Advice on a car around £2,000?

parking_question_chap

Have you had the hoses checked for air leaks?

Having had a MK4, and knowing a few more with the same issue, it has nearly always been an air leak.

For £2000 you could pick up a 150bhp 1.8T in good order.

Rolandtheroadie

JustAnotherSaver wrote: »

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?

We had a Cee'd for a while, great car. Ours was a 2008, paid £1700 for it with a FSH around 2 years ago. It was on over 200k when we bought it.
The service history showed it had a replacement engine for some reason at 54k miles or thereabouts, and a clutch just before we bought it.
Everything else was consumables.
We'd still have it if the OH hadn't written it off.
DMF is dual mass flywheel.

martinthebandit

JustAnotherSaver wrote: »

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.

Your looking to buy a car with exactly the same criteria as lots of other buyers, consequently the rare good 'un is snapped up quickly add to that a lot of semi professional sellers are around that price point selling badly prepared and tarted up rubbish for a quick profit means you end up being a sheep amongst wolves.

You either need to go proper bangernomics, £3 to £400 and be prepared to spend the same on service, repairs etc plus generally higher road tax and potentially lower mpg, or up your budget to the £7 to £8k plus mark.

Change your budget and or change your criteria or keep your current car. The MSE thing to do is almost certainly keep your current car.

That straight enough for you?

JustAnotherSaver

martinthebandit wrote: »

Your looking to buy a car with exactly the same criteria as lots of other buyers, consequently the rare good 'un is snapped up quickly add to that a lot of semi professional sellers are around that price point selling badly prepared and tarted up rubbish for a quick profit means you end up being a sheep amongst wolves.

Valid point you make.

I'm not a stubborn A-hole. If someone makes a valid point then i can accept it.

You either need to go proper bangernomics, £3 to £400 and be prepared to spend the same on service, repairs etc plus generally higher road tax and potentially lower mpg, or up your budget to the £7 to £8k plus mark.

I can't agree with this tbh.
Like i said, i picked mine up when it was 7 years old for £1,400. It's been nothing but reliable so far. It's got reasonable performance.
My wife would probably actually have a car like mine but her drive to work & my drive to work is very different, so where i'm seeing 37mpg she'll probably end up getting 30-31mpg tops.
And the tax was £265 i think last year. A bit much.

That straight enough for you?

It is actually thanks. You surprise me. 'The MSE thing to do' is to usually answer a question like that with a question, dodge it every which way just to be awkward. From my experience anyway. Thanks for answering.

Dird

I got a VW Polo 02 plate diesel for £2.2k in 2013, spent about £400 on repairs since (adding 35k miles) so generally very happy with it. Before that I got a pug 206 for £650, lasted 6 months and cost a few hundred in repairs before scrapping.

I'd stick to German

JustAnotherSaver

Dird wrote: »

I'd stick to German

I haven't actually owned one personally but i must admit i do like them.

My only gripe is their value. Way way way overpriced & cost so much to repair.

Maybe way back when they were better than everything else but like i said with my car - been reliable at a fraction of a cost of its German equivalent.

Also if i look at my car as an example & go on AutoTrader, it'll be valued now somewhere around £500 give or take £100 maybe.

a VW equivalent could be £500 or it could be £1500. The range is ridiculous. Some know what a car is worth & price it accordingly but others think just because it has that VW badge on the front that they can take the piddle.

Of course, you don't HAVE to pay those prices & if someone does pay it then fair play to the seller.

That moan aside, i'd probably still buy one one day :rotfl:

tacpot12

I'd look at the Skoda Fabia as a good smaller altentative. The VRS version might be ideal. It has the very reliable PD130 Diesel engine that pulls like a train in my Octavia.

facade

JustAnotherSaver wrote: »

I've heard of the dreaded DPF but not the DMF. What's that when it's at home?

A DMF (dual mass flywheel) is very much a case of a solution creating a problem

Basically, instead of a solid one piece lump of metal, the flywheel is made in two parts, with something compliant between them.

Its job is to reduce vibrations, which could reduce the life of the gearbox.

In The Olden Days if the car vibrated massively at say 1800rpm, you'd simply drop down a gear to stop it, but the DMF absorbs that vibration, so you can drive it at 1800rpm for thousands of miles, until the DMF shakes itself apart and then has to be replaced.

This is often done when the clutch is looked at, as "modern" cars cost hundreds in labour to get at the clutch (Unlike in The Olden Days when you could change a cavalier clutch in 30 minutes)

martinthebandit

JustAnotherSaver wrote: »

Valid point you make.

I'm not a stubborn A-hole. If someone makes a valid point then i can accept it.

Really, I'm not used to that on MSE

JustAnotherSaver wrote: »

I can't agree with this tbh.
Like i said, i picked mine up when it was 7 years old for £1,400. It's been nothing but reliable so far. It's got reasonable performance.
My wife would probably actually have a car like mine but her drive to work & my drive to work is very different, so where i'm seeing 37mpg she'll probably end up getting 30-31mpg tops.
And the tax was £265 i think last year. A bit much.

Each to their own, but it depends on how many miles per year she is doing as to how much extra your going to have to spend to save a bit of road tax and gain a few extra mpg

JustAnotherSaver wrote: »

It is actually thanks. You surprise me. 'The MSE thing to do' is to usually answer a question like that with a question, dodge it every which way just to be awkward. From my experience anyway. Thanks for answering.

Ah, that's what I've been doing wrong!

JustAnotherSaver

facade wrote: »

A DMF (dual mass flywheel) is very much a case of a solution creating a problem

Basically, instead of a solid one piece lump of metal, the flywheel is made in two parts, with something compliant between them.

Its job is to reduce vibrations, which could reduce the life of the gearbox.

In The Olden Days if the car vibrated massively at say 1800rpm, you'd simply drop down a gear to stop it, but the DMF absorbs that vibration, so you can drive it at 1800rpm for thousands of miles, until the DMF shakes itself apart and then has to be replaced.

This is often done when the clutch is looked at, as "modern" cars cost hundreds in labour to get at the clutch (Unlike in The Olden Days when you could change a cavalier clutch in 30 minutes)

All sounds typical of the modern day. If it ain't broke then break it.

I remember my dad needing the clutch doing on his F plated Sierra i think it was, or maybe a C plate. I know he had a few Sierra's & i remember you could pretty much stand inside the engine bay with room to spare.
And he one time years later needed the clutch doing on his Y plated Mondeo.

Huge difference.


A few years ago a workmate picked up a Focus ST, the MK2 version. He had the bonnet up at work & i remember thinking how cramped it was. So much going on in there & probably just so much more to go wrong.

I suppose that's what we get for wanting all these 'extras'. Auto wipers, auto lights & all that nonsense, and yes i'll stand by those statements that they are nonsense. Some of these fancy additions are great but some are ridiculous. I've never had a problem turning my wipers on. It rains, i can't see, wipers go on. I don't even need to take a break after doing it from tiring myself out thinking about it.