I have something of a chequered past when it comes to all things 4 wheeled, having parted with good money for 10 cars in 7 years and regretted most of them;
My bad luck ranges from:
- Both a French and a Romanian car with major water issues: the 'it's raining and your kids are going to be very wet' kind!
- a Peugeot from a 'local approved dealer' at £4.5k...with an imagined missing 3rd gear (he and his 'mechanic' refused to acknowledge even after driving twice and me taking to main dealer for an inspection)
- a £2.5k scenic which developed ECG and EGR faults by the time we'd driven the 50 miles home...and then checked the receipt small print to see it was "sold as scrap"
- a cheap Saab 9.5 Sports Auto...stuck in 'sports mode' that would use about £1 p/mile fuel, that I then sold as scrap as couldn't afford to fix only to find the following week it had been used as a getaway car and I had a long night at the police station....
Thankfully I seem to be making slightly better decisions (or my run of bad luck is changing?)
I currently drive a 1.3 W Plate Yaris and my wife has the school bus in the form of a Honda Stream Y Plate 2.0 Auto.
My wife is changing jobs in March and will become a semi-full time carer (potentially full time by end of year) for a disabled family member. With the position will be use of a motability vehicle as they wish to apply for one rather than pay for the upkeep on the more expensive Honda.
So I'm looking for advice/theory's/opinions on the best way forward really.
I will have to sell/part x/auction/bury in the garden the wifes Honda which will leave us with the Yaris for my daily commute (20miles) and the weekend shopping mobile for a family of 5 + spaniel + chickens.
The Yaris is in fairly good condition and celebrated his 90k birthday this week which is quite good I guess for his age. He does need some minor works on anti roll bar pins, a rear bearing and a full service which will set me back about £250 or so from a local garage.
The options I'm looking at I guess are:
1) Dispose of the Honda & use the cash to fix up the Yaris and keep him running for another 12mths. Then at weekends my eldest sons can walk..
2) Trade in both cars and use the combined funds to purchase a newer car. With the return on the two plus my servicing budget I'd hope to achieve somewhere between £3-£4k looking at the average sales price on the net etc.
My wife is leaning towards the second option and we've been looking at small MPV's such as the C-MAX.
From a quick review of Autotrader, in 1.6 TDCi spec, this comes in broadly the same fuel costs as the Yaris on a commute (obviously better on longer runs) is £100 tax for the year and insurance group 5-7 depending on trim/age.
But this is as far as I've got - really really for the sake of my sanity and to redeem some form of credibility with my family (and the bank manager) want to as far as possible avoid another lemon.
Can you help?
***********
If given the above 2 options what would you do and assuming option 2, for a weekday commuter/weekend dad's taxi what would you be looking to buy in the £3k-£4K price bracket?
Appreciate any help you can offer a self confessed car idiot.
Thank you for reading.
Richy.
My bad luck ranges from:
- Both a French and a Romanian car with major water issues: the 'it's raining and your kids are going to be very wet' kind!
- a Peugeot from a 'local approved dealer' at £4.5k...with an imagined missing 3rd gear (he and his 'mechanic' refused to acknowledge even after driving twice and me taking to main dealer for an inspection)
- a £2.5k scenic which developed ECG and EGR faults by the time we'd driven the 50 miles home...and then checked the receipt small print to see it was "sold as scrap"
- a cheap Saab 9.5 Sports Auto...stuck in 'sports mode' that would use about £1 p/mile fuel, that I then sold as scrap as couldn't afford to fix only to find the following week it had been used as a getaway car and I had a long night at the police station....
Thankfully I seem to be making slightly better decisions (or my run of bad luck is changing?)
I currently drive a 1.3 W Plate Yaris and my wife has the school bus in the form of a Honda Stream Y Plate 2.0 Auto.
My wife is changing jobs in March and will become a semi-full time carer (potentially full time by end of year) for a disabled family member. With the position will be use of a motability vehicle as they wish to apply for one rather than pay for the upkeep on the more expensive Honda.
So I'm looking for advice/theory's/opinions on the best way forward really.
I will have to sell/part x/auction/bury in the garden the wifes Honda which will leave us with the Yaris for my daily commute (20miles) and the weekend shopping mobile for a family of 5 + spaniel + chickens.
The Yaris is in fairly good condition and celebrated his 90k birthday this week which is quite good I guess for his age. He does need some minor works on anti roll bar pins, a rear bearing and a full service which will set me back about £250 or so from a local garage.
The options I'm looking at I guess are:
1) Dispose of the Honda & use the cash to fix up the Yaris and keep him running for another 12mths. Then at weekends my eldest sons can walk..
2) Trade in both cars and use the combined funds to purchase a newer car. With the return on the two plus my servicing budget I'd hope to achieve somewhere between £3-£4k looking at the average sales price on the net etc.
My wife is leaning towards the second option and we've been looking at small MPV's such as the C-MAX.
From a quick review of Autotrader, in 1.6 TDCi spec, this comes in broadly the same fuel costs as the Yaris on a commute (obviously better on longer runs) is £100 tax for the year and insurance group 5-7 depending on trim/age.
But this is as far as I've got - really really for the sake of my sanity and to redeem some form of credibility with my family (and the bank manager) want to as far as possible avoid another lemon.
Can you help?
***********
If given the above 2 options what would you do and assuming option 2, for a weekday commuter/weekend dad's taxi what would you be looking to buy in the £3k-£4K price bracket?
Appreciate any help you can offer a self confessed car idiot.
Thank you for reading.
Richy.
