Car Dilemma

[Russ77]

We currently run two cars:

'55 plate 2.0TDCi Focus estate with 114K miles on the clock, annual mileage 12K (my car)
'05 plate 1.6 Focus Estate with 104K miles on the clock annual mileage 5K (wife's car)

After getting some wear & tear repairs done on my wife's car a few weeks ago, my mechanic friend advised that there was oil in the coolant which could be the oil cooler (relatively cheap and easy to fix) or the head gasket (will probably cost more than the car's worth to repair).

If that's the case, we don't have enough money to buy another car and could only afford very small (<£100) monthly payments on a new car.

Whilst it could be argued my wife doesn't *need* a car, she runs an Avon round and also ferries our 2 year old to various classes during the week, public transport isn't really an option, add our family will be expanding at the end of the year so she needs a reasonable sized car/boot.

I've been toying with the idea of letting her have my car and getting a small/cheap car to drive to work and back BUT taking a quick look online, unless you're going to spend £2.5K plus, the age/mileage of said cars leads me to believe that a smaller/cheaper alternative isn't going to be particularly reliable or cost effective, more to the point not a lot cheaper to run than my current car so it kinda defeats the object. Public transport to work and back is going to cost pretty much the same, if not more than it costs for me to run my car over a year and would require a train & bus ride.

In the same light, to replace my wife's car with something that's a similar size and a little newer/lower mileage (to try an future-proof a little) we're looking at £3K+, again money we haven't got and pushing the budget for monthly repayments. And of course, there's no guarantee that a slightly newer car isn't going to turn into scrap metal in a few month's time either.

My other though was maybe to try an pick up a cheap (£500ish) Mondeo/Focus (regardless of age/mileage) that has a year's MOT on it, if it fails the next MOT it's scrapped and we start again.

There must be a solution somewhere but I'm out of ideas :/

Not necessarily looking for a complete solution but perhaps some different perspectives.

Cheers in advance

 

[LASTOLITE]

Give mrs yours, reliable and in good repair and correct size, no layout....

Get yours and trade in on a Honda Jazz older one with FSH this is the key the FSH means it will run for ever if you keep it oiled nicely the little motors are sweet and 40 to 50 mpg and low tax and insurance. When you are on a limited budget you need reliability and cheap to run thats the Jazz...Its why old people buy them so often....they dont go wrong! IF and only IF they have been looked after in the engine dept since new hence FSH is a must. Ex Mobility car is a good example and the lower the mileage the better but no that important. Our one is 5 years old and MIL has it now and is still as tight as it was when new...great little car, and handling is surprising for a little engine.

 

[LASTOLITE]

Little search, in google gets this

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/used-ca...-s-5dr-spalding-fpa-201605174020324?logcode=p

Sell your missus car on as spares or repair to someone on an even tighter budget and small loan and your 100 a month gets you this look after it and it will / should serve you well for another 100k....You will find also its a 5 star NCAP rating and the Mrs will choose it over yours! a doddle to drive and park

I have no affiliation with the car I found Its one of many on the net - you would be wise to take someone with you when buying private to check the car over along with all paperwork too! dont get bitten by enthusiasm for a car ever...many do!

 

[Russ77]

Little search, in google gets this

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/used-ca...-s-5dr-spalding-fpa-201605174020324?logcode=p

Sell your missus car on as spares or repair to someone on an even tighter budget and small loan and your 100 a month gets you this look after it and it will / should serve you well for another 100k....You will find also its a 5 star NCAP rating and the Mrs will choose it over yours! a doddle to drive and park

I have no affiliation with the car I found Its one of many on the net - you would be wise to take someone with you when buying private to check the car over along with all paperwork too! dont get bitten by enthusiasm for a car ever...many do!

Most appreciated!

I'd been looking on autotrader myself but only within 20/30 miles of where I live, think I just need to cast the net a little wider, looks like a cracking example!

 

[Mr Bump]

I would start saving that £100 a month into a fund for repairs and just go with it and see what happens.
My Citroen C3 also has some oil leaking in to the coolant at 80k miles and its not worth much money.
However reading between the lines on your stretched finances and your expanding family maybe look at selling the car while you can and taking a 3 year loan on something cheaper and more reliable

 

[LongLensPhotography]

Or you could find a garage that will do the repairs for a reasonable price. They DO exist if you don't mind scruffy looking place.

 

[nilagin]

We currently run two cars:

'55 plate 2.0TDCi Focus estate with 114K miles on the clock, annual mileage 12K (my car)
'05 plate 1.6 Focus Estate with 104K miles on the clock annual mileage 5K (wife's car)

After getting some wear & tear repairs done on my wife's car a few weeks ago, my mechanic friend advised that there was oil in the coolant which could be the oil cooler (relatively cheap and easy to fix) or the head gasket (will probably cost more than the car's worth to repair).

If that's the case, we don't have enough money to buy another car and could only afford very small (<£100) monthly payments on a new car.

Whilst it could be argued my wife doesn't *need* a car, she runs an Avon round and also ferries our 2 year old to various classes during the week, public transport isn't really an option, add our family will be expanding at the end of the year so she needs a reasonable sized car/boot.

I've been toying with the idea of letting her have my car and getting a small/cheap car to drive to work and back BUT taking a quick look online, unless you're going to spend £2.5K plus, the age/mileage of said cars leads me to believe that a smaller/cheaper alternative isn't going to be particularly reliable or cost effective, more to the point not a lot cheaper to run than my current car so it kinda defeats the object. Public transport to work and back is going to cost pretty much the same, if not more than it costs for me to run my car over a year and would require a train & bus ride.

In the same light, to replace my wife's car with something that's a similar size and a little newer/lower mileage (to try an future-proof a little) we're looking at £3K+, again money we haven't got and pushing the budget for monthly repayments. And of course, there's no guarantee that a slightly newer car isn't going to turn into scrap metal in a few month's time either.

My other though was maybe to try an pick up a cheap (£500ish) Mondeo/Focus (regardless of age/mileage) that has a year's MOT on it, if it fails the next MOT it's scrapped and we start again.

There must be a solution somewhere but I'm out of ideas :/

Not necessarily looking for a complete solution but perhaps some different perspectives.

Cheers in advance

Is there any coolant in the oil? That is the one to be worried about. If not, keep using the car and start saving your £100 a month. Your idea of a £500 Mondeo or Focus is a good one, but wait until you really need to replace your wife's car and in the mean time, keep saving.
I maybe wrong but I'm sure it was you that mentioned before that you can get Ford employee Privilege discount through a relation. If so, you can get a Fiesta Zetec on Options for around £130 deposit and £130 a month, if you trade in your wife's car you should be able to get more than £130 for it which would bring the payments down, possibly below your £100 budget. If this is possible for you I can pass on the phone number for a saleswoman, who a lot of people at work buy their cars from, everyone usually trades their car in again before the year is out meaning never having to pay for servicing and always be in a new car. I'm also willing to bet the insurance will be cheaper too.

 

[LASTOLITE]

Some good advise But, beware of getting out of one failing car into another! Hence the little Honda idea, they seem to have great reliability and very few failure points national average breakdowns reflects this and the company Honda are always on top of the reliability lists.
A friend was forced to get shut of his Civic after a shunt and insurance wrote it of...150 k on the clock and not a drop of oil on his drive and still on original clutch too...remember the Cheap Jazz is for you to run about in do you need a big Mondeo? heavy on the fuel that old...Just my opinion and experience

 

[LongLensPhotography]

Some good advise But, beware of getting out of one failing car into another! Hence the little Honda idea, they seem to have great reliability and very few failure points national average breakdowns reflects this and the company Honda are always on top of the reliability lists.
A friend was forced to get shut of his Civic after a shunt and insurance wrote it of...150 k on the clock and not a drop of oil on his drive and still on original clutch too...remember the Cheap Jazz is for you to run about in do you need a big Mondeo? heavy on the fuel that old...Just my opinion and experience

The only type of Honda I'd go for reliability would be petrol auto (unless you like to replace clutch and DMF and suffer from having to change gears yourself). That's what the Americans drive and they appear to be happy. Diesel engines are OK, but no auto option and as mentioned clutch can be a disaster in manual. Rust and depreciation can be a huge problem.

P.S. There is a reason Jazz gets good ratings. It is the customer base with lower expectations, and lower and slower mileage.

 

[srichards]

You need to earn more money Any new child will hoover that £100 a month up with all the crap they need on a regular basis.

I'd get the fiesta for work. Stick the broken one on ebay with a full description. Make sure it is washed and clean looking. It will fetch more than any trade in offer.

If you can get a good discounted deal with a cheap monthly payment then it makes sense to have at least one car that way. Your £500 mondeo could last ages or 5 minutes. You will have no come back. Once you factor in repairs, MOT costs, any maintenance then having an older car can be far more expensive than having some new or nearly new lawnmower.

 

[LASTOLITE]

The only type of Honda I'd go for reliability would be petrol auto (unless you like to replace clutch and DMF and suffer from having to change gears yourself). That's what the Americans drive and they appear to be happy. Diesel engines are OK, but no auto option and as mentioned clutch can be a disaster in manual. Rust and depreciation can be a huge problem.

P.S. There is a reason Jazz gets good ratings. It is the customer base with lower expectations, and lower and slower mileage.

Fair enough - you pays ya money and takes your chance!

 

[rjbell]

Get a chevrolet KALOS if you have to get something cheap. They give them away and they are number 3 in the top 100 most reliable car on the reliabilityindex site.

I would just drive what you have and save like others have mentioned.

 

[Russ77]

You need to earn more money Any new child will hoover that £100 a month up with all the crap they need on a regular basis.

I agree I need to earn more...... Rock & a hard place where that's concerned. Been at the same company for 19 years so if I got made redundant the payout would see me right for a while, if I move company I'd lose that security plus it's reasonable local and the pay is "OK" but just not quite enough.

I've considered getting a part time job elsewhere but I'm on-call one week in three so unless I could find somewhere that would let me work outside of 9-5 and for two weeks in three it's not really going to work (although I may have an informal chat with my manager and sew the seed that I might be forced to seek alternative employment due to my current financial situation and my current role prohibiting me topping up my income)

As for a new baby hoovering up money...... I've already factored that in

 

[Russ77]

Is there any coolant in the oil? That is the one to be worried about. If not, keep using the car and start saving your £100 a month. Your idea of a £500 Mondeo or Focus is a good one, but wait until you really need to replace your wife's car and in the mean time, keep saving.
I maybe wrong but I'm sure it was you that mentioned before that you can get Ford employee Privilege discount through a relation. If so, you can get a Fiesta Zetec on Options for around £130 deposit and £130 a month, if you trade in your wife's car you should be able to get more than £130 for it which would bring the payments down, possibly below your £100 budget. If this is possible for you I can pass on the phone number for a saleswoman, who a lot of people at work buy their cars from, everyone usually trades their car in again before the year is out meaning never having to pay for servicing and always be in a new car. I'm also willing to bet the insurance will be cheaper too.

TBH I'd pretty much discounted anything remotely new until you mentioned that, Rachael's Nan (I think) can get Ford Privilege so that could be an option.

Not sure if water's got into the oil or not, my mate was fitting a new thermostat and noticed it, you can see a thin layer of oil on top of the coolant in the expansion bottle.

Part of me thinks maybe we just run it until it stops working and assess everything then, there would be the possibility of borrowing cars short term if needs be

 

[viv1969]

do you need a big Mondeo? heavy on the fuel that old...Just my opinion and experience

I just bought an 03 Mondeo and she's happily returning 40+mpg (1 previous owner from new...a vicar!) Never owned a Ford before, I'm quite impressed so far

 

[Russ77]

Or you could find a garage that will do the repairs for a reasonable price. They DO exist if you don't mind scruffy looking place.

I get very good mates rates from my friend, the cheapest I've seen a HG replacement is around £550 but that's assuming the head itself is OK, I would consider that amount if it was a guaranteed repair, if they took the head off and more work was needed I'd be reluctant to spend any more but then you'd already be 500 quid down :/

 

[LongLensPhotography]

I get very good mates rates from my friend, the cheapest I've seen a HG replacement is around £550 but that's assuming the head itself is OK, I would consider that amount if it was a guaranteed repair, if they took the head off and more work was needed I'd be reluctant to spend any more but then you'd already be 500 quid down :/

If it comes to the worst let me know and I might potentially take it off you if you.

 

[the black fox]

i was in the same boats you about 3 years ago ,the fairly new citroen i had had for around 6 months blew its engine and wasn't a viable repair ,i traded it in for a high milage 2.0tdci mondeo ,it hasn't missed a beat in 3 years sailed through 3 m.o.t's with just a wheel bearing needing replacing once .its minus its egr valve and goes like s*** off a shovel .now at nearly 130.000 miles and i can't see a reason to change it till it goes tits up .and 3 years back cost me all of £1000 .and btw it averages between 55 to 61 mpg

 

[LASTOLITE]

So the solution is an 03 Mondeo then, you would be a fool not to at between 40 and 60 mpg and a grand on the road! seems like a plan if they are out there and doing this much to the gallon its as cheap as chips!

 

[andya700]

I just bought an 03 Mondeo and she's happily returning 40+mpg (1 previous owner from new...a vicar!) Never owned a Ford before, I'm quite impressed so far

Our old Mondeo 1.8 petrol use to do that around Europe as well a decade ago, but now our Octavia diesel does 50+MPG everywhere.
In ten years time you may wish to buy a Skoda - who knows.
Cars don't you just love them?

 

[gman]

You can lease a small car these days for less than £100 a month and almost everything would be covered under warranty. Give her the small lease car?

 

[nilagin]

You can lease a small car these days for less than £100 a month and almost everything would be covered under warranty. Give her the small lease car?

You probably can. But what is the deposit like? I bet it runs to several thousand pounds.

 

[nilagin]

Never owned a Ford before, I'm quite impressed so far

Amazing how many people come up with such revelations. Hopefully it will continue to impress you.

 

[Russ77]

You can lease a small car these days for less than £100 a month and almost everything would be covered under warranty. Give her the small lease car?

I did consider a lease car but.....

A small car isn't going to be too practical with 2 small children and the paraphernalia that goes with them

If I had the lease car it's likely to cost a little more due to the mileage I do plus I don't have a lump sump to put down as a deposit.

 

[Nawty]

£1k buys a serious amount of car nowadays.

A mate bought a Saab 93 Aero for £900 (55 plate I think), ran it for three years and then scrapped it as the engine gave up. Nice car to drive, super safe and the diesel models go on for ever.

Another mate bought a Diesel Rover 200 for £400 and ran that for a year and then sold it to a colleague for £400 who proceeded to run it for four years.

What I'd be looking for is a 10 year old diesel barge with somewhere just south of 100k on the clock, something well looked after by an older driver. They often come up as people are forced to stop driving through age. Probable a Mondeo as they seem to just go on for ever but a BMW or SAAB would be good too.

Bangernomics FTW!

 

[Nawty]

Here you go, 2 minutes searching found this:

£800 with 10 months MOT. Even if it breaks in a years time that's less than £100 a month and even then you'll get trade in/scrap value for it

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201605023549586?sort=default&onesearchad=new,nearlynew,used&page=2&radius=30&postcode=so517ht&make=ford&model=mondeo&search-target=usedcars&price-to=2000&searchcontext=default&logcode=p


Or this at slightly lower milage and more toys and 10 months MOT for £850:
http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201604092794199?sort=default&onesearchad=new,nearlynew,used&page=2&radius=30&postcode=so517ht&make=ford&model=mondeo&search-target=usedcars&price-to=2000&searchcontext=default&logcode=p

If you can get your mechanic mate to give it a once over as a favour then that's even better.

The country is over run with cars like this, you can get them anywhere, these are from a dealer but if you look local (shop windows, facebook groups etc) you will get even better deals as people just want rid. Bangernomics just makes so much sense if you need a car and if you are in a position where you can't spend a lot of money AND you have a baby on the way you don't want to be tied to some lease deal or afford to lose several thousand if a newer car does go tits up (which is just as likely as an old one). Spend sub £1k on a car and the chances are it will go on a good few years, learn to change the oil yourself and it will cost nothing to run and if anything major does go wrong you can just scrap it without worry and still get some of the money back.

The other cool thing about it is that you could end up with some funky left-field car as that just happens to be what was in good nick locally, Subaru maybe? Probably best avoid anything Italian though Edit, or French

 

[Russ77]

Here you go, 2 minutes searching found this:

£800 with 10 months MOT. Even if it breaks in a years time that's less than £100 a month and even then you'll get trade in/scrap value for it

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201605023549586?sort=default&onesearchad=new,nearlynew,used&page=2&radius=30&postcode=so517ht&make=ford&model=mondeo&search-target=usedcars&price-to=2000&searchcontext=default&logcode=p


Or this at slightly lower milage and more toys and 10 months MOT for £850:
http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201604092794199?sort=default&onesearchad=new,nearlynew,used&page=2&radius=30&postcode=so517ht&make=ford&model=mondeo&search-target=usedcars&price-to=2000&searchcontext=default&logcode=p

If you can get your mechanic mate to give it a once over as a favour then that's even better.

The country is over run with cars like this, you can get them anywhere, these are from a dealer but if you look local (shop windows, facebook groups etc) you will get even better deals as people just want rid. Bangernomics just makes so much sense if you need a car and if you are in a position where you can't spend a lot of money AND you have a baby on the way you don't want to be tied to some lease deal or afford to lose several thousand if a newer car does go tits up (which is just as likely as an old one). Spend sub £1k on a car and the chances are it will go on a good few years, learn to change the oil yourself and it will cost nothing to run and if anything major does go wrong you can just scrap it without worry and still get some of the money back.

The other cool thing about it is that you could end up with some funky left-field car as that just happens to be what was in good nick locally, Subaru maybe? Probably best avoid anything Italian though Edit, or French

Appreciated!

A couple of nice examples there!

The only thing that was putting me off getting another TDCi was the threat of clutch/DMF replacement, I know it depends on how it's been driven (to a degree) but I also know it's £800+ worth of work although I probably need to get into the mindset of a car being disposable rather than a depreciating asset where you do your best to keep it on the road.

Totally agreed on the ones to avoid

 

[gman]

You probably can. But what is the deposit like? I bet it runs to several thousand pounds.

Usually only three months payments, sometimes six.

 

[munch]

Going back 30 years my then landlord, would buy the cheapest car he could and just made sure he had enough cash on him for a taxi fare home.

 

[the black fox]

Two bloody good mondeos there ,the estate looks good ,the black one is tempting me LOL ,they go on forever ,and are cheap to repair ,if the clutch ever goes just scrap the car and get another .most mondeos are comfortable to sit in and drive and have cruise control fitted to

 

[gman]

I did consider a lease car but.....

A small car isn't going to be too practical with 2 small children and the paraphernalia that goes with them

If I had the lease car it's likely to cost a little more due to the mileage I do plus I don't have a lump sump to put down as a deposit.

If you can stretch to about £115 - £120 per month then I think there are even small people carriers available.

You can now pick up 7th Gen Accords for very little money, the estate has a huge boot although it does look like a flying coffin unless you get the Type-S. 2.0L petrol can return over 40mpg real world easy and is bullet proof.

 

[seriousrikk]

Just a thought...

How about getting the cheap/easy fix done (Oil Cooler) and then a coolant change. Once that is done run the car for a but and see if the oil returns to the coolant.

That's what I would do...

 

[srichards]

A quick compression test usually tells you whether the head gasket has gone. If it has you can always try something like this: http://www.steelseal.co.uk/buy-now Then run it until it blows up or something else serious fails.

 

[Russ77]

Just a thought...

How about getting the cheap/easy fix done (Oil Cooler) and then a coolant change. Once that is done run the car for a but and see if the oil returns to the coolant.

That's what I would do...

That's exactly what I'm going to do

Just going with the "what if" that doesn't work scenario so I've got a rough idea of the best thing to do.

To add a little history....... We bought the car off our MiL after Rachael's father died 2 years ago.

My mechanic friend checked it over, advised it needed a cambelt change (water pump changed too), tappets and a general service but other than that it was pretty sound. A month after that the PAS pump broke so the bill for that the first two months of ownership was around £600....... It also had an oil leak on the rocker cover although we've pretty much stopped that now.

My wife and MiL were a little sentimental about the car but I think they've now realised that you can't let sentiment come in to it.

I'm really hoping (and if religious I'd be praying) that it is just the oil cooler but as a result of the posts in this thread, if it isn't I'll get some firm quotes for HG replacement and take it from there. If the oil cooler and HG set me back another £600-£700, it's still going to be cheaper and less aggro than having to buy a new car.

The clutch was changed not long before my FiL passed away and it's passed the last 3 MOTs fine so in theory at least it should be good for another few years............

 

[Mr Bump]

I would just run it, a tiny sliver of oil in the coolant is nothing. It really could be a minor weep past a gasket.
A film of oil is barely a handful of drops. My C3 has been like that for 20k miles.

I would simply keep an eye on the expansion vessel to see if it goes up in volume.

 

[LongLensPhotography]

so in theory at least it should be good for another few years............

The famous last words.... There are plenty of bits in the suspension alone. Wear and tear + oxidation and you will be replacing them all in turn. I'm not trying to scaremonger but this is what happens with 8-10 year old cars. When buying used you ideally want those being replaced already.

 

[Russ77]

The famous last words.... There are plenty of bits in the suspension alone. Wear and tear + oxidation and you will be replacing them all in turn. I'm not trying to scaremonger but this is what happens with 8-10 year old cars. When buying used you ideally want those being replaced already.

You're not scaremongering at all, sadly it's a reality when you can only afford old cars

 

[andya700]

Appreciated!

A couple of nice examples there!

The only thing that was putting me off getting another TDCi was the threat of clutch/DMF replacement, I know it depends on how it's been driven (to a degree) but I also know it's £800+ worth of work although I probably need to get into the mindset of a car being disposable rather than a depreciating asset where you do your best to keep it on the road.

Totally agreed on the ones to avoid

When I bought the Octavia in 2012 with 93K on the clock, I factored a new clutch/DMF into the price.
I actually ended up replacing the pair with a solid flywheel/clutch combo, which has worked well for nearly 50K miles, and cost £450 including fitting.
I went to an independent VAG specialist, but apparently Skoda offer a solid flywheel replacement option.

 

[Gremlin]

A few years back my car develop a slight water leak,, my mechanic couldn't see where it was coming from, so as a quick temp repairput some of that sealer stuff in the
header tank, and few weeks later I noticed the tank was foaming !!!
General diagnosis was a leaking head gasket but as it is an older car he said not to worry just keep an eye on things.
Last year the water pump went, new pump fitted and obviously water/antifreeze changed, foaming stopped.
A bit of research on the net it seems that some rad sealent does react with antifreeze
I don't buy posh new cars, never have to worry about the knocks you get in car parks etc. and don't worry about them getting nicked

 

[seriousrikk]

The famous last words.... There are plenty of bits in the suspension alone. Wear and tear + oxidation and you will be replacing them all in turn. I'm not trying to scaremonger but this is what happens with 8-10 year old cars. When buying used you ideally want those being replaced already.

The surprising thing is bar any major failures replacing those components as they reach end of life is generally still cheaper than the monthly cost of financing something.