Secondhand car recommendations for £2000?

hartcjhart

december wrote: »

Thanks for all of the replies Currently my "shortlist" ahem includes: Astra, Focus, Corolla, Colt, Alfa 147 (they are so pretty but I'm aware of their faults), c3 (the one on autotrader is a good price but about £1500 under book price which makes me nervous) and possibly Rover 25/45.

Just a quick question really, if a car is listed at under book price by quite a bit, this automatically makes me nervous as I think there is something wrong with it hence the low price. Am I jumping to conclusions?

Thanks for all of the advice, it's very much appreciated

December

have you got a link to the C3 advert,just to compare spec with mine:beer:

catflea

The C3 seems to have a pretty terrible reputation in the reliability stakes though. or at least it did a few years back when I was looking at one for the (now ex) girlfriend. She bought a proper VW beetle instead

december

Hintza wrote: »

Aye well that is true.

As with all things there is the safe (hopefully) option or the slightly off the wall one (which in my case normally costs me a lot more) but it does make life a bit more fun being slightly contrary.

In my case the slightly off the wall one would be the alfa 147 but a decent well maintained one seems to be out of my price league.

The C3 I was looking at is similar to this one but diesel and it has been sold

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201006352316842/sort/priceasc/usedcars/price-to/2000/model/c3/make/citroen/quicksearch/true/page/1/postcode/ws124au/radius/1501?previous=%2Fsearch%2Fused%2Fcars%2Fcitroen%2Fc3%2Fpostcode%2Fws124au%2Fradius%2F1501%2Fprice-to%2F2000%2Fquicksearch%2Ftrue%2Fpage%2F1%2Fsort%2Fpriceasc&logcode=p

The Rover 45 that was listed looks good but I think it might be too big, thank you anyway though It is tempting though, particularly with the very high spec and MPG....

The Skoda, although very reliable, is not really for me I don't think, although my dad has one and loves it.

I have to wait for the car insurance company to pay up and once they have sent the cheque, I have 7 days with the courtesy car to find and buy a car. Although that will be somewhat of a rush, I'm just doing my research now so it's not too much hassle later on. Thank you for all of your recommendations, I will start mulling over them

rictus123

This is a relevant thread for me in a few months...im wanting something decent and sporty, simular budget to you, maybe an extra k.

allan673

vw polo or golf, honda civic, focus, corolla?

avoid any vauxhall or peugeot imo.

december

Thanks for all of the replies I'm keeping an open mind so depending on what's about, reasonably priced and in good (ish) condition when I get the settlement cheque. I was just wondering one more thing...is it better to buy a car with lower mileage but is older, or a younger car with more mileage? Also at what point does mileage really start to matter with petrols/diesels as some of the cars in my price bracket have done 69000 (which is relatively low) and some have done 139000

Thanks again and sorry for adding more questions!

December