Which car should I buy

kitchpoo

Honda over the Picarsole - Mainly because of the depreciation and reliability. A previous shape Toyota Corolla might be a possibility. If it is a Picasso - then not that one, a Cat D car is fine - as long as the seller is aware of what the work was and has the car expertly examined -If I bought a car to repair which was Cat D I would photograph each step as future proof to the next owner of what was involved however major/minor.

AdrianHi

BillScarab wrote: »

..snip.. I would also avoid a Cat D car.

Perosnally for what you want I would buy a second hand Skoda Octavia, they're cheap reliable and roomy.

I agree with both these points. If you really want this Citroen go look for another one, there must be hundreds of them out there.
Recently cruising around on Autotrader I found quite a few 4/5 year old 60-80K miles Skoda Octavia 110bhp TDI estates for sale at £4000-£5000. 45-50mpg and should not go wrong.
If someone ever drops a lorry on my car and write's it off I would run out and grab an Octavia like this to keep getting to work while I sorted my finances for something better.

Pew_Pew_Pew_Lasers!

I wouldn't touch either of those cars. The Citroen is French, and the Honda is only a 1.4 which will take 13 years to accelerate up to speed on a motorway.

I would buy something like one of these:

http://www.pistonheads.co.uk/sales/463613.htm

Which will do about 38mpg on the motorway, you won't even hear the engine. It'll last easily 400,000 miles.

http://www.pistonheads.co.uk/sales/467350.htm

Amazing car.

Both of those will still be going strong while the Citroen will be a 1 inch high pile of rust in the scrapyard.

AdrianHi

Pew_Pew_Pew_Lasers! wrote: »

I wouldn't touch either of those cars. The Citroen is French, and the Honda is only a 1.4 which will take 13 years to accelerate up to speed on a motorway.

I would buy something like one of these:

http://www.pistonheads.co.uk/sales/463613.htm

Which will do about 38mpg on the motorway, you won't even hear the engine. It'll last easily 400,000 miles.

http://www.pistonheads.co.uk/sales/467350.htm

Amazing car.

Both of those will still be going strong while the Citroen will be a 1 inch high pile of rust in the scrapyard.

Heart says yes yes yes and yes, especially for the 530d.
Sticking points:
Costly to insure if you are young / don't have a good NCD.
Too many miles for any warranty product to given you more than 50% protection from big nasty bills of £1000-£3000 which can happen if you are unlucky - if the car has mostly motorway miles the risk of this is very low.

Plus points:
You will probably love it so much you will want it as your coffin one day and it might last that long (OK kidding a bit)
Contrary to popular belief, routine servicing is no more expensive and sometimes cheaper than say a Mondeo especially using independent garages. My new shape 320d touring servicing has cost me £238 in 32,000 miles and 30 months.

Ultimately the 530d will cost more to use over time, but the difference between this and the Jazz which will loose a bit more in depreciation, is no where near as big as you might think. Drive from Southampton to Glasgow in a Jazz and you'll need a few days to recover and sleep. Do it in a 530d, get up the next day and do the return journey :cool:.

AdrianHi

I got curious so ran some numbers on that 530d vs. '53 plate Jazz.
IF £425 in a year on average is sufficient to cover non-routine repairs on the 530d in the long run I recon it is only about an extra £10-£20 a month to be using the 530d for 10,000 miles a year. It's monthly depreciation bill is about half the Jazz which helps offset the higher running costs.
The risk is bigger repair bills, diesel fuel injectors can often need replacing in the 100-150,000 mile range at something like £1200-£1500 but should last lot longer if the car has done mostly motorway miles. Stop start town driving is bad news for turbo diesels. If this happens it's suddenly £120 a month extra one year for the 530d.