Thanks for the help guys, so nothing really to worry about if the car has a decent history.

My other option is the Alfa Romeo Mito ive not heard bad things re-reliability but Al;fs history worries me.

I would suggest you read the Car-by-car review and owners' reviews (review heading) for this and any car you are thinking of first.

There is a lot online about the 1.4 TSI engines suffering camchain failure due to the Timing Chain Tensioner.

That is because they have sold a lot of cars using the TSi engine and the people with issues are the only ones who post. Doubt you will find many who say their car is OK.

With regards to the dual charged engine, many of these were bought by young idiots (or old idiots) who had them chipped way beyond their original sensible power levels. When they were more common (i.e. before they had been destroyed by chipping) the owners were quite happy to post on various forums that they would sell the car before it was 3 years old and the abuse it had suffered would be the next owners problem.

I know some people say they like chains in cars but I prefer the simplicity of a belt, much cheaper to change at service intervals, hence why a lot of manufactorers have reverted to them like Ford and VW recently.

Timing chains should be fine if:

a) the systems are designed properly;

b) they are manufactured to a high standard (its well-documented that the VAG ones were not for a time when the component supplier was leaned on by VAG on price so they didn't replace a worn component stamping machine to save money to keep the contract, resulting in many faulty parts getting through), and;

c) the system is kept well-oiled with the correct type of oil. Long service intervals ain't good in this respect. HJ says for ALL cars this should be at least once a year, and especially for chain-driven ones.

The vast majority of Japanese-designed cars that have and do have chain-cam engines have not had any reliability issues related to the chains. From my pov, its sad that, whilst VAG have sort of learned their lesson, they've gone for a cheaper (to make) belt-driven system, which is fine, but it does transfer the cost of it from manufacture to maintenance, and I would've thought in the end results in a higher cost to the owner over the life of the car.

the system is kept well-oiled with the correct type of oil. Long service intervals ain't good in this respect. HJ says for ALL cars this should be at least once a year, and especially for chain-driven ones.

That is good advice but its advice that is sadly ignored or even critised by several posters.

The vast majority of Japanese-designed cars that have and do have chain-cam engines have not had any reliability issues related to the chains.

As I stated on a post on another thread Nissan Micra's of the 2003 to 2010 could have cam chain issues if not filled with the correct 5w30 semi synthetic oil (which is about £16 for 5 litres at Asda and other shops) yet our local Nissan dealer filled ours with 10w 40 mineral to save us a tenner.

From my pov, its sad that, whilst VAG have sort of learned their lesson, they've gone for a cheaper (to make) belt-driven system, which is fine, but it does transfer the cost of it from manufacture to maintenance, and I would've thought in the end results in a higher cost to the owner over the life of the car.

The cam belt on the current TSi needs changing according to use, this is what VAG told me when I questioned them prior to buying the Leon because there was confusion at the local dealers who differed in their advice on maintenance requirements:

"we recommend the cam belt is first checked at 60,000 miles, and every 20,000 miles thereafter. If there is no damage at these points the cambelt will not need changing. If the belt is not changed, regardless of condition, it must be replaced at 120,000 miles or when the vehicle is 5 years old, whichever comes first"

But if you find out what maintenance is needed before you buy there will be no nasty surprises. If you are not happy walk away. Over an average vehicle life withe the TSi engine a belt will be required twice and when you look at lifetime costs its a tiny fraction of the total you will spend.

The 'keep well oiled advice' is, other than keeping the tyres in good shape, the best advice for anyone running a car. Relatively cheap to do that saves £000s in replacement parts and keeps the car on the road.

One of the reasons I didn't (and still don't) consider a Nissan for my next car after my Micra (the previous [and by far the best] version to the one you mentioned) was their tie-up with Renault - I could tell very early on that engineering standards were being, in my view, reduced to save costs (the factory in Sunderland is still good, its the engineering designs that I think aren't so good as they used to be). My local dealer was fine, so I can't really comment on where those standards dropped (I changed over to Mazda in 2006).

My issue with VAG was that when they changed over from chain and belt-driven engines, they should've dropped the prices (or at least held them for longer) to reflect the lower cost of manufacturing (the cost of the change should've been borne by VAG, not the customer) and higher maintenance costs. Fair enough if the belts last a reasonable amount of time, but it still works out at over £700+ (assuming at least two in the car's whole life) - not huge over a 15 year period, but still...

Edited by SLO76 on 04/08/2017 at 19:29

SLO, you need the car equivalant of a medical health checker. They can punch in the details and get the answer at the bottom, even if they're disappointed by what they see.

I sense a growing weariness and exasperation. Save your fingers, you'll never convince some people until they learn the hard way :-)

For £5000 you will get a nice Kia rio 2013

this one £4500

www.autotrader.co.uk/car-search?sort=price-asc&...0

ok to drive rest of 7 year warranty if full manufacturers service history, ultra reliable.

I didnt think turbo meant I unrealiable either. Yeah its one more thing to go wrong. I had a Golf tdi a while ago. I paid £800 for it used it for short journeys for two years and all that went wrong on it was a fuel hose split and a new coil spring on it. I also had a 1.8t Octavia vrs and the engine was spot on apart from a rough idle which I think was the MAF unfortunately everything else went wrong on it. I'm tempted to just get another mk4 golf a really tidy well maintained one. I loved that car but got rid as I had a company car. I was going to take out an extended warranty but I can't if its over 12 years old.

Edited by Dazl1212 on 05/08/2017 at 12:13

Volvo s40 2.4i?

Id have a t5 on a heartbeat but my insurer won't Insure me on that for some reason, same with Honda but I can get insured on a focus St. Its weird. Are the Alfa mitos bad? They seem like marmite from what I've read.

Edited by Dazl1212 on 05/08/2017 at 13:14

It was the D5 I cant get insured on, I can get insured on a T5 its quite a bit dearer though but Im due a payrise at work.

The only thing is that the milage on the ones on my budget seems high and they seem to be being sold way over what my insurer thinks its market value is. I'd prefer it to a focus ST as i think that its less likely to have been thrashed or badly looked after.

Plus I think theyre aboslutely stunning cars.

Edited by Dazl1212 on 05/08/2017 at 13:45

Thanks for all the advice guys, Im tempted to just buy myself another cheap runabout for this year as I cant really afford to run a T5 (insurance is too high so may need to get another years no claims behind me) or afford to buy a decent TSI etc.

Might go for a hyundai Coupe or something similar.