I thought I may get replies along these lines. In the preceeding year it was my wifes car, I've only been using it for long distance for a few months. The last year my wife had it, she covered 8,000 miles and it cost me £800 in repairs. During the same period I covered nearly 30,000 in an old A6 Diesel which cost me £400 in repairs.
The clutch hasn't failed yet, but the bite is at the top, I get some judder, depressing the clutch pedal 'creaks'. I was advised by a Citroen specialist in Northampton some months back that it probably only had 2-5k left in it. It's done double that since. This mechanic advised that the rear wheel bearings / stub axles were worn - gave him trouble re-setting the rear height corrector. Said they'd last about 20k or so. I'm concerned that this car has reached that age where I'll be forking out a few hundered every 2 or 3 months
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I have spent quite a few hours of my spare time recently analysing such a question as I have a Peugeot 306 1.9XLd with 189K on the clock. I do about 20k per year (used to be 40k).
Fingers crossed the car is reliable at the moment, but and it is a big "but", there are a number of clouds on the horizon, the car's still on its original clutch (getting a bit juddery/grabby) & shockers, exhaust falling to pieces, battery kna*cked, lock missing on passenger side. Plus the heater matrix/head gasket may fail at any particular mileage (I have gone through 3 matrixes & gaskets so far).
My circumstances/annual mileages estimates will be different to yours but basically I found this based on 18k a year.......
Buying a banger or running my existing car with few problems will cost around £150 - £210 a month over a 6 year cycle. If its unreliable it will cost about £250 - £280a month.
Buying a £3k petrol car over 6 years will cost around £270 a month at best, at worst £300-£390 a month.
Buying a nearly new petrol car e.g. Nissan Almera 1.5S will cost
over a 6 year period £240-£270 a month. At worst £300-£340 for first three years (warranty) and £340-£370 for last three years.
For the above I'm a 39 year old driver, full ncb, can get a cheap loan, include fuel, tax, insurance, mot, recovery, repairs, servicing.
I'd personally - if you have to go for a 3k car - look at the following:
Nissan Primera Petrol Mk 2 1.6 - 2.0 (chain cam engine). should last for at least 150k.
Ford Mondeo Petrol 1997 onwards, cheap to repair
Toyota Corolla-Carina Petrol - don't go wrong much
Nissan Almera Petrol - dull to look at but ok mechanically.
Diesel, well thats another story, £3k wont buy a low mileage good diesel, you might get lucky but I bet most private punters would be getting rid of a lemon if its low mileage.
Possibly a Nissan Primera Diesel,
Volkswagen Passat (old model) diesel,
Seat Toledo Diesel
Try the auctions, but your in a minefield at 3k, look at www.smag.co.uk for a price guide.
Whatever you buy, make sure it has FSH and receipts, if the owner/trader can't be bothered to keep/or chase a few scraps of paper relating to the car then they haven't either bothered to service it or they haven't a clue how well its been serviced.
I'm gonna go for the following option, run my car renewing the mot every 9 months (to give me forewarning and time to get a replacement) until late November 2004. Get rid of it and buy a late model Nissan Almera/Primera or Citroen Berlingo for about £7k and run it for 6 years (I have run my 306 for 6 years so far-costing £1k a year in depreciation i.e. its worth nothing now).
If the 306 fails tomorrow and repairs will be greater than £350
I'll buy a £500-1000 banger and sell on late November 2004, buying a nearly new one as described above.
Also consider a Hyundai with 5 years unlimited mileage warranty.
Cheers Brian
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Can you raise your budget a little? I would try and find an extra £1K as for £4K you will get a proportionally much better car at auction than you will for £3K.
It should get you into a much younger model that will last longer...
If that's not possible - how about another, younger Xantia, assuming you liked the first. It does sound like it's time to move on to me.
MB
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>>The last year my wife had it, she covered 8,000 miles and it cost me £800 in repairs.
Together with the £1000 quote for the other work it does sound like you haven't quite found the right independent to service it!
Brian O said...£3k wont buy a low mileage good diesel, you might get lucky but I bet most private punters would be getting rid of a lemon if its low mileage.
To a certain extent you are right Brian but they are about if you look. A contact has just bought a 1998R Xantia TD with aircon for £2800 via Citroen Direct. It has a Citroen history supporting its 30,000mls and a full years Citroen used car warranty. NOt too much risk there.
M.M
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>>Together with the £1000 quote for the other work it does sound like you haven't quite found the right independent to service it!
I think £1000 is about right. When I bought my ZX I knew the heater matrixes were expensive and asked local independent for the book guide, which states its a ten hour job. If that is the same for Simon's car, there's £500+VAT straight off, give or take depending on the hourly rate, then the clutch and tax. I'd say his figure is about right.
Simon, I'd go with "better the devil you know". Whatever happens, you're going to be £1000 down. That £1000 gets you back on the road and think again later down the road. Not much goes majorly wrong with Citroens, except the heater matrix but once you get that sorted I think you'll have a respite from anything large after that.
That's my advice.
Kind regards
DomF
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PS The heater matrix is NOT a job you want to tackle yourself unless you have a masochistic streak. It's an engine out job and most of the dashboard as well.
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