406oc.co.uk

If it helps, my Fathers 2012 320d which he had from brand new and got rid of a few months ago was totally faultless during his ownership and it finished up with 150k+ on the clock.

Absolute nonsese. So my Euro 6 Volvo V40 wouldn't be welcome but I could take my 16 year old 3.0 V6 ST220.

Auto boxes are getting better, the ZF 8HP my Father had in his 2012 320d and now Alfa Giulia is absolutely amazing. You don't feel any gear changes and it always seems to be in the perfect gear, all the time. What I find even more surprising is how different the 'boxes operate despite being the same...

We had two cats which we had to get rid of before Christmas. Our little dude has allergies and his allergy specialist advised that he was most definitely allergic to cats and we should get rid of ours as soon as possible. Well, my Missus went into Mother-Mode and they were dropped off to a local cat...

Welly wrote: ↑

Tue Sep 10, 2019 5:13 pm

What do farming types buy now? pickup's I guess.

I spend a fair bit of time working around the Costwolds and noticed a lot of farmers moving over to Dusters, certainly their Wives etc. Unfortunately the Duster will only pull 1500kg so I can't see them being the complete solution.

I take your Lambo and raise you a Citreon Bipper type thing, might have been the Pug equivalent, who knows. It had a Northgate hire sticker on the back and was doing many many miles per hour in the outside lane. That's the thing with hire cars, and one of the reasons I bought my Volvo as an ex-hire ...

Welly wrote: ↑

Tue Sep 10, 2019 1:36 pm

I agree with wife

Have you seen the new Defender?

£40K

The entire point of the Defender is rugged simplicity.

Once they fitted the common-rail TDCi engine to the Defender it kind-of-wasnt a Defender any more.

I often wave at other Defenders or Series in the Defender and I've recently started waving at other ST220 drivers in the ST220 (obviously ). So far, 100% success rate!

Wife thinks I'm mental.

The oil is C1, Mazda no longer recommend their own DPF Oil, !!, I have considered DPF delete, Just sorted the front wheel bearing issue. My only thought on changing cars is that I may end up with another that needs all these problems sorting again..... C1 is still a low-HTHS 'fuel economy' oil. I h...

One thing I do have to praise Dacia for us the ride quality. Both our Duster and Sandero rode very well and was easily as soft as my 406's.

My Volvo is rock hard, even on 17" wheels. My Fathers new Alfa Giulia is so much softer than my Volvo, it's embarrassing!

Yes, they do have a nice ride and give an initial impression of utter smoothness. Ride is a bit firmer than the 406, but very well damped -they were marketed as a german car built in france in an attempt to lure the mainstream buyers. My trip computer is a compulsive liar reporting anything up to 1...

I did look at Renners briefly and I am scared of them falling apart. Can't be worse than a Peugeot though! Thanks for this - will take a closer look. I 've come to the conclusion that these days you cannot buy a bad car. I refer you to your earlier post. You took what I said completely out of conte...

To replace 1 of our 406 estates I got a 2009 Mazda 6 Estate with a 2.2 MZR-CD 185HP Diesel, I wouldn't recommend it to my worst enemy, Nice car to drive but in the past 12 months its had 2 x timing chains, The first one I fitted at 160000 miles as the original was badly stretched, failed under part...

I did look at Renners briefly and I am scared of them falling apart. Can't be worse than a Peugeot though! Thanks for this - will take a closer look. I've come to the conclusion that these days you cannot buy a bad car. You get a car with faults, and all manufacturers make the occasional Friday aft...

Better late than never... I'd recommend a Duster any day of the week with young kids. They may look and feel cheap but they are designed to be rugged. They're cars that were originally designed to be sold in Easten Europe, India, Russia etc. Tough, simple and reliable vehicles. Our Duster was great....