A good family car for 3000 pounds

hewhoisnotintheknow

buglawton wrote: »

If you like to buy a 3/4 year old car for cash then keep if for 6-7 years like I do, then avoid diesels and French cars - end-of-life costs will force you to buy another car too early. Avoid cars that require a garage to change the front light bulbs (I am serious) like the Megane.

If you like to ditch a car after a couple of years ownership then buy the next one on credit like most people seem to these days - any of the above suggestions on this thread should be ok.

so would you buy a german car?

rammster

Looking at german stats on the forum - I have changed my mind about anything german.

buglawton

hewhoisnotintheknow wrote: »

so would you buy a german car?

I've owned Cavaliers/Vectras for many a year which are mainly German built. No real complaints - in 20 years of driving this type of Vauxhall, had 1 Rectifier go (£80 to fix in the 80s), one Water Pump Seal go £150 to fix (new pump) in 80s - happened in minus 15 deg. temperatures in Germany, I think not enough antifreeze in) and one alternator, £300 to replace a couple of years ago, had all belts done at the same time in the price.

Comparing this with a colleague who owns a high mileage Passat, reliability seems similar but some issues on Passat are exremely expensive to fix and parts are rarer that Vauxhall's.

There's a lot to be said for bog-standard mass production petrol cars.

rammster

have been offered this volvo at 2600

http://users.autoexposure.co.uk/classicdd.cfm?Account=AETA30772&VehicleID=AETV69966471&Make=VOLVO&Model=S40&City=Milton%20Keynes

it has the old shaped bum
what do u think

goldspanners

rammster wrote: »

have been offered this volvo at 2600

http://users.autoexposure.co.uk/classicdd.cfm?Account=AETA30772&VehicleID=AETV69966471&Make=VOLVO&Model=S40&City=Milton%20Keynes

it has the old shaped bum
what do u think

any volvo ive ever known has had some kind of annoying electrical fault. dont know much about that particular model though.

goldspanners

rammster wrote: »

So given the circumstances what can I expect in a ford focus for 3k.

I do like the looks of peugeot and heard they have good diesel engines, so I understand quite a few will vote for it. But reliability will be more important for me.

Could I get a silver 40k milage, 03/04 in that money? and how easy is it to get a baby seat inside it. Remember its is for the the "Baby Lordship" that I am even contemplating a car change. Its gonna hurt my finances. Ouch!

i would imagine you could find an 03 plate for around that price. maybe even a quick sale on a 53 or 04 plate.

buglawton

I was offered a 1.8 Vectra '04 plate around 70k miles for £2K. So the Volvo badge is worth quite a bit.

buglawton

Another thing: In present Credit Crunch environment, ensuring that the seller fully owns the car is more important than ever - HPI check needed.

michaels

rammster wrote: »

have been offered this volvo at 2600

http://users.autoexposure.co.uk/classicdd.cfm?Account=AETA30772&VehicleID=AETV69966471&Make=VOLVO&Model=S40&City=Milton%20Keynes

it has the old shaped bum
what do u think

Could you live without a hatchback in a family car?

redux

buglawton wrote: »

If you like to buy a 3/4 year old car for cash then keep if for 6-7 years like I do, then avoid diesels and French cars - end-of-life costs will force you to buy another car too early.

Diesel engines have fewer bits to go out of tune, like spark plugs, ignition leads etc. I bought a Citroen Xantia HDI at 4 years old and 24,000 miles for just over £4000, so someone else had the worst of the depreciation. 5 years later, it's reached 150,000 and is in the middle of the time it will be cheapest to run; little further depreciation and a few oil changes, a couple of tyres and maybe £200 on the suspension will see it up to the next cambelt service in 2/3 years' time. Pity it's now out of the age range the OP is looking for, but it would be the same sort of picture for most diesels