Felicia, Astra, Megane or Escort?

[vit4]

The 'what car' thread you've all been wetting yourself in excitement for...

The gf's learning to drive, and these are the four 'gems' that it's been narrowed down to. Obviously at this end of the money scale (£5-700 ish) it's a case of going on condition, but as far as 'bang for buck' goes and insurability, these seem the best. Essentially, relaibility is a must, but also easy to service & fix myself as well, cheap parts being a big bonus. Any advice on any of these, or similar ideas are appreciated! The rest of this can be skipped, just what I think of each choice




The Skoda she likes a lot, but to be fair I considered them quite seriously as my first car too, they seem robust little machines? Can anybody clarify this? I don't really know anything about them.

The Astra (mk3, 1991-1998 model) seems like a hell of a lot of car from the money, decent in an accident too. I'd imagine parts are still ok for these? I run a mk2 but no idea how comparable these are to the mk3's, any crossover or such like. This seems the best value for money though, depending on reliability?

The Megane; her mum has one, gf likes it a lot. However, whilst her mum's has been faultless over 130,000 miles of abuse I get the impression she's in the minority? R reg sort of age.

Escort; probably one with the pushrod engine, mk6. Dirt cheap insurance. Parts are dirt cheap. Not sure what reliability's like though? This is the one I think I'd be pushing for, but would be really interested in other opinions?

[cheadle hulme]

Just checked AT, and there are only 2 Fabia in your budget nationally. £1000+ seems to be the starting point for a leggy one.
They are very robust though and I would reckon perfcect for a learner, but more modern than the others too.
I'm looking for one to replace the Felicia; look for private sales by old biddies for the best examples.


Edit: Noticed you'd said Felicia! For a learner, probably not, spend a bit more and get a Fabia.

[R26Andy]

Anything but the megane, unreliable and often expensive to repair as its usually electrical problems.

[vit4]

cheadle hulme said:

Just checked AT, and there are only 2 Fabia in your budget nationally. £1000+ seems to be the starting point for a leggy one.
They are very robust though and I would reckon perfcect for a learner, but more modern than the others too.
I'm looking for one to replace the Felicia; look for private sales by old biddies for the best examples.


Edit: Noticed you'd said Felicia! For a learner, probably not, spend a bit more and get a Fabia.

Did not realise they were so cheap!! There're actually some rather nice ones for a grand. Hmm. Not sure if they're a bit small though, mid-sizedish was roughly what she was after. This is after talking her out of a Peugeot 307 for instance I'll put it forward anyway, cheers

[kwakus]

My brother had a felicia 1.3 and it took the abuse no problem, he had it to save abit money after an AX GT had eaten his savings so cheap to run and insure.

[hotmelt]

felicia, why not?

[NiceCupOfTea]

Out of that sorry lot, Skoda Fellatio every time

[MadRob6]

I picked up a cheap Felicia to run around in at the beginning of the year. It had the 1.3 mpi pushrod engine and seemed pretty bullet proof. There's a common problem with the thermostat but a £10 part solves that. The body work does like to disappear due to the dreaded rust but other than that it's good cheap motoring.

[barky]

felicia seems an ideal first car to me, quite long lived & that £5>700 budget should find a good one ... probably a bit easier DIY than the superior fabia & other 3 ... almost bought a skoda estelle as a first car, wimped out & got a mini metro.


Will be lots of early astra g's (1998 > 2004) about within price range too ... galvanized so wont be rusty

Edited by barky on Sunday 6th February 14:37

[soad]

NiceCupOfTea said:

Out of that sorry lot, Skoda Fellatio every time

That's my thinking too!

[geeteeaye]

Is there an option for 'none of the above' Seriously what a horrible short-list, and considering an Escort or Mk3 Astra, would have been fair enough around the time Euro 96 was on, but now?

Passat (can get post-2000 for under £1k)
Focus (looking at an early one 98/99)
Mondeo (again late 90's)
Accord (97/98)

No way should you consider an Escort when you can get a Focus, absolute gulf between them.

[twazzock]

There were a couple of Felicia estates in the classifieds recently, £300 for a tatty one, £600 for a minty one in a nice blue.

Don't ask why I was looking at old Skodas...

geeteeaye said:

No way should you consider an Escort when you can get a Focus, absolute gulf between them.

There'll also be a big gulf in insurance costs, you twonk!

[hotmelt]

hotmelt said:

felicia, why not?

Or facelifted Escort because chassis was much improved, in the vein of new Ford dynamics.

[Jw Vw]

geeteeaye said:

Is there an option for 'none of the above' Seriously what a horrible short-list, and considering an Escort or Mk3 Astra, would have been fair enough around the time Euro 96 was on, but now?

Passat (can get post-2000 for under £1k)
Focus (looking at an early one 98/99)
Mondeo (again late 90's)
Accord (97/98)

No way should you consider an Escort when you can get a Focus, absolute gulf between them.

A Mondeo, Passat or an Accord for a learner?? The only one that makes sense is a Focus. How about a Polo, Fiesta, Civic? Something of that size, fairly cheap to run and reliable.

[geeteeaye]

twazzock said:

geeteeaye said:

No way should you consider an Escort when you can get a Focus, absolute gulf between them.

There'll also be a big gulf in insurance costs, you twonk!

Think how stealable an Escort is compared to a Focus.

1.6 Finesse Ford Escort 5dr
Group 7

1.6 LX Ford Focus 4/5dr
Group 5/6

You're the twonk

[jamiebae]

Astra is easy to steal and often rotten. The Escort will also be rotten unless you're lucky.

I'd have the Skoda but make sure it has PaS as a lot don't, but I'd be tempted by a Citroen Xsara or ZX 1.4 over all of the other options personally.

[Mr Kitten]

Mk3 Golf?

Built like a tank... and about as much fun as being run over by one. But... (apart from weak synchromesh on the gearboxes) I don't think there's that much to go wrong.

[maniac0796]

jamiebae said:

Astra is easy to steal and often rotten. The Escort will also be rotten unless you're lucky.

I'd have the Skoda but make sure it has PaS as a lot don't, but I'd be tempted by a Citroen Xsara or ZX 1.4 over all of the other options personally.

The other problem with the Escorts is that they tend to rust away in the rear chassis leg, where you can't see it all that well.

[curlie467]

barky said:

felicia seems an ideal first car to me, quite long lived & that £5>700 budget should find a good one ... probably a bit easier DIY than the superior fabia & other 3 ... almost bought a skoda estelle as a first car, wimped out & got a mini metro.


Will be lots of early astra g's (1998 > 2004) about within price range too ... galvanized so wont be rusty

Edited by barky on Sunday 6th February 14:37

Tell that to the astra that i had of that model, rusting away rapidly at the arches, sills, doors etc etc.

Awful cars as are the meganes and the escorts rot like crazy too.

I would go for the Skoda, every time.

[twazzock]

geeteeaye said:

Think how stealable an Escort is compared to a Focus.

1.6 Finesse Ford Escort 5dr
Group 7

1.6 LX Ford Focus 4/5dr
Group 5/6

You're the twonk

I was referring to your other suggestions more than anything. Bigger cars with larger engines are not going to go down well with insurers, and IME older versions are cheaper to insure. There's a lot more to it than insurance groups.