Hello,
I have £4000 to get a car on the road and was wodneirng on any suggestions.
My uses will be for mainly in London and driving down to portsmouth.
Looking for all the modern bits and bobs. Prefer a 2 door hatch.
So far I have come up with the following but as I know next to nothing about cars I though I could ask.
Citroen Saxo Fiesta zetec 1.25 VW polo VW golf
the vw's looking for quite new versions.
Any nudges in the right direction would be nice.
Thanks
suggestions.
Arguably the Festa would give you a newer car for your money , though the VW's would probably hold their money better long term.
I would avoid the Saxo like the plague. It's an old design and though very cheap to buy, it feels it! The 1.1 Saxo engine is also far less fun than the
1.25 Zetec engine in the Festa. For longish journeys like the A3(M) you would probably be better off with a 1.4 or 1.5D Saxo if you have to buy one. A basic Citroen C3 may be available for £4000 with higher miles. That money would also get you a 2+ year old Vauxhall Corsa 1.2.Or you could buy a 54 plate City Rover 1.4 with delivery miles only from
It looks like you're after a small car.
Half that budget and look around. It can be just as good (if not better/more) and it'll be cheaper.
For example, friend just last week got a S-reg Pegueot 306 1.4 with full electrics including air/con. for £1500 including new MOT and service history. Just needed to add tax. Dunno if that was a good market price, but it's over half of £4k.
*wow*
Is that Rover 25 2.0 TurboDiesel the BMW engine?
City Rover? Isn't that the Chinese built POS? Tata or something?
That's quite possibly the worst advice I've ever heard. A 3-year old small VAG TDI would be a very good way to go.
Peter
Sadly not. It's an L-series, which is a modern derivative (or should that be dervative?) of the old Perkins Prima in the old Maestro/Montego. Apparently known for throwing cambelts, so make sure the cambelt gets done, along with all tensioners, and preferably water pump, at the recommended intervals by a reputable person using genuine parts (if you can't find a local Rover dealer for parts, try and get decent quality OEM spec ones) - or slightly early.
They're a good engine, offering decent performance and very good economy, almost on a par with VAG TDIs and PSA HDIs.
Peter
Hmm... can they be chipped or is the ECU something special?
I think they can. They're available in two flavours - around 80bhp and
105bhp, I think. Get the higher power one (indicated on earlier Rover models by an 'i' - i.e. 220SDi was 105bhp, whereas 220D/220SD weren't - geddit?), and I think they're chippable to around 130bhp or so.Peter
And they're only group 7 insurance!
See, if I was continuing my full-time work (with its business mileage) for the next 2-3 years I'd get one. That's a lot of brand new car for £7k.
Hi,
Appreciate the replies just finished de-crypting the 3 letter codes
I've been reading a few reviews and found this the VW golf 1.4e 3 door £5599 on the motorpoint website probably find it quite a bit cheaper from somewhere like autotrader. Going to check the second hand value on parkers. Any thoughts on this car?
Cheers
It'll be too underpowered if you ask me. Get a 1.9TDI - even the 90bhp version is a bloody good engine. Go for no less than a 1.8T if getting a petrol. Use the nationwide search facility on autotrader.co.uk and find out what a decent price to pay really is. Look at private sales as well. Often you'll get a better looked after car than something for sale by a dealer anyway.
Peter
Not if you chip them and declare it. And if you don't then you're uninsured if you crash it. They *do* check.
Ok, thanks for the advice will have a look on autotrader.
Cheers
How do they check? If the dealer themselves can't find it, how can an insurance co.
Besides, the increase might not actually be that much.
If a young bloke writes off his car, especially if it's been 'smartened up', do you think they wouldn't take the top off the ECU just to check? I would. OK you could hide it well, but then if they suspect for some reason (broken seals on the ECU?) and check the chip contents with the manufacturer you're in a whole heap more trouble.
You could always ask the insurance company. Given that many online brokers didn't even want to touch a standard 1.6 with aftermarket alloys for me recently, good luck!
The 1.8T is a cracking engine.
Sorry, I should have finished with a :-) ! City Rover was indeed a collaboration with Tata. I've yet to actually see one on the road.
The .....................was an invitation to comment - and I think your comment is probably bang on. I wouldn't touch one with a barge pole. It's priced at £3999 for a very good reason!
It should also be noted that VOSA issued a warning about some of these where the wheel trims can rub (and damage) the sidewall of the tyres!
Take the trims off and you have a car for less than the average price of a motorbike/
Invalid comparison.
A £4k bike will do close on 150mph.
The VAG serial port tuning is a lot harder to pick up. No broken seals on ECU and they have to dump the ecu hex coding and compare to standard. not easy an probably not worth the hassle. Revo,jabba AMD, upsolute all do serial port tuning now for all the VAG cars. SKODA,SEAT, AUDI and VW and Porsche.
Have something to add? Share your thoughts — no account required.
Ask the community — no account required