£1000 FIESTA or CORSA - which one and any particular faults to check?

Indeed - having previously been quite enamoured with Vauxhalls, (a few seemingly indestructible Cavaliers plus various family members' Astras, Novas etc.), most of their recent output is a bit of a disappointment. Although it looks shiny and has sod all miles on the clock, my Grandfather's Corsa is horrible to drive and is beginning to disintegrate despite having had a fortune spent on it recently.

Mustard mitt, when faced with the question 'Corsa or Fiesta' my answer would be 'Micra' every time.

On the basis that you're after something a bit different, I'm going to stick my neck out here and mention the Hyundia Accent. When you've finished cleaning coffee off your monitor, have a look on Autotrader - they're dirt cheap and actually quite nice (to be a passenger in, at any rate). 700 quid will get you a 98ish model and there are even a few of the Coupe variants knocking about at that price.

Um, Alfa 155... like mine..

97 R plate,

On the basis that you're after something a bit different, I'm going to stick my neck out here and mention the Hyundia Accent. When you've finished cleaning coffee off your monitor, have a look on Autotrader - they're dirt cheap and actually quite nice (to be a passenger in, at any rate). 700 quid will get you a 98ish model and there are even a few of the Coupe variants knocking about at that price.

Had a Sonata and two Accents on holiday, left hand drive for US roads. Very good cars for the price and quality not too bad if you want a half decent runaround.

PDH

What's peoples opinion of the SEAT Ibiza? If I was going to change my car that'd be one I'd consider - they seem to get fairly good reviews and look quite nice but I've heard a few complaints about the electrics and also one persons gear box went after only 2000 miles!

In news: snipped-for-privacy@g49g2000cwa.googlegroups.com, loony decided to enlighten our sheltered souls with a rant as follows

I like 'em

Electrics can be a problem with anything, but other than coil packs, VW seem quite good at making sparks only appear when needed.

As for the imploding gearbox, that can happen to anything.

I was indeed surprised when I checked the reliability rating for these on Honest John's website, pretty good!

Thanks for the tip, will check one out next week for ease of diy servicing and may well have a punt on one, 'er indoors was impressed by the photo

Eh?

How can an Accent be 'different'?

BTW, the 'Coupe' variant of which you speak is just a 3 door Accent.

.

To be fair to Carl, his suggestion presses all the right buttons in that 'er indoors wants a car that will survive without ever visiting a garage apart from for the Mot. Parts must be peanuts, and I must be able to repair any fault in 5 minutes, not that this matters because it also must never break down or make any odd noises.

My suggestions of a Micra or Primera were dismissed on the basis that daughter already has a (utterly reliable) Micra and the one Primera we looked at was 'the wrong colour', unbelivably she then walked past and started eying up a Probe which just shouted 'chav's thrashabout'

BTW if there are any probs with the new motor, even after 3 years of abuse, it will be still be my fault, but who expects women to be reasonable...

Been there, suffered that..! :o(

Reminds me of my then to be wife's Mk2 Astra. This was in the days when Vauxhall built a car to last, but she still started to go home on the rear wheel arches, the car that is. Like a fool, I did it's service as it was not worth going to a dealers.

Sump plug out...... no oil...!??????

Pulled dipstick......oil....?????

Poked hole with wire.....crunchy nut cornflakes in oil came out.

Asked "When did this last have a service?", got the reply "What Service?".

To be honest, no serious damage was caused to the engine which only needed a flush out and new filters all round. Absolute bombproof, and it was a sad day when it was traded in at 178k (not bad for a J reg) on the clock for a Mazda MX3 V6 which drunk petrol like it was going out of fashion but then, that's women.

BTW, Ford Probe = Mazda MX6 = a pain in the arse. Don't even continence it.

Rdgs

PDH

They made it into the shortlist of replacement vehicles I was looking at until last weekend. They're sharply styled (in my opinion) but are based on VW running gear (mostly Polo but with some Golf bits bundled in). Generally robust, not supposed to be as well built as the VW brethren but I strongly suspect this is a rumour put out by VAG PR to justify the higher VW prices. :)

One other to consider is the Skoda Fabia. I tried one of these expecting it to feel like a sloppier version of the Ibiza. Actually I preferred it, more so because of the badge. Want to buy something with a VAG TDI engine but don't want to pay VAG prices? The Skoda is rapidly approaching VAG prices, but it's a very competent car. It's only flaw (and it is a serious one in my opinion) is the interior is not very friendly. Usable space, good ergonomics, but feels less friendly than many peers.

On the basis that you're after something a bit different, I'm going to stick my neck out here and mention the Hyundia Accent. When you've finished cleaning coffee off your monitor, have a look on Autotrader - they're dirt cheap and actually quite nice (to be a passenger in, at any rate). 700 quid will get you a 98ish model and there are even a few of the Coupe variants knocking about at that price.

*****

I'm with you on that one. The Accent is a respectable runabout. It's an easy choice in some respects because there are plenty about, they're generally well equipped and reliable, oh and that they depreciate like a stone. A five year warranty means that Hyundai had faith in them too.

Some trim bits can be flimsy and there can be an issue with the driveshafts of those models with ABS (Hyundai dealers want the best part of £900 to repair), but they're nice enough cars.*

*not as refined to drive as modern European stuff, but this usually isn't material at this money.

LOL, a few years ago, 'er indoors phoned up from about two miles away, car won't run properly etc. After some little experimentation I checked the oil level, well never mind up to the mark, it was up to the camshaft!! I suspect she forgot what the dipstick was for and topped it up until she could see that there was enough in there. Denied everything of course, oddly enough that was an Astra as well, obviously they are very forgiving cars

That's quite a few cans of oil in there. Back to the Mk2 Astra, this old

1.4 engine leaked at the seams, fix one leak and a fresh gradual smear of leaking oil would appear elsewhere. Gave up in the end, the car ran perfectly OK and the oil would only need the occasional top up. The only funny fault with it was on long distance drives the engine management light would occasionally light up, but then clear once you reduced speed by 5-10mph. Apparently it only started doing it after a service by a local Vauxhall dealer, no other symptoms to go with the light, but says a lot about the quality of service received at the time.

Another pain with the Mk2, the connections on the alternator, Delco as I recall, were well exposed and a good splash through a puddle would cause all hell until the alternator cleared itself. The main connections are right over an open road space.

Her prior car was a Mk1 Astra and when the big end bearings started to go, a change of oil to a thicker grade got an extra 50k out of it before it took the one way trip to Vauxhall heaven. Same alternator issue.

Now she goes buzzing around in my 2 litre 25 Td, again a very forgiving engine. Large puddles can be taken with impunity and no risk of cutting out, so the car is a hero in her book.

Rdgs

PDH

In news:do1j8g$7ui$ snipped-for-privacy@newsg4.svr.pol.co.uk, Steptoe decided to enlighten our sheltered souls with a rant as follows

My mothers last car was a C reg Nova Merit 1.2 4 door... absolute s**te, but the bloody thing refused to die. She had it for around 75000 miles, when it finally trundled off to the great scrapyard in the sky it was on bang on

100,000 miles.

Despite me thrashing the thing mercilessly for most of its life its entire list of replacement parts was as follows;

2 exhausts about 30 tyres (wonder why) about 6 sets of front brake pads (um....) 1 handbrake cable (this is getting embarrassing now) 1 cambelt at 68000 miles (just for the sake of it) a vacuum advance mechanism 1 battery 2 oil and filter changes (roughly every 35k miles) 2 offside headlamps (both broken by mother) 1 cv gaiter 1 wheel bearing.

Other than being rather cammy for the last 50k miles and smoking a tad from cold the thing was very, very reliable. I drove it flat out - absolutely flat out - from Liverpool to Glasgow and back three times one week, it was virtually never cleaned or maintained in any way and it was probably the most bulletproof car I've ever owned. I actually grew quite fond of it, whenever my car broke down I could rely on using the Nova to go and get the parts from some far flung part of the UK and the thing would actually do the job. Boot was massive, heater was volcanic and the most amusing thing was it was so bloody invisible to the plod I could go everywhere far more quickly than in, for example the 911 or Integrale.

It's not Italian, for a start :o)

It doesn't burn more oil than petrol for a second.

Right, don't have five reverse gears then? :o))

PDH

Ahh I guess this why the mk6 Fiesta 1.4 zetec engine only puts out 80hp as opposed to 90 from the mk4.. I did wonder! With the newer car being around 200kgs heavier I guess this is why it felt slower when I drove one. Do you know why they detuned it? Was it for emissions?