Got a new car (pics)

In the seychelles we got 4 people and luggage into a 1.4 5-door clio. I only JUST managed to get it up one of the hills though (Good run-up, throw it around the hairpin as fast as it would go and foot on the floor... JUST climbed out, but probably didn't do the drivetrain any good). Still... saved making two trips.

I keep looking at all sorts of lovely cars I'd like to buy. However, mine's just gone over 100k so the value just dropped, it's mechanically sound, known quantity and most important of all.... paid for.

 

It amazes me how many clowns try and sell a car though don't own, my dad almost bought this P reg Punto for £5500 (in 1998) but it turned out £6000 was still owed in it. The seller could not understand why my dad didn't want to buy it! - Maybe it had somthing to do with the fact the finance company owned the car and not the seller.

 

It's a difficult one. I've had three Citroens over the years. They all gave me more trouble than any other cars I've owned, but also gave me more driving pleasure. I'm lusting after the sporty C4 model at the moment.

 

Nice cars, the Clio 182s, definitely the sort of thing I'd want for my next car (though insurance would probably be painful, but by the time I come around to buying a car early 172/182 should be affordable given typical French car depreciation.

Interior build quality isn't all that but who buys a hot hatch for a nice interior anyway? The point of cars like this is they are an absolute hoot to throw down a twisty B-read

 

Looks like the Newcastle side of the Tyne (along from the Quayside).
I hope you have adequate insurance mate

 

So how is someone who's bought a car on a finance deal supposed to sell it then? Two cars I bought with finance (when I was still living in the UK) I sold with finance still outstanding. I paid off the finance outstanding from the proceeds of the sale and kept the rest, what's the problem?

It's like saying you can't sell a house because it's owned by the bank / mortage company .

Miochael.

 

Typo I know, but that really does sound like starbuck's latest...

 

The simplist way is to pay off the loan with the buyers money (with the buyer there) so there is no longer finance outstanding on it.

If I was to buy a car which still had finance on it its not my car, its owned by the lending company (in the same way as a house). If they stopped paying the loan then I would loose the car even though I have paid market value for it.

It just wasn't worth the risk, there was plenty of other Puntos which had no fiance oustanding on it.

 

There is a distinction between finance + hp.
Put simply,HP is a loan secured on the car - legally it belongs to the HP company until the debt is settled (or earlier depending on the terms).
Legally you should get permission to sell the vehicle before going ahead.
If p/exing at a dealer it's a straight-forward procedure whereby finance is settled by the dealer.

Private sales are a bit more complicated...

A friend of mine sold his CBR600 a number of years ago to a private buyer.
The HP company were told,the oustanding balanace (final settlement) obtained and the buyer made out 2 cheques - one to the company for the amount still owed and another to the seller for the remainder.

Safest way all round.


Edit : What he said

 

I knew that when I bought it. However, the 182 gets rave reviews from every magazine i have ever read, so I guess I just thought life is too short to always go for something reliable but boring.

But yeah... I'll take a fortune cookie cheers

FYI, its at the dealers already getting wind noise problems sorted :lol:

 

Careful,that's the start of the slippery slope.
I see the latest Matsui box-thing gets rave reviews in Dixons in-store mag.

 

True, but I've driven my fair share of hot hatches, and this one is definitely something special to drive.

 

Of that I have no doubt.
I have very little interest in cars (actually,I don't even have a car licence - confirmed bike man is me ) but I do have mates that are into them in a big way.
That Clio you have is very highly regarded by them - more so than Reaults 'supposed' top car - the V6 mid engines Clio.

No doubt I will have seen you out and about - one of my pass-times used to be attempting to overtake GTR's on the back wheel between Arniston centre + BP garage at ch-le-st
Highly illegal but the funest things normally are...

 

actually i was thinking about a new car when mine goes back feb 07. it's s company car and i was thinking about a 320 or one of them subaru forester estate monster quick things - i guess sanity will prevail and i'll end up with some a deal more sensible and no doubt cheaper. the sensible thing to do would be to buy the cts of the leasing company and take the car allowance

 

Nice car m8, don't know why people see the need to talk doom and gloom when someones excited about something. I havent driven one but have had a bit of a play with one in snowdonia and it was most capable (unlike its driver)

 

That stretch of road is fantastic fun, but they have diluted it somewhat by adding numerous roundabouts to it during recent years - when it was one long stretch between there and CLS it was great, and speed you could get up to was daft - it was just a pity at the time i never had anything particularly fast.

Thanks m8, I know what you mean, but its the same with most cars. For example one of my old cars was a Fabia vRS, which was lovely, but nowhere near as fun to drive as the Clio, and you always knew this deep down when buying it - but your head would tell you that you were doing the right thing by buying the more "sensible" car.... well now I have one, and its great, I'm hoping not to get too much hassle with it, as it is such a good car to drive.

 

It's because we're all secretly jealous as hell! I'd love a sporty little number to zoom around in, but I can't have one, boohoo

 

paul,
lovely car paul but i think it needs a bottle of laughing gas
i've had 2 french cars and the only time they gave me trouble is when i gave then to incompetent monkey men to 'fix' - both times at the insistence of my insurance company. my 406 coupe was never right even after they had 4 tries at fixing it and went back to the lease company with a number of problems still outstanding. it only went in for a new door skin and front spoiler / bumper and came out with overheating problems and bits of interior that fell off when you closed the door!

 

Like Julian, I've had 2 French cars. My first was a 405 Estate and nothing went wrong with until the dealer serviced it. They apparently forgot to connect a vacuum pipe to the inlet manifold causing lumpy low speed running, engine cutting out etc. However, they didn't find any fault with when I took it back. At their second attempt they found the problem and felt good enough to joke about their original mistake. It ran fault free otherwise for 4 years.

My second French car was (it's now my wife's car) Sir Galahad's namesake )) Laguna. The A/C on it failed in the first year, which was fixed under warranty, only to fail again a few months later, just out of warranty. Now it is 9 years old, the central locking doesn't work, the bonnet release cable broke, brake cylinder seized and the gearbox is starting to whine :cry:. Otherwise it's been good to us.

The best thing about both (and other French) cars I've driven has been the chassis. IMO great compromise between ride and handling. The worst, in some models, has been the build quality.