My friend is looking to change her Corsa and wants to replace it with another car of similar small size. She'd like another 3 door with a bit more oomph (1.3/1.4) around about the £3000 mark. Reliability and looks are important. What options does she have regarding make/model.
She was quite interested in the Saxo but I've heard that they aren't the most reliable of makes. (Micra is out..."can't stand the look of it"). Any other suggestions??
Cheers
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If at first you do succeed, try not to look astonished
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Try to get hold of a very early Yaris 1.3 although you may have to push the price a bit.
If you want a newer car the Ford Kas are very cheap mainly cos you can buy a new one for 5k. They are much fun to drive and fairly reliable.
Old model Fiesta are quite fast and getting cheap sometimes very well equiped in ghia form.Peugot 106 are great cars and look good on the road also fun to drive.
Really the choice is enormous just dont be tempted by oddball cars stick to the main stream and it wont empty your wallet. Buying a cheaper second hand car is all about having 6 models on your shopping list and then finding the nice middle class detached house with the nice lady selling her 1 owner second car with full service history, Good hunting.
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Try to get hold of a very early Yaris 1.3 although you may have to push the price a bit.
Autotrader search shows Yaris at £5K plus.
IIRC when I bought an early 1.3 CDX earlier this year the 1.3 start with V reg. So very very few old 1.3s about.
Lots of older 1.0s but I avoided them because of comments re them being buzzy at cruise speeds. The 1.3 is happy at cruise speeds on the M way.
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Saxo's are terrable in crashes - I have seem a few crashed ones and it is not a nice site. I had a Peugeot 106 (shares most bits with Saxo) very unreliable and also unsafe!
Old shape Honda Civics are very cheap now days, as are old shape VW Polo's.
Have a look on www.autotrader.co.uk
Hope this helps
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"Buying a cheaper second hand car is all about having 6 models on your shopping list and then finding the nice middle class detached house with the nice lady selling her 1 owner second car with full service history, Good hunting"
That is very true!!
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Renault Clio
Vaxhall Corsa
Citroen Saxo
Pug 106 or 206
Ford Fiesta
Ford Ka
Rover 200
Nissan Almera (late older shape) SWMBO has one and is very pleased with it.
Toyota Yaris
Honda Jazz
VW Polo or Golf
Skoda
Mazda 121
I'm sure I've missed one or two.
H
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Does it have to be Corsa size? Now that the Citroen C4 is about to hit the market, the Xsara will be even cheaper. I am sure there will be 1.4is, at least, at around the £3k mark.
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Honda Jazz for under £3K??
Where, Hugo?
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No way Hugo - Selling my Jazz for £6K 02 plate with 62K and 3 people queuing up to buy it
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Have a look for a Seat Ibiza. Daughter just got an X reg 1.4 for £3400 and it seems a good car so far. And is not as "common" as some of the other makes.
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Problem with small cars for this budget is that most people with this budget want a 'nice, cheap to run small car thats easy to park' and we all know what demand does to prices.
Find something nobody likes becuase its bland - something like a Citroen Xsara?
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Have a look at Hyundais. Cheap to buy new so they are going to sell cheap secondhand. You might be able to pick up a relatively recent one. They seem to be pretty reliable.
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No way Hugo - Selling my Jazz for £6K 02 plate with 62K and 3 people queuing up to buy it
OK, my mistake. I was just trying to create an exaustive list of options. It's the predecessor to the Jaz I was thinking about.
Hugo
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Shame you cant push the boat out alittle further on price.
if you look at a 5 year cost of running, insurance, servicing and reliability; the hyundai getz makes alot of sense.
the 1.3 is good in the getz, fine on the motorway.
and, you can pick up a 1.3 gsi 3 door for around £6.3k brand new.
as earlier mentioned - ford ka have a decent reliability reputation. fun drive, enough power but horrible dash board.
pegeout 106 - is a dog of a car, even alot of later plate models still dont have power steering or central locking. saxo is alot better in a psec sense.
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If you want a small car thats cheap to run with a bit of poke, go for a Honda Civic 1.5 VTEC. They are in the cheap tax band, have an econo-light to help you achieve 50+mpg, but they also boast 115bhp, so are nippy. They look best in 3door form (which were jap-built, the 5 doors were built in Swindon)and 3k should get you a decent '98 on model.
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If you key in a price range from £10 to £3,000 into one of the used car locaters in AutoExpress, AutoTrader etc websites, it will bring up hundreds of cars in that price range...
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What\'s for you won\'t pass you by
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Suzuki Ignis
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I read often, only post occasionally
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why not approach it logically?
Engine size required
no of doors
max miles
equipment (CD/Aircon etc)
Insurance Group (Parkers Guide site has a list)
safety (see HJ guides)
reliability
Then servicing costs - may have to phone garages for that or read What Car.
Colour preference.
Narrow it down and then search in Autotrader.
Personally a Ford Fiesta 1.4 Ghia (1.6 would be over budget) goes well/is reliable/cheap to run and great fun to drive.. but yes and early Honda etc (but insurance?)
Approach it logically and then cross of what is not liked/unrelaible/expesnive and look for a good one of the list left.
(but who says car buying is logical?:-)
madf
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