home from work, prior to heading back to work the next morning, I have even re-built the odd engine a time or two, but like you I stick to the simpler jobs nowadays - like replacing the suspension or steering components, also these volvo engines seem to last a lot longer than the renault based engines in the old 340's, they only seemed to be good for around 150,000 miles.

[Paul]

I don't tackle the type of jobs nowdays that I once would have, but still happy to change brake pads and discs, suspension bushes, service the cylinder head on the Honda which needs it's valve timing adjusted every 30k, now it has passed 150,000. I normally tend to look at cars 12 or 24 months old, so somebody else has taken the initial hit on depreciation, though the Merc was a little older due to costs, and the very low initial depreciation the convertibles suffer. I've done the maths on leasing,but they have never added up for me.

[grendel]

yes compare leasing to buying a second hand car and running it, and the maths just isnt there, the leasing accounts for all the depreciation on the car, and as you say buying second hand you avoid all that anyway.

back in the 1970's my dad won a Vauxhall Viva in a kellogs cornflakes competition (K reg?) He sold it for a loss on the new price for around £2000 and paid off his mortgage, so one of our neighbours got a cheap Vauxhall as new for less than the normal cost and we got our mortgage paid off (at the time my dad didnt drive - working on the railways he got all his tickets cheap (plus so many a year free) anyway.

[oldgregg]

7 hours ago, ranworthbreeze said:

Hi Grendel,

Most accountants usually say there is not much difference in purchase or leasing. I however have also been concerned re the mileage each year and the penalties for the condition of the car at the end of the lease. I have always opted for ownership and at times have kept my cars longer than I should have done, also I am getting a bit old in the tooth for lying under cars these days.

I do like to keep my hand in however so I might still do a few jobs.

Regards

Alan

Yeah I think it's quite a fine line so would prefer to own. Mine has a ding in the A pillar from where a sugar beet broke the screen and bounced off.

I didn't notice it for ages and I can live with it really. On a lease car I'd need to sort that or get fined for it, on mine it's not a biggie.

I think if you don't know about cars, leasing is better - If you have decent knowledge of what the potential issues are then I think owning works better as you can keep them until you think they need changing.

[grendel]

little dinks are great- even slightly bigger ones, i have had a couple of category c's that I have bought, one had a small dent in the rear wing, it was a great car and the dent didnt stop it being a good runner (it would have been an impossible expensive repair as the rear wing on an estate is part of the body shell, so not on a replaceable panel, though why they didnt just fill it with filler and a dusting of paint over I dont know. the cat c really brings the price down, but if you know what you are looking at they can be great cars (just be careful not to pick one with any major structural damage- though that shouldnt be a cat c anyway.

[ranworthbreeze]

If you have never used a dint guy (assuming the paintwork is unbroken) then the results are amazing, they use mirror pillars to see the dints  and use tools inside the  panels and heat up the panel get the dent out. I have seen it done on friends and my son's car.

Regards 

Alan

[grendel]

most of the cars I have bought with dents have had folds and creases in the dents, stuff that wont just pop out as the metal has been deformed.

[LondonRascal]

I was back at Kwik-Fit today, I'm on first name terms with them and this time is was for a re-gas of the air conditioning on the SLK. It was performing fine but since checking pressures are not a standard service item I was keen to see if it was work getting done. Sure enough the pressure was well above where the compressor would have cut out due to low pressure in the system, but could do with some.  They took all the old refrigerant out along with  the lubricating oil under pressure and left it for a good while. Often times it is done quickly and not everything, especially any moisture in the system is removed. Although it might be best to replace the receiver drier too, no where but a specialist will do that.

However, with the system recharged it was time to check vent temps and if they cannot get it lower by 10% than the reading taken when you took the car in you don't pay. Mine went in with 6.3c at centre vent and I now have 4.7c. This has made so much of a difference I actually need to add a little heat to the air as otherwise the small cockpit of the SLK gets simply too cold. Even with the roof down, it means a humid day is still fresher feeling if you set it to come out of the lower foot well vents it seems to work around and up in the interior.

The other item was a look a the front suspension. Every now and then - and annoyingly it really is a rare occurrence - there is a clonk heard from the front end of the car on the drivers side. You can go over a speed hump at 20MPH and it will happen. Go back over the same hump at the same speed and it will not happen. How frustrating. Days may pass and then all of a sudden, as you go over a small pot hole it is heard again. They had the car up on the ramps and could find nothing worn, loose, creaking or moving as it should not. They then put it on a machine that shakes and moves the suspension to see if that would cause the issue to show itself - but again nothing. They have greased areas and now I will see if it comes back.

However what they can't seem to fix once and for all is the handbrake. Although on an SLK it is inherently badly designed, the previous SLK at least held it reasonably well. On the new one stopping on a modest slop with the car in drive and the hand brake on will not hold the car - it will however if the car is on a slope facing backwards.  Despite the fact engaging park will hold the car, I want a handbrake I can have faith in so this is going to be a dealer fix but as things goes it could be worse.

I'd also thought about some new, larger alloys. The last car had some nice 18" AMG ones which really helped raise the look of the car. The rims on this one are nothing special - even though they only are found on the 350 they look for all the world like they could be off any old Mercedes. Sporty and sleek they are not, they are also only 17". 

Anyway, after much thinking and looking at wheels I have decided not to change them but to take them to BA Wheels who did the BMW's with such great work, but this time I was thinking of working something with colour. I am not sure if I want to go for an all over fresh look where I have the wheels blasted back and, powered coated and lacquered or to say have the outside rim one colour and the main body of the wheel another.

Here is an example of the wheels in question:

It will then be time for new rubber, currently I have some Continentals on the front "ContiSportContact3" which are okay, and well within tread limits but they are very noisy. On the rear are a pair of Yokohama "Advan Sports" which being a rear wheel drive car are predictably more worn.

I am likely going to put on some Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric 5's which have been praised for their wet braking performance, dry handling and overall ride. Goodyear tend not to last as well as Michelin, but I want to have some comparisons over time. The old SLK had Hancock tyres all round, and it was a lot better in the wet and in sweeping fast corners than this car - despite this car having smaller wheels with a higher profile tyre. In this SLK the worst thing are manhole covers - they seriously unsettle the car and in the wet, there are a couple of roads just as you drive out of Thorpe towards the NDR/A47 with roundabouts where they have several manhole covers to deal with. These are 30 and 40 MPH roads but some of them the rear will want to skip out if you catch one at the right angle which is not a pleasant feeling.  Of course new tyres will mean I can have the car's tracking looked at as well.

As for the BMW - well since I had all the brakes done on that, I thought the place where I had taken it simply had spilled a little fluid around the reservoir. I wiped it up with some tissue and gave everything a good clean. After the trip to North Wales, I noticed the brake pedal just felt the most tiniest bit 'different' - actually in a good way. You see before you had about 1cm of travel between nothing and gentle braking, after which all hell broke loose and you had some serious braking which got some getting used to being so gentle with your foot.  Now it is more progressive, yet still has a lovely firm pedal feel - far better than the SLK.

Anyway after my resent trip to London I was doing my weekly under bonnet checks and noticed again there was fluid around the brake fluid reservoir - not much, and it was still showing Max. This time I had a very good look about and can only presume it is leaking from the cap, but that also means the fluid is being pushed up, past the max point to raise to the cap level and then to find a way out. I've also notice the actuators on the electronic parking brake take a bit longer to travel from fully off to on, the little noise they make as they pull the calipers on goes on just a touch longer.

All of this may be unconnected, but something is not quite as it used to be so this is another item to have a once over. What I have learnt is keeping things clean under the bonnet and checking levels and around caps and hoses pays off as you notice the things like "where is that fluid coming from" and can keep an eye on it, that was something I used to do with my Dad, every Sunday - wash the car, hoover the inside, inside and outside of the windows and under bonnet checks. It was one of the few times we had where it was just us and could actually talk.

[grendel]

Robin, pretty much any car will slip on manhole covers, even my beast of a volvo does it if you hit a manhole cover under braking you will slide on it no matter what the tyre, its just a question of how much, better to read the road and take a line to avoid them. motorcyclists bane are manholes, you learn to spot them .

for the leak around the brake reservoir cap, my volvo had that, a new cap sorted it.or it might just need a new rubber seal, they go hard with time.

[ChrisB]

If your auto is in Drive you should use the footbrake not the parking brake to stop it going forwards and an auto in Drive should not run backwards, it should be possible to hold it however steep a hill it is on just on the throttle. I never touch my parking brake when driving even though my car is a "stop/start" type even onthe steepest of hills. The only time I apply it is after I engage Park. However I do drive a conventional torque converter type of auto after having loads of problems with German "Twin Clutch" autos and Japanese "CVTs"

[Cal]

16 hours ago, grendel said:

little dinks are great- even slightly bigger ones, i have had a couple of category c's that I have bought, one had a small dent in the rear wing, it was a great car and the dent didnt stop it being a good runner (it would have been an impossible expensive repair as the rear wing on an estate is part of the body shell, so not on a replaceable panel, though why they didnt just fill it with filler and a dusting of paint over I dont know. the cat c really brings the price down, but if you know what you are looking at they can be great cars (just be careful not to pick one with any major structural damage- though that shouldnt be a cat c anyway.

The OH is a panel beater. He refuses to buy cars that have been written off. They have been written off for a reason.

They have changed the write off codes nowadays. What was a C is now a S.

[oldgregg]

Robin if you want a proper garage to sort your car out, give Nigel Farrow on Salhouse Road a look. Probably the only garage I know that will tell you that something doesn't need doing.

Kwik Fit will sell you work all day long, particularly if it's near to the end of the month and they need to meet their targets...

[ranworthbreeze]

2 minutes ago, oldgregg said:

Robin if you want a proper garage to sort your car out, give Nigel Farrow on Salhouse Road a look. Probably the only garage I know that will tell you that something doesn't need doing.

Kwik Fit will sell you work all day long, particularly if it's near to the end of the month and they need to meet their targets...

Kwik Fit, another of the companies that I have been tempted to take the tools out of their hands for misuse. Most people only go there once. It is better to find a good tyre fitter and only go into these types of companies if you are stuck.

 

[oldgregg]

2 hours ago, Cal said:

The OH is a panel beater. He refuses to buy cars that have been written off. They have been written off for a reason.

They have changed the write off codes nowadays. What was a C is now a S.

One of our current cars is a write-off, but wasn't when we bought it 

Some  in an Audi pulled out into it and managed to hit the driver's door perfectly. It's a second car that's fairly old and having worked in the insurance industry I knew straight away they'd write it off. After the initial messing about where they assured me they were experts (well they tried to) and that it was repairable, they eventually conceded that yes it was a total loss.

I got the car back plus pretty much retail value for it and bought a new door from the scrapyard and got it sprayed to match. That was two years ago and it's shown no other issues since.

If I'd have let them keep the car, whoever bought it would have had a bargain...

[grendel]

I think like any company, you can find a good kwik fit garage (occasionally) its all down to the staff.

2 hours ago, Cal said:

The OH is a panel beater. He refuses to buy cars that have been written off. They have been written off for a reason.

They have changed the write off codes nowadays. What was a C is now a S.

I once had a car written off as cat d- structural damage (needing a visit to the dvla engineering centre to recertify the work), it was a 5mph or less impact and entailed replacing the bonnet and numberplate - (tiny dent in bonnet, broken grill and broken numberplate)- even the insurance rep said he couldnt understand why it had been cat d - he said it should have been a c - beyond economical repair as to do a professional job with a new bonnet and spray job was more than the value of the car. the engineer at the dvla test centre just shook his head and said that it had just been a waste of his time, as it shouldnt have been cat d'd.

nonetheless I bought the car back off them and replaced the bonnet from a scrap yard, £40 for the bonnet and about another £20 for the numberplate

[oldgregg]

Ours didn't even get recorded, somehow...

They weren't the most competent of insurers (not mine, I claimed directly as a third party) so I'm glad they're not mine!

[Cal]

We have in the past bought a few write offs (and cars from clients that were going to be written off if they had claimed on their insurance) and repaired them and sold them on. We usually did quite well out of them.

It is too much hassle now though and not worth the effort.

The insurers and salvage yards want too much money for them and it doesn't make the job worthwhile.

As a good example of this a chap has taken a written off Range Rover Evoque to the garage for repair. They have bought it for £9k. By the time he has done paying for body panels, suspension parts, labour, repairs and paint it will cost him well over £13k to get the car back on the road.

There are examples for sale of the same year that have less miles and have not been written off starting at £10k. It just doesn't make sense.

[BrundallNavy]

Hele’s car has just been written off by Hastings the first offer was £10400 which was declined next offer £10440 which was also declined, next day email to state that case was now closed and payment on its way. A like for like replacement is £12000 but they won’t budge. 

[OldBerkshireBoy]

7 minutes ago, brundallNavy said:

Hele’s car has just been written off by Hastings the first offer was £10400 which was declined next offer £10440 which was also declined, next day email to state that case was now closed and payment on its way. A like for like replacement is £12000 but they won’t budge. 

Been there, when asked how they arrived at that figure I was told based on for sale adverts of similar car in your area. Note the work similar. They were all older with higher milage.

[oldgregg]

You'll need to complain I suspect.

Hastings Direct (not actually 'direct' despite their advertising, they're just a broker) I remember having dealings with..... Probably best not to say too much more.

There is generally a gap between retail and book value, though.

[LondonRascal]

Having taken the SLK in for a new battery (I can throughly recommend lithium powered jump packs by the way. Large power bank type things, charge phones use as a torch and when needed 600Amps of power to crank and engine over) I decided I wanted to go on a bit of an adventure. 

This began leaving Norfolk behind on Wednesday and without a destination in mind headed towards Yorkshire. I arrived in Bridlington and found a Premier Inn. Everything was premier, even the price this time, but it was very comfy, modern and large room with air conditioning and below a large restaurant to eat in. 

Come morning time I was keen to keep on traveling. I pondered seriously about going to Liverpool via the M62 to go on this amazing motorway constructed in the harshest of conditions and is our highest motorway too. Once in a Liverpool take the Steam Packet Ferry to the Isle of Man - but the £326.00 return cost made this a bit too decadent.

instead, I set off for Scotland.

By Durham I had decided on Edinburgh but felt I could go further. Well, as it happened due to slow traffic on the A1 things slipped back and I decided to stick to Edinburgh and very nice it is too - other than the roads are the most potholed I’ve seen.

I made this impromptu video, the car has been performing flawlessly and despite being small the seats and ride have proved very comfortable too .

 

 

 

[Victoryv]

Worth the ferry fair to the Isle of Man to drive the TT circuit, how often do you get the chance to drive a road without speed limits ?

Also astonishing scenery , nice people and Manx Pale Ale.

Whats not to like ?

Best done by motorcycle !

[Siddy]

On your way down you could do a circle tour of the North Yorks Moors, we do a round trip from Leeds as a drive out but you could come off at Scotch Corner A1/A66 services and right to Richmond head for Aysgarth, Hawes down to Ingleton then to Malham, Grassington. Then either Skipton (canal there) then Keighley - Howarth way (bronte's & steam railwat) call at Bingley Five Rise and your heading back towards M62 or A1 via Leeds.

Don't stop in Bradford as the highway code doesn't apply there and they'll like your car.

Watch them camera van on the A1/A19 they were out in force on Wednesday more than normal.

[ChrisB]

42 minutes ago, Victoryv said:

Worth the ferry fair to the Isle of Man to drive the TT circuit, how often do you get the chance to drive a road without speed limits ?

Also astonishing scenery , nice people and Manx Pale Ale.

Whats not to like ?

Best done by motorcycle !

I think, well anyway the last time I looked Mick Dunlop went round at 133mph but Mark Higgins in his Subaru WRX STi (Prodrive TT Attack car) has inched up and did nearly 129mph on a 37 mile circuit that is really quite something. "YouTube" it.