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

That's not great. When I last hired one (a very long time ago now) they were nice and clean.

Bangernomics can be quite cheap if you can do basic maintenance and don't mind driving a fairly old car.

When I last looked at Zip vs car ownership, I guestimated that cost of owning a reasonably reliable budget car was circa £3k per year.

As has been said above, the main attraction of having your own car is it's there when you want it, the faff and inconvenience of hire cars and zip cars is avoided. I decided it was worth paying for that.

Conversely:

If I needed to buy a used estate as a stop gap for a couple of years - basically an Octavia or Superb with 10k miles on it - would I be better off going Contract Hire rather than buying used?

Thinking less hassle, similar cost based on the need to get rid of the car 2 - 3 years later with another 30k miles on it, benefit of a 'new' car, not having to negotiate with dickhead garages etc.

First proper drive in the berlingo yesterday out to Point Clear in Essex to test my eyesight. We were just walking so didn’t load it up(sorry @dammit), getting 48.6mpg apparently. Might go crazy and stick premium diesel in it seeing as it’s the same price regular was a couple of months ago. It kinda goes when you put your foot down which I wasn’t expecting.
Drives nice, driving position is endlessly adjustable. I’m used to driving a panel van or transit pickup with no rear screen so the lack of blind spots in the berlingo is refreshing.

Removed the massive, ugly dealer sticker from the rear screen.

To do:
-Boot liner
-New stereo(standard slot but currently no Bluetooth or aux which sucks)
-Roof rails
-Bumper protector(it’s currently spotless and know I’ll smash it up loading bikes in the end)
-Yellow headlights(or maybe just bulbs as sadly they’re no longer legal on post ‘93 cars in France and we visit my folks there often)
-Wheel trims are spotless but considering ditching them and maybe painting the rims or even Moon discs for the lols.
-Tow ball + electrics

We’re doing this at the moment, when we moved overseas we didn’t want loads of cash tied up in road cars and bought a rough but mechanically decent car for £1500, it’s needed £500 of work in the first 8 months we had it in preventative maintenance, and I’ll have to do the front brakes soon, but you can make it work if you’re not too fussy about aesthetic condition

I'd probably service it, see if you can get purflux filters from GSF or from a hypermarket.

Boot liner, roof bars and tow bar maybe cheaper from a french car parts place many fit tow bars are buy and fit as the tow bar electrics and fitting are part of the MOT.

Helicopter tape type stuff on the bumper top?

All depends if you can do the work or pay someone to do the work.

Moon discs for the lols.

+1

Also - I would strongly advise removable roof rails, if you can make it work.

They can be really noisy at motorway speeds (conditions depending) and 150 miles of a solid whistling sound can be really testing. Ours are removable and we are lucky enough to have space to store them. It requires a bit of forward planning to install them, but once you get used to it, it's a 5 minute job.

Did you try wrapping bungee cords around the rails to reduce the noise? Its what i'll do if i ever get round to putting a rack on my polo

I have built in rails on the C-Class and they're silent. The rack whistles a bit, but it's barely perceptible.

Berlingo come with quite aero roof rails, such as these (the proper PSA ones are quite aero I believe
and they are quiet at speed, it is the cross bars can be noisy.

It appears the cost-per-day of a contract hire Octavia Estate is roughly what I was spending on coffee pre-lockdown.

I was pretty wired, but I wasn't that wired.

A long drive back from Wales along the M4 with a whistling roof rack and a grouchy 3 year old in the back is not recommended.

Rack is off unless needed. Lesson learned.

Fitted 4 Pirelli's this weekend and happily it finally handles as it should. Finished off with a quick wash and dry.

To repay me this morning it refused to start. I used the age-old method of tapping the starter motor with a hammer - seems to have fixed it for now.

Oh and my brakes don't work, I'll take it to a Renault motorsport specialist near Stanstead next weekend, unless someone can recommend a garage closer to East London?

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Now am teaching you to suck eggs, what is the issue? At a guess you've looked at the master cylinder, calipers/sliders any rear load compensator valve? Or just either shitty/glazed pads? Have had luck that some discs improve after being skimmed on the car, if there is enough material left on the disc, then new pads. But then I have cleaned disc with a wire brush cup, and had some luck.

New discs and pads all round, and it's had a recent fluid change...this is where I believe the problem has occured. These are notorious for getting air trapped in the ABS unit if someone isn't careful with the changing of fluid/bleeding and the resevoir drops below a certain level.

I've bled it a few times now and the pedal still drops to the floor - I need to find a dirt road and trigger the abs a few times and bleed again to see if that cures the problem. People reccomend having it plugged in to the Renault Clip software which can trigger the ABS whilst stationary. So if my last attempt still bears no fruit I'll take it to a pro. Unless you have any tips?

On the 996 you have to have the Durametric software to cycle the ABS as you bleed the brakes, otherwise you'll not (according to Porsche) ever get the air out sufficiently.

Ah, ABS issues. Now am just feeling in the dark, partly from BMW motorbikes abs pump bleeding issues and certain citroens and mercs. Does the car need to super dot4 (dot4+ or 5.1 ESP brake fluid?

How did you replace the brake fluid? Pump out with brake? Easy bleed or draw out with a syringe?

Do you have some where the car sit over night a day with the wheels off and on axel stands? and no one would touch it. As there are a few ways to try, one is pressurising the brake system to force the air out. The length of wood from the seat mount keeping the brake pedal pressed to the pressurising the brake system with an easy bleed. Or my lazy way and use physics.

Has anyone had/got a Ford ranger or the Mazda bt equivalent?

I’m thinking of selling my Audi 80 cabriolet because I need something more practical. Tip runs and going to the allotment are basically destroying my wife’s Honda Civic

https://youtu.be/sU77OVfWuys

Pick up trucks are awesome. I have owned 2 back in the US, both Chevys. Both the Ranger and Mazda trucks are everywhere in Texas - like the Focus is here. Good trucks with a good reputation. Not seen many Rangers here, and no Mazdas.

Brother has a 13 plate Ranger, the 3l one, other brother has a properly beat up 51 plate L200 and I have a 69 plate L200.

Do you have any specific questions? Rangers are always a bit of a premium price wise, and are wider than most other trucks out there, with no extra load space. I like the L200, loads of the about and plenty of farmers down here use them. The Isuzu are good, and you won’t go wrong with the Hilux. Avoid the mid age Navara unless you are really sure of the history as most of them rotted in the middle and snapped in half...

I've got an Isuzu Rodeo. Sounds and drives like a tractor, similar acceleration, indestructible. I have a love/hate relationship with it

Avoid the mid age Navara

Unless you are buying to have it bought back by Nissan.

Apart from the fact that a friend had his sorted on warranty, took them nearly a year and involved them sending the truck to Spain.