UKC

Hi all,

i'm after a car, budget is a around £6/700, doing around 32,000 km / 20,000 miles per year. Reliable and Cheap to run are the main things?

Was thinking VW group or possible a Japanese? But open to any suggestions

In reply to goldmember:

My prediction is that you will be more confused by the end of this thread than you are now. Good luck!

In reply to ByEek:

isnt the correct answer to any car question a skoda? Regardless of the specifics of the question.

In reply to goldmember:

I'd say for that budget to do that many miles go for something Japanese and unattractive that way you'll get a lower mileage car and not be paying for style. A Toyota Corolla maybe, Nissan Almera, oh maybe a Volvo V40. A £700 Golf or similar isn't going to be a spring chicken.

In reply to George Fisher:

I agree that a Japanese manufacturer is likely to give your biggest bang for your buck. Suggest models like Corolla, Civic and Almera.

Having said that for less than £1k I think you need to buy with your nose. What's your gut telling you about the person selling it? Does the house look well looked after? Perhaps they also care for their car?

In reply to goldmember:

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201410088046515/sort/default/...

Something like that. Ideally a diesel but they come in over a grand.

In reply to goldmember:

At that budget you are effectively gambling on nothing debilitating going wrong with it as most modern cars can land you with a £500+ bill in the garage. Whatever you get, at 20k mile a year it will be a matter of hoping it makes it to the next MOT.

Diesels at that price will have spaceship mileages and are very expensive to fix so I'd stick to petrol, what you lose at the pumps you will gain in the garage. Fords are, afaik, a bit less expensive than German, French or Japanese to fix so you could look at an older 1.6 petrol Focus, they get a good write up. French cars are dirt cheap to buy but can get very expensive to run. VWs are good but not as bulletproof as you may believe, but also not so expensive in the garage as you may believe. Mk1 Octavias will be cheap and probably as sound a buy as you can make at that price, similarly old petrol BMWs can be bought very cheaply and are as good as it gets in terms of build quality. Garage bills are ok and also less likely than most other cars. Volvos are also cheap to buy, never owned one so can't comment on running costs/reliabilty.

Am I best looking for petrol or Derv? or a LPG ?

In reply to goldmember:

At that price you're best off buying the best condition, simplest car you can find that vaguely suits your needs, not the best example of a particular model with a desirable badge. Chances are you can get for example a much better condition Kia or Hyundai than VW at that price.

Dated looking 'prestige' cars can also be a bargain once they've lost their shine especially petrol models but you're basically betting on nothing going wrong, not buying one that needs bits for the next MoT and of course at 20k per year the fuel efficiency and tyre cost matters.

jk

In reply to goldmember:

I'd go petrol. Modern common-rail diesels are far more expensive to repair if things go wrong.

Neil

In reply to George Fisher:


What he said. Either that or half your budget and get something with a decent amount of tax/mot then scrap and repeat. Keep the documents and a big holdall in your car and if it breaks down just empty it, get it towed to a scrappy and buy something else - as others have said, garage bills are so expensive these days and in that price range "reliability" becomes a bit of a myth.

In reply to goldmember:

Rover 200 or 400. When the company collapsed, so did their resale prices, and they're still artificially low now as a result. There's also a relatively high proportion of them driven slowly and carefully by older drivers who are often more meticulous about servicing than younger drivers.

Don't know where you're based, but I'm seeing several <50k cars in budget with MoT and history.

In reply to goldmember:

Considering the average set of new tyres is getting close to been worn out on 20,000 miles I think you'll be very lucky to get that mileage out of that money per year regardless of what you buy.

In reply to goldmember:
If you're doing that kind of mileage you definitely want a diesel. You want the least refined, most old school engine you can find for minimum problems.
I'm driving an 18 year old Peugeot 405 with 250K on it and hardly ever have any problems with it. There aren't many 405's out there now so more realistically a 406 would suit you. There are lots about at reasonable prices and the fact that so many of them have starship mileage on them tells you a lot about their reliability.
Earlier 406's have the same 1.9 engine as the 405's, later ones have a 2.0Hdi engine which gives a bit more power and better fuel economy. My wife has one with 200k on it and it still drives like a new car.
The later ones however are a bit more hi tec and so do have more problems with electrics and other pointless computer controlled gadgetry that should never have been put in a car in the first place but they're still pretty reliable.
If you want something smaller the 307 has the same 2.0Hdi engine etc and they are a bit cheaper whilst the 306 has the older 1.9 engine but there aren't as many around.

In reply to pec:

The 2.0 Hdi engine is the best I had in any car, ever.

CB

In reply to cb294:

Derv, it is.

what's the difference between td, tdi, sdi, hdi and common rail?

In reply to goldmember:

They just mean things like turbo diesel injection though not sure what the s and h stand for, just different manufacturers making up names really. Common rail explanation here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_rail
One thing to bear in mind with deisels, to get massive mileage out of them you do need to change the oil regularly and the fuel filters, the more modern the engine, the more important this is. It isn't hard (certainly on the Peugeots) so you could easily DIY and the parts are cheap.

When buying, try and get evidence of when the cambelt was last changed and if you can't, assume it will need doing. If a cambelt breaks in use then the engine is effectively written off. Its rare and usually because people have gone over the mileage interval, normally about every 70,000 miles but you should get it done well within that. Its not a DIY job so expect to pay £200 - £300 depending on what type of garage you get it done at.
Some deisels (eg Toyota Avensis) don't have a belt.

Finally, I'd avoid small deisel engines (below 1.8) which appear to give great performance. For example, some Clios have a 1.5 engine which gives something like 130bhp and 65mpg. Sounds great on paper but squeezing that kind of performance out of a small engine comes at a price and that's longevity. These engines often self destruct somewhere between 70-100k, usually just when they're out of warranty!

In reply to goldmember:

Sdi in vw means non turbo

In reply to goldmember:

Modern common rail Diesel engines are much more complex than old ones and can be very expensive to fix. If you must get one choose wisely! I think petrol is more likely to work for you at your price point!

In reply to goldmember:

At that price I'd buy a mk4 golf, probably tdi diesel in the best condition I could find, however that amount of miles per year is going to wear a lot of things out in an old car, so it's always going to be a bit of a lottery, as the best looking car may not be the cheapest to run.

I take these things to pieces and rebuild every day, so i understand how to keep them running, but a lot of folk don't and to be able to do it quickly you need a decent set of tools, or you need to know a good garage.