Got to take the Mrs. '89 Tipo in for MOT tomorrow, not particularly confident it will pass, so am looking at replacing it with something cheap (< £500) just to get her to work and back. 10k miles per year, so want it to be cheap on fuel, easy/cheap to maintain, and not a Ford :)
Any recommendations for something suitable?
Cheers all
Hellraiser...........>
Just about anything you can pick up locally on Autotrader for under 500 quid with 12 months ticket.
Suitable for what?
If you can get a late Cavalier you'll do alright.
Agreed. Any post '91 1.6/1.8/2.0L 8v would be an ideal choice unless riddled with rot. Tons of spares about and very cheap and easy to maintain.
JB
Yeah, get a Vauxhall. Cav's are well better than Mondeos anyway ;-)
If you can cope with the image, anything (For above £100) with a proton badge will give you good, reliable service.
Buy a good one, and £500 will buy you a really good one!
Artie
Cav or Astra 8v that's not falling to bits. Even a 2.0L will give you around 34mpg. Brilliant cars with bullet proof engines but can dissolve before your eyes when the rust gets hold so check carefully.
Peugeot 205 diesel.
For £500 you'll get a P Reg one in tip-top condition. Reliable but easy to fix and parts are stupidly cheap. Up to 50 ish miles per gallon.
It's not a Ford so it won't go rusty!
Service it regularly and it'll last you 10 years easily.
sponix
Skoda Fvorit 1.3 late model or Skoda Felicia early model. No poer steering, so can feel a bit heavy parking, but if you are lucky=20 later Felicias got it, and you can sometimes find a 1996/1997 car with=20 under 50k on it for less than =A36-700 Sometimes worth going that little=20 more.
--=20 Carl Robson Car PC Build starts again.
Dont laugh , but load sof m or n or p plate favoroit or felicia`s around. I had onw that did 260k. Very cheap to run and fix.
Swa a M reg estate with 12 miths MOT for £350 on a traders site last weekend.
Thanks for all your help guys, I've had someone make an interesting suggestion - if I can afford a few hundred more (say, 800-1000 instead of
500) then a Mitsubishi Carisma is a great buy. Apparently the GDI engine means the 1.8 will do 45mpg, it has all the toys, Jap build quality, and because they have no image as such they are cheap :)What do you guys think? Is a Mitsi a good idea?
Oh, and the Tipo failed - everything great except for the slight problem of the floor and sills going their separate ways :(
Hellraiser...........
I would say so - watch out for cam noise - there was an issue with failing cams, many got sorted under warranty.
*Hrpmh... B**ocks !
Al
For the price, just make sure everything works & the engines not noisy.
Yes...hence the ;-)
If you want it to be about the same size etc. as the Tipo...a Citroen AX with the 1.5 diesel engine (NB *not* the 1.4 diesel - it sucked).
It's a Peugeot engine and they last forever...thrash it as hard as you like (they'll do 90mph) and you still won't dip below 50mpg...AXs don't rust (they're Waxoyled or galvanised or something)...they're so simple that there's very little to go wrong on them...and they're easy to work on. They have some niggles but they're pretty easy to sort.
And they're just inside the lower road tax bracket as well.
I've found all engines suck.
-- Tell me your birthday!
Eh?
You do know what a Tipo is, don't you?
Only if you can find one that's not rotten.
You'd get a decent Nissan Primera for that kind of money. Mine was utterly bomb-proof, went well and handled exceptionally, but it lacked feel - I'd have ended up putting it into a ditch if I hadn't got shot.
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