Which car for £5-6k

goldspanners

i wouldnt rule out the focus, i dont think it has a reputation as being a boy racer car,does it?
ive got a focus,last of the old shape, great car and good fun to drive aswell.

my dad has the newer shape focus (and he certainly isnt a boy racer!) its very nice inside, feels solid to drive and is just as much fun as mine.

heres what whatcar have to say about the focus 5 stars!

Megalomaniac

goldspanners wrote: »

i wouldnt rule out the focus, i dont think it has a reputation as being a boy racer car,does it?
ive got a focus,last of the old shape, great car and good fun to drive aswell.

my dad has the newer shape focus (and he certainly isnt a boy racer!) its very nice inside, feels solid to drive and is just as much fun as mine.

heres what whatcar have to say about the focus 5 stars!

My quarm is the reliability of Fords - are they as good as the Jap cars and European brands? I had a bad experience with an old Fiesta (1993 model) which caused a lot of problems...

And about the Focus as a boy racer, it is where I am from, Southend!!! Maybe it can be a good regular car, I take it back, I guess I am stereotyping.

black_tip

Hi.

Dont touch the Civic, in the latest which report it came bottom in terms of reliability. This is also confirmed by my friends brand new civic which has spent more time being fixed than on the road. I know it looks stunning but it really is a pig of a car.

The Seat's reliability record also leaves alot to be desirered.

This leaves the Mazda 3 and the Ceed. They are both excellent cars which would suit your needs and provide you with years of reliable service. If I had to choose it would be the Ceed. Firstly because it would come with a 7 year warranty if you purchased it from a Kia dealer and it was less than 18months old, secondly because it was voted best small family car in the recent driver power survey (way ahead of the VW Golf, Focus etc) and finally because it has been out for only 2 years. this means its unlikely to be replaced for another 5 years or so. For you information the mazda 3 has been out for about 6 years now and is being replaced by the new mazda 3 in a week.

If you are going for the ceed try and get hold of an SR 7 spec 1.4 5 door it has all the kit you need, is quick and you should be able to pick a nice one up in an 08 plate with about 5-10,000 miles on it for about £7,500 from a dealer. A real bargain.

Hope this helps

rooster11

Where do you start, ford are giving £3000 off most cars at the moment!

Get something fun! there's only the two of you! VX220, Elise.....

AdrianHi

Ceed or Mazda 3 gets my vote if being sensible.

If you want to live it up a little lets take the BMW compact idea, cross it with an MX5 (something a bit sporty and not get too silly will fuel consumption and go with a 4 cylinder circa 35mpg 2001 BMW 318Ci (coupe) with enough boot space for golf clubs, inside your £5-£6K budget.
http://www.parkers.co.uk/cars/used-prices/Valuation.aspx?deriv=21826&plate=68
Actually lighter weight and slightly more agile than 6 cylinder engines which is where the addictive sound track and petrol thirst starts.

goldspanners

Megalomaniac wrote: »

My quarm is the reliability of Fords - are they as good as the Jap cars and European brands? I had a bad experience with an old Fiesta (1993 model) which caused a lot of problems...

And about the Focus as a boy racer, it is where I am from, Southend!!! Maybe it can be a good regular car, I take it back, I guess I am stereotyping.

ive had mine since new for over 5 years and 60k miles, nothing out of the ordinary went wrong,and certainly nothing too expensive. the worst was a fuel leak,the filter was leaking, it was due changing anyway, it cost under £10 for the part and easily replaced myself.
my dads is only 1 year old with only 7k miles on it and again no problems so far.
ford dont have real relaibility issues these days,well none more than any other brand.

just ask hewhoisnotintheknow about vws!

arrowsmith

rooster11 wrote: »

Where do you start, ford are giving £3000 off most cars at the moment!

Thats becasue the list prices are far to high and they've just increased the prices twice in two months. Cars have gone up considerably in price in the last year, the only brand thats hasn't is Hyundai (guess which brand has been increasing sales in Europe last month when the others declined!).

Megalomaniac

I mentioned the BMW 3 series to my girlfriend and her eyes lit up... I like people's thinking about going for something other than the relatively boring small family car. Like you say, we're only young once and we don't really use the back seats too often. I think it may be more fun to drive around the hills of Scotland in that rather than a Mazda 3 or Kia Cee'd. I have always been weary of saloon cars, but as long as there is space for a couple of suitcases or sets of golf clubs, then I think that would be enough.

I'm looking at the 318ci and t here seems to be a fair few around in our price range which is good. I guess I just want one with a full service history (which you would hope has happened since people buying it new had spetn a pretty penny on it) and we would continue it. Also, insurance with Quidco on it means we can get it insured fully comp for £380, only £250 more than the 19!! Crazy!

AdrianHi

Megalomaniac wrote: »

I mentioned the BMW 3 series to my girlfriend and her eyes lit up... I like people's thinking about going for something other than the relatively boring small family car. Like you say, we're only young once and we don't really use the back seats too often. I think it may be more fun to drive around the hills of Scotland in that rather than a Mazda 3 or Kia Cee'd. I have always been weary of saloon cars, but as long as there is space for a couple of suitcases or sets of golf clubs, then I think that would be enough.

I'm looking at the 318ci and t here seems to be a fair few around in our price range which is good. I guess I just want one with a full service history (which you would hope has happened since people buying it new had spetn a pretty penny on it) and we would continue it. Also, insurance with Quidco on it means we can get it insured fully comp for £380, only £250 more than the 19!! Crazy!

The other thing to keep in mind when it's just the two of you is you do have rear seat space for non-valuable luggage while touring and roof boxes are a possibility if your into carrying tents. The other thing to do is abandon the idea of big bulky suit cases and go for a larger number of smaller squashable bags. There is not a great deal of space between the wheel arches in the boot (clever suspension takes up space) so you need to be a little creative with packing. We manage well as a family of 4 touring to Cornwall in the newer 3 series touring with a roofbox.

Full service history a must, preferably all BMW but work done at an independant BMW specialist using the right parts is OK too. Routine servicing is is not anymore expensive than Ford/Vauxhall etc. but some repairs can be more costly. BMW petrol engines of this age dependable.
When looking at and test driving cars watch out for broken springs , the car may well still sit level on the road with a broken spring, but it will feel odd. Not a reason to reject the car, not a sign of abuse, just factor in repair cost.
BMW Approved Used Cars come with a good 1 year warranty but your going to need £7000 to £8000 less what you can haggle off to get a fairly basic spec. car.

It will be enourmous fun round the winding roads of Scotland

Megalomaniac

Yeah we don't have hard case suitases, opting more for bags so that will probably work. When I think about how often I open the back doors, it isn't that often, often just chucking the map book in the back or jackets maybe. From further reading ,the coupe is a hatchback, I thought it was a saloon which is even better

I guess with the small family cars none really make me go 'wow' but the BMW does, which has enough space for what we use on a regular basis. Like you say, if need be a roof rack and box could be purchased for longer trips etc... which we may do, depending on boot space and length of time away. I guess we'll start focussing in on this, read some reviews and look at prices. Like you say, full service history is what we are looking for as then we know we have a good, safe, reliable car!

I see the prices are high for a BMW Approved Used Car... maybe we won't purchase from them, but find another one which has the service history from somewhere else, maybe a car supermarket or privately. Will have to see what is out there.

Cheers!