car advice

toasterman

Hi everyone,

I'll apologise in advance if this sounds a bit picky, but I've got no idea about cars really.

My old banger of a car is on its way out, and so I need to start looking for a newer one.
I'll be buying second hand, and in the lower end of the market (£3000 absolute tops - ideally below £2000).
However, this is a lot of money for me - and I don't want to wind up buying something unreliable, and/or expensive to maintain.

Now I use my car for my job, but I'm employed. So it means it has to be fairly reliable but if it does die, my company will probably lend me a car for a couple of days to get it fixed/replaced.

At the moment I've got an old M-reg Rover 214, which is big enough. I don't really want anything bigger than that, because parking where I live is a bit tricky.

I've asked friends about cars, but of course they all tell conflicting advice. I don't trust garages in the slightest, and the markup and lack of a warranty means I'll probably buy private.
Parkers used to offer advice on cars - which bits are likely to go, if they're expensive to maintain etc.. so I could look through trade-it, then check the car out before phoning. They don't seem to offer this anymore.

Anyone know if there's anywhere else I can get some somewhat impartial free advice?
Failing that, the car I'm thinking might be good (if I can find one at a price I can afford) is a VW Polo. Everyone has had good and bad experiences, but any major reason why I should be warned off these?

Any help much appreciated, or a used-car-info-for-idiots website would make me really happy

billy_1

2 grand will buy a decent ford fiesta thats what i am buying money saver i hope !!!!!

Little_John

http://www.honestjohn.co.uk/

Pink.

Hi toasterman,

I've moved your thread over to the Motoring board where you should get more replies.

Pink

Inactive

If you want a reliable car, buy Japanese.

Toyota, Nissan, Mazda etc.

iolanthe07

I have to agree with inactive. I've had 4 Japanese cars over the last 20 years and never had to do so much as change a light bulb (apart from scheduled servicing). Japanese cars are often criticised for being bland and boring, but generally they're very reliable.

toasterman

Thanks a lot for your help everyone.
Will definitely be checking that website for advice.

I bought a Parker's price guide this week and I'm having a good look around. I might wind up with another Rover though because they're so unpopular (to say the least), that they're really cheap.
According to Parkers, a 2000 plate Rover 400 hatchback, even top spec with alloys, air con, electric windows and everything, isn't worth more than £1000!
Reliability for that car isn't bad particularly. At that price it has to be worth a look at least.

Japanese cars are considered very reliable, and they are. Problem is that everyone knows it, they seem to hold their value quite well, and you don't seem to get much for the sort of money I can afford to spend....which seems fair enough really.
This being MSE, you'll appreciate I don't want to take out any finance or loan agreements.

anewman

If you can find a rover forum on the internet (google's your friend) register and look around and ask to see what sort of problems tend to crop up on the one you're interested in. It's also probably worth asking about parts availability and prices (I'm guessing these won't be as much a problem as most people would think, but worth checking out.)

Honest john looks good but looking at my own car there's a good few common problems missed off to look out for.

mkoprulu

You can also check out carsurvey.org which contains loads of reviews.

And from personal experience, i can't recommend japanese cars higher for reliability. Yes they are boring, but they sure put a smile to your face no matter how new/old they are.