Hi all!
I've just become an Almera owner!!
I'm an IT engineer and for the last 20+ years I've had company cars, doing around 40k miles each year....
After crashing my last company car twice in three months, the second crash writing it off (3year old Fiesta 1.4 TDCi 82k on the clock), the company was keen to get me off the company car scheme....
They lent me £3k, and I looked around for a small efficient diesel car with a towbar fitted ( I tow a caravan...)
Everything in my proce range had astronomical mileage alrready, not ideal if I'm going to rely on it for at least 3 years, and possibly 75k more miles....
And then I spotted WEJ.. a dark blue 5 door 55 reg 2.2 DCi SXE with 50.7k on the clock on a well known auction site for £2.1k... 50k at nearly 10 years old??
Went to have a look.... not pristine but really tidy... turns out it had lived on the IOW for most of its life, hence the low mileage.
PO promised a fresh MOT, which it passed, so I collected it yesterday.
200 miles into ownership, and I'm pleasantly surprised.... Managed 52mpg on the 60 mile run home, without really trying... Done some town work since , but she's still showing an average of 48... And by Christ does that engine pull!!! Goes like a train, it's gonna cope well with my caravan!
Downsides? The worst is a little steering wheel shimmy at around 70, but I bought it knowing it will soon need a new front trye, so a good wheel balance when I repalce the tyre should fix that....
Other issues include, CD stuck in player, driver's window rattles when open, near side rear electric window doesn't work. All relatively trivial to fix.
So all in all, I'm a very happy chappy!!
I'm going to be doing most of my own servicing etc, so have become a paid up member to get access to the manuals etc, but it's unlikely you'll see me at any events.
But nice to be on board!!
Matt
I've just become an Almera owner!!
I'm an IT engineer and for the last 20+ years I've had company cars, doing around 40k miles each year....
After crashing my last company car twice in three months, the second crash writing it off (3year old Fiesta 1.4 TDCi 82k on the clock), the company was keen to get me off the company car scheme....
They lent me £3k, and I looked around for a small efficient diesel car with a towbar fitted ( I tow a caravan...)
Everything in my proce range had astronomical mileage alrready, not ideal if I'm going to rely on it for at least 3 years, and possibly 75k more miles....
And then I spotted WEJ.. a dark blue 5 door 55 reg 2.2 DCi SXE with 50.7k on the clock on a well known auction site for £2.1k... 50k at nearly 10 years old??
Went to have a look.... not pristine but really tidy... turns out it had lived on the IOW for most of its life, hence the low mileage.
PO promised a fresh MOT, which it passed, so I collected it yesterday.
200 miles into ownership, and I'm pleasantly surprised.... Managed 52mpg on the 60 mile run home, without really trying... Done some town work since , but she's still showing an average of 48... And by Christ does that engine pull!!! Goes like a train, it's gonna cope well with my caravan!
Downsides? The worst is a little steering wheel shimmy at around 70, but I bought it knowing it will soon need a new front trye, so a good wheel balance when I repalce the tyre should fix that....
Other issues include, CD stuck in player, driver's window rattles when open, near side rear electric window doesn't work. All relatively trivial to fix.
So all in all, I'm a very happy chappy!!
I'm going to be doing most of my own servicing etc, so have become a paid up member to get access to the manuals etc, but it's unlikely you'll see me at any events.
But nice to be on board!!
Matt
