I’ve just returned from a spin on Lake Como, in the small village of Magreglio above Bellagio, i spotted this nice S280 Merc, still with its '74 Milan plate. A true time capsule, with the typical light brown. of the 70s
Needless to say that at that time was one of the cars that i lusted over most. For the record behind the corner there Is also the Nicola Romeo’s villa where the family came from Milan on holiday
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just picked up our new 2nd car. 2025 honda civic hybrid hatchback sport touring. pretty quick, drives beautifully, very comfortable, very well made, reasonably priced. oh and almost 50 miles to the gallon.
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I’ve owned one for eighteen months and can’t fault it.
Good to drive, quick and over fifty to the gallon.
Even Clarkson admitted it was a good car.
My only gripe is at my age it’s a bit close to the ground.
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Today: another MOT pass sail-through with flying colours!
Celica will be 20 years old next month but going better now than ever since been in my decade of ownership, it drives so well 
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A ‘proper’ Mercedes.
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Indeed!
My wife’s skoda octavia just became un-economic to repair. Needs some sort of new 4x4 mechanism, the cost of which is probably twice the value of the car. So we need a new one.
We had already been considering changing it, but hadn’t reached a conclusion, but what is really bugging me is how few dealers return calls. You’d think that if I was calling saying - I need a car, quickly that they would be motivated to give me a call back. But it’s not happening. At this rate our new car choice will be dictated more by the dealer’s willingness to talk to us.
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I’m probably missing something here but would you not go to the dealers to have a look?
Whatever is the issue with the Skoda is likely to be cheaper than a new car but obviously if you want a new car regardless then go for it.
I don’t have any cars made this century so my advice may not be current 
Tbh my post was a moderate whinge more than anything, a bit of venting at the internet:)
Usually when I just turn up at a dealer - im asked to make an appointment and come back. Not always, but it does seem a bit like no one is interested at the moment.
The skoda is worth about 2k, the repairs are about 6k and I strongly suspect we’d need to do some more in the near future. So it really would be cheaper to replace with another cheap car. However I am being tempted into something nicer.
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Depends what you’re trying to buy perhaps.
If an EV of some sort, it’s fine. Otherwise main dealers may struggle to supply a car with an ice just now as manufacturers aren’t sending them out for fear of being fined for not selling a high enough percentage of EV’s!
I’ve seen something more recent from Robert Forrester in Bloomberg saying this is now happening but I can’t find it!
My Ford Kuga phev lease is now a 2000 mile and re-order car, was previously 3000 and before that 5000 miles. OEM,s are struggling to balance these new regs out amongst a population that does currently want an EV of any sort……even one with an ICE as well.
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Hope you are enjoying the LBX @LSLFAN - swapped my 2017 Subaru Outback for a sliver LBX Takumi AWD last month. Still getting my head round all the tech but very much enjoying it so far. Enjoying the somewhat smaller footprint and the very much more frugal engine. CarPlay has been a game changer too.
Glad you like it. I am loving mine, my first hybrid/automatic and not missing the gears one bit.
Took me a while to get used to all the tech too and the automated messages (some of which are a bit annoying) as well as the electronic brake options but it’s a lovely ride, very comfortable and quite classy imv.
Have received quite a few compliments from my neighbours so I guess that’s a good sign.
Have fun!
Peter
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We did a 2000 mile road trip all around the UK coast over 2 weeks in our For2 without issues
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I doubt you could do that here, we have pot holes bigger. 
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Websites like Arnold Clark, and others, have hundreds of S/H, nearly new, and pre registered new cars. Worth a look imho.
The obvious things to decide early on are: what type of vehicle do you want and what’s your budget. There’s plenty out there, new and used, but I doubt many main dealers in the U.K. will be chasing you if your budget is small and you don’t know what you want to buy anyway. Once you’ve narrowed your search I would look at reviews (plenty online, YouTube, etc) to identify specific makes/models/years. After that a chat with a dealer might be useful. Another place to look to get a feel for the market is Autotrader. Their website has thousands of used cars on it so it would give you an idea of prices and availability.
As mentioned above, if you opt for a new EV then there appear to be good discounts available now as manufacturers strive to reach mandated sales targets.
That could tow your house to a better suburb. 
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When we lived in the U.S we had been used to 2 litre car in-the U.K…….U.S neighbours said that was the size of a soft drink to chug at a football match😂
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