My girlfriend is looking for a cheap car to get her to work (she hates the bus journey in to Manchester) and chatting to a friend at work, he knows of a K plate Favorit going for about £500. It's low mileage (about 50k) and (he reckons) in good condition.
Does anyone have any good / bad impressions of this model? Anything to look out for if we decide to give it a look over? She has said she can go up to about £2k, but by the time you include insurance etc this will come down quite a lot. As this job is initially only for a year, I reckon something like this is probably a better bet than stretching the finances to the limit.
Any other suggestions for cars to look out for would be appreciated.
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Too expensive, unless you absolutely trust the person you're buying from, and you know this is a good, A1, cared for like a younger brother kind of car. No, on second thoughts, it's still too expensive. A friend of mine had one of these, and just about everything fell off the interior. It was an utter, utter shed. Having said that, the much-neglected engine* soldiered on to 100,000 miles. It finally just stopped on the A2, never to awake again. Anyway, what makes her think that her journey into Manchester will be any more pleasant or reliable in an ageing supermini of any make or model?
*If the oil was changed in three years I'm a monkey's uncle.
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Was this of comparable age, Chris? Looking at various write-ups on the web, it appears that 92-on models benefitted greatly from the VW take-over. The price seems favourable compared to what carsource.co.uk suggest for these as well.
I personally agree with you about the journey - anyone who drives in to Manchester (unless they need the car once there) needs their head looking at. The only real benefit is that the bus service from Mottram is fairly limited, and she is working on the uni. campus so needs to change bus in Manchester. For the cost of it I think she'd be better off putting up with the bus, but there is no telling her I'm afraid... A larger car would I suspect be even more costly to insure (she has no NCD, having been on her parents insurance) and anything of that age is going to break down a lot.
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It must have been about the same age (don't remember the plate), but I thought VW took over about then but didn't really do anything very dramatic until the Felicia. I'm not sure, but I think this one was a four-speed. He bought it as a cared for ex-motability machine, and I admit he wasn't car-friendly. It was a cheap car as far as he was concerned, and no servicing was cheaper than servicing. Even so I (and no doubt you) have seen other cars abused just as much with less internal drama. I used to dread being offered a lift--I would rather drive and not drink if we went down the pub. It was reliable, though, I'll give it that. In fact I don't recall it breaking down until the final collapse. Incidentally, you might be surprised by the (lack of) creature comforts as standard, given that it's a 1990s car.
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PS When I say about the same age, I mean the same year - early nineties, anyway.
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£500 you say?
At this level I suggest the Ford Sierra or Cavalier 1.6. Both were made in huge numbers and now have close to zero street cred. £500 buys decent examples of what is an OK car from a dealer who's probably received it in part exchange.
Offer cash and tell him there's plenty about. That'll knock a bit more off the price. A K plate with a bit of MOT is certainly available for £500, although they might be asking £550 or £600. Take no notice of mileage.
Of the 2 I think the Cav has the edge as the engine is that bit better IMO.
Don't know the Favorit too well, but would say these were better cars when built so....
Also look at Toads thread on checking out bangers. He seems like a dealer's nightmare. That's what you want to be!
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Got the final details - 92K, 34000 miles, asking price £550. Runs really well, oil nice and clean, inside spotless, engine bay spotless, only problem is a minor dint in the passenger door.
Granted there are other things availble at this cost, but Cavs and Sierras are a much higher insurance group, and as she won't have any NCD this is a big consideration. This also has 12 months MOT - granted that doesn't mean much, but better than one with 3 or 4...
It's an old granny car - the women who had it got it from new and was very careful with servicing.
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34000 miles in ten years means lots of short journeys on a cold engine, could be storing up trouble.
Also I'll agree with Chris about the tacky and fragile nature of the switchgear and interior trim. A friend had one in the early nineties and he had a lot of trouble with bits coming loose or packing up, though the engine was reliable enough.
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Aaaaargh, this sounds perilously close in spirit to my first car!
>>92K, 34000 miles, asking price £550.
I bought an Allegro3 1.1L in 1990, it was an 81V, 34000 miles, asking price £550!
>>Runs really well, inside spotless, engine bay spotless
Yep, mine was all that.
>>It's an old granny car - the women who had it got it from new
Same as. She told me it "knew its own way to Tesco" - which was 2 1/2 miles away.
It lasted a year, mileage got up to 48000, but it needed almost constant maintenance and adjustment. Fortunately my dad is quite handy with that kind of thing, and it never needed anything expensive replacing, but it was forever breaking down! It had an incredible appetite for oil too, almost thought it was a two-stroke towards the end. It taught me an awful lot about the basics of car maintenance, and I wound up scrapping it for £15 when it finally refused to start altogether. Bought a Cav MkII instead, much better, less breakdowns and not too much of a hike in insurance premium either.
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So the basic consensus seems to be that it's unlikely to be as good as it sounds?
Apparently this lady lived in Charlsworth, so I'd suspect the 2-3 mile journeys are quite a possibility - in to Glossop and back more than likely.
Also, Parkers guide reckons about £280 for this age of Favorit in A1 condition and points out that mileage is not a factor for cars over 5 years old.
We'll probably look at it anyway, but any other suggestions for where to look? Should we avoid private at this price point? And what sort of model? Toad's thread seems to be aiming for the larger cars - unless there is a good reason to go for one of these, I think a smaller car would be a better idea - she's used to small cars and the insurance will be less of a burden. She *can* go up to about £1.5k depending on the final insurance cost (seems about £650 for the Favorit with is group 5, so adjust from there) but is it worth paying this much when she doesn't know what she'll be doing at the end her contract in 12 months time?
I've been told to avoid stuff like Fiestas as they are so easily nicked at this age. (Ditto Escorts - I had a friend who's was always getting broken in to and / or stolen) Are Micras of this age a good bet, or are the problems starting to show through? Are we likely to see something like a Starlet in this price range, and should we avoid it if we do anyway?
Thanks for replies so far, and TIA!
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