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I know I've asked a couple of questions about cars recently, but now the rubber has hit the road.
I just got the repair quote back from the garage on a new gear box for the Polo, and it comes in at a whopping £1400. This means I'm officially in the market for a new-to-me-car in the sub-£1000 range.
I am looking for a small estate, preferably diesel, with good fuel economy. It should also be in the 'likely to be very reliable' category even though I imagine it will be 10+ years old.
So far, I am thinking:
Volvo V40
VW Passat
VW Golf estate
Ford Focus estate
Should I be considering anything else?
Please let me know about specifics - that is, for example, if one engine is good but another one bad in the same year range... You know, that kind of thing. Stuff I should be aware of.
Anyway, I'm pretty much open to anything.
Thanks in advance. I hate buying cars.
skoda octavia estate
mondeo estate
Do you know about either or both of these in more detail?
Honda simply some of the most reliable old cars
An older 5 series diesel, [url= http://www.autotrader.co.uk/search/used/cars/bmw/5_series/postcode/en13pa/radius/1500/onesearchad/used%2Cnearlynew%2Cnew/price-to/1500/page/1/price-from/500/body-type/estate/sort/default ]they go on forever[/url]...
Nah don't - ford/peugeot is more sensible.
Reliability comes from maintenance which is ongoing. You want that to be cheap as possible. Or reduce budget to £500 and replace car every few months.
Consider a Mondeo hatch instead of focus estate.
Still get a nice big boot and better vfm/ nicer to drive.
Second hand gearbox in y our current car, would be bucket loads cheaper than repairing!
I am looking for a small estate, preferably diesel, with good fuel economy. It should also be in the 'likely to be very reliable' category even though I imagine it will be 10+ years old.
Something's got to give in your requirements I'm afraid!
I'd go Mk1 1.6 focus petrol, but I'm a downright evangelist as far as they're concerned.
I'm just going through autotrader right now, and looking at estates from every manufacturer. On that basis, please don't make fun of me, but how does [url= http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201510318315999?postcode=cf51gj&price-to=1500&make=jaguar&search-target=usedcars&price-from=500&sort=default&body-type=estate&onesearchad=used%2Cnearlynew%2Cnew&radius=1500&page=1&logcode=p ]this Jaguar[/url] stand up?
The problem is providence. If my budget was 1k I'd be looking at one owner Avensis (pre VVTI 1.8), Corolla, Yaris is too popular (££), can you stretch abit more to a Jazz?
A 200k Cat C diesel Jag, with no service history mentioned?
Come on, you know the answer.
Reason why I say can you stretch- a 1k car car is usually sold because its a PITA/time to trade in and can be a false economy I.e 1k on lottery tickets is better unless you know the providence of the car.
I picked up a 1.6 07 petrol Xsara Picasso on a main dealer eBay px auction for 1600£.
I honestly rue selling that car. Took me through three countries etc etc. Buy ugly, pay less.
"very reliable" and sub £1000 means Japanese and petrol in my book.
Unless you're doing silly miles you're not going to save that much on fuel with a diesel, and most of them at the cheap end of the market are worn out.
An older simpler petrol engine (no turbos, no high pressure injectors, etc) has far less to go wrong.
Honda Accord estate or Civic Aerodeck if you can find one.
Toyota Avensis or Corolla estate.
Nissan Primera estate
Subaru Impreza/Legacy/Outback (they're not all turbocharged boy racer ones)
Beyond that I'd consider Focus/Astra, again with the simplest petrol engines, just because they're so common you can get parts for them very cheaply.
^ +1. Although I had a fantastic 1.7 Ford Puma- rust rust and welding bills etc.
Why are Ford so bad that way?
Buy ugly, pay less.
This. Find something really dull and boring. Something nobody wants. But something ultra reliable. I.e. not a Golf, Focus, or anything else on your list.
Problem with the Jag is it has a claimed mpg of 60.... Find one that does 25mpg and you might get an actual bargain.
Anything popular under 1k is going to be a dog, unless you get lucky.
Also, estates seem to fetch more than saloon and hatch versions.
"very reliable" and sub £1000 means Japanese and petrol in my book....
Honda Accord estate or Civic Aerodeck if you can find one.
Toyota Avensis or Corolla estate.
Nissan Primera estate
Subaru Impreza/Legacy/Outback (they're not all turbocharged boy racer ones)
Completely agree. Though the Legacy's in particular can be thirsty and not massively cheap to buy! Some of the others can be picked up in near immaculate condition (for their age), for very little money.
Something's got to give in your requirements I'm afraid!
Nah, you can easily pick up a 50mpg estate for £1k that will go on for years with just servicing and general wear items. Just choose carefully and don't be afraid to drive round in a grandad mobile in a rubbish colour.
V40's boot is astonishingly bad for a car its size, it's less useful for bikes than a focus hatch IMO.
Passat's not that small a car, it's closer to a mondeo than a focus in size even in the older B5 model and it's grown since (I have a total grudge against VAG estates with lips on the boot edge, it's just the wrong way to do an estate, but you should definitely check out the octavia too)
But if you're thinking of passats then you should consider mondeos too, they're solid and they're great value. Though, the size does make a difference, I have a mk3 and it's physically bigger than many parking spaces frinstance. It doesn't feel big to drive, it does feel big when you're pouring bikes into the back.
Focuses tend to be pretty expensive for what you get tbh. I had a cheap one, an old mk1 (the best of the focuses tbh, but old) with the worst diesel, the crappy tddi. And it was ace tbh. Slow, too many miles on it, ever so slightly an evil temperamental bastard but I loved it. And tbh it kind of ruined me for estates, because the use of space is like sorcery. And ruined me for later focuses too. If you could buy a newer mk1, it'd be an obvious choice but they're getting a wee bit old.
You didn't actually state a budget I think? If it's on the low side, then if I was you, I'd spend less. I had £4000 to spend on a big estate, spent £2200 on a cosmetically scabby 2.2 mondeo, put the rest in the bank and took bits of it out over the next couple of years when bits exploded. £4000 wouldn't guarantee reliability but it'd make repairs less affordable.
My advice is, at £1k don't have any expectations of good mpg or reliability, because you are just going to be disappointed.
I am looking for a [i]small[/i] estate
that rules out mondeos, Passats, Octavias, 5-Series...
how about a Citroen Berlingo? plenty people on here seem to have/rave about them
Haha! Just logging onto stw to post a similar request!
Have now got a kid and the Mrs has agreed to a 3 to 5 grand estate.
Similar rules apply to the above?
An uneconomical petrol car. You might only want to do the occasional long trip, but the extra cost of that would probably be less than the cost saving.
An uneconomical petrol car. You might only want to do the occasional long trip, but the extra cost of that would probably be less than the cost saving.
Are you talking in terms of purchase price, molgrips? Or where is the advantage with petrol? The inevitable repairs?
I ran a Seat Ibiza estate (Vario) 1.9 non-turbo diesel for 5 years, it was fantastic in a very slow and a bit noisy but cheap (65mpg regular on a run) and reliable kind of a way. Not many about but easily under £1000 - I sold mine for £500 with 170k on the clock and I'm sure it had a fair bit of life left.
This looks good if it had a longer MOT: http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201507275549039?model=cordoba_vario&sort=default&onesearchad=used%2Cnearlynew%2Cnew&page=1&make=seat&postcode=sn55yh&search-target=usedcars&radius=90&quicksearch=true&logcode=p
Purchase price. The economy of diesels keeps the prices up. Also they are going to be more reliable, really.
At sub £1000 do not try and get a particular car because they are 'bulletproof' no car is bulletproof. search gumtree etc regularly (check 3 or 4 times a day) and as soon as you see summit decent then buy it, A genuine 60000 mile looked after clio is a better option than a scrappy vw with 100000 miles and no history. Get a good feeling from the buyer and I wouldn't buy trade at that price. If the seller seems genuine then the car probably is too.
Typical I just sold my sub 100,000 mile 56 plate Mazda6 2lt TD estate for £1000 to a local garage as I just couldn't face all the time wasters & tyre kickers.
Mechanic from the said garage said it drove really well and not one fault he could find. He asked how I drove it..
Like my hair was on fire was my reply, he was relived as he said he was fed up with diesels that had been chugged round destroying them.
His comment was they design them to go up to 5000rpm these days and people never take them above 2000!!!! No wonder they choke up.
Bangernomics estate for sub £1k... have a look at the Pug 406 hdi. I'm not usually one to recommend anything French but these things run forever. Quick search brought up this...
Pug 406 hdi.
THis if you want diesel.
I'd definitely go for Japanese and petrol though.
Honda Civic
Nissan Almera
Toyota Avensis or Corolla
Mazda, although expect some rust.