Young driver - best medium sized car?

z3phyr04

Hi, I am after a car that will keep me going up to a year but it needs to be bigger than a Corsa, Saxo, 106 etc. as these are too small and unsuitable for me. What am I best off looking for with a diesel engine? This is whilst I save some money to buy a decent diesel Astra in the future (probably after a year if I can save really hard).

I have seen an '01 Rover 45 with a diesel engine for about £850 so may be able to knock a little bit of money off that with 99k on it insurance quote was £820 comp or £760 tpft. Older astras with diesel and low tax seem to be few and far between in my area.

I don't really want to spend much more than £800 as combined with insurance (I have one year NCD) it will be nearly £2000. Tax is also important as a lot of 10+ year old cars are in the £200+/year tax category. Any ideas as to what I should be looking for?

mikeamycalso

i recently had a 2001 rover 45 diesel, they are quite heavy on insurance, and tax bracket not great either good car though but make sure its had both the timing belt AND pump belt done, as the latter has been known to break and take timing belt out.

z3phyr04

Thanks, the 45 I had seen was gone unfortunately. However I have since found a 2000 X Rover 25 1.6, sadly not diesel but it was £600 so can't argue for value.

It's done 55k~ genuine miles (has MOTs to back it up), had the HG, radiator etc. replaced and has a new clutch and 4 recent tyres. 5 door so not too bad and bigger than your average supermini. Anything to watch out for on these except the all important coolant levels with the K-series?:rotfl:

Insurance is cheaper than the smaller car I have come from bizarrely.

rev_henry

As long as the HG has been done PROPERLY using the uprated MLS gasket it should be good and will not suffer HG failure again. I recently bought a mint 03 25 1.4, 57k for £940, so the price is about right. Quite lively to drive too. There is a good community on the mg-rover forums if you need any help. Only thing I'm a bit disappointed by is fuel economy - I get 39/40mpg doing not much town driving. Coolant levels are the main thing to watch afaik, as you say.

Lokolo

Mazda3 before 06 model. Cheaper insurance, although tax will be high.

(obviously if you can find one cheap enough!)

pendulum

Do NOT buy a Rover K Series petrol! No no no! It's like buying a trip on a boat you know is going to sink.

pendulum

The coolant only gets low when the headgasket fails due to engine design flaws, so don't believe the myth that if you check the coolant regularly you will be fine. It's put out by fanboys trying to shift blame from the dodgy engine to the owner's maintenance procedures.

z3phyr04

rev_henry wrote: »

As long as the HG has been done PROPERLY using the uprated MLS gasket it should be good and will not suffer HG failure again. I recently bought a mint 03 25 1.4, 57k for £940, so the price is about right. Quite lively to drive too. There is a good community on the mg-rover forums if you need any help. Only thing I'm a bit disappointed by is fuel economy - I get 39/40mpg doing not much town driving. Coolant levels are the main thing to watch afaik, as you say.

As far as I know it has been as it was bought in real cheap for this purpose. He changed the radiator at the same time and put a new clutch on it as it was for his missus but she since decided she preferred a Ford Ka hence the sale

Yeah, I figure I am going to take a bit of a MPG hit since my last car (which was averaging 41-42) but obviously this is a bigger car so it figures. Not too much of a worry as I don't amass enough miles to make it imperative to have a diesel at the minute.

Hmm, surely a good idea to check the coolant make sure it isn't dropping and not turning sludgy brown as would give a sign that failure is possible/impending (hope not )

rodenal

As long as the HG has been done properly and relatively recently I wouldn't really worry about any rover, they aren't worth enough for it to be a massive loss even if the worst happens anyway!

We just got rid of a little 1.4 16v megane which was very good on fuel and never gave any grief throughout the 2 1/2 years it was owned - Literally all i done was service it every year (£40ish), fix a CV boot (£20ish), replace the rear shoes (£20ish) oh and had the waterpump replaced along with the belt for about £130 (mates rates to be fair). If you can find something like that in the lottery that is sub - £1000 cars then you'll be on to a winner. Even if you buy what turns out to be a dog, buy it cheaply enough and you won't lose much so long as you don't spend hundreds trying to fix it.

pendulum

z3phyr04 wrote: »

As far as I know it has been as it was bought in real cheap for this purpose. He changed the radiator at the same time and put a new clutch on it as it was for his missus but she since decided she preferred a Ford Ka hence the sale

So he buys a car, spends many hundreds of pounds on a headgasket set, clutch and radiator, then sells it straight after because his partner would rather something else? Yeah...

If the truth is known, he's probably sick of the car now and just wants shot of it. The headgasket is probably leaking again and he's seen it for the vile moneypit it really is. They have decided to buy something more reliable.

Buy Rover, buy twice.

mustrum_ridcully

If you want a Rover 400/45, buy a mid-late 90's Honda Civic, same car but without the Rover K-series engine. An N/P-reg one should easily be picked-up for less than £500.