What to buy? Apologies if in wrong section :(

[Caddy93]

Right guys, my mum at the moment has a MK3 Golf GTI Colour Concept. She loves the car to bits, but unfortunately it's actually falling to bits. We just keep throwing money at it. So i've decided next year i'm going to buy her a new car, will probably have around a £3k budget. Looking for something along the same lines of the Golf, but she has expressed an interest in Diesel just lately. I was thinking newer golf/A3 etc etc, but looking at stupid mileage examples for this money. All ideas welcome!!

[killsta]

Ford Focus.

[H_Kan]

Unless she is doing more then around 12k a year, a diesel won't stack up financially.

Diesel tends to be a little pricier and when things go pop they'll usually be pricey as derv engines run at pretty high pressure.

I'd look at mk4 Golfs, Ford Focus and Vaux. Astras at that price range for solid and reliable cars.

[fluffnik]

How does she use it?

You could get smaller and nippier or bigger and waftier for the same money, but which would suit better...

[jdwoodbury]

2nd the Focus at that price, we had one for 5 years are it was a great car.

[300bhp/ton]

H_Kan said:

Unless she is doing more then around 12k a year, a diesel won't stack up financially.

Sorry, but I wish numpties would stop repeating this rubbish every time diesel fuel is mentioned.

£3k petrol car
£3k diesel car

Same buying price. One will be better on fuel and cost less to run. One will also hold better residuals.

The figures DO add up.

The only difference in this respect is, low mileage diesels are rare - period! And for the same money you will be able to buy a newer, tidier, often better specced low mileage petrol example.

H_Kan said:

Diesel tends to be a little pricier and when things go pop they'll usually be pricey as derv engines run at pretty high pressure.

H_Kan said:

I'd look at mk4 Golfs, Ford Focus and Vaux. Astras at that price range for solid and reliable cars.

MK4 Golf's can be a pita and expensive to maintain once they get ropey, just as the OP seems to be currently finding with the MK3 variant.

Focus is meant to be a good drive, also plentiful parts. Astra just looks ugly with a worse drive. Cheap parts, but suspect it'll need them.

[300bhp/ton]

Caddy93 said:

Right guys, my mum at the moment has a MK3 Golf GTI Colour Concept. She loves the car to bits, but unfortunately it's actually falling to bits. We just keep throwing money at it. So i've decided next year i'm going to buy her a new car, will probably have around a £3k budget. Looking for something along the same lines of the Golf, but she has expressed an interest in Diesel just lately. I was thinking newer golf/A3 etc etc, but looking at stupid mileage examples for this money. All ideas welcome!!

I suppose the sensible things to ask are. What does she fancy?

Also what sort of mileage and use will the car be used for. Are more than 2 seats needed or a big boot?

£3k buys quite a lot of car if you buy wise, but if you aren't fussed about performance then newer and lower mileage is probably a good bet.

As I said above, diesels will be harder to get for the same money.

e.g. Just looking on Autotrader and £3k will get you a 1.6 or 1 1.8 2003 Focus with 50-60k on the clock, air con and ok spec. There's even what is listed as a 1.4 with only 30k on the clock.

There are also 1400 petrol models to chose from, but only 200 diesels in this price range (£2-3k), so a much smaller selection straight off.

£3k will still get you a 2003 model, but with 90k on the clock. Drop down the price range a bit and most are 2002 or earlier and all with over 100k on them.

Mileage isn't such a problem, condition is the key. But logically a 100k car is far more likely to be more warn than a 30-50k car.


In terms of what cars to suggest. Well it does depend on what she needs from it.

But these are in budget:



2004 SMART FORTWO Spring Edition 2dr Auto
36,000 miles, 2 Door Coupe, Silver, Petrol, Automatic, Rear wiper, Radio/CD, Metallic Paint, Drivers airbag. smart car passion with air con and glass roof. £3,000
http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2010...


Funky, fun, lovable and good on fuel with cheap road tax too.


If your Mum is a bit more game, then maybe a Mazda MX-5 would be of interest?

Failing that I'd also look at car from Honda and Toyota. They generally are pretty solid and reliable, as are some of the small Suzuki's.

For this age/money I'd probably stay clear of the Korean offerings, parts can be pricey on them.

[worsy]

300bhp/ton said:

H_Kan said:

Unless she is doing more then around 12k a year, a diesel won't stack up financially.

Sorry, but I wish numpties would stop repeating this rubbish every time diesel fuel is mentioned.

Agreed. It's a line from when they were new and there was a 2-3k price difference.

[H_Kan]

worsy said:

300bhp/ton said:

H_Kan said:

Unless she is doing more then around 12k a year, a diesel won't stack up financially.

Sorry, but I wish numpties would stop repeating this rubbish every time diesel fuel is mentioned.

Agreed. It's a line from when they were new and there was a 2-3k price difference.

As already mentioned, the car is going to be more expensive to buy, or with higher miles/ lower spec for the same money as the petrol. It sounds like it'll be a car which is used until run into the ground, so residual value I don't think is important.

In addition to that, imo, I hear far more from people about expensive repairs needed on diesels compared to petrols. May not be representive of everybody but that is what I've heard...

So based on this, unless she is going to be doing high mileage in order make a significant fuel cost saving then I don't think the above 2 negatives are outweighed.

Fuel economy is great but if she's only doing 2k a year, why bother with the hassle of a derv when you can get a well specced reasonable mileage petrol car?

[300bhp/ton]

H_Kan said:

worsy said:

300bhp/ton said:

H_Kan said:

Unless she is doing more then around 12k a year, a diesel won't stack up financially.

Sorry, but I wish numpties would stop repeating this rubbish every time diesel fuel is mentioned.

Agreed. It's a line from when they were new and there was a 2-3k price difference.

As already mentioned, the car is going to be more expensive to buy, or with higher miles/ lower spec for the same money as the petrol. It sounds like it'll be a car which is used until run into the ground, so residual value I don't think is important.

In addition to that, imo, I hear far more from people about expensive repairs needed on diesels compared to petrols. May not be representive of everybody but that is what I've heard...

So based on this, unless she is going to be doing high mileage in order make a significant fuel cost saving then I don't think the above 2 negatives are outweighed.

Fuel economy is great but if she's only doing 2k a year, why bother with the hassle of a derv when you can get a well specced reasonable mileage petrol car?

You seem to still be missing it IMO.

A £3000 car - costs, wait for it..... £3000. Be it diesel or petrol. The discussion here is not I want a car of 'x' year and 'y' mileage - how much will it cost.

There is a fixed price the OP has stated. So a diesel will cost in the region of £0.00 more to buy.

The trade off, as discussed already, is for a given price the diesel variant will likely be older with more miles on.

But to be fair, 100k on a 2002 model year car is hardly near the end of its useful life. And it would be cheaper to run.

In terms of durability, not convinced. Ok some more modern highly computer controlled CRD diesels with twin scroll turbo or VNC turbo's may be more pricey to fix. But you won't really be finding that many of them in this price range.

All of the VAG stuff is TDI as will most others be, all running stock standard turbo's. This technology is well proven with a very good track record.