£1000 to spend on a small car, which make is the least to run?

edde

firesidemaid wrote: »

i too am a fan of skodas (i had a 7 year old one which went on forever).

i am now a fan of ford ka x

only things with the ford ka (whilst I do like them) is the engines can be trouble regards spark plug not coming out although thats not unfixable if your careful otherwise its cylinder head/heli col

the wishbones are a bit poor replacemnt are much better but then there the cost involved

o and the st6rearing racks don't have a great history

mr_accountant

hewhoisnotintheknow wrote: »

rust on a 10 year old car is madness

Totally agree, i sold my 1996 xantia earlier this year, i did not wash the body for over a year (i did periodically clean the windows and lights) and there was not a drop of rust anywhere, and the bodywork still looked superb.

On a 10-year-old car i would expect some imperfections such as scratches, but i agree any car for under 1k with rust is best avoided.

[FONT=&quot]at this price forget the badge on the bonnet and look on condition only[/FONT]

sb44

Ok, we are off to look at another car tonight.

What does this sound like?

It's a Renault Clio 1.2 Panache.......... ok now I know someone is bound to say don't buy a Renault but hear me out.

It is a 1997 model but has only done 29,500 miles in 11 years. It has a full service history and has been serviced twice a year by her local Renault garagee, has mot till May 09 etc etc.

Was owned by an old lady who has traded it in for something with power steering as she is getting a bit frail.

I asked if there was any rust and he said one spot about the size of your little finger nail.

Advertised as outstanding condition, only came into the dealer yesterday.

What do you guys think?

I will be doing about 30 miles a week and about 4 x 200 mile journeys a year.

Forgot to say it is £1000.

hm71_2

wouldn't touch renault purely as we had a savannah and replacement parts were extortionate- my vote would be with the Micra 1.0 as previously suggested. learnt to drive in a c reg micra 5 years ago( the water pump went in the end & was not cost effective, but the car was 18 yrs old.) - then went for an R reg which was great and hubby bought me a 53 plate for Xmas 2 years ago. traded in my R reg which I have seen driving around still. Very cheap to run & incredibly cheap to insure- very rarely go wrong and if they do parts are very cheap.

sb44

hm71 wrote: »

wouldn't touch renault purely as we had a savannah and replacement parts were extortionate- my vote would be with the Micra 1.0 as previously suggested. learnt to drive in a c reg micra 5 years ago( the water pump went in the end & was not cost effective, but the car was 18 yrs old.) - then went for an R reg which was great and hubby bought me a 53 plate for Xmas 2 years ago. traded in my R reg which I have seen driving around still. Very cheap to run & incredibly cheap to insure- very rarely go wrong and if they do parts are very cheap.

We know a self employed mechanic who is quite good price wise. He used to get most of our parts off the shelf at the breakers yard so I would imagine we wouldn't be paying a fortune that way.

ameratsu

Daewoo lanos - I've had two now and they are ridiculously cheap to buy.
2 years ago, my v reg one cost me £750 and I sold it a year later for the same - go for the 1.6 opposed to the 1.3, I found the 1.6 more economical.

My daughter and I now share a car, we did have a 1.0 corsa, which I hated and we now have an r reg fiesta 1.25 si which cost me £1000 4 weeks ago.
By going slightly bigger, you can get much cheaper cars - everyone wants small cars, that's why the prices are higher.
Hubby has just picked up a top spec, immaculate xsara on a 52 plate for £1500 from a dealer. We also had a xantia for 8 years and it was the best car we've had, more comfy than my dad's new Jag.

edde

sb44 wrote: »

It's a Renault Clio 1.2 Panache.......... ok now I know someone is bound to say don't buy a Renault but hear me out.

It is a 1997 model but has only done 29,500 miles in 11 years. It has a full service history and has been serviced twice a year by her local Renault garagee, has mot till May 09 etc etc.

Forgot to say it is £1000.

The mlage IMO is way to low get a newer age car with more miles there more trouble to be had with age than milage.

hewhoisnotintheknow

sb44 wrote: »

Ok, we are off to look at another car tonight.

What does this sound like?

It's a Renault Clio 1.2 Panache.......... ok now I know someone is bound to say don't buy a Renault but hear me out.

It is a 1997 model but has only done 29,500 miles in 11 years. It has a full service history and has been serviced twice a year by her local Renault garagee, has mot till May 09 etc etc.

Was owned by an old lady who has traded it in for something with power steering as she is getting a bit frail.

I asked if there was any rust and he said one spot about the size of your little finger nail.

Advertised as outstanding condition, only came into the dealer yesterday.

What do you guys think?

I will be doing about 30 miles a week and about 4 x 200 mile journeys a year.

Forgot to say it is £1000.

I would say the car is a good enough choice, however with this particular car the milegage is very low, lots of low mileage can be bad for a car as things never warm up, and most engine wear occours when the engine is warming up

sb44

hewhoisnotintheknow wrote: »

I would say the car is a good enough choice, however with this particular car the milegage is very low, lots of low mileage can be bad for a car as things never warm up, and most engine wear occours when the engine is warming up

It seems the lady only used it to potter about in as she is quite old and doesn't really care much for driving too far.

She had had it serviced twice a year as she wanted to make sure it was in tip top condition and had it done at the local main renault dealer.

She must have had a bit of money to spare!

Anway, went to see it today and it is in beautiful condtion both inside and out. I don't know how but it actually smells like a new car inside, must find the secret to that one.

They are going to deliver it to us too which is a bonus as I am sure there is now something wrong with our old one.

sb44

edde wrote: »

The mlage IMO is way to low get a newer age car with more miles there more trouble to be had with age than milage.

We already had a look before I saw your post and like the look and feel of it so it is being delivered to us on Thursday.

To be honest we just need something to last us until 2010 when the mortgage is paid off and we have money to buy a new car.