General / Off-Topic Car Advice!

CMDR Cosmic Spacehead

CMDR Cosmic Spacehead
Hello!

I could do with some advice I'm likely to ignore. Lol

I've got an old 2005 Saab 93. It's MOT is due on the 23rd of October. And it will fail on multiple things, mostly suspension (most definitely needs 2 new front shocks, and 2 rear springs. Yay pot holes!), plus possibly front tires, brakes, and then wild card things that I don't know about. So quite a lot. At least £300 worth.
Plus a few other issues that aren't MOT failures, but need sorting (like my intermittent EML coming on and going in to limp mode. Lol)
The car isn't worth very much, maybe £400-500 private sale, if that. Or £200 trade in/scrap.
Other than that. It's a nice car! Lol
I like driving it, when it works. And it's reliably gotten us to London several times. It only seems to like breaking down in garden centres or on the way to work.
I've already spent quite a bit on it, new alternator, battery, thermostat, cambelt and water pump kit.


So I've been trying to find a new car to replace it for £2000~, with no luck.
(Looking for a nice smallish automatic petrol, at least a 2008, that's not French or Italian. Lol)


Now, my girlfriend wants to learn to drive, and hates my Saab (it's too big, and too broken). So she offered another £1000 if I get a ...wait for it...

A Mini, In black, with a white roof, that's automatic and petrol, and at least a 2008, in good condition, from non-smoker, with low miles, that's not stolen or written off.

Basically they don't exist at that price range. :p

Anyhoo. Advice time.

Do I;
A) See how much passing the MOT will be, then decide to fix or scrap?

B) Just scrap it/trade for any suitable-ish car ASAP. (I do enjoy fobbing off dead cars to dodgy dealers!)

C) Just scrap it until I find a new car, and cycle to work.

D) Hold out for the magical unicorn mini that's drastically underpriced, but not stolen written off. Lol

CMDR Cosmic Spacehead
 

Ethaidan

Ethaidan
Stop throwing good money after bad. Once a used vehicle gets to the point that the annual MOT costs more than it's worth, it's time to move on.

As for your GF & a mini... I'm trying to find kind words. You'll be hard pressed to get any decent small car for under 3000£ that meets that reg & mileage.
 

CMDR Cosmic Spacehead

CMDR Cosmic Spacehead
Winterwalker said:
Go electric. Lease / hire purchase one? Fuel costs are pence.
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I don't think I can afford that. Plus Shrewsbury is pretty stone age when it comes to electric cars. No one charging station, and I can't charge at home due to lack of parking. Lol
I did look at a Prius though. But only price range, the battery will only have a few years left on it before a huuuge replacement cost.

Ethaidan said:
Stop throwing good money after bad. Once a used vehicle gets to the point that the annual MOT costs more than it's worth, it's time to move on.

As for your GF & a mini... I'm trying to find kind words. You'll be hard pressed to get any decent small car for under 3000£ that meets that reg & mileage.
Click to expand...
Yeah, that's what I thought.
As for my girlfriend, she doesn't really understand cars and prices just yet. :p
Plus I'm the one imposing a 2008 or newer rule. She thinks a 2003 would be ok, because it's a Mini. And minis are popular, therefore, good.

She owns an iPhone for the same reason. So.... Lol

Robert Maynard said:
It's not a 2008, nor low miles, but....

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201807148434219
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My word! It's a long way, but it's pretty much perfect except the age. Maybe I need to widen my search beyond 100 miles. :D
91k isn't too bad. My Saab had very low miles for its year, then everything broke, so... Lol

Caramel Clown said:
I like SAABs, they're lovely. Too bad it's dead.
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I actually love my Saab. It's comfy, fast, economical, handles well (even with borked suspension) has mostly working heated leather seats, parking sensors (perfect for where I live)... Lol
But it's not really worth fixing.

If it wasn't for my girlfriend, I'd actually just buy a newer one. Lol

CMDR Cosmic Spacehead
 

ZeroAi

ZeroAi
My advice depends on your skill and finances:

A large percentage of guys are good with tools, and if you're one of those guys and finances are tight, just repair it yourself. I replaced the rear spring/strut on my son's car a couple of months back and it's wasn't that bad. Other things like brakes are pretty easy to replace (I do them all the time myself.)

On the other hand, if you don't own any tools or don't have the knowledge to work on cars, and your finances are tight, then look at buying a used car or trading in your car at a dealer for a used car.

Finally, if you have some extra income and a good stable job, and public transport is not available, I would suggest getting a newer reliable car even if you need to take out a small car loan. The though process being, if you can't get to work to make money you'll be homeless and starving, so getting back and forth to work is job number 1.

Good luck!
 

Winterwalker

Winterwalker
CMDR_Cosmicspacehead said:
I don't think I can afford that. Plus Shrewsbury is pretty stone age when it comes to electric cars. No one charging station, and I can't charge at home due to lack of parking. Lol
I did look at a Prius though. But only price range, the battery will only have a few years left on it before a huuuge replacement cost.
Click to expand...

True stuff. Though I suppose you could see if you can set a precedent with your local planners, work out with them how to route power from your house over (or under) the pavement, a nice little engineering challenge too.

I think I might be right in saying we're a generation who grew up with the idea of car 'ownership' but - though I don't run a car myself, used to do 40k miles a year for work - I think lease arrangements are a very interesting idea while the technology is in flux.

Try haggling on price I would. Having you signed up for a year at even 15 or 20% discount is worth more to a company like that than not having you signed up at all because they can brag about their electric car credentials as a result? Having secure employment is important when it comes to signing the contract though of course.
 

CMDR Cosmic Spacehead

CMDR Cosmic Spacehead
Greylock said:
My advice depends on your skill and finances:

A large percentage of guys are good with tools, and if you're one of those guys and finances are tight, just repair it yourself. I replaced the rear spring/strut on my son's car a couple of months back and it's wasn't that bad. Other things like brakes are pretty easy to replace (I do them all the time myself.)

On the other hand, if you don't own any tools or don't have the knowledge to work on cars, and your finances are tight, then look at buying a used car or trading in your car at a dealer for a used car.

Finally, if you have some extra income and a good stable job, and public transport is not available, I would suggest getting a newer reliable car even if you need to take out a small car loan. The though process being, if you can't get to work to make money you'll be homeless and starving, so getting back and forth to work is job number 1.

Good luck!
Click to expand...

I'm pretty rubbish with mechanics. Plus I don't have anywhere to work on a car, or any tools. Lol

I've already got a loan, originally for £5000, mostly to pay off credit debt (from fixing my car... lol) that was extortionate, and buy a few things we desperately needed, and I was hoping to be left with a bit more, but I spent it. Lol

Worst case scenario is I end up with no car, but work is only 2.1 miles away, so I can cycle. Which is fine, until winter when it'll be too cold and icy to cycle, but I could catch the bus temporarily (I do have a mild phobia of catching busses... Lol)
And due to traffic, cycling is often quicker anyway.

CMDR Cosmic Spacehead
 

Batterby76

Batterby76
Personaly id get rid of the saab if its become a problem. However there are dedicated saab breakers who can sort out the bits you need or vauxhall vectra parts will do.
If you scrap it and are looking for another i can whole heartedly recommend any of the VW range as they go for ever and are very comfy, i got rid of an 06 passat estate which was a great workhorse and am now cruising round in a 2014 vw cc gt is great especially with the DSG gear box
 

CMDR Cosmic Spacehead

CMDR Cosmic Spacehead
Batterby76 said:
Personaly id get rid of the saab if its become a problem. However there are dedicated saab breakers who can sort out the bits you need or vauxhall vectra parts will do.
If you scrap it and are looking for another i can whole heartedly recommend any of the VW range as they go for ever and are very comfy, i got rid of an 06 passat estate which was a great workhorse and am now cruising round in a 2014 vw cc gt is great especially with the DSG gear box
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Heh, the other car my girlfriend wants is a Beetle. But I only like the new new shape. And I can't afford one of those.

Although, I'd quite happily have a classic Beetle again. :p

CMDR Cosmic Spacehead
 

MottiKhan

MottiKhan
CMDR_Cosmicspacehead said:
I'm pretty rubbish with mechanics. Plus I don't have anywhere to work on a car, or any tools. Lol
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That's a shame. One of my favorite things to do was to work on my cars when I was in England. The parts were so easy to get from the scrap yards and the cost was incredibly low. I could rebuild a car in my little portion of the grocery's parking lot. (I eventually rented 3 garages there, but they were too small to do a lot of work inside).

Try it in the U.S. and you'll be somewhat discouraged. I still do my own repairs as much as I can, but sometimes, it doesn't make economical sense here.
 

Chevy66

C
If you're pretty rubbish with mechanics suspension isn't the place to start. My mondeo is in a similar state, I started trying to replace a knackered balljoint but the pinch bolt is seized and I can't get the damn thing off, after snapping a socket extension I gave up and put it back like it was

I'm planning to just scrap it and buy something else. But I don't have the Girlfriend/Mini complications :D
 

MottiKhan

MottiKhan
Chevy66 said:
If you're pretty rubbish with mechanics suspension isn't the place to start. My mondeo is in a similar state, I started trying to replace a knackered balljoint but the pinch bolt is seized and I can't get the damn thing off, after snapping a socket extension I gave up and put it back like it was

I'm planning to just scrap it and buy something else. But I don't have the Girlfriend/Mini complications :D
Click to expand...

Scrap a Mondeo? Are you out of your mind?

(Ok, I'll calm down now.)

The 2008 and earlier Jaguar S-Types were built on the Mondeo frame. Same with the Lincoln LS. Great cars.
 

Winterwalker

Winterwalker
MottiKhan said:
Try it in the U.S. and you'll be somewhat discouraged. I still do my own repairs as much as I can, but sometimes, it doesn't make economical sense here.
Click to expand...

You can do mechanical stuff can't you, chassis and body but forget working on engines unless you've got a supercomputer on it and the car makers all have bespoke systems, the corporate so and so's.

It'll sound like I've got an agenda here, which I only kind of have as it makes sense, but I wonder if "in the future" you'll be able to tinker with the flux capacitors to push extra km/Wh from your average EV motor. That could be a bit back to the future style of grease monkey?

Chicks will do WHAT !? Classic lyric at 40s.

[video=youtube;HhOknQXoEu8]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HhOknQXoEu8[/video]
 
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Chevy66

C
MottiKhan said:
Scrap a Mondeo? Are you out of your mind?

(Ok, I'll calm down now.)

The 2008 and earlier Jaguar S-Types were built on the Mondeo frame. Same with the Lincoln LS. Great cars.
Click to expand...


It has a similar set of problems to the car in the OP, intermittent limp mode, knackered ball joint, corrosion underneath, electric window doesn't work, hard to start on cold days, don't think the glow plugs are working, I could go on...

it's not economically viable to fix all these things on a car that's worth maybe £200


edit: my 51 year old El Camino is more reliable :D
 
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