Family Vehicle?

[Billy-o]

Like Blazers and Jimmys, I don't suppose you get these in the UK ... but I do hear people speaking well of them ... maybe they been reading fake news, who knows. But, Walter White had one and managed to acheive a lot in life in a very short time. You can get them with a built in tent

Pontiac Aztec

 

[Mr Wolf]

Like Blazers and Jimmys, I don't suppose you get these in the UK ... but I do hear people speaking well of them ... maybe they been reading fake news, who knows. But, Walter White had one and managed to acheive a lot in life in a very short time. You can get them with a built in tent

Pontiac Aztec

And tying in with muscle cars...nice str8 he had too

 

[santaman2000]

I'm curious Paul, after reading your description of your current van, why do you want another vehicle? You seem quite happy with it.

Also after reading your questions/comments about financing, is it possible there to lease a new vehicle? That's an option here usually with a one to three year lease.

 

[Janne]

Billy-o, that design abomination you are posting, together with Fiat Multipla gen1, must be the most ugliest car designs ever.

I see a couple on island. Makes me throw up (a little bit) in my mouth.

 

[Paul_B]

No van I'm driving this

https://www.parkers.co.uk/seat/altea/xl/review/

It is an altea with 29cm greater length. The altea is the seat Leon with an mpv body shell on it. Very good engine (golf plus and touran uses it too I believe) a 2 litre diesel 140bhp (thought it was the 160bhp version when first saw it but happy with just 140bhp. Useless on snow or ice but probably that's just rubbish tyres.

The garages offer loans and lease up to 46 months usually. I won't take up those so called PCPs. You have to give them expected annual mileage and you can lose out a lot if it ends up with even cosmetic damage (almost certain with us) or if your mileage is a lot higher than you guessed at (we have no idea what mileage we'll do with it year on year). I think the way they do lease deals means I'm certain we would end up paying more than the loan method if getting a car.

A lot of consumer groups complain about these lease deals because they're not really regulated well. A lot of people end up tied into deals that work out a lot more than simple loans do.

 

[Billy-o]

It's all very well you saying that over the internet to me, Janne. But would you say the same to Walter to his face?

 

[Mr Wolf]

It's all very well you saying that over the internet to me, Janne. But would you say the same to Walter to his face?

I certainly would of

 

[Janne]

I would be more diplomatic.

I would say the design needed a few tiny tweaks to be perfect ( tweaks like pressing the button of the crusher)

 

[Billy-o]

I certainly would of

Fierce, man!

 

[Mr Wolf]

Fierce, man!

Some say hes the new candyman.
Stand in the mirror.....
Heisenberg
Heisenberg
Heisenberg
And out he pops in his hat and y fronts

 

[santaman2000]

No van I'm driving this

https://www.parkers.co.uk/seat/altea/xl/review/

It is an altea with 29cm greater length. The altea is the seat Leon with an mpv body shell on it. Very good engine (golf plus and touran uses it too I believe) a 2 litre diesel 140bhp (thought it was the 160bhp version when first saw it but happy with just 140bhp. Useless on snow or ice but probably that's just rubbish tyres.

The garages offer loans and lease up to 46 months usually. I won't take up those so called PCPs. You have to give them expected annual mileage and you can lose out a lot if it ends up with even cosmetic damage (almost certain with us) or if your mileage is a lot higher than you guessed at (we have no idea what mileage we'll do with it year on year). I think the way they do lease deals means I'm certain we would end up paying more than the loan method if getting a car.

A lot of consumer groups complain about these lease deals because they're not really regulated well. A lot of people end up tied into deals that work out a lot more than simple loans do.

Yeah, I've heard some of those same complaints about leasing here as well. Never tried it myself but the federal government (civil agencies and the military branches) all lease their regular road vehicles now.

Sorry I misunderstood one of your earlier posts describing your current car and thought it was a van. Still, that's a nice enough looking car though and you did sound pleased with it.

 

[Paul_B]

It was a different car to my previous 1.7tdi Astra estate in white. Supposedly sportier and more exciting. Plus cruse control for the first time, two zone climate control, trip computer etc. Heck it even had mirrors you could adjust from a little joystick knob near the gear stick. It even folded them in and turned on a mirror heater. The climate control had a temperature selector and it worked perfectly for a year, less so for another and the rest it was selectively working down to not working now.

Exciting is out, practical is back in. Although to be fair to the seat car it was also very practical. More space than the Astra estate which was of the old shape that was nearer the boxiness of a volvo estate than the curves of modern Astra estates.

Now it is hard to choose a car because there's no overriding function or feature we're looking for. The seat was chosen for more capacity, a bit of luxury features (now almost universal features) and a bit more punch / handling. This time capacity is good but we aren't fixed by it (a smaller car could just as well work, set just change the way we do things like take less kit ). Not too bothered by performance because almost all cars will do what we want it for. Even tiny engined cars carry cruise motorways at 70mph these days.

Vans too can handle motorways and are increasingly becoming easier / nicer to drive.

No, our issue is no single feature is important to us. Cars are a tool to do what we want to do not a hobby. I wish I was like Janne with a real petrolhead's take on cars. It would be easy to choose and find a good car for us.

I've been talking about a new vehicle on this forum for possibly a year or two. That's how long we've been talking about it without any clear direction. Recently, a better / more secure job, things have meant our budget can be stretcged but that isn't fixed. £4000 to £5000 is our budget but we could go to £9000 for a car or £13,000 for the right van but only if something grabbed us. That's not happening.

Looking for the vehicle for over a year has been at most a half hour drop into a couple of dealerships. Sure we get all excited about a £40k citreon spacetourer van based mpv with all the bells and whistles. Not going to afford it and everything else is uninteresting.

Did the longest car search for 5 years in May. An hour round two dealerships or more! Looked at kia cars and a new style ceed estate. Looked dull but decent. Apart from it being outside mucky as if it had been well used, unable to start the engine despite it having a battery pack attached when we turned up and the alarm went off if you looked at it from a different angle or too close.

Then our will to continue sapped away and we haven't been able to look since.

Meanwhile I have detected a change in the feel of gear changes (in my near constant paranoia our car is about to fail that starts a year after buying it)l. Hard to say what it is just a noise I hear but don't register fully when I change gears occasionally accompanied by an almost clunky grind feeling like the last bit of a gear change it "falls" into the the gear selection. I'm the only one to notice it and it happens at motorway speed. L

It does not happen of course, just my inbuilt car replacement clock alarm going off!

So if any petrol head on here can tell me what is a good vehicle to go for (preferably within hour and half drive if Lancaster, UK)... Well I'll probably believe you and buy it.

 

[Mr Wolf]

Paul with dervs bhp is less important than torque.
My car has 203bhp at present but only 170ftlb torque. Only get power at 5400rpm too so you have to be on it all the time lol

 

[Janne]

I would love to see an honest comparison between two same vehicles, one with a more powerful engine, say 25% more powerful.
Normal driving we all do.

I do not know if I there is a perceived difference.
The only difference in real life is the acceleration. Plus you might need to gear down one step when going up a steep uphill.
Myself, I can not remember the day I 'floored' a car to get the max acceleration!

Yes, I love powerful cars. But to be 100% truthful, for everyday driving, I am just as excited driving the 2.2 TD Defender as the C350.......

 

[Paul_B]

Paul with dervs bhp is less important than torque.
My car has 203bhp at present but only 170ftlb torque. Only get power at 5400rpm too so you have to be on it all the time lol

It's the 138bhp, 236 lb-ft torque 2.0tdi engine. 0-60mph in 9.6s apparently. Reading caravan towing reviews on it apparently its got an engine that wants to tow but the rest of the car isn't really suited. However the same engine is in other VAG cars such as the touran iirc which is a decent towing car.

Personally we did think of getting a towbar for it with bike carrier and even a caravan However the towbar fitting was a very expensive option for the one fitting company who could do it without cutting into the bumper.

I saw a similar VAG car eh similar bumper that had a towbar fitted the cut into bumper looked really nasty. Sharp edges of the cut part of the bumper removed completely leaving the reversing sensors sticking right out without the surrounds offered by the cut away bumper. Glad we never ruined the car that way.

 

[Paul_B]

It was the one thing I really noticed about this altea after the Astra. The gas pedal was really high up when motorway driving For quite some time it made motorway driving tiring fit my right leg because I had to hold it up higher without support.

Sounds strange but with the pedal pressed down far you get a kind of leg / foot support. Higher powered cars and you have to go a lot faster to get that effect.

 

[Mr Wolf]

It was the one thing I really noticed about this altea after the Astra. The gas pedal was really high up when motorway driving For quite some time it made motorway driving tiring fit my right leg because I had to hold it up higher without support.

Sounds strange but with the pedal pressed down far you get a kind of leg / foot support. Higher powered cars and you have to go a lot faster to get that effect.

Cruise control?
Although this is more gear ratios than engine.
In regards to towbar,my other car,octavia,brill engine but car not suitable for towing,too light and yes its a bumper cut job on that too

 

[Paul_B]

6 speed not 5 speed I guess.

 

[Mr Wolf]

So..for edification..the issue is
Due to low revs at mway speeds your foot is high and uncomfortable?
Then you need cruise control or a close ratio box....or drive in 3rd with foot to floor ( not recommended)

 

[Janne]

Buy shoes with a high heel.
This way your foot gets support even if high up.

I am sure you can find online shops that have male foot sized high heels!
Tom Cruise type of shoes, not the ones commonly seen in Blackpool.


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