mgcvk

I'm hanging on to my 2003 blobeye as it runs fine, is worth bugger all and I've spent a lot on it over the years. I lug a lot of gear and gazebos to events and if I can't get hold of a work pool van have tended to use my wife's Citroen C3 hatch. She is now getting a 2nd hand Fabia Montecarlo in good nick and I don't want to abuse it......exploring the mapping options for it though!

Looking at 2nd hand Foresters as I could keep my all my gear in one. Budget would be sub £1000. Seen a few on auto trader. Anything particularly to look out for apart from the obvious service history, cam belts done etc?

mrmarc

iTrader: (6)

Check the windows all work ok. The front ones can be problematic and not that easy/cheap to fix!
Other than that its pretty much the same things to check as the impreza.
Oh and self levelling rear suspension can fail and like for like replacements are expensive. Most folk just install pedders struts. That said I believe standard impreza struts fit too!

legacy_gtb

iTrader: (3)

As they see more mire than imps ive seen alot with pretty shot rear subframes.

And just so you know, if its for lugging stuff and doesnt need the off roady capability the the load space in a legacy is noticably longer. Im 6'5'' and can sleep in the back of a leggy but theres no chance in a forester.

A 2005ish 2.0 comes in at budget and they drive well.

mgcvk

Thanks for tips. Yes Legacy might be a consideration too, certainly for space. I spend lots of time working on nature reserves as well which might make Forester useful. I'll have to look at insurance costs and road tax as well though probably similar.

legacy_gtb

iTrader: (3)

If you do look at that year leggy, the 2.0r and re are higher insurance than the 2.5, but the 2.5's head gaskets go.

If it's got a dual exhaust the y piece wrots.

Foresters Suprisingly good off road on the right tyres, but legacy's get most places too if asked.

FYI an outback is a the longer legacy chassis with suspension lift to near forester height.

All good cars.

DAN@ADRIAN FLUX

Hi,
If you need any help with insurance at all then please feel free to drop me a line.
Regards.
Dan.

mgcvk

Ah right thanks Dan. Can I ask a general question? I have maximum no claims I should think. However, is it right that if I am insuring a second car for myself I would be starting from scratch or do most insurers now do a multi car type deal?

Jonnys3

You start from scratch on the second car, even if it's part of a multi-car policy. We went with Admiral when we moved to a multi-car policy but you can only apply your no-claims bonus to one of the vehicles on the policy. The other vehicle starts to accumulate no-claims over time as if it were a single car policy. You have to weigh up the costs of insuring both vehicles separately against a multi-car policy - sometimes it could be cheaper to insure on separate policies versus a multi-car policy.

We bought a 2005 Forester X last year to lug all my wife's crafting gear around (gazebo, stands etc.etc.). As already mentioned, front windows can be problematic. The passenger window on ours stopped shutting short of all the way - I managed to resolve this by re-lubricating the window gearing mechanism; ours already had the pedders struts fitted to the rear as a replacement to the failed auto-levelling suspension. Also, a few months after buying ours, the oil sump started leaking through a small area of corrosion which ended up being a costly repair, so it's worth removing the plastic undertray (if it has one) and checking out the state of the sump. Oh, and the boot locking mechanism can corrode and fail - there's no way of opening the boot from inside the car as a failsafe. Ours became intermittent so I had to remove the boot door card and spray the lock liberally with WD40 - it's been fine since.

Other than that it's been great - so much so it's now the wife's preferred car and she's getting rid of her mini to use it as her only car. And the roof rails (and bars which I had to purchase separately) have proved to be a god-send.

mgcvk

Thanks. Good advice. Insurance is prob going to be dearer than I at first thought but I will be saving miles and wear and tear on the other vehicle.

pauld37

I just started a multi car policy with Admiral and they mirrored my Kia NCD to my Impreza

Vxr2010

i find A plan thatcham very good they mirror the ncb as i have a number of cars all modded

mgcvk

Interesting. I'm with Keith Michaels will give them a call.

mgcvk

I can confirm that Keith Michaels will also mirror the no claims on a 2nd vehicle which is helpful.

DAN@ADRIAN FLUX

Although we do not do a traditional multi-car policy (each vehicle would have to be insured on it's own policy) we do give discounts for having multiple vehicles insured through us.

We can also mirror NCD to give introductory discounts.

Regards
Dan