URL: exchangeandmart.co.uk
Exchange and Mart sell a lot of other stuff besides cars, but they have a fairly substantial number (~90,000) of used cars for sale. 39 Peugeot 406 Coupés were listed.
The basic search facility for the page allows you to do a free-text search, which is useful as it allows you to add only those terms which are important, i.e. "Peugeot 406 coupe 2.0 blue leather". You can also narrow searches by clicking on the various options for manufacturer and model, and to further filter the results according to price or location.
The advanced search is more powerful, allowing you specify a range of options including the price, the age of adverts, fuel type and transmission. Unusually, more than one combination of model and manufacturer can be included in a single search, and min/max mileages and prices can be entered as free text rather than selected from a pre-set list.
Two cars caught my eye, both 2.0 SE's from 2000. One in silver, for sale privately, 80,000 miles for £3,500; the other red with 73,000 for £3899. Both come at the top of the ranking system I've created to help me make a decision - more of this anon.
Overall, the Exchange & Mart site is pretty good, but it is let down slightly by the number of vehicles available. For more common cars, they've probably got enough [A search for a Ford Focus within 20 miles of my home found 72 cars] but for a rarer beast like the 406 Coupé a larger supplier base is required. For comparison, Autotrader claims 365,000 cars on-line, of which 188 are 406 Coupés.
Tuesday 27 February 2007
Thursday 22 February 2007
Web Site Review: Trovit Cars
No real news to report, other than that I did manage to meet potential future boss #1. It turns out he was waiting for me to get back to him, so I've confirmed that I'm interested in the job we discussed. Hopefully things will move on more quickly from here.
I thought that I would post a few thoughts on some of the websites that I've been perusing over the last few weeks.
URL: cars.trovit.co.uk
A site index rather than a site as such, which I normally find very irritating. Trovit have one useful feature though - they group the cars by various categories and allow you to restrict the search by clicking on the appropriate options. They also show how many cars are in each category (price, fuel, no of doors, mileage, fuel & transmission), which I found very useful. The data collection engine seems a bit flakey, though, as it hadn't captured the mileage or transmission of any of the 406 coupés that it found.
Most of the cars found were actually listed on 'preloved', 'gumtree' or on Ebay. The one car that caught my eye, a 2001 2.0 SE at £3980, was actually advertised on Preloved, but I also found it on Autotrader when I looked more closely.
I think the site might be a UK implementation of an American site, as it had mileages in km (the Yanks seem to think that everyone in Europe uses kilometres), but sorted fuel types into 'diesel' and 'gasoline'. Strange.
I thought that I would post a few thoughts on some of the websites that I've been perusing over the last few weeks.
URL: cars.trovit.co.uk
A site index rather than a site as such, which I normally find very irritating. Trovit have one useful feature though - they group the cars by various categories and allow you to restrict the search by clicking on the appropriate options. They also show how many cars are in each category (price, fuel, no of doors, mileage, fuel & transmission), which I found very useful. The data collection engine seems a bit flakey, though, as it hadn't captured the mileage or transmission of any of the 406 coupés that it found.
Most of the cars found were actually listed on 'preloved', 'gumtree' or on Ebay. The one car that caught my eye, a 2001 2.0 SE at £3980, was actually advertised on Preloved, but I also found it on Autotrader when I looked more closely.
I think the site might be a UK implementation of an American site, as it had mileages in km (the Yanks seem to think that everyone in Europe uses kilometres), but sorted fuel types into 'diesel' and 'gasoline'. Strange.
Thursday 15 February 2007
Car Finding
No news on the new job front yet, so I'm reduced to idly browsing through the various car-sales websites looking for good deals. I'm not getting too attached to any particular car, as I don't want to buy anything before I know for sure that I need it.
I've found two cars that meet the following criteria, so this is likely to be a target for what's available when I'm actually looking to buy:
I've found two cars that meet the following criteria, so this is likely to be a target for what's available when I'm actually looking to buy:
- 2000 (X) or newer
- 80,000 miles or less
- Not much over £3,500
- 2.0 engine
- no sun-roof
- Cloth seats
- Not black, green, yellow or dark gray
Friday 9 February 2007
First look
Well, I managed to sneak out between meetings yesterday to have a look at a car. It was the first time I'd been in a 406 Coupé, and very nice it was too. There was too much snow and not enough time to take it out for a test drive, but I was mainly concerned with the size of the passenger compartment.
The car was a 2-litre SE version, on a 2001 'Y' plate. 64,000 miles on the clock. All the nice toys inside, including electric seats with position memories, climate control and sat nav. One tiny ding in the rear wing, but otherwise in excellent condition. £5,500.
Notwithstanding the fact that this car was a full £2,000 more than I'm hoping to pay, there were a few bad points:
Firstly, the electric seats are a groovy gadget, but we had to get a battery-booster before we could move them to allow me to get in. I didn't check the arrangement, but it wasn't clear if there is another mechanism for sliding the seats forward to give access to the rear seats. I imaging that there must be, otherwise getting anyone in and out would take forever, and be impossible in the event of an accident. Having to hold a wriggling infant whilst inserting the keys into the car and then waiting for the seat to move would be unacceptable. I should have checked, really.
Secondly, the leather. I'm sure that there are a lot of benefits to leather seats, but I'm not sure that I'm convinced. All things being equal, I think I'd prefer a nice cloth. We shall have to see what SWMBO thinks.
Finally, the all-important issue of headroom. This particular car had a sunroof, which lowered the inside of the roof by quite a bit. With the seat tilted right back, I wasn't banging my head on the roof, but I'm not sure that it left me in a very good driving position. I don't know if the sunroof was a standard fit on the SE model; I'm fairly sure that it wasn't on the earlier 'S'. I shall have to pay more attention to the adverts on Autotrader.
The boot looks cavernous, with a lot of space under the parcel shelf that would be hard to reach and useful for the storage of a sizeable LPG tank. It's quite low, though, and I don't know what would fit.
The car was a 2-litre SE version, on a 2001 'Y' plate. 64,000 miles on the clock. All the nice toys inside, including electric seats with position memories, climate control and sat nav. One tiny ding in the rear wing, but otherwise in excellent condition. £5,500.
Notwithstanding the fact that this car was a full £2,000 more than I'm hoping to pay, there were a few bad points:
Firstly, the electric seats are a groovy gadget, but we had to get a battery-booster before we could move them to allow me to get in. I didn't check the arrangement, but it wasn't clear if there is another mechanism for sliding the seats forward to give access to the rear seats. I imaging that there must be, otherwise getting anyone in and out would take forever, and be impossible in the event of an accident. Having to hold a wriggling infant whilst inserting the keys into the car and then waiting for the seat to move would be unacceptable. I should have checked, really.
Secondly, the leather. I'm sure that there are a lot of benefits to leather seats, but I'm not sure that I'm convinced. All things being equal, I think I'd prefer a nice cloth. We shall have to see what SWMBO thinks.
Finally, the all-important issue of headroom. This particular car had a sunroof, which lowered the inside of the roof by quite a bit. With the seat tilted right back, I wasn't banging my head on the roof, but I'm not sure that it left me in a very good driving position. I don't know if the sunroof was a standard fit on the SE model; I'm fairly sure that it wasn't on the earlier 'S'. I shall have to pay more attention to the adverts on Autotrader.
The boot looks cavernous, with a lot of space under the parcel shelf that would be hard to reach and useful for the storage of a sizeable LPG tank. It's quite low, though, and I don't know what would fit.
Wednesday 7 February 2007
Size Matters
I spoke to Alan at Essex LPG. He tells me that the standard spare-wheel-well tank is 60 litres, and that in-boot tanks can go up to 90. If I really want the range I can do what he's done to his Xantia and fit both, giving a total capacity of 150 litres. This would cost £300 or so extra.
Autogas tanks only fill to around 80% of nominal capacity, so this would allow 120 litres (26 gallons) of fuel to be carried. At 25 mpg that's 650 miles.
I'll be doing up to 110 miles a day, so the 60-litre tank's 265-mile range isn't too great. The question is whether it's worth forfeiting the boot space to have a 90-litre tank and a 400 mile range. I'd also still be able to carry a spare wheel in this configuration, although I've only ever used a spare on the road once in the last 300,000 miles.
I'm still hoping to see a car tomorrow, although the one I mentioned here has disappeared from the dealer's website. I'll try and judge the amount of space a 90-litre tank might take up.
Autogas tanks only fill to around 80% of nominal capacity, so this would allow 120 litres (26 gallons) of fuel to be carried. At 25 mpg that's 650 miles.
I'll be doing up to 110 miles a day, so the 60-litre tank's 265-mile range isn't too great. The question is whether it's worth forfeiting the boot space to have a 90-litre tank and a 400 mile range. I'd also still be able to carry a spare wheel in this configuration, although I've only ever used a spare on the road once in the last 300,000 miles.
I'm still hoping to see a car tomorrow, although the one I mentioned here has disappeared from the dealer's website. I'll try and judge the amount of space a 90-litre tank might take up.
Monday 5 February 2007
Realistic Pricing
Thursday's euphoria on having potentially saved over a grand on the conversion costs for the car began to wear off over the weekend as I realised that it was all too good to be true. I e-mailed Essex LPG to ask for a specific quote for a 406 Coupé.
The answer came back that they could do it for £1550. No indication as to whether this is inc- or ex-VAT, or as to why this is so much more than the indicative prices on the website. I suspect that the website gives installation prices only, not including the kit itself, but it's not clear that this is the case. Their e-mail also mentioned that they have a few options on different sized tanks. If I'm going to be doing a lot of mileage in this car, a bigger tank and a extra miles between fill-ups might be worth paying for.
On the plus side, I've found a likely-looking car at a used-car dealer in Essex. I've got to travel to Chelmsford on Thursday, so I'm going to go and have a poke around it, if it's still there. It will be good to have a sit inside, although I certainly won't be parting with any money right now.
The answer came back that they could do it for £1550. No indication as to whether this is inc- or ex-VAT, or as to why this is so much more than the indicative prices on the website. I suspect that the website gives installation prices only, not including the kit itself, but it's not clear that this is the case. Their e-mail also mentioned that they have a few options on different sized tanks. If I'm going to be doing a lot of mileage in this car, a bigger tank and a extra miles between fill-ups might be worth paying for.
On the plus side, I've found a likely-looking car at a used-car dealer in Essex. I've got to travel to Chelmsford on Thursday, so I'm going to go and have a poke around it, if it's still there. It will be good to have a sit inside, although I certainly won't be parting with any money right now.
Thursday 1 February 2007
Good news!
I mentioned in an earlier post that I'd had a price of around £1800 inc VAT for converting my car to run on LPG Autogas. It seems like a lot of money, but when you're looking at saving £600 for every 10,000 miles driven, it's still worthwhile. It did, however, blow a bit of a hole in the £5000 I'd mentally set aside for buying and converting the car.
I've had a bit of a better search around the web this evening. The LPGA (the UK association for all things relating to Autogas and LPG) have a helpful website, which lists all the approved converters in the country. I've sent a few e-mails to local places asking for quotes, but Essex LPG Autogas Conversions say that they can convert a Ford Mondeo for £200 and a C-Class Merc for £400. They're a fair distance away, but for a £1400+ saving I'm not going to complain.
Now, do I reduce my mental budget back to where it should be, or do I plough the whole lot into a more expensive car? Answers on a postcard...
I've had a bit of a better search around the web this evening. The LPGA (the UK association for all things relating to Autogas and LPG) have a helpful website, which lists all the approved converters in the country. I've sent a few e-mails to local places asking for quotes, but Essex LPG Autogas Conversions say that they can convert a Ford Mondeo for £200 and a C-Class Merc for £400. They're a fair distance away, but for a £1400+ saving I'm not going to complain.
Now, do I reduce my mental budget back to where it should be, or do I plough the whole lot into a more expensive car? Answers on a postcard...
Don't you just love technology?
I hate IT sometimes. Especially when I'm doing things that I don't really understand, like editing the styles on this blog or working with PhotoShop.
Today I've been doing both, trying to create the lovely picture of the car that you see to the left of this page. All I wanted to do was to take the orignial picture (pinched from the web somewhere) and make the background transparent.
Somehow it took an hour.
Today I've been doing both, trying to create the lovely picture of the car that you see to the left of this page. All I wanted to do was to take the orignial picture (pinched from the web somewhere) and make the background transparent.
Somehow it took an hour.
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