Hi i'm looking for a secondhand car, and just seen a silver Rover 25, 52 reg, 1.4 iL, with tax & mot until 07/07, with 25k on the clock going for £2650,
I haven't had a proper look through out the car, just a casual look over, overall it looks very good.
Was wondering before I contact the owner to have a better look , any one with previous experience of such a car could give me some advise etc, what to look out for with this particular kind of car etc.
with regards the 25k on the clock, all the usual wear and tear signs such as scratching near the drivers door key hole are not significant, still very polished etc, the drivers seat looks good and the steering wheel doesn't look to shiny. the accelerator peadl still has it's rubber cover on it, so all looks good.
any advise will be great fully appreaciated.
This will be my first car in a long time, having saved up for it for a while now, so would like to make a good choice.
thanks for your help...
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Have a look at carsurvey.org.
You would have to view this car as disposable, it will be worth nothing in three years.
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"This will be my first car in a long time, having saved up for it for a while now, so would like to make a good choice."
Choose elsewhere. This was a not very good car from a company that has now gone out of business. The 1.4 K series engine is OK when running, but views headgaskets as consumables.
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RichardW
Is it illogical? It must be Citroen....
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Hi, if you've been saving for a while, a Rover is not the best bet! Give us an idea of your budget, requirements etc. A Toyota Corolla or something like that would be a better car for the money.
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Thank you, I will take heed of your advise.
I was already thinking along the lines of the Toyota Corolla..
Basically I looking for a relatively small car, mainly for work, to get to and from etc. I tend to do a lot of mileage mainly on the motorways etc. though saying that I don't work all the time, approx 6 months of the year...
I have budgetted £2000 - £2500, I'm not a particularly fast driver, more economical as much as possible.
any ideas or suggestions will be most appreaciated.
Looks like i'll give the rover a miss.
Thank you for your advise
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Seat Toledo.
Everything from a 2.3 V5 to a 1.9 diesel in your price range.
Diesels tend to go for silly premiums so the 2.3 V5 is actually the best value.
Smallish car huge boot bullet prof reliability, essentially MKII Golf under the skin.
Everybody hates them nobody wants them don't know why a great car for the money.
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Last of the N15 (earlier shape) Nissan Almera, then put the rest away for a rainy day
Bullet proof reliability and they do seem to hold their value.
SWMBO has one and she loves it. OK it's auto but she went from "I hate driving - period!" to "Don't you dare take the keys off me!" in a matter of hours after she tried it out.
The only reason that it was in my hands is because it was my late mother's and I had to find a buyer for it. We were both put on the insurance so it could be disposed of, but I took her out for a drive and she loved it.
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Go Japanese. Nissan Almera (mine's a W-reg N15, so I agree with Hugo!), Toyota Corolla, Honda Civic, Mazda 323. All very good cars, a bit pricey to buy compared to European cars, but they tend to last a very long time.
European cars to consider would be a diesel Peugeot (preferably the very last of the non-HDi 306s - they're noisier, but are fairly simple to work on), any Skoda (a late Felicia 1.6 maybe - VW Golf engine)...erm...I would advise against a Renault or a Fiat due to serious reliability/durability problems with lots of models (check the CBC section for details). An early Ford Focus would be within your reach, but they seem to hold their value quite well, so not too many decent ones going cheap.
Whatever you buy, put a cambelt on while it's still under the used-car warranty (about £200 - but worth every penny). Obviously if you get an Almera, you don't have to bother as they have chains.
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I'm going to stun everyone now. Make sure you're sitting down.
I agree with Greg.
That is all.
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If you want a fairly new car for little money, try a Kia, Hyundai or perhaps a Proton. these will offer great value if you just want an A to B car.
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Unless you want to resell it in the future perhaps?
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But if he´s starting at 2.5k he doesn´t have far to fall, depreciation-wise.
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He has about £2,499 to depreciate.
£2,100 of that would be by Christmas.
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thanks for all the suggestions so far, recently whilst working abroad, I was provided with a nissan aimera, which i liked very much as a car, it might be a little too big for me, I really like the idea of a 3 door corolla, civic etc...
I'm not really to sure what you mean by 2499 to depreciate etc...
I'm not in any immediate hurry, my next job doesn't start until mid November, so I have a few weeks to investigate.
thanks
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I think adam means that you have £2.5k to lose before your car is worth zero. With some makes/models that could be as short as 2 years or as much as 5, for example.
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so if i'm to understand it correctly, it will only be worth buying a car for 2.5k that is going to hold it's value longer than 2 years....how do the corolla and civic hold up to this?
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so if i'm to understand it correctly, it will only be worth buying a car for 2.5k that is going to hold it's value longer than 2 years....how do the corolla and civic hold up to this?
Very well. Even a very old Civic will be worth a bit. They go on, and on, and on.
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he means a rover is worth a bag of rotten carrots, a toyota will still start and pass an mot while the carrots are outstanding in their field
ie if you want to be the lord of the manor buy a lada if you want to get to work for minimal spend dont buy a car where the manufacturers made crap cars and they went bust ,is that clear enough?
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In reply to Adam:
Yeah, fair enough!
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