Reliable Used Car for around £2000

TheParrotNinjas

Howdy, looking to change car and was looking for some recommendations for the most reliable car I can get.
Looking to spend about £2000 put could go more for the right car.
Wouldn't really be able to afford a car with insurance group higher than 12 (on the old scale from 1 to 20)

Pretty much open to anything, but dont really want a 4x4 or an estate.
Won't be doing loads of miles in the car, but at least 3 or 4 times a year I would be driving from Edinburgh to Cardiff and back so needs to be able to do that comfortably.

Cheers :beer:

droodle

I only ever spend between £1k - £3k on a car and have had my fingers burnt a few times, ive learned to stay way from fiat/alfa, peugot/citroen, renault, and rover. You cant really go wrong with honda, toyota, ford, audi/volkswagen and bmw. Again just personal and friends experiance! Main thing is check service history, when the timing belt was done, check if the car pulls to one side dont be fobbed off with its just the tracking rarely is on an older vehicle, look for signs of kerbing. have a look along the sills for damage/rot. If you can get a mechanic or someone fairly competent to have a look over the car. and insist on seeing the mot and advisory notice if applicable.

sassy_one

Get yourself a nice 2005 or even 2006 plate Ford Mondeo Titanium.

Really comfy and lovely to drive with the power behind the engine when you need it.
They are good on petrol to it you don't have a heavy right foot!

You could even go with a Automatic one

I would stay clear of a Rover or Fiat, Rover's are prone to head gasket failure and Fiats and nasty little cars.

Best place to start looking would be Gumtree or eBay, and if you know what you are looking for the AutoTrader too.

Good luck with finding yourself a nice comfy car

TheParrotNinjas

droodle wrote: »

I only ever spend between £1k - £3k on a car and have had my fingers burnt a few times, ive learned to stay way from fiat/alfa, peugot/citroen, renault, and rover. You cant really go wrong with honda, toyota, ford, audi/volkswagen and bmw. Again just personal and friends experiance! Main thing is check service history, when the timing belt was done, check if the car pulls to one side dont be fobbed off with its just the tracking rarely is on an older vehicle, look for signs of kerbing. have a look along the sills for damage/rot. If you can get a mechanic or someone fairly competent to have a look over the car. and insist on seeing the mot and advisory notice if applicable.

Definitely feel the same, owned 3 cars in a year and every one has had severe problems, eg needs a whole new gearbox. Usually happens within weeks after buying the cars too.

I'm thinking along the same lines of buying japanese or german but that ford mondeo just gets such good reviews everywhere i look its hard to ignore
I think I would struggle to get a decent mondeo though for £2000, maybe a 2002 but dont think i could get a 2005. What kind of mileage do you think would be acceptable on a mondeo?

Selling my car at the moment but when i come to actually viewing the cars ill definitely do the checks you mentioned.
Thanks to you both for the advice

Coveredinbees!!!!

sassy-one wrote: »

Get yourself a nice 2005 or even 2006 plate Ford Mondeo Titanium.

for 2 Grand I don't think so

sassy_one

TheParrotNinjas wrote: »

Definitely feel the same, owned 3 cars in a year and every one has had severe problems, eg needs a whole new gearbox. Usually happens within weeks after buying the cars too.

I'm thinking along the same lines of buying japanese or german but that ford mondeo just gets such good reviews everywhere i look its hard to ignore
I think I would struggle to get a decent mondeo though for £2000, maybe a 2002 but dont think i could get a 2005. What kind of mileage do you think would be acceptable on a mondeo?

Selling my car at the moment but when i come to actually viewing the cars ill definitely do the checks you mentioned.
Thanks to you both for the advice

Wouldn't touch a Mondeo with more than 70.000 miles on it and you could go for a V6 DuraTec engine, then you could look at ones with anything between 70.000 to 100.000 miles on them, the V6 engines are bullet proof!

Regards the year of reg you could get for the money, I'm pretty sure you could get a 2004 plate Mondeo, in good condition for a round £2000.

there was one around by me locally, on a 2003 plate with 9 months MOT and 3 months Tax for £1200 so pretty sure for another £800 you'll get a 2004 plate, and if you look on Gumtree and eBay, even a 2005 plate.

Mondeo's are good comfort, cheap on parts and fairly simple to repair yourself if things should go wrong.

But I be honest, the whole time I have had my 2000 plate Mondeo which is a V6, I have had not one engine/brakes or gearbox problem.
In the past 3 years nearly of owning it and doing quite a bit of motorway and town driving, I have only ever had to have a new ABS sensor and a new tyre, passed it's MOT with flying colours.

Mondeo's are a good comfy cheap car, with all the extra's.

If you want to know any more do feel free to ask me or message me, as I say I have had my Mondeo for ages now and wouldn't go back to another car, maybe upgrade to a newer one later on but intend to stick with them!

benham3160

sassy-one wrote: »

Wouldn't touch a Mondeo with more than 70.000 miles on it and you could go for a V6 DuraTec engine, then you could look at ones with anything between 70.000 to 100.000 miles on them, the V6 engines are bullet proof!

Regards the year of reg you could get for the money, I'm pretty sure you could get a 2004 plate Mondeo, in good condition for a round £2000.

there was one around by me locally, on a 2003 plate with 9 months MOT and 3 months Tax for £1200 so pretty sure for another £800 you'll get a 2004 plate, and if you look on Gumtree and eBay, even a 2005 plate.

Mondeo's are good comfort, cheap on parts and fairly simple to repair yourself if things should go wrong.

But I be honest, the whole time I have had my 2000 plate Mondeo which is a V6, I have had not one engine/brakes or gearbox problem.
In the past 3 years nearly of owning it and doing quite a bit of motorway and town driving, I have only ever had to have a new ABS sensor and a new tyre, passed it's MOT with flying colours.

Mondeo's are a good comfy cheap car, with all the extra's.

If you want to know any more do feel free to ask me or message me, as I say I have had my Mondeo for ages now and wouldn't go back to another car, maybe upgrade to a newer one later on but intend to stick with them!

Just binned a 2.0 Zetec mk2 Mondeo with 224,000 on it, running sweetly on it's factory engine. Absolutely no reason what so ever to "avoid a 70,000 Mondeo" in my opinion. To be honestly, I'd avoid the V6, it's a funny engine riddled with IMRC faults, it's not very quick for its size, and should the engine need any work it throws a whole new meaning onto "an awkward job." That's not to say it's a bad engine, but I'd go for the four-potters, even if they aren't any more economical than the V6.

World is your oyster in that price range, don't overlook the forgotten cars, things like Primeras are exceptional to drive (the P11/P11-14 Primeras will tear after any hot-hatch in the twisty stuff!) very keenly priced and reliable. Laguna is cheap to buy and run, 1.8 petrol does silly MPG for it's size/power (in a good way) and they're not as bad as everybody tells you. 307's will now be available in that price range, again not all that bad news.

My personal advise (waits a flaming) is to avoid cheap German stuff..... It's normally cheap for good reason.

Regards,
Andy

Loughton_Lass

I agree about the Fords. I've had a Focus for almost 10 years. I only intended to keep it for about 3, but it's just been so reliable that I am scared to get rid of it!

When the terrible day comes and I do change it, I'm very tempted to get a Mondeo as the Focus has quite a small boot (it's only, very minor, fault). The servicing has always been reasonable and parts easy to find. All in all I'm still not tempted to get rid of it (and it is a lovely shade of green -very important to some of us)

benham3160

The Focus is a great car in my opinion, one in our household was purchased at a year old, has covered 120,000 miles now, and has only ever had servicing, (and ahead of schedule oil changes), tyres, brakes, and recently a replacement horn for the MOT. That is it.

Great to drive, 1.6 petrol is brisk, yet fairly economical. Starting to look a bit tatty now, but could solider on for years and years yet.

Regards,
Andy

andygb

sassy-one wrote: »

Wouldn't touch a Mondeo with more than 70.000 miles on it and you could go for a V6 DuraTec engine, then you could look at ones with anything between 70.000 to 100.000 miles on them, the V6 engines are bullet proof!

Regards the year of reg you could get for the money, I'm pretty sure you could get a 2004 plate Mondeo, in good condition for a round £2000.

there was one around by me locally, on a 2003 plate with 9 months MOT and 3 months Tax for £1200 so pretty sure for another £800 you'll get a 2004 plate, and if you look on Gumtree and eBay, even a 2005 plate.

Are you taking some seriously strong drugs by any chance, because you are spouting unbelievable rubbish.
A 2003 Mondeo with less than 70,000 miles for £1200, or maybe a five year old one with the same mileage for around £2000.

benham3160

andygb wrote: »

Are you taking some seriously strong drugs by any chance, because you are spouting unbelievable rubbish.
A 2003 Mondeo with less than 70,000 miles for £1200, or maybe a five year old one with the same mileage for around £2000.

Only way you'd get one in that price range is one with an insurance catagory marker on it, "odd" history, or previous police/minicab.

Mileage is pretty academic when talking about modern cars anyway, as I was told as a young'un taking my first steps into the murky and crazy world of the motortrade.

"Which is fitter, a teenager who walks to the shops once a week, or a 60 year old marathon runner?....."

Cars like to be driven, driven hard sometimes, they like clean oil, they like good tyres, they like being kept outside, they like prolonged high-speed runs..... Always astounds me the way people will pay over the odds for "low mileage" and buy a car with an engine like the lazy teenager.....

I've always stuck with marathon runners, I pick up a bargain, engines are always far better to drive, and far healtier. Like the aforementioned Mondeo in my previous post, it still had it's factory exhaust fitted on it's final journey to the scrap yard (due to somebody running into it!) as it hadn't stood still long enough in it's life to accumulate any condensation in the system....

This my friends, is what cars like, not pottering around by a careful "one lady owner." Cars run on motorways day-in-day-out are the best value, and the best cars you'll ever buy. I'm sure any car types are nodding sagely along with me as they read this.

Regards,
Andy