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Need to get a small car for around the £1500 mark for the other half. I know it is a buyers market at the moment as I have only just sold my Renault Scenic privately after a month of advertising at trade price and there was no queue of buyers at the door! Anyway my question to the backroomers is where is the best value for a car such as 1 - 1.2 litre petrol Clio/Punto/Clio/Swift or something along those lines. My nearest auctions, where I live (where I would probably be looking for a main dealer part exchange) are Westbury, West Oxfordshire or Blackbushe and I would have to factor in up to maybe £100 buyers fee etc. Or should I be on the lookout for private sale, although prices do seem rather high?
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Local paper or
a trip round the local main dealers for "any cheap trade ins"
in my experience getting one of these is your best bet because the people who trade them in have usually looked after them well and have owned them for a while.
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My own (recent) experience is that the market for this type of car is fairly strong - in fact I think it always is - these are prime 'first cars' so there is always a steady demand.
Main dealers wil probably not provide a source - cars at this value will all go either to auction (contract) or to a local trader (who probably 'looks after' the used car sales manager at the main dealer - yes, it does go on!).
I would take a look at Autotrader online for local cars and be prepared to move very quickly when you see the sort of car you're looking for. I'm not a FIAT fan, but I must admit that the Punto's not a bad motor at the price range (early Mk 2 I guess) provided its been looked after and with SH. Preferably from a maturish owner. Avoid anything from a youngster and/or with 'mods' on it.
I'd avoid the Clio though...
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I would rather put £1500 into a fiesta at an auction as what you see is what you will buy and it wont have hidden agendas, or even if it does the cost will be proportional.
Or as mr A says autotrader night before the book comes out, do an interwobble search at 10 pm at night on your chosen subject and see what bubbles up (be aware though that a photo may not accompany the advert till midday next day)
ie cars appear the night before the book ont tintonet so you can see what you can buy before other people buy what i now consider an expensive book
its about 50/50 the amount of people who buy the book or only shop online so dependant on who is selling the car can determine whether the car is on the internet only or on the internet and in the book
not a lot of people know that
confused?
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Been looking through autotrader, trade it magazine and ebay. Made phone calls & some cars already sold and of the remainder not seen a suitable car I even want to look at within 60 miles of where I live. As I do need to buy fairly quickly if possible I am looking at Auction maybe Blackbushe where there hopefully there will be plenty of choice. The preferred model choice is Peugeot 206 followed by Fiesta/Corsa/Punto (all 5door). I do not think I will get a good deal from a Dealer as they need to make a profit and after taking a few hundred out of a £1500 car and with an warranty almost worthless at this level I think I need to stick to private sale or auction. Does anyone know if cars at blackbushe (older models) are identified as main dealer or independent dealer entered. I want to keep away from sole trader and private individual entered cars as I feel these are potentially more risky with hidden faults
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You have so much choice in the small car area, I think a private sale offers you the opportunity for a good haggle. The smaller garages have some bargains at the moment and you might get a bit of warranty out of it too.
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Don't even bother with rotten rusty shopping trolley tat that goes for 1500 quid, put your money into a proper car (Mondeo or similar). You'll get much more, newer metal for your money, you can even have V6, leather and aircon and drive around in luxury and style. And the best part is - nobody else thinks like this so there are plenty of cars to choose from.
MichaelR
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With respect Big Bad Dave I did not want this post to end up as a discussion of a small car vs medium/large car as this has already been done to death on other posts
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Will those Auction Buyer chaps deal at this level ?
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I paid £850 for my 97 Fiesta Ghia with 62k and FSH private from autotrader. When I got the their phone kept ringing none stop and a few people also turned up to look at it. It was a sellers market, with these small cars if they are any good they sell within hours.
On the other hand the sheds will be left there for weeks.
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Managed to find my mum a tidy Punto 2 on a 51 plate with about 40k on the clock and some history, got it for £1400 with 10 months MOT to spare and 5 months tax disc left. Runs well, and appears to be overlooked by many on the market for whatever reasons (FIAT badge?).
Fiestas of that price range were of 97/98 plate, and often came with shock absorber issues or modded to hell(!).
Edited by smokescreen on 25/11/2007 at 19:16
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Find a Nissan Almera that's been mollycoddled by one owner (the sort that drives in a hat, either sex). Plenty in your price bracket. Shocking styling, but all that Japanese build quality and reliability for not much money. The 1.4 is a group 4 to insure.
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Good Fiestas sell quickly and for good money. I can personally vouch for that having bought one (FSH, one former keeper) at the beginning of 2006, and sold it on this Spring. Bought and sold for significantly over Parkers "private" despite high-ish miles, but an immaculate history and a genuine 1 former keeper example.
You'll get a nice one for £1500 but you'll have to sift through a lot of carp first. This is one of the most neglected / abused cars on the road in my experience.
Cheers
DP
--
04 Grand Scenic 1.9 dCi Dynamique
00 Mondeo 1.8TD LX
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The thing is they can be abused, my mates never had his Fiesta serviced in two years, before that it had not been serviced for ages, yes it is now burning oil but other than it still drives like new.
My Fiesta does have shock absorber issues though (the front bushes are warn)
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quote....My Fiesta does have shock absorber issues though (the front bushes are warn).......unquote
its either anti roll bars or the bushes in the arms parting.
as i said and you concur, you can within reason abuse a fiesta amd it will still live,this is a bit more difficult to achieve with something like a clio or punto.
i still have £1500 worth of punto parked up that throws a power steering wobbly on full lock,you wouldnt pick this up in the block
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Local paper, small ads in newsagents and word of mouth.
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You could buy my Ford Ka, it's in the classifieds :)
Nice little car for the money.
Cheers,
Lou
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You could buy my Ford Ka it's in the classifieds :)
>>>>>>>>> so you will take £1500 then? thats a quick chip from saturdays £1700
+ a free cuddly toy
+ a personalised number plate
nope think ill leave it ;-)
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Its the arm bushes that need replacing its dosn't seem to affect handeling but there is a bit of clonking noise, its a very common problem with this car, just like the over reving problem. I know about the bushes when Ibought it, but at £850 with 12 months MOT the £200 to get this sorted is worth it, though I didn't know the over reving problem would show up at the time.
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arms are £18 each complete at euro car parts
and the drop bar anti roll bar links are £5
and the bushes on the subframe are £2 each (two sizes mind petrol/weasel)
Edited by bell boy on 26/11/2007 at 13:45
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Having dabbled here for 10 years with 2 sons, I can recommend:
Fiesta: as above. Rusts if neglected. Some very bad. Some good. Time consuming sifting. Can recommend
Peugeot 106/Saxo. Little rust - not as strong as Fiesta if neglected but lots around . Lots of low miles ones. Can recommend..
Early Skodas: misd 1990s. Unwanted but often loved. Good value for money.
Fiat: Often electrical.rear suspension problems. My local garage says they are horrid to work on.
Buy a loved Toyota Corolla... lots with low miles under your price. Unwanted but loved..
tinyurl.com/3cr8jx
For value for money you want "unwanted but loved".
madf
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What abour labour? He charges around £25-£30 an hour depending on the job. Also need to get the over revving problem fixed, I have given up on it now wasted enough of all our time (inc people on here) trying to fix it.
Not so sure the reputation for Fiesta rust is deserved, my R reg has none at all yet I've seen rusty 03 reg Micras. My old N reg had little rust too but they do rust more than other cars I suppose if not looked after.
The 106 does seem reliable and good to drive but safety always put me off them. And yep Puntos seem to be very reliable machnaicaly, My dads had the usual rear suspension bush problems and electrical niggles. I suspect the HG has on its way out too.
Edited by Rattle on 26/11/2007 at 13:59
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40 minute job to do a radius arm on a punto if the bolt comes out (never been beat yet) good thing is you can leave the back plate with all the brakes attached and just carefully move it out of the way,you then proceed to snap all the bolts as they arent needed and job nearly done, just sometimes the anti rollbar gets in the way.Cant see why a garage says fiats are hard to work on unless they arent talking 8 valve punto?
New bolts on new radius arm piece of cake to rebuild.
106/saxo getting a bit old now and they certainly do rust and in silly places buy one of these with caution
mk 4 fiestas are now rusting quite badly check sills the whole length and floorpans and up where the rear chassis cocks up also these are now failing on rear bushes and they can be a pig to get out ,sometimes a s/h axle can be a quicker fix if you can get one cheap enough
by the way im talking fix it yourself terms
toyota collera is good but buy a 'clean' one ;-)
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At this price range I wouldn't worry about make, model or age. Just buy on condition, something loved but unfashionable with cheapish bits.
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