Cheap, economical car with low insurance?

rev_henry

Hi, I'm looking for a new car for my mother. She currently has a toyota rav 4 which is pretty old and has 115k on the clock. She uses this daily and does a lot of miles for work each week, so the fuel is quite costly (high 20s to the gallon).
We're looking for something small, cheap (sub £1500 mark preferably) and economical (high 40s/50s to the gallon?), which she will be able to drive around 300 miles a week in with no bother. These miles are round town/small rural roads so not much motorway driving necessary.

Also, I will be learning to drive shortly, so it will need cheap insurance.
Hoping to get maybe £800 for the rav-4, this might be a little too hopeful. Trouble is selling it so might be easier to p/x it for something, but I doubt a dealer would give us anything decent for it off a £1500 car.

Looked at/though about so far micra, fiesta, possibly corsa, seen a few in budget.
Any ideas would be much appreciated.
Thanks.

DJ_Billy

I've got a 5 year old Corsa 1.2 SXI. It's running fine *touch wood* and does high 40s to the gallon. It's fine in town or on motorways or town and is generally pretty easy to get around in. I reckon mine is worth around £2500, but this model was around since 2000 so you could probably pick an earlier one up in your price range. Before that I had a Fiesta (previous shape) and that was fine too - the 1.25 engine is great.

rev_henry

Thanks for that, pretty much backed up my own thoughts. Are parts expensive on the corsa? I know fiesta parts will be, as we've had fords before.

AdrianHi

I'll suggest taking your pick from:
Toyota Yaris (good car and your already into Toyota's)
Nissan Micra
Skoda Fabia

The Micra is a bit more fun than a Fabia, but the Fabia is surprisingly comfortable and refine for a small car at this price and does very well on the motorway too.

rev_henry

AdrianHi wrote: »

I'll suggest taking your pick from:
Toyota Yaris (good car and your already into Toyota's)
Nissan Micra
Skoda Fabia

The Micra is a bit more fun than a Fabia, but the Fabia is surprisingly comfortable and refine for a small car at this price and does very well on the motorway too.

Hi, thanks Adrian. I'd vaguely thought about those cars having heard good things about them before but ruled them out on grounds of price. Now that you mention them though I'll have a look.
Thanks again.

AdrianHi

rev_henry wrote: »

Hi, thanks Adrian. I'd vaguely thought about those cars having heard good things about them before but ruled them out on grounds of price. Now that you mention them though I'll have a look.
Thanks again.

My sister-in-law has a 7 year old '51 plate 70K miles Fabia 1.4 Classic which I got a value for a couple of months ago at £1400 which is why I thought of it. I also know a decent Micra can be had for £1000. Not sure where Yaris prices are though.
Only thing that's ever gone wrong on the Fabia was a couple of weeks ago, electric window motor went, not expensive to fix.

DJ_Billy

rev_henry wrote: »

Thanks for that, pretty much backed up my own thoughts. Are parts expensive on the corsa? I know fiesta parts will be, as we've had fords before.

I've not really had that much replaced on the car so it's difficult to say. The only thing unique was the bulbs for the radio display and that certainly seemed a bit pricey!

rev_henry

Does anyone have any experience of the old model suzuki swift? I've seen quite a few around, e.g. 03/52 reg, about 25k miles, about £1500. Parkers and honest john say there's nothing much wrong with them except they don't have much street cred! Doesn't bother me, they do 53 to the gallon. Any input anyone?
Thanks

ArsenalFC

I have driven the swift (about 10yrs old), I heard general reliability is good. However I find the drive poor and the car to be lighweight, so I would not recommend it.

Your budget maybe able to get a 1999 yaris, go for this if it falls into your budget. Otherwise I would recommend a mk5 fiesta, £1k can get a year 2000 with air con if you look thoroughly. I have the mk4 fiesta 1997, got it for £600 about 5 weeks ago, I found it to be a very good drive with the 1.25 16v engine. If you are going to take a look at the fiesta then avoid the 1.3 engine as its a poor one with 8v.

hewhoisnotintheknow

106 or saxo 1.5 diesel

bomb proof engines

rev_henry

Just thought I'd give you an update. Bought a 1999T 3 door corsa 1.0 club, picked it up yesterday. Only done 16k, so its in almost perfect condition and FSH. Paid £1500 for it with 6 months tax, (6 months MOT already on) and £40 petrol in it! So far we're very pleased with it, and insurance is group 1 for when I go on. Thanks for everyone's help.