£2000 to spend on a reliable runabout

Tilt

Contessa wrote: »

P.S. My son has just bought his first Fiat, a 1993 Uno 1.0 ie which cost him £245. It has just cost him a mere £100 to get it through the MOT. Not bad for a car almost 20 years old.

QUOTE]

We bought a brand new Uno back in 1987 ( I went to the garage to look at a second hand Metro and a new Uno was cheaper!) It was a bit basic, and you could feel the floor flexing at speed :eek: but did a lot of motorway travel in it. We only kept it for two years as it developed a head gasket (?) leak. Traded it in for a new Golf-amazingly for just £250 less than we'd paid for it-so it certainly held it's value well!
Only kept it for two years

I've had 3 new Uno's in my time; 70CL, 70SX and a Turbo ie (which is the one, and only one I had a problem with).

Can honestly say I did not experience any 'floor flexing' at speed in any of them.

andygb

My 2001 Mondeo Mk2 will do 40 MPG (just about on a run), it is reliable, comfortable and very cheap to maintain, and it could be yours for £1500, leaving you with plenty of money for all kinds of goodies.

Contessa

Tilt wrote: »

I've had 3 new Uno's in my time; 70CL, 70SX and a Turbo ie (which is the one, and only one I had a problem with).

Can honestly say I did not experience any 'floor flexing' at speed in any of them.

I said "you" but meant "I"-my husband said he couldn't feel this but I could when I was a front passenger.
So, the difference in experience between us is due to 1) I travelled more on motorways, or, 2) at a faster speed, or, 3) my feet are more sensitive than yours!

gord115

Tilt wrote: »

Fiat owner here. First bought one new in 1978 and i'm now on my 14th. Only had a problem with one which was a seized turbo (can happen on any car) and that was fixed under warranty. From my experience, it's the survey's which are rubbish, not Fiat. Most people (including yourself) who spout such drivel have probably never even sat in one, let alone driven one.

P.S. My son has just bought his first Fiat, a 1993 Uno 1.0 ie which cost him £245. It has just cost him a mere £100 to get it through the MOT. Not bad for a car almost 20 years old.

OP, Panda may be a little on the small side so take a look at a Punto.

Here's one;

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201301044793067/sort/default/usedcars/price-from/2000/price-to/4000/model/punto/make/fiat/onesearchad/used/onesearchad/nearlynew/onesearchad/new/radius/1501/postcode/wv11ab/page/22?logcode=p

I had a Fiat Uno Turbo some years ago.It was great to drive but the build quality was appalling,didn't keep it long because I was always on edge wondering what would be the next bit of trim to fall off.To be honest the engine was a corker though...
And my brother-in-law had a Tipo. It was off the road three months with a problem no-one could solve,turned out it was a sensor on the flywheel.Rubbish.

Horizon81

Some interesting points there. I guess we could all argue about the un/reliability of various small hatches all day long, suffice to say I've read and heard enough about the Polo and VW in general to put me off.

Strider may be onto something with the saloon car, though quite rightly mentions the fact it's going to be bigger to park! Volvo s40 is indeed a decent choice though I'd have to have a look at parts prices.

richard734

Have some fun good 52/53plate <50k miles Astra 1.8 convertibles are plentiful at that price - currently running one - get 42mpg on the motorway, and average 36mpg on my rural 30 mile round trip every day.
Love mine - been running it for 18mths, and only expense so far has been a handbrake cable, and new front tyres.

steve-L

atrixblue.-MFR-. wrote: »

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.

The engines are rather crap..... and the CHG does go frequently but its not the worst thing to have to change.

ideally if buying a rover the 75D
However the only reason to mention this is the OP's preference for not buying a lot of perfectly good cars!

I actually totally agree with Strider....
IMHO the Saloon is a pointless car more a historical relic of coach and horses.... Why buy a Saloon either go for a coupe or estate? Well, because that's true but if you don't need an estate then the saloon gives you a bargain!

I guess we could all argue about the un/reliability of various small hatches all day long

Well we could or just accept they are not (with few exceptions and these tend to be priced accordingly) made to stand up to use.

A typical lease/salesmans high milage car on the other hand is designed for the lease/company market and most are actually built to last.

That's not to say you won't get a bargain hot hatch.... I PX'd one not that long ago (3 yrs) for a pittance (£450) with nothing mechanically wrong and <60k on the clock..... but IMHO you are taking a bigger risk of bits starting to fail frequently on the hatches than a similar priced saloon.

Our Honda Accord 2.2TDCI (2005 plate, pre DPF) has just under 180,000. Its cost very little to keep on the road.... (Though I'm expecting a clutch and DMF change soon for about £1000).

My mum's Corsa on the other hand has 60k and gone through 3 suspension springs in the last couple of years.... (It would have been better to replace all 4 when the 1st failed but .....)

In-between the Honda is a much nicer car to drive!

As I said before, its worth remembering that labour costs are now so high that they outweigh the cost of most parts. You might need a new part for a cheap hatch that costs £200 vs £300 for a 'bigger saloon' but the £300 one will cost the same in labour and likely last longer! (Thus cheaper over the longer term)

Even the impending clutch and DMF change on the Accord (one of the worst cars to do regarding labour for the clutch) should see another 100k plus from the change.... (It had a clutch at 110k and didn't need a DMF) and my OH learned to drive in it thus hastening the requirement for another clutch. The DMF is £450 .... so replacing both should see another 100k and the labour cost is the same ....

jaydeeuk1

Fiats are fantastically built cars. Their electronics are admired even by the Germans, and rust is completely unheard of. Infact, I owned a fiat Tipo and it was still running on its original engine oil 200k miles later and hadn't even gone through a set of tyres.

Everyone knows that these whatcar, driverpower, autotrader and top gear reliability surveys are all made up, they're all fabricated by jealous BMW and Audi drivers.

:dance:

Horizon81

What are people's thoughts of the mk3 petrol mondeo. Did a search on autotrader and of 75 mondeo's within a short radius of me, 66 were diesels, and only 9 petrols!! So the petrol wasn't a great seller (or maybe the owners hang onto them)?

I remember my friends dad owned a 2.0 petrol mk1 and then a mk2 in the 90's.

steve-L

Horizon81 wrote: »

What are people's thoughts of the mk3 petrol mondeo. Did a search on autotrader and of 75 mondeo's within a short radius of me, 66 were diesels, and only 9 petrols!! So the petrol wasn't a great seller (or maybe the owners hang onto them)?

I remember my friends dad owned a 2.0 petrol mk1 and then a mk2 in the 90's.

What engine?
There are a few reasons the diesels are more popular (and that can be an advantage to buying a petrol)....

The reasons there are a lot of diesels (presumably in your price range) are:
1) The bigger diesels (not 1.6D) go on and on.... you might need a new turbo or clean the existing one but the engine should be good for 200,000+ miles..... the question is when the rest of the car starts costing!
2) A 1.6 petrol engine needs a lot of looking after in a car the size of a mondeo if it will make 100,000....
3) A lot of these diesels are fleet cars.....

Given your looking for a low milage runabout the Petrol is a good option especially when many are looking to the diesel because they do high milage.

Overall cost I would look at the 1.8 or 2.0 in Petrol.