New car help needed

[Dave-d]

Evening everyone, I am after a bit of help in what to buy as my next car. after a year of trying to keep my current car going it has finally decided to die so i now need a new car as soon as possible. I am a student so don't have a massive budget, at the moment i can afford anything up to £1500. I am looking to get a car that will be reliable and economical. I travel around 200-250 miles a week, the return trip to Uni is about 50 miles then on weekends i have the occasional trip to the lakes or up to scotland to go mountain biking. the car needs rear seats that fold flat so i can get my bike and bags in the back and i would prefer something with as lower miles and age as possible, i realise this is going to be hard with my budget though. so far i have been offered a 2006 5 door fiat panda 1.2 with 28,000 miles for around £1500 and have also been offered a 2004 5 door fiat stilo 1.9jtd with around 50,000 miles for about £1200. I know about Fiats reputation but are they really as bad as they are made out to be?

can anyone offer any advice? should i go for one of there Fiats? as i know the owners i know they are good condition and both have a full service history, i am just put of because they are Fiats!

Should i be looking for other cars? if so can anyone recommend anything that will be in budget and be fairly reliable.

finally should i look at getting a newer car and getting it on finance?

any advice, opinions will be greatly appreciated

thanks, David

[frosted]

I would get the panda with the petrol engine, looks cheap and if you know the owner then it's a no brainier

[davepoth]

The Panda's fairly well put together (In Poland, funnily) but it might be a little breathless on the motorway. There's plenty of room in the back with the seats down though.

[angry jock]

Top lurking ! I would personally go for the Panda. Great car, cheap insurance and reliable. Sounds like its great value too!