What second hand car to buy?

budeman

Hi,

I need to purchase a medium sized family car and was wondering if anyone has any advice - I only have 2k to spend and after a quick look online at various reviews I am thinking of getting a diesel (TDCI)ford focus - any advice on if this is a good choice or any other recommendations?

My main concerns are reliability and fuel economy - I will be using the car for work but will prob only be a few miles each way.

Also the ones that I have been looking at have quite high milage - anywhere from 80 -130k - I know diesel's last v long these days so was wondering how many miles can I expect to get out of an engine.

Any advice greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Mark.

property.advert

Focus is probably the best bet. Loads about, some with decent history and you don't have to accept the first one you see. They ain't worth much so though your 2k is on the low side, you'll be fine. I may well join you with one in a month or two.

Hammyman

If you're only doing short commutes, the extra you pay for buying a diesel over the petrol equivalent will wipe out any savings on the fuel.

My MK3 Mondeo TDCi is on 153k, my friends Vectra 250k.

80k is barely broken in for a diesel - I bought mine for £5.5k as a 3 year old ex-fleet with 90k on.

cyclonebri1

How long it lasts won't matter to you if you only do short commutes.

Don't go diesel for this one.

A vectra was mentioned earlier, can't think of a better value for money car in that cat/price range:T:T, and no, I don't have one, or one for sale:D

Tigerspain

Any of these for reliabilty and fuel consumption:

http://motors.shop.ebay.co.uk/Cars-/9801/i.html?LH_Price=1%2C200..2%2C000%40c&LH_BIN=1&_nkw=honda%20civic&_catref=1&_dmpt=Automobiles_UK&_fln=1&_mPrRngCbx=1&_ssov=1&_trksid=p3286.c0.m282&Model%2520Year=2004|2003|2002

mikey72

Tigerspain wrote: »

Any of these for reliabilty and fuel consumption:

http://motors.shop.ebay.co.uk/Cars-/9801/i.html?LH_Price=1%2C200..2%2C000%40c&LH_BIN=1&_nkw=honda%20civic&_catref=1&_dmpt=Automobiles_UK&_fln=1&_mPrRngCbx=1&_ssov=1&_trksid=p3286.c0.m282&Model%2520Year=2004|2003|2002

Well, the first one is cat c, so maybe skip that one, second one is cat d, so maybe pass on that as well, and a few more in that list have a few dubious points as well, so I'd look again.

jase1

2 grand + reliable + short commutes/low mileages = job for a petrol Korean IMO.

You'll be able to get a 2006 car with 30000 miles or so for that money.

dazzadub

focus all the way unless you can find a jap car for that sort of money that you like, youll get many more years out of a jap car eg, nissan, toyota, honda etc

bigjl

As Jase has said, you do get good value if you go Korean, I have seen 08 plate Chevrolet Lacettis estate with 40k on the clock for £3300 at a dealer, definately be in the low £2grand mark at an Auction.

If you don't do high miles than I would tend to suggest a petrol Focus or petrol Astra, good cheap cars, and popular for a reason.

There are so many different cars out there that are good value.

But when you realise that you can pick up a mk3 Mondeo in petrol for for well under a grand if you are lucky then a slghtly larger car needs to be considered.

Vectras are reliable old buses, if you stick to the newer model, don't go for any 1.9CDTi that has a DPF fitted, the 2.2 DTi and 2.0 DTi are underrated though the engine is from the old school of noisy direct injection diesels not the modern lot, will do high mileages if well maintained and is economical, does have faults, though not as many as some may make you think.

But if was doing less than 10k a year I would be looking towards big depreciation Korean cars, the wife had a Accent the still refuses to die, paid under £500 for it and she used it for years, did over 50k in it, no major issues, not as economical as newer cars but it never failed to start, I never did much to it, just oil changes and pads when required, plus some drop links and when we bought it there was a small crack in the exhaust manifold that I fixed with a part from a breakers yard, actually the gasket was the most expensive part involved in that repair, this shows up the only flaw with going Korean, patrs prices, a lot are main dealer only.

KierNet

+1 for the Focus! I've got a 1.8 TDDi (TDCi is the newer one) and its pretty good! Only one thing wrong with it since I got it, decent mpg without trying (40/45), nice to drive.

The Police force here use the TDCi Focus as their response car, they get abused like hell, but still keep going strong!

budeman

Wow lots to think about!

Thinking about the Petrol/diesel dilema I think maybe petrol would be better for me as I really done think I would be doing many miles in it. As I mentioned it would be just s few miles to work and back and then the odd (3-4 times a year) long run

Was thinking Focus initally as for some reason I like hatchbacks?!

Will take a look at the Korean/Japanese options and see if there is any that I like - any ideas of ones not to go for so I can narrow it down?

Thanks for all the advise much appreciated.