"New" second hand car

[garynortheast]

The Vauxhall is heading for the scrappers very soon as the bodywork is rotting, the engine management light is pretty much permanently on, it spends most of it's time in limp mode, and now, one of the front suspension struts has poked through the top mounting. I'm fed up with spending money on the heap of crap.

Spent several days looking for something a bit smaller and cheaper to run and I may have found what I need, so I'm off to look at it tomorrow.

[Craig380]

What are you looking at, Gary?

[Seeker]

If you're looking at a 2010 ish Yaris (1.33 litre/6 speed) pay attention to the gearbox action. I inherited one and, even now, it has done less than 39k miles. The gearbox is slow and balky in the lower gears especially in cold weather, the dealer said it's "normal". I added molyslip which helped but my 1970 Escort had a much better gearbox.
The Yaris forum said it's a synchro slip ring problem but not serious enough to warrant a recall. I drove a late model Aygo and it was much better.

[embee]

I have a 2011 1.33L/6sp Yaris at around 30k mls and the gearbox and gearshift are very nice and smooth. I have heard of such issues but if you did go that way and it feels OK on a test then fine.
It's a generally nice car (I have the T3), the HVAC (heating/aircon) is very good, ride is decent and quiet, engine is very smooth, instant starting, fuel economy is OK (45 on short usage, 60 possible on a longer run). The one thing I don't really like much is the rather wooden feel to the electric power steering, it doesn't self-centre very well at medium speeds, which I gather is a bit of a trait of the car. It gets better if the tracking is set absolutely right and centred properly, but still a bit wooden.
A Jazz is another similar choice, I have a 2018 CVT which I like a lot, easy drive, comfortable, loads of space, excellent economy (10mpg better than the Yaris). Not exciting, but what do you want? You'll see scare stories about cat thefts but that only applies to the mk.1 Jazz pre-2008, after that they're no more susceptible than other cars (cat in engine bay).

[Bibio]

merc a class second edition around 2007 onwards preferably auto and 2ltr. very underrated car. low miles ones are a cppl grand. they are a bit like the jazz but built better with 7 speed auto. mine has just turned 100k today. had it around 4 years and spent 2k on servicing and garage costs. 45-50mpg but i'm not heavy footed. nowt much goes wrong with them apart from aircon pumps so listen out for rattle at tickover.

boot space is good for such a small car and you can layflat the rear seats or take them completely out like the passenger one and it turns the car into a van.

with all the auto helper functions turned on all you pretty much need to do is turn the steering wheel

[garynortheast]

Bought this today. He was asking £1495 but we got down to £1330 as I need to replace a lower suspension arm ball joint (may just replace the arm as well as it's a quick job and parts are cheap) and I shall put a new tyre on one of the rear wheels.
Car came with roof bars, towbar and electrics fitted, space saver wheel and tyre in the boot, and a proper spare wheel and tyre.
It's very clean and tidy, drives well, runs quietly and everything works as it should. The cambelt and water pump were recently replaced and it had a full service at the same time. It's also just had a new battery.



It's the 2008 model 207hdi SW estate, 1600cc engine and £30 a year road tax.

The pre 2008 versions had a reputation for blowing up the turbo (My ex wife's 2007 Peugot 207 did it to two turbos) as the oil feed pipe to the turbo was too small and got clogged with carbon deposits, starving the turbo of oil. However, the system was altered on the 2008 - onward models which stopped it happening thankfully.

[redtrummy]

Hope it proves reliable Gary

[Craig380]

Looks good, Gary.

[Stilo]

Make sure that you give it a good run every now and then so that the EGR & DPF dont get clogged up

[Craig380]

Originally Posted by Stilo

Make sure that you give it a good run every now and then so that the EGR & DPF dont get clogged up

If I remember correctly, that generation of Pugs used Eolys fluid to regenerate the DPFs and were less prone to DPF clogging than, say, VW group cars of the time.

However a good 30-minute drive with the revs at 2,000 - 2,500 certainly helps to clear them out!