Car Recommendations for about £2,000

scaredofdebt

Due to bad timing I am due to be made redundant shortly and also my car lease is running out, so I am without car and job in a month or so.

I've saved enough to keep me going while I get another job but daren't spend much on a replacement car in case job hunting takes many months - I do need a car as I live in the sticks with poor bus service.

So for around £2k I wonder what people would recommend, or is it simply a case of buying on condition?

I am not too fussy, I want something cheap and reliable to run and has to be big enough for 5 adults or at least 4 adults and a child in a car seat.  I tend to average 300 miles a week mainly country roads with a long (50 miles e/w) motorway trip twice a month.

It's hopefully only a stopgap car for a few months until I am settled in a new job.

Thanks for any advice.

tacpot12

For five adults/four adults plus a car seat I would suggest something like a diesel VW Touran. For £2000, you should get one with about 100K miles on it with a full service history. The VW TDI engines will do 200-400K miles if looked after, so it should be reliable. It should be cheap to run. I know that many Vauxhall Zafira owners are also very  pleased with them. You are more likely to find a petrol Zafira than a petrol Touran. 

scaredofdebt

tacpot12 said:

For five adults/four adults plus a car seat I would suggest something like a diesel VW Touran. For £2000, you should get one with about 100K miles on it with a full service history. The VW TDI engines will do 200-400K miles if looked after, so it should be reliable. It should be cheap to run. I know that many Vauxhall Zafira owners are also very  pleased with them. You are more likely to find a petrol Zafira than a petrol Touran. 

Thanks, this is one car I was considering, do they have issues with DMF or injectors do you know?

Edit - is the Passatt any good?

Grumpy_chap

Sorry to hear about your impending predicament but hopefully it will turn out to be an opportunity.

At this price-point, the main thing is to buy on condition.  I was in a similar place in 2016 and purchased a 2007 Focus at 32k miles.  I started with the view it only needed to be a stop-gap, but was so good, it still going OK and at 145k miles now.  Be selective and you should, hopefully be able to find something similarly as suitable for you.

Will your mileage stay at 300 / week if any work-related mileage is taken out?

macman

With that mileage, and assuming you are not going to be using it within the ULEZ, you should definitely be looking at a diesel.

BOWFER

If considering a VW of that value, fair chance it will be before 2009 and won't have a DPF.
So that's one thing less to worry about.
However, the 2.0Tdi engines can have a horrendous appetite for oil, our fleet had around 6 of them that drank oil between 1500 and 5000 miles per litre
In my experience the 1.9Tdi (PD) diesel engine is much less problematic, albeit noisy and a bit rough.
In my experience it's far more economical too, my A4 would faithfully return 50mpg even when driven really hard.

tacpot12

I had a 1.9 TDI (PD) engine in an Octavia that I bought with 30K on the clock and sold with about 170K on the clock. It too would do 50+mpg. I would recommend the 1.9 engine, and agree that at the OP's price point it won't have a DPF. I never had any problems with the injectors, or any aspect of the engine at all. The only mechanical issue I ever had was the clutch pedal went soft a couple of times between 140K and 170K suggesting the seals on the clutch were on the way out. 

Grumpy_chap

There is nothing wrong with a VW if that is the OP's choice.  It is just at the £2k price point, condition should be first above brand or anything else.  Getting whatever good car materialises, or a less-popular car, may be the best outcome.

jimjames

scaredofdebt said:

tacpot12 said:

For five adults/four adults plus a car seat I would suggest something like a diesel VW Touran. For £2000, you should get one with about 100K miles on it with a full service history. The VW TDI engines will do 200-400K miles if looked after, so it should be reliable. It should be cheap to run. I know that many Vauxhall Zafira owners are also very  pleased with them. You are more likely to find a petrol Zafira than a petrol Touran. 

Thanks, this is one car I was considering, do they have issues with DMF or injectors do you know?

Edit - is the Passatt any good?

Passat is a good option but as above the 2.0 TDI engine can be problematic