Which car should I buy?

lexington013

Agree, the Skoda would be a better bet or a Passat?
Wouldn't buy the 1.0 litre mondeo, as would be too underpowered for the size of the car.......wouldn't touch a French car, saying that my dad ran a 1998 Peugeot 406 Tdi estate and it was a beauty!

alembicbassman

I'm also looking for a car.

I have ruled out any small 3 cylinder Turbo engines - These were only any good when cars were zero tax rated (up to 1 April 2017) Now you have to pay at least £145 a year, so you may as well go for a bigger 4 cylinder normally aspirated engine.

I have ruled out any belt driven camshaft engines:

Fiat FIRE 1.2 1.4 Panda 500 Tipo,

VW Up SEAT Mii Skoda Citigo 1.0 and 1,2

Peugeot PureTech 1.2 (Wet belt system)

The old model Corsas are great value as the new shape is out in January. I've seen delivery miles (200-500) 19 plate 3dr base model Corsas for £7000. These have 1.4 litre 4 cylinder chain cam engines.

I've seen a 10 month old 5 dr 1.4 90 bhp model for £7995

The Citroen C1 1.0 Vti 72 is a decent little car (same engine as the Toyota Aygo and Pug 108)

Suzuki Celerio has a bullet proof K10b and K10c (Dualjet) chain cam 3 cyclinder engines and loads of space, but is ugly as **** Can be had new for under £7k

Kia Picanto is a great little car. I've seen 1 year old base models with 2k miles for £7K and brand new ones for £8k. These have 7 years warranty. 3 years service pack for £369 too.

facade

alembicbassman wrote: »

I'm also looking for a car.

You can add the Suzuki Swift Attitude to your list- also the 1.2 normally aspirated, and since 2017, properly built in Japan (check the VIN starts JS not TS).


I had one as a courtesy car last week, and once I got used to the massively over servo'd brakes and stopped bouncing off the windscreen at every stop I thought it was a great little car- it is exactly wide enough to go over those nailed down speed humps with only a tiny bump, rather than a spinewrenching jolt.

onomatopoeia99

alan_d wrote: »

A 1.0 engine (even turbo'd etc) sounds like it would be painful in a car as large as a mondeo

Not really, modern small turbo engines have good torque curves and can produce plenty of grunt for relaxed driving in a large car.

It's not like trying to put the engine from a Mini 1000 into a Rover P6.

[Deleted User]

Please, before you buy any car, get it looked over by a mechanic. Was in the same situation as you, paid a lot of money for a car, dealer showed papers that said it had been checked by the AA, bought a warranty, didn't need big repairs. Within 11 months something major went on it, turned out it was only an AA like inspection, had to pay £75 for a check to see if warranty applied (there were a lot of exclusions regarding normal wear and tear). Basically I'd thrown my money down the drain.

An inspection by a good mechanic would have been a far better spend of money than the warranty. They can check engine wear, if the mileage is true, if unreported accident repair (this happened to me once), things the dealer just won't reveal. Never any guarantees, something major can still go but I so wish we'd have had this happen. We ended up selling it for less than a third of what we paid for it, and lucky to get that.

parking_question_chap

I would avoid the Mondeo Zetez. Sounds like a cheap knockoff of the Mondeo Zetec.

If the 1.0 is putting out 123bhp I dont think thats underpowered for a Mondeo. However I would worry about how much strain a 1.0 engine is under as it produces that power. Also do consider that the 0-60 is a slow 12 seconds. You are probably going to have to rag the nuts off it to even get half decent acceleration. Neither of these are great for the longevity of the car.

lexington013

Auto express give the mondeo 3 pot of 5 stars.
At 1445kg it's a heavy car........real world fuel economy wasn't great at 33mpg.
Wouldn't expect resale values to be great either.
20k new.........

CTricky80

alembicbassman wrote: »

The Citroen C1 1.0 Vti 72 is a decent little car (same engine as the Toyota Aygo and Pug 108)

I second this car. No experience of the other two you are looking at but the Citroen C1 is a great value car. The tax is only £20 a year and because of its low emissions I get a reduced residents permit. Also due to its size it is very easy to park in spaces that larger cars can't fit into - so great for driving around town. It's also economical with petrol and because there are no electronic parts it doesn't go wrong! The only downside is that the boot is TINY but the back seats go down very easily so you can increase space no problem.

Love this car and I won't change it until it gives up on me. I got it second hand in 2010 when it was two years old and it is still going strong with just yearly services and the odd replacement of parts, tyres etc.

I don't think its what you are looking for but had to give it a plug :T