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Any idea what year newly made cars stopped being fitted with a CD player? Was discussing with friends this morning

As in cars that are available in the UK

i must have been one of the last people to convert from cassette to CD (in my 1993 peugeot)

my current car (2012 skoda) has a CD player.

CDs are as digital as I have got when it comes to music...
 
i must have been one of the last people to convert from cassette to CD (in my 1993 peugeot)

my current car (2012 skoda) has a CD player.

CDs are as digital as I have got when it comes to music...
I can remember having a 2014 car with a CD player.
 
Or
A list of 'old man with a few quid" cars 😁

There's surely a gap in the market for cars with vinyl record players in them. Or maybe the target audience would all be riding fixie bikes, and have no interest in cars. :D
 
:)

the aforementioned peugeot had reached the stage where its value was starting to increase again until some bastard nicked it...

out of curiosity, a web search to see what they are fetching now, found that there's a couple of photos of it on the interweb, one taken when it was parked at some bus event I had been to at a visitor, one where it was parked near the control point of a bus event i was running

 
Hello car nerds. We’re thinking of getting a wheelchair accessible vehicle. Budget is £3k to £5k, which gets cars of the 2010s vintage you would expect.

It won’t be used all that often, but might occasionally be ordered to travel to scenic places in England or even France. If it is slow and horribly cumbersome to drive, so be it. We have an electric Jag for any journey which doesn’t need mobility kit at the other end, so we are spoiled for fun, torque, and keeping up with the Joneses.

Based on mechanical reputation, then. which of these vehicles, which show up on Autotrader with the requisite WAV conversions, is least likely to be a lemon? Zafira and Doblo are the ones most likely to be in price range and not too much over ten years old.

Vauxhall Zafira (very common in price range)
Peugeot Partner (quite common)
Peugeot Expert
Fiat Doblo (very common)
Renault Kangoo (quite common)
Fiat QuBo (none in price range though, maybe it replaced the Doblo)
Kia Soul (none in price range)

I think this is a bangers question, but please tell me if it needs to be in another thread, I don’t do much car talk on here. Don’t really care about them as much as my wife does.
 
I'm not sure what you mean by wheelchair accessable. Am I right in thinking you mean a car you get the wheelchair into the boot of a car?
 
I'm not sure what you mean by wheelchair accessable. Am I right in thinking you mean a car you get the wheelchair into the boot of a car?

No, I mean an MPV or little van that has been professionally converted: floor lowered, ramp and winch fitted, rear sear or seats removed so the wheelchair drives right in. Usually called a WAV by converters, hirers and sellers.

There are quite a few around second-hand because so many older powerchair users spunk their PIP on getting a new Motability conversion, then die.

I have a car boot scooter already, but it’s uncomfortable for prolonged use and over anything but glassy smooth surfaces, and even though it splits into two halves, it’s a bugger for Mrs Loom to lift into the boot. There are hoists designed for car boots that might solve that last problem, but it wouldn’t address the wider ones.

The WAV conversion should be irrelevant to whether a Zafira or Doblo is more likely to go horribly wrong in its mid-teens, and what counts as high mileage.
 
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For my money, the cars you list are all much of a muchness. If the Zafira's are common in price range that's probably where you will get the best bargain and good availability of spares.
 
Consensus is always nice to see.

The Zafira also has a shorter wheelbase than the boxy little vans. It doesn’t look as if it should, but it does. And that’s good, given that it must need another car length behind it for the ramp and chair access.

Edit: whoops, wheelbase isn’t the same thing as length. :oops:. The Zafira is longer. But there’s not all that much in it.
 
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Hello car nerds. We’re thinking of getting a wheelchair accessible vehicle. Budget is £3k to £5k, which gets cars of the 2010s vintage you would expect.

It won’t be used all that often, but might occasionally be ordered to travel to scenic places in England or even France. If it is slow and horribly cumbersome to drive, so be it. We have an electric Jag for any journey which doesn’t need mobility kit at the other end, so we are spoiled for fun, torque, and keeping up with the Joneses.

Based on mechanical reputation, then. which of these vehicles, which show up on Autotrader with the requisite WAV conversions, is least likely to be a lemon? Zafira and Doblo are the ones most likely to be in price range and not too much over ten years old.

Vauxhall Zafira (very common in price range)
Peugeot Partner (quite common)
Peugeot Expert
Fiat Doblo (very common)
Renault Kangoo (quite common)
Fiat QuBo (none in price range though, maybe it replaced the Doblo)
Kia Soul (none in price range)

I think this is a bangers question, but please tell me if it needs to be in another thread, I don’t do much car talk on here. Don’t really care about them as much as my wife does.

The Kia is probably screwed together better than the other lot. There's not much to choose between them and it comes down to the individual vehicle more than the brand or model at that price point.
 
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I'd normally say a Zafira is a terrible car, but one that's already made it 10 years is going to have most of what was wrong from the factory fixed by now and it should run another 10 easily.

Is a Verso not big enough? You could be buried in one of those and it'll still be running.
 
I'd normally say a Zafira is a terrible car, but one that's already made it 10 years is going to have most of what was wrong from the factory fixed by now and it should run another 10 easily.

Is a Verso not big enough? You could be buried in one of those and it'll still be running.

Versos do seem to get converted, but there don’t happen to be any currently on Autotrader or Motaclarity (WAV-specific site). Unless I missed one.

With what you’re saying about ten years being safe, given the erratic usage patterns in this market, is there a mileage range that feels similarly safe? There’s a 2014 1.8 Zafira with 67k miles, and that seems like a sweet spot to me. I doubt we’ll manage to put another 4,000 on in our lifetimes.
 
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Versos do seem to get converted, but there don’t happen to be any currently on Autotrader or Motaclarity (WAV-specific site). Unless I missed one.

With what you’re saying about ten years being safe, given the erratic usage patterns in this market, is there a mileage range that feels similarly safe? There’s a 2014 1.8 Zafira with 67k miles, and that seems like a sweet spot to me. I doubt we’ll manage to put another 4,000 on in our lifetimes.
The Zetec-E (which I think that is - not an expert on Fords) is reputably quite reliable. But honestly, when you get to that age things need work because they're old and not so much because of mileage. I wouldn't be more afraid of a 100k car. Though likewise 6.7k/year is enough that it's actually been driven and not sat in a field, so that's a good thing.

Actually, that's a good thought. Would be good to get the MOT history and see if it's sat about for any length of time. You can get that for free.
 
The Zetec-E (which I think that is - not an expert on Fords) is reputably quite reliable. But honestly, when you get to that age things need work because they're old and not so much because of mileage. I wouldn't be more afraid of a 100k car. Though likewise 6.7k/year is enough that it's actually been driven and not sat in a field, so that's a good thing.

Actually, that's a good thought. Would be good to get the MOT history and see if it's sat about for any length of time. You can get that for free.

And sitting about for a length of time is bad, right? One wants at least a couple of thousand miles to be added every year?

Edit - I checked the MOT record of the one I have my eye on and it does seem to have had roughly equal amounts added each year.

So, these garages which sell second hand cars nationwide with a full year’s MOT, 12 months warranty and free delivery. I assume that they make their money off finance deals and it’s not even worth trying to haggle?
 
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What make / model by the way?

Of course if my current car continues for another 7 or 8 years; perhaps even the newest cars with CD players will be too old and knackered to fit my requirements :mad:
I’ve got a Dacia duster. Had to get something with a decent boot to fit the dog and the donkey-sheep. Not a bad motor really
 
So, these garages which sell second hand cars nationwide with a full year’s MOT, 12 months warranty and free delivery. I assume that they make their money off finance deals and it’s not even worth trying to haggle?

Always worth a try, you don't know how the sales reptile is bonused. It's possible they will eat their commish on one particular car if it gets them on to the next bonus tier.

Tell them both front wheel bearings are clapped and you want five hundred quid off to sort it. If they fall for that load of shit try your arm with something else and keep going until you get a bargain or are asked to leave.

There is no room for mercy or even courtesy in the car buying game.
 
Always worth a try, you don't know how the sales reptile is bonused. It's possible they will eat their commish on one particular car if it gets them on to the next bonus tier.

Tell them both front wheel bearings are clapped and you want five hundred quid off to sort it. If they fall for that load of shit try your arm with something else and keep going until you get a bargain or are asked to leave.

There is no room for mercy or even courtesy in the car buying game.

That’s my usual approach, although goodwill could come in handy given that because the conversion aspects are very niche and need specialist maintenance, the vendor manages everything to do with the warranty - including their travel between the East Midlands, where for some reason all the conversion shops are based, and London.
 
So, these garages which sell second hand cars nationwide with a full year’s MOT, 12 months warranty and free delivery. I assume that they make their money off finance deals and it’s not even worth trying to haggle?
There's an app... trying to remember the name of it, but it scrapes AutoTrader et.al. and can report the dealer's prices over time. Like I knew I couldn't get much off our car when we bought it because it had already been reduced by £2k. I got a whole £500 just because they wanted it off the lot by then.

Edit: Total Car Check. You have to register with them to get the price history, but that part's free. You only have to pay for more in-depth stuff.
 
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