Unless over the weekend you will give whatever car you buy a good run out (decent acceleration through the gears up to 60/70 for a reasonable time/variety of roads, not just more jig-jog on local roads with a trip to the supermarket/shopping centre), then for such low mileage, forget performance cars (Golf GTis included) and diesels.
Smaller, petrol-engined town cars would be far more suitable (those you quoted are ok, but could you stand using the next size down [Hyundai i10/Fiat 500/Ford Ka etc]) if you realistically only needed it for commuting/weekly shop. The 'warm' versions of some of them can still be quite peppy to drive as well as reasonably frugal. I suspect though, with the sort of budget you're looking at, you'd better look at the older, more basic cars - less to go wrong, and, for those running a car on a budget, less to insure and maintain. You also get a newer car for the money.
Your type of driving actually lends itself to buying a hybrid, but they aren't cheap and I wouldn't buy an older one, mainly because of the expense of repairs/battery replacements that may occur (if you could even find one in your price bracket that worked ok) at that age (over 10 years old).
Recommendation: something small, Japanese/Korean, petrol-engined, only the essential gizmos (to keep the price down), and a proven full main dealer service history/MOT passes/all issues fixed. Ask to see the log-book and proper invoices/receipts for all maintenance and reapir work.
If you think it looks didgy or the seller is reluctant to/won't show you proof of the above, the WALK AWAY - there's lot of other decent cars out there. Take you time, and bring along a car-savvy (the oily/electric bits) friend/family member/breakdown staff (a good investment) if you are looking outside of a franchised dealer network. Don't be pressurised into buying the first car that meets your needs - look at a range at different places.
|