Neil Hopcroft

A digital misfit

If I were looking for a replacement car, what should I be looking at? What do you drive? What do you love about it? What do you hate?

(second hand, price range between 2000 and 6000, depending on how excited I can get about it)

…and, no, I’ve not decided this is the right thing to do, my Laguna has died with clutch failure and I’m trying to figure out whether to get it fixed or buy another car. I’m erring toward fixing it at the moment after a disappointing attempt to get excited about anything that could replace it.


Categories: Memories.

/ 9 Comments

9 comments

  1. jarkman

    I drive a Volvo 850 T5. It’ll go a long way very quickly with a lot of stuff, it’s relaxing & comfortable to drive, it has disastrous fuel consumption, it’s pretty reliable.

    It only makes any sense if you want speed & cargo capacity. But I love it. Huge and nimble. Well, nimble for a barge. Not sure what kind of specimen fits in your price range, or if you need the capacity.

    Before that, a Citroen XM. Not terribly quick, lovely to drive, full of mad gadgetry, and styled by a man who clearly did spaceship design in his day job. Not terribly reliable, but so wonky that it was forgivable. Would fit in your budget, but leave some over for maintenance.

    Reply
    • neilh

      Cargo capacity isn’t that important and size is a factor against given my current parking situation (remember the fencepost). Otherwise they’d certainly be on the list.

      The Citroen would also be interesting except that the Laguna is French too, so I kinda want a change…

      Reply
  2. orddu

    I had a BFO Sierra as a company car and hated it. Have had two Astras which were OK, but I really really love my Nissan Micra.

    It’s nippy, it can hold a lot more than you think and, since there’s only usually me in it, it doesn’t feel too much like overkill/planetary destruction etc. to own.

    Has also been extremely reliable.

    Reply
    • neilh

      Micras are great little cars, but they’re too small, I do a lot of motorway miles and would like a car that’ll be happy with that. The Laguna has been good for that. Something of Astra size would be alright too, but I wouldn’t be comfortable going smaller than that. My Sierra was a great car, utterly unreliable but easy and/or cheap to fix, even considering I had the engine replaced it was the cheapest car I ever maintained.

      Reply
  4. neilh

    Agreed on the concept of ‘proper size’ car, though I’m weighing that requirement against the smallness of my parking area/garage. I wouldn’t consider going to, say, a Micra, but would think about a smaller car than the Laguna, like a Rover 216.

    Reply
  7. neilh

    They’re tempting…but i’ve gotten the Laguna fixed for the moment, I’ll keep my eyes open for Seras, among others, over the next few months – I’m not expecting the Renault to last forever.

    Reply

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