Best car for maximum £4000?

pitkin2020

almillar wrote: »

I don't really consider BMWs to be that expensive to repair or run (obviously we're not talking about taking ANY £4k car to a main dealer!), and they are certainly cheaper to repair than Jap - built cars. Things like the Civic built in the UK might be different.

In reality parts aren't that much different in price when you get away from the stealers. Whilst Jap parts maybe slightly more I have found pricing up general parts for my avensis no more expensive than parts for a vectra/mondeo and some bits are even cheaper. Swings and roundabouts.

Hintza

Rover 75 (not the 1.8).

jackllanberis

I just picked up an 03 Almera 1.5 (petrol) with 32k on the clock for £1,450. These cars are pretty much the best value for money you can get in the used car market at the moment. Big car ride with small car costs = a lot of bang for your buck. Only thing to be wary of is the timing chain - get that checked over first

Weird_Nev

Skoda Fabia 1.4 Tdi.
Good on the motorway (no, really) and 60Mpg+. Low insurance.
And very reliable too, in my experience.

Avoid non turbo diesels.

mikey72

Weird_Nev wrote: »

Skoda Fabia 1.4 Tdi.
Good on the motorway (no, really) and 60Mpg+. Low insurance.
And very reliable too, in my experience.

Avoid non turbo diesels.

Non turbo's are one less thing to go wrong though.
Bit slower, but if you don't thrash them, good enough mpg.

rev_henry

Hintza wrote: »

Rover 75 (not the 1.8).

Tbh I would say only a diesel 75. The 1.8 for obvious reasons, the KV6 cambelt changes cost £400+, and the V8 is just silly.

jaydeeuk1

I love these 'look on autotrader for inspiration threads'...

My choices.... I'd probably 'man up' and get an Alfa 156, 1.9TD if you're worried about insurance. Engines are the one thing Alfa gets right. Don't get an auto though. Their petrol range is excellent too. I'd get it checked though, there are some rough ones out there.


If you want something reliable but unusual, can do worse than an early 90's S class Mercedes before the accountants took over for under £2k. Get the 420, you know you want to.

pitkin2020

rev_henry wrote: »

Tbh I would say only a diesel 75. The 1.8 for obvious reasons, the KV6 cambelt changes cost £400+, and the V8 is just silly.

SPOT ON. The diesel is the BMW diesel and is a really good engine and has pretty good MPG. The 1.8 is an ok engine but you do need to regularly check the water level to make sure you don't get HGF. The 2.0/2.5 KV6 doesn't really suffer with HGF but getting the cambelts changed isn't cheap and fuel economy is low.

Ithilien

Wow thanks for all your suggestions. Skoda looks like a good option but I'll have a look at your other suggestions too.

gregpot2000

I dont get this "it will cost more to buy" lark.

yes it may be true, but then it will cost more for the next buyer to buy from you as well, so you will therefore be able to sell it for a higher price than the petrol, meaning this point is pretty irrelevance