buying a second hand car-help please!

Nodding_Donkey

emmysmum wrote: »

Thanks for the replies, hadn't thought of an estate car, they just seem massive compared to my little punto! If it makes a difference, I'll be using the car for driving around town, driving 6 miles to work a couple of times a week, and maybe weekly trips to nearby cities etc to visit friends and family, 60-80 mile round trips.
Hadn't thought of a diesel either, have only ever had petrol.
I'll be on maternity leave again soon, any my income will drop considerably, hence looking for something with quite low running costs.
Is the "dmf' something that's expensive to fix? I don't know much at all about cars, neither do friends/family-they've mainly gond down the buying a brand new car and keeping it until it dies route!

I'd say with that sort of driving profile a petrol engine will suit you better. That way you won't have to worry about a DMF or DPF (dual mass flywheel and diesel particulate filter) both of which are for diesels and don't like stop go driving in traffic. Modern petrols are also generally better on fuel.

worried_jim

Petrol Mondy estate all the way as everyone else has said, spend no more than £2k and put the other £5k away for a rainy day-or 3 more cars!

goonarmy

An astra estate should be ok.

Tilt

Stick with what you know. Have you thought of one of these? This is just an example and it looks tidy to me. I think it ticks all of your boxes;

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201402051568553/sort/default/usedcars/radius/1501/quantity-of-doors/5/make/fiat/model/bravo/onesearchad/used%2Cnearlynew%2Cnew/price-to/7000/postcode/wv46hg/page/4?logcode=p

emmysmum

Right, been looking online on autotrader etc, and I can't find any Mondeo estates at all within 100 miles of me, apart from pretty new ones that are out of my price range. Found a few 'normal' mondeos at around the 2k mark, are they as reliable as the estates or are the quite a lot of differences in performance and reliability?
Really appreciating the advice!

adjests

A couple of alternative suggestions. How about one of these:
http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201402252064270/sort/default/usedcars/radius/1500/page/1/make/toyota/model/avensis/maximum-mileage/up_to_60000_miles/onesearchad/used,nearlynew,new/postcode/e145gl/price-to/5000/fuel-type/diesel?logcode=p
or
http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201402031507574/sort/default/usedcars/fuel-type/diesel/postcode/e145gl/radius/1500/page/1/model/accord/price-to/5000/maximum-mileage/up_to_60000_miles/onesearchad/used,nearlynew,new/make/honda?logcode=p
both are pretty reliable. and within your budget?

spacey2012

If you want reliability, a quick walk down to the taxi rank shows you the most reliable car on the road for the money.
Taxi drivers can not afford down time for repairs, they drive makes of car out of necessity not choice.

forgotmyname

Where do you live not be to be able to find some within 100 miles?

I found 790 Mondeo's under £2500 and 138 of those were estates, All within 100 miles of me.