£3000 on a used car for 15k A Year .

jehangir

Can anyone please give me some advice on buying a used car .


As I know little to nothing about cars buying one is quite stressful so any help would be much appreciated .

I do around 15k a year doing 50/50 Local and motorway driving trading in musical instruments ( mostly
guitars ) and small antiques so space is a must .

The looks and speed really do not bother me ( been driving a 1.4 Fusion diesel ) ,
more important is reliability and fuel efficiency .

I have a budget of up to £3000 , I have been advised to stay away from Diesels due to the costs if they go wrong .

A friend told me to look at Civics due to the magic seats and the
flat seats but the insurance on a 1.8 is £900 , the 1.4 version runs to £500 but not too sure if it would be suitable for motorway driving.

Any help would be much appreciated .

BeenThroughItAll

Any 1.9TDI PD VAG vehicle would be my choice. Golf, Polo, Passat, Bora, Fabia, Octavia, Superb, Ibiza, Leon, A3, A4, A6.

forgotmyname

Keep the Fusion and buy a roofbox?

jehangir

The fusion is falling apart to be honest . It has around 160k on the clock and the clutch went 2 months ago , I put in a recondition one in which cost £200. Then a week ago I noticed that one of the injectors was slightly leaking and have qouted £150 - 200 to sort it but the garage advised me not to spend anymore money on it as it has other issues and the MOT is up very soon .

marlot

You might find a nice Honda Accord petrol for the money?

debtdebt

You put a recon clutch kit in???? I don't think any garage worth their salt would fit a recon clutch!!! A new one is £90 from Euro!

forgotmyname

Lots of garages fit recon clutches. The clutch plate gets a new lining glue or riveted to it. No difference between that and a new one.
New springs to the diaphragm so thats like new.

Slave maybe new or may have been rebored with new seals.

No difference between a reconned clutch and a new one except the price.

Before slaves were fitted insise the gearbox the seals were often a service item. not every service but you change the seals every few years to keep the system in good condition. The problem was people waited for them to leak then fitted new seals which sometimes worked but often leaked soon after.

I sold my last car with 70k on the clock and the new owner is putting almost 30k a year onto it. They have had it 2 years now.

Properly serviced it will do a few more years yet, yours should also.

debtdebt

Never heard of places refurbing them! Thanks for educating me. It must make sense for more expensive clutches.

gilbert_and_sullivan

I used to get all my clutches refaced locally at one time, if you caught them early enough at the first signs of slipping then a new friction plate for £10, job done, they'd replace springs only if needed, rare that was.

You could get the wear of two facings from one clutch pressure plate easily and possibly a third, the flywheel was never damaged because soon as the clutch slipped once you hoiked it out so it didn't gouge the flywheel.

Mind you this was in the days when us average joes fixed our own (cos broke innit) so usually bought cars that could be worked on reasonably easily.

Same place would fit new friction materials to your worn out brake shoes for a few quid.

The days of simple cheap motoring.

motorguy

Ford Focus 1.6 Zetec petrol. Simple mechanics, easy to insure, decent spec, no risk of big bills.

£3K will get you a relatively fresh car too.

foxy-stoat

jehangir wrote: »

but not too sure if it would be suitable for motorway driving.

I can confirm that you can in fact drive a Honda Civic on the motorway !