Are vans better offroad than cars ?

[weeksy]

If I read the dash in the earlier pic right it's done 75k miles. I think those half shafts have a limited life (think they were done a couple of times in nearly 200k on my previous car. I'd say (from the other issues and them ignoring the noise) that whoever had the car before you scrimped on the maintenance and probably missed some service interval stuff. Probably got it through the MoT and left it at that.

It's Catch 22 with cars like that, you chuck money at them so need to stick some miles on to recoup it...but you lose confidence in them and want rid (but probably won't get the money back on sale). I'd be on '3 strikes and out' with it. One more....

(But sod's law says the replacement will be no better and the buyer of yours gets 50k of trouble free motoring ).

Yeah i hear all of that. The noise is/was an inconvinenience rather than a major issue, but it's one that would have only got worse not better unless thrown to the mechanic. The problem comes with the budget i have/want to spend, if i'm at £9000-12000 it only gives a certain level of car with the requirements i have in terms of size etc.... Which bring with it a certain age and miles.. I'm not going to get a big 20 plate with 10,000 miles on it for example. Well, unless i go down the leasing side of things which is a future consideration potentially.

Strike 1 was a £250 bill, that's little more than a foul ball, rather than a strike...
Lets see what this one comes in at in terms of price before getting the elephant gun out.

Another part of the reason is simple stubbornness, i paid £6700 for it i think and that was on the cheaper side of things at the time of purchase.. Dealers are coming in at £3200-3600 for it in PX for their motors... i'm not dropping £3000 in 7 months !!!!

[Mr. Dazzle]

My old Nissan Micra needed half shafts like that...I thought "bollox to paying £400 to fit some parts to my £500 shed!" so I got rid.

That was a mistake. Better the devil you know

[weeksy]

My old Nissan Micra needed half shafts like that...I thought "bollox to paying £400 to fit some parts to my £500 shed!" so I got rid.

That was a mistake. Better the devil you know

At this stage it's still only assumption and guesswork, i've not heard from him yet.... I'll be impressed if i get a call today actually LOL.

[Count Steer]

Oh, I think you're doing the right thing and, hopefully, it'll merrily do another 50k without anything other than routine maintenance. I'm just about the good money I chucked after bad trying to get my V70 to 'moon miles'. I blew over £3k on it the year before I gave up and 'scrapped' it via my local maintenance outfit. (They took it as scrap in exchange for the final (failed) repair bill. 3+ years later it appears to be still in use - MoT'd until March 2023 and taxed. I suspect all it needed was a new coil but I'd given up on it after calling out the RAC twice).

[Pirahna]

Back in the mists of time I needed a cheap runabout for a few months before departing for Australia. A mate had a rusty, unreliable MGB GT, I haggled him down to £50 but in the end decided against it, we took it to a scrap dealer and got £30 for it. It's still on the road some 35 years later.

[Taipan]

Old school mechanics will have replaced thousands of driveshafts. Not a difficult job and he'll rattle that off in no time.

We always used to say 80k was when the bills started coming in. Often you'd be better with a 100k motor that had had it all done as opposed to a c80k one. Sometimes we'd even target cars that had had lots of money spent on them, as this means they'd covered the bills you could have got and they're getting rid because of keep spending on it.

The bottom line is all motors are a mass of moving parts that are wearing out from day 1. You're very lucky to go through ownership without getting a few bills. Sometimes it really is best to just suck it up and hope the bills are spaced out enough to not impact you financially.

[Rockburner]

If i can get that done and sorted for £200-300 then i'll happily keep the thing, it goes, stops, is comfortable etc.

Well i'll find out in the next day.... or two... Dave the mechanic some of you will have seen, he's got the unit next to MArk at Ride in Bike Tyres in Reading... both have been there forever. lol.

Daves a proper old school boy and doesn't even take payment by card.... so things like fangled electronics are outside of his remit. But this sort of thing of spannering and pulling bits apart is right up his street. The suspicion based upon noise, discussion and internet wisdom is 'drive shaft'



They're £70 or so supplied. https://www.eurocarparts.com/search/654 ... 5IQAvD_BwE

But obviously need fitting and depends if it is that, just 1 or 2.... who knows.

Dave isn't known for things like speed of turnaround, or giving you a loaner to get you home (hence my cycling yesterday). But he's cheap and he's very honest, he'll do exactly what's needed, no more...

Good to know Mark is still in business - haven't been up there for a while.

[Rockburner]

Old school mechanics will have replaced thousands of driveshafts. Not a difficult job and he'll rattle that off in no time.

We always used to say 80k was when the bills started coming in. Often you'd be better with a 100k motor that had had it all done as opposed to a c80k one. Sometimes we'd even target cars that had had lots of money spent on them, as this means they'd covered the bills you could have got and they're getting rid because of keep spending on it.

The bottom line is all motors are a mass of moving parts that are wearing out from day 1. You're very lucky to go through ownership without getting a few bills. Sometimes it really is best to just suck it up and hope the bills are spaced out enough to not impact you financially.

This. I still regret scraping my first car, a BMW 316, when the sills went. I'd only paid £600 for it and it was a great car, the sills quote was £600 and we scrapped it. I'd probably have managed another 3 or 4 years out of it at least if I'd paid for those sills because everything else was working fine.

What made it even worse was the absolute shitbox of a Beetle I was persuaded by my Dad to buy in place of the BM.

[cheb]

My rough rule is that as long as it costing less in unexpected bills than the depreciation on a replacement then it stays.

My old Transit, the Gulf blue one, started to rust in significant places, one engine mount went and the other looked just as bad so I gave it away about three years ago. It's still on the road, just.

[Mussels]

Back in the mists of time I needed a cheap runabout for a few months before departing for Australia. A mate had a rusty, unreliable MGB GT, I haggled him down to £50 but in the end decided against it, we took it to a scrap dealer and got £30 for it. It's still on the road some 35 years later.

That MGB has probably had 100k worth of work on it to keep it on the road that long.

[weeksy]

The grindy graunchy noise on braking was not surprisingly front pads....

the wum wum wum wum noise was front wheel bearing...

Eurocarparts were slow getting the front bearing in, so that's being done as we speak... should be ready this afternoon with luck.

[weeksy]

The grindy graunchy noise on braking was not surprisingly front pads....

the wum wum wum wum noise was front wheel bearing...

Eurocarparts were slow getting the front bearing in, so that's being done as we speak... should be ready this afternoon with luck.

£330 all in. Drives a lot lot quieter! We happy

[Count Steer]

The grindy graunchy noise on braking was not surprisingly front pads....

the wum wum wum wum noise was front wheel bearing...

Eurocarparts were slow getting the front bearing in, so that's being done as we speak... should be ready this afternoon with luck.

£330 all in. Drives a lot lot quieter! We happy

Result. I'll know exactly what to say to the mechanic when mine goes wum wum wum wum. It'd work in France too, the language of cars is universal.

[Couchy]

It’s cost you more in repairs than an elgrand would have done in fuel yet the elgrand wasn’t bought as it cost to much to run

[weeksy]

It’s cost you more in repairs than an elgrand would have done in fuel yet the elgrand wasn’t bought as it cost to much to run

Elgrand to North Wales this weekend would be £330!

[Couchy]

It’s cost you more in repairs than an elgrand would have done in fuel yet the elgrand wasn’t bought as it cost to much to run

Elgrand to North Wales this weekend would be £330!

Mine did 25mpg on a run last weekend, but you could sleep in it and carry all your stuff easily and hopefully less repairs than the QQ

Working it out at 25mpg it’ll cost you £170, it’ll cost you £95 in QQ so only £75 more

[weeksy]

It’s cost you more in repairs than an elgrand would have done in fuel yet the elgrand wasn’t bought as it cost to much to run

Elgrand to North Wales this weekend would be £330!

Mine did 25mpg on a run last weekend, but you could sleep in it and carry all your stuff easily and hopefully less repairs than the QQ

Working it out at 25mpg it’ll cost you £170, it’ll cost you £95 in QQ so only £75 more

and next weekend, and last weekend, and 2 before that....

I'm not saying either is right or wrong... but both have plusses and minuses

[Couchy]

Elgrand to North Wales this weekend would be £330!

Mine did 25mpg on a run last weekend, but you could sleep in it and carry all your stuff easily and hopefully less repairs than the QQ

Working it out at 25mpg it’ll cost you £170, it’ll cost you £95 in QQ so only £75 more

and next weekend, and last weekend, and 2 before that....

I'm not saying either is right or wrong... but both have plusses and minuses

Over a year I bet it would average out, could halve the hotel bill too and have a nice setup at the mtb tracks. It’s time

[Yorick]

Girls, girls. Play nicely.

[Mussels]

It’s cost you more in repairs than an elgrand would have done in fuel yet the elgrand wasn’t bought as it cost to much to run

Elgrand to North Wales this weekend would be £330!

Mine did 25mpg on a run last weekend, but you could sleep in it and carry all your stuff easily and hopefully less repairs than the QQ

Working it out at 25mpg it’ll cost you £170, it’ll cost you £95 in QQ so only £75 more

Is that like my Jeep was, 25mpg at 56mph slipstreaming behind an arctic?