Car appreciation... the aesthetics, the engineering, etc

Very well, my mate used to live in the estate right behind it... That's going back a few years...

For rough reference, we paid £1,000 for my insurance in my first year qualified aged 37 on a 1.4l Seat parking on the street in Lewisham. My 20yr+ driving wife is on the insurance as secondary driver.

My brother in law, aged 26 in his first year had to pay £2,000 parking his Fiesta on the street in Wellingborough.

I though that was insane so hot a quote for me to insure in Wellingborough too. Also £2k. Location is more important than age it seems.

They have a lot of vehicle crime in Wellingborough, much more than any London borough.

Most shrill sounds are associated with belts, might be caused by different things: slippage due to exposure to liquids (coolant leaks, etc.), over or under-tension, etc. Cheapest option would be to change the accessory belt and see if it does make any difference.
In my opinion, water pump bearing failure is caused either by too old pump (and the rest of the components, e.g. the belts are likely to be as worn or break before that happen), or by incorrect belt tension so unlikely to be that. it could be the water pump that leaks and cause exposure of coolant on the belt so worth checking the water pump if possible. Alternator pulley is a "complex" part and not always sold separately from the alternator, but I'm not sure it is associated with failure usually so I would check the accessory belt first. What's the car/engine?

why are you suggesting that someone who admits having "no idea about cars" to buy a car which qualifies for classic car insurance......?

Lots of great info, thanks everyone.

I'll look into all the options, then buy a Honda Jazz.

Dunno - my first car in my early 20's was a Triumph gt6 (early 2000's - they were much cheaper then).

It's not a totally crazy idea, though obviously heavily dependent on the car - I knew nothing about cars at all but drove that daily for about three years, problem free on classic insurance about 25% the cost of my mates in their 1L Vauxhall Corsa's.

As your first car to you and your wife, I'd say don't buy anything too pricey. Buy the smallest and cheapest car while you both get used to drive in London. There is more to driving than just passing the test. You'll find the experience comes from doing lots of hours behind the wheel. As new drivers I'd recommend a small engine cheapo just to cut your teeth on. Don't spend thousands on your first motor.

most classic insurance requires garaging, i think

I don't have a license either, never needed one. When I was testing the waters I looked at cheapest second hand car to insure vs new car with a few years of insurance included and they worked out about the same. I figured it's probably best to go down the new car route until you've got some years of no-claims. Citroen do one called Simply Drive but it's still like £400 a month for 3 years.

Had two 9-3 hot aero in family (older one not the SS) one was remapped by BSR and had a downpipe and something else, 265bhp? Most economical petrol car we've ever had (if driven normal), got up to 46mpg on longer 60 mph A roads. Long term average for it I think was 34 mpg? Mate has a 1.6 focus petrol, thats all that gets lol and it has maybe 90bhp?
Bulkhead cracking can be stopped if you get a sub frame brace for the front (upper and lower bracing, again BSR/Abbott etc make these things), we only got one of them because price and I think the other was a nightmare to fit, you have to roll the back of the subframe down and take the rack out in order to fit it, maybe dashboard out too. Eventually it cracked and it wasn't in an area that could be cost effectively repaired.
Don't quote me but I think the 3 door versions suffer from it less, also 2.3 viggen models have a factory lower brace (thin steel tubing but better than nothing).

I imagine it's cheaper, but unless it's changed in the past three - four years, I kept a Dolly Sprint on a london street happily enough.

(don't get me wrong though - I probably wouldn't recommend a classic as a first car in London)

Valve guides, regular old factory sized not oversized, not unicorn spunk spattered, for a very popular engine (almost any VE/VP/PD VAG group diesel of 1.4/1.9/2.5 from 1990 to 2005).
Unobtainable.
Why.
Does no one rebuild engines anymore?
Could get hold of the right size and spatter type crank + big end bearings, the correct bolts (actually going to 12.9 instead of 10.9 because they be only OK for standard power), gaskets, piston rings, cam shaft, seals everything. But valve guides, really struggling.
TPS/VAG group parts company I have an account with, they 'CAN' get them, but at £23.xx + VAT each I would just stick with my 260k mile half worn to limit examples. They should be all of £2-4 each. TRW or INA did most of the head components originally.
Spec sheet says 1.3mm (which is 0.65mm either way of centre) movement at head of valve measured side to side with a DTI is the max. I'm getting 0.5 to 0.7mm (total) across all valves. Valve stems are almost measurably unworn, so just the guides. New they are 0.1 to 0.3mm. Half the reason for the rebuild is wearing cam shaft + oil out of torn exhaust valve stem seals (caused by age, mileage, and possibly a bit too much valve stem movement).
Anyone had much success with trying to get cylinder head rebuilders to sell the guides supply only?

I was in a similar situation. But once I looked at the monthly running costs of a car in London with minimal usage I decided to get a cargo bike instead.

One thing i didnt know that zipcar wont let you hire unless your license is at least a year old.

The only option is Enterprise Car Club, sadly they have no cars in Lewisham.

I would have gotten a honda jazz or if there was anything else that was soulless piece of shit thats cheap to run, but that’s because I genuinely hate cars and British society needs to play catchup.

which thread is this e bike in?
and where is best to ask questions?
ta.....

why are you suggesting that someone who admits having "no idea about cars" to buy a car which qualifies for classic car insurance......?

I suggested a range of options.

But on the classic front, apparently car's from as young as 10yo can qualify depending on insurer. The mileage is limited, but he implied it wouldn't be used much. I found this definition on a comparison site:

A ‘classic’ is any car more than 15 years old with a minimum value of £1,500, although this may differ depending on the insurer.
To be clear I'm suggesting he buy a 15yo Mondeo/similar, not a Triumph Spitfire.

most classic insurance requires garaging, i think

yeah, that^ was the main reason it was left field, as on the street in S.LDN is less likely to fly.

My experience is that a classic had to be your second/n+1 car to qualify for classic insurance.

use of another, i think

You guys would know better.

Like I said it was a left field suggestion. I'm sure a guy at my uni had an MGB which he said was cheaper to run overall.

Overall my guess is leasing a new 1.0l with 1-2yrs "free" insurance would be the best/most cost effective. But you'd have to do the sums.

Overall my guess is leasing a new 1.0l with 1-2yrs "free" insurance would be the best/most cost effective. But you'd have to do the sums.

check that the free insurance lets you accumulate no claims, too

Didn't even get electric assist, can add one later if i feel like

Micra 09 1.2 - Oh I can see where your coming from, the car runs vbelts and the tension seems fine by the can turn the belt 90 degrees on the longest run trick, tried the increasing the battery load too see if the noise increases or decreases. It doesn't.

Tonight am going to have a poke and see.

If you want cheap and cheap to insure, buy a skoda fabia. I think they're insurance group 1 or 2 and are basically a cheap Polo. Easy to drive, park in London and not too bad on motorways.
We loved ours and only replaced because we were doing more and more long journeys/UK holidays (and because I am a wanker).
We got our insurance down to about 550 a year (eb 3 years and me new driver).

Am also really enjoying our 118i now though and don't feel like it's too much car for me as a new-ish driver. I think the insurance is something like 800 a year and it cost just under 10k for a 2015 plate with 30k miles on it. Bought part cash, part small bank loan (better than ridiculous finance deals) so repayments are low and it doesn't cost us much to run.

If you buy a 2011-2013 one with less than 50k miles you're looking at 6-7k (fag packet estimate). I looked at golfs but they're a bit dull and pretty much the same money as a BMW so I bought the car I liked instead.

P.s don't buy a Honda jazz.

Also worth noting that I got ~£1,200 off my insurance by adding my parents and my girlfriends parents to it - keep adding old people until the premium stops going down, basically.

Note to self: must collect more old people