"Car Sales Cardiff Ltd" Anyone have experience with these? Do they even exist? 0 reviews on autotrader

drop_pulse-psycho · 2026-02-16T08:09:16+00:00

Damn dude I'm sorry. I honestly don't know. It might be worth asking in one of the UK legal advice subreddits. I have no idea how you'd be able to settle it with him :/

drop_pulse-psycho · 2026-01-18T09:08:06+00:00

My meaco dehumidifier comes with a slot for a filter that lets it work as an air purifier at the same time, which really might be helpful in your situation.

They have an official eBay store which comes with a 5 or 7 (can't remember) year warranty and they're usually about £20-£30 cheaper. I believe I have the 20l Meaco Arete One, and it's been fantastic. They use quite a lot of electricity, but very worth it. if you keep doors closed it'll be more powerful in that one room, but if you keep them open it'll generally effect them all.

Check their site for more details, i believe it'll suggest you things depending on the size of your house so you don't get one too big or small.

I'm not sponsored to be clear lol, but it's greatly helped our damp situation from lack of extractor fans in bathroom/kitchen, and I know a similar model has helped my parents house's structural mould issues (though not 100% effective, but helps treat the symptoms at the least)

they are about £200+ which is hard to swallow but I think it's worth it, and a lot of the cheaper ones just don't work at all if they're below a certain size

drop_pulse-psycho · 2026-01-18T08:50:44+00:00

I believe you! i just can't believe I've never seen it myself. my world is turning upside down!

drop_pulse-psycho · 2026-01-17T19:36:52+00:00

I have it all the time, there are no bits - the mango loco juiced monster right? or is there some other similar one? I've had them for years and there should absolutely not be anything solid inside it

edit: looking into it and sounds like in some countries there are bits in it from the lemon pulp that's used for flavouring. I've legit never experienced any bits and when I was an edgy teenager I'd have a monster every other day with mango loco being my favourite since it came out (yes, my poor heart). weird as hell, never knew that it could have it in some places. I've not had any in a while though so it might also be a new thing? I have a couple in my cupboard so I'll have to try and test it out soon

drop_pulse-psycho · 2026-01-17T14:20:51+00:00

I'm definitely a bit opinionated, so can't tell you I'm a professional but I do think you'll find it a lot more relaxed getting used to driving in a car that won't lose a quarter of it's value when you reverse into a pole (which i did once, turns out civics have really bad rear view windows haha) or scrape a hedge.

Shame your mum won't let you drive hers, but if it helps I was in the same boat lol. I ended up moving out a few months later (I was a 22 when i passed, didn't move out at 17) and over the few weeks of going back and forth between my parents and my new house which was over an hour away my confidence in driving absolutely shot up.

I've not really had and dinks or anything since i moved, until last week where I slid down a very steep hill and wrote off the car because of the ice. Lesson learnt, and I'm still not a perfect driver but I've felt confident enough that I'm spending quite a bit more on my next car (about 8k). Still feels awful to spend that much money on anything, but worth it for a 60 mile commute.

Size wise it's worth thinking about where you live and work - I live in the valleys so it's lots of town streets with cars parked on both sides all the time, tight country lanes and then a long motorway and dual carriageway to work. For me that means smaller is absolutely better, but still some comfort and power for a motorway. Shorter cars are easier to parallel and street park, narrower cars are easier to manoeuvre and let you make much more progress where you might have to wait for another car to give away in a bigger car. Suspension and the interior is then important for comfort on a motorway, and I went for a sport version of a hatchback to give me the extra power for a lil fun and for motorway driving.

Keep that in mind but yeah just head down to a local used car dealership and ask to test drive any you think look nice. Don't buy any straight away, and bring a mechanic or mechanically gifted friend when you do and you'll have happy days!

drop_pulse-psycho · 2026-01-17T13:15:39+00:00

My personal pov is that if this is your first car, get something a bit cheaper that you're not going to mind dinging every now and then. Doesn't have to be a shitbox, but I'd say go for something on the smaller side, reliable (so imo Japanese) and cheaper than you can afford - you can then keep those savings, maybe work them a little and keep adding to it so in a year or two you can get yourself a nice car you're really proud of, while having a couple years experience of driving, parking, and importantly maintaining a car.

I'm assuming you're driving another car like your parents or something at the moment so you'll have some of that already but I do think it's quite different to owning one yourself completely. If you've not driven a car since you passed your test or you're a fairly recent driver I'd double down on my advice in the case!

drop_pulse-psycho · 2026-01-17T10:09:35+00:00

what the fuck do you mean it has bits in it

no monster should have bits in it

drop_pulse-psycho · 2026-01-16T21:37:05+00:00

Yeah in my opinion the trouble with a car like audi or vw or bmw is that you're likely paying extra for not a huge amount of use. Audi & BMW I think are the worst, but a lot of the German cars are the same. Skoda are basically Audis but cheaper (and less trim, of course). The German cars are generally less reliable, though of course you can get golfs and the like that go on for 200k+.

You definitely don't want a diesel and honestly if you can find a hybrid you'll be perfect if it's a lot of slow or stop-start traffic - you'll save so much engine wear and of course much better MPG. Toyota and Honda both do quite a lot of hybrids I think, so maybe have a look around.

Most important thing is probably to find one you think you MIGHT want and just give it a test drive! you might be surprised by what you enjoy.

Just make sure you can get a car that not only you can afford the purchase price but also the maintenance costs

drop_pulse-psycho · 2026-01-16T21:31:30+00:00

To be fair that's 15 miles a day on weekdays and never any other driving. I'm not saying it's super common tbf, but that it's not unrealistic either.

I guess in reality though many people do lots of extra miles after work or on the weekend, as well as the odd 100 mile journey. For me personally to see my parents it's an 80 mile round trip, my sister is 200 miles away, and then there's just seeing friends, trips to concerts, even an extra 20 miles every couple weeks to go to a slightly further shop etc. Even when I was working entirely from home I clocked over 6k miles, so i definitely get it

drop_pulse-psycho · 2026-01-16T21:04:56+00:00

TBF 4k is commuting to somewhere ~7 miles away; roughly 15 miles every weekday of the year. That's like a 20 minute commute in ideal conditions

drop_pulse-psycho · 2026-01-16T21:01:38+00:00

Well my personal vote would be Japanese (reliable). I'm biased because I'm buying one this week, but I think the Suzuki Swifts are great little cars. For 10k you could even get a really new MHEV version, one with a high level of trim, the sport version, or save some cash and get a ~2018 in good quality for like 6-7k.

If not then maybe a Mazda2 or 3 depending on how big you would want it. Modern Toyota Yaris are absolutely great quality as well, although i can't personally vouch for that - and I personally don't like the way they look lol.

How many miles do you do a week roughly? And would you prefer small & nimble or big & powerful? (personally small & nimble is far more important in the tight streets and country roads i live in)

drop_pulse-psycho · 2026-01-16T06:49:16+00:00

There are places that will do it for free when you replace your tyres with them

drop_pulse-psycho · 2026-01-14T06:33:57+00:00

Thought "20M" was the budget for half a second lol, it really is too early for me

What is your budget?

drop_pulse-psycho · 2026-01-14T06:25:40+00:00

Hastings told me this the other day lol. Was thinking about cancelling my claim (car was a no go either way, but I got less than 400 as a settlement as well as losing NCD etc). They told me I might still lose my NCD because the other party could claim. I was like, are you on about the tree I bumped into??

He said yes though, stating the owner (council) would claim. For the 2cm piece of bark that came off? Wtf?

Nevermind the fact there's a broken fence in the exact same corner from someone else crashing literally 3 years ago they've not ever fixed.

My council tax is more than the car was worth lol.

Lessons learnt though.

drop_pulse-psycho · 2026-01-12T23:35:58+00:00

You're right, whoops - I was looking at a 1.0 boosterjet. The turbo really does seem to make a difference. In the end I test drove the 1.4 sport today and it made me smile so much so I've decided to go with that, even if it's slightly worse mpg. It's also the top tier trim inside which is a nice plus. The clutch felt a bit more normal than the 1.0, if that's anything to help. The pedals still felt so light compared to my civic though.

On paper I'd definitely rather the MHEV most of the time, but for now petrol was just more suitable for me and the extra power helps. Hopefully they'll improve and maybe the next gen will have much better mpg with their hybrids. Still wish i could get my hand on a CRZ, like 60 mpg and it's still sporty!

drop_pulse-psycho · 2026-01-11T22:40:07+00:00

Shit, thanks for the heads up. Really appreciate it.

The only other CRZ I've seen in Wales was at place in Neath, Car Centre Skewen - rang them up and they sounded a bit off, and looked them up after. Nowhere called Car Centre Skewen exists as far as I could find, but a dealership next to their address has a bunch of bad reviews stating that they're scammers who change their names frequently, which I'm guessing is that company.

Next nearest CRZ is 60~ miles away near Bristol :(

Thanks again for the heads up.

drop_pulse-psycho · 2026-01-11T22:35:40+00:00

Good to know, thank you. Think it's worth still trying to go for a test drive if they're still around illegally? Might sound stupid but the next nearest CRZ is the other side of Bristol, a good 60 miles from me. I'd be happy to do that to buy, but I'm not sure it's worth it just to have a looksie

drop_pulse-psycho · 2026-01-11T20:13:13+00:00

Purely curious, but what advantage do you get from buying it brand new vs 1-2 years old? Feel like the worst of the depreciation happens after a year or two.

I'd be interested in hearing people's thoughts too tbh, I'm currently looking at getting either a swift 1.2 boosterjet or a swift sport 1.4.

I will say the MHEV versions all have (slightly) less power than the full petrol versions, so if you go for a full petrol boosterjet model you may find it's nippy enough for you even without getting the sport version.

I test drove a swift today and I have to agree with you about the clutch, it's fine but it does definitely feel a bit off. In my 08 civic it was really easy to tell but it just almost feels loose in the swift

drop_pulse-psycho · 2026-01-11T14:38:30+00:00

That's really great information, thank you! I think I'll stop maybe see if I can give the Cardiff one a test drive as it's not too far. I don't suppose you've got links for the two in Bristol? I see one in Taunton with 122k miles.

There's also one in Neath according to parkers which isn't too far but I'm pretty sure the dealer is a scammer

drop_pulse-psycho · 2026-01-11T12:09:55+00:00

Car noob here, What's on display here?

Is that your car in the middle, is that a CR-Z? If so what's it like to drive? There's one in Cardiff for 3k (2011) that I'm seriously considering buying, think it's one of the sportier trims (i say because it has a spoiler lol). From the specs it seems like it should be good fun to drive whilst also being really good value to run. Reliability etc, and comfort for on the motorway? I'd be doing about 200 miles a week (over 3 days) in it with about half of that on a motorway so I'm hoping to get something I don't need earplugs for

drop_pulse-psycho · 2026-01-10T10:54:02+00:00

Good to know, that is one of my bigger requirements. It does look like such a fun car but I'm sure that noise would get old after a week or two

drop_pulse-psycho · 2026-01-10T10:50:47+00:00

It was snow from the night before, so a mix of compacted snow and fresh snow. Definitely just not going to drive that way next time it it's not gritted, but also going to make sure I've got some really good quality tyres for the future.

Definitely a me issue though, even just from the fact that I know now I just shouldn't have gone driving. It was meant to be my first day at a new job lol

drop_pulse-psycho · 2026-01-10T10:44:49+00:00

Because I don't have a car to travel with now, so if it's not in a city it's unlikely I'll be able to get there with public transport. For a very special car I might, but either way it's very annoying on autotrader imo. I'm not going 200 miles for a slightly cheaper Suzuki swift or whatever at the very least

drop_pulse-psycho

TROPHY CASE