Barry Cade

I saw enough of those, welding the sills up for MOT's and they are a proper pain in the arse to fit towbars to. Love an XF though!

That is lovely. I think a Mondeo is in order. Titanium X spec. and (gasp) a Diesel .. I've spent another evening under the bonnet of that fucking Jeep. I could have gone to Ballater for chips, if I had a car that worked. Instead I was wet, cold,dirty and pissed off. Nearly lost my phone too as I cable tied it under the bonnet on video to see if I could see what was happening. Every green car I've ever owned has either been a total bastard,or tried to kill me. Should have listened to my Mum. Oh, and a Mondeo is the easiest car in the world to fit a towbar to.

ARGH! That is what kinda got me down this road in the first place- I had a nice one which I really liked- liked much more than I should have. Flung it in for an MOT and it was terminally ROTTEN, not just rusty, ROTTEN. That episode cost me well over a grand, It was a car I bought with my head and vowed just to run it, keep it safe and reliable and it bit me on the arse HARD.. Avensis cost me £500, Saab 9-5 owed me 5 or 600 quid, doblo lost me £200, Broke even on my wee Shogun. Shite has probably cost me best part of 2k in a year, I've never really enjoyed any of them as there has always been something to fix or sort, not to mention all the changing of V5's, insurance, putting dog guards in them, touch up paint, consumables... I'll probably take another £600 hit on this Cherokee. And I do everything myself- no garage bills, all parts at trade and Tyres etc fitted free. This Mingebag motoring is fucking expensive! Subaru's? Every one I've ever worked on has turned into a sodding nightmare. The undersides just crumble away, just like Mazda's. Duster? Top engine is a 1.5.. and too light for my caravan. Renner don't seem to do big cars anymore, neither do Alfa or Fiat ( Which have always been the most reliable cars I've owned)

That's were my head is just now. Apart from 4wd, they are the perfect choice. Been away from Ford for a long time but time to go back to the blue oval I think.

I was a committed autoshiter, have been for nearly 30 years. Cars were my life. Work, hobby, weekends, days off. I bought a Toyota, it ate 3 wheel bearings on holiday and drank oil. A kia.. rotten. Jeep, ECU issues.. just had enough and need something to do what I need it to do. I've spent a fortune in the past year to have a fucked 20 year old jeep sitting outside. When it was fun, it was fun. Now it's not.

Uh Oh. Another big VAG recall... DSG boxes this time. Australia as far as I know, but they are talking about 80,000 cars.

When I worked for Vauxhall back in the early 90's, every one of us had a Vauxhall. Then came the Vectra.....

Jesus H Christ . Times have changed so much. I've been dealing with this on my own for a few weeks now. A problem shared is a problem halved as they say. I feel like I need to go to a quiet place with 10 years worth of Auto Express magazines and speed read.

Eh. I'm so out of touch with new cars. I like the CDTi after getting my head around them in Saabs and Alfas. Are they gone now?

Yay, this place is the best..

Insignia's? I know all Vauxhalls are shite, but they seem to be fairly trouble free. I know the old Fiat diesel lump inside out and newer ones are quite handsome. I even found out you can get a 4x4! Whose gonna be first to say I'm insane?

I just think their wheeltrims fallen off.

That has just scared me right off. . I'm so glad I got the fuck out of the motor trade.

Funny, we were driving today and I was ranting to the wife about all the monochrome cars, when a bright pea green scirocco overtook us. It was so refreshing to see. Even the Koenigsegggggg thing I saw was boring coloured. Oh, and I DETEST black wheels.

Merc is a possibility if the right one came up, I have a real aversion to Audi. Years ago I drove little else, then VW started their marketing and I stopped. quattro, Procon 10, 10 year warranty, flush glass. Audi were innovators, and cars made by engineers. Now they have huge grilles, slick interiors and in my experience, are pretty unreliable. I had more newish VW group cars on my truck than anything else. Which is why I'm wary of any VAG group car, they are very nice on the surface. I have seen beyond the soft damping and textured plastic.... If you had spent as much time as me getting steel bolts out of aluminium housings, or extracting broken tensioner bolts you'd understand.. I do like a Yeti and Superb though. But I'd always be on edge. I love the look af a Passat CC, but they all share the same stuff . DSG scares the shit out of me. They are taking over the world. The chap I took to the airport the other day, he collects his brand new Golf GTI in 2 weeks, from the factory. As he is a business user, it is 150 euro a month all in. That is unbelieveable, but probably the reason VW group is king.