Car advice

[Daniel]

Hi all. Having a bit of trouble with my car at the moment and rather than fixing it I think I'll buy something else as the car has a rather suspect gearbox :)

Looking for something fairly common so that parts aren't hard to find and I don't need to drive 100's of miles to find one.
Cheap (ie £1000 at the very most)
Cheap to run as work is a bit of a drive (Turbo diesel maybe?)
Low insurance group (Being here on an Australian licence is almost as bad as being 18 years old and wanting to insure a hot hatch)


Been looking on the Autotrader and it looks like Xsara's and 306's are probably the best bet.

Any advice?

Thanks in advance.

[speedy king]

Peugeot 306 1.9 D Turbo, Insurance Group 5, fantastic handling cars and you can pick good condition Phase 1's (L to P reg) for about £1000 go for the latter reg's ie N, P, R, (s or higher might be lucky for that price...) and you should get PAS, electric windows, drivers airbag etc, 50mpg if you drive economically.....can be fast nippy cars if you drive in the lower gears..


I am biassed :p : But i've never had a single problem with mine and drives superbly :)

[captin 1 VXR]

if u go for a pug 306 d turbo make sure the c/locking works as thay are prone to unlock them self when it gos wrong

[Caroline]

I am thinking a nice VW or Audi would do? ;)

[Rollo]

I've suggested at things to you before and on every occasion you've said no due to some really odd criteria for not wanting a GM, Ford or Toyota.
For a thousand quid you should be able to pick up a 1.4 anything in about M reg vintage for about a thousand quid.

I seriously think about taking a trip into either Chester of Liverpool and checking through their car yards and not the motor companies ones either.

On the whole, autos and ones with air-con are more expensive. I suspect that you should be able to get a decent low end Rover for the price you're asking.

[BeansBeansBeans]

I too should be getting a new car, as my current one is looking like a write off. I'm likely to have a budget of £2500-ish and don't want to get finance.

It needs to be something reasonably good, with a good reliability record, cheap to tax and insure and have 4/5 doors (for getting the baby in and out).

I quite fancy an Alfa Romeo, but I'm aware that reliability is not their forte. Any help or advice would be gratefully received.

[Daniel]

I've suggested at things to you before and on every occasion you've said no due to some really odd criteria for not wanting a GM, Ford or Toyota.
For a thousand quid you should be able to pick up a 1.4 anything in about M reg vintage for about a thousand quid.

I seriously think about taking a trip into either Chester of Liverpool and checking through their car yards and not the motor companies ones either.

On the whole, autos and ones with air-con are more expensive. I suspect that you should be able to get a decent low end Rover for the price you're asking.

I can't help having taste ;) :angel:

Been looking online and another car which has entered into the equation is a VW Golf TDi of early to mid 90's vintage. Being a VW it should be bulletproof :)

It may sound snobbish but I'd rather walk the 22 miles to work than to drive a Rover or a GM car :mark: Ford I wouldn't be so prejudiced against and have actually been told by a guy at work that a Fiesta Zetec might be worth looking at too.

The Audi actually seems OK ish at the moment and only stopped once on me today about 50m from home so I may hold onto it until the MOT runs out in April and possibly have more money to spend on a car than I do at the moment.

If I had permanent residency I'd have gladly taken out a smallish loan and not have to buy something cheap and possibly sheety :mark:

[Daniel]

I too should be getting a new car, as my current one is looking like a write off. I'm likely to have a budget of £2500-ish and don't want to get finance.

It needs to be something reasonably good, with a good reliability record, cheap to tax and insure and have 4/5 doors (for getting the baby in and out).

I quite fancy an Alfa Romeo, but I'm aware that reliability is not their forte. Any help or advice would be gratefully received.
Meh! I've owned a 70's Peugeot and 70's Fiat and have had nothing but good times and other than a wire breaking off the Pug's starter motor they've been 100% reliable and who can hold one wire breaking against a car :)

In my week and a half of driving a German car, it's supposed reliability has caused it to stop for no apparent reason about 5 or 6 times :mark: Buy a well maintained 156 and it'll be just as good as any other car. I've been told they should only get the Selenia oil that Alfa Romeo specifies when the oil is changed and I've heard that the Selespeed systems are prone to failure :) Plenty of 156 TS's out there for under your budget BBB :) Don't use your head. Go with your emotions and own that one Alfa Romeo that every bona fide petrolhead SHOULD own in their lifetime.

[ST205GT4]

On autotrader.co.uk I found these fine vehicles for less than 1000 quid.

1992 GT-Four - 125,000 miles -745 quid
1991 GT-Four - no miles mentioned - 1000 quid
1990 GT-Four - 120,000 miles - 1000 quid
1988 Delta Integrale Turbo - 111,110 miles - 400 quid

I'm sure I could find more high mile, problem ridden high performance cars for you to blow your money on, but you get the idea.

Also, take this guy along with you whilst purchasing a car:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=6g3RdW_zZV8

[jim mcglinchey]

Nice little Fiat Punto TD

[Captain VXR]

I too should be getting a new car, as my current one is looking like a write off. I'm likely to have a budget of £2500-ish and don't want to get finance.

It needs to be something reasonably good, with a good reliability record, cheap to tax and insure and have 4/5 doors (for getting the baby in and out).

I quite fancy an Alfa Romeo, but I'm aware that reliability is not their forte. Any help or advice would be gratefully received.

You may be able to get a four door (yes) Nissan Skyline R32 for that price. Tax and insurance not too sure but it'll be a practicle blast :D . It would be a mint one too as I know of someone who bought one with a few dents but mechanically sound for £800 and if it's too slow, there is a plethora of tuning parts available. The Skyline Owner's Club and the GTROC will be able to help you out. Car at top of list of Skylines (http://atsearch.autotrader.co.uk/www/cars_search.asp?searchform=&modelexact=1&lid=search_used_cars_full&photo=1&state=none&sort=&hassearched=Y&make=NISSAN&min_pr=75&source=0&model=SKYLINE&max_pr=30000&agerange=&mileage=&miles=1500&postcode=BA1+4HR&ukcarsearch_full.x=58&ukcarsearch_full.y=9) is a 4 door for £995 :D [Autotrader]

[FrankenSchwinn]

get an old beetle! you only need a screwdriver to fix just about anything on it and you'll look cool doing it! ;)

[schmenke]

Daniel my friend, I get the feeling that you'd score some major points if you took the time to procure a used Hillman ;) :D

[BeansBeansBeans]

Cheers for the advice, but the engineer called today and said they are going to repair my car, and not write it off as first suggested.

[viper_man]

Id go for a Corsa or something like that. Economical, under 1k, and plenty of them about.

[Captain VXR]

Ovlov 340/360 (no I'm not on marijuana). Novelty factor, reliable and it's rear wheel drive :D

[captin 1 VXR]

Id go for a Corsa or something like that. Economical, under 1k, and plenty of them about.



go for a vectra missis had one and it was 1.8 and i got it with 52k on the clocks for 1200. sold it with 75k for 1400 :D . (right place right time ) . but i get 30 mpg out of it driving with kids in car ( safe ) ..
and still got 25 mpg when i was testing it on my old privet road :rolleyes:

[Iain]

Get a Rallye, Daniel. Go on. ;) http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/PEUGEOT-106-RALLYE-95-N-MINT-CONDITION_W0QQitemZ110090111747QQihZ001QQcategoryZ 9859QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

[Daniel]

Get a Rallye, Daniel. Go on. ;) http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/PEUGEOT-106-RALLYE-95-N-MINT-CONDITION_W0QQitemZ110090111747QQihZ001QQcategoryZ 9859QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
Insurance on that would be silly :( But would be a blast on the 2 miles or so of country lane I drive to work on each day! :cheese:

[Iain]

Yeah insurance would probably be a killer. :( Shame that.

[Mark]

Id go for a Corsa or something like that. Economical, under 1k, and plenty of them about.

I'd say that too, but he said no GM :p

[Daniel]

Fizzi didn't have nice things to say about Corsa's either :p

[ST205GT4]

Are you serious about the insurance on a 106 Ralleye? How much can a 700 quid car cost to insure?

[Mark]

Are you serious about the insurance on a 106 Ralleye? How much can a 700 quid car cost to insure?

Thousands.

[Brown, Jon Brow]

you could by the car i designed

http://usera.imagecave.com/jon-brown/screenshot/jmccar.jpg

[Iain]

Group 9 insurance for a Series 1 Rallye (1300cc) or group 11 for the Series 2 Rallye (1600cc). Quite high for a car of it's age and engine size.

[ST205GT4]

Errm pretend that the groups mean nothing to me Iain, because as an Aussie who's never lived in Ingerland that would be close the to the truth!

But thousands!!!? That's truely ridiculous for a N/A car like a 106.

[Mark]

Pretty simple really, the insurance group is a guide for insurance companies as to how much to charge for insurance, the higher the group the higher the charge. But it's entirely up to the company if it takes any notice of that.

[Iain]

Errm pretend that the groups mean nothing to me Iain, because as an Aussie who's never lived in Ingerland that would be close the to the truth!

But thousands!!!? That's truely ridiculous for a N/A car like a 106.

Basically there are 20 groups, with 20 being the highest one. That's for your supercars and Rolls Royces etc. A normal 106 would probably be between 1 and 6, but because it's a sporty model, the Rallye is expensive to insure.

[Daniel]

Errm pretend that the groups mean nothing to me Iain, because as an Aussie who's never lived in Ingerland that would be close the to the truth!

But thousands!!!? That's truely ridiculous for a N/A car like a 106.
Rallye's are a proper drivers car. The insurance groups for them are up there almost with WRX's and the like......

[Tomski]

The cars grouping is only half the equation, you've got to factor in the driver as well. If your male and under 21 get ready for a big bill!

[Daniel]

Yes but when I go from a 106 Rallye to a Vauxhall Corsa I don't become younger or grow breasts at all. So for me the insurance group determines the cost of insurance.