Hi all, which do you think is the most reliable small car on the road at the moment be it petrol or diesel for £2,000 or less. I was tempted with a nissan micra until my brothers timing chain snapped on his and cost him a fair packet to be sorted. Thanks every-one. Graham.
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At this price, generally the best car is the one in the best condition.
That said, don't be put off by the timing chain issue with your brother's Micra. This is a rare occurrence on these cars, and any car can have a timing chain/belt snap (more common on a belt engine it must be said), and when it does go, you'll be talking a hefty bill no matter what car you're talking about (with a few very old exceptions, which have enough problems of their own to offset the lack of damage in the case of a cambelt/chain going -- old Fiat Pandas for example).
The Micra is one of the better cars at this size and price-range, because they combine excellent mechanical durability with good parts availability (which can be an issue with some other Japanese cars at this age).
But as I say, condition is everything at £2000.
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" Must have 6-monthly oil changes to avoid timing chain trouble"
From HJ's breakdown - so must be more common than rare !
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Cheers guys for your feed-back on this, Graham..
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How small is small?. I would go for a Skoda as these depreciate quite fast so you can have a low milage one for your money.
As the other say , go on condition and low miles- but with service history of course.
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Hi there TurboD, Is this a joke !!! lol Graham.
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" Must have 6-monthly oil changes to avoid timing chain trouble" From HJ's breakdown - so must be more common than rare !
Timing chain trouble is common in engines that don't have regular oil changes and rare in those that do..... The snag is that on older, cheaper, cars the servicing tends to go out of the window. If they are lucky they might get a yearly service with some supermarket oil.
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Cheers Aprilla for the advice. so do you think a micra would be my best bet / Cheeers, Graham.
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My mk4 Fiesta 1.3 was brilliant.
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Hi there, Thanks for that. P.S. Did you ever cure your water ingress problem, Cheers,Graham.
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Hey Graham - not yet! The interior is back to bare metal now so it can leak all it wants for the foreseeable.
If you see the messages pinned at the top of the forum you'll see I've had much more pressing matters to attend to!
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If its just reliability, Toyota Starlet is pretty indestructible or maybe a Daihatsu Charade.
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Micra's as good a bet as any. Plenty of pattern parts at sensible prices and easy to fix. Just check underneath for rust and check for evidence of servicing.
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Thanks stunorthants , I will look into both of these, Cheers, graham.
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Our mk4 Fiesta has also been very good. Apart from a heater control valve and front wishbone bushes (combined parts cost of <£100), it's needed nothing other than servicing in the last 18 months / 15,000 miles. It's the 1.4 Zetec engine and still sounds as sweet as new at 93,000 miles.
I think you have to accept that few cars at this level will be fault free over any length of time, so things like parts availability and pricing, and ease of maintenance / labour costs come into the equation. In other words, how much money / hassle is involved WHEN it goes wrong. A Fiesta takes some real beating on all of these things, particularly with the 1.3 OHV engine which is no more complicated than a basic meccano set.
In my experience, the biggest issue with the Fiesta is finding one that's had a service since the warranty ran out. 2/3 of the ones we saw clearly rarely had their bonnets lifted between MOT's.
Cheers
DP
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Thanks so much for your advice, Cheers, graham.
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Its often been advised in the Back Room that £2000 is a difficult sum to spend well - a £1000 car is every bit as likely to give good service if you buy carefully. But if it does give trouble, its easier to cut your losses on the cheaper car.
Do read through the car-by-car breakdown carefully - not all small cars take age or miles equally well, so it pays to know what the common faults on each model are before you buy. As said above, condition is key.
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Thanks Gromit, and every-one else for your feed-back on this, cheers, Graham.
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At that budget you want value for money, not just in the initial price, but in parts etc. It has to be a Ford Fiesta that wins - loads to choose from, and all the parts easily available. Spend £1,000, and keep the other £1,000 for a rainy day.
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hi there, local yokel, I am tempted towards a fiesta, is the diesel more reliable than the petrol models, as i say i can spend up to £2,000. but if i can get something decent for around £1,000. then better still. Cheers, Graham.
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Why go for a diesel? The petrol versions are pretty cheap to run - I'd be surprised if you could save money on one. Remember that the diesel will cost more to tax as it is over 1500cc.
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Hi again, fair point, never thought about that. Which would be the best petrol engine to go for, I would also want good fuel economy as it is mainly around town driving, thanks again, Graham.
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Son has a 1.1 Fiesta.. slow. A 1.25 Fiesta is nice and faster but still slow. A 1.4 Zetec is faster and a 1.6 Zetec quite quick A 1.3 Endura is like a 1.25.
Avoid the diesel..BIL had one and sold after 6 months. I see why.. cos he gave me a lift.. slow and noisy and not particularly economical.
As lots = cheap a 1.25 would be my best bet but check rust - especially at rear (wheelarches) and boot floor and sills (especially under B post).
Spares are 10 a penny but generally long lived and simple to repair a Peugeot 106 is not so simple...but rusts less..
madf
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honda civic going from my experience but probably anything japanese
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In terms of reliability, I would have to say small Japanese cars, such as the Micra, Toyota Starlet, Honda Civic etc. They very rarely give any mechanical trouble if looked after, but are usually a bit pricier for parts and servicing than the likes of Ford, Vauxhall, Peugeot et al. Japanese cars tend to fare better in the reliability ranks than European cars.
Martin
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Thanks all and every-one for there comments and replys, very helpful and informative. I will let you know what i end up getting and tell you what it is like. Thanks again, Graham.
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I too am looking for a small (2nd) car, under 2K, and have decided to buy a friends 1998 VW Polo 1.4 CL; it has been reliable over the past three years, apart from a failed temperature sensor which was cheap to fix. I used to have a 1996 Polo and it too provided faultless service over three years.
I would definately recommend one. They do rust at the bottom of the doors though!
Another good, reliable car is a Toyota Corolla 3 door. My dad had one for four years and literally nothing went wrong.......until it got written off in a rear end shunt!
Good luck!
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Thanks for the info oliver, cheers, Graham.
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