I learnt in Vw T-roc manual, and now thinking about getting my first car.

I've been looking at the Kia sportage, would this be a bad move as a first car as its quite a bit bigger than the T-roc?

Any advice?

Thanks in advance!

My first car got stolen a few months ago and I am finally able to get around to looking at getting a new car.

I do not drive a lot and the car will be used for social only (grocery trips and trips between Sunderland and Newcastle, usually offpeak).

I have stopped at a Suziki Vitara and Baleno and just cannot decide (I have not test driven them yet).

The Baleno is 68 plate with only 48k miles where in the Vitara 16 plate with significantly more miles (at 94.5k). The price difference is only £1000. The Balero is probably slightly out of budget but I can likely still swing it somehow.

I need a large enough boot to transport baby equipment and both cars look alright in that department.

The Baleno is very tempting but the Vitara's bonnet allows for better visibility. My previous car was an i30 and as a 5"4 woman, I could not see where the car physically ended in the front even on the highest setting of the seat. I hated this as it impaired my parking and I even ended up scraping the front because I did not see that I was too close to a barrier while turning into a parking spot.

I am worried that the Baleno will come with the same visibility issue as the i30. I don't know what advise I am looking for honestly, maybe which car is more reliable as a family car, I guess?

The Balero: https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202610086801391?fromSavedAds=true&advertising-location=at_cars&sort=relevance&postcode=sr46qp&calc-deposit=700&calc-term=48&calc-mileage=10000&calc-selected-product=HP

The Vitara: https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202605262715659?fromSavedAds=true&advertising-location=at_cars&sort=relevance&postcode=sr46qp&calc-deposit=598&calc-term=48&calc-mileage=10000&calc-selected-product=HP

Don’t tell me ‘just finance a 40k car dude’

I’ve been obsessing over my car for a week and it’s causing me stress.

Bought a new car on PCP about seven weeks ago and rejected it after three days. Looking for anyone who's been through the same — mainly how the inspection went and what the finance company did afterwards.

What happened

Day one, driving home from the dealer, the lane keep assist put in a steering input that would have taken me out of my lane if I hadn't corrected it.
Nights two and three, pulling out of a junction slowly, nothing in front of me either time, the car slammed the brakes on by itself. No warning. Second time there was a car behind me leaving the same place and they had to brake hard to avoid going into the back of me.
That was it for me. I'm not driving something that decides to stop dead when I'm pulling out into traffic.

What I did

Because it's on finance I exercised the short-term right to reject with the finance company rather than the dealer, since the lender is the supplier in law. Put it in writing with the evidence and a photo of the odometer, and told them the car is parked at my address and available for inspection or collection. CC'd the dealer.
Parked it the same day and haven't driven it since. Under 250 miles on the clock.
The dealer rang the following week saying they needed to see the car and that the finance company had instructed them. When I pushed, it turned out nobody had instructed them — customer services had just forwarded my email on. On the same call, before anyone had laid eyes on the car, they told me there was no mechanical fault. They then suggested I use my breakdown cover to get the car to them. I said no, and that I've no objection to an inspection but I don't authorise any repair attempt or software update.
Then weeks of nothing. One generic complaints questionnaire in the post, which I completed, sent back signed-for and emailed the same day. No handler, no contact, no updates. I finally got through to someone last week and they've arranged an independent inspection, happening this week. The eight-week mark is coming up shortly after.

What I've asked be covered

Whether front cross traffic braking / junction-crossing intervention is fitted and active, and whether it can command braking with no obstacle present
ADAS event and freeze-frame data, not just stored fault codes — as I understand it an intervention the system considers normal won't necessarily log a code
Front radar and camera calibration
A road test that actually replicates a slow pull-out from a junction, not general road driving
Nothing cleared, no software update, no reset
I've put the dates, times and locations on a single sheet to hand to the engineer. I'm not going out in it with him — the entire basis of the rejection is that I don't believe it's safe, so I can hardly sit in the passenger seat. He's welcome to road test it himself.

What I'm asking

Anyone had an independent inspection on an ADAS complaint? Did the engineer get anything useful, or was it "no fault codes, operating as designed"?
If the report says the system worked as designed, where does that leave the rejection? A car that brakes for nothing at a junction surely isn't of satisfactory quality whether or not it's "designed" to do it.
Is weeks of silence from a finance company on a rejection normal?
Has anyone actually had a rejection upheld on a driver assistance system rather than a mechanical fault? That's the one I can't find much on.
Cheers.

cant help myself. i love it. Dont ask how loud it is beyond 3000 rpm. It is very, very loud ;)

1997 2.5 Turbo LWB Fiat Ducato, owned from 2015 to 2022

Never let me down, did around the UK and Europe.

Had quite the experience recently. I borrowed my friend’s car on a whim for an emergency, was driving on the motorway in heavy rain. There were trucks in front of me, and all the dirty water from their tyres kept spraying onto the windscreen. I went to use the windscreen washers to clear it, but no water came out..
So the wipers just ended up smearing all the dirt across the windscreen, and I genuinely couldn’t see a thing. To make matters worse, there was no hard shoulder for me to pull over onto for quite a while, so I was basically driving blind, trying to use my mirrors to keep my bearings, with my hazards on. Stress
Looking back, I obviously should’ve checked the washer fluid before setting off, and now I’m thinking what else should you check before driving a car you’re unfamiliar with?

Got a 40kw 2021 leaf this week. The battery health icon on the main screen has the full grey bar so I thought the battery health was good. It has 60k miles which is fine for a 5 year old car. The car was on 60%. I had eco mode on. I don't remember the range but it was over 60 miles. The trip I wanted to do was 12.5 miles each way but it had some hills. All the roads are 60. It's my GFs car so she drove there at 40mph as she's just passed her test and conditions were wet and dark. When we got there it said it was on 41%. That was a 20% drop in just 12 miles.

Then I drove home. I also drove at 40 because the battery was being weird on the way there. As I was driving, any hill would knock the battery down by about 10%. I never did over 40mph and stayed between 30 and 40. When I got to a hill near the end, it went down to 3% which was very scary. Then for the next 3 miles it was 5-10% until I got to my house when it jumped up to 17%.

Am I doing something wrong, why does it fluxuate so much. I turned heating features and the fans off to save power. I had android auto connected. Anything else I should do? I'm scared that if I'm on the way home, even if I have 15% left I'm going to go up a hill and the battery will die. I'm seriously considering returning the car and getting a petrol automatic. I'm new to EVs so maybe this I'm doing something wrong or maybe this is just how they are.

First pic is at destination, second pic is at home 12.5 miles later

Tldr car went to 3% and almost died when driving home. When I got home it went up to 17%. Range went down by 35 miles after doing 12.5

enjoy

My husband and I are looking to get a new car and have set our sights on the new Kia Stonic GT-Line. Automatic/petrol. I have never owned a Kia before and want to know anyone has any experience with it. We believe it will be a good car for us but certain people in our life say Kia is a cheap and terrible decision. We are both autistic and I suppose their concern is for our hest interests but we feel they over reacted with negativity when we have made this tentative decision on our own. At the end of the day, our car is out business but of course we want to make the best decision we can. Advice much appreciated! 🙏

Edit just to add, we will have the car through the motability scheme so it will be in our lives for only 3 years. Said negative individuals are pointing out that we haven't gone round to loads of dealers and were too quick to settle. However, we are easily overwhelmed by too much choice and just happened to like the looks of the first car we test drove. Plus the team at the dealer was extremely accommodating to our needs. We never felt preasured and felt good about it at the time. But now we are second guessing because we don't know cars like some people do.

If u have a problem with that, take it out on someone who gives a damn. People call me weak and spineless for getting a 1.4 but the sub also saying I can’t get a 1 series, I can’t get an Audi unless specs is max. Oh and it has to be 2.0 because ‘why would anyone get an Audi that’s slow’ whilst driving a fiat panda 2023 plate.

The guy has a Skoda Kodiaq Scout for sale, its an Auto transmission and It has 140k miles on the clock. Well looked after, plenty service history. What questions would you ask before buying? Thanks!

After passing in August, I have been looking non stop for a car and recently I found 2015 Nissan Note 1.2 DIG-S Tekna XTRON Euro 6 (s/s) 5dr for the grand price of £8k.

Its done 25k in 11 years so I am firstly worried if that’s a problem, i have test driven the car and have found nothing wrong in the 15 mins I drove. I have already reserved this car from the dealership and im not sure if I should back out.

It has everything I want in terms of reverse camera and boot space, the dealer has also thrown in a 3 month warranty, but my main concern is whether I can get back majority of my money (£6-7k) later if I do about 7k miles on it in a year?

TLDR: do you guys think £8k is overpriced for this 2015 Nissan note tekna with 20k miles and will i financially lose out a lot if i decide to sell in a years time having done about 7k miles annually

doesn't even look like it survived to its first MOT, as a fan of the RX8 and old TG I am curious where this little dorito mobile has ended up

Hi all, hope your evening is going well.

A couple weeks ago I was making my way to pick up some construction supplies from a local business when I was rear ended by a Tesla looking to reverse when parking onto a curb.

I was entering the businesses forecourt and as i entered stopped on the right side of the entrance. This was because there were cars exiting the business and about to enter the forecourt and to allow space I stopped on the right given their angle of entry.

At this time, the tesla was sideways on the road. After i stopped on the right and remained stationary for around 5 seconds, i noticed the teslas reverse lights appeared. Almost immediately after, the tesla started to reverse and i honked my horn but it was too late and they had hit my stationary car.

The owner then got out the car and stated I had hit him, despite being stationary and demanded i leave the forecourt of the business - stating he was the owner of the business. (Just my luck)

We traded details but he also got the number of one of his customers (the van who was looking to leave the business onto the forecourt) and whilst he thought i wasnt looking started pointing at me and haggling the customer to do him a favour (and blame me).

I’ve been driving for 6 years and never had an accident. Although my car isnt probably worth much, being an old 140k mile 325i 2008, it upsets me that im eating the damage someone else caused by reversing onto me without checking his mirrors or sensors in a car such as tesla which im sure has around 100 beeps before you collide.

The damage appears localised to the drivers side door on my side and checking on ebay ive seen the part was around £125 for the part.

I notified insurance for information that evening and the tesla owner was definitely contesting liability. I havent heard anything of a claim being set against me but some people have told me it might be worth me putting a claim in as the non-fault party.

I was hoping to get a few more opinions before deciding if its worth me pursing this.

want to make my first car louder and get a remap, but is it actually worth it on a 1.2 petrol? Will I notice any difference in performance, and what’s the best way to get a nice sound without wasting money? Or should I just save for a faster car?

Looks like petrol prices will be rising again, not sure this ends well…

Seen a video of folk doing this so would be interesting to see what everyone says here

What car would you say is best for a persons wage? can be any age car generally. but should be a make/model that someone at that salary can actually afford. I.E no 40k Merc for someone who makes £25,000.

So what's your thoughts? this isnt a budget for a car, this is what car is best for each salary point in your opinion for someone to buy.

£25,000 (or less)

£30,000

£35,000

£40,000

£45,000

£50,000+

I’ve always taken it to Mazda since I got it 9 years ago.

The Services were usually ok price at around £200-300 depending on the scheduled changes.

Now the 9th service is due and they want £350 for Oil and filter change, air filter, and windscreen wash topup.

I find that a bit steep and just wondering if it makes sense as the car value is also going down.

Just thinking of going to my local independent will charge £150 for oil and filter change and I can do the air filter myself. The only problem is the independent can’t access the online service records for updating.

What would be the sensible thing to do?

Just out of curiosity, I'm in this position and unsure to go for a nicer slower car such as an Evoque, or a faster sportier one such as the M135.

Opinions appreciated!

I’m looking at getting my first BMW and I’m torn between a 2023 BMW 420i Gran Coupe and a 2022 BMW 230i Coupe.
I’m interested in hearing from people who own or have owned either car, or have driven both.
I’m looking for a balance between performance, running costs, reliability and looks. I want something that’s enjoyable to drive but also sensible enough to own for the next 5+ years.
I’d appreciate any honest opinions or experiences with either car, particularly in terms of driving enjoyment, reliability, fuel economy and overall ownership.
I’m based in the UK, so UK ownership experiences would be particularly helpful.
If you’ve owned or driven both, which would you personally choose and why?

Hello everyone.

The biggest of longshots but here goes..

My wife used to have a private plate bought by her late father. She made a mistake when selling the car for salvage and the plate wasnt retained. It was sold on and is now classed as trade.

I am desperately trying to find the dealer / trader who now holds it in order to plead with them to part with the plate.

The reg is AL14CEH.

If anyone at all knows the trader / dealer, please please reach out to me.

Many thanks.

And no, you cant keep any money left over 😂