CR-V winter-car thoughts

[Lukas]

Hey there!

 

A few weeks ago, my trusty daily driver, the 89 Pajero V6, was booked for an austrian MOT-equivalent and passed with flying colours. 

Only 3 advisories (stonechip windscreen, exhaust rusty, slight oil leak at gearbox).

 

And a big advisory from the mechanic: "You should not drive this car during winter anymore!", he told me. It´s too rare and too good to 

use it during winter. No matter how good it is waxoyled, it will suffer more then necessary. 

 

So I thought about it and made to desicion to get me a winter-car. I´d like one that´s got an MOT until spring so I can drive it during winter

without any hassle and sell it on when the salt has gone. 

 

After some searching, I narrowed it down to the first generation Honda CR-V. They look a bit odd (I like that), most of them have an auto-box

and all of them have the Real-Time-4WD. Not the best system on the market, but better than nothing. 

 

Today, I was looking at this one here:

 

 

http://www.gebrauchtwagen.at/detailansicht.php?id_fahrzeug=6540089

 

An old mans car, he used it to go shopping. His son is a mechanic and changed the oil twice a year. It´s got a few new parts (radiator, exhaust...)

and is in good-enough-condition. A bit rusty underneath, the old man is responsible for a few scratches and dents all around. Nothing worrying. 

 

They own it since 2011 and nobody knows when the cambelt has been done. It´s got a massive hail-damage too. 

 

So now I am trying to find out how much a cam-belt-change would cost me. And how much welding car be done at the Pajero for all the money I

will loose on buying, repairing and selling a winter-car.   The CR-V would cost me 2500€ to buy. 

 

The problem is, I am not able to tell how good the Pajero really is. Its got some faults and rust too. It´s hard to tell if the money and the hassle for

buying  a winter-car is worth it or if it would be better to just drive the Pajero and save the money on repairing it. 

 

What would you suggest? 

 

Lukas

[drum]

Get a P38

[Lukas]

   

[dollywobbler]

I can see the problem. It isn't just welded repairs that might be needed on the Pajero. The entire car can suffer, so rusted bolts, knackered trim etc. That said, the car belongs to you, not your mechanic, so it remains your choice.

 

CR-V shares a lot of running gear with my S-MX. Main issue is the gearbox. They're a bit weak. You definitely want to check for revs rising on gearchanges (going up and down the gearbox) and ideally get it over 50mph to check the torque converter is locking up correctly. Twosmoke has proved that a timing belt change isn't much palaver.

 

I've always quite liked them. Like the RAV4, later versions have just got steadily uglier.

[garethj]

Have you got some way of washing the underneath of the Pajero every week?  If so, I'd just keep driving that.

[Lukas]

At the green one, there is not one thought about driving it all year round because it is so nice The chassis is rust-free, the body original. 

 

But the V6 is a bit borderline. On one hand, it´s already very rare in Austria. A short wheelbase V6 with manual gearbox is very scarce

and it is great fun to drive. On the other hand, its not original bodywise, the front wings have been changed, the paint is not that good,

the chassis is rusty and the body too. It´s been welded on some typical places and the right hand sill starts getting crusty. 

 

If it were a Mercedes-Benz 300SL R107, it were one of the not-so-good-ones. But as it is a Pajero Mk1 V6, it is one of the best surviving. 

So I really don´t know what to do at the moment. 

[NorfolkNWeigh]

Cars in Austria seem to be very expensive, is there any issue with registering something RHD ? Then the World , or at least Autoshite is your lobster, for the perfect* WBOD.

[drum]

I've been working in my sister's Colorado, see

http://autoshite.com/topic/22912-nice-day-for-a-shite-welding/?p=899171

 

It's a bit of rust bucket tbh, so chassis and body are susceptible to salt and water.

 

I recently bought a 2007 crv diesel version but it had many faults. The drive shaft induced a severe wobble when accelerating between 55 and 60 mph, the fuel tank or pipes were leaking and the engine had a loud rattle on idle.

I was lucky to get rid of it on Thursday, but it has put me off.

OTOH, I'm liking the Hyundai Santa Fe which is a similar crossover type thing.

[Lukas]

I looked at this one too:

 

https://www.willhaben.at/iad/gebrauchtwagen/auto/honda-cr-v-2-0-i-gm-rvsi-177195653/

 

 

This one looks nice on the pictures but is quite ugly in real life. Big dents in the rear panels, badly welded rear arches,

very rusty on the underneath, clutch never has been changed and the radiator is leaking too. For 2500, it´s a lot worse than the 

gold one. But this one had its cam-belt changed 3 years ago. 

 

So the golden one with the cambelt from the black one at the price of a UK-one would be nice. 

 

I think I will quit on both. Too much money for too much problems and needed repairs. 

[kirton]

One that has 150k km recorded should not be a problem. My mark 1 CRV (1999)  bought about 9 years ago, now on 205k km, bought at 125k km (imported from Australia, speedo is mph).  I've spent very little on it.  Now on Michelin Latitudes that I think are an inprovement on Bridgestone Duellers. Don't seem to rust badly from the mark 1s I see around here; I put a matchbox size bite in the wing just below the headlight some years ago and with minimum treatment it hasn't rusted through.

 

A friend who has had one for as long as I've had mine is a local first responder - gets called out to get there before the ambulance - says that in the last snow we had here he had no poblems on our hills, narrow lanes and farm tracks, but we don't get that much snow in Devon, I think it must have been about 15cm

 

If the rear diff whines change the DPF oil. Some jobs on it may be awkward;  one garage I was friendly with told me somewhat heatedly that they didn't work on them, and some small bushes at the rear required two big blokes and a 2m bar to shift

 

Can be thirsty;  driving to get best fuel consumption but not crawling around I've got 11km/l over 50k km;  you could easily reduce this to 8km/l with aheavy foot.

[dave21478]

I personally wouldnt be spending that sort of money on a winter car.

 

2-3k will buy you a lot of trips to the jetwash to clean the undrside of the V6 and a lot of waxoyl and welding if it needs it.

[Dave_Q]

+1 on buying a UK CR-V and spending the rest on your vice of choice.

 

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1997-R-Reg-Honda-Cr-v-4x4-2-0-petrol-5-door-Alloys-aircon-/262670260168?hash=item3d285e17c8:g:PWEAAOSw-CpX~c5z

[twosmoke300]

It's dps oil . Dual pump system !

[kirton]

Dpf? Dps? It's both on the bottle from honda dps-f.

[twosmoke300]

Dual pump system fluid by any chance ?

[richardmorris]

If you need to get a winter car, get a car you enjoy driving, or you'll be miserable. If you can afford to repair it as required then don't listen to the garage and keep driving it,

[Lukas]

I´ll keep driving it. Because I absolutely enjoy it on every kilometre. 

[For Fiats Sake]

Just buy one of these if you can be arsed and wash the underside.  Personally I think the idea of washing the underside of a car is a bit daft, more likely to push water into defects than just leaving it imo.

 

Alternatively Wang a load of dynax/wax oil/goose dripping underneath and enjoy.  Your mechanic will be right eventually but he we die one day too, just like the car, though probably not of rust, asbestosis usually.

[Lukas]

Yesterday, I waxoyled the chassis of the Pajero in the ventialted garage. Although it is ventilated, now I know why I will die one day.

 

That´s such an awful job, it´s horrific. My clothes are in the bin because they are completely waxoyled, my hair was sticky, my glasses

will remain rustfree until forever now and even my lung is waxoyled now just from the fumes out of the rattle-cans. 

[Ghosty]

+1 on buying a UK CR-V and spending the rest on your vice of choice.

 

Why would an Austrian do that?

[Dave_Q]

Why would an Austrian do that?

Because local ones are 2500 euro, that's like £2500 or something.

 

Mental money for a winter beater.

 

I would deffo buy a 500 quid UK CR-V in that situation, unless of course there is an issue registering rhd there.

 

Even including the omgcollextionfred and local registration costs its got to be <£1000 all in?

 

But I accept I are a mental, and not everyone would consider driving halfway across a continent to save £1000 or so on a car.

[scdan4]

^ ^ I was going to comment that they all seem mental money? why so expensive?

 

Dad's had one like the black one above for the last 5 or so years. Only time it has let him down was when the battery died, (so can't blame the car). He really likes it - practical, not exciting, reliable and his garage works on it cheaply. He gets just over 30mpg (driving like a nun) on short journeys round the devon hills. His is better than anything above and is, at best, a 700 quid car. I'd expect £500 for for it on ebay. Can't believe the price they are for you.

 

JDM imports rust lots more than UK spec ones (i'm told). Dads is a uk car, and is not rusty in the slightest.

[Dave_Q]

Most of the rest of the world value second hand cars much higher than we do, hence the constant stream of overseas buyers for ropey old UK shite.

[Lukas]

The real problem in Austria is that it´s not far from the eastern euopean countries like Bulgaria, Romania, the ex-Yugoslavian countries and so on. 

 

Austria is full of export-dealers from these countries and they are ruining the cheap car market for austrian buyers. 

 

Best example is the golden CR-V from the first posting. It needs a cambelt-change badly, has a huge hail-damage, is rusty on the underneath, 

has already been welded on other spots (sills, rear-arches), needs a good servicing and I am sure there are other bits and pieces to repair which

I did not recognise the day I looked at it. The seller wants 2500 Euro and is not willing to let it go cheaper because the eastern european export-dealers

are offering him this kind of money. He just want to sell it to an austrian. Racism, maybe. 

 

For me as an austrian, I have to think about all the repair-costs in a garage. But the expoerters don´t care about that because the labour-costs are

so cheap in the east.  

 

Export-dealers are paying quite high prices for running 4WD-cars with A/C because there still seems to be a huge demand there and it´s not that

far away from here. 

 

And at some kind of cars (older diesels for example), importing is very expensive or even not possible because of emission-standards. So the small

austrian used-car-market for older (before 2010) and cheaper (< 10.000€) cars is quite encapsulated. So original austrian cars with austrian papers

are quite expensive. Depreciation is not that bad like it is in the UK. But I don´t think that there are many countries in this world where used cars 

are that cheap like in the UK. 

 

RHD is not a problem. But the car has to be quite new so it meets the current emission standars or has to be older than 30 years so it is a "classic car". 

Otherwise, registering of imported cars is not possible on most cars. 

 

So "Austria = DDR" is not that far off... 

[bigfella2]

Does it have to be 4x4, couldn't you buy something unfashionable hence cheap that ticks all boxs' for regs emissions etc then just put some snow tyres on. Snow/winter tyres make a huge difference.

[PiperCub]

I personally wouldnt be spending that sort of money on a winter car.

 

2-3k will buy you a lot of trips to the jetwash to clean the undrside of the V6 and a lot of waxoyl and welding if it needs it.

 

Got to say I'd agree with that. A winter car for me is more like £500 max but appreciate what you say about the lack of cheap cars in Austria - I didn't know why until you explained the reason. 

[Lukas]

Does it have to be 4x4, couldn't you buy something unfashionable hence cheap that ticks all boxs' for regs emissions etc then just put some snow tyres on. Snow/winter tyres make a huge difference.

 

Winter tires are essential by law here from 1.11. until the beginning of April, if I am right, so winter tires are on every car. They are enough most of the 

time like you said, but here in Styria, we have many steep mountain roads over 1000m altitude I have to drive sometimes. 

 

And I am just too lazy to put snow chains on like all the 2WD-drivers have too when the weater is ugly. 

[Junkman]

Deffo a P38. No substitute.

Especially since they pay you money when you fill up in .at