Cheap, reliable runaround car?

[CBJ]

great thread,

After 29 years I will also be looking into getting my first motor in a couple of months (passing test depending of course)

If my brother gets a new motor I will be getting his Fiat Doblo, beast of car and has a couple of bad points but on the whole its been quite reliable.

 

[kiltedpict]

I miss my Subaru Outback, no rust but by god it was a greedy bugger- 310 miles for £75 petrol (I did get the 2.5 petrol automatic though!) tyres and parts were expensive, road tax £240... Trade in last month for a Ford S-Max- (not a cheap runabout but the family car). Wife has a golf and its damn good!

 

[Bowlander]

My dad always told me to not buy anything too unusual, parts availability and price is a factor in older motors.

Service history and condition is more important than make/model.

Don't buy a Renault!

 

[Paul_B]

That's always been my thinking with fords and vauxhalls. Figure more on road so more aftermarket parts being made which means cheaper. I've really only had fiestas, escorts and astras. No complaints with any of them. All lasted about 14 or so years except last Astra which is 11years and counting. No signs of anything mechanical about to fail. The only issue is camping with family. Astra estate is not big enough. Got an offer for a low mileage, full service history, 7 year old, 2 later KIA carens. Take out the third row of seats it might be more spacious.

 

[Nonsuch]

Just a contrary view - if it's for your wife, she'll probably value reliability. It might sound odd but the cheapest way into reliable motoring might be a new small car on low APR dealer finance. A friend has just taken on a new VW Polo, £200/month with first year insurance thrown in. You get zero hassle motoring, no unexpected bills at all and breakdown cover. Buying a cheap old car is fine until the gearbox goes and it's £2,000 to fix. I used to be a big fan of keeping older cars going. The problem is, beyond a certain age, all the components throughout the car will wear out and need replacing, usually one every couple of weeks in my experience, and even old cars these days are new old cars and need plugging in at a garage to diagnose. An unfixed warning light on a dashboard is an MOT fail these days.

On a new car, if you pick the right engine, road tax will be £20/year, and you'll get 60 mpg, whereas any older car is going to be in the £200 range and likely to be thirstier. With a new car, you'll also get 4 or 5 star NCAP safety, airbags, ABS and electronic stability, which you wouldn't get with an old Peugeot 205!

And she gets to chose the colour...

 

[santaman2000]

Hard for me to give relevant advise as I haven't been there in over 20 years but in general I agree with Nonsuch. A relatively cheap NEW economy car might be your best value. Way back when I was there, I would have picked a (new) Mini to fill the requirements you give:

-Cheap to drive
-Reliable (new and under warranty)
-Maybe a bit more than your proposed budget to buy, but cheaper in the long run and probably more resale value down the road (I know a new car devalues immediately but they take longer to drop out of the trade guidebooks)

 

[Paul_B]

My parents did that. Cost them £500 more for a new model than a 1 year old one with a lower spec. Same model, new, better spec for next to nothing.

I know someone who got a zero ved rated Audi a3 from a dealer with free servicing, mot and labour/parts thrown in, all in a lease rental deal that was cheaper than a bank car loan he'd have got. 3 years later he hands it back for a new one having paid out less than for a car loan and actually better off than if he'd bought a car with a loan.

My experience of cars is buy at 4-5 years old and sell on at about 12-16 years old before reliability issues kick in. My last car had only a set of front tyres in the last year I had it. At most a bearing issue or a cheap part on the suspension. All cheap. I've been lucky I guess.

A new car is not a possibility. We need a car with the same volume and space as a Vauxhall Astra estate. I'm guessing a new car like that new costs abt £19000. At least that's what the Vauxhall site has for Astra estate, sorry they're called sports tourers now.

 

[santaman2000]

Yeah in the size you need a new one will be a good deal more.

 

[nitrambur]

Nissan Micra, been around for nearly 30 years, they must be doing something right. We've got an Almera, but they don't make those anymore

 

[Paul_B]

Toyota have a respected quality management system (A3) but iirc have had a series of product recalls of late. Still another good make. Not sure I like Nissan or Toyota. Honda's are good. Engines are especially good I believe.

Then French cars? They make practical family cars I think just reliability and especially electrics are their major weaknesses.

 

[Robbi]

Does'nt get much better than this......new...£6k.....5 years warranty

http://cars.uk.msn.com/features/dacia-sandero-we-drive-the-uks-cheapest-new-car

 

[Swallow]

Nissan's are good if not so easy on the eye.

 

[Paul_B]

Dacia??? Rather get a second hand Vauxhall.

Nissans? They're ok I guess, well except for the pastel pink micra convertibles that is. They're a travesty of a car design IMHO. However they would go with pink sporks nicely!!

 

[Old Bones]

We've had a Nissan Note about 14 months, and its not a bad car. Admittely its fairly boring, a bit tinny, the gearbox is hardly a work of engineering art (and the cable rattles under the car if you've got the windows down), and when on the motorway, has a disconcerting habit of being blown sideways by the wind if the car isn't fully loaded.

Against that, its relatively cheap second-hand (my local Nissan dealer has them starting at £5395 for a 1.6), its no bigger than a Golf and so easy to park, has a surprisingly large amount of space in the back (I've got two kids, so I'm carrying a lot of stuff around), seemingly reliable (if you get from Nissens used car scheme you can negotiate an extra years warrenty, but you get one as standard), and is OK to drive, plus isn't all that thirsty. If you want more space, then go for an estate/Zafera, etc, but its not bad for the money, if you can get a good price 2nd hand.

 

[Robbi]

Dacia??? Rather get a second hand Vauxhall.

badge tart !

 

[Grendel]

D'oh Double post Please Remove.

 

[Grendel]

I miss my Subaru Outback, no rust but by god it was a greedy bugger- 310 miles for £75 petrol (I did get the 2.5 petrol automatic though!) tyres and parts were expensive, road tax £240... Trade in last month for a Ford S-Max- (not a cheap runabout but the family car). Wife has a golf and its damn good!

That's not bad economy just sold my Impreza Turbo since it only did 200 miles to £75 petrol (about 18MPG) Looking for a cheapish 4x4 now since most cars will be cheaper to run that the Impreza was. LOL

 

[MertzMan]

Mk3 VW Golf Tdi - chances are good you'll find a runner for ~ £500 with a years tax and ticket. You'll get 60mpg driven nicely on a run and low 50s if you drive it like you stole it.

Bits are unbelievably cheap and readily available from your local autofactor. They're pretty easy to work on with little more than a trolley jack and a half decent DIY socket set.

As with any car, rust is the killer. Anything else you can pretty much unbolt and replace.

*source: I run a 1995 MkIII Tdi and it's the mutts! So far it's cost me less than a grand incl. MOT, Tax & buying the thing for two years motoring. Fuel for the nearly 20k Miles stands at over twice that!

Second that! My auntie has one that has nearly 240k on the clock and it just keeps running...

 

[maddave]

Don't buy a Fiat.....

Fix
It
Again
Tomorrow

 

[Ronnie]

You have to look at total lifetime costs. An old reliable gas guzzler often works out cheaper than a new economical diesel sipper even with road tax factored in. My car is a 10 year old V6, I bought it at 8% of its retail cost and there's nothing wrong with it. I can afford to pay the higher fuel prices because I don't do many miles and because I'm not paying £300 a month to a bank for the car. I quite enjoy having the power under my right foot too - a bit of spare oomph makes a car a lot safer in my opinion.

Of course there are other hidden costs like the Greenland ice cap melting...

Those new diesel engines are great under warranty - but are a financial time bomb outside of that period.