With a budget of 3 - 4k which would you go for?
Both look great, and get pretty good reviews, but for the money both would be pretty old, which would be most reliable?
Anyone have any other suggestions?
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Maybe less reliable, but how about an Alfa GTV/Spider? £4k would get you one of about 2001 vintage.
Or a 406 coupe? Both in 3.0 V6 guise would be lovely, if not as reliable as the Asian options you mention.
Or, maybe a little bigger than you want, but Volvo C70's are increible value now. £4k would buy you what was a £30k car in 2002.
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Got to be the Toyota. The Hyundai is pretty, to some, but nowhere near as refined.
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>>> Got to be the Toyota. The Hyundai is pretty, to some, but nowhere near as refined. <<<
Yep! I've got to agree, although when I looked at a few Hyundai's - I was almost taken in.
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Or a 406 coupe? Both in 3.0 V6 guise would be lovely if not as reliable as the Asian options you mention.
To be fair, the 2001 Celica 190 that a friend bought new was chronically unreliable. Persistent gearbox and suspension alignment issues (first gearbox failure was traced to an incorrectly installed circlip at the factory, the second was a mystery), alloys going out of true, repeated catalytic converter failures, electrical gremlins with the stereo and air-con, and interior trim that fell to bits by the day.
All sorted under warranty by a very helpful dealer, but it was off the road for a staggering 27 days in its first two years. Left him at the side of the road twice, too. This was a spanking new car bought from an official Toyota dealer. Stunning car to look at and to drive (when the 190 hits 6000 RPM all hell breaks loose and what a noise!) , but not the paragon of reliability one would expect, by a long chalk.
I would be inclined to buy what you want, and on condition. Don't assume anything will be reliable (or unreliable) because of its badge.
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The 406 coupe and volvo are both tempting but a bit bigger than I'm looking for.
The GTV looks very nice but I'm a bit put off by the reliability issues. Is it major concern?
I think the celica is winning at the moment. For my budget I'd be looking at something like a 2001 with 70k. Would you expect a good example to be trouble free or is that too ambitious for the money?
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Isn't the 1.8 Toyota engine more rev happy and perhaps not as easy to live with day to day as the more relaxed 2.0 hyundai? Only guessing; haven't driven either (but would happily take either if you're offering).
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Could find an extremely tidy Honda Prelude for that money, very nice bit of kit.
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Hyundai coupe...unbreakable.
My son had F2 model which he thrashed mercilessly for years and the thing refused to break, same as his Accent MVi before that, he is very hard on his cars but he pays for them to be fixed or does it himself.
Do be aware that coupe's front discs fit the hub from the inside, making replacement a time consuming and expensive job think around £300-350 if you do most of the work, as the wheel bearings will normally disintegrate upon hub strip, and will need to be pressed in/out by competent workshop.
This applied on the previous model, so worth checking to see if current motor has the same design.
I confess i think Celica is one of the prettiest cars made in recent times....except for the GT model that they raided some boy racer dept store for the worlds worst add on spoilers.
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Tough call, though Prelude and C70 both excellent suggestions. Love Alfas, though reliability (and dealers) would put me off. MX-5 perhaps? Reliable and fun with the top down (if it ever stops raining!)
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I only commented on the original question but, of course, my vote would go to the Prelude, speaking as an owner.
The Honda vs Toyota choice is down to personal taste, although the Prelude's technology - particularly the four-wheel steering and apparently bullet-proof VTEC - should tell in its favour.
Honda vs Hyundai? The Prelude is in a different league.
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I have a friend with a P-reg Alfa GTV with the 2.0 TSpark engine, and in the 5years he as owned it he has spent nothing on it (excluding consumables) apart from having it serviced religiously at an Alfa specialist, and changing the oil every 6k.
He swears by it, and having owned several Alfas (145, 147, Spider, and another GTV which met its end when crushed by a reversing HGV whilst parked in a lay-by on the A14) seems to think that as long as you dont skimp on routine maintainance, then they really are quite reliable; he is a bit of a Alfa-holic though.
Incidentally, the same friends father has a C70 (S reg, owned from new), which has never missed a beat either, and is an awesome car to drive/be driven in. We took it to Le Mans for the Moto GP and it was super comfortable, and extremely easy to drive. His is the 2.4 and when he comes to sell it at the beginning of ext year, i will seriously consider taking it into my care :-)
Another option would be an Astra Coupe with either the 1.8, 2.2, or the 2.0T? I think they look lovely in burnt orange or black and £4k would buy you a 53 reg..............
Of the two you mentioned, i would go for the Hyundai....
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>>> Hyundai coupe...unbreakable. <<<
What's it like to drive though Gordon? A pug 309 diesel is unbreakable, but it don't mean I wanna drive the critter :)
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What's it like to drive though Gordon?
Surprisingly swift with reasonable handling and quite a good ride, certainly softer than many boneshaker family hatchbacks with/without broken springs.
Steering's somewhat lighter than the 309's without 50lbs in the front tyres too..;)
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>>> Steering's somewhat lighter than the 309's without 50lbs in the front tyres too..;) <<<
(hehe!) The trouble (for me) is that, well - its an Hyundai ... I've worked on many of the critters and I didn't rate them very highly but - I am going back a few years ... well, ok - decades! I spose things have moved on a tad since then :-)
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