Do you remember your first car? What make was it? Was it new or second hand? Roughly at how much did u buy it? Are there any lessons you have learnt in the process? What are your regrets? Your words of advice to would first time car owners is?

Well,I am looking forward to spinning my first car in Dec,09. I am looking for something that can move me around. Not gisty! Not expe! Second hand! Probably a vehicle written off,after an accident,then I can remake it. Any suggestions? Well,I am budgeting with something not more than 200K for the vehicle! Any suggestions would be welcome!

But you shall remember the LORD your God,for it is He who is giving you power to make wealth,that He may confirm His covenant which He swore to your fathers,as it is this day. Deu 8:18

@eli,

try your luck here with these funjots....njung'e can give you some tips

http://www.homesandmotor...d_car&submit=Submit

I shelved my plans on April to acquire one after I was given such advice as @ Fundamentali. My budget was as that low but the difference between You and I,is that i wouldn't have considered it as my first car rather as a means of transport. Im topping up my savings to see if as well whether the rubber can meet the tarmac come Dec

This is fun,you remind me very far! I bought my first car at 200K and sold it at a profit 5 years later at 215K!

I remember one time it stalled and refused to start,and I was heading to the office in the morning. Damned thing made me smell of petrol all over!
After looking around and trying in vain,some passers-by offered to push it.
It didn't start,so we looked inside the hood and in a few minutes one of them noticed a flooded caburetor! We opened a small screw at the base and drained away some petrol. The car came back to life!!
I tell you after a while with that car,I could do service of the car on my own. I had spark plug spanner! The only thing I couldn't do was the breaking system!

My wife still misses it! Whenever she sees similar car on the street,she says 'look,like our old car!' And I just smile and say 'where?'

My first car was a Datsun 1200,make 1993. It was such a super car.
In all long trips I made with it for three years before I bought my second car,it never broke down. Including my wife ferrying pishori rice from Mwea to Kangemi.

@eli,if you try this,you'll really want to see it all.

AKS

@ Eli
bro dont go for accidented car. Because If panel beating is not good you will face many problems. I e water coming in or leaking during rains,Dust coming in while travelling on rough roads,making different noises etc etc. Go for toyota second hand . Or nissan.

good investor,but poor in mathamatakos.

You can actually get a used car at a low price but you need to take to caution the following: 1) Don't buy anything above 200,000km on mileage,anything between 150K kilometres to 200K maybe reasonably priced. 2) Be patient and look far and wide. Go to Jamhuri Park on Sundays and visit the place more than one Sunday. Dont fall in the sales man trap,take your time. you will get to see good and bad ones and get to see the different prices one them. 3) Visit www.carsurvey.org for car reviews 4) Be open minded; Toyotas are not the only good cars,especially if you are looking for a low priced car. think of Peugeot 405,BMW,Mercedes 190E and the like,Daewoo Cielo,Golf the older type although some of them can be problematic,Hyundai,Mitsubishi Lancer like those on the KAG,AH to AL range,etc 5) In case you think of any car,get a reliable mechanic,even if it means paying them to check for you the car's condition. You could also ask them to check around for a good budget car on sale. 6) Remember,a second hand car will always be a second hand car and cannot perform like new; even if you imported it from Japan,it will still have issues,even if its mileage is 10,000km only. Cars at different stages in their life time will have certain components that require attention. For example,at 20,000kms you may need to replace the head guskette,spark plugs and maybe tyres,when it clocks 50,000kms you may need to replace bushes,tie rods,shocks,etc. When it clocks 100,000kms you might have to replace the water pump,clutch system,hub,bearings etc. At 150,000kms you are now talking about drive shaft,may be an engine overhaul,or may be not depending on the car's quality,..Basically as the car ages,more things get worn out naturally. A car that is not well taken care of has more problems than one that is well kept at old age. You will discover that some of the cars I have mentioned above do not wear out as quickly as others that we know,although their resale value is low and that is why you could get a well maintained Peugeot 405 (120,000kms) at as little as Ksh200,000. All the best

the voice of reason

My first car was a Mini Morris,bought at Kshs. 80,000.00. You can see how naive I was. After fitting 4 engines; some sourced from scrap yards as far away as Eldoret and Nakuru,and having acquired an oral diploma in Mechanics ( most of my Saturdays were spent in garages along Outer Ring Road) I threw in the towel or should I say spanner. I then bought an insurance recovered car - Uhuru Isuzu. It was stolen with a third party cover stuck to it. Just before I decided to marry,I imported a sleek E91 G grade from Japan. It was plucked from my flat parking on the 3rd day. You guessed right,third party cover. I was traumatized to the bone. This time the Mini is just chilling in the parking with a wry grin on its face.

I got married,bila chums and bila mots. My wife confides in me that she had this dreadful feeling that I was probably a man who had run out of luck. Lucky I changed jobs and got a company car and a serious salary increase. I was now parking a brand new 406 in my parking and I felt like the full man. I sold that Mini so fast it didn't know what hit it. After spending almost KShs.220K (yes two hundred plus ngwanye's) I flogged the junk for KShs. 29K.

If you want to enjoy your first car,be patient enough to get a good car otherwise your motoring experience will cost you a leg and an arm. I have a Toyota EE111,that I bought for my wife in 2003. It’s just sitting at home coz we got another car last year. If you are interested you may pop over and have a look. 0721240627.


As a man thinketh so is he

@ Poggie

LOL,quite refreshing what you have written,but am sure you had your share of difficult times with your mots. Pole ndugu.

Am a fan of Peugeots,right now am operating a 405,I really like it. Tell me,how is the 406? Good and bad.



the voice of reason

@ Poggie

Yours is full of humor!

@ Eli

By all means import a car from Japan. I wanted to buy a used local but the potential con artists were too many! I searched for ownership records at KRA for a toyota saloon car that I really wanted to buy,but alas...the registration record were for a lorry!!!

Try import a car of 400K or so and you may be better off than with a write off!


Zama za Kengen IPO.... zama za mali

Nunua nissan sunny b12.......look for a KAJ series...it was the last locally assembled batch and those cars will give you absolutely no bad experience except for bushes which you have to change like pampers.......all those other 'segeneni' vehicles are porojo tupu for a new car owner

then after you have known a few mechanical tricks you can start looking for your dream car.......

If you have money that you expect to start using in five years,it now belongs in stocks.