This is why I would only buy a newer car, can't be dealing with these little surprises, older cars drain off the money too much with things needing fixing every 2 minutes.See that's the thing! Car's not even that old - 03, it don't matter what car you buy, you can buy it brand new from showroom and it could cause you problems.That's true actually. I watched one of those watchdog programmes once, and a guy had to change his brand new car about 3 times because it kept breaking down. The majority of newer cars should be mechanically sound though.