wannabeeahack wrote:
I bought a new Superb estate 1.6 (basic trim) on the 15 plate, got seduced by an Eclass in 2017, regretted that, bought a 2013 1.6 superb in dec 2018 at its 80k mileage, now on 110k.
It's that 1.6 engine I've got as well. Wish I'd gone for the 2.0, which my last Passat had, and it had a lot more shove.
99% of the time the 1.6 is entirely adequate, and most of the time I'm barely touching the throttle, but, you know...
And then there was the emissions thing with that engine, but it also affected the 2.0, so would probably have affected whichever engine I'd got
I've nearly been seduced by Volvos and E-classes etc in the past, but probably a good idea I didn't, and the two Passats I've had have been flashy enough at the time.
Bought them both to try to get some executive-style work, but whenever I start getting into that kind of thing I just can't be bothered with the hassle and stress, so end up back to the hassle and stress of the ranks
But never been one to chop and change cars, in fact if I keep this one till the 10-year age limit, that'll just be
three cars over 26 years
But I'm quite low mileage - generally less than 30,000 per annum at most, and I've never had drivers, and try to go easy on the cars.
Not doing much more than 20,000 miles these days, but it's mostly late-night/shorter runs on T2, so the rate per mile is very high*, only problem is how long you have to wait for them at times (and because I'm an independent I don't have that extra mileage necessary just to pay the radio fee/franchise/settle, or whatever you want to call it.) And my needs are modest, so I'm not working round the clock
Best car for the job probably my first one - a bog standard petrol 95 Mondeo, which was three years old and had done about 35,000 miles when I bought it. Took it up to around 233,000 miles, with original engine, clutch and gearbox untouched
Not that it was mega-reliable otherwise (front wishbone bushes in particular I recall were a nightmare), but never spent more than £100 on a single item
Pretty easy to change sparkplugs and filters myself (and I'm no mechanic, and my toolbox was something like four screwdrivers, an adustable spanner and adjustable wrench
), plus the odd oil change (although could get them done for £7.95 (I think it was) at a local fast fit depot - that was about the year 2000. As anyone knows, if you don't have proper tools and facilities even a basic oil change can end up like the Exxon Valdez, as I used to say to people back then
).
So Mondeo was cheap to buy, cheap to maintain.
*Bog standard T2 run here is a one-mile student run which clocks at £5.50. So very good rate for the loaded mile, obviously. Then again, almost zero chance of a run back (because it's normally to student halls you do get the odd person getting in when you drop. In fact could have had hundreds over the years, but they're often just waiting for a taxi to pick them up, and of course I'm scrupulously honest about that kind of thing
)