If anyone hasn’t got it yet my point is that even cars with supposedly good reputations can sometimes give you grief.
You're absolutely right on that one. There's just so much "stuff" on them these days something is almost bound to fail!
Regarding our situation. The deed is done and she's just on her way to pick up her "new" car as I'm tapping this out on the keyboard.
What really sealed the Honda's fate was that her insurer offered to settle for £3,029.00p This for a 2008 vehicle, in very "average" condition, but with quite low miles for the year. The fellow at the wee garage near me, a chap I now know quite well, said he'd probably have offered around £750 for it in trade in if it hadn't been damaged and it was too old for him to be interested in retailing it.
This payout coupled to available funds and a bit of a contribution from us set the budget at around £6,000.00p and we've looked at a few cars over the last few days, all pretty average or below average. Then another Mazda2 popped up on Autotrader which looked really nice but being sold by a borders dealer who I'd never heard off - remember I'm a borders lad and know many of the reputable establishments down there. So I activated the wee man in Google maps and paid a virtual visit to this business premises. Oh dear, looked like a tinker's yard! However the car looked good and daughter in law had viewed the advert and like what she saw, so we decided to go and take a look.
So yesterday Mrs J went off for a lunch date with her old work buddies and I bundled my boy, his wife and both grandchildren into the Ibiza - a pretty tight squeeze - and set of down the A703. The establishment is reached down several side roads off the A703 and as we turned the corner and started down towards the site you could see that the site had been cleared, leveled and a nice new building erected with some smart signage above the door. This is looking more like it, Google, you need to update your data!
Turns out this very pleasant middle aged chap is setting up his own business and he's got the wee Mazda in the building, which is little more than 4 walls at this time with his desk in one corner next to a wood burning stove. Out side are a few more vehicles, several of which are definitely high end - like Range Rover, BMW, etc (you get the idea) and very nice looking vehicles indeed.
He told me to examine the car in as much detail as I liked and chatted to my folks while I crawled all over it and under it. Much to his amusement my young grandson joined me on my groundsheet to look under the car (I'd taken my very bright cree led floodlight too) What a difference compared to the other one we'd looked at. It's actually an early 2015 car but on a 14 plate with mid 40,000 miles. Pretty well immaculate bodywork (one very small ding just above the O/S flasher repeater light). Very little rust anywhere underneath, certainly nothing even remotely resembling Steven's picture above. I was toiling to pick it up on anything really. The best I could manage was that the exhaust, which looked original, was quite rusty - but no blows, front pads were about two thirds worn, two of the tyres were probably under 3mm so would need changing soon. One wheel had some mild curb rash and it needed new wiper blades. Tyres are not a size I've run into before 195/45R16 (or was it 15?) I've got it written down somewhere, so I rang my "tame" tire man who confirmed it's not a very common size but found on some of the far eastern stuff in particular and he can do us some bargain prices if needed so not to worry - great! No spare though, just a can of "gunk" however it does have a wheel well and space savers were available as an extra - so a search on ebay might produce one. Engine ran very sweetly with no trace of chain rattle or other nasties. The chap jumped in the back and we went for a test drive. Lovely, Thought I could just hear a very, very slight, speed related, whine from the back somewhere, possibly a wheel bearing? but more likely something to do with tyre tread noise I think. Even if it does develop into a bearing problem I don't think a rear wheel bearing is going to cause me too much grief. By the way, sensible rear drum brakes too! Hurrah! We went round the town and then off up the main road for about 5 miles and back. Daughter in law loved it saying it had more "go" than her old Jazz (Mk1 and I've been planning on cleaning out the EGR on that this summer so that's one less "hassle" job for me).
Everything was "right" about it, even got 2 keys. He agreed to change the engine oil and filter and fit new wiper blades. The MOT was only a month old and there's quite a lot of service documentation. He told us the car had been a third car in a large local family and they were reducing to two cars so he'd bought it from them for cash. He wouldn't negotiate much on price saying he knew he'd sell it no bother if we decided not to buy - and I'm sure he would. So it cost her/us the entire budget but I believe the car is well worth it so don't begrudge the cost.
Today I rang Mike down at SRS to inquire about stuff generally and the brakes and exhaust particularly as Steven had mentioned exhausts in his post. I was told service stuff - filters, oil, etc - is readily available off the shelf and averagely priced as are the brake parts. The exhaust they don't stock in their racks but can be supplied next day if needed. Possibly a little more expensive than something like a Fiesta (for example) but with the engine being a Mazda product, they don't sell in any great volume whereas the brakes, suspension etc is "pure Ford" so in stock and I'm not to worry about anything as he's sure he can "keep me straight" at reasonable cost.
Just had a call from my boy, They picked the car up lunchtime and it ran beautifully for the hour or so it took to get back home. Daughter in law is so excited she's out driving around in it right now! Copart just rang to say the Jazz is being picked up tomorrow which makes me a bit sad as I'd got to know it really well. Now I've got a new one to make friends with!