When it comes to what is and isn’t dependable, I do rely on you, dear reader, for feedback about your experiences out in the real world. I rather liked the Volkswagen Lupo and have driven loads, but apparently the gearboxes used to fail quite often under warranty. As the little thing is quite obsolete now, I presume the ones in circulation are okay. Anyway, I got a thumbs up from Gordon, a reader, when it comes to Toyota hybrids. He steers a 12-year-old Prius with almost 100,000 miles. There is nothing wrong with those. The trouble seems to be the state of the roads in the UK. So mechanically no issues, but structurally it is suspension parts that need to be replaced. By that level of reasoning, the perfect used vehicle is going to be a Japanese hybrid 4×4. Let’s buy one. I almost did. I looked in the metal at a whole bunch of Lexus RX 400h hybrids. They look a bit odd. I thought a reversing camera would be fun, but then I saw an RX with a £2000 bill for electronic repairs and went off the idea. The RX will do a solid six-figure mileage and there are plenty around with reassuring bills for cambelt replacement. So a 2005 one with full service history and in tidy condition will be around £3500. For a comfortable car with lots of kit, that should be worth buying. A 2008 SE model with a fraction of the miles and just as together would be £8995. Lexus owner Toyota also makes the RAV4 hybrid, of course, and a 2016 one with 70,000 miles and in Business Edition specification is around £15,995. Then there is a partly electric SUV in the shape of the Porsche Cayenne. Okay, it’s not Japanese but it’s very well engineered and a 2010 3.0 V6 Tiptronic S hybrid will cost £18,995 with 70,000-plus miles. It will do a reasonable 34mpg, officially anyway. Then if you go plug-in hybrid, there are other exciting possibilities. It brings into view Mitsubishi Outlanders, which, with gigantic mileages, are rather cheap. With £10,000 to spend, you should be able to get a private example with history from 2015 with just over 100,000 miles. If you want the reassurance of a dealer, then you will pay closer to £11,000. Owners seem to like these and there aren’t any issues. It simply gets on with the business of working in a very unflashy way. Here is a brand that just stands for doing off-road stuff and there is that small matter of 140mpg. Sort of. This could well be the best used car ever, based on our latest buying parameters. Until we all go and make up some more. What we almost bought this week It’s hard to think of a better and more reliable winter hack than an old Toyota Yaris. We found a 1999/T-reg with 115,000 miles and a year’s MOT for £550. The three-owner car has never missed a service, too, as the 20 stamps in the book testify. Twelve months’ motoring for the price of a month’s PCP. Tales from Ruppert’s garage You may not remember that the adorable Italian car would spontaneously wee out some coolant after a run. Rather worryingly, it sounded like a kettle. All I did was top up the coolant to the lowest level in the expansion tank. I stopped doing that and – you know what? – it packed up spilling coolant. I do worry that there isn’t enough in the system, but the temperature stays normal, which is 90 on the gauge. I should attend to a bit of ‘dieseling’. It isn’t the new spark plugs and it could be all sorts of tired A-Series engine issues. Reader’s ride Al Horsman pops onto these pages occasionally and here is his revived Puma: “It was a real find, but the paintwork on it was a bit tired looking. I’ve finally got round to bringing it back to its former glory. I think you’ll agree it was worth the effort and a little expense! “The roof had deteriorated the most – it was parked under a tree – and the rest of the car was detailed to match the roof as best as possible. I had the headlights refurbished, too. They’re much clearer now and safer for the coming dark evenings. Also, given the 1.7 engine is really quite a modern powerplant, I tried using Shell super-unleaded, particularly before a long journey, and that has really made the car quieter on motorways. (I think the engine needed a proper clean out.) That’s welcome because the car is really too highly geared for motorway driving.” Readers’ questions Question: I think I’ve just been ‘zapped’ by a policeman with a speed gun when I was driving at 33mph in a 30mph zone. Will he let it pass because of the 10% rule? Josh Brown, via email Answer: What 10% rule? It’s true that police chiefs suggest that a 10% allowance above the speed limit for speedo error is okay but it’s only a suggestion and not a rule, much less a law. You’re at the mercy of the traffic officer, I’m afraid. John Evans Question: Now it’s autumn and getting colder and wetter, what’s the point of a car’s air conditioning system and can I just leave it switched off? David Wright, Belfast Answer: An air-con system works by passing the air in your car’s cabin over cold
Origin: James Ruppert: 4×4 Japanese hybrids are niche but they work
Ruppert:
James Ruppert: Get pumped up for a mid-noughties diesel
I am always relieved to discover that it isn’t just me who reckons motor cars, for some of us anyway, are a bit too complicated for their own good. If your requirements are fairly modest and you want to spend money on a mortgage or food, then constantly upgrading to the latest model is not the best policy. Steve is like me and wasn’t at all sure what he should do with his lovely 2003 Audi A4 in Ming Blue with 160,000 miles when he had the offer of a friend’s 2008 Jaguar X-Type Tourer with 50,000 miles, a full service history and new clutch. Both cars are diesels. The issue was that Steve’s A4 has sickly air-con and fixing it is way more than the car is worth. But that is not necessarily the point. If a car is doing a job, then it’s often worth sticking with it. There is 160,000 on the clock of Steve’s A4, though, so maybe some bits are wearing out. More to the point, the X-Type he has been offered is in superb condition. So I told him he’s better off spending a bit more and going for the Jag. Anyway, let’s stick with this, as that era of diesels did not deserve to die and, more lately, be drowned in AdBlue. Steve, like many others, needs a car that can cope with lots of short city work and doesn’t have a silly diesel particulate filter (DPF). If you wanted a town runabout with 50mpg-plus potential and a very groovy on-trend boxy style that doesn’t cost £26,000 like one of those new-fangled Honda Es, what about a Lupo? These teeny Volkswagens came with a 1.4 engine and Pump Diesel technology. A 2002 one in tidy condition and with the Sport moniker starts at £595. More ambitious sellers try and get a more substantial £1500. It is tiny, though. Fun, but tiny. I’d be inclined to go for a VW Passat, but then again, what could be more exciting than an Alfa Romeo badge? So why not go for a pretty 156 JTD? The Sportwagon is not the biggest estate car in the world, so just regard it as a largish hatch. I came across a 2002 example with a solid 160,000 miles and lots of recent work, such as clutch and cambelt, for £1200. Then again, a Peugeot 406 is another wonderful blast from the past. A 2.0 HDi estate makes all sorts of sense and I found a 65,000-mile 2002 example. It was on offer for £1800. That was with a dealer. Provided you don’t want to go inside Ultra Low Emission Zones, there are still excellent reasons for looking back into the early 2000s for one of those rather excellent old-school diesels. Steve did. What we almost bought this week Dodge Ram 3500 5.7: Memories of a second-generation Ram 8.0 V10 sampled in 1998 are still vivid, but until one falls into our hands again, this more modest third-gen 5.7 double-cab of 2004 will do. It has done only 59,000 miles and the seller, a Dodge specialist, says it’s rust-free with an immaculate interior. He wants £8000 for it. Tales from Ruppert’s garage We got a letter in the post from Porsche. I believe it is recall number R/2019/204 and there are 11,745 vehicles affected by it. This recall was issued on 29 July 2019. Basically, it is all about the automatic gearbox because the selector lever cable plastic sleeve may break. The remedy is to replace it. All we have to do is book it in with our local dealer, who isn’t very local at all. So we are trying free up some time to do this. It takes around an hour and I am not sure if there is much to do there apart from test drive a Taycan. Reader’s ride Audi A4: Well, this is nice. Here’s Steve’s lovely A4 (see above) and he doesn’t like the direction modern diesel engines have been going in: “The world has gone backwards and produced an engine with little or no low-end torque and lots of DPF problems. “That’s why I bought a 2003 A4 PD TDI 1.9. The PD engine has solenoid-operated injectors running in oil. Even the cables run in oil. I also like the north-south layout of engine/transmission, which allows equal-length driveshafts and superb weight distribution.” Readers’ questions Question: My 2007-reg Focus ST has lost power. It’s making no unusual mechanical noises, but I’m sure I can hear it whistling. I’m worried it’ll cost a bomb to fix. James Davies, Exeter Answer: Don’t despair. It sounds like the oil diaphragm has failed, a common problem on early, second-generation STs. You can check by removing the dipstick. If the whistling stops, it’s the diaphragm. The good news is that you can fix it yourself since it’s fairly accessible. (You can see it below the top of the engine on the left-hand side. It’s covered by a round plastic cap.) Detach and move aside the airbox and trunking to access it. Pop off the cap and remove the diaphragm. A new one is £20. John Evans Question: Are RDE2 diesels on sale now or must buyers still pay more road tax and company car tax while car makers recover from the dash to WLTP? Steve Lynch, Burgess Hill Answer: Although this new, tougher version of the Real Driving Emissions test, which will run alongside WLTP, doesn’t come into
Origin: James Ruppert: Get pumped up for a mid-noughties diesel
James Ruppert: Enjoy owning your car while you can
I have become controversial. Again. As a journalist, even a motoring one, you have to be judged not just on what you write but also by who you upset. Currently, I’m poking environmentalists with a gearstick and standing up for private transportation in the wake of the Science and Technology Committee in parliament suggesting private car ownership has a ‘best before’ date. What this means is: hurry now while stocks of interesting cars exist for you to enjoy. Don’t drive something boring when the used car market offers so much for so little money. Let’s start with a car you definitely should not buy under any circumstances: a Mazda RX-8. Except they are pretty and quirky and we will never see their like again. Or their fuel and oil consumption. So get a functioning one and enjoy it for as long as you possibly can. They can be bought for buttons and I did see a 2004 RX-8 with a fresh engine at £2800. It’s probably better to buy a really late-model 2010 one that seems to have been looked after and is showing 40,000 miles. At £5999, the price seemed reasonable to me. The utter frivolity of motor cars is no better demonstrated than the existence of the convertible. Now combine that with some sort of off-road ability. Just imagine how that would annoy those people who loathe cars, let alone 4x4s. Drive forward the Land Rover Freelander Softback. As the all-new Defender takes centre stage, the old-school Freelander remains the most affordable interpretation. So let’s make it worse by going for a diesel. A 1999 2.0 Di doesn’t sound good but, in the real world, makes all sorts of sense and the mileage is a reasonable 120k. It comes with full leather, decent tyres and just the three previous owners. All that wonderfulness for £995. Then again, the whole point of a drop-top is to have huge fun. Obviously, you should get a 1997 Caterham Seven 1.6 K-Series Supersport for something in the region of £14k. If you can’t stretch to that, go for a Tiger kit car for £5k. If, like me, you really do want to trigger those who despise any sort of automotive excess, then get yourself an S-Class. It is the very finest vehicle that Mercedes has ever made. It is complicated in all the right aspects and topped off with apocalypse-surviving quality, which will come in handy if the climate doomsters have a point. Anyway, a 1998 example would be the last of the incredible breed and I found a privately owned one with a modest 110,000 miles at £5995, which is so very tempting. See you at the end of the world. How controversial is that? What we almost bought this week Volkswagen Bora 2.0 SE: It’s not the most exciting car on the planet but a Bora is at least as solid as a rock, and if you’re buying a sub-£1000 car, that’s important. We found a one-owner 2004-reg 2.0 SE with full service history for £970. Described as being in excellent condition, it has done 92,000 miles but you can be sure it won’t feel like it. Tales from Ruppert’s garage BMW 320, mileage – 83,585: Oh dear. This isn’t good. I got the Baby Shark back from my local garage and used it for a week. Then I left it for a few days and it basically died. I turned it over and over and even applied the magic 40-year-old can of Quick Start and nothing happened. Fuel does not seem to be getting to the carb at all. I haven’t paid my local garage yet and it’ll be going back there. They’ll have to come and get it as there’s no way it’s going to start. Reader’s ride Three-car Toyota garage: Guy Maylam will be mobile this winter. He tells us about these beauties: “The Toyota Hilux is a 1995, with just 75,000 miles, and purchased quite recently for £1100. Not mint, but pretty much rust-free, well serviced and a double-cab, so you can even carry people! “The 1993 Toyota 4Runner is not a Surf. This is an original UK car with the smooth 3.0 V6 petrol. It has done just over 100,000 miles. I purchased it a couple of years ago for £850. It hasn’t given any trouble so far. “The 1993 Toyota Land Cruiser is the unbeatable VX 4.2 turbo diesel automatic, which I have owned for 19 years. It just turned 100,000 miles yesterday. I paid £10,900 for it back in 2000. Due to the classic market, it now seems to be worth what I paid for it again!” Readers’ questions Question: The PCP is ending on my three-year-old 82,000-mile Honda CR-V and I’m facing a £3000 mileage penalty. Should I pay it and hand the car back, pay the £16,500 MGFV and buy it or part-exchange it for a CR-V of the same age with 37,000 miles that costs £16,500? Patrick Butler, via email Answer: You face the perfect storm of a high MGFV (minimum guaranteed future value) with a mileage penalty. The CR-V isn’t worth enough to make buying it and then selling it for a profit an option and the one the dealer is offering you will just add to your costs. You could buy your old car for £16,500 and regard it as owing you £13,500 if you write off the £3000 penalty, but it’s still expensive. Why not pay the £3000
Origin: James Ruppert: Enjoy owning your car while you can
James Ruppert: the surprisingly cheap world of online dealers
Got a fairly daft press release the other day going on about ‘decidophobia’. Apparently, we Brits struggle with information overload when buying a used car. At that point, I’d have usually binned it, since the basis of the quoted stats will be a small survey. Good job I kept reading, though, because I found out that the company that carried out the survey is owned by Volkswagen and Daimler. They should have told me that a lot earlier rather than making up a phobia. They should also have mentioned they use selected dealers who supply cars that are less than eight years old and under 100,000 miles. So let’s go and do a virtual check of their stock. Being me, I searched for cheapness first and came up with a bunch of city centre assault vehicles. First off, there was a Ford Ka 1.2 Studio from 2012. It had 83,000 miles and cost just £2200, which is pretty good from a dealer group, in this case a Nissan outlet. They usually don’t stock affordables because they can be a pain to warranty. Similar models included a 2012 Citroën C1 1.0 VTR three-door at the same outlet with 70,000 miles and on offer at £2500. Otherwise, a badge-engineered Peugeot 107 1.0 Urban with 77,000 miles and a couple of extra doors at £2400 at a car supermarket offered something more practical. You can compare and contrast, as most clever websites allow you to do these days. Plus you can get posh barges like Bentleys. Without searching too hard, I found a 2013 Bentley Flying Spur with 35,000 miles from Bentley’s own Specialist Car Division, priced at £53,950. If a Spur makes you feel like a chauffeur, then a Continental GT – in this case, a 2012 car in Mulliner Driving spec – came in at £57,950. Or £69,000 would get you the same model and spec but this time as a roof-free GTC. Somewhere in the middle of these two extremes come the everyday family cars. A Vauxhall Astra 1.4i Exclusiv from 2012 with 74,000 miles is a reasonable £3500. So what we have here is another way of choosing your next used car. You may well end up at the same place as you would have anyway, but it is true the reassurance is very nice. That is what buying from a dealer should be. There are 1400 dealers in this arrangement so there is plenty of choice. A couple of big manufacturers are involved so clearly there is money to be made from us. Should I use such a service, or some other used car search? I just can’t decide what to do. What we almost bought this week Perodua Myvi 1.3: When it was launched in 2006, Malaysia’s version of the Daihatsu Sirion cost just £6799 after a £1000 dealer cashback. Today, those same folk who bought into the tough little hatch should be congratulating themselves since, as we found, a 2010-reg example with 83,000 miles and full service history still commands a price of £1690. Tales from Ruppert’s garage Just checking in with the Lorry, which is doing sterling work, shifting all sorts of stuff. Indeed, not pictured is a load bay stuffed to the roof with all sorts of metal- and paper-based nonsense. I also took the time to do a check and saw that, after a long time of being normal, the oil level had dropped a bit. I don’t think it is a problem – just might be a week or two longer since I checked. I use the mineral stuff that Halfords does, although I am sure someone else supplies something that is just as good. But I can’t be bothered to find it. Reader’s ride Here’s the second instalment of Nick Williams’s love-in with used Hondas. “My Accord is still going strong. I’ve had it for five years now. It has done 90,000 miles and is extremely reliable. Expenditure – apart from insurance, car tax, fuel, servicing and MOT – has been a set of Michelin Primacy 3 tyres three years ago and brake pads and discs on the front. “Even though it has a 200bhp 2.4-litre, I get very reasonable mpg. I think it will be our main car for years yet. And it’s not costing me a £300-per-month PCP!” Readers’ questions Question: I paid a deposit on a car but have changed my mind about buying it. Can I get my money back? The car was a nearly new MX-5, so the dealer will have little trouble reselling it. Gary Kingman, Basingstoke Answer: Whether the dealer does or does not have trouble selling it is irrelevant. In paying the deposit, you formed a legally binding contract to buy the car and your deposit is non-refundable. Circumstances when you could get your money back include if the dealer broke their side of their agreement, there’s a cooling-off period in the contract or you bought the car away from the dealer’s premises. John Evans Question: I can’t decide between a 2016 Subaru BRZ SE Nav with 22,000 miles for £14,290 and a 2015 Toyota GT86 D-4S with 24,000 miles for £15,500. Both have full history. Can you help, please? Paul Hudson, via email Answer: The Subaru is younger and £1000 cheaper but still you’re undecided between it and the older, more expensive Toyota? It can only be an image thing because both are
Origin: James Ruppert: the surprisingly cheap world of online dealers
James Ruppert: Two fuels are better than one
I know this sounds pretty obvious, but apparently UK drivers now consider what actually moves their purchase – the powertrain, to anoraks – to be the most important factor during the purchasing process, according to automotive video and retail company CitNOW. Once upon a time, there was just one option, petrol, and it would only be diesel if you drove a lorry or a taxi. But these days, there are all sorts of exciting options and 43% of motorists now view the choice between petrol, diesel, hybrid and electric vehicles as the most important factor. So despite what our road testers might tell you, it’s what goes in the tank that is important. But the thing is there are overlooked sources of motive power. Liquid petroleum gas: I’m a fan. Not enough of a fan to buy one. My biggest problem is always who actually did the installation, which is not a simple thing to get right. Mind you, dual-fuel manufacturer conversions were a thing a decade or so ago. Let’s start with an easy one, a Ford Focus 1.8 FFV Style from 2010. It is £2999, but the hassle of finding any E85 ethanol fuel should put you off. Never mind, because Volvo also did the dual-fuel thing. But with gas. The 70-series Volvos are around by the handful and seem like the no-brainer buys, but you need to read the descriptions carefully, study the documentation and ask serious questions. I did pass on a 2005 V50, which didn’t seem to have a fully functioning gas system, but it was still £1500. However, a 2003 V70 with over 200k miles and recent tyres and some brake work at £750 seemed like value. A 2003 XC70 with added all-wheel drive was a lot more of an estate and another 200k on the ledger was a strong £2600 but I’d like to think that would be money well spent. And finally, a 2001 C70 2.4T, which may not have been an official dual-fuel but at £750 seemed to be worth the risk as it did look jolly tidy. Searching for LPGs throws up not only thirsty classics, but also rather a lot of Bentleys, in particular a Continental or two – the ‘affordable’ Bentley with more friendly running costs. One such was a 2011 example with just over 50k miles and it was the facelifted model, too. All for £46k and half-price fuel. That was a coupé, but most seem to be convertibles from around £54k and above. There are alternative and less polluting fuels that don’t cost a fortune and rely on you stopping every 150 miles for a couple of hours. The future, certainly for canny used car buyers, is still some way off… What we almost bought this week Citroen AX 1.0 RE But for a repainted front wing, this 1989/F-reg AX looks to be in remarkably good condition. It has done only 53,000 miles and its second (previous) keeper bought it in 1994 so knows most of them. Light, fun to drive and cheap to run, the AX was popular with penny pinchers and young drivers alike. And now it’s a classic. Tales from Ruppert’s garage The Baby Shark is back. It has been away for a couple of months and I am not quite sure what has been done to it. That’s because I haven’t paid for it. My garage are like that: “Make sure that it starts and runs properly and then come back.” Well, after I collected it, I used it for a run in what turned out to be a monsoon. It starts first time every time now and runs like a top. They didn’t change the carb, just the fuel pump and a proper tune. Lots more details and a breakdown of expenses to come. Reader’s ride Good to hear from Nick Williams, who enjoys these pages and, in particular, the cheap and practical used cars we feature: “Sending you a couple of pics. One is of my wife’s 2004 Honda Civic 1.6 SE auto. We’ve had it since 2007. Every year, it sails through the MOT. “It has covered only 56,000 miles but is worth very little. Never lets us down, brilliantly reliable and 40mpg around town. Great torque-converter automatic gearbox and cheap to run, too. Civics of this vintage are brilliant.” Next time: Nick’s ride. Readers’ questions Question: I can’t decide whether to finance my new car on a PCP or HP. Can you explain the advantages and disadvantages of both? Jack Finnis, Bude Answer: Regardless of pros and cons, your attitude to ownership will probably be the clincher. If you believe a car is like a mobile phone, to be disposed of when a better one comes along, a PCP is for you since it’s structured to make that possible. If you’re wedded to the idea of ownership free of nannyish mileage restrictions, HP is the way forward, although you won’t own the car until you’ve made all the repayments. A PCP looks cheaper but you’re always making repayments. With an HP deal, once the car is paid off, you aren’t. John Evans Question: On the odd occasion I get a puncture, I just replace the tyre but a friend says it might be possible to have it repaired for less expense. Is he right? Darren Goodhew, Burnley Answer: If the tyre hasn’t been damaged or driven for any great distance, it is possible to repair it.
Origin: James Ruppert: Two fuels are better than one
James Ruppert: with small cars, choose substance over style
It’s funny how some car buyers just want something that is funky-looking and on-trend, when really all they need is a hard-working hatchback. Here’s what Ryan said to me: “Hey James, I’m looking for a small and cheap motor to run between local schools for my sports coaching company. I’ve looked at a Smart car and a Toyota iQ. Could you recommend any?” Well, the Smart is quite an old bit of kit now and the Toyota iQ is no longer with us but that doesn’t make them bad choices. The Smart is well proven and the Toyota is a Toyota, so it won’t break down. Both are small and neither is that cheap, although a tidy 2003 Fortwo Passion with 50k miles is around a grand and a proper warranted iQ from 2009 is £2500. That’s not too bad, but if you’re using a small car for work, it can turn out to be not that practical – especially a minimally booted Smart. That’s why an old-school shopping hatch is always going to be a better idea. The Ford Ka won’t be around for that much longer, but I rather like them. I was surprised that a pre-Aston grille example from 2009 is just over £1000. The mileage was 100k, but it had service stamps and was at a dealer, so they had a responsibility if anything was awry. For that money, it would be a three-door 1.2 Zetec. Ryan might find he wants a couple more doors, so let’s think Kia Picanto. They’re mostly privately owned and well looked after. Picantos have tiny wheels and do look a bit toy-town, but a 2004 1.1 SE with lots of MOT and a fresh service for £700 is pretty good going. It would do a spectacular job and keep Ryan running for a year without a worry, proper cheap motoring and high-50s economy. At this point, Ryan came back to me. The Ka seemed to fit his criteria pretty closely and I had mentioned the Toyota Aygo in passing, but he was unaware of the badge engineering which also created the Citroën C1 and Peugeot 107. A 2008 1.0, for instance, is £20 road tax and, with 100,000 miles showing, costs £750. So that’s a contender. Ryan, though, had his head turned by a Volkswagen Up. More style over substance? I like them, but Ryan would struggle to get very much below £3000 and he would be dodging insurance write-offs to do it. But if he wants to Up his budget, then by all means do it. New small cars are going out of fashion, but used ones will be around for some time to come yet. It’s the continuing beauty of buying used. What we almost bought this week Once we’d mastered the name and sampled the eager motor and kart-like handling, the Sporting won a place in our heart. This 1996 car with 36,000 miles, full history and one former keeper brings it all back. It’s just £2295. Best feature? The sporty red seatbelts. Tales from Ruppert’s garage The immediate follow-up to last week’s fat-pin-in-tyre crisis: the Michelin Fit2Go tyre checker said the pressure was dropping fast, and a tyre specialist condemned the rubber. Given that the car belongs to Miss Ruppert, it’s up to her to do the shopping around. She found a 205/55 R16 19W Michelin Energy Saver to match the rest for £76 fitted. At times like these, a good old-fashioned space saver would really help, and my daughter wasn’t keen on using a tin of tyre gunge. The garage, though, took the car in a day early. Reader’s ride Skoda Fabia vRS: Here is part two of Nick’s inspiring tale, which began last week with his Peugeot 206 banger. “My colleague’s granny bought a Skoda Fabia vRS diesel new in 2004 and then passed it on a couple of years back. It’s done 99,000 miles with full history but it isn’t perfect: the bushes need replacing, the fuel cap doesn’t clip shut, the radio maintains a poor grasp on a signal and the bonnet is sun-bleached. But I’m now stopping at the pumps once every seven days rather than every four. It cost me £700 with no increase on my insurance. I put a fresh MOT on the Peugeot 206 and sold it – for £700. I’d call that a free upgrade!” Readers’ questions Question: I’ve seen a oneowner, 2015 BMW i3 Range Extender with 77k miles for £12,950. It would be my first EV. Does it sound like a good buy? Don Shelby, Bristol Answer: The range extender version is no longer made so used ones are sought after. You can expect up to 180 miles of range from the car compared with 100 miles max from the regular i3. If the batteries have always been topped up and the extender never used, the 650cc motor occasionally cuts in to keep itself fresh. Its servicing is condition-based and should be recorded on the key fob. However, the motor was subject to recalls, so check they were actioned. All being well, it sounds good. John Evans Question: I’m planning a driving trip after October, but how will Brexit affect my EU driving entitlement? Simon Fisher, via email Answer: It’s all still a bit uncertain but there’s nothing like being prepared so get an international driving permit, find that old GB sticker in your garage and pack the car’s V5 along with your motor insurance green
Origin: James Ruppert: with small cars, choose substance over style
James Ruppert: how to pick up a bargain Beetle
So, farewell to the Volkswagen Beetle. Twice this year, I’ve been asked to give on the radio what is in effect an oral obituary for the long-serving model. The Beetle’s backstory is a fascinating one and it bears retelling, although not here. It isn’t a practical buy, but a style one. Its unaerodynamic blunt front eats into the mpg and the boot isn’t the biggest – but at least it isn’t another boring hatch. Shall we take a peek at what the classic market is up to? Well, £4450 buys a fully operational 1971 1200 Beetle that’s apparently unrestored and used as a daily, which surprised me a bit. There are some Californian imports for similar money and projects at the £1500 mark, so if you fancy some work and rust, knock yourself out. When it comes to the reborn Beetle, these are proper bangers now and presumably the £300 examples are worth more in bits. I found a 2002 1.6 petrol local to me with a couple of months’ MOT for that money and only a cracked windscreen and 175,000 miles on the debit sheet. Then a few miles more in the other direction was a 2001 2.0, which was blue with black wheels and a full year’s MOT for £500. Then there was a 2009 1.6 Luna with 90,000 miles and a full MOT at £1800. Not bad for a decade-old cared-for example. The Beetle is all about showing off and, for £1500 upwards, there are a ton of cabriolets around that are perfect cruising buys. For example, there was a 2004 1.6 with reasonable miles and a private plate chucked in for £1500. Personally, I would respond more warmly to the subtle rumble of a 2.3 V5. No one else wants those, so there are tidy one-owner 2001 examples at £750. Dealer prices can be £2995, but they should be pretty mint and warranted. Then there is the last-of-the-breed Beetle 2, which isn’t quite so lovable. The petrol 1.2 TSI starts at £5500, so a contemporary model at a reasonable price. I have a lot of time for a 1.6 Bluemotion, which does address the older cars’ fuel economy issues and deliver 65mpg, officially anyway. A 2013 one with over 90,000 miles is £5995. A bunch of special editions increases the choice and I like the idea of a Fender I can actually drive. I saw a 2013 2.0 TDI with 50,000 miles, a DSG gearbox and Fender logos. The sound system should be decent, it had a DAB radio and it was a two-owner car for £9999. Certainly, the Beetle isn’t for everyone, but they are good value, and in the world of the me-too hatch, it is the curvy exception. Otherwise, buy a Golf or Polo. What we almost bought this week It was going so well – pretty little French hatchback in the right colour, full main dealer service history, a reasonable 75,000 miles on the clock and a recent new cambelt and water pump, all for just £890. And then the admission that the electric hood is playing up. Sadly, roof problems are the Pluriel’s Achilles heel. Moving on… Tales from Ruppert’s garage Volkswagen Golf, mileage – 55,725: It’s always good to know that aftermarket gadgets are actually working and have a real-world purpose. You might remember I have a Michelin Fit2Go tyre pressure checker. The posh one on the Baby Shark is resting at the garage at the moment – more on that next time. The Golf, though, uses a simpler version, but it rapidly zeroed in on the fact that the nearside rear tyre had a large tack in it. I’ve already sold a few of these to mates with lower-tech 1990s cars who reckon this could be a lifesaver and it is. So let’s get that tyre fixed as there’s no spacesaver these days. Reader’s ride Nick has a great tale involving two cars, so we have split it into two exciting instalments: “Having got tired of depreciation and only needing to go to the railway station for much of the past few years, I spent £700 on a 12-year-old 206 1.4 Verve in early 2018. It had 58,000 miles and three owners to its credit. Not much service history but the belts and clutch had been done. “After 20,000 trouble-free miles, I landed a position that requires a daily 65-mile round trip, so I was toying with the idea of getting a diesel.” Part two next week… Readers’ questions Question: What’s the best way to wash my car without scratching the paint? Dean Whittam, Boston Answer: We asked Richard Tipper, top vehicle detailer and founder of Perfection Detailing, who said: “It’s best to do it on an overcast day so the water doesn’t dry off. Hose down the car, then apply a snowfoam to soften the dirt and leave for a few minutes to do its work. Now hose off the foam. If there are still stubborn bits like tar spots on the paintwork, use a clay bar to gently rub them away. Then, using a bucket with a grit guard, shampoo the car using a hand mitt. Hose off and dry with a chamois.” John Evans Question: I have up to £40,000 to spend on a new convertible but it must have space in the back for two teenage sons, who insist the car must have street cred, too. What do you recommend? Jason Clarke, via email Answer: A convertible with street cred?
Origin: James Ruppert: how to pick up a bargain Beetle
James Ruppert: MOT heroes and villains
I’ve been slightly involved with a national newspaper doing a freedom of information request when it comes to MOT test failures. I provided some of the comments on what the stats revealed and it bears repetition. These are 2015 cars that had their first MOT last year and there needed to be at least 5000 tests for that particular model. Without printing out a boring table, let’s dig into the results. My eye is drawn to the models least likely to fail and yet again it is a win for the older buyers with their favourite little runabout, the Honda Jazz. They love them and look after them. The real surprise is the Vauxhall Viva, a model that is mostly invisible in the marketplace, but again oldies remember the name from the 1960s and 1970s, buy ’em and then make sure they are looked after. The Hyundai i20 is another old favourite, an inoffensive car that just gets on with the job and has a suitably reassuring warranty, so yet another one to tempt private buyers, especially the more mature ones. Otherwise, it is a big win for perceived German build quality, as you only get what you pay for with Audi, Volkswagen and Mercedes. Good news, then, for Audi with the TT, A1 and Q3 taking the fourth, fifth and sixth spots, and the Q5 making an entry at number nine. These are costly cars usually bought by companies or people who can afford to run them, so no real surprise there. The SUV invasion is confirmed, because there are strong showings from the Mercedes GLA, Honda CR-V and Volkswagen Tiguan. At the troublesome end of the table, the first two entries from Citroën and Ford on the list of those most likeautoly to fail are hard-working people-carriers, the C4 Grand Picasso and Galaxy, which lead tough lives, sometimes as taxis. The Dacia Sandero, however, is marketed as a bargain buy, but a low price seems to suggest low quality and more breakdowns. It may also be cheapskates skimping on regular maintenance. The appearance of the VW Passat at number four is a surprise because they rack up huge mileages. The Jaguar XF is getting older and more fragile and its complicated running gear makes it a regular MOT failure in sixth position. Citroën’s long-term reputation is not great and sibling brand DS is also in the mix, with the 3. Hard-used Vauxhall Insignias scrape in at 10 and that also explains the Nissan Micra at nine, a generally reliable car that is worked hard and then neglected. Used car owners’ surveys tell you nothing whereas actual stats like these give used car buyers some very useful guidance. Buy this, be careful with that and know what to avoid. What we almost bought this week Not the prettiest thing but it’s an Alfa with a sweet gearchange and a raspy Twin Spark engine capable of 0-62mph in just over 8sec. Rust? It has a galvanised body. We’d be more concerned about the electrics, which can give trouble. Old 146s are getting pricey now, with this 80,000- mile, 1997 P-reg costing £2950. Still, it’s a classic, right? Tales from Ruppert’s garage Panel gaps were never a strong point for BMC and that seems to dog its cars even today. Witness my Mini. The driver’s door in particular seems to have only a casual acquaintance with the bodywork in which it is supposed to fit. I don’t think there is a lot I can do, apart from muck about with some of the door hinge bolts. I have been doing this with little effect, although there is no chance of me falling out because it never pops open. The Lorry is a bit similar, but it just needs a heroic slam to secure. Reader’s ride We welcome back Darren Smith: “You featured my Yaris 121,000 miles back and I thought I’d let you know it’s still going strong, at nearly 150,000 miles. All it has had is a new exhaust, a bit of welding on the driver’s side rear jacking point and routine servicing. “It gets serviced every 10,000 miles, is washed regularly and takes me to France once a year and Norwich a lot. It’s got such character. I love the freaky 3D dashboard and it’s nippy and so good on fuel. What is it with these Toyotas? They just keep on going…” Readers’ questions Question: The trouble with the Goodwood Festival of Speed is that it’s over for another year. Where can I get another fix of high-octane motors this summer? Barry Harkness, Bristol Answer: Look no further than Car Fest South, Chris Evans’ annual festival of cars, food and music held at Laverstoke Park Farm near Winchester, Hampshire. This year, it takes place on 23-25 August. In addition to the track, which incorporates a re-creation of Monaco’s Swimming Pool section, the organisers promise there’ll be two paddocks brimming with cars of all types and a 60th anniversary tribute to the Mini, plus the festival’s traditional motor show of new models. Visit carfest.org. John Evans Question: Is it sensible to buy a Vauxhall Insignia 1.8 VVT converted to run on LPG? It’s eight years and 61k miles old and is £4995. Greg Mitchett, Solihull Answer: It’s £1000 more
Origin: James Ruppert: MOT heroes and villains
James Ruppert: How to buy your kids a car
As a parent I was shocked to discover that more than three quarters of us here in Blighty either buy their child’s first car outright or contribute money towards it. According to the people at Moneysavingheroes.co.uk, £1500 was found to be the average amount given for a car purchase. It was also found that one in five parents received help to buy their first car. Didn’t happen in my case, but my parents helped in so many other ways, especially my mum, who didn’t tell my dad that I painted car parts on a rug, leaving some obvious overspray. The bottom line is that parents want to guarantee that their offspring have the safest and most reliable set of wheels possible. As I have often explained, it’s all about the insurance – that’s the beginning and the end of it. Don’t think you can buy a cheap classic and sit back; insurance companies hate them, along with some diesels and less safe older cars. You will have to spend hours of your life getting insurance quotes, too. For the moment, though, let’s spend £1500 on something that is first-driver friendly. A Volkswagen Polo. I’ve bought one of these for a teen and the 1.4 was actually pretty cheap to insure. So a 2004 1.4 Twist with 75,000 miles isn’t half bad at £1500. A one-owner, too. Then again, a 2004 Ford Fiesta 1.4 LX with 94k miles at the same money is also worth considering, because servicing will always be very affordable. Otherwise there is the Vauxhall Corsa, a 2007 Design with over 100,000 miles that is worth considering as a more recent alternative to the Ford. What may be less reliable and less cheap to fix is a 2007 Citroën C3 1.4i Cool with a fresh MOT and proper service history. It even has a warranty for parts and labour, so maybe we’ll feel better about buying one of these. You could, though, consider a Chevrolet Aveo 1.2s. A 2009 with less than 80,000 miles is within the £1500 budget. Probably the best example of a teen-friendly model would be a 2006 Toyota Yaris 1.0 VVT-I T3 with just shy of 100k miles. It has a service history and it’s a dealer part exchange, so they have an obligation to make sure that it is in roadworthy and warranty-worthy condition. My advice for buying a teen a car is to do all the hard graft by checking out the insurance implications in your postal code. What is affordable in one area of the UK may be a bit pricey in another. This will be boring, but is more than worth doing – if you are a proper parent. What we almost bought this week Cheap when new, even cheaper used. This 140,000-mile, 2013 Duster with full history is up for £2795. It’s described as being in good condition, but a few models delivered between January 2013 and August 2014 suffered rusty sills caused by poor paint application. Dacia repaired affected cars, so there should be nothing to worry about. Tales from Ruppert’s garage Innocenti Mini, mileage – 6801: All my cars seem to leak some fluid or other. It’s what they do. When I’ve been using The Italian Job on local errands I noticed there was a little dribble every time I stopped. It was pretty clearly water and at first I did think it was rather more serious. Even the seller didn’t think the cooling was particularly reliable. Indeed, when I first got it, escaping steam seemed to be an issue, and I did toy with the idea of a new radiator. At the moment all that happens is the dribble when it stops, but there’s no overheating or running a bit of a temperature. Bit like me in old age, really. A reader writes The Innocenti: The best thing about writing for Autocar is making contact with you, dear reader. You ask the cleverest questions and you tell me interesting things. Recently these have been Innocenti related. I have talked to a couple of owners and the man who serviced Lord Donald Stokes’s. Here’s an even bigger surprise posted to the Autocar office: this novel by reader Frank Kirtley. I’ve started it and I will let you know what it’s about, but for now it’s brilliant someone called a book The Innocenti. Glad to have some bedtime reading. Readers’ questions Question: I’ve just bought a new Audi RS3 Sportback on a PCP. Once it’s run in, I plan to have it chipped. Who do you recommend for the work? Kevin Salter, Colchester Answer: If you don’t mind, we’ll avoid answering that since we’re not a tuning magazine, and in any case, there are many other things to consider when uprating an engine. Instead, it concerns us that you think you’ve bought your RS3. In fact, you’re renting it, and Audi Finance is your landlord. And just as some landlords don’t like you changing things in their houses, so Audi Finance is unlikely to appreciate you sneaking more horses under the bonnet. Ask permission, first. It’ll probably say no. John Evans Question: I’m interested in a nearly-new Infiniti Q50, but despite the dealer’s assurances, I’m worried about servicing, parts and the warranty in light of Infiniti pulling out of Europe. What do you think? Harry Jordan, Castle
Origin: James Ruppert: How to buy your kids a car
James Ruppert: Rose-tinted specs make it hard to spot a banger
Any car is only worth what someone is prepared to pay for it. So it was good to hear from Damien, who told us of his affection for sports cars from a few decades ago. “I’m a child of the 1980s and my second car was a 1992 Toyota Celica ST with the fabulous 21R engine,” he said. Like most of us, he has had a recent attack of nostalgia and has been rather taken by a dealer-owned ’84 one. Apparently it’s pretty much as new, so there is a stiff £23,500 asking price, reduced from an even more preposterous £25k. Hardly surprising that it has been hanging around for a year, is it? Realistically, Damien sees it at £15,000 maximum, and he’s probably right, although even that was more than he was prepared to pay. Classic car prices, and indeed all used car prices, are hard to predict at the best of times because there are such variable factors. However, this Celica had an automatic gearbox, which is not a major selling point when it comes to a sports car. What we have here is a premium price because of the mileage, which is just under 4000. Otherwise £12,000 would seem to be fair, but it all depends on what the dealer paid and their stand-in value is (including what has been spent on any refurbishment). That explains why the dealer is holding out. Classic cars will always be a special case and, nominally with most used cars a decade or so old, a little book could help you. Sure, there are classic price guides, but there is so much more to it than that: the seller is hoping that the buyer will be so drunk on nostalgia that the actual price becomes academic. Do you want the classic or don’t you? I know about Minis and I saw a Morris-badged van at £12,495 – and, actually, that’s not half bad at all. I could make a commercial case for that, once sign-written. The working Minis were mostly run into the ground, so the survivors are few and this isn’t a silly price. The dealer with that one also had a Ford Escort RS 2000 Custom up for £47,995. To me that seemed like an absurd amount of money. Old Fords don’t do it for me, so that perfectly demonstrates how we all look at classic cars: individually. What is a fortune to some is making a dream come true for others. Damien has nothing to lose by making an offer for his dream Celica. You just never know, they might want to move it on, but that mileage is so marginal, why not duke it out? Someone somewhere will want to buy it. After all, a car is only worth what someone is prepared to pay. What we almost bought this week A great name and a great solution for those summer festivals and race meets when all you want to do is ogle motors, enjoy a barbie and settle down for the night in the car park. Anyway, that was our thinking when we saw this 2005-reg four-wheel-drive eight-seater with powered pop-up roof, electric blinds and automatically folding rear seats. Tales from Ruppert’s garage Here’s a thing. The Flying Pig looked like it had a problem because it leaked coolant. Indeed, a reader sent me a terrifying picture of their Audi Q7, which needed a 20p plastic pipe whose replacement involved the removal of most of the front of the vehicle. I’ll show that when I can find it. So I’m pleased to report that the leak seems to have fixed itself. No Radweld or anything, plus we’ve done a good few 300-mile round trips and the fluid levels stayed normal. Praise be. My daughter, though, can still detect the aroma of wet dog. Reader’s ride David Robertshaw is back, with a rather marvellous 2002 Vauxhall Astra 1.6 estate. He says: “This one came to me in January on 87k miles and looking ready for the scrap yard, with faded paint, running issues and two weeks’ MOT. But it was free! I got it home, gave it a machine polish and saw it was solid and original. The interior looks unused. It failed its MOT on brake lines and a headlight, then I got it through the re-test, gave it a service and traced the poor running to a faulty ECU. A used one was £38 and fitted in a couple of hours. It now runs nicely and has just completed a 250-mile round trip without issue. I quite like the low-down torque of the eight-valve engine – it’s faster than I thought it would be.” Readers’ questions Question: The automatic ’box in my ageing BMW 750iL is playing up. I love the car (it was a company vehicle I bought on retirement) and want it fixed by a competent specialist. Can you recommend one? George Walker, Bristol Answer: It’s risky for us to recommend a business without direct experience, but fortunately there’s an organisation dedicated to encouraging high standards in the automatic transmission industry, and they should be able to help: the Federation of Automatic Transmission Engineers. Visit fedauto.co.uk for details of your nearest qualified repairer. John Evans Question: I’ve seen a 2016/16 Renault Kadjar 1.5 dCi Dynamique Nav with 60k miles for £8995 and a same-age Nissan Qashqai 1.5 dCi Acenta with Tech Pack and 43k miles for £1000 more.
Origin: James Ruppert: Rose-tinted specs make it hard to spot a banger
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