 
| |
|
|
| | 
Expert
Posts: 1250
  
Location: Charente/France 2002 Laika 7.1G Ducato | Mel B - 2010-07-29 11:35 PM
Thanks Flicka - just been having a look on there anyway - great minds think alike!
It looks like the Twingo is a 130 emissions car, so it would be £0 for the first year and £90 thereafter.
I've just had a look at the VW Fox - not bad, but not struck ... sorry. 
I have a Ford Focus 1.8 Diesel and I love it, the roadholding is phenominal. Our Friends have just bought the 1.4 Eco diesel and they get about 70+ mpg from it and the tax is £35 they say. This may be worth a look. | | | | | | | | | 
 
Location: Autocruise Starlet II Peugeot 2.2hdi 2006. | The difference in fuel consumption costs between 40 and 60 mpg together with the difference in road tax pales into insignificance when compared to the depreciation of any new car and getting the right car that will hold more of it's value, be pleasant to use and live with and potentially dependable is in my view far more important than the possibility of a few extra mpg? | | | | | | | | | Visitor
Posts: 104
Location: West Midlands : 2007 Auto-Trail Apache 700SE | Randonneur - 2010-07-30 10:52 AM
I have a Ford Focus 1.8 Diesel and I love it, the roadholding is phenominal..
Quite the opposite for me , I'm using a 2005 Focus 1.6 (Auto) at present and hate it. Partly I dont think that the engine is suited to being mated to the auto box and partly the handling (for me at least) is woeful.
I've lost count at the number of times the back end looses grip on corners and no I'm not pushing hard just normal slow speed turning left or right corners - my granddad would be proud of me for "driving like my granddad".
Tyres and pressure are all on the money (being a "retired" biker I have a bit of OCD when it comes to making sure the pressures are right and the tyres are in order to the point even our mountain bikes have to be right.) | | | | | | | | | 
Regular Visitor
Posts: 192
| Think about how you drive and where you drive before considering a small car such as this.
If you are just knocking about town sedately, then it could be an option. If you often use motorways, main routes or travel distance, then maybe not!
A small engine is fine when power is not needed. If on a motorway, you will push it to it's limit to keep to 70 ish - and you will watch the fuel vanish! Common in all small cars. also, if working these engines, they will not last as long as you might expect. Don't expect too much, these are tiny engines, running with very little oil in them for emissions purposes.
If you want economy, look at either something with a good power-weight ratio. a larger engine with little weight to pull, will actually be quite economical...for example - i get equiv 65mpg from a mercedes e-class running on LPG. The deisels do around 50. Though this is non relevant to you - it demonstrates the point that big engines are not all gas guzzling.
A 1.6 will easily be more economical than a 1.4, it will handle mortorway speeds better, and will not strain - and thus use more fuel - as to how this will effect your tax, is up to you to decide what outweighs what in your opinion - but for an extra £50 a year in tax, you could save a good few hundred in fuel. | | | | | | | | | 
Location: 2010 Chausson Flash 04, Mk 7 Ford Transit 140bhp | Skoda - the Fabia looks to be a nice car (I did see one parked on the road at work today and had a little 'shuftie'!) but at over £8,000 for the base model which has the same engine capacity/performance as the Twingo it seems an expensive way to get 5 doors.
Seat - Can’t decide whether I really like them or not! They’re a bit bigger than I was looking for and more expensive too.
We won’t do a massive mileage - probably 3,000 miles a year, so being exceptionally frugal in the fuel stakes isn’t a vital consideration, neither is the road tax issue, hence why we’ve considered some which are up to £100 a year. There’s only the 2 of us and the dogs for 99.9% of the time so the need for 5 doors is minimal, it’s just that we’ve got used to them, but the 3 doors are larger so getting in the back and getting at stuff, whilst not as easy as a 5 door, isn’t impossible either. Shopping - we tend to get it from more local shops like Lidl etc rather than do massive shops from the big supermarkets on the outskirts of town, and go once a week. We have been known to use the scooters for our weekly shop as they’ve got good storage under the seats and in the top boxes but obviously we wouldn’t want to do this is bad weather/winter. We don’t do many longer journeys so we’d use the motorhome anyway as it’s very drivable, therefore a car is just to mainly to tootle around locally.
No massive rush to do anything as, at the end of the day, we've got a good car. But now seems a very good item to consider changing to a smaller car with the deals that are on offer.
Still ‘researching’ and ‘cogitating’!!!
 | | | | | | | | |
Location: 2010 Chausson Flash 04, Mk 7 Ford Transit 140bhp | Just 'found' out that the Chevrolet Spark is being discounted ... 1.0+ model for £6999 (normally £8,395) with 5 years warranty, 5 years servicing, 5 yeard breakdown ... hmmmmm what did I forget .... oh yes ... 5 doors too.
Gonna see if we can look at one tomorrow .... 
Stop press ..... just 'found' that the Hyundai i10 is also being discounted at £6799 too (normally £7725) ... will be paying a visit to that dealer too!!!
Edited by Mel B 2010-07-30 9:48 PM
| | | | | | | | |
Expert
Posts: 1250
Location: Charente/France 2002 Laika 7.1G Ducato | Just because most of the time there are only 2 of you (like us) I really would go for a 5 door. We have a very old 3 door Discovery and my previous car was a Fiesta 3 door and they are so inconvenient so when we got the Focus 5 door it is a joy. Easier to put things on the backseat and if you do want to carry large items the seats go down so with the rear doors it is easier to manouver bulky stuff. My Focus is a 2001 which belonged to a Friend from new and he is very particuler about his cars, that is why we bought it because we knew its history. | | | | | | | | | 
Stalwart
Posts: 635
Location: Way out West (Wales) | Mel,
I know they are expensive but we have chosen a Toyota Yaris(5-door TR) as our everyday car, (and as a 'Toad' for our 'Van). We have an 'ageing' Toyota Rav4 at the moment, which has been marvelous over the last 13 years with never ANY problems during 128,000 miles. So, we decided to stick with a manufacturer we trust. We know about all the recent scares and recalls ( at least they were well publicised, unlike Fiats X250 Gearbox fault) over throttle sticking, we still like them, What a pity that they don't make a Motorhome base vehicle. Hope you get a 'Good one'.
regards Ray
Edited by Rayjsj 2010-07-31 12:58 PM
| | | | | | | | |
Location: 2010 Chausson Flash 04, Mk 7 Ford Transit 140bhp | Phew ... what a day!!!!! 
Thanks to everyone for all their comments - it's been great to have your input!
We managed to see a Hyundai i10 and took a test drive, but hubby just couldn't get comfortable in the seats so that got ruled out. Unfortunately they were the ones that used to be the Chevrolet agents too, which they don't now offer, but still maintain.
So, a bit disheartened we then went and had a look round the 'corral' of dealers' showrooms nearby and their nearly new stock and lo and behold what was sitting there but a pre-registered Chevrolet Spark!!! Registered 30/6/10 with a couple of hundred miles on the clock, in metallic misty lake blue (silvery-blue to you and me!), it was an LS rather than a lower spec'd version, so it still had a 1.0 engine, but with a few more toys on it. We went for a test drive eventually ... when they'd jumped it as the battery was too flat to start it as someone had left the courtesy light on.  It drove very well and was nice and quiet, not quiet as quiet as our Renault Megane, but near enough.
We decided to have another look at the Twingo which was just across the 'corral' as we were quite taken with it - stonking value for money and a very nice 'solid' car so we had another test drive to see what we thought - still as good as the first time, we also crawled all over it and played with the seats, putting them up, down, getting in/out etc, etc. Before making a final decision though we decided to go home for a late lunch and mull it all over, weighing up the pros and cons for each car and whether our needs would be met or, just as importantly, whether there were things that we really couldn't live with or without.
On reflection we decided that one thing we just couldn't do without is 5 doors - we intend to keep the car for quite a long time so we thought that 3 doors would probably drive us nuts and, as we don't have to restrict ourselves in that way and could afford the extra for a 5 door, we ruled out all 3 doors ... which has made the decision easier!!!
After hitting the web and checking out the spec and price of the pre-registered Chevrolet Spark with metallic paint (at £7,291) I found some for £300 cheaper (£6,995) and, as the dealer does a price match, printed them off ... this is where it got interesting/confusing! Whilst researching I also spotted a Chevrolet Spark 1.2 LT - which is the top of the range, 6 speed and 81ps instead of the 1.0 litre LS with a 5 speed box and 68ps, the LT also has a few more toys and 15" alloys instead of 14"... for £7,491 ... hmmm. Normal price for a new one with metallic paint is £10,510, so a saving of £3,219! The only downside is that it's 60 miles away but at that price it's worth travelling!!!
I won't bore you with the ensuing saga of the messing about this afternoon between dealers ... to cut an extremely long story very, very short so you don't all fall asleep ... we're off tomorrow to Dewsbury to see the Spark and take it for a spin, and if it is as good as it appears to be, bearing in mind that the 1.0 litre was very good anyway, it'll be coming to live in East Yorkshire shortly!!!!
Oh, forgot to say, the colour ... errr .... well, I'm a believer in little cars being fun and funky ... and light coloured ... so ... err ... it's green ... cocktail green to be precise ... I'm already thinking of calling it Kermit or Gecko ....
http://www.chevrolet.co.uk/cars/spark/gallery/exterior.html
Edited by Mel B 2010-07-31 7:34 PM
 (Chevrolet Spark 1.2 LT.jpg)
Attachments
----------------
 Chevrolet Spark 1.2 LT.jpg (40KB - 8 downloads)
| | | | | | | | | Contributor
Posts: 339
Location: Fareham Hampshire | Where are the other two doors Mel?
Thought you said 5door car a must (which I totally agree with you)
You may have to co-ordinate your clothes when driving it!
PJay | | | | | | | | | 
Expert
Posts: 2591
Location: Costa Blanca, Spain. | Green?
GREEN?
For pities sake, not GREEN!!!!
Anything but green..........................well, at least it'll never ever be stolen.
Or sold again.
Ever.
Even for three quid.
Green.
(Ambles away, muttering............) | | | | | | | | | Contributor
Posts: 339
Location: Fareham Hampshire | Never mind what Bruce says. Love the colour,(Green is my fav) and easy to find in a car park
PJay | | | | | | | | |
Location: Autocruise Starlet II Peugeot 2.2hdi 2006. | Nice colour Mel - was it stored near Sellafield by any chance? | | | | | | | | | 
Location: East Sussex. Motorhome = 2007 Hobby Van T500GFSC. | Two advantages of that colour. 1. Greenfly will love it. 2. Greenfly will love it! DO NOT PARK THIS CAR ON GRASS, YOU WILL NEVER FIND IT AGAIN! | | | | | | | | |
Location: 2010 Chausson Flash 04, Mk 7 Ford Transit 140bhp | Very funny!!!!! 
It's not THAT bad!!!!!
It is a 5 door, in the picture you can just see the bottom of the rear doors near the wheel arch, the handles are actually in the black area at the rear of the door window, so they are disguised to make it look like a 3 door hot hatch - very nicely done it is too!
But ... some of you will be glad to hear that we haven't bought it!
It appears that, despite the 'claim' that it has a 5 year warranty on the Chevrolet site, this is one that was registered just before that came into force so it only has the standard 3 year warranty, with none of the freebies which, by the time you add them all up separately to get it to the same 'expected' standard, increase the overall price quite a lot. Oh, and there's no such thing as a 6 speed version either (although I did suspect that that was just a typo!
It was a very nice car though and the colour did suit it quite well as it had the sporty bits, rather than just being the base car, but the sales 'lad' obviously thought it was a done deal and didn't like it when we were asking questions and checking the details about the warranty, and in fact he 'took' the warranty book out of my hubby's hands as he was reading it! Cocky little so and so - I could quite happily have kicked him from here to kingdom come but I resisted and we didn't just dismiss the car outright. Then we were then told there was an additional 'admin' fee of £99 on top of the price to cover a background/finance check (the car was direct from Chevrolet!) and road tax ... (it’s FREE in the first year!) we’d just about had enough - I didn’t have any objection to paying for the road tax it if was going to have to be paid for, but when it’s free .... !!!!! We already checked on before so knew for a fact that it was actually optional ... there were stickers everywhere that said so, even one stuck on the car itself, and 2 other dealers had also confirmed that it was optional, but the ‘lad’ and the manager were insistent on it being ‘compulsory’ - this is something that they normally have to pay out when taking in PX cars for which they don’t have a history, so they were just trying to line their pockets for no reason. At this point we decided to go to the car and have a coffee (we’d taken a flask) and check our figures etc and whether we were happy to proceed - if it was the car we wanted and we were happy with the figures etc we weren’t going to let the little pillock put us off! This was especially since we knew full well that even if we bought the car we’d never have to go there again once we’d got it, as it would be looked after locally (we’d checked on that and there wasn’t a problem as they were part of the same company’s dealerships).
Eventually we came to the conclusion that, even without the 5 year warranty etc it was still a good price overall ... for someone ... but for us, with the extra costs due to the warranty not being as it appeared to be, it took it well over what we had been wanting to pay, nearer £8,500, rather than £7,291. So we went back in and told the ‘lad’ and the manager, the lad had a real cob on, he was not a happy bunny at all ... no commission for him ... so he was quite flippant about us not buying the car for the sake of a “£99 admin fee” ... he just didn’t see the bigger picture. Fortunately his manager quickly shut him up before he could say any more otherwise I’d have given him a real tongue lashing and advice regarding customer relations!!!! The manager was very pleasant, despite our differing views about the admin fee, but I certainly would NOT go there to look at another car and am going to write to the company to advise them of the ‘compulsion’ to pay for the ‘optional’ fee.
So, we had a trip out to Dewsbury ... but came away empty handed, not a problem, it was worth the drive out to be able to drive a 1.2 litre version of the car as there weren’t any others anywhere nearer anyway for us to try. We still very much like the car and I’m not seeing what else is on offer ... I just MIGHT end up with a little ‘gecko’ after all!!!!
| | | | | | | | |
Location: 2010 Chausson Flash 04, Mk 7 Ford Transit 140bhp | It's a flipping minefield out there!!!!
After more mooching around the internet we found another Chevrolet Spark, registered a week ago (literally!) so enquired what warranty it had with it ... 3 years ... hmmmmm, the 5 year "all singing all dancing" warranty was supposed to be on all new cars registered since 8 July 2010 ... it is, says the dealer, but NOT including any registered by a dealer after that date so they only have the standard 3 year warranty. Very misleading and confusing, although they seem to have updated their website to make it a bit clearer now its just a shame that some of the dealers selling these cars don't have a clue. But, you CAN pay for an extended warranty for £300 which will take it to 5 years (not quite as good as the 'proper' 5 year one though) ... downside is you can ONLY then take it back to a Chevrolet dealer, rather than a Vauxhall garage (part of the GM group who own Chevrolet) as you can with the 'proper' warranty ... we haven't got a Chevrolet dealer in our area now!
Sooooo, the upshot is, we're hanging fire for now and will have a shuftie again to see what'around later in the year - if someone has bought one, ie an actual CUSTOMER, since 8 July 2010 and then decided they don't want it any more it SHOULD have the 5 year warranty ... but I'm not holding my breath!
... but there is still the cheap green one I suppose ......  | | | | | | | | | Contributor
Posts: 339
Location: Fareham Hampshire | Mel don't give up. You may find towards the end of August, some good deals, as the dealers may be offloading, ready for the new Sept reg.
| | | | | | | | | 
Visitor
Posts: 103
| A quick update on the latest offerings from Suzuki with the new Alto ) quid road tax 74 to the gall and 5 doors & air con for I think 7600 quid. | | | | | | | | |
Location: 2010 Chausson Flash 04, Mk 7 Ford Transit 140bhp | Hi dik
The Alto SZ2 is £6995 as there is a £660 discount at the moment, but to get the aircon it would have to be the Alto SZ3 at £8170 so there's quite a difference.
Nice looking car but probably a bit on the small side, not by much granted.
Edited by Mel B 2010-08-04 6:23 PM
| | | | | | | | |
Location: East Sussex. Motorhome = 2007 Hobby Van T500GFSC. | You seen this Mel? http://tinyurl.com/od4kb Sure you really want a Chevrolet? I'm not sure whether you'll ever get to take advantage of that 5 year warranty after reading that history! 'Strewth, what a track record! | | | | | | | | | Frequent Contributor
Posts: 451
Location: Exeter, Devon | Brian Kirby - 2010-08-04 7:29 PM
You seen this Mel? http://tinyurl.com/od4kb Sure you really want a Chevrolet? I'm not sure whether you'll ever get to take advantage of that 5 year warranty after reading that history! 'Strewth, what a track record!
My son used to sell cars for a living. Never ever buy a Chevrolet has been his advice. Never mind the build quality and depreciation, it is its frailty in an accident that is the scarry bit!!!
Roy Fuller | | | | | | | | |
Location: 2010 Chausson Flash 04, Mk 7 Ford Transit 140bhp | Interesting comments - have any of you actually SEEN and EXAMINED one of these recently? The Spark has the following safety/build features as standard on ALL of the models:
- front, side and roof curtain airbags
- passenger airbag de-activation switch
- knee protector
- side impact beams
- Anti-lock Braking System (ABS)
How many other cars have that lot then in this price range? If you want to look at a flimsy car, take a look at some of the other models which are in competition with it ... the Kia is just one example of very plasticy and cheap looking materials, some sound like a biscuit barrel when you shut the doors!
Chevrolet are now owned by GM, a major car player now - if they go down so does a great chunk of the car industry!!!
Porky - how long is it since your son had a good look at one?
We've looked at loads of these little cars 'in the flesh', have crawled all over them and test driven quite a few - some which you would think would be the bees knees left a lot to be desired.
Knock the Spark if you want but at least bother to have a proper look at one first. | | | | | | | | |
Location: Autocruise Starlet II Peugeot 2.2hdi 2006. | You may well find that projected depreciation will be the downfall of any Chevrolet Mel and whether or not they are are a decent and safe car plays second fiddle to what has the potential to be a very expensive ownership experience?
What Car magazine show projected depreciation for most cars and I have no doubt that you are intelligent enough to know that car ownership is not only about discounted price and mpg but includes depreciation and pride of ownership and pleasure of using it too!
The longer you keep it the less important depreciation becomes and the longer the warranty the more likely one is to keep it - how about a Kia with seven years warranty then - or Toyota with 5 years! | | | | | | | | | Contributor
Posts: 304
| Hi
Fiat Panda Multi-jet Diesel with Air Con £7995 absolutely fantastic car 3 year 60000 mile warranty 60+ mpg, 100+ mph, £35 road tax
Had ours since new cost £6450 on 1st Sept 2007 now done 52000 miles full service history with no problems, webuyanycar have offered £3450 online now I don't think that is bad depreciation.
http://www.fiatsupasaver.com/SelectACar.aspx?vID=3
We will purchase another one, hope that helps | | | | | | | | |
Location: Autocruise Starlet II Peugeot 2.2hdi 2006. | braunston - 2010-08-05 1:04 PM
Hi
Fiat Panda Multi-jet Diesel with Air Con £7995 absolutely fantastic car 3 year 60000 mile warranty 60+ mpg, 100+ mph, £35 road tax
Had ours since new cost £6450 on 1st Sept 2007 now done 52000 miles full service history with no problems, webuyanycar have offered £3450 online now I don't think that is bad depreciation.
http://www.fiatsupasaver.com/SelectACar.aspx?vID=3
We will purchase another one, hope that helps
Plus you get FIAT's legendry customer care at no extra cost! | | | | | | | | |
Location: 2010 Chausson Flash 04, Mk 7 Ford Transit 140bhp | Richard ... you know me so well ... I have a spreadsheet anyone would be proud of with all the various vehicle details on, price, spec, warranty, measurements etc, etc, etc!
We are very careful about what we do financially as well as whether stuff makes sense - and if we'll enjoy it too!!! It's a matter of finding the right balance.
As for the Fiat Panda - there are some things I really like about it, but there are other things that just make it unsuitable for our specific needs (I do like the sherbert yellow colour though .... ).
As an aside, hubby had a good giggle today - a chap from Chevrolet rang him as he'd asked for a brochure on the Spark to be posted to us. The chap asked him if we were likely to be buying a new Spark to which my hubby said probably not at the moment as we haven't got a dealer near us, the Chevrolet chap, trying to be helpful, said, "Oh, but there's one at Minstergate" (approx 3 miles away) ... hubby "Er, no there isn't! They don't do them anymore". "Oh ... I'd better update the database...." said the chap ....
I've just been having a giggle too ... we've put a dog guard up between the front and rear seats as I'm fed up of getting jumped on by Lily and getting dog hairs on the front seats (the dogs always sit on the back seats as we keep the rear for shopping etc). The Renault has a safety feature where you can 'lock' the rear electric window buttons which we do to stop the dogs accidentally opening them, since we got the car we've occasionally tried to work out how to take the rear 'child door locks' off but never managed to find out how (well, we've only had the car 2 years .... ).
Anyway, there was I merrily typing a response to one of the threads on here when my phone goes ... 'Withheld number' ... who can that be I'm thinking .... "Hello" says I, "Hello" says hubby, ... can you come and let me out!" ... "Where are you", says I .... "In the car ... I'm locked in!"
He'd forgotten about the 'child door locks' and had got in the back to adjust the dog guard, shutting the door whilst he did it ... and was stuck! It was either a case of ringing me and feeling very silly or dismantling the dog guard to clamber over the front seats to get out ... obviously feeling silly was the easiest option (he's used to it!!!). I did make him wait whilst I took a couple of photos of him and the dogs 'trapped' inside though!!!
Sooooooo .... once released, he dug the car book out again and had yet another read but still couldn't find out how to take the child door locks off ... however, he then had a look in the the electrical section for something else and found that they are controlled by the same button that prevents the rear windows from being opened!!! No wonder we could NEVER get the child locks off as we always have the flipping rear windows locked!!! Oh well ... at least we have the answer now!
Edited by Mel B 2010-08-05 9:07 PM
| | | | | | |
|
September 2010 issue - On sale NOW!
Make sure you pick up the September issue of Park & Holiday Homes, the UK's No 1 magazine for park home, lodge and holiday home buyers.
Plus Win a holiday in Cumbria!
See this issue's full contents by clicking here...
|
|
|
.gif "House – Cash Mart (Control Copy)")
