Advice on a car around £2,000?

JustAnotherSaver

I could ask on a car specific forum but they're mostly biased in my experience.
A VW forum will usually only swing to VW (they're a very picky bunch )
A Vaux forum tend to stick with Vaux, Ford with Ford, so on & so forth.

At this point i'll point out no Citroens, no Peugeots & no Fiat's. Now that's over & done with.....


My wife is considering replacing her MK4 Golf, especially if we can't fettle this juddering at a decent enough price. She was considering it before that even happened as there's been a few things going on with this car. That said she is open to the idea of another MK4 Golf, just not a 1.6.

I understand some people seem to think a diesel is no good unless you're doing 50k per year. I've had a diesel before doing only 6k per year & it served me very well. No problems. So we're open to the ideas of diesel's, just not new ones with DPF's fitted. She was actually looking at the MK4 Golf GT TDI 130.

It seems to be (i say seems) new cars being a bit of a nightmare with reliability. Too many electrics & everything is too fiddly and too costly to fix so she's certainly open to the idea of 'older cars' - hers is a 2000.

The current Golf's sale/part-ex will make up part of that £2k so that budget could actually come down a bit but it wont go up that's for sure.






* Something economical
* Something with a bit of go (i know that's an open book. Let's say we don't think a 1.6 Golf has any 'go')
* Doesn't sting you on the tax
* Preferably something of the Golf/Astra/Focus size. Can drop down to a Corsa/Fiesta/Polo size but would rather not. Cannot move up to a Bora/Vectra/Mondingo size - too large. I know i just listed VWs, Vaux & Ford but it doesn't have to be just these three.
* RELIABILITY!!


And when a Make & model has been suggested - what engine size do you recommend to go for (or stay away from)?

Tilt

Unfortunately I cannot contribute as I have good experience in one of the makes you have 'excluded' so would be wasting your time (and mine) in recommending them.

So for that reason, i'm out.

GTE_Boy

You're not getting a guarentee on reliability for two grand.

martinthebandit

If your max budget, including trade in, is 2k the only sensible option would be to spend a bit on your current golf and keep it running while putting money into savings.

JustAnotherSaver

Tilt wrote: »

Unfortunately I cannot contribute as I have good experience in one of the makes you have 'excluded' so would be wasting your time (and mine) in recommending them.

So for that reason, i'm out.

Between another family member & myself we've had a few Citroen's & Peugeot's.

Nightmares.

My wife has had a Fiat, we know of others who've had Fiat's.

Nightmares.

I appreciate not all of these will be bad but eventually you say enough is enough.


On the other hand i've had Ford's & Vauxhall's - no problem
My mother has had Ford's & Vauxhall's - no problem.
My dad had the same & would only ever spend under £500 on a car. I don't know how he did it but somehow he had no problem.
My wife's had Vauxhall's & VWs & they've been no problem with the exception of this Golf. Already mentioned the Fiat.
Sister has had VWs & Vauxhall's - no problem.
Brother has had Citroen's, Peugeot's, Mazda's, Vauxhall's, VWs.

the only ones that were problems were the ones mentioned.

GTE_Boy wrote: »

You're not getting a guarentee on reliability for two grand.

You're not getting a guarantee on reliability for any money really.
I'm talking about cars that are generally seen as being pretty ok as far as reliability goes.


For example...

8 years ago i picked myself up a 2001 plated Vauxhall Astra for £1,400. It was 7 years old at the time, it's 15 years old now & in all that time i've needed to spend nothing on it really (tyres, wipers, brakes etc aside). About last year the ECU went, that was the only thing really that's failed on it. Yes it's a major thing but one website & about £200 later i had a new programmed ECU which i fitted myself. Job done.

£175 per year. I'd say that's been fairly reliable

GTE_Boy

JustAnotherSaver wrote: »

Between another family member & myself we've had a few Citroen's & Peugeot's.

Nightmares.

My wife has had a Fiat, we know of others who've had Fiat's.

Nightmares.

I appreciate not all of these will be bad but eventually you say enough is enough.


On the other hand i've had Ford's & Vauxhall's - no problem
My mother has had Ford's & Vauxhall's - no problem.
My dad had the same & would only ever spend under £500 on a car. I don't know how he did it but somehow he had no problem.
My wife's had Vauxhall's & VWs & they've been no problem with the exception of this Golf. Already mentioned the Fiat.
Sister has had VWs & Vauxhall's - no problem.
Brother has had Citroen's, Peugeot's, Mazda's, Vauxhall's, VWs.

the only ones that were problems were the ones mentioned.

You're not getting a guarantee on reliability for any money really.
I'm talking about cars that are generally seen as being pretty ok as far as reliability goes.


For example...

8 years ago i picked myself up a 2001 plated Vauxhall Astra for £1,400. It was 7 years old at the time, it's 15 years old now & in all that time i've needed to spend nothing on it really (tyres, wipers, brakes etc aside). About last year the ECU went, that was the only thing really that's failed on it. Yes it's a major thing but one website & about £200 later i had a new programmed ECU which i fitted myself. Job done.

£175 per year. I'd say that's been fairly reliable

Well, you seem to know best so go find yourself another.

Tilt

JustAnotherSaver wrote: »

Between another family member & myself we've had a few Citroen's & Peugeot's.

Nightmares.

My wife has had a Fiat, we know of others who've had Fiat's.

Nightmares.

I appreciate not all of these will be bad but eventually you say enough is enough.


On the other hand i've had Ford's & Vauxhall's - no problem
My mother has had Ford's & Vauxhall's - no problem.
My dad had the same & would only ever spend under £500 on a car. I don't know how he did it but somehow he had no problem.
My wife's had Vauxhall's & VWs & they've been no problem with the exception of this Golf. Already mentioned the Fiat.
Sister has had VWs & Vauxhall's - no problem.
Brother has had Citroen's, Peugeot's, Mazda's, Vauxhall's, VWs.

the only ones that were problems were the ones mentioned.

You're not getting a guarantee on reliability for any money really.
I'm talking about cars that are generally seen as being pretty ok as far as reliability goes.


For example...

8 years ago i picked myself up a 2001 plated Vauxhall Astra for £1,400. It was 7 years old at the time, it's 15 years old now & in all that time i've needed to spend nothing on it really (tyres, wipers, brakes etc aside). About last year the ECU went, that was the only thing really that's failed on it. Yes it's a major thing but one website & about £200 later i had a new programmed ECU which i fitted myself. Job done.

£175 per year. I'd say that's been fairly reliable

I've owned 15 over the years since 1978. I currently have a W plate Punto HGT (which I have owned since new) and a 65 plate 500x.

I can say with total confidence that the marque is far from being a nightmare in my experience.

JustAnotherSaver

Tilt wrote: »

I've owned 15 over the years since 1978. I currently have a W plate Punto HGT (which I have owned since new) and a 65 plate 500x.

I can say with total confidence that the marque is far from being a nightmare in my experience.

I think i addressed that somewhere.

JustAnotherSaver wrote: »

I appreciate not all of these will be bad but eventually you say enough is enough.

^^ there.


I get the impression those who've responded so far seem to think that the budget makes this an impossible task.

Which begs the question, what do you think should be spent to purchase a car then?

I suspect nobody will answer that, or at least not answer it straight, but we'll see.

daveyjp

At £2k you buy on condition and cost and ease to repair.

Start trawling the small ads.

gilbert_and_sullivan

Anything with the 1.9 PD 110 or 130 Diesel from the VW Seat Skoda stable would fit the bill, so long as its been looked after with regular correct oil changes.

Alternatively look Korean towards a Kia Ceed, up to about 2009 the Diesel didn't get a DPF nor did it have a DMF!
Sonata and Magentis worthy contenders but might be a little large with what you have been looking at.

£2k is plenty, and in my opinion the very best cars were designed in the 80s and 90's, so years 2000 to 2005 depending on make are the sweet spot.

JustAnotherSaver

gilbert_and_sullivan wrote: »

Anything with the 1.9 PD 110 or 130 Diesel from the VW Seat Skoda stable would fit the bill, so long as its been looked after with regular correct oil changes.

Alternatively look Korean towards a Kia Ceed, up to about 2009 the Diesel didn't get a DPF nor did it have a DMF!
Sonata and Magentis worthy contenders but might be a little large with what you have been looking at.

£2k is plenty, and in my opinion the very best cars were designed in the 80s and 90's, so years 2000 to 2005 depending on make are the sweet spot.

Have experienced the 110 and the 130 actually. If i had to pick i'd go for the 130. The extra performance is great, plus isn't there other 'extras' with the car that the 130 has? I can't remember now.

I've heard Kia's are a good shout actually. Forgot about them. I've heard of the dreaded DPF but not the DMF. What's that when it's at home?

And agree with you on the years too