More of a what shed thread than a what car thread

[CYMR0]

I'm thinking of moving on my not-quite-two-year-old Mégane to fund a possible house move. (And because it's boring too).

So, with a budget of £1k (not set in stone; +/- £300 is okay, £2k is not), what should I be looking at? I'm single, I do sometimes carry passengers and drive a couple of thousand miles per year for business, but my overall mileage isn't huge. I basically need a car for commuting and pottering and if it can put a smile on my face while doing so, that's a bonus, but so is the car not being too uncomfortable.

So far I've come up with:

Peugeot 206 GTi
Volvo S60
SEAT Leon/Toledo
BMW E46, probably a 323i
Some kind of not-abused Mondeo if I can find one

I'm 6'1" but it's all legs; so legroom is nice, headroom is unimportant. SUVs and people carriers will be laughed out of court.

Low running costs are good, silly costs are bad (so no E34 V8s for instance) but I'm not forced to run the car on a complete shoestring either.

Are there any other suggestions I should be looking at? Does anyone have opinions on the cars I've found so far?

[TheD]

Hundreds......Jag,MG ZT,Saab blah blah

[CYMR0]

TheD said:

Hundreds......Jag,MG ZT,Saab blah blah

I did think about the Jag X-Type but it might be a little bit too much on costs (though only slightly) and tough to get in budget. S-Type is ugly and the XJ is too big. ZT will be either a 1.8 K Series or a 2.5 V6, probably too high on running costs and/or unreliable and Saabs just don't do it for me. But thanks for the suggestions.

[300bhp/ton]

Prelude or Celica (6th or 7th gen). £1k really isn't going to give you a huge choice though.

[Jimmy No Hands]

Can you get a Toledo V5 for that?

[CYMR0]

Jimmy No Hands said:

Can you get a Toledo V5 for that?

Hopefully. I've seen ratty looking ones for £600 but I should be able to get a nice 2001 170hp version.

[Jimmy No Hands]

Ah good. They have the ability to make a cracking noise.

[0a]

Puma?

[CYMR0]

0a said:

Puma?

Great cars, but I don't think so, because they rust like the 70s.

[0a]

CYMR0 said:

Great cars, but I don't think so, because they rust like the 70s.

The arch problem is an issue, but there are so many around you can be picky even for your budget. They are very cheap to run aside from this, and drive better than the suggestions above!

[Ecurie Ecosse]

Volvo 850 T5 with a sports exhaust. Fantastic fun, and great comfortable and solid cars too.

[redgriff500]

What a weird list of cars.

May I suggest MX5

If you want a cheap decent driving hatch I'd suggest Focus or Mazda 6

Hot hatch - Clio 172

Coupe 328 E36 or Prelude 2.2 Vtec