New Home for the Zed

[Faheem]

Realise that most will have come here thinking I'm selling my zed but luckily I'm not. The fun has only just started.

So after months on a waiting list I finally managed to secure a council garage for the zed to sleep in. As I'm not a council tenant the cost is slightly more but still works out to about £30 a month. Garage came fitted with some shelves and a bar with some foam padding on the side to avoid door dents when opening drivers door.

Fortunately there seem to be a few nice cars parked in the garages - so far I've seen a 350Z, a Fiesta ST and a fancy Chrysler using the garages so security, fingers crossed, shouldn't be an issue.

Wanted an opinion on what could be done for power, using things like a basic light - preferably LED and maybe a polisher and a drill. At first I thought of a generator but as the garage sits beneath houses I think I'll become a public enemy. I've heard about using a leisure battery but not sure if that would work?

This also means that it's time for me to choose a new daily driver. I've been considering a polo 1.4 tdi for some time now, the same sort that @GazHyde has or the model after but I'd like some more recommendations. Ideally looking for something that is
- Cheap on fuel, road tax and insurance (As I am still a fairly small child)
- Between £1000-2000 so that I don't have to worry about where I park or how often I wash it.

Cheers.

 

[PHILIP BAXTER]

Nice one Faheeem. She looks at home.

 

[Brian4]

Hi @Faheem glad you have finally moved in and looks to be a bit of room to move around.

Some of the modern generators are pretty quiet so could be fairly neighbourly. Small cars no help.

 

[raymond]

Honda Jazz. 54 mpg on petrol engine, Japanese reliability and with rear seats folded down can carry body panels for the Z quite easily.

 

[Jack Ratt]

I used to have a council garage when I had my first car. It cost £6 a month, sounds cheap but I was only taking home £13.50 a week as an apprentice at the steelworks.

I was lucky in that my garage was quite close to our house, and I just used an extra long extension lead to give me some power.

 

[t-tony]

Nice place to keep you car mate and work on it too. Honda (petrol) gennies are whisper quiet but not cheap. Might be worth asking other garage tenants what they use ?

Tony.

ps. Don't know if you'll get a 107 or a C1 for your small car budget. Great little cars

 

[Shelly]

What a lucky Z to have a lovely new home

 

[DavidM]

Good news on the garage - what time does the Bar open? On a serious note - you could always sound proof the garage?

 

[Faheem]

Thanks @Brian4, I'll have to look around for some, there's a fair amount of room though, enough to walk around the car and maybe polish it whilst it's in the garage. Luckily our zeds are small cars compared to the modern equivalents.

@t-tony A bloke at work has a 2008 C1 and we were talking about exhausts the other day, he's had his replaced already, in less than 10 years! Over the years the reliability of the cars has probably improved significantly but there's still a little part inside of me that wants something German or Japanese. Simply because of the reputation for reliability and build quality they've held over the years. You're right about the generator though, I will have to ask around

 

[Faheem]

Anyone have any experience with a Yaris diesel?

 

[t-tony]

Anyone have any experience with a Yaris diesel?

If it's high mileage , leave it alone. Actually, leave Diesel's alone mate.

Tony.

 

[Grumps]

Anyone have any experience with a Yaris diesel?

A work mate has an 07 1.4 diesel Yaris with 150k on it. He used to be a driving instructor hence the mileage. It serves him well with nothing more than the usual where and tear items.

 

[5harp3y]

Why are you looking at diesels specifically? How many miles do you do a week in your daily?

 

[Nodzed]

Anyone have any experience with a Yaris diesel?

I've a chased a Yaris or two

 

[Nodzed]

You could consider the battery powered tool route, not a cheap outlay but you can get DA's drills, angle grinders lights etc etc all powered using the same type of battery, my mate has one of the best stocked double garages I've ever seen for tools and even though he has mains he mostly used Makita battery stuff and includes metal saws and grinders etc. unless he is doing heavy duty work. just a thought.

 

[Tfp]

Be carful buying a diesel car in that price range.

My experience is that they often only come up for sale when there's a big repair bill the owner doesn't want to pay.

For that budget I'd be looking at a more lightly used petrol car.

And avoid anything with the Ford Tdci diesel engine, seen so many that have been running rough and cost a small fortune to get running right. Those engines go in some Peugeots, Volvos, Jag X-Types, as well as Fords.

 

[Faheem]

@5harp3y I do about 250 miles a week. Diesels are really cheap on fuel especially because most of my trips are quite lengthy. Hard to find a petrol as efficient that falls into that price bracket.

 

[Tfp]

@5harp3y I do about 250 miles a week. Diesels are really cheap on fuel especially because most of my trips are quite lengthy. Hard to find a petrol as efficient that falls into that price bracket.

But you must factor in potentially expensive repair bills for diesels.

A £1000 repair bill soon ruins the running costs.

Some examples of expensive things that can go wrong.

1. EGR valves

2. Injectors

3. Turbos and oil feed pipes

4. Pumps

5. Fuel lines

6. Dual mass flywheels total failure (beware a rattle at idle that goes away when the revs rise) or a Tdci engine that's recently had a new starter motor (the filings from the failing dual mass can drop into the starter motor)

 

[5harp3y]

@Tfp has beaten me to the punch, the mileage savings can be eclipsed by a fault with a diesel

250 miles a week is only 50 a day which yes a diesel will be better on fuel but the repair costs are much higher on diesels when they go wrong. Even the injectors can be £500 each etc as they are so high tech.

Also, and don't take this the wrong way, on your budget you will be struggling to get something that isn't going to cost you money in the long term

also the diesels you might get into will do say 50mpg
but a small petrol will easily do 40mpg so the savings wont be huge

250 miles at 50 mpg in a diesel will cost £26.04
250 miles at 40 mpg in a petrol will cost £32.59

i'd rather spend £6 and drive a petrol knowing that it has, no DMF, DPF, Turbo, High Pressure Injectors etc

i'd be looking at

Honda Civics
VW Polo
Suzuki Swifts
Nissan Micra

all bulletproof, relatively well equipped and can be had with less than 50,000 miles for under 2k

 

[Faheem]

As there is no power I had to resort to using a 50w LED floodlight which plugs into an inverter that I've purchased and the inverter goes straight into an old 12v battery. Left the light on for an hour and the consumption of battery life was negligible. It has two sockets so I can use a drill or polisher should I want to.


The brightness is more than enough to do most jobs with the garage door closed.

Unfortunately don't have any better pictures.

Next on the agenda is a work bench. Not sure whether to build one (as my carpentry skills are absolute rubbish) or buy one second hand.