Cars for carrying bikes in

Thewaylander

Nah been in the new Fiat, it's a peice of cheap plastic

And the Audi that is a nob car is the A3 i have found.. And the worst ones round newport are a bunch of i swear very young girls who have them tre annoying.

As for more alternatives. the astra Estates with the 1.9 150bhp engine are a bargain, Not to small, good room, and the bonus you can pick them up for dirt as there ex rep mobiles. doing alot of not hard motorway miles. There pretty ok to drive look smart, the only major let down is a fairly cheap interior.

Surf-Matt

Waylander - we had one for four years (with that engine) before the BMW - agree with your comments and we had the estate which had a HUGE boot too. I was actually quite sad to see it go.

We had engine trouble (swirl flap failure) at 40k miles sorted under warranty that would have been pricey to sort and the dealers are cack but the actual car was generally very good. Quick, good on fuel, spacious, well specced (ours was a "Design") safe and comfy.

bomberesque

Surf-Matt wrote:

They are almost all FWD. The AWD 3.2 weighs more than the moon and is comically slow for it's power. Any with any power understeer so badly it's dangerous (yes I've tested a 147 and 156 GTA) and they always break down.

All show, not much go.

If I hadn't liked them so much in the 70s/80s and early 90s, I'd not be so angry with them but like Saab, they've been making naff cars with borrowed engines for over a decade and dressing them up as some sporty drivers dream. Even the 8C, pretty as it is, gets a good shoeing from it's rivals.

If you live by the word of Clarkson then you need help. But if you can't help it, he has declared Audi as the new cockmobile. And it was only the E46 (last shape) M3 that got the "fool" title anyway.

I'd rather have a Fiat than a modern Alfa. Or a Kia.

blimey, calm down, I was having a giggle

I recall congratulating you when you first got you 335D, even if yeehaa was ragging you about the gearbox. perhaps I was premature.

Surf-Matt

Bomber - I am calm and I know you were having a giggle but the demise of Alfa is a real shame as is the demise of Saab - both used to be fun, quirky and good to drive, now just GM/Fiat cars in drag.

And you did call me a cock - sort of

bomberesque

Surf-Matt wrote:

And you did call me a fool - sort of

unintended then; you would only be a fool if you drive it on belgian plates

honestly, I looked at a 330d wagon before getting the 159. part of the draw of the 159 was the nostalgia for a petrol engine (they're like hen's teeth here) plus it was a pretty good deal money wise (at least to buy, if not to tax, register, insure etc etc).

I know it's overweight and a second slower to a hundred than comparable bmws, whilst using so much fuel that the guys on the refinery are joking about installing me my own personal pump, but I still love it and will cherish it until the point that the diff assplodes (apparently nothing like as bad a problem today as it was with the 156 3.2) then I will be cursing and swearing in a cloud of steam by the side of the E19 somewhere. meantime I'm still enjoying it!

who ever said buying a car is a rational decision was ... well not me anyway

Surf-Matt

Bomberesque - My R32 had a similar engine (3.2 V6) and it sounded amazing but the powerr was a bit lame for such a big engine. The Alfa unit looks stunning (no plastic cr4p) but I just don't get on with any of their modern chassis.

A second slower to 60?

Make that 1.5 seconds...

And to 100?

About 5 seconds difference...

Thewaylander

Yeh but Matt. he gets to Rev.. I miss reving :S

Surf-Matt

Thewaylander wrote:

Yeh but Matt. he gets to Rev.. I miss reving :S

Suprisingly I don't miss it - had a couple of cars that needed merciless ragging. Maybe I'm just getting old but I can't be bothered half the time. Just lazy easy torque. Stick the car in sport auto and it redlines (5k rpm instead of the usual 4.5ish k) in every gear and even sounds quite nice. Ish.

This guy is in "D" rather than "DS" (sport") so it doesn't rev as hard but you get the idea...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RfBY8URR ... re=related

The Alfa unit does sound nice though - no doubt about it.

alfablue

Surf-Matt wrote:

But Alfas are GM cars in drag and break down ALL THE TIME.

I'm not going to rise to this :roll:

Surf-Matt

Nor will I...

Alfa Romeo (in 2008 - the latest survey)
28th of 30
Last year's position 24th of 26
Cars needing repair work 40%
Average repair cost £383
Star model 156 ('01-'06)

Alfa continues to loiter near the bottom of our reliability results. Axle and suspension issues are the biggest blight, but electrics are also a problem.

The most-reliable model, the 156, turned in a decent result, with just 16 repairs per 100 cars, but the older Alfas in our survey dragged the overall score down.

Average repair bills were high at £383, and the time taken to fix problems was worse than most, at 3.7 hours.

Thewaylander

alfablue wrote:

Surf-Matt wrote:

But Alfas are GM cars in drag and break down ALL THE TIME.

I'm not going to rise to this :roll:

I like Alfa's there pretty and got something.. But as to rising to it.. there is no point because it is true. and Alpha dealers are also widely known as the worst in the business.. But it's the charm

alfablue

I can only speak of my experience of owning 2 ALFAs, in 90 000 miles, breakdowns, 2, 1 clutch slave cylinder at about 75k miles (fair enough), one radiator (at 110k miles, fair enough). Last major service on the 3.0l gtv cost £140. They have been the cheapest to maintain of any cars I have owned in 32 years. Surprisingly, parts are also cheaper than many other mainstream European brands.

Yes, I gather ALFA dealers are total c*ap, never used them though.

Surf-Matt

You have owned cars for 32 years? :shock: So you are at least 49? Now I feel positively yooful - that doesn't happen very often these days.

I sold my mk2 Gti with 182,000 miles on the clock - almost nothing went wrong and all the bits that needed doing were very minor. Probably still on the road.

alfablue

Surf-Matt wrote:

You have owned cars for 32 years? :shock: So you are at least 49? Now I feel positively yooful - that doesn't happen very often these days.

I know, and I'm not happy about it! :evil:

I sold my mk2 Gti with 182,000 miles on the clock - almost nothing went wrong and all the bits that needed doing were very minor. Probably still on the road.

Yeah, some cars just go on and on, I think the GTV is like that, the engine is rock solid.

Surf-Matt

I think any 80s German car goes on forever - especially Mercs.

And yep - some earlier Alfas engines were pretty good.

And no doubt that they have made some very pretty cars:

bomberesque

or this one that I spotted in the classifies last year but was too late to snatch. I'd have given my granny AND my right arm as well as chucking in my first born for a car that good looking.....

Thewaylander

Doesn't look to handy for carrying bikes...

bomberesque

Thewaylander wrote:

Doesn't look to handy for carrying bikes...

pretty sure a Saris Bones would fit

maybe a tow hitch?

gregmorris234

why has no one suggested a ford focus estate. The old ones are very reliable.

Graydawg

sheepsteeth wrote:

i had a mondeo and it was an ace bike car. shame the fly wheel decided to start disintegrating

Ahhh - the Dual Mass Flywheel - one of the common problems on the Mk3 Mondeo TDCI. They are bad for that going to pieces and expensive to fix!

If you get one of those, try to avoid the high milers.

I would love to buy a van just for biking. But will have to stick to putting the bike in the boot of my New Mazda 6 (VERY Carefully!!)

Thewaylander

As for the ford focus estate,

I have a colleague at work who looked into putting a warrenty on a focus. turns out there one of the more expensive cars to put a Warranty on.. guess why?

bomberesque

DMF is a standard part on a lot of diesels isn't it? Something to do with helping it rev a little more freely or something. I recall it was a known problem on 156s (OK, along with diff, gearbox, suspension, etc etc etc ), although mine never went

My dad has a focus estate and it's been nothing but trouble, new engine the latest. I think that's less to do with the model of car and more to do with the honesty of the bloke that sold him it on "genuine mileage" as the internal condition of the car certainly did not match the 30k km that was showing on the odometer. Can't tell parents anything these days :roll:

focus estate is definitely a decent size for bike transport, for cavernous room, the Vectra is bloody gynormous

stuisnew

Alex wrote:

A disco isn't worth it unless you want a 4x4. The cheap ones are rotboxes, the expensive ones are expensive.

A Mk3 mondeo estate (previous shape) with a big TDCI lump in it will do 50mpg, handles OK, very comfortable, decent equipment levels and importantly swallows fully built bikes with room to spare. Oh, and they're cheap to insure, cheap to run, cheap to service, cheap to buy and don't go wrong much.

Granted I'm getting rid of mine, but that's only so I can buy something more expensive to run, insure, service, buy, get consumables for and is far less practical.

Have to agree with Alex. I wouldn't get a Landrover - three grander / freelander as they are either knacked and cheap (pending a v large garage bill soon after purchase) or are expensive.
Buy an estate of a car you like - I picked up a cheap 406 estate for next to nothing, absolutely huge, got two bikes in with no problems at all and as its a car it handles ok and fuel and running costs are fine.

Just my opinion but now I have one I couldn't imagine doing without an estate. :roll:

Paulf1566

Great thread. I am also thinking of a van to be able to carry 3 bikes and 3 people. Prefer the bikes to be carried upright and without taking the wheels off.

I'd love a tarted up T5, but don't think the misses would let me spend more than 5k. A bit of bling would not go a miss though!

I'm spending the afternoon on auto trader and other website and trying not to click buy.

anj132

Northwind

There is clearly no point in having a car thread without Surf-matt.

Thewaylander

Northwind wrote:

There is clearly no point in having a car thread without Surf-matt.

So true, 335D not only the fastest motor ever, but it also cooks dinner, does your misses for ya and your tax returns!