Which would you choose? High mileage new ca, retro or cheap?

[polo54]

Budget of £2k, I'm looking for something that's reliable, cheap to maintain and good on fuel. I've narrowed it down to these 3 cars:

A 2004 Saab 9-3
http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2012...

A 1998 Peugeot 306 1.9 D Turbo
http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2012...

A 1990 VW Golf 1.6:
http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2012...

I'm leaning towards the Golf but am worried about it the potential troubles I could have with a 22 year old car. Saab actually looks like it's in decent condition and the 206 looks like it may be the most reliable seeing as it's got a full years MOT which hopefully means I won't have to spend any money on it for at least a year if I do buy it...

I have to take into account insurance, as I haven't been insured on a car for about 6 months so I'm guessing I've lost all my NCB, and I also have 3 points on my license.

Edited by polo54 on Tuesday 10th July 20:03

[Strawman]

polo54 said:

I have to take into account insurance, as I haven't been insured on a car for about 6 months so I'm guessing I've lost all my NCB

You only 'lose' your NCB allowance if you have no insurance for more than 2 years AFAIK.

Edited by Strawman on Tuesday 10th July 20:16

[polo54]

Strawman said:

You only 'lose' your NCB allowance if you have no insurance for more than 2 years AFAIK.

Can someone please confirm this? If it's true, I think I will have 3 years NCB (need to confirm with my old insurer!) which means a much bigger selection of cars.

[tsubodai]

I had a similar situation in last couple of weeks. Had a budget of 2k to 3k. Found nothing I liked and ended up with a 1995 70000 mile bmw 518se with fsh for 950quid. There just seemed to be a lot of crap around in that price bracket and it was a depressing experience all round .

Ncd is valid for 2 years as that was why I had to get something before next week when mine expired

[TameRacingDriver]

polo54 said:

Can someone please confirm this? If it's true, I think I will have 3 years NCB (need to confirm with my old insurer!) which means a much bigger selection of cars.

It is true.

[polo54]

So even though I had 2 years NCB when I started my policy last April and cancelled it in January, my old insurer (Elephant) still counts it as a whole years NCD and will confirm this with my new insurer? If I was to get a new policy with Elephant again, would they definitely consider it as 3 years NCD?

[tsubodai]

You have two years ncd . Needs to be a full year

[DouggyMc]

Go for the Golf! Very simple to work on plus they have a large following so parts are plentiful.

[polo54]

DouggyMc said:

Go for the Golf! Very simple to work on plus they have a large following so parts are plentiful.

I was really tempted to go for it but now that I know insurance won't be that much of an issue (it would be around £900 with the 2 years NCD) I can afford to go for something a bit faster. I'm looking on Autotrader for a nice diesel barge which is the complete opposite of the Golf! I had initially budgeted £1300 for the insurance, I might even think about going for the golf and spending the £400 on upgrades / sorting out any problems.

[Defcon5]

Surely you can get a mk4 Golf for 2k?

[LuS1fer]

I've just scrapped a 96 Golf GTI after 3 years. They do have rust issues and in that time I have had new front springs and strut top mounts, new rear shocks, clutch cable snapped, new rear discs, new ignition barrel and various bits of welding required. I only paid £700 for it so it was worth it but I just got fed up with all the little bits and pices that always needed doing and this last MOT, it wanted tyres, rear shocks and welding and i just drew the line, got shot and decided to buy something newer.

Sadly, what was available for my budget of between £2000 and £3500 was not to my liking or sense of value and maybe the Golf wasn't so bad after all but I ended up increasing my budget to £5k to buy a car I didn't need to faff round with. A friend of mine has a similar aged 1.4 and his has just cleared another MOT with only brake pads needed but it's not exactly an inspiring car.

I'd just look for a nice, well-maintained car that's worth the money and don't sweat so much what it is as what value it offers.

[tgr]

go for the newer car