What Vehicle, Newbie questions

Jumbot

Member
Hello Peeps

Had my fair share of good and bad vehicles over the last few years, my current situation is, I know how to do he work but physically cant do owt, so I thought I would Purchase a VW Touareg 2.5 TDI good reputation its a VW should be ok, well that lasted all of two weeks, injector seals went, filled the sump up with Diesel, front diff bearings went, had the diff rebuilt and 8 hours labour to remove and refit, so you see two years later and just spent out over 1k to have a water pump replaced my theory was shot out of the sky...............................................my previous vehicles were all from the Land Rover stable, surprisingly the best one I had was a Range Rover P38, bit like Marmite!!

Did venture to an Isuzu Diesel at one point, good engine body washed away!! Tried a Chrysler Voyager 2.5TD broke that to, nice simple repair of gearbox bearings and new clutch, my Nipper is still running it!!

So my quest to find something semi reliable thats has known quirks that can easily be repaired by me pointing at what needs doing and grunting at my Son to do the work, I don't do high mileage anymore, max of about 6k a year, but I want to do it in Comfort, Have been looking at Ford and Chrysler SUV's 4X4. Stop laughing in the back!! So looking for advise, max of around 6K to spend, and do the Yank engines easy take to LPG?
 
I know where there’s a nice Chevy Astro for sale. Engines are good to have lpg out on :)

In your price range too ......... :)
 
as you are only doing a low mileage will the lpg conversion be cost effective, although i once did one for £50 using second hand parts. it was never inspected as the insurance company did not require it.
 
Thank you for the replies, I have a friendly Chap that fits LPG so the price is not to bad, we do drive across France occasionally so the LPG or GPL over there is easily got and very cheap, being from a Diesel background I would like to stay with Diesel....................But as you know there are not a lot around, as for the Chevy Astro...............................The wife says she is not going to be seen in a mobile knocking shop, no offence!! My quest continues, my wife did spot a Nitro she said was so bad looking she liked it, and it runs the 2.8 VM Diesel that the Voyager ended up with, in my opinion a good engine, although the original VM it was derived from was a Generator or Boat engine with four separate heads!!!! Italians don't you just love them.
 
as for the Chevy Astro...............................The wife says she is not going to be seen in a mobile knocking shop, no offence!! My quest continues, my wife did spot a Nitro she said was so bad looking she liked it,

Perhaps your first job is trading in the wife for one with taste! No offense!!
 
Perhaps your first job is trading in the wife for one with taste! No offense!!

Like your thinking, but second time round I found a good one !!!!!! Shame about my Choice of Cars!!!
 
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I don't know much about diesel or LPG, but I know American cars are certainly happy to do high miles. Most of the time they are just on idle, even when driving around the town. The engines are so under stressed they just keep going. Plus if you do need parts, many of them are easily sourced and parts cheaper than any UK/European car and you can probably get the parts quicker too.

My T/A has has a hard life of thrashing, after it had done around 190k miles I took the pistons out of the block, and you could still see the original honing marks in the bores, no scrapes from the pistons no wear. I was amazed.
 
Hi Jumbot
My 55 plate Jeep Grand Cherokee 3.0 CRD diesel is for sale if you're interested? It has been very reliable and had a new Lucas battery at the beginning of the year. It has electric everything, is very comfortable and has a CD/DVD player with TV and Satnav. It is in pretty good condition inside and out with about 11 months MOT. Looking for around the £3K mark but obviously open to offers. Send me a private message if you fancy a look.
 
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Well its the new year and petticoat government has taken over, thank you to people for advise and a couple of offers of cars, BUT there we are there is always a BUT, the stipulation is the wife has to drive it, what ever it is, well it has turned out to be a very modest Citroen C Crosser, 2.2 HDi Manual, sort of soft 4X4, feel free to take the wee wee, the engine is fitted to a lot of vehicles, lots of spares, and mere mortals can work on them, including my nipper, I point at what needs doing and he cracks on and does it, what I didn't tell you was, I am a retired Marine Engineer, never had a wish to drink alcohol but my liver failed, so in 2014 I had a transplant, and it was left a little late, so various bits of me fail to work as intended, hense getting a reliable car that the wife can drive, (as its based on the Mitsubishi Outlander nost should be ok?) now if Citroen and reliable can be put into the same sentence we will have to see, anyhow thanks for the advise, and I would like to pop in to see what goes on as I have a lot of time to do nowt.
 
Will you be getting a second hand car or new? Some new cars come with great warranty so you don't need to worry about spares etc... If getting a 2nd hand one, its hard to predict whats going to happen, any brand can have the rouge car that keeps getting issues. I have friends with reliable Citrons, and some have Vauxhall or Kia cross overs.

If parking in a public place, I'd vote for a smaller car, so many people done give a s*it about cars next to them and fling doors open, so a smaller car perhaps less change of getting hit, or perhaps more chance of them driving in front wards and gouging a crease down the side of your car, who knows. we see all sorts at work, handbag scratches, all because people want to be close to the cafe.
 
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