Replacement car time
On Wednesday I was just heading from taking Laura to work back to my own office, when the car died on me. Suddenly - I was halfway round a roundabout, and had to coast to the outside. Attempts to restart it failed; the engine would turn over but nothing happened. So I put the hazard lights on, sat by it in the sun, and
waited for a tow. It was a lovely sunny day, there are certainly worse times and places to break down.

Today I rang the garage, and discovered that it was a cambelt failure. No clear quote to repair, but it'll certainly be more than £500 and possibly as much as £900. Given that I only paid £900 for the car, four years ago, I think it makes no sense to repair it but rather to get a more modern one.

I'd been thinking of this for a while, since before the MOT earlier this month. What I want from a car is something large enough to carry stuff around in, but small enough to park. It's possible to fit a bike in the 306 if you put the seats down, which I've done quite lot. I've also carried furniture in there,
and it can seat 3 adults in the back in reasonable comfort (which I've only done once). I also want economical but with a reasonable level of vroom. Cost-wise I'm not sure. The relationship between cost and quality, murky at the best of times, is particularly shaky when it comes to cars. I've always favoured having a cheap car to avoid worry, but I'm prepared to spend more if I can be convinced of the benefits. Then there's the possibility of spending a bit more on a statusmobile or vroom machine.

Thoughts? Suggestions? :) I'll be looking around this weekend. At the moment I'm leaning strongly towards buying an updated version of the same car: Peugeot 306