What car to buy?

barrymung

Wifey wants a 'new' car. I'd appreciate any views that forum members may have on what we should buy...

*We have a budget of around £2000 to £3000-ish.
*Car needs to be cheap to insure and tax so ideally 1.5 litre or less.
*Needs to be five door
*Space for two adults and two children minimum
*Cheap spares as most servicing/repairs will be DIY
*Simple to repair/service
*Not prone to rust (it'll only be used for about 3000 miles per year so will spend a lot of time parked outside
*Needs to last a long time.
*Reasonably safe in an accident.
*Good value for money

(For reference, she currently drives a 1.4 Citroen ZX which has served us well and I honestly can't fault it, based on our needs.)

I have a list in my mind but I'm open to suggestions so...suggest away guys!

hewhoisnotintheknow

what about a citroen xsara estate, cheap as chips, reliable, just a newer version of your current car

barrymung

The Xsara is already on the "possibles" list!

We were also thinking maybe of a Skoda Fabia. Anyone any views on Skodas?

Rolandtheroadie

Remember that cars after (dont shoot me if i'm a little out) 2001 are rated on emissions and not as cut and dry as under or over 1500cc.
Wifes TDCI (1.4)fiesta 5 door was £35 a year road tax. 03 plates on autotrader start around £2400.
Our 2 litre TDCI Mondeo is £155 per year.

As far as a skoda goes, a guy at work does 25k miles a year in a diesel one. dont know road tax costs for it, but he never seems to have a bit of bother (renews it every 2 years, I'm sure you'd get an older low mileage one).

gilbert_and_sullivan

Hyundai Accent, Toyota Corolla, Nissan Almera, Kia Cerato.
Hyundai's almost unbreakable...like old school Toyota's.

Blakey1982

I have a similar problem in that I simply cannot afford my car - took out a loan for 2 years (12 month ago) £300 a month. 6 months in redundancies in work and I had to take a pay (was glad to keep my job) - it basically cut my take home wages by around £100 a month.

Diesel is expensive as it guzzles it and parts are pricey - i have a 2005 Saab 9-3 Vector Sport 1.9 TiD by the way.

I'd like a new shape Focus but can only get a decent one for about £4k - I would like to sell my car, pay off most of loan and use £2k to buy a new car.

Possibles - Ford Focus, Toyota Corolla - not really sure on anything so will be watching this thread.

jeannieblue

barrymung wrote: »

The Xsara is already on the "possibles" list!

We were also thinking maybe of a Skoda Fabia. Anyone any views on Skodas?

Skoda's are good - VW really. Parts are reasonably priced - which is a plus.