[iainmd]

The drawback of owning an older car but even taking a lot of these bills into account it's still a lot cheaper than repayments on a new or newer car for me.

Ours has just stung me for £1,200 for a new clutch/DMF and split intercooler pipe, £150 to replace the radiator support bracket as it had rusted away to nothing, £550 on Volvo's usual defective windscreen, £100 on a new undertray, £100 on a replacement suspension arm and track rod end.

A few months before I had to replace the 4 glow plugs as one or more had failed.

So all-in-all that's over £2k spend in a couple of months on repairs for a car worth half that. Yes, it's a bit galling frankly but considering I used to get rinsed with £650 a month in tax to drive a 3 series as a company car it's still decent value sad to say.