I am thinking of buying my next car at auction. I have between £1k to £4k to spend.
My priorities are reasonble mpg, good drive/handling, reliability or cheapish repair costs, family car size, 20k per year for two years minimum.
Cars identified are between:
Nissan Primera 97-2000 1.6-1.8-2.0 prices??
Ford Mondeo 97-2000 1.8 Hatch &/or estate
Mazda 626 96-2000 1.8-2.0
Citroen Xantia turbo diesel until model runout
Possible Passat
Anything HDI diesel
Any better bets ?(i.e. different cars) auction or otherwise? and also how much would I save compared to book and/or dealer price
Ta Simon
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Hi,
I have just been through exactly the same decision process although I did not have the Passat (expensive parts and service) on my list or anything French (too unreliable)! This week I bought a 97P Mondeo, 4 dr, 2 litre, petrol, manual, Ghia at auction. It has covered 107,000 miles, missed 2 services. I paid £1050 plus £110 buyers premium. I have done 500 miles in it this week. It is very quiet and relaxed at 80 on the motorway, handles miles better than my ex company V reg Passat TDi and on my first tankful has returned 34mpg. I looked at a few R and S Reg Mondeos from Autotrader in the £3,500 to £4,500 but they all had 60 to 80,000 miles so I considered it worth the *risk* for the potential saving. It was my 2nd visit as the previous week there was nothing at all there in my price bracket. There were lots of ex lease very good condition, fsh, 3 year old cars such as Vectras and Astras but they were going for around £5,000. Passats £2K more. A handful of 626, Avensis, Primeras fetching in between. Very few Mondeos and no Focii sub £4K. Then lower down the price scale in the General sale were lots of really tatty p/x cars with only a few in good condition. Very few turbo diesels, one S reg, very tired looking Citroen Xsara 90bhp, 97,000 miles went to £2,300 which seemed a lot. I chose the car after studying in detail all the excellent advice in the CBC breakdown and then followed the buying at auction advice. I?m sure if you do the same, you will end up with the right car at the right price. Good luck!
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