Best way to buy a used car ??

Blue264

bluedrop wrote: »

We both take the train to London for work. So, the car is only for rare evenings out, weekends and holidays. Our annual usage will be 3000 miles MAX.

Budget is £10k, but I dont want to spend unnecessarily...want to keep the costs low since we wont be using the car much...

I don't know if this will help you, but I refuse to spend a lot of money on any car, because, if it's not a classic car, it's a money pit. My dad was a car mechanic all his working life, and my OH for a good few years, so I've learned a bit from them.

The most I've ever spent is just over £2k for a BMW 318i many years ago. My Clio cost £272 and ran exceptionally well for 2 years until I sold it for £130. The Mazda cost £425 2 years ago and still runs like the devil. I do 350-400 motorway miles per week, and get 470-500 miles per tankful (approx £67 per tank), which astounded my OH, but I got the same fuel consumption from my previous Mazda also. But the best thing about the Mazda is, I can leave it parked for 3 weeks, and it'll still start first time, every time.

With a VW Golf, I'd get a professional to go over it with a fine tooth comb, because they're a hot hatch, and many fell into the hands of boy racers over the years.

Sorry I can't advise on the Focus. I just don't do Ford at all and not out of any kind of snobbery. I just think there are cheaper, better cars available, such as Honda Civics, Mazda, etc... With any car, the clincher is the service history, and how it has been run. I'd always take a car with 70k motorway miles over one with 40k in town miles on the clock.