Marlon wrote:

Hi all,
took my '93 BMW 530i lump for a service yesterday, to find out too
many bits are dropping off & it's now beyond economical repair (quoted
around £1200 to put it all right on a car that would be worth c £600
when right - I inspected the issues, and agree that they're BIG issues).
So..... this being the rainy day I've clearly been saving for I
now have a budget of £8k for a replacement. Still sad though, the
lump's a great drive, great refinement.
However there are prerequisites for the new wheels:

Have to be able to transport 4 people + 2 dogs (one large, one
small) + luggage the length of the country in comfort (hence "family"
5-seater with good sized boot).
Have to be able to cope with towing a 1200kg (when occupied) horse
box (but just on local trips), so probably minimum 1.8l engine?
Must average (much) more than the 23.5 mpg I've been getting out of
the lump over the last 3 years I've owned it!

I've got ideas, sadly nothing particularly exciting as far as
motoring goes, as a result of last nights tinterweb searching, but
thought it might be interesting to see if anyone's got any particular
recommendations.
My SWMBO got excited by 4-year-old Jaguar X-types being down to
£7.5k now - til I pointed her at the fuel economy figures.....

Also, as I've never actually bought a car from a dealer before, if
a forecourt sticker says £8k, what do you think I should actually expect
to get a car for - and would no trade-in be a better bargaining
position?

My apologies if any of this appears like numpty stuff - I'm just a
newbie in this area.

Mondeo TDCi Estate. Job done.
--
Pete M - OMF#9

BMW 325i SE Touring
Range Rover V8 Turbo

"Wait! We can't stop here, this is Bat Country"

"Adrian" wrote in message
...
"DanB" gurgled happily, sounding much like
they were saying:

My retreiver isn't that big, and would be very uncomfortable in a Focus
boot.

Hmm. My mother's (large) red setter was fine in the boot of her 306
estate.

Mine is still very bouncy at 14 months old :-)

I love Red Setters, is it still with us? Was it as awesome as they look?

--
Dan
Clio R27 F1 #65

"DanB" wrote in message
...
"Adrian" wrote in message
...
"DanB" gurgled happily, sounding much like
they were saying:

My retreiver isn't that big, and would be very uncomfortable in a Focus
boot.

Hmm. My mother's (large) red setter was fine in the boot of her 306
estate.

Mine is still very bouncy at 14 months old :-)

I love Red Setters, is it still with us? Was it as awesome as they look?


Oops, forgot to say, a 306 estate has a biiig boot! Much bigger than a
Focus hatch! Although a Focus estate would probably be ok but they seem to
be a bit of a comparitivly rare beast...

--
Dan
Clio R27 F1 #65

"Doki" wrote in message
...

"DanB" wrote in message
...
"Doki" wrote in message
...

"Marlon" wrote in message
...

Hi all,
took my '93 BMW 530i lump for a service yesterday, to find out too
many bits are dropping off & it's now beyond economical repair (quoted
around £1200 to put it all right on a car that would be worth c £600
when right - I inspected the issues, and agree that they're BIG
issues).
So..... this being the rainy day I've clearly been saving for I
now have a budget of £8k for a replacement. Still sad though, the
lump's a great drive, great refinement.
However there are prerequisites for the new wheels:

Have to be able to transport 4 people + 2 dogs (one large, one
small) + luggage the length of the country in comfort (hence "family"
5-seater with good sized boot).
Have to be able to cope with towing a 1200kg (when occupied) horse
box (but just on local trips), so probably minimum 1.8l engine?
Must average (much) more than the 23.5 mpg I've been getting out of
the lump over the last 3 years I've owned it!

I've got ideas, sadly nothing particularly exciting as far as
motoring goes, as a result of last nights tinterweb searching, but
thought it might be interesting to see if anyone's got any particular
recommendations.
My SWMBO got excited by 4-year-old Jaguar X-types being down to
£7.5k now - til I pointed her at the fuel economy figures.....

Also, as I've never actually bought a car from a dealer before, if
a forecourt sticker says £8k, what do you think I should actually
expect
to get a car for - and would no trade-in be a better bargaining
position?

My apologies if any of this appears like numpty stuff - I'm just a
newbie in this area.

5 series estate on LPG. I have a Derv FWD Estate (406). I'd not choose
another over an LPG proper car again. There's **** all chance of
anything that big and FWD handling as far as I can tell.

Dude, I bet less than 1% of the population, certainly buying in this
sector, could tell the difference in handling between any car :-) He's
kept his old barge since '93, if he keeps this car that long that would
be a 15 year old LPG system... That's likely to go wrong somewhere in
that time (seals etc) and is gonna be a tricky home fix.

I dunno. I suspect LPG is generally less complicated than people think it
is. We have a fooking ancient Toyota fork truck (it's so old that the VIN
plate says "Toyoda Loom Corporation") on gas and it still works perfectly.

As for people being able to tell the difference between the handling of
different cars, I'm not so sure. My bird's hardly interested in cars but
she absolutely hated the Corsa she drove, liked the 106 and loves the way
the ZX drives, and it's certainly the best handling of the lot she's
driven. OTOH some people claim not to be able to tell the difference
between cheap and horrible tyres, or a terrible hifi and a good one. I'm
certainly not going to try and guess who can tell and who can't... And
obviously, it makes bugger all difference on the motorway, but something
that can handle will raise a smile in the twisty bits at either end of
your motorway run, whereas the 406 is simply capable - plenty of grip
through fast corners but it doesn't really handle in a way that'd put a
grin on your face (and lots too much weight to go well through tighter
bends).

It might have been that she just preferred the 106 and ZX for completely
random girl reasons though, perhaps that had a little light in the sun visor
and the Corsa didn't heh :-) As far as big diesel estates go, I suspect the
406 is probably about as good as it gets in FWD...

--
Dan
Clio R27 F1 #65

"DanB" gurgled happily, sounding much like
they were saying:

Hmm. My mother's (large) red setter was fine in the boot of her 306
estate.

Mine is still very bouncy at 14 months old :-)

I love Red Setters, is it still with us?

No, as of two weeks ago... sad face

Was it as awesome as they look?

Even thicker than they're rumoured.

Pete M wrote:
Marlon wrote:

Hi all,
took my '93 BMW 530i lump for a service yesterday, to find out too
many bits are dropping off & it's now beyond economical repair (quoted
around £1200 to put it all right on a car that would be worth c £600
when right - I inspected the issues, and agree that they're BIG issues).
So..... this being the rainy day I've clearly been saving for I
now have a budget of £8k for a replacement. Still sad though, the
lump's a great drive, great refinement.
However there are prerequisites for the new wheels:

Have to be able to transport 4 people + 2 dogs (one large, one
small) + luggage the length of the country in comfort (hence "family"
5-seater with good sized boot).
Have to be able to cope with towing a 1200kg (when occupied) horse
box (but just on local trips), so probably minimum 1.8l engine?
Must average (much) more than the 23.5 mpg I've been getting out of
the lump over the last 3 years I've owned it!

I've got ideas, sadly nothing particularly exciting as far as
motoring goes, as a result of last nights tinterweb searching, but
thought it might be interesting to see if anyone's got any particular
recommendations.
My SWMBO got excited by 4-year-old Jaguar X-types being down to
£7.5k now - til I pointed her at the fuel economy figures.....

Also, as I've never actually bought a car from a dealer before, if
a forecourt sticker says £8k, what do you think I should actually expect
to get a car for - and would no trade-in be a better bargaining
position?

My apologies if any of this appears like numpty stuff - I'm just a
newbie in this area.


Mondeo TDCi Estate. Job done.

Well that got a healthy discussion going!
Anyway, job is, as you say, now done, after a weekends scouring of the
locale.
Anyway, a couple of points to clarify as a result of the discussions.
Yes, I'm replacing a '93 BMW, but in fact have only had it for 3 years,
and didn't previously considered anything like it, except one of my
sisters was selling it (to make way for a Caterham!), and asked if I was
interested.
The "family" was growing in terms of animals - and the pony acquisition
was on the horizon (which was to be featured in an episode of "Don't Get
Done, Get Dom", but that's another story....), so I thought I'd give it
a home for a couple of years, especially given how much car it was for
so little (and before the fuel price story).
So that's the story, and as such it doesn't imply that I intend to run
every car I own into the ground - just depends on circumstances.

So..... to end the story, but no doubt to start another one where I get
slated for the decision I made
The result of the weekends search was a Mondeo 1.8 LX Estate, June 2007,
just 6k on the clock for £7300 + trade-in on the BMW + fitting of a
detachable towbar.
I would have gone for a higher spec & maybe diesel, but this just seemed
such good value.

Cheers,
Marlon

Marlon wrote:
Pete M wrote:
Marlon wrote:

Hi all,
took my '93 BMW 530i lump for a service yesterday, to find out too
many bits are dropping off & it's now beyond economical repair (quoted
around £1200 to put it all right on a car that would be worth c £600
when right - I inspected the issues, and agree that they're BIG issues).
So..... this being the rainy day I've clearly been saving for I
now have a budget of £8k for a replacement. Still sad though, the
lump's a great drive, great refinement.
However there are prerequisites for the new wheels:

Have to be able to transport 4 people + 2 dogs (one large, one
small) + luggage the length of the country in comfort (hence "family"
5-seater with good sized boot).
Have to be able to cope with towing a 1200kg (when occupied) horse
box (but just on local trips), so probably minimum 1.8l engine?
Must average (much) more than the 23.5 mpg I've been getting out of
the lump over the last 3 years I've owned it!

I've got ideas, sadly nothing particularly exciting as far as
motoring goes, as a result of last nights tinterweb searching, but
thought it might be interesting to see if anyone's got any particular
recommendations.
My SWMBO got excited by 4-year-old Jaguar X-types being down to
£7.5k now - til I pointed her at the fuel economy figures.....

Also, as I've never actually bought a car from a dealer before, if
a forecourt sticker says £8k, what do you think I should actually expect
to get a car for - and would no trade-in be a better bargaining
position?

My apologies if any of this appears like numpty stuff - I'm just a
newbie in this area.


Mondeo TDCi Estate. Job done.

Well that got a healthy discussion going!
Anyway, job is, as you say, now done, after a weekends scouring of the
locale.
Anyway, a couple of points to clarify as a result of the discussions.
Yes, I'm replacing a '93 BMW, but in fact have only had it for 3 years,
and didn't previously considered anything like it, except one of my
sisters was selling it (to make way for a Caterham!), and asked if I was
interested.
The "family" was growing in terms of animals - and the pony acquisition
was on the horizon (which was to be featured in an episode of "Don't Get
Done, Get Dom", but that's another story....), so I thought I'd give it
a home for a couple of years, especially given how much car it was for
so little (and before the fuel price story).
So that's the story, and as such it doesn't imply that I intend to run
every car I own into the ground - just depends on circumstances.

So..... to end the story, but no doubt to start another one where I get
slated for the decision I made
The result of the weekends search was a Mondeo 1.8 LX Estate, June 2007,
just 6k on the clock for £7300 + trade-in on the BMW + fitting of a
detachable towbar.
I would have gone for a higher spec & maybe diesel, but this just seemed
such good value.

Enjoy it, I wouldn't have picked the 1.8 but that's not because the 1.8
is bad, just that the TDCi one seems to go a lot better. Having said
that, the TDCi ones can suffer from injector problems and that can end
up being costly so the 1.8 isn't a bad choice.

They tow remarkably well, which is a bonus.


--
Pete M - OMF#9

BMW 325i SE Touring
Range Rover V8 Turbo

"Wait! We can't stop here, this is Bat Country"

DanB wrote:

It might have been that she just preferred the 106 and ZX for
completely random girl reasons though, perhaps that had a little
light in the sun visor and the Corsa didn't heh :-) As far as big
diesel estates go, I suspect the 406 is probably about as good as it
gets in FWD...

She's not really like that TBH. You have to remember that her response to a
bloke saying "What's Cosworth?" was something along the lines of "You don't
know what Cosworth is? How can you call yourself a man!". She's not overly
interested in cars but is very definate that the ZX drives a lot better than
anything else she's had. And it does. It's the passive rear wheel steering.