Need advice buying a car - CarClueless
Sorry I am totally clueless with regards to cars. At the moment I have an 11 year old fiesta which I have had for 6 years, and I need to change it for something abit newer as it has started to cost me a fair bit at MOT time. So I was wondering if somebody could give me some ideas, as I have a few things I do want in a car, have an amount, but not sure what I need to avoid that will cost me long term (ie parts etc). So I have approx 3.5K to spend, need something with 4 doors, not high insurance, not a massive engine that will cost a small fortune to run, something that isn't expensive parts wise, I do about 10 miles a day, just running to work and back, don't tend to long journeys. Any advice would be helpful as I have been trawlling autotrader and just don't know what is good to buy and what is best avoided.

thanks

debra
Need advice buying a car - Mapmaker
Save your money, and spend under 1k (when you can buy an 8 year old car for this budget, why spend more?). You could do a lot worse than one of these which seem to be hugely unfashionable (but widely recommended) and so pretty cheap. Glass's guide gives the part ex value of this in the 600-750 range, so the seller of this particularl example isn't making much profit (note, I'm not actively recommending this particular example):

2000 NISSAN ALMERA 1.4 Ambition 5dr Hatchback Special Eds
Price: £950 Features: 93,000 miles Manual Red Petrol Hatchback 1392 cc

93,000 miles, 5 door Hatchback, Red, Petrol, Manual, New One Year M.O.T, Full Service History, Power Steering, Air Con, Alloy Wheels, Body coloured bumpers, Central locking, Drivers airbag, Great Little Runner. £950.

Trade Seller: NN Motors
Contact number: 078080 69826 or 079555 77000



Edited by Mapmaker on 05/08/2008 at 20:03