New Car - Transport or Drive?
Discussion
hey guys
so I just placed an order for a new C4 Cactus - problem is its about 220 miles away (carwow lowest price dealer)
Dealership is quoting £280+vat for delivery which seems high.
Should I go up and drive it back down or just get it transported? If I drive it down, ive always been led to believe that new cars shouldn't be driven on a motorway as they need to be cycled through the revs and breaks need to be used to set the discs properly so they should only be driven in local roads start/stop for the first 1k miles or so.
Is this true and more importantly is it true for the Cactus?
Thanks in advance
so I just placed an order for a new C4 Cactus - problem is its about 220 miles away (carwow lowest price dealer)
Dealership is quoting £280+vat for delivery which seems high.
Should I go up and drive it back down or just get it transported? If I drive it down, ive always been led to believe that new cars shouldn't be driven on a motorway as they need to be cycled through the revs and breaks need to be used to set the discs properly so they should only be driven in local roads start/stop for the first 1k miles or so.
Is this true and more importantly is it true for the Cactus?
Thanks in advance
I picked up an E Class from the Mercedes factory in Sindelfingen, Germany and drove it over 700 miles home through Germany, Holland and France on day 1.
It ran without fault for the next 5 years that my Father ran it.
Get on a train or bus and drive your new car home, you`ll not hurt it...
It ran without fault for the next 5 years that my Father ran it.
Get on a train or bus and drive your new car home, you`ll not hurt it...
Kaktus said:
so I just placed an order for a new C4 Cactus - problem is its about 220 miles away (carwow lowest price dealer)
Dealership is quoting £280+vat for delivery which seems high.
Just over £1.50/mile one-way distance, so 75p/mile return.Dealership is quoting £280+vat for delivery which seems high.
Kaktus said:
Should I go up and drive it back down or just get it transported? If I drive it down, ive always been led to believe that new cars shouldn't be driven on a motorway as they need to be cycled through the revs and breaks need to be used to set the discs properly so they should only be driven in local roads start/stop for the first 1k miles or so.
Cobblers...Don't thrape it, don't lug it with low revs/high gear. Just drive it fairly normally.
As for the brakes... if you've had new discs and pads at a service, do you keep off motorways for 1k miles, too?
I've (well, SWMBO) had a new car delivered once. The curtain twitching neighbours had a field day, watching me take the car off the covered transporter (the driver couldn't find the "handbrake")
Otherwise, even in a Cactus, I'd look forward to a "gentle run" home. 280 miles isn't that far, and you can plan your route to do a bit of cruising as well as a blat along the twisties to go round the motorway junctions.
Take a long coffee break to let the engine cool a little.
I'm awaiting my new car from London in September (about 150 miles away), so I'm going to fly straight down from my work in Aberdeen and enjoy a sedate drive back without using Motorways, and without SWMBO telling me I'm driving too fast!!
I didn't even consider having the car delivered - even if it was free :-)
Mike
Otherwise, even in a Cactus, I'd look forward to a "gentle run" home. 280 miles isn't that far, and you can plan your route to do a bit of cruising as well as a blat along the twisties to go round the motorway junctions.
Take a long coffee break to let the engine cool a little.
I'm awaiting my new car from London in September (about 150 miles away), so I'm going to fly straight down from my work in Aberdeen and enjoy a sedate drive back without using Motorways, and without SWMBO telling me I'm driving too fast!!
I didn't even consider having the car delivered - even if it was free :-)
Mike
Kaktus said:
hey guys
so I just placed an order for a new C4 Cactus - problem is its about 220 miles away (carwow lowest price dealer)
Dealership is quoting £280+vat for delivery which seems high.
Should I go up and drive it back down or just get it transported? If I drive it down, ive always been led to believe that new cars shouldn't be driven on a motorway as they need to be cycled through the revs and breaks need to be used to set the discs properly so they should only be driven in local roads start/stop for the first 1k miles or so.
Is this true and more importantly is it true for the Cactus?
Thanks in advance
Not a high price at all for delivery really. It'll be fine to drive, its a Cactus not a fragile supercar from the 80s. You could always try a bit of B-Road Britain and have a nice drive back - motorways aren't the only way after all. so I just placed an order for a new C4 Cactus - problem is its about 220 miles away (carwow lowest price dealer)
Dealership is quoting £280+vat for delivery which seems high.
Should I go up and drive it back down or just get it transported? If I drive it down, ive always been led to believe that new cars shouldn't be driven on a motorway as they need to be cycled through the revs and breaks need to be used to set the discs properly so they should only be driven in local roads start/stop for the first 1k miles or so.
Is this true and more importantly is it true for the Cactus?
Thanks in advance
BlueMeganeII said:
Can I ask what kind of deal you managed to get? I'm looking at the cactus at the moment to replace my current lease and can't find any decent cactus lease deals so considering PCP etc.
Well the cash price was 15,900 for the Flair EAT6 Petrol Auto Platinum Grey with Black Wheels (apparently Citroen no longer offer black wheel options on the Cactus so they're swapping them out for me at the dealership with blackwheels from another new vehicle).Finance deal is 15,600, broken down as follows: 359 a month, 2154 interest (6.9%) and 18,071 total cost over 48 months. I'm just buying it in cash though so no idea what the pcp plan would be.
Edited by Kaktus on Wednesday 17th May 01:06
Thanks for the responses fellas - that's certainly given me some comfort though to be honest I don't know if I want to spend 4 hours going up there and then another 4 hours coming back down. I might just bite the bullet and get it delivered but will think about it.
Truth be told im also having second thoughts about the order - dont know why, ive been wanting a cactus since it came out but now that I've pulled the trigger and put the deposit im wondering if there are better options out there for the money!
Truth be told im also having second thoughts about the order - dont know why, ive been wanting a cactus since it came out but now that I've pulled the trigger and put the deposit im wondering if there are better options out there for the money!
Kaktus I would definitely drive it back!
Drive it like you stole it and make sure you keep above 4000 revs at all times as it is important to highlight any potential mechanical weakness's in the car while it is still inside the warranty period.
Though make sure you don't use your brakes at all during the journey as they are new and using them while new would cause imminent failure of the pad compound, stick to engine braking at least for the first 1000 miles, this will also give the clutch and flywheel chance to get to know each other, you know make friends after all there gonna be stuck cooped up in that bell housing for a long time!
Unless its an auto transmission in which case some sort of rope, (make sure its rope and not string as string is'nt strong enough) and a brick (engineering works best as these have holes in for ease of mounting!) the brick should be tied to the rope using a clove hitch knot as this is what the BVSA recommends. Then tie the other end of the rope to the front head rest at drivers side. Then when needing to decrease speed simply deploy brick-brake-booster out of window (note it is recommended window is wound down prior to deployment).
Definatly worth doing as you should save a decent amount of cash on the delivery which could be spent on strawberry bonbons to further enhance the driving pleasure of your C4 Cactus.
Hope this help's, I have bought many knew kars over the years and this method has always served me well and saved me a fortune $$
Drive it like you stole it and make sure you keep above 4000 revs at all times as it is important to highlight any potential mechanical weakness's in the car while it is still inside the warranty period.
Though make sure you don't use your brakes at all during the journey as they are new and using them while new would cause imminent failure of the pad compound, stick to engine braking at least for the first 1000 miles, this will also give the clutch and flywheel chance to get to know each other, you know make friends after all there gonna be stuck cooped up in that bell housing for a long time!
Unless its an auto transmission in which case some sort of rope, (make sure its rope and not string as string is'nt strong enough) and a brick (engineering works best as these have holes in for ease of mounting!) the brick should be tied to the rope using a clove hitch knot as this is what the BVSA recommends. Then tie the other end of the rope to the front head rest at drivers side. Then when needing to decrease speed simply deploy brick-brake-booster out of window (note it is recommended window is wound down prior to deployment).
Definatly worth doing as you should save a decent amount of cash on the delivery which could be spent on strawberry bonbons to further enhance the driving pleasure of your C4 Cactus.
Hope this help's, I have bought many knew kars over the years and this method has always served me well and saved me a fortune $$
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