Its only a car mate.

[tractorman]

Hmm, when my Golf was six years old, the engine failed and it cost me £3500 or so to replace it. Apparently it's quite common on the BLS engine - the oil pump drive fails - the engines are/were used in some Caddy vans as well as the Bluemotions.

The Mk4 was, allegedly, the best built Golf, though also the least involving to drive. However it does have one problem that has carried onto the Mk5 - the door locks fail quite often. They modified them on both models during production and I've fitted one on both the Mk4 and Mk5 and I have to admit the Mk5 was a lot easier to do - the outer skin comes off to do it, so there isn't the aggro of getting all the trim off the inside! There is only one big hole, for the speaker, in the inner part of the door; there is one for the cable to the inside handle (and I assume a few for the trim and door handle fixings etc).

While I don't intend to change the present Golf (I don't ever intend to change a car - they stay here until they die!), I would put a VW a lot further down the list when I need to change this one. Though I don't know what I would buy instead - perhaps something Koren?!

[History]

I also only sell a car when its dead. Usually spares or repair basis. Last was a Merc 207D mini bus which I ran for 8 years until the rust got a bit too bad. I paid 1350 and sold for 350. A 1000 loss over the 8 years is good.

I replaced the van with a petrol jeep. This is holding up well and I reckon I can keep another 5 years. 14 years total £1500 paid and I reckon in 5 years 300 maybe 400. The jeep is fully loaded and a bargain.

Regards
bob.

[ampwhu]

have owned 2 French cars in the past and both cost £'s when they went wrong. never again. owned a couple of fords, you can fix them at home with spare change from your pockets. owned rovers for yonks, I loved them, but others didn't. selling them becomes an issue as nobody will pay more than £2.50 for one these days. (even my last rover 75 was hassle to sell). never again.

then I bought my first Mercedes benz. what a car! doubt i'll own anything else as these cars are incredible.

classics are only worth what someone wants to pay. my A30 is going nowhere. I've owned it for only 6 years, but when I drive it, I always seem to smile. costs nothing to repair and will take me to the moon and back.

[History]

Mercedes might be the best car in the world. I had a W123 and a S class both very good. Plus a 207D van which was amazing.

I have never been keen on French cars because they seem badly made, the under bonnet look was terrible.

However at the cops we had Peugeot 306 Deisels which were quite good. The petrol ones were unreliable.

A30 are cute. I restored a A35 for a vicar once. We started out with a rust free runner the end result was first class. Black is so easy to spray.

I appreciate very much that old stuff with no electronics is so easily fixed with a blunt hammer and a rusty pen knife.

The A30 and 35 are ok as a local runabout. Quiet robust little cars. They drive nice as well.


Regards
Bob.

[ampwhu]

bob, I think French cars are like marmite. you either like them or hate them. never understood why they make a big deal out of the suspension on the cars. the DS of the 50's was a troublesome old horse. modern cars are very poor. in their defence, the interior on some Renaults is better than your modern ford, with all its round buttons and shocking velour seats. the Citroens and Peugeots are poorly built. I know the French like a strike, maybe they do this during a production run........

Italian cars don't seem to do it for me either. take the alfa for example........... when they go wrong, boy do they. they rust, have electrical problems, look odd. I once sat in an alfa and all the instrument round dials only faced towards the driver. what if the passenger wanted to know what speed they were travelling at? all the sports cars are over priced. could you pop down to hombase (diy store) and collect a bag of sand? nope.

my father always said to buy either german or jap cars.

its not often he was wrong.

[History]

Which brings me to the real best car in the world Honda.

Now I have really stuck my neck out

Bob

[ampwhu]

never owned one, but they seem to be rated very highly. of course, lexus would be a safe bet on being 'bullit proof' as is mentioned. (not sure why people say that as you could quite easily shot through it a close range with the correct firearm).

so we'll settle for Mercedes and Honda.

[History]

Mercedes and Honda. Very close.

The best police bike is the Honda Pan European.

Mercedes went through a bad patch where quality suffered.

Bob

[ampwhu]

yes, the metalwork rusted badly. from 2003 onwards there isn't an issue. they galvanised the steel.

I've seen some cars with incredible miles on, whilst the bodywork has holes big enough to fit a hand through.

[kstrutt1]

In my experince there is a world of difference between the older mercs and the more modern ones, the old ones were something special, the modern ones are not much different to any other modern car (take a close look at the suppliers of most of the major components such as fuel injection, brakes etc, you will find they are the same as Vauxhall, Ford, VW etc). We have a friend with a modern merc ML, it's always going wrong, my MOT guy said in his experince they are all like it.