The Car Thread

[Tom Booth]

I stroked... YO MAMA.

I started to repair my passat splitter this morning, expected quite a nasty job, 5minutes with a heatgun and the shape had popped back right, small bit of filler and it'll be perfect!

[MadManMike]

item.mobileweb.ebay.co.uk/viewitem?itemId=130868928914&index=18&nav=SEARCH&nid=14713530641 99.99% certain you could just buy that, use your existing drop links and a bolt and some washers to space the drop link out and it would be a better solution and much cheaper.

Are you definitely 99.99% sure?

I don't want to buy it and have to stash it in my flat - I already have plenty of bits I can't get rid of lol

[Pashley26]

Seamons or Prawn will know 100%. I can't remember, I think there is one which doesn't fit and there are two sizes.

[RobinJI]

The plans don't really revolve around the engine, but they'll involve it being pulled out for a bit while I work on other bits, and while it's out there's a few ideas I'd like to try out. It all depends on budget though. If I move away then I'll be pushing it to get the money together unless I land a pretty decent job.

[MadManMike]

Would be great if that does fit, £50 is fine.

Cheapest I can find other than that is the FK one at £108.

Probably sound like a tight arse, but I was naive enough to think that I could just buy coilovers and drop my car... Didn't think anything else would need modifying. Doh!

[Luke Rainbird]

Also a tempting prospect. I think I'll probably get coils first and throw them on to check it all out - if things rub then I can adjust to suit, but can always put them back to standard ride height in the meantime

Mike, you fitting everything yourself?

Edit; Just fired a quick message across to the owner of this one to see what he did. Mainly out of interest as I'm not planning on going nearly so low mind!



In related news: That'll be up for sale soon, asking £2200.

[MadManMike]

Me and a mate yeah, he has 10 cars and does everything himself, I just learn from him. He'll do most of the work though no doubt.

*Awaits Prawn / Semen confirmation*

[Danny]

That poor leon (

[george_seamons]

Should fit, its the right shape at least! Just have to make sure you get the right size arb bushes for it.

Luke, that blue Cupra is a bag of shit. Saw it at Ultimate Dubs in the car park. Every single panel on it is f**ked.

[Luke Rainbird]

Yeah, it's ratty as f**k and is actually a TDI in disguise, however it is low so finding out which route he's gone down out of interest. There's a reason he's selling it at that sort of price though!

If that TT ARB is a winner I'll keep my eyes out for another in case I get some rubbing I think - not much more than a set of droplinks

[CurtisRider]

So if a cars dropped 40mm, should the droplinks be 40mm shorter too? I had wondered if I should shorten mine, or modify them so they are adjustable. They look easy enough to shorten!

Edited March 26, 2013 by CurtisRider

[Luke Rainbird]

I don't think they need that much, since a 40mm drop at the wheel ends of the setup doesn't equate to 40mm of movement where they tend to rub. That's going off my very limited knowledge gained entirely from light internetting over the past few days though so I could be totally wrong

Edit; Blue Leon tempted me to see how retarded mine would look on the floor. Suffice to say it's as gimpish as you'd expect...

[dann2707]

Opinions on engine flushes?

Oil and filter needs doing asap. I'm seeing conflicting thoughts everywhere.

My car is on 133,000 miles

Not going to bother actually.

Edited March 26, 2013 by dann2707

[Dan6061]

That blue Leon tends to look good in pictures taken far away, or on iPhones. Pretty tatty really! Dickhead low though, so I approve.

[Luke Rainbird]

So yeah, this happened:



Edit; Dual screen setup, TG on the other and Clarkson seemed intrigued while I took the screenshot too

[Tomm]

Can anyone (Jardo?) explain the pros/cons of buying a used car under a PCP agreement, rather than a standard hire purchase (HP)?

My current car is just over 2.5 years into a 5 year HP deal - at this stage I can do one of a few things:

• Give it back with no issues and owe nothing (under the 'rule of halves')
• There is some equity in it (my finance settlement figure is less than the value of the car - even at trade) so I could trade in easily
• Or of course I could keep paying and keep it for another 2.5 years until I own it outright (but I'm getting itchy feet and fancy a change)

This seems to be pretty flexible - but people seem to think PCP is more flexible. As I see it, if you get a car on PCP (over, say, 2.5 yrs to keep it comparable), then at the end of the 2.5yr agreement you have the same basic options as I've put above. You could either:

• Give the car back owing nothing
• If there is some equity in the car, trade into another car
• Extend the loan/get a bank loan to pay off the rest over the next 2.5 years at a similar monthly cost

Seems it's basically the same deal, except that a 2.5 yr PCP deal would have a more expensive monthly cost than a 5 year HP? What's the advantage to PCP?

[Pashley26]

PCP is generally a great idea; if you want a new car. Not so well for a used vehicle but the principle is still the same.

You've got 5 year finance which in the nicest possible way is a difficult choice to come out of if you want to keep changing cars, I personally don't recommend 60 month deals simply because everybody gets to the point where you are now and gets bored and wants to change. I presume with your last car it was a monthly payment decision to go for 60m? You must have put in a reasonable deposit to be at break ever/equity at this point, which is great news. Your car has clearly held its money well.

PCP works in exactly the way you have described, so your understanding of the scheme is spot on. The advantage of PCP for you would be that if you purchased a £20,000 car and put in a £2000 deposit (for instance) if you paid for it over 5 years you could have had two new cars over 6 years for within a couple of thousand pounds the same amount of money.

You're still covered by halves and thirds, as well as full early resettlement rights and the ability to pay a lump sum and reduce monthly payments.

PCP shouldn't be used as a way to target a monthly payment, but it should be used to responsibly control your own "trade cycle management" of buying cars.

The schemes work best around a 10% deposit of the original retail cost of the vehicle. If you had a £20,000 car and put in a £2000 deposit you could almost be certain of getting more than your initial deposit back; keeping you in a new car for the same monthly payment with only one outlay of deposit.

If you took interest rates out of it and had a break down of a £20,000 car, a £2000 deposit and a £7000 final payment your monthly payments would be £305.55.

If you did a 60 month HP deal using the same £20,000 car, same £2000 deposit it would be £300 a month.

It never works out like that because you have a further two years of interest on a 5 year deal. However with a like for like deposit PCP will always work out cheaper than a 5 year HP as a monthly payment.

In the last three months I haven't sold a single used PCP deal, because it is cheaper to buy new. Depending in the age of car you are looking at PCP may not be the best option. Ideally you want something within warranty through the term of the agreement.

This month I have sold 41 new cars, 18 of them new PCP deals and 14 of them renewed customers from old PCP deals. Only one was in negative equity because they had done 12000 miles more than they said they would. So the schemes are working well, both for retail customers and dealers.

Edited March 27, 2013 by Pashley26

[Muel]

I seem to see a lot of people I know getting cars on HP or PCP at the moment, but doesn't it cost you a load of money in the end? So if you want a new car and buy it on one of these things, instead of paying £20000 you end up paying way more than that?

I've been semi-looking into these things as hopefully I'll be getting car'd up within 12-18 months, but it's hard to justify looking at £20k cars when a £3k one will last for 10 years.

Edited March 27, 2013 by Muel

[forteh]

I seem to see a lot of people I know getting cars on HP or PCP at the moment, but doesn't it cost you a load of money in the end? So if you want a new car and buy it on one of these things, instead of paying £20000 you end up paying way more than that?

I've been semi-looking into these things as hopefully I'll be getting car'd up within 12-18 months, but it's hard to justify looking at £20k cars when a £3k one will last for 10 years.

Borrowing costs money - my mortgage was 62k, the final repaid sum will be closer to 120k. Obviously its not directly comparable because the terms are much longer but the same applies, I think the point jardo is making is that PCP will cost you less than HP for the same outcome.

I'm in your camp in that I will quite happily buy an older second hand car rather than take the massive depreciation hit on buying new, that said I don't see cars as anything other than a tool to get from A to B (hence the 100bhp diesel focus )

Edited March 27, 2013 by forteh

[Pashley26]

Because PCP offers a chance for the salesman to sell to you again in three years you will find better interest rates and deposit contributions over a standard HP. To try and steer you into it.

[Tomm]

Thanks Jardo. I don't want a new car - I've got my eye on a car that's no longer in production (e86 Z4 coupe ). With any luck, though, it should be something that depreciates less than (E.g.) a standard Golf because they're rare (ish) and sought after. So in 2 years time I'm sure it'll be worth more than a Golf I could get for the same money now. Now obviously that wouldn't factor into any HP agreement but the GFV ought to be higher, so the monthly repayments might be less on a PCP deal? But equally if I went for a HP deal, at 2-3 years in I might expect to have some equity in the car?

Re warranty - obviously it'll be out of warranty. Is that a problem particularly? What happens if the car blows up half way through (or even right at the end of) a PCP deal - who foots the bill?

I'm just failing to see the real difference between PCP (over 2.5 years) and HP (over 5 years). Both allow you to change cars easily at 2.5 years. I suppose PCP is more predictable which some people like, but that's about it?

Also - help a brother out. What's the car industry like at the moment? I'm imagining this month / quarter has been pretty terrible for the sale of cars? I'm hoping that I can use this as leverage...

But your 41 cars this month seems like a lot?

[Tom Booth]

But your 41 cars this month seems like a lot?

I dunno, thetes a guy near us who deals in respectable second hand cars, he's sold 21 cars in 14 days! I think theres either more money 'out there' at the minute, or people are realising money in the banks worth nothing, so let's enjoy it!

[Prawny Baby]

hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. Much has passed since I last read, were we talking about arb's for leons?

40mm or more will rub. most noticable on full lock in reverse. jardo's car did rub when first done, it's probably worn away half the arb / shaft now so gone silent. pikey.

TT/LCR/S3/R32 arb's will fit, the first 3 being 19mm typically, the the R32 being 23mm. They'll go under the shaft and bolt to the stock drop links using some spacers and longer bolts. Can either make a spacer, or use washers, or two additional nuts works as well.

bars typically sell for £40. by far the cheapest solution.

[Muel]

people are realising money in the banks worth nothing, so let's enjoy it!

They won't be saying that when they retire.

I'm a complete financephobe, so when it comes to buying a car I'll probably end up with a 15 year old Micra to keep running costs down.

[george_seamons]

We've established all that Nick, keep up!