Car advice, please...

[cybermule]

The time has come that 0ct0pus and myself feel we should combine and buy a "proper" car i.e. one that costs more than 200 quid. This sort of thing gives me an achey head as soon as I start thinking about it, even putting aside the psychic pain of driving something that looks like I might take owning a car remotely seriously. So we were looking for suggestions based on following loose criteria:

- costs about £1000 and has a reasonable length of MOT (tax is a bonus). We could go more than this, but I'm really tight we don't want to.
- family friendly i.e. no vans :(
- we also have non-family alter egos that carry regular large heavy things, so ideally a small estate or a very roomy hatchback. I can't be lifting amplifiers and garden kit in and out of boots.
- not a FIAT or a FORD, unless you have a really compelling reason to own one.

Any suggestions gratefully received - this is not our speciality area as D has owned green car since I've known him and I just repeatedly buy large scruffy Peugeots with long MOTs and £200 price tags.

Comments

[cybermule.livejournal.com]

heh :) I actually like plenty of things beginning with F ;) But not generally cars. In support of this, Fiats are rustbuckets and Fords have the electrics from hell. If you ever see a car where the brake light is winking instead of the indicator, you can bet it's a Ford.

[belladonna-9.livejournal.com]

Well I work for a huge Automotive /Aerospace Company... we get paid to fix such things...and I can tell you off the record I would NEVER buy a FIAT or and Alfa..... ever!!

[mallt.livejournal.com]

Over here in N America they combine the brake light & indicators on some cars so a blinking brake light *is* the indicator... can be very confusing if they are pumping the brake & indicating at the same time!

[quercus.livejournal.com]

I once worked on the machine that worked out exactly why Ford rear-light clusters failed like that.

As you might be able to tell, 20 years on and they still ignored it. Ford rear lights still have crap earths, so they ghost-light the other bulbs.