Auto gearbox question

I had no facilities, tools or anything at the time - besides, it was too much like hard work

I sold it for a few hundred sheets to an old guy round the corner who kept it going for a couple more years.

My car history is pretty shocking really:

Citroen 2CV Ami 8 (1975) - 602cc air cooled, 60-mph downhill with a prevailing wind if you were lucky. It was horrendous, and after about six weeks of ownership I took it to the local scrappie and refused to leave until he drained its oil and crushed it.

VW Golf MK1 (1981) - - cracker of a car. 1100cc on the log book, but the engine had been re-bored and the head lapped, so goodness knows what its power output was, but from a standing start it could climb trees. Ran out of puff at about 90mph, screaming its head off thanks to the four speed box. Loved that car, and only traded it coz I wanted something bigger and quieter.

Volvo 340GL (1984) - 1.4 Renault engine that clearly hadn't been looked after, I spent three times as much as I paid for it in running repairs, had the carburettor in bits on the kitchen table more times than I care to remember, and still it wouldn't behave - it would dump me at the side of the road three or four times in a journey, and after a rest of an hour or so it would go again. I even left it with a family friend who owns a garage for a few weeks to see if he could get to the bottom of it, and he couldn't either. Perversely, if I drove it like I nicked it and really thrashed it, it went on and on.

Volvo 360GLT - wolf in sheeps clothing; lumbered around town like a big heavy tank until you got her on the open road and got the turbo spooled up - sadly, I wrote it off in an argument with a fence post on the 21st December ('95 I think); completely wrecked the front end, and pushed the engine and gearbox back about six inches.

Vauxhall Cavalier 1.6 GL saloon - brown, with a vomit beige interior; but I loved it never the less; a great motorway companion, good in the snow, and had a cracking heater.

Rover 216Si (1986) - posh wee car at the time, dark blue velour interior, 5-speed box, digital clock and a sunroof, and an injection engine in a car that weighed not much more than a bag of crisps. Shame it seemed to dissolve in front of my eyes on a daily basis.

Mazda 323 (1982) ran semi-concurrently with the Rover. Reliable (orange) beast that only let me down once (mostly my fault); it had been misfiring and getting worse, but I pressed on up the motorway to get home, until it gave up all together. When I opened the bonnet, the distributor was glowing, so I thought I had killed it. AA man stuck a new set of points in it, and off it went.

Mazda 121 (the one that became the Kia Pride) - 1993; purchased with 16,000 on the clock and sold with 20,000 on the clock. I bought it in a 'green' moment, and hated it the minute I drove it away from the showroom. I lost £4k to trade it.

Concurrent with the Mazda - company VW Passat 1.8 (the one with the grille-less nose if you remember it, around 1990-ish)

Ford Sierra Sapphire GLS (1992) - stunner of a car; 'leccy windows, pin-pattern velour seats, six speaker stereo, sunroof, and it went like the wind (or at least it felt like it did). We parted company when it had 184,000 on the clock and the next owner had it for a couple of years and then I lost sight of it. Loved that car.

Company vehicles concurrent with the Sierra - Nissan Primera 2.0 GSXi; fast, comfy and supremely reliable; VW Transporter - cracking van. Vauxhall Nova 1.5TD - horrid. Bedford Rascal van - - horrid, horrid, horrid.

Citroen Xantia 1.9TD - fast, comfy and horrendously unreliable. Repossessed by the finance company when the business folded.

Company vehicle concurrent with the Citroen - Mercedes Sprinter 2.2 LWB; what a beauty of a van. Given it brand spanking new, with less than 100 miles on the clock and handed it back with almost 120,000 on the clock and not once did it as much as cough. Fast, and carried half the world in the back.

Ford Scorpio 2.9 (1991) - white. Looked like a police car, went like the bars of hell, and drank like a fish. Loved it until the top end of the engine got poorly and I couldn't afford to fix it.

Peugeot 406 (1998) - drove nicely, comfy, but not reliable in the least (particularly the electric windows).

VW Passat 1.8 (1999) lovely looking car, but could only be relied upon to break or cost money; drank like an alcoholic let loose in a brewery. In fairness to the car, I don't think it had been looked after (I reckon the service history was faked), and it was a Yes Car Credit car (remember them?)

Concurrently with the Passat - Renault Megane 1.5DCI company hack. Only slightly more pleasant than sticking a scalpel into my eyeball.

Jaguar X-Type V6 (2002) - Lovely car; cream oatmeal interior, quick and very comfy (if a bit thirsty); got shot of it once the transfer box started to whine as I knew a big bill was coming.

Jaguar XJ6 (1996) - an attempt to get out of paying car finance. Stunner of a car to look at, drove really well, but killed me financially as it wanted the entire suspension replaced, tyres, wheel bearings, the electrics were shot (I rewired most of the car myself) and then we had a domestic crisis which meant I could no longer afford to keep up with its drinking habits

Mercedes C180 (1998) - not bad, a bit boring and gutless, but proved to be a reasonable banger for a year or so; toward the end, all sorts of problems started to show which led me to say goodbye before it really got nasty.

VW Passat 2.0TDI (2007) - - the now notorious B6 with the BKP engine. Only actually let me down once (injector failure) but had numerous nagging faults and numerous known faults stored up (known from reading others experiences); the claim to fame with that car is that it was my failed injector that was used by the leading VW Audi owners forum to devise a potential fix for the injector problems

Audi A4 2.0TDI (2009) - we've been together now just over a year, and it just keeps getting better. Runs like a timex (touches wood), quick, quiet, comfy, good on fuel, fantastic equipment and looks like I won't be spending too much in the forseeable future (needs a cambelt, but that is about it). One of the best moves I have made, alongside the Sierra and the X-Type.

There were a few other company cars/vans/lorries sprinkled in there too, but not in my hands long enough to justify being on the list.

 

My 'patch' was the South West of Scotland, and I was given this van whilst a colleague borrowed my Transporter for a while as he was working on a large install (hospital aerial system mostly); at first it was grin inducing, as you rightly say it was a giggle purely because it was rear wheel drive and so small and light. The fun wore off quite fast as it was winter time, and it was just shocking in the wet, and even worse in the snow. On two occasions I nearly turned it turtle, the first time it was only the weight of the TV's in the back that brought it back onto all fours, and the second time I just managed to regain it by leaning over to the passenger side whilst flicking the steering away.

Never was I so glad to see my Transporter back.

 

We did similar with a school teachers Mini (the 'proper' one); he was a geography teacher, and had been a bit narky with us, so we decided during the lunch break to en masse lift/bounce this Mini down a flight of steps into a lower level playground. Confused the life out of him when he came out at closing time (while we all hid across the road with the tears running down our legs); in the end, the janitor had to go and get some scaffolding planks and place them up the banking for the teacher to drive his car out.

Never did get caught for that one.

Mr Mohan - if you are alive and reading this, I apologise (but it was funny)

 

Personally, I don't rate either of the last two shapes of Astra (from around 2000 onwards) - and from what I can gather, they aren't even all that cheap to repair if they do go wrong (although @longk might be able to advise better);

I'd be inclined to look at Ford Focus (or Mondeo), VW Golf, Skoda Fabia (or Octavia), Audi A3 (or A4) Toyota Auris (or even Yaris or Avensis), SEAT Leon or Mazda 6

In terms of age and lower mileage, you are going to have a more plentiful supply of cars like the Focus, whereas you might have to put a bit of legwork in to get something like and Audi A3 within budget; having said that, the likes of the Audi will repay you with far better residual value and by being generally a lot more hard wearing.

 

Even the manuals aren't all that cheap to repair are they?

 

I'm talking in general terms to be honest GG - My mum had a MK1:

and it was a decent wee motor

I had few friends that had the MK2:

and they were actually pretty good (as long as you stayed away from the digital dashboards) - I used to drive a neighbours one regularly when teaching his son and his wife to drive, and when helping him out at his farm, and it was remarkably sprightly for a 1.6

My mum later had a MK3:
which I really liked - wasn't the most exciting thing on four wheels, but it was solid, dependable, comfortable, quick enough not to frustrate, and even looked pretty decent.

And then they brought out the MK4:

Oh dear - duller than a dull mans dull thing, and not particularly reliable from what I can gather. Vauxhall seemed to generally lose the plot around the year 2000 for whatever reason.

And then the MK5:
I know a quite a few people that either have or have had these, and they are just dire. Interior plastics are horrid, and reliability is pretty awful, while parts prices are not exactly cheap.

Now, in all fairness to Vauxhall I have a colleague who has the latest MK6 version, and apart from a slightly jittery ride, it seems to be a fairly accomplished motor; time will tell if the reliability has also came up to date.

 

Oh, and don't be too put off a car just because its mileage is a tad higher than you would like - some of the best cars I have owned or ran have been high-milers (my Sierra Sapphire had 182,000 on the clock when we parted company and it still ran like a dream).