Need a Mechancial Man or Womans advice

laurenjs88

Hi,

I'm looking at buying a car, its cheap.. possibly too cheap?

£400 on a T plate, Rover 200 1.6 16v SI, 95k. Sounds nice but it had a new head gasket on about a year ago??

I'm desperate for a decent car after being complelty screwed over for the last one! ive saved for months to afforda little run around. Is this worth looking at or should i steer well clear?

:beer:

(also posted here:http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?p=17902353&posted=1#post17902353 ) didnt know about this forum!

hewhoisnotintheknow

go for something smaller and simple like fiesta polo saxo etc

goldspanners

steer clear, even although the head gasket was done last year it doesnt mean to say it was done properly, these engines are pretty delicate,if they havent been properly maintained from day 1 then forget it.
look for an older car,maybe a fiesta.
but dont think buying any car at this price will be without faults. there are plenty of cars around this price range in half decent condition,but will need something replaced or repaired sooner or later.

LandyAndy

Very few people sell a car at this sort of money if it's sound.

If you have to buy in the sub £500 bracket look for cheap repair costs (Fiesta as noted above etc) and decent MoT (at least 10 months).

david29dpo

NO! not a rover. Something like a Ford KA would be ideal.

laurenjs88

Thing is i need a 5 door car with a boot big enough for a buggy. Ive got about £800 to spend i could push to £1k but not untill mid Feb, I have no idea what to buy with that sort of cash.

My reason for considering the Rover was if something did happen to it, i'd have enough left in the "car fund" to get it sorted.

Will keep looking! thanks

TiTheRev

You'd need more than that in the fund to keep the Rover on the road steer clear. Jap & German are better reliability, but Ford will do if you dont mind rust and smokey engines!

Inactive

TiTheRev wrote: »

You'd need more than that in the fund to keep the Rover on the road steer clear. Jap & German are better reliability, but Ford will do if you dont mind rust and smokey engines!

Good advice, personally I would try to find something Japanese that fits your needs.


Toyota, Honda, Nissan etc.

Limey

I'd be looking for something like a Corolla or Starlet. The 1.6 Mazda 323 is also a great car with few reliability issues, 4 door hatch is nice and spacious.

goldspanners

TiTheRev wrote: »

You'd need more than that in the fund to keep the Rover on the road steer clear. Jap & German are better reliability, but Ford will do if you dont mind rust and smokey engines!

the last smokey engine i saw was,hmm,a vw passat.
havent seen many fiestas with smoke belting out of them for ages.

Pyewacket338

I'd go for a ford or vauxhall, plenty to chose from, easy to get parts and great to work on if you're able to do it yourself.