where to buy a car ?

[PeterM]

Oldest daughter passed her test yesterday...and now of course I have to come good on the promise to get her a car etc..

Apart from the obvious any views on good places to look ?

Or anyone got a 1.1 Pug 206 for sale ?

[Nos4r2]

Dont know, but avoid the used car showroom on the left before you get to Castle Point from your place. I went to view a car there a couple of years ago and they really didn't give a flying **** about what they were selling, or how badly malfunctioning it was.

[whisper]

Go and look at as many as possible locally, look at ebay and autotrader for some leads.

Don't be tempted to buy too soon as there will be one that will stand out from the rest in condition, history, miles and price.

Trust me, there is a little gem out there, you just need to find it

[PeterM]

Cheers guys. Company insures a good % of the local trade guys...so lots of options I've looked at in th elast few weeks ( total confidence in the pass).

Gumtree seems to have found a nice one just down the road...private sale so cheaper too....

I've looked at loads... but seem to have found an 04 plate privately for the same as some stealers want for 99 cars with 3x the mileage....

JUst need to check the towing capacity now ....

[Ian M]

Absolutely no sympathy, went through the same thing myself for number one son about three months ago.
We did look for some time, but eventually found that gem that Alex refers to. I would not count out all dealers, that is where we struck gold, but there are some right Arthurs out there.

[Avocet]

Did the same thing for Scurvy Crew just over 12 months ago. Looked at and drove lots from all over the area: he wanted to buy each one but wiser heads prevailed.....

Dolly the R reg Micra was the gold that we eventually found with a dealer in Sturminster and she's subsequently been up and down to uni in London regularly and served as tour bus for Willowen across the south last summer with no problems. There are bargains to be had: as said, you'll recognise them when you see them. Good hunting

[Cookee]

Stepson had a Nissan Micra - apart from having a non existent crash rating they are perfect! We're a bit out of your area but we find cars for people if you want us to look for something specific for you?

[PeterM]

Cheers Gents . All in hand ...( I'm to cool a Dad to think about a Micra )

I've found a 'S' model 206 -- all the gizmos -even aircon for a 17yr old !

[whisper]

Originally Posted by PeterM

I've found a 'S' model

X 3 on the insurance then

[PeterM]

Originally Posted by whisper

X 3 on the insurance then

Not even that - I know a man .....or should I say a meerkat ?

It even has silver dials ...I was out cruising in it last night....

£1595 to insure it .. not as bad as it could have been by a long way....

[whisper]

20 years ago I spent £1350 tpf&t on an Astra GTE 2.0i mk2

[PeterM]

Originally Posted by whisper

20 years ago I spent £1350 tpf&t on an Astra GTE 2.0i mk2

I bet the 206 is nearly as fast ....I always wanted the Nova GTE - endedup with a Ren 19 16v 'chamade' - I thought I was driving a touring car of the day . something like 137bhp....when it worked ....

I'm putting cost in perspective my 1.1 fiesta popular 'plus' ( never did know what the plus meant) cost me 485 quid TPF&T when I was 17 ...20 years ago . So while its still not cheap £1600 isn't that bad ...considering inflation etc etc

[Daniel]

We ran a 206 1.1 from new as 'er car (sorry sold it 2011 )

Good general car but here are bits i can think of. Bear in mind this was a looked after 1 owner 80,000 (IE 8000 a year) car. It was a 2001 Y.

Electric fan failed twice (shaft corroded and fan fell off) so they obviously only last 4-5 years. bypass temp switch or let it tick over for 15-20 mins from cold to hear it run (very noisy if about to fail). Young driver wont notice this and will boil the engine.... Its an £80 part, 2hrs labour if you cant do it yourself (although I could do it in 45 mins now).

Electric window switch wore out (fitted 2nd hand one)

Indicator stalk wore out (fitted 2nd hand one)

Cambelt interval revised by peugeot. Check in google but a lot failed early so anything over 80,000 thats not been done or 10 years DO IT. Its an easy one to do, no special tools required.

Most importantly they have a weak gearbox, shared with the 1.4. We swapped it ourself for a recon one at 65,000 although it didnt fail it was very noisey and full of metal residue (like I was changine oil once a month and it was still overwhelming the magnet).

There were other bits like CV joints and a cat. Overall although I felt it became an expensive car maintainance wise (bearing in mind the milleage and it was service at peugeot for 5 years and anually by me after that) it was good MPG and never really let us down totally...

(edit: just remembered a coil pack (expensive) but that did illuminate the check engine light so would be obvious when buying. that may have poisened the cat althoguh we didnt drive it more than a few miles before replacing...)

[PeterM]

Originally Posted by Daniel

We ran a 206 1.1 from new as 'er car (sorry sold it 2011 )

Good general car but here are bits i can think of. Bear in mind this was a looked after 1 owner 80,000 (IE 8000 a year) car. It was a 2001 Y.

Electric fan failed twice (shaft corroded and fan fell off) so they obviously only last 4-5 years. bypass temp switch or let it tick over for 15-20 mins from cold to hear it run (very noisy if about to fail). Young driver wont notice this and will boil the engine.... Its an £80 part, 2hrs labour if you cant do it yourself (although I could do it in 45 mins now).

Electric window switch wore out (fitted 2nd hand one)

Indicator stalk wore out (fitted 2nd hand one)

Cambelt interval revised by peugeot. Check in google but a lot failed early so anything over 80,000 thats not been done or 10 years DO IT. Its an easy one to do, no special tools required.

Most importantly they have a weak gearbox, shared with the 1.4. We swapped it ourself for a recon one at 65,000 although it didnt fail it was very noisey and full of metal residue (like I was changine oil once a month and it was still overwhelming the magnet).

There were other bits like CV joints and a cat. Overall although I felt it became an expensive car maintainance wise (bearing in mind the milleage and it was service at peugeot for 5 years and anually by me after that) it was good MPG and never really let us down totally...

(edit: just remembered a coil pack (expensive) but that did illuminate the check engine light so would be obvious when buying. that may have poisened the cat althoguh we didnt drive it more than a few miles before replacing...)

Thanks Daniel , all good stuff to know about. Its had the rad has been changed so I made sure the fan kicked in & out ( which it does) and being the 'S' has a real temp gauge and red warning light if it gets too hot. The switches I think are always a weak point of small cars.

Cam belt I plan to get done or do in next 12 months ( if its not been crashed by then) as its on 49000 miles now with an april 04 registration.

Interesting about the gearbox..it is a little 'vague' , but then I haven't driven a small manual car for years..but reckon it can't be that hard if it goes bang to swap out for a used one?

The other bits as you say Ithink are just a sign of age ...hopefully if I can get it to last a few years I'll be happy . Pics attached ....I love the silver dials ( in daylight...)

Pete

[Daniel]

Sorry I misread i didnt realise you'd found one my points were supposed to be to help when buying. Suppose they are helpful anyway didnt mean to frighten you

[Nos4r2]

Originally Posted by whisper

20 years ago I spent £1350 tpf&t on an Astra GTE 2.0i mk2

Christ, it was cheaper for me to insure an 850cc bike!

[whisper]

Probably but I did get loads of nookie on the back seat, them were the days!!!

[Nos4r2]

Originally Posted by whisper

Probably but I did get loads of nookie on the back seat, them were the days!!!

Remind me to tell you about the 5 ladies and that 850 Suzuki under the dustsheet in my garage sometime

[whisper]

I'm on my way over

[kerny]

Originally Posted by derek65

Congratulation for her...
You can find qiute easily by searching on internet. My friend told me about a site named motors.co.uk where you can try for this car.

Come on who are you?? you don't happen to own an orange souped up SR4 but any chance