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

I’ve got a 3008 as a courtesy car this week. To call it utter shit would be an understatement.

The sweet low-mileage, one-owner Audi A2 that was meant to be a stopgap car kindly provided by my partner's Dad turned out to be an absolute shitter. There was another car in the garage that was going spare, from 2010 so a little bit newer and just under 80,000 miles on the odometer, ULEZ compliant, low tax. Sounds alright, yeah? I am now the registered keeper of a red Vauxhall Meriva 'Active', mighty 1.2l petrol engine, super high clutch, notchy gearbox and ditch-finder tyres, different unknown brand on every wheel. But hey, it passed its MOT with only a couple of advisories and made it down from the west coast of Scotland to London without incident! Beggars can't be choosers I guess.

On the seat adjustment - given how basic the interface is between a seat and the car I think you could easily install a set of shims to increase the seat height. The only limitation I guess would be heated / electric seats and their cables.

Vauxhall Meriva

I mean you take the piss, but from an all round practicality pov it looks much better than a baby SUV. A bit like a Zaffera... which looks like a super practical choice...

... until Vauxhall pulled it to focus on budget SUVs.

@Saffronspokes - I've just remembered someone a while ago posted asking about higher seating position cars. They had some sort of injury. Maybe search in this thread for keywords associated with that.

Yeah I haven't played about with the seats much but apparently it is as you say, super practical. It runs, it stops, it's reasonably water tight and it should be a doddle to get bikes in the back of it! I'll update with pics at some point.

Thanks

Big fan of the yeti for carrying bikes around. On the one I used, you could take 2/3 of the back seats out and easily put two bikes next to each other (front wheels off) and still have lots of room for luggage / 3rd passenger

Someone has put 3 bikes here:

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Dudes.

I am going to sell my mk5 gti (definitely this time), as my wife would like something a bit less sporty. id anyone wants a 5dr in silver with leather interior and a dsg box, let me know. 102k miles.

i'd consider a swap for something, including non-ulez, as i am a country bogan now...

Looks like my V Class camper is worth more (as in, a lot more) with the camping stuff removed and the third row seat reinstated.

V Class on Auto Trader with 10,000 more miles on the clock is advertised for over £50,000.

@swedeee isn't this a match made in heaven?

Your non-ULEZ BMW for a GTI?

I'm going to see an LS on Monday evening

How did it go?

I'm going to see an LS on Monday evening

How did it go?

ugh, the guy didn't turn up as he had last minute plans so I'm wondering how much effort I want to put into this.

we have already discussed in PMs... but I was on holiday last week and reflecting on the situation and will be keeping the bmw for the foreseeable. better the devil you know etc.

Sad times

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Car crash in our civic on Tuesday (other driver accepted liability) means we now need a new car. The insurance company have said the repair is uneconomical but haven’t written it off yet.

My question regards the cars value. It’s old and probably not worth a lot, but for us to buy the same car again it wouldn’t be cheap. There seems to be a disparity between what a car costs and what it’s worth.

I've said it on here before, but refuse the insurers valuation immediately. Challenge them to find you a car of similar age, condition and mileage on Autotrader for the price they have offered. Insist that the car they compare with yours is within 60 miles of your home to avoid them finding one in, say, Aberdeen. Do your homework first and check prices using the same criteria.

^ this is helpful as a van ran into my folks car yesterday early hours. Both axels fucked and the bodywork down one side. It also smashed into another car and sent that into another car which went into another car.

Pretty impressive amount of damage for someone doing 20mph.

Thinking of selling my Golf MK5 1.9 TDI, 119,000 miles. I wouldn't sell it if I actually had any use for it. Passed it's MOT first time last month, serviced recently. A few bits of panel damage but nothing that bothers me.

AutoTrader says £2000ish lmao. I'd be happy with 1200.

I can't be bothered with facebook/Autotrader so happy to do a deal for an easy sale. Otherwise I'll just keep it for going to B&Q and the recycling centre.

PM on here if interested, based in Wiltshire.

On the subject of fucked cars, ours decided it hadn't had enough spent on it in the last 3 months and no longer goes into gear. On the last day of our holiday. 300mi from home.

Tiny Yorkshire town, so very few garages, all of which completely stacked with work...

RescueMyCar have decided they're not going to rescue the 5 of us because it broke down on the way back to our accommodation, not home. The accomodation we need to be out of tomorrow.

What the fuck do I do now?

Do you have breakdown cover with a bank account? Realised the other day I have AA with my bank account, so was double covered. or phone back up and say it worked and has now broke down on the way home...

I've just waved goodbye to my 996, which is being taken care of by a friend, looked pretty good with it's hardtop on.

oh shit.... after all that work

Do you have breakdown cover with a bank account?

No but thankfully my father in law, who we're also on holiday with, does. AA coming to take a look soon and if not fixable then it's national relay and courtesy car 😅