Small Economical Car
Discussion
A friend of mine has asked me to find her a car
Small, £2-3k, 5 door, reliable and... diesel.
Every so often the car will be driving from Bristol - Torbay and so on and from Bristol to Bath.
The reason for the ellipsis before diesel is because I think she will be better off with a small petrol.
Just so everyone knows I AM NOT STARTING A PETROL/DIESEL DEBATE!
Anyway, she has been told that there is less to go wrong in diesels
but as far as I have read, turbos and injectors can be troublesome on older diesel cars.
we are thinking Fiesta type cars.
Suggestions on type of car and also factual answers on the diesel thing please. If a diesel will be better then please say.
Many thanks!
I forgot to say, a reasonable boot is required!
Small, £2-3k, 5 door, reliable and... diesel.
Every so often the car will be driving from Bristol - Torbay and so on and from Bristol to Bath.
The reason for the ellipsis before diesel is because I think she will be better off with a small petrol.
Just so everyone knows I AM NOT STARTING A PETROL/DIESEL DEBATE!
Anyway, she has been told that there is less to go wrong in diesels
but as far as I have read, turbos and injectors can be troublesome on older diesel cars.we are thinking Fiesta type cars.
Suggestions on type of car and also factual answers on the diesel thing please. If a diesel will be better then please say.
Many thanks!
I forgot to say, a reasonable boot is required!
Edited by lankybob on Thursday 5th September 23:41
Sadly it doesn't stand much chance of being looked after.
I didn't think there was much point in going down the diesel route.
Also diesels are much more expensive to buy, it seems.
Next question, are 2003/2004 Fiestas any good?
Edit: hadn't thought of the A2
I didn't think there was much point in going down the diesel route.
Also diesels are much more expensive to buy, it seems.
Next question, are 2003/2004 Fiestas any good?
Edit: hadn't thought of the A2
Edited by lankybob on Thursday 5th September 23:40
I had a petrol Polo as a first car for two years and a 1.9TDi Polo as a student. I only had to buy tyres and servicing on both so no issues and took them both through some harsh winters and lots of miles without much loving care, but the diesel was nicer for me due to the longer gearing. Not hearing the roar of a small engine trying to keep up with my motorway commute was nicer.
trackerjack said:
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz This is piston heads there are thousands of small boring cars........take your pick.
Cheers for that. Small cars are not really my area of expertise. I just wanted peoples opinions as I don't want to recmmomend a complete heap of crap to my friend.If it was up to me then I would say a Rover 200 as I think mine is fantastic but it's a little too old. I will look at reviews of the 25s and ZRs aswell.
You're right. She's wrong.
I don't bother giving car advice to friends or family any more, it's a waste of time.
They always do what they want anyway.
She's made her mind up, so the easiest way out of your predicament is to shrug and say "yes, a small, reliable £2-3k 5-door diesel Fiesta that you will completely fail to look after sounds fine".
If you suggest something else and it goes wrong, it'll be your fault.
Then again: if you suggest something else and it works out fantastically well, the two of you might get back together again.
That said, maybe you don't want to be back together with her again. She has no taste in cars for a start. And you don't want to lie on your deathbed and regret having knocked her off her feet by suggesting a Citroen C3 or something, in the passenger seat of which you proposed and she accepted, and all went well until she began to hate the unreliability of the C3, which caused all sorts of conflict and which, now you think about it, was the reason for your never having holidays and the fundamental reason for your untimely divorce which in turn is the cause of your never seeing her kids that have sucked every penny of your wages for the last 30 years but never visit, and who you suspect of being drug addicts anyway.
In fact, maybe all your problems with the stomach ulcer started about the time you suggested the damned C3, which you'd never even have bothered thinking about anyway if some asshat on the Internet hadn't come up with the idea.
I suggest you tell her to sod off because you're busy thinking about buying a villa in Portugal.
I don't bother giving car advice to friends or family any more, it's a waste of time.
They always do what they want anyway.
She's made her mind up, so the easiest way out of your predicament is to shrug and say "yes, a small, reliable £2-3k 5-door diesel Fiesta that you will completely fail to look after sounds fine".
If you suggest something else and it goes wrong, it'll be your fault.
Then again: if you suggest something else and it works out fantastically well, the two of you might get back together again.
That said, maybe you don't want to be back together with her again. She has no taste in cars for a start. And you don't want to lie on your deathbed and regret having knocked her off her feet by suggesting a Citroen C3 or something, in the passenger seat of which you proposed and she accepted, and all went well until she began to hate the unreliability of the C3, which caused all sorts of conflict and which, now you think about it, was the reason for your never having holidays and the fundamental reason for your untimely divorce which in turn is the cause of your never seeing her kids that have sucked every penny of your wages for the last 30 years but never visit, and who you suspect of being drug addicts anyway.
In fact, maybe all your problems with the stomach ulcer started about the time you suggested the damned C3, which you'd never even have bothered thinking about anyway if some asshat on the Internet hadn't come up with the idea.
I suggest you tell her to sod off because you're busy thinking about buying a villa in Portugal.
lankybob said:
Sadly it doesn't stand much chance of being looked after.
I didn't think there was much point in going down the diesel route.
Also diesels are much more expensive to buy, it seems.
Next question, are 2003/2004 Fiestas any good?
Edit: hadn't thought of the A2
the TDI A2 go for mental moneyI didn't think there was much point in going down the diesel route.
Also diesels are much more expensive to buy, it seems.
Next question, are 2003/2004 Fiestas any good?
Edit: hadn't thought of the A2
Edited by lankybob on Thursday 5th September 23:40
I would agree a diesel is pointless and could prove more expensive in the long run.
I'd be looking at the last Micra 1.2 or 1.4 - British built and quite funky.
My niece had this sort of quandary for a car for university and she ended up with a new Pug 107 on a PCP - over 21s get freee insurance and I think they come with 3 years AA cover so the costs even out and it's a fixed low outlay a month.
I'd be looking at the last Micra 1.2 or 1.4 - British built and quite funky.
My niece had this sort of quandary for a car for university and she ended up with a new Pug 107 on a PCP - over 21s get freee insurance and I think they come with 3 years AA cover so the costs even out and it's a fixed low outlay a month.
The wife had an 03 plate fiesta which I used every day for about a year, it was the 1.4 peteol i think. Great little car, subjectively a good drive, economical and not absolutely tiny on the inside, i.e, a backseat passenger or two would be pretty comfy for shortish distances.
it didn't give us any bother and was cheap as chips to run.
it didn't give us any bother and was cheap as chips to run.
lankybob said:
A friend of mine has asked me to find her a car
Small, £2-3k, 5 door, reliable and... diesel.
Every so often the car will be driving from Bristol - Torbay and so on and from Bristol to Bath.
The reason for the ellipsis before diesel is because I think she will be better off with a small petrol.
Just so everyone knows I AM NOT STARTING A PETROL/DIESEL DEBATE!
Anyway, she has been told that there is less to go wrong in diesels but as far as I have read, turbos and injectors can be troublesome on older diesel cars.
we are thinking Fiesta type cars.
Suggestions on type of car and also factual answers on the diesel thing please. If a diesel will be better then please say.
Many thanks!
I forgot to say, a reasonable boot is required!
smart ForFour. Kinda funky and unique looking.Small, £2-3k, 5 door, reliable and... diesel.
Every so often the car will be driving from Bristol - Torbay and so on and from Bristol to Bath.
The reason for the ellipsis before diesel is because I think she will be better off with a small petrol.
Just so everyone knows I AM NOT STARTING A PETROL/DIESEL DEBATE!
Anyway, she has been told that there is less to go wrong in diesels
but as far as I have read, turbos and injectors can be troublesome on older diesel cars.we are thinking Fiesta type cars.
Suggestions on type of car and also factual answers on the diesel thing please. If a diesel will be better then please say.
Many thanks!
I forgot to say, a reasonable boot is required!
Edited by lankybob on Thursday 5th September 23:41
£2 to £3k small 5 door hatch huge demand for these so you are paying a high price for not much car just check out prices for yaris jazz etc £2k only gets bottom of the list petrol version and diesel versions add another £500+.
Look for something a bit less common for a better deal eg Mitsubishi colt cz3 diesel has a Mercedes 100 bhp turbo diesel should average 50 mpg and much better value than the obvious choices like Fiesta/yaris etc ( avoid the auto version try find a 5 door manual).
Look for something a bit less common for a better deal eg Mitsubishi colt cz3 diesel has a Mercedes 100 bhp turbo diesel should average 50 mpg and much better value than the obvious choices like Fiesta/yaris etc ( avoid the auto version try find a 5 door manual).
It's very hard to find reliable data on the overall running costs of petrols vs diesels and no one person can hope to have enough personal experience to generate a significant statistical sample. Diesels went through a period of extremely fast evolution in the 00s and I think there's reason to believe that during that time, reliability dropped markedly compared to the older, simpler diesels. However, petrols have picked up much of the complexity since so I doubt there's a great deal in it now; I have no particular evidence either way though.
In terms of facts...
- Direct injection diesels (which is pretty much all of them these days) run much higher pressure injectors than petrols.
- Diesels are (pretty much) always turbocharged; and turbochargers spin very fast and get very hot.
- Modern diesels have particular filters which rely on getting properly up to temperature to operate. If they are run constantly at low temperature (ie if the car is used for repeated short trips) they are prone to fail and are rather expensive to replace.
- Diesels have no ignition system to go wrong.
- Diesels generally don't rev as high, which puts various components unless less stress.
I think the conventional wisdom that diesels are better for high mileages and petrols are better for low mileages is probably true but I really don't have a good way to define "high" and "low" mileages. My gut instinct is to say that a car that'll be used predominantly for cold-start trips under about ten miles should probably be petrol because that's about how long it takes to get an engine and exhaust system fully up to temperature.
In terms of facts...
- Direct injection diesels (which is pretty much all of them these days) run much higher pressure injectors than petrols.
- Diesels are (pretty much) always turbocharged; and turbochargers spin very fast and get very hot.
- Modern diesels have particular filters which rely on getting properly up to temperature to operate. If they are run constantly at low temperature (ie if the car is used for repeated short trips) they are prone to fail and are rather expensive to replace.
- Diesels have no ignition system to go wrong.
- Diesels generally don't rev as high, which puts various components unless less stress.
I think the conventional wisdom that diesels are better for high mileages and petrols are better for low mileages is probably true but I really don't have a good way to define "high" and "low" mileages. My gut instinct is to say that a car that'll be used predominantly for cold-start trips under about ten miles should probably be petrol because that's about how long it takes to get an engine and exhaust system fully up to temperature.
Edited by kambites on Friday 6th September 09:34
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