Cheap Reliable car for oncall firefighter

[zedx19]

Ford Focus petrol, you'll have a hoot while racing to the Fire Station as well.

[S10GTA]

RedAndy said:

S10GTA said:

RedAndy said:

Hilux or SUrf truck

Did you read the OP?

Surf's are available under £1k from auction. They have an unburstable non turbo engine that is oldskool so no VVTi nonsense to go wrong or get sniffy about ragging from cold. They do come in manual, and have incredible reliability record beyond most cars. It's called surf and is a respected offroader thingy (if that floats your boat) so has some cred. It fits in a standard parking space so parking on street is no problem.

did YOU read the OP S10GTA?

Yep

prwilmo said:

Small cars would be welcomed as I would have more chance parking near my house (on street parking), AND with abit of street cred as I don't want any unwanted heckling down the station lol??

Wouldn't call a Hilux small

[Phunk]

Hitch said:

The best Honda Civic you can get for £1k

+1

I just picked up a 51k W Reg Civic 5dr for £320 with 11 months test.

Needed a service, apart from that it's bomb proof.

[RedAndy]

It's on the larger side of average - but the guy is a fireman... so he probably is too? He'd look daft folded up inside a Fiesta.

The Surf/hilux is a small offroader which is big compared with a large small car. SO what? it's not HUGE and un-parkable on a normal street.

[prwilmo]

RedAndy said:

It's on the larger side of average - but the guy is a fireman... so he probably is too? He'd look daft folded up inside a Fiesta.

The Surf/hilux is a small offroader which is big compared with a large small car. SO what? it's not HUGE and un-parkable on a normal street.

I'm 6'2 so a ford ka was out the question lol I did have a Clio 182 which was a squeeze but loved that thing to bits. we have a guy at a nearby station who's about 3ft tall lol, we send him down any tight spaces.

Yeah hilux/surf would be abit tight around these parts, I don't drive carelessly to station, but it's quicker than average, but not breaking speed limit (incase station manager sees this) so a 4x4/truck would be uneasy on the bends. I have use of a l200 and ranger at day workplace and not the best for driving in a hurry.

Thank you all again, going to look at a civic this weekend and a Volvo s40. There's also a focus but abit too far away.

[JMF894]

As a wholetime/on-call WC/FF myself a couple of points:

1) You only only be driving as per the laws of the road. You are not EFAD driving when responding to your alerter so no need to worry about ragging it

2) Based on the above anything will do and normal car buying rules apply.

[prwilmo]

JMF894 said:

As a wholetime/on-call WC/FF myself a couple of points:

1) You only only be driving as per the laws of the road. You are not EFAD driving when responding to your alerter so no need to worry about ragging it

2) Based on the above anything will do and normal car buying rules apply.

There's a single carriage way National speed limit on way to station so I'd be travelling on that with a cold engine, I would never drive above the law, just want a car that can cope with driving for 3mins then off.

Thanks

[ZX10R NIN]

I think I've cracked it:

2005 206 GTI 180 73k mileage 2.0 N/A so no worries with short journeys as well as reliability, as well as the 180 ponies to get you to the station swiftly.

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2016...

Or the regular 140bhp cooking version.

2005 55k

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2016...

[prwilmo]

ZX10R NIN said:

I think I've cracked it:

2005 206 GTI 180 73k mileage 2.0 N/A so no worries with short journeys as well as reliability, as well as the 180 ponies to get you to the station swiftly.

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2016...

Or the regular 140bhp cooking version.

2005 55k

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2016...

Nice!! Thanks! My friend just said about these! He had the 140 and was surprisingly the most reliable car he's had!

[ZX10R NIN]

I'm 6'7 & found the seats in the 180 more supportive.

[HasToBeV8]

As a member of the public with utmost respect for the demanding and selfless job you guys do, it would seem to me that reliability should be by far the biggest concern here. Frankly there is no 1k car that is going to offer 100% reliability. You might get lucky but chances are there will be some issues with a car at this price over a couple of years of use. I drive an old Lexus at the moment and whilst it has one of the best reputations for reliability, things do in the real world still go wrong and need addressing, sometimes urgently. Also if the need for a quick car is primarily driven by needing to get from 0 to 60 once and then maintain that speed for a few minutes on an nsl road then even the slowest cars out there are only going to add 5 to 10 seconds to your journey time compared to the fastest old cars mentioned here as options (if they still perform in factory fresh condition). Surely it is better to arrive a few seconds slower every day than sometimes not making it in? In a 15 second 0 to 60 car sticking to the speed limit you would probably get to work at the same time as someone with a 5 second car who lives a few hundred yards further away from the station...

As another option have you considered leasing a new car? It is quite possible to get a brand new car for around £125 a month or less all in for a brand new car with a full warranty etc. So over 2 years you'd be paying £3k plus one minor service plus insurance. If you get a £1k car you need to factor in some depreciation (none if you get really lucky but could lose it all if it becomes uneconomic to fix) tax mot repairs/maintenance tyres brakes servicing insurance etc. Could easily run to £500-1000 of costs a year over a couple of years.

In summary, for a little bit more than your budget (but in manageable and certain monthly payments) you could have a car that you do not have to worry about reliability, do not have to care about the consequences of thrashing from cold and in the real world will probably not be that much slower.

Good luck!