Oscar the Auris

[PuntoHowTo]

the Allegro was not a bad car to drive it was actually decent and reliable. Apart from terminal rot of sills floor fuel tank and axle mounts and suspension that needed constant pumping up it was a decent runabout. Oh and the way it got rid of oil was off the scale. I never did work out where it went to

Not forgetting looks that Even a mother would have a hard time with, and the square steering wheel on the earlier ones and aside from all those things and your list of problems….. it wasn’t a bad car

 

[StevenRB45]

To be fair I think you made the right call, i know we talked about other options but the VAG cars can be expensive these Toyotas are under valued and if you only want to throw mud Children and all manner of crap in them, and do that till the thing dies then you want to do that as cheaply and efficiently as possible. It will be interesting to see what replaces the C3

I sent you a nice Leon FR ST 1.4t on a 66 plate if memory serves.

I'm sure it would have been great but it was 12 grand and change...then whatever it cost to get it into a condition I'm happy with, tyres, service, brakes, timing belt etc.

It had a similar black, on grey, on black on charcoal interior. Boot space wise they are slightly bigger seats up but smaller seats down which suggests the rear seat itself is closer to the fronts.

It would have absolutely done me...and had android auto but I just wouldn't have got the extra 30% of value out of it I don't think as already it would have been more expensive to run at a baseline level even before we get to relative likelihood of one or the other breaking.

At this point I really need to convince the wife we need a new Panda to replace the C3 I think...I want one anyway. It's too small to be an only car but for commuting should be canny.

 

[PuntoHowTo]

At this point I really need to convince the wife we need a new Panda to replace the C3 I think...I want one anyway. It's too small to be an only car but for commuting should be canny.

I would have thought the new panda is going to be pretty much the same size as the C3 you have now ?

 

[StevenRB45]

I would have thought the new panda is going to be pretty much the same size as the C3 you have now ?

It is, but when I was originally car shopping I was going to be replacing one car with one car. Now we've got 2 cars again smaller cars are back on the table for none child related things.

Also if I'm shopping in 2 or 3 years should be some nearly new used ones kicking about.

 

[StevenRB45]

So this is not an update as I've updated nowt...

But did a full multi trip day out in it yesterday actually the first proper run out it's had since it's been all sorted.

Most of my longer distance seat time in this was while it had unbalanced wheels, and or knackered alignment and the poundshop tyres on it. Since the new tyres in November it's done 1k miles mainly round the village or to the shops etc.

Yesterday it got 2.5 hours driving around Northumberland on roads ruined after winter following the sat nav. Mixture of A1 and little roads over the fields once in the general area.

So in the Quarry at Craster...mmm black and winter roads gotta love it.

I'd decided not to update the nav but it was absolutely spot on round Northumberland (the road layout hasn't really changed since the Romans left so being 8 years out of date doesn't affect it at all). So updating so it can be trusted around town centres is back in my mind. Just because it's nice to have the directions between the Speedo and rev counter and not have my phone on a cradle on the dash.

Other than that absolutely uneventful, rode the bumps well, no rattles underneath, stable in the wind, quiet on the cruise other than little bit of wind noise around the front pillar/mirror. It was bought to beat to death but unfortunately I think I quite like the car.

That and the tailgate lip being low at the rear means if you want park like this:

You can then open the boot, sit with a 6 year old with some bags of crisps...and watch the tide come in and destroy your sandcastle.

Character? No.

Fun? No.

Absolutely fit for purpose? I believe it may be.
Also if you aren't going round the doors it uses fuel like a 1.2 supermini. Nearly 47mpg apparently while doing this.

My initial plan for this car was a stop gap while baby was a baby and while my wife was on maternity and it being nice didn't particularly matter it just needed to be reliable and large for a few years anything after that was a bonus. But at this point I'm rooting for it, if we have it 5-8 years we and it shall have many adventures.