Mr & Mrs Moglet's cars [Bye bye BMW]

  • Thread starter Moglet
  • 205 comments
  • 31,335 views
Yeah but it's always nice to have some oomph :)
 
The big waftmobile is a very appealing prospect for me too. Plays to the strengths of driving on UK roads - isolates you from the idiots, soothes you from the stress and is comfy in traffic.

Of course, at the other end of the scale doing none of those things is the MX-5, and at least you can use 100% of its capabilities more often.

Still, fuel costs aside I expect the RX-8 is still a fairly nice thing to travel in? I've only ever sat in them, rather than driven them, but the interior does seem quite nice.
 
homeforsummer
Still, fuel costs aside I expect the RX-8 is still a fairly nice thing to travel in? I've only ever sat in them, rather than driven them, but the interior does seem quite nice.
Click to expand...

Oh, definitely. It's got more than enough mod cons to make any trip comfortable (heated seats are awesome now that the winter has set in) and the seats are nice and supportive with everything in reach. The arm rest is great, there's plenty of storage inside, visibility is fairly good for the type of car and there's plenty of room in the back too. The sound system is also fantastic, it's a Bose 6 speaker system with subs in the doors and it can really hit hard when it needs to. It's certainly not a bad car by any means but I'm just not 100% certain that it's suited for such a small island really. I should probably get out and rag it more often. :P
 
As a few of you are aware, I'm going to be moving house soon and the RX8 needs to go; not only is it very stressful to drive on the island over winter but where we're going to be living needs something that can handle rough terrain a little bit better and the RX8 just doesn't cut it.

I'm off to look at cars next weekend but here's the shortlist so far;
-Subaru Forester 2.0 (non-turbo) Auto: Good condition, full service history but pretty slow for a Forester. The turbo one I wanted has been sold. :(
-Any old Honda CR-V
-Nissan X-Trail 2.5: Fairly nippy for it's size, I like how they look and it's got the advantage of being fairly hefty for UK roads. It also comes with a 6 month warranty which is always good.
-Subaru Impreza estate: Non turbo, but still quick enough for what I want and the insurance is cheap (THe WRX bumps it up to insane amounts). The only problem with this is the only one I've found within my price range has really broken bodywork and a ripped interior

I'm finding it very difficult to find a good, rugged car that's not a RAV4 (I considered these but as much as the image side of things doesn't matter, I just really don't like them) within 50 miles of our home! I'll update the thread with each car I go to look at, though.
 
I know you haven't go that much but I was just looking and it's mad that you can get a V10 diesel Toureg for £8500.

If you can stretch to mid £6k there's early XC90's as well.

There's all different ages of Mitsubishi Shoguns as well and a Legacy Outback would be good if you could find one.
 
Moglet
I'm off to look at cars next weekend but here's the shortlist so far;
-Subaru Forester 2.0 (non-turbo) Auto: Good condition, full service history but pretty slow for a Forester. The turbo one I wanted has been sold. :(
Click to expand...

As a car for crappy roads and crappy weather, that doesn't handle like crap, A Forester is a good choice. Been trying to kill mine of for years so i can replace it, but it just won't fail it's MOT no matter how much i ignore looking after it.

Not sure how much power the auto zaps, or what difference it makes to how it tackles snow, mud etc (don't think the auto has the high/low ratio box that the manual does which does make life easier) but even with a lowly 125hp, you'll not be embarrassed in normal traffic.

Just don't expect much better fuel milage then your RX8 out of it though!
 
Clark
I know you haven't go that much but I was just looking and it's mad that you can get a V10 diesel Toureg for £8500.

If you can stretch to mid £6k there's early XC90's as well.

There's all different ages of Mitsubishi Shoguns as well and a Legacy Outback would be good if you could find one.
Click to expand...

I've just found a very nice 2005 2.5 SE Legacy Outback for £4,500 and it looks tidy for the year. It's at the same garage as the Forester so I'll take a look at that at the same time. They've also got a 3.0R Outback in stock just to tempt me further. :lol:
 
How big/small are you wanting this thing to be?

If you're prepared to go bigger there are almost certainly plenty of Toyota Landcruisers in your price range. They go on pretty much forever and they're oddly satisfying to drive in a wafty kind of way.

For something smaller that isn't a RAV4 or CR-V, how about the Mitsubishi Shogun Pinin? Arguably a better-looking car than either (really is just a scaled-down Shogun), manual or auto options, easily has the ground clearance for light off-roading and should be fairly reliable. Probably not amazing to drive but apart from the Forester, few of the above will be anyway.
 
homeforsummer
How big/small are you wanting this thing to be?

If you're prepared to go bigger there are almost certainly plenty of Toyota Landcruisers in your price range. They go on pretty much forever and they're oddly satisfying to drive in a wafty kind of way.

For something smaller that isn't a RAV4 or CR-V, how about the Mitsubishi Shogun Pinin? Arguably a better-looking car than either (really is just a scaled-down Shogun), manual or auto options, easily has the ground clearance for light off-roading and should be fairly reliable. Probably not amazing to drive but apart from the Forester, few of the above will be anyway.
Click to expand...

Actual vehicle size isn't too much of an issue but it does need to take our luggage for mainland trips and 3 cats in carry cases at the same time, so it would be nice to be able to store a fair bit.

I like Landcruisers but there are only 2 of them within my price range within 50 miles of the ferry (we can't go any further due to time being a big issue) and one of those is a private sale which I can't really do as I need to part exchange the RX8. The other one is under consideration. 👍

There's only 1 Pinin within 50 miles and that's a private seller, too. If I get the RX8 sold soon I'll have much more freedom to choose private sellers but right now I'm getting part exchange offers that would be just fine if I found the right car.

List so far;
Subaru Forester 2.0 Auto £3,995
Full service history, winter pack

Subaru Forester 2.0 X Manual £2,995
Service history, winter pack

Subaru Outback 2.5i SE Auto £4,495 (Possibly already sold)
No service history

Nissan X-Trail 2.5 16v Sport Manual £3,495 (Possibly already sold)
Part service history, 6 months warranty

Honda CR-V 2.0 SE Sport Manual £3,990
Full service history, 6 months warranty

Honda CR-V 2.0 Sport Manual £3,989
12 months warranty, sat nav (broken but an easy fix)

Subaru Impreza 2.0 R Sport Estate Manual - £3,999
Full service history, HID headlights, but not too good on ground clearance
 
Last edited:
Don't get a Subaru with the auto. It'll make you hate yourself. :lol:

(and my Subaru bias is tingling here) a Forester is a good option though. 👍
 
I've added a manual transmission Impreza estate that I've found within my price range and within distance of the ferry. Although the ground clearance isn't that great I figured it's worth a look. 👍
 
Last edited:
SVX
Don't get a Subaru with the auto. It'll make you hate yourself. :lol:

(and my Subaru bias is tingling here) a Forester is a good option though. 👍
Click to expand...

I have to second the opinion on the automatic - just dreadful things in the Forester. To this day I can't forget how bad and slow the automatic was in the one my father owned for a whole day before trading it back in for a Turbo Outback.
 
Azuremen
I have to second the opinion on the automatic - just dreadful things in the Forester. To this day I can't forget how bad and slow the automatic was in the one my father owned for a whole day before trading it back in for a Turbo Outback.
Click to expand...

They used the same ancient auto for awhile didn't they? Then they replaced it with a CVT.

I've been in a few third generation Legacy GT-Bs equipped with the auto, not very nice at all.
 
Are they really that bad? Keep in mind I won't be driving it quickly anywhere (there's nowhere on the island where you can, really) and I'll be doing a lot of crawling through town traffic very slowly. I'm currently using a Kia Picanto auto as a daily and that has barely any power but the gearchanges are smooth and quick, it's made a huge difference to how enjoyable the commute is every day.

I don't need an auto but at the same time it would make itself useful more often than manual transmission would.
 
Subaru used a string of meh and ancient automatics for some time. I recall the Forester taking ages to down shift, or shift at all, and just sluggish. And this would have been in a 2006 model if I recall correctly. Paired with the relatively lackluster engine, it was just a bit too much for me to handle.
 
Looking at videos online the Outback certainly takes a while to shift, even when using the tiptronic mode. I'll take it for a drive and see how it feels. Thanks for the heads up, though. 👍
 
Plus the upkeep costs of either of those will be insane. If anything I'd also like to get something that doesn't quite drink fuel like the RX8 does, I'll be covering a few more miles in this car.

EDIT: Added a manual transmission Forester complete with winter pack for just under £3,000
 
Last edited:
SVX
They used the same ancient auto for awhile didn't they? Then they replaced it with a CVT.
Click to expand...
Yep, they used the 4EAT until about the 4th generation Liberty I reckon and even then only the sports models had a 5-speed auto, the 5EAT which was replaced by the Lineartronic only a couple years ago.
 
I've already been in touch with the guy selling all the Subarus and he's a really good guy, and has said it's fine to take the time to test various cars and transmissions. 👍 He seems to only have auto Outbacks in stock at the minute which is a shame.
 
Wow you guys weren't kidding, the auto boxes are dreadful :( I ended up disliking both the Forester and the Outback simply because the suspension was too hard but the auto box made the Outback a definite no go. I ended up buying a 2004 Honda CRV SE Sport, which had a sat nav system fitted and although it doesn't work at the minute I'm fairly certain I know how to fix it. I pick it up next weekend but here's a photo of it outside the dealership, complete with broken headlight washer that they're fixing before I pick it up!

d0ma.jpg
 
Last edited:

Latest Posts

Back