Vauxhall Cavalier SRI (the liftback not the saloon version). About J/K reg in good condition £1,000 tops. A bit agricultural because its so basic mechanically but bullet proof reliability and very cheap to fix by your local garage/blacksmith if it does breakdown.
Goes like a scalded cat and when you fold down the rear seats has enough room for two double basses (I know I have done this).
My bestest car ever and I am sorry I ever got rid of it, plus go for the J and you do not even need a catalytic converter!
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As a saloon, I'd recommend a VW Bora TDi, slightly leggy, for about £6k, if that's what she wants to spend. Or as a banger, its ancestor, the Vento, which is a saloon Golf - it looks ugly but if the boot were a flat in Chelsea it would be worth £200k. With the TDi engine it should last 150k, do 50 mpg and keep up with traffic - just make sure it's a TDi and not the Umwelt TD or, worse, a non-turbo diesel.
New, I'd look at one of those - but that would be expensive, or a Citroën Xsara Picasso. A Berlingo is a cheaper alternative but will probably lose just as much in depreciation and will remind her more of a van when she isn't using all the space. A Picasso starts at £9252 for a petrol 1.6 LX and a diesel (recommended, especially over big miles) is an extra grand, and another £600 for a Desire with air con. Try www.ukcarbroker.co.uk
With no deposit, and a balloon payment of £3700 (easily achievable for a three year old Picasso) that would work out at £195 per month from www.smartermotoring.com for the 1.6
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My brother-in-law is a gigging musician. He plays mostly jazz and plays virtually all instruments. Mostly tenor sax and guitar though. He often has a lot of instruments with him and also sometime picks up other band members and takes them with their instruments to gigs as well. He has a 2003 Honda Odyssey mini-van. It is the perfect vehicle for this because it has comfortable seating for as many as 7 and lots of room for the instruments. He also got it with the GPS NAV because all musians have trouble finding their gigs from time to time. I don?t know if you guys have the Odyssey there but it is very nice for this type of use. It runs about $32,000 USD.
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One of the longest posts in the history of the Back Room was another musician with similar needs. He went for an Omega estate. Possibly a bit heavy on maintenance and running costs though.
See here for more info
www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?v=i&t=10...2
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Hi David, thanks for the suggestions.
After previous bad experiences, she's very reluctant to consider anything secondhand -- and I know she'd run a mile from the thought of something like the J/K reg car which Thommo suggested.
I've seen some of those Citroen Picassos around and they look quite similar to the Nissan Tino she's using at the moment ... but she's had bad experiences with past Citroens, so would be reluctant to try again. I thought from reading the BackRoom that the newer French car were still problematic, especially with the electric bits (new car seem to be full of electrics) -- or have the French improved?
It seems to me that a car that's mildly problematic isnt necessarily too much of a disaster if you're at home with the dealer nearby and you can get a couteousy car -- but a breakdown en route to a gig in the middle of nowhere means lots of hassle and probably a lost gig, with heavy loss of income and damage to reputation.
Is the VW Bora more reliable than other similar cars of the same size? I thought VWs were getting quite expensive these days.
Thanks again for your help
Claire
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Hi Hugo
Thanks for the welcome. Are you serious that £200 a month would be enough to consider that sort of car? That's a lot less than hire cars are costing her at the moment, so I think it would be well manageable.
I don't think insurance is a problem, because she's in her 50s, got maximum no claims bonus, and has never had any sort of sizeable claim on a policy. She's kept her own insurance anyway while hiring cars, so that wouldnt be an issue unless she got a fancy car (which she doesnt want anyway).
So what sort of cars are worh looking at?
Thanks again for your help!
Claire
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Newish Nissan Primera fits the bill perfectly. Great bargain, don't go wrong, big boot etc. One of the later old shapes would be my choice.
Baz
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Please tell me I'm not the only one who read the title as "New wheels for a giggLing musician", until I opened the link! ;-)
Must be a tired brain after a wonderful day out in the Cotswolds on the Hornet! One of those easy flowing days when everything goes right, and you know why bikes beat cars hands down (soon forgotten when the winter arrives!)
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If you want reliability, then buy japanese. End of story.
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£200 a month or thereabouts is enough to spend on a three year deal.
www.buymynewcar.co.uk 's deals on Primeras are worth looking at if she doesn't want to go second hand and reliability is important. I think they're £9800, which should be £205 per month if she decides to go for www.smartermotoring.com A late, old shape, second hand car would be cheaper still.
If not, she could finance it over longer - the disadvantage of smartermotoring is that next time round, she'll probably only have £1k or so deposit at the end of three years once she's paid the balloon amount, although that varies from car to car.
Personally I wouldn't be put off a Picasso by the reliability; okay, they're not perfect as a Japanese car might be, but they're cheap enough that it's not the be all and end all. A Corolla T2, probably the best Japanese mini MPV, is about £2k more than the equivalent Picasso and not much of that premium will still be there when she comes to sell. While people talk about French cars as unreliable, they don't usually fall apart - it's only ever a small percentage that do. An Almera Tino starts at £11,290 from www.motorsolutionswithmakro.co.uk for a 2.2 diesel S. (I assume that, as a self employed musician, she would be eligible for Makro prices).
I personally wouldn't buy a new Bora; that was more of a one answer suggestion for an inoffensive car with a big boot, a reasonable amount of space and good economy that would cater to a lot of budgets, rather than a definitive answer. For what it's worth, new Boras start at £12,134 from www.broker4cars.co.uk/vwboraprices.htm and if she's happy with a mini MPV I'd recommend she get one of those instead, for Japanese reliability and also the fact that MPVs tend to hold their value better than unloved saloons, even ones with a VW badge.
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Please tell me I'm not the only one who read the title as "New wheels for a giggLing musician", until I opened the link! ;-) Must be a tired brain after a wonderful day out in the Cotswolds on the Hornet! One of those easy flowing days when everything goes right, and you know why bikes beat cars hands down (soon forgotten when the winter arrives!)
Erm...
No you're not actually!
I can't get the giggling musician out of my head either.
Oh well, Past my bedtime!
Hugo
"Forever indebted to experience of others"
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I read it as giggling too, but my excuse is that I am still suffering the consequences of having consumed a lot of sake in a Japanese restaurant last night ....
Back on topic, if the budget permits then another possibility might be the Skoda Octavia diesel estate. 130 PS will mean loads of poke for setting the pace on the motorway, plus massive boot, Skodas less likely to be nicked as well. Even the 100 PS version should be able to keep up with the flow. Skoda seems to do very well in satisfaction and reliability surveys and the Octavia estate, while no oil painting, does look better than the saloon IMHO. Better value than many competitors.
andymc
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