You guys seem to enjoy these posts, so I'm adding another one. :)
My friend wants to buy a small hatch with under 30k on the clock for 5 grand or less. I assume she will have plenty of choice, she is thinking of things like Clios and Corsas, her family is trying to convince her on a V plate Rover 200, but I'm sure you can think of something better...
Rover 200, from what I've heard, is a piece of s**te, and from what I've heard of Rovers in general, you don't want to crash one. If I were choosing, I'd look at the Focus, Clio, Civic and Jazz. Focus should be most entertaining to drive, Clio should be good too, but smaller, and the Hondas are pretty bulletproof.
Yes, indeedy, but you're not always the problem.
Just sometimes! :)
"A small hatch," shoot, what for? To look pretty, to be cheap to run, fun, spacious?
Heh.
We need to know a bit more about what she wants and needs from her car...
I don't buy a car to crash. I buy it to drive.
Peter
Nissan Sunny GTI-R : P
Dunno really, sorry. Reliable, cheap to repair, low insurance group, etc, I'm assuming. Be nice if it held its value, I don't think its going to be racking up a lot of miles either though. I expect that they're all reasonably good at these things, and there will be a couple where there's good reasons to avoid them.
All reasonably good at the above except for retaining value - although this said she could buy a new, brand spanking new, Ka for £5,500 and sell it on for £4,500 after a year.
Fuel economy isn't going to be much of an issue from the sound of things.
Value wise, well I know of a two year old, good condition, 40K Mondeo diesel going for four grand. That's a hatchback and an awful lot of money for not a lot of cash.
Somebody stop me from replacing Kermit with a similar coloured Mondeo turbodiesel.
But the point is, that sort of money will buy a similar aged Ka...
Ka or Mondeo...? You won't get the same value for money elsewhere in the sector, but the Mondeo won't cost that much more on an ongoing basis than the Ka to run (higher service, insurance costs, £200 less in fuel per 15,000 miles) - your biggest "cost" is going to be depreciation.
D'oh! Well it was 05:35 hehe.
No, sadly not, it's the TDdi model, with only 115 PS. That and the previous keeper was a smoker, these are it's only two faults.
It's make somebody a good motorway mile cruncher, to be fair. And although it's Pacific Green, I don't think Charlie would entertain the idea of changing Kermit for it...
Awful lot of money for not a lot of cash?! Methinks you meant to replace "money" with "car" there.
Would that be a TDCI? That does seem bloody cheap - still, the hatches don't hold their money like the estates, I suppose.
Peter
I've got a feeling we've probably covered this before, but did they make two separate 115bhp engines - a TDdi and a TDCI? Because there's definitely a
115bhp TDCI as well, isn't there?Heh, just call it Kermit, and tell her her eyes are playing tricks on her :-)
Still, with Kermit you've got cream leather interior.
Peter
I think that's badge engineering!
Yes. LWD TDCi Ka? :p
Avoid the Rover 200. Crap in a crash, doesnt handle particually well, and then there is the certainty of head gasket failure probably before the year is out!
Get a Focus, dont be scared of alittle more mileage- cars need to be used to remain in good shape.
Tim..
You sure? I'm sure the TDCI (i.e. common-rail) engine had a 115bhp version.
LWD? Left-wheel-drive?
Peter
The 115 PS version now might be a common rail (Ford have moved to a ~100 PS
1.8 TDCi in the Focus, yes?) but the original donk was merely a direct injection one.For my purposes, either engine would do just fine, the 115 PS donk is more shown up by the 130 PS TDCi than being inadequate in itself. But I'd spend the extra on the TDCi....
Bugger. LWB. Long wheel base.
I thought you might have meant that.
I'm pondering the idea of getting something LWB - maybe a Movano 2.2DTI, slightly newer Master DCi or a Sprinter CDI.
If I do make the change within 6 months mine will still have low mileage (it'll be around 60k) so I shouldn't lose out more than a few hundred at best, and may well upgrade to something a bit newer and better on economy. We'll see......
Peter
In news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com, Tom Robinson decided to enlighten our sheltered souls with a rant as follows
Focus, Focus, or Focus. If she can't afford a Focus, then a 1.25 or 1.4 16v Fiesta.
They're both *miles* better than anything else of that type for the money.
For goodness sake, pick something and keep to it! :)
The new sub 2.0 litre four banger modern direct injection vans are _much_ more economical, although don't offer the kick that something like a 2.8 litre turbodiesel Mercedes Sprinter van! :)
That's a bit of a far-fetched concept, isn't it? Besides, the company I'm subcontracting to insist on a van less than 4 years old as a general rule - I mentioned there was an S reg van in good clean condition near me for sale and they were happy with me using that for 6 months or so, as long as I replace it after then. When the 6 months comes to an end I'm going to give it a bloody good T-cut and polish (and yes it will need the T-cut with all the light scratches from hedges and bushes on country lanes it gets!) and basically get it looking immaculate, and reason with them that it's exactly the same model as much newer ones, and if I were to put a private plate on it you wouldn't be able to tell the difference, and see what they say. But it's likely that I'll probably need to replace it with something in the £6k region. Still, the mileage will still be low when I come to part with it, so I should still get a good price for it.
Something like a 1.9DCI-100 would do the trick nicely - not sure if they put it in a Master though.
Peter
Toyota Yaris is about the best of the too-small cars right now. Ford Focus if you can convince her to get something at least approaching normal size. VW Polo or Lupo would be the other things on the list.
Steer clear of the Rover 200.
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