Hi everyone!

StevieDB9

StevieDB9

Road Burner
Points
72
Location
(was) Allanton, Scotland
Car
Ford Focus 1.4
Hi everyone! sorry i am ashamed to say i havent posted for about 2 years :( shame on me, been a busy few years though, finished my masters course in chemistry finally and moved to Bristol to start a PhD in advanced carbon fibre composites for aerospace engineering, can't stop being a student it seems no matter how hard i try:blink:

anyway, some much needed advice; i'm still driving the focus but its took a hammering and in the last year alone the mileage has went from 78000 to 117000, :confused:

started thinking of what to replace the old girl with and for the last few weeks i've had my heart set on the new fiesta zetec s which has fantastic levels of kit and i've only heard good things about how it is to drive and heard no horror stories yet. Was looking at one next year for around the £9-10,000 mark.

HOWEVER, was on autotrader and the Ford dealer just up the road from me has this advertised:

ha! what do you know, went to get the link from autotrader and it had gone! aw well, makes the decision easier!

Basically, they had a volvo S40 2008, 1.8 litre, 17000 miles for less than £7000. Just thought that either this is a very good car for not a lot of money or that it was TOO good. Has anyone ever owned or knows someone with the same model? know of any recurring problems or expensive repairs?

Found one that is pretty similar to see what you guys think
http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classif.../radius/1500/page/1/postcode/bs28ny?logcode=p
 
They're good cars. Don't dismiss them if the history is sound and documented. Volvo parts can be pricey, but you'll not have need of many.

At £7k it was a good buy for whoever got it.

Don't dismiss BMW's 3 series touring either
THese are well built and durable in the long term.
 
well the thing is HDi i never thought i would afford the insurance but since i saw the car was a steal i checked and the insurance was pretty much the same as it is now, but a BMW is ridiculous (im only 23). this is one thing that annoys me, for the £10,000 im looking at for a fiesta i could get a decent BMW, audi or nice jag, but the insurance is ridiculous
 
£10 000 is a ridiculous amount of money to pay for a Fiesta! For that money you could easily buy (granted it'll be older) a nicer car with more kit and insure it. It all depends on what you want the car for.
 
considering the zetec s is £15000 new without extras not really - £10000 gets one with less than 15000 on the clock, and i dont want to go down the route of buying something bigger and used, done that with a volkswagen, absolute hunk of s**t, cost me more in the end in garage bills than it did to buy. i've had a ford now for 4 years, never put a step wrong not once. the new fords you cant go wrong, great to drive, cheap parts, and specs to put bigger cars to shame
 
What happened to this forum?! used to be so friendly! now i'm being ridiculed for my decision on what to spend my money on. A (basically) new fiesta for £10,000 is going to give me much less hassle than some 2nd hand piece of nonsense, been there before, made that mistake, not doing it again. The new fiesta is a fantastic car with lots of good toys on it, usually the reserve of high spec german saloons - auto headlights/wipers, voice activated/controlled radio, ipod, phone and climate settings, cruise control, loads of safety features etc etc etc, all whilst being cheap to run, insure and easy to maintain. Simply wanted to know people's opinions on the Volvo because I thought it was a good deal but wasn't sure how reliable it was or how expensive repairs were.
 
StevieDB9 said:
What happened to this forum?! used to be so friendly! now i'm being ridiculed for my decision on what to spend my money on. A (basically) new fiesta for £10,000 is going to give me much less hassle than some 2nd hand piece of nonsense, been there before, made that mistake, not doing it again. The new fiesta is a fantastic car with lots of good toys on it, usually the reserve of high spec german saloons - auto headlights/wipers, voice activated/controlled radio, ipod, phone and climate settings, cruise control, loads of safety features etc etc etc, all whilst being cheap to run, insure and easy to maintain. Simply wanted to know people's opinions on the Volvo because I thought it was a good deal but wasn't sure how reliable it was or how expensive repairs were.
Click to expand...

Volvos again are nice cars. But the servicing can be pricey. BMW, strangely, is very reasonabl efor parts and servicing.

However, the Fiesta is a good piece of machinery. Get one a year or so old thus ridding yourself of that first 12 months crippling depreciation and I doubt you'll have cause for complaint.

Happy choosing!!
 
Thanks HDi, yeah that was my thinking, about a year old they drop to about 2/3 of the list price whilst still having low mileage. I think i've pretty much made up my mind! thanks!
 
StevieDB9 said:
considering the zetec s is £15000 new without extras not really - £10000 gets one with less than 15000 on the clock, and i dont want to go down the route of buying something bigger and used, done that with a volkswagen, absolute hunk of s**t, cost me more in the end in garage bills than it did to buy. i've had a ford now for 4 years, never put a step wrong not once. the new fords you cant go wrong, great to drive, cheap parts, and specs to put bigger cars to shame
Click to expand...

http://www.gkgroup.co.uk/newcars/197/fiesta-16-tdci-zetecs-met-paint
Brand new Tdci Zetec S for 12 and a half grand.
How good are your bargaining skills? You'd get it for 10k easy imo.



Oh yes and please refrain from swearing as per the T&C's.;)
 
Hey, thanks for that! thats kinda the deal i've been looking for, and sorry! :embarrest:

Prince, I know there are loads of prestige cars out there for that kinda cash, but I honestly, I cant be bothered with something with 50,000 miles and the heartache of trawling insurance sites for days. I want piece of mind with something that is well built, cheap to run, cheap to insure, cheap to fix and still fun to drive. As I said Fords are fantastic cars that dont get the reputation they really deserve (although its coming now), a lot of my family have Fords as well as me and none of them have given us any trouble at all. And certainly less trouble than some people I know with BMWs, Audis, Mercs (and both my uncles couldnt go anywhere as soon as wee had all the snow back and Glasgow last winter, Merc and BMW could barely get up the drive never mind anywhere else).

And remember in the past 50-odd years (with the exception of Fiat and Renault bizarrely) Ford have had more "car of year" awards than anyone else, BMW doesnt even get a mention. And in the years they havent won they have often came in the top 3. You've got to ask yourself, why not buy a Ford? Is it simply a badge thing? not a good enough reason if you ask me! :amuse:
 
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StevieDB9 said:
Hey, thanks for that! thats kinda the deal i've been looking for, and sorry! :embarrest:

Prince, I know there are loads of prestige cars out there for that kinda cash, but I honestly, I cant be bothered with something with 50,000 miles and the heartache of trawling insurance sites for days. I want piece of mind with something that is well built, cheap to run, cheap to insure, cheap to fix and still fun to drive. As I said Fords are fantastic cars that dont get the reputation they really deserve (although its coming now), a lot of my family have Fords as well as me and none of them have given us any trouble at all. And certainly less trouble than some people I know with BMWs, Audis, Mercs (and both my uncles couldnt go anywhere as soon as wee had all the snow back and Glasgow last winter, Merc and BMW could barely get up the drive never mind anywhere else).

And remember in the past 50-odd years (with the exception of Fiat and Renault bizarrely) Ford have had more "car of year" awards than anyone else, BMW doesnt even get a mention. And in the years they havent won they have often came in the top 3. You've got to ask yourself, why not buy a Ford? Is it simply a badge thing? not a good enough reason if you ask me! :amuse:
Click to expand...

A new car can have just as many problems as an old car. I am not a fan of Fords though tbh (particulary the newer ones), so maybe I'm being a little biased against them. If I was buying for build quality then German everytime, but if I wanted reliability then it has to be Jap.

Also, iirc BMW have now stolen the awards Ford used to win. But that's a completely different discussion.

As I said before mate, it's your money so it's your decision. I do understand your thinking (as in why you want a newish car), I just don't agree with it.
 
Prince said:
A new car can have just as many problems as an old car. I am not a fan of Fords though tbh (particulary the newer ones), so maybe I'm being a little biased against them. If I was buying for build quality then German everytime, but if I wanted reliability then it has to be Jap.

Also, iirc BMW have now stolen the awards Ford used to win. But that's a completely different discussion.

As I said before mate, it's your money so it's your decision. I do understand your thinking (as in why you want a newish car), I just don't agree with it.
Click to expand...


Funny funny. Since Ford have out sold everyone in the last 30 odd years.
 
well fair enough, we stick to what we know, if you've had a german car for a while and its be good its easy to understand why you would stick with it. I've always had fords, they've always been great, once went for a german car and it was absolutely shocking, was basically new and in two years i had it i had to change the front springs, the rear shocks, all brake discs, the gearbox (!), the clutch, the waterpump, the temperature sensor, the crank shaft sensor, the abs unit, the full exhaust, the radiator, the thermostat, the ecu unit, a million bulbs, the track rod ends, the water manifold, the vacuum pipes, and because the tracking had welded itself one of the front wheels was permanently 12 degrees out of alignment so went through tyres faster than it went through petrol. Bitten once, wont be again.

Dont get me wrong, I'm a big fan of merc and bmw, especially the tech thats in them, and when I've finished uni and got a job I hope to one day have one. And, as I'm sure we've all just watched on Top Gear, I think the new BMW 1M is a fantastic little car (at last they've built a proper car with a simple straight 6 and a proper manual, not some silly thing with a million settings for the gearbox) and the best BMW since the original M3. All I'm saying is you're throwing out the baby with the bath water, you say "why spend that money on a ford", I say why not?! Fast Fords are almost a British institution!

And as for quality, dont forget some fiestas are built in germany :cheesy:

just unfortunate for some people badge means everything
 
i have had loads of cars and have loads of cars now and work on the things all day
i can say you can spend 100 quid and get a gem or spend 100000 and get a dog
can be the same motor just is luck if that car has al the good parts on it or all the faulty ones off the line

my step brother has a st fiesta i would never buy one after being in that more so if your doing 30k in it the gearing is so bad

the volvo is a good call i have always liked volvos and looking into getting another c70 t5 but any new volvo suffer from ecu's and dimm units (dash)
could go on for ever with what each motor has wrong

i always buy with what i like the look of i am just about to sell my audi one of the best cars i have owned am only selling cos i want a change plus the gearbox is on the way out cos the way i treat it and bought it like it plus having the wrong oil in does not help

but if you are doing a lot of miles i would look for something a touch bigger just so its better for the miles
and never over look vauxhalls and the new kias and hyundais ect
 
hi lutonmatt, I know what you mean about you cant tell how good a car will be by how much you spend on it!

well I used to do horrendous miles, about 37000 last year, but I now live in a city centre and literally do less than 5000 miles a year, so something that is a bit more fun is for me! :D
 
am also looking at another lexus at the min as well they are fun and a big 4.0 v8 rwd and are quite cheap or for 10k can get a good newish one
 
I feel bad for throwing my input cause i feel you all have more experience and know more about cars than me, but from what i read it sounds like the thread starter, Prince, and i dont know who else all base it on self experiences. Dont get me wrong, thats a good thing to base an opinion on, but if i dont remember wrong, StevieDB9 always tried fords except for 1 car that wasnt a ford, so i dont think you should doom all cars of one brand because of 1 bad experience.
Like i said, i might be wrong, cars isnt my expertise but im just speaking from what i get out of what i read, and i think 1 or a few bad experiences shouldnt doom a brand, a model maybe, but not a whole brand.
 
Hi ricardo, dont put your own opinion down! :cheesy:

I understand what you mean, but more of a point of principle I dont want to give VW anymore of my money:lol:

I know I said I've mainly had fords but I have a load of mates who are equally into their cars and my whole family is into cars, between us we've owned pretty much all the main stream manufacturers and have our good and horror stories of them all! :p

luttonmatt, the lexususess are really nice, i'm sure you know that, my mate's dad was a lexus salesman (actually he can proudly say that as lexus dealerships enjoy the reputation of actually being a helpful dealership :lol:), so naturally he had a different car every week. Some of the cars we're truly joyous to be driven in, so quiet and comfy! although that little roadster thing (think it was called the sc430 or something) was truly awful! :blink: lexus making a sports car is a bit like kia making a supercar :cheesy:
 
Welcome back Nice to hear from you. Spending that money on a new car means you'll have lost about half of it in depreciation after just 3 years. On a car that is a couple of years old you stand to keep a lot more value after the same period.

Have you looked at diesels? Insurance isn't too bad on diesels generally and they are quite lively plus with your heavy mileage you'll save in fuel costs.
 
Oh and the site has changed quite a bit since your last visit. What do you think of our new look?
 
Hi Waynne, as I was saying i used to do horrendous mileage, but hardly anything now I live in the city centre, honestly dont think I top 5000 miles. And dare i say it, i prefer petrol :evil:

site is looking swish!
 
christ you have been away a while lol

yup all install custom built and running. only thing was ive had to reset it a few months after fitting it and still havent rebuilt the skin for vcds but the amount of times i use it means its not a biggy
 
Haha! it has been a long long time mate since i've been on! busy finishing my degree (that was horrible few months), moved to Bristol and nearly finished my first year of my PhD. Its the first chance i've had to settle down and get back on the forum!

Thats good you got it all done. Is there and old post somewhere about the computer? Wouldnt mind reading through the process again!
 
StevieDB9 said:
Haha! it has been a long long time mate since i've been on! busy finishing my degree (that was horrible few months), moved to Bristol and nearly finished my first year of my PhD. Its the first chance i've had to settle down and get back on the forum!

Thats good you got it all done. Is there and old post somewhere about the computer? Wouldnt mind reading through the process again!
Click to expand...

BTW mate, if you don't know of anywhere to take your car for work, then give Redish Motorsport a call.
 
StevieDB9 said:
Haha! it has been a long long time mate since i've been on! busy finishing my degree (that was horrible few months), moved to Bristol and nearly finished my first year of my PhD. Its the first chance i've had to settle down and get back on the forum!

Thats good you got it all done. Is there and old post somewhere about the computer? Wouldnt mind reading through the process again!
Click to expand...

sorry been busy the last few days

aye threads are here

Car
http://www.torquecars.com/forums/f47/my-bora-10747/

carputer
http://www.torquecars.com/forums/f49/my-carputer-install-5608/
 
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