£2000 to spend on a reliable runabout

Horizon81

Well my partners 11 year old Clio is starting to become uneconomical to maintain so we're on the look out for a replacement car. The Clio has been a decent work horse but has cost a lot in parts over the past 2 years and is now into a 6 figure mileage and with suspect electrics the time is nigh to get rid. She wants to spend up to £4000 on the next car whereas I think we're better off spending £2000. After all, any car in that price bracket is going to be a bit of a gamble (true for any car I suppose) so why not start out by spending less.

The car will need to be petrol, will cover approx 10k per year, mainly used for a daily 20 mile round trip commute but also an occasional (2 or 3 times a year) 600 mile motorway round trip, so that rules out the tiniest cars (107, C1 etc). Of course, would be nice to get no less than 40mpg, and be reasonable on tax and insurance.

Ideally we're after a supermini but wouldn't rule out a family hatch if the price was right. Don't fancy anything French. I'm no fan of German brands either so that rules out Polo, Fabia and anything VAG. The mk1 Yaris has always been a favourite of mine but the boot space is tiny when comparted to the mk2 Clio and we don't really want anything smaller than that. The Colt also looks good but I'm not sure on Mitsubishi parts availability and prices. Oop North we see plenty Micras but since Renault took over Nissan the latest Micra falls well short in reliability to the old K11 Micra which must have been the last of a reliable breed. Of course there's the usual Fiesta/Corsa but most people go for these so the prices tend to be pretty strong.

I've probably thought of all the obvious choices but would welcome any input. Does anyone have any experience with the Fiat Panda? They get good write ups but perhaps too small - I've never experienced one first hand.

Decisions decisions. Maybe she's right and we should spend up to £4000 after all!

atrixblue.-MFR-.

£4k deduct some money for maintenance tax mot and insurance for the year and theres you max budget for the car itself.

Honda Jazz 1.4 could get a 2ng gen jazz for about £3.5k

Fiat grande punto.

toyota Yaris

nissan note/micra.

gord115

I'd give the Fiat a miss if you want reliability.

What about a Skoda Fabia? Not much to look at but very reliable.

steve-L

Rover 45 pre-owned by pensioner with 15-20k miles?
Quasi UK/German build...

You see loads of these with hardly more than delivery milage owned by pensioners.... 2-3k will get you a sub 30k miles one good for a long time?

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/northernireland/search/used/cars/rover/45/postcode/bb79da/radius/1501/maximum-mileage/up_to_40000_miles/price-to/5000/price-from/1000/sort/default/onesearchad/used%2Cnearlynew%2Cnew/engine-size-cars/1-4l_to_1-6l

atrixblue.-MFR-.

steve-L wrote: »

Rover 45 pre-owned by pensioner with 15-20k miles?
Quasi UK/German build...

You see loads of these with hardly more than delivery milage owned by pensioners.... 2-3k will get you a sub 30k miles one good for a long time?

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/northernireland/search/used/cars/rover/45/postcode/bb79da/radius/1501/maximum-mileage/up_to_40000_miles/price-to/5000/price-from/1000/sort/default/onesearchad/used%2Cnearlynew%2Cnew/engine-size-cars/1-4l_to_1-6l

NO NO NO and NO again.

the last of the rover petrols are never a good idea to say the least any rover petrol s not a good idea if you dont want to put cash in it, 20-35 k miles the headgasket is ready and ripe to pop.

youll find the BMW diesel engine better and more reliable in the rovers but come with added expense of diesel prices.

dont rule out the fiat theres not much wrong the grande punto at all.

cardinalbiggles

gord115 wrote: »

I'd give the Fiat a miss if you want reliability.

What about a Skoda Fabia? Not much to look at but very reliable.

Is that from your own experience? or the crap you believe "experts" telling you?

Horizon81

Haha I don't think an old Rover 25/45 is at the top of anyones list, no matter how cheap. Maybe if I set a 1k limit and was a gambling man!

I know Fiats have a poor reputation but had read the Panda was half decent, and Im sure it came top 10 in a user satisfaction survey a while back.

oliverr

What's wrong the VW Group cars? The Polo is a great little car, and the Fiesta is a good little car to drive. Thus why it sold in such big numbers.

coinxoperated

Driven a 2002 Fiat Punto with 60k on the clock for around 18 months. Its had a cambelt change (my choice as no receipt for it done on purchase) - do around 15k mileage a year mainly motorways - Fab little car!! Parts are very very cheap, but its been pretty reliable so far!

Kite2010

Can't really go much wrong with a Fabia/Ibiza/Polo

gord115

cardinalbiggles wrote: »

Is that from your own experience? or the crap you believe "experts" telling you?

The "experts" are owners of Fiats ,Driver power survey 2012,and 2011,2010.......99th out of 100 in 2011 for reliability. They're rubbish.

As for Skodas, owned 3, fantastic cars. At the top of the survey every year.