I was unsure what to get next, I had enough money that I had quite a selection of cars available to me. I could get another Mazda 6 but my budget would only stretch to a higher milage car, I could get a mondeo, a passat, a Skoda or something similar but they to would be higher milage. Higher milage was something I’ve never being to worried about, my ZX had done 170k miles, the 205 around 120k and newer cars were much more reliable – or so I thought. Turns out that with all the emission requirements on modern Diesels they had become less reliable at higher milage especially if they did not get a regular long run. I was being told that at around 100k miles you would need a new dual mass flywheel/clutch (£1000) and a new particulate filter (£1000). This is why there were so many cars around this age on the market, cheap to buy today but could get very expensive in the near future.
I also missed the size of the Xsara and ZX, the Mazda was great to drive, it did not feel like a big car but whenever you parked is always stuck out a bit. Time for a rethink – but what? I wanted something reasonably powerful, comfortable, now I was not doing lots of miles each year economy was not so important and something a little smaller. Many cars fitted these requirements but I had being spoilt by the Mazda, it had cruse control and climate control both of which made it to my must have list. If I excluded the high milage diesels, this narrowed the choice of cars to around zero! What to do?
A mechanic friend suggested I looked at a Kia. Seven year warranty, excellent reliability, good trim levels. Not a car I would ever have entertained but I’d have a look.
I found a five year old 1.6 petrol C’eed 3 with 80k miles at the Kia dealer in Milton Keynes. It’s been a long time since I went to a dealer, in the past they have never been great and always left my feeling bad, this was not an experience I was looking forward to!
How things have changed, Ollie the sales guy was fantastic, no pushing, brilliant, a fantastic experience. Took the car out for a test drive, very nice, not as quick as the Mazda but quick enough and had all the bells and whistles I wanted.
Deal done! So my new car is a Kia Cee’d. five years old and still with a manufactures warrantee. Over the last five months I’ve gotten used to the difference in power, put a better stereo in (with proper bluetooth) and am enjoying the car.
It is probably one of the best put together cars I’ve owned, no rattles or squeaks and everything works as is should.
A Kia – who would have thought!
