Looking at buying a new car

[eliotcole]

NGL ... I've had a couple of hairy moments in my '79 928 (LHD manual) over the past month or so ... but the benefits of such a lovely machine have far outworn the occasional laryness whilst turning in the cold / wet / both. 🤩

 

[John Bennett]

NGL ... I've had a couple of hairy moments in my '79 928 (LHD manual) over the past month or so ... but the benefits of such a lovely machine have far outworn the occasional laryness whilst turning in the cold / wet / both. 🤩

Was the 928 a Chase HQ thing?

Edit: from the days where Porsche dared to make stuff that wasn’t just distorted variations of the 911

 

[Bods]

Chase HQ was a contributing factor why I like the 928 guy top of my road had one, don't know if he still has, I did like the old 911's too

 

[John Bennett]

I'd say SCI made me want a 300ZX, but having worked on a couple, it doesn't.

 

[Stokers]

I'd say SCI made me want a 300ZX, but having worked on a couple, it doesn't.

I still want a 300zx.. if you can find one that hasn't been ruined by mods.

Apologies to the owner of this if he happens to be on ukvac..

 

[John Bennett]

There's the odd nice one and they haven't gone up in price quite like others have from that era, but the amount of 80's/90's tech packed into a rust-prone, heavy bodyshell is terrifying. Good engines, mind you but it's absolutely rammed in there. You'd either have to dedicate large amounts of spare time to working on it, or chuck a fortune at a specialist, if you can find one.
When I say 'worked on', I dismantled a couple to rob the bits for our 200sxs, including the V6TT engine

 

[eliotcole]

The 928 isn't exactly blessed with any spare room with the V8 up front 😩

 

[patloz]

That's a lot of money for a wet belt change 😲.
One thing to watch for is if the new price is over 40k and it's not an EV, you get a whopping luxury car road tax bill until it's over six years old.

I love my Peugeot 508 PSE and a used one has probably devalued into that price range now, but it's a bit fragile and silly for general use.

The £40k expensive car tax applies to all vehicles over £40k list price including EV from 1st April, same as all EV will have to pay RFL from 1st april also.

If you have an EV retax it in March ( even if you still have tax on the car ) to give yourself 12 months tax FOC.

 

[patloz]

This is true.

They write to me quite a lot - telling me to bring the car in for a security update. The problem there is (or so they tell me) that the more secure they make the car, the more they then have to charge me for a replacement key.

The car has 13,000 miles on it. It went on for its 10,000 mile service June last year. £550. That was for an oil change and a couple of filters. They must be getting close to being able to give their cars away, what with what they're making on servicing.

JLR need both keys to do the security update, if you only have one they wont do it, the update is the reason why keys are so expensive as you cant just program a key once the update is done, as was the case prior.

 

[patloz]

Chinese brand BYD will be one of if not the biggest EV and plug in hybrid retailer in the UK within 24 months, their plan is to launch 2 new models every quarter for the next two years, they have gone from zero to 70+ dealers in less than 12 months and have 5 models available now.

Chinese manufacturers are light years ahead of the rest of the world when it comes to EV battery and hybrid tech, they can also build them for a fraction of what the Europeans and Japanese can do, makes a massive difference financially when they make every part of the car themselves bar the glass and tyres and pay their workers £400 ish a month for a 6 day week.

BYD make a huge range rover style hybrid with 1200 PS which spins on the spot and can go across a lake for no good reason, called the U8, they also make the U9 which is a carbon fibre EV hyper car which can jump as it drives along, shows they aren't scared of taking on all the competition from Ford to Ferrari.

Keep your eyes open for them.

 

[Vorbis]

They need to stop calling them things like the seal or the sea lion and they might stand a chance.

Not sure why they think naming vehicles for the road after fat blubbery marine mammals is a good idea. Their marketing team must be run by an utter twat 😁

 

[John Bennett]

The £40k expensive car tax applies to all vehicles over £40k list price including EV from 1st April, same as all EV will have to pay RFL from 1st april also.

If you have an EV retax it in March ( even if you still have tax on the car ) to give yourself 12 months tax FOC.

Wow, I hadn't realised EVs were getting the £40k surcharge too .
Doesn't look retrospective, at least.

Chinese brand BYD will be one of if not the biggest EV and plug in hybrid retailer in the UK within 24 months, their plan is to launch 2 new models every quarter for the next two years, they have gone from zero to 70+ dealers in less than 12 months and have 5 models available now.

Chinese manufacturers are light years ahead of the rest of the world when it comes to EV battery and hybrid tech, they can also build them for a fraction of what the Europeans and Japanese can do, makes a massive difference financially when they make every part of the car themselves bar the glass and tyres and pay their workers £400 ish a month for a 6 day week.

BYD make a huge range rover style hybrid with 1200 PS which spins on the spot and can go across a lake for no good reason, called the U8, they also make the U9 which is a carbon fibre EV hyper car which can jump as it drives along, shows they aren't scared of taking on all the competition from Ford to Ferrari.

Keep your eyes open for them.

I remember they were in the news for having enormous subsidies from the Chinese government.
I'll have to read up on the battery tech. I had it in my head that battery tech was pretty much a global knowledge thing as manufacturers get their batteries from places like LG, Samsung etc, but maybe China's got ahead?

I wonder if during all his EV and eco bashing, Trump realises that China's going to clean-up and take the lead in electrification as they step back. Things have changed a lot. He's probably so short-sighted, he doesn't care.

 

[Bods]

They need to stop calling them things like the seal or the sea lion and they might stand a chance.

Not sure why they think naming vehicles for the road after fat blubbery marine mammals is a good idea. Their marketing team must be run by an utter twat 😁

I mean they could just go with names like Adam or Zoe

Don't even want a Chinese made Extension Lead so I definitely don't want a Chinese car. I have nothing against Chinese people just to be clear.

I bought a trolley jack for the car, from UK company thinking It might me made here, how stupid as I found exactly same one Halfords sold also and from China which started leaking after a few years, even stuff made in Taiwan in the 90's was better as the cheap small trolley jack I bought is still fine after 30 years and I've had Korean made TV, Cassette, Radio Alarm from mid 80s that still worked fully even tape deck 40 years on, never been repaired.

The Chinese car take over was pointed out on Top Gear years ago and everyone laughed at it without even thinking about the consequences

 

[Bods]

I still want a 300zx.. if you can find one that hasn't been ruined by mods.

Apologies to the owner of this if he happens to be on ukvac..

it's another epic looking Car from the rear like 928 and Corvette C4-6

 

[Bods]

Don't know what it is but I really like Cars. Pickups with the Make or Name I was going to say Embossed but looking it up its also Debossed as in many cases

So like old Ranger with big FORD on back and Hilux with TOYOTA and then the Debossed PORSCHE on 928, CORVETTE C5 and Honda Integra debossed into the rear Bumper, all vehicles I really like and something I always found really cool

 

[patloz]

Build quality of the BYD product is in line with Jaguar and Audi in my opinion , they are aware the reputation of Chinese products is they are made of lego bricks and stick together with spit so have made sure the build quality surpasses everything else on the market at the price point and the spec is all there, they have no optional extras list

They haven't learned less can be more yet with regards to in car technology and the operating system is Android based so it can be easily get over complicated with the openness of the platform where in Tesla its far more minimalist and proprietary which I prefer but having driven a Tesla for 5 years and then driving a Seal for a month the BYD is a much better all round car, the door handles are a bit annoying popping in and out and the tech is clunky as I said before, the Tesla App is much better than the BYD one but that will change.

BYD have been around for 30 years and have only just entered the European market, don't be fooled thinking they are new to this and will fizzle out (like a lot of the latest wave of Chinese cars that have launched in the UK recently ) , they are the biggest producer of plug in vehicles in the world and intend to have a 10% market share in the UK within 12-18 months, considering Vauxhall and Ford are sitting around 5% each and VW at 8% its a bullish shout.

I agree the names aren't ideal,( Dolphin, Atto ,Seal, Sealion, Shark ) and I have no idea as to the fascination to aquatic life and I don't even like the BYD "build your dreams" manufacturing name but compared to YangWang, Jaecoo and Omoda it doesn't sound so bad!

I am hoping they decide to import the U8 and U9 and then I will have one as a company car and be a happy Panda.

 

[John Bennett]

I mean they could just go with names like Adam or Zoe

Don't even want a Chinese made Extension Lead so I definitely don't want a Chinese car. I have nothing against Chinese people just to be clear.

Western companies have had stuff made in China for a long while to good build quality, so it was inevitable wholly Chinese-made stuff would end up being competitive.
We just also have a desire for cheap knock-off goods too, which they can also provide.

edit: I love my Peugeot, but the build quality is well flakey, so BYD wouldn't have to try hard to beat it..

 

[kingtreelo]

o im getting the super tax thrown at me when it arrives, but in fairness, we will probably be paying per mile by then, so it wont make a difference as everyone will be getting shafted

 

[patloz]

Can’t you get it registered in March even if you can’t collect it ?

Will save you best part of £2.5k over 5 years ( if you keep it this long ) cars registered in March over April will also be slightly more desirable on the used market

 

[kingtreelo]

Can’t you get it registered in March even if you can’t collect it ?

Will save you best part of £2.5k over 5 years ( if you keep it this long ) cars registered in March over April will also be slightly more desirable on the used market

i collected it on Saturday, so its taxed until Feb 2026