UKC

need help picking a car!

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 efrance24234 30 Jan 2013
I need a new car, but dont really know too much about them. My budget is £1500, possibly a little more. It must be,
Cheap to insure,
Economical,
Cheap tax,
Reliable,
as much room as possible,
5doors.

It would be a bonus if,
It was good in snow,
Rear seats fold flat
One of those parcle shelves that role away and lots of secret storage arean and cool eletrical things and switches.
Now im just getting picky!

Any help would be appreciated massively as you could potentialy be saving me lots of money!
Thanks
Elliot.
 butteredfrog 30 Jan 2013
In reply to efrance24234:

At £1500 quid budget, DO NOT be tempted to buy French! sorry can't be more helpfull.
fxceltic 30 Jan 2013
In reply to efrance24234: at that price and with that list I assume you arent bothered about mileage?

probably a golf or a ford focus.
fxceltic 30 Jan 2013
In reply to butteredfrog:
> (In reply to efrance24234)
>
> At £1500 quid budget, DO NOT be tempted to buy French! sorry can't be more helpfull.

how every dare you sir, my first car was a renault 5TL, 1985 C reg, £1500 (though that was in '93). I loved that car, damn you!
 butteredfrog 30 Jan 2013
In reply to butteredfrog:

2nd thoughts, that was a bit unfair. Specifically I would be wary of Citroens.

The old Peugeot 406 was a bombproof motor (millions of taxi drivers round the world can't be wrong), You should be able to find a good one on your budget.
 butteredfrog 30 Jan 2013
In reply to fxceltic:

I know, I am biased, I always view cars on how easy they are to work on. Whenever I think French I remember all the cuts and skinned knuckles from sharp edges and chocolate bolts. They all seem to be specifically assembled around the part you are trying to remove/replace.
 deepsoup 30 Jan 2013
In reply to efrance24234:
> and cool eletrical things and switches.

What butteredfrog said, but also:
Regardless of your budget - even if you suddenly find a couple grand extra down the back of the sofa - don't buy a french car with lots of cool electrical things and switches.
 butteredfrog 30 Jan 2013
In reply to deepsoup:

Once had a Citroen C3 as a hire car. It was bloody awfull, bits had started to fall off and it was only 3 weeks old.

To the OP, Whatever you look at on your budget, service history is much more important than wether the radio works or not. If high milage 120k plus look for evidence of regular oil changes, recipts for the big items; clutch, timing belt etc.

Above all, test drive from cold, plenty of info on the web on what to look out for. If in doubt walk away.
 waldenmatt 30 Jan 2013
In reply to efrance24234:
Definitely get a golf mk iv. £1500 should buy you a reasonable one with 60-80k mileage.
Main advantage is availability of parts, space is quite good also (rear seats fold properly flat, boot copes admirably with the double buggy mrs.f bought without telling me).
OP efrance24234 30 Jan 2013
In reply to efrance24234: Thanks for the quick replys! My first car was a french one and lets just say it wasnt very reliable! I could possibly go up to 2000 to be honest and the eletrical switches thing was a joke .. Thanks again for the info so far!
OP efrance24234 30 Jan 2013
In reply to butteredfrog: cheers mr frog! Thats the sort if info i need as i just wouldnt think of that sort of stuff!
 jameswoodman1 30 Jan 2013
In reply to efrance24234: Skoda Fabia Estate. Ticks all of the boxes you are looking for, plus a wide range of engine choice.

For that money depending on engine you should be able to get something under 10 years old with less than 100k on the clock, and being German, it'll run forever.
 Philip 30 Jan 2013
In reply to efrance24234:
> I need a new car, but dont really know too much about them. My budget is £1500, possibly a little more. It must be,
> Cheap to insure,
> Economical,
> Cheap tax,
> Reliable,
> as much room as possible,
> 5doors.
>
> It would be a bonus if,
> It was good in snow,
> Rear seats fold flat
> One of those parcle shelves that role away and lots of secret storage arean and cool eletrical things and switches.
> Now im just getting picky!
>
> Any help would be appreciated massively as you could potentialy be saving me lots of money!
> Thanks
> Elliot.

£1500 for the car? What about your budget for tax, insurance, repairs and servicing?

You might want to work out what you can afford in a year and then look to get the lowest tax, insurance and servicing priced car.

For example, is there an independent little garage near your home or work (there is a peugeot specialist opposite my work who were very cheap).

If you spend £1500 on a piece of junk you'll be forking out each month or just wasting the money.
 Mr Powly 30 Jan 2013
In reply to efrance24234:

for 5 doors with as much room as possible, I have a Renault Kangoo, diesel. It's economical, reliable, I can sleep in it.



 Philip 30 Jan 2013
http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201212214701817/sort/pricedes...

Suzuki Alto 1.1, £1500 and within 15 miles of a random bolton postcode.
Insurance group 5, VED group G, 40mpg.

My wife has a Suzuki (her Dad runs the dealership). Servicing is cheap, the cars seem reliable.
 doz generale 30 Jan 2013
In reply to efrance24234:

Vauxhall astra estate

Reliable, cheap to run and to insure. Plenty of space
 KellyKettle 30 Jan 2013
In reply to butteredfrog:
> (In reply to butteredfrog)
>
> 2nd thoughts, that was a bit unfair. Specifically I would be wary of Citroens.
>
> The old Peugeot 406 was a bombproof motor (millions of taxi drivers round the world can't be wrong), You should be able to find a good one on your budget.

Yup, I had a 406 Estate as my first car, It had just had a new clutch and cambelt when I got it and I can't fault it, the HDI engine will do 50-55mpg if driven economically, very very nice car and ticks all your boxes; It also comes with a lot of mod-cons as standard, which is nice.

I'd happily have another 406 over my astra any day.
In reply to butteredfrog:
> (In reply to butteredfrog)
>
> 2nd thoughts, that was a bit unfair. Specifically I would be wary of Citroens.

Not at all. As a seven year peugeot 106 GTi owner... I absolutely love my car... but it spends more time on the axle stands than it does on the road.

Don't buy french unless you want an electical problem that makes a lightening storm in a fishing rod factory look like a breeze.
 butteredfrog 30 Jan 2013
In reply to A Longleat Boulderer:

About 4 years ago, I replaced a head gasket on a Citroen Picasso HDI. Don't think I am a poor mechanic, (currently have a Bentley Continental GT in bits, they trust me to mend stuff at the garage) but I never managed to get that Citroen running again. Neither could anyone else! We ended up taking the thing in part ex.
Spent another 6 months tinkering, it would start, run for 30sec then cut out.
In reply to efrance24234:

My old Octavia 1.9tdi estate would have ticked all the boxes except price. 9yo with around 90k on the clock and full service history - It went for £1900. There are cheaper ones about if you look hard but they'll all have done a much bigger mileage - however that diesel is good for 200K -- thousands of taxi drivers can't all be wrong.
 Jim Fraser 30 Jan 2013
In reply to efrance24234:

Cheap tax & £1500? You're having a laugh aren't you?

If it's £1500, it's either too old for cheap tax or too sh4gged to be reliable and economical.

Take the hit on the road tax and buy a late model (1998?) BMW E36 316 or 318. 316s are more likely to have been trashed by insane kiddies, so 318s are a good bet. (And yes, there is one parked outside my place.)

The Morris Minor of the 1990s. Simple, reliable, lots of cheap parts available, a BMW specialist in every decent sized town in the country, and loads and loads of online service and spares support. Plenty Touring (estate car) versions around but a lot of those are larger engines unfortunately. 328 is never going to be good in snow because it has too much power but a 318 is fine. Your tyre choice will always make a huge difference of course.
 Ciro 30 Jan 2013
In reply to efrance24234:

I got a 2003 Citroen C5 estate with 120,000 on the clock for just a bit more than your budget (£1800) this time last year. Huge in the back (great for sleeping in), economical for a big car, I think £240 for tax. I've put 13,000 miles on the clock so far and it's been very reliable - had one problem with the turbo (cost £180 to get diagnosed and fit a new mass air flow meter) and failed the MOT today on one thing - the headlights aren't putting out enough light (mechanic reckons it's not really a citroen thing, most cars these days have plastic lenses that fail after about 10 years).
 ripper 30 Jan 2013
In reply to efrance24234: Assume you know the stock answer on here is generally Skoda Ukctavia? personally I'd go for a Honda if I could find one that suited. Mine's now over 8 years old, still looks good and has never missed a beat
 dan_the_dingo 30 Jan 2013
In reply to Lord of Starkness:

Just seen a '00 plate Octavia estate for 1500 with FSH and 104k on the clock on a well known car sales website, I would have been going to look at that if I was in the market for a motor with that budget. So there are some out there.

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