£5000 to spend on a used car....

BeerBelly

Any ideas? Only drive on weekends and only 2 of us. Need some ideas for makes/model (haven't got a preference really!). Try and get one around 2001-2005 model if possible, got the cash so hoping I can get a good deal in the private/trade sells...

So far some people mentioned:

Nissan Patrol
Honda Civic
Toyota Corlla
Ford Focus

Don;t do many miles so MPG not at top of my list necessarily. Hope you can help!

Idiophreak

I've got an astra and would highly recommend it. Very comfy, practical, great fun to drive, quite economical, good performance in safety tests etc.

Mine's an 04 plate SXI with around 40k on the clock - if I were selling it, I imagine you'd get change from your 5k these days...great value cars.

(and I went out *determined* to get a civic or a focus...)

ForkHandles_2

Hi,

From the yearly 'Which' report Japanese cars fare best on reliability, the Mazda 3 is listed as a best buy IIRC.

FH

Nile

Hello BeerBelly

I'll move your thread to the 'Motoring & Public Transport' board.

Hi, Martin’s asked me to post this in these circumstances: I’ve asked Board Guides to move threads if they’ll receive a better response elsewhere(please see this rule) so this post/thread has been moved to another board, where it should get more replies. If you have any questions about this policy please email [EMAIL="abuse@moneysavingexpert.com"]abuse@moneysavingexpert.com[/EMAIL].

Regards

Nile

Kalamaker

BeerBelly wrote: »

Any ideas? Only drive on weekends and only 2 of us. Need some ideas for makes/model (haven't got a preference really!). Try and get one around 2001-2005 model if possible, got the cash so hoping I can get a good deal in the private/trade sells...

So far some people mentioned:

Nissan Patrol
Honda Civic
Toyota Corlla
Ford Focus

Don;t do many miles so MPG not at top of my list necessarily. Hope you can help!

I'm not familiar at all with the Nissan Patrol, but the Civic, Corolla, Focus and as another member posted, the Mazda 3, are all good on gas and reliable. If I had to choose one I would go with the Toyota Corolla. I owned one from 1993 to 2005 and it was a very reliable car and it had great MPG as well. A friend of mine owns a newer model, 2006, and he is very satisfied with it.

ArsenalFC

I would either go for Corolla, Civic, Mazda 3, Astra as these cars are reliable and still looks good. Focus looks are dated, nissan patrol (big car jeep type worth considering).

in51der

BeerBelly wrote: »

Any ideas? Only drive on weekends and only 2 of us. Need some ideas for makes/model (haven't got a preference really!). Try and get one around 2001-2005 model if possible, got the cash so hoping I can get a good deal in the private/trade sells...

So far some people mentioned:

Nissan Patrol
Honda Civic
Toyota Corlla
Ford Focus

Don;t do many miles so MPG not at top of my list necessarily. Hope you can help!

I would steer clear of a Nissan Patrol, but no probs with the others; if you don’t do many miles and mpg is not an issue then you could get a later registration plate but with maybe higher miles as you would not significantly add to the mileage thus giving you better re-sale value. With a budget of £5k I would look at either a mk4 golf 1.6 SE you could pick up a decent 02 to 0353 for that budget, they are trendy, reliable and very safe, or o4-o5 Astra have a good spec, reasonable to maintain and popular although maybe a bit dull, or you could go for a bit of fun Mazda mx5 convertibles are the best of the small roadsters very reliable great fun and have come right down in price, also the best time to buy at the end of the summer. At the end of the day though you need to decide whether you want practical or excitement some of the gti/sri/st/vrx etc can be exciting driving experiences if you are looking for that, but most importantly check out the pedigree of the car first i.e. service history to verify mileage, long mot, good tyres, no obvious signs of rust or poor bodywork and no bad noises coming from the engine always go for a test drive before parting with any money
Hope this helps and good luck

Pew_Pew_Pew_Lasers!

Mazda MX5.

sarah_elton

Idiophreak wrote: »

I've got an astra and would highly recommend it. Very comfy, practical, great fun to drive, quite economical, good performance in safety tests etc.

Mine's an 04 plate SXI with around 40k on the clock - if I were selling it, I imagine you'd get change from your 5k these days...great value cars.

(and I went out *determined* to get a civic or a focus...)

Agree entirely - I only drive evenings/weekends and a few months ago got a 52 plate Astra (1.6 Club). No one can ever quite explain why they love their Astra so much - it's boring looking but a completely practical and comfortable car (we went to the Lake District from Essex in it a few weeks after getting it).

Also has a superb boot size for the size of car - better than the Focus.

I was torn between a Focus and an Astra before buying but a test drive of each nailed it.

Both Ford and Vauxhall are cheap on parts (cheaper than Japanese), though on the other hand you'll probably have to buy more of them than with Japanese.

Equivalent model Focuses are a few insurance groups higher than Astras. On the other hand, Astra's are higher on emissions and therefore road tax.

Seen some endorsement for the Toyota Corolla - my friend has one and it's been a great car for him. He doesn't exactly drive his cars sympathetically, and it's held up great for a good few years now.

Inactive

sarah_elton wrote: »

Both Ford and Vauxhall are cheap on parts (cheaper than Japanese), though on the other hand you'll probably have to buy more of them than with Japanese.

Am I missing something?.. That statement is correct, so why not buy a Japanese car in the first place?;)

You know it makes sense..

BillTrac

When I was looking for a car last December narrowed choice to Astra or Focus. Been driving the Focus ever since. Much better drive than the Astra, more space inside.

20000 miles

Bill