Cheap reliablity

[Snails]

I hope PH can help me out,

My brother is looking to buy his first car, he's been driving 5 years and is 23 years old. He's always been on my parent's insurance so doesn't have any NCB.

He has about £2000 to spend and he'd like something that has a bit of credibility that he doesn't feel embarassed to drive, so not a Daewoo Matiz, but he wants something that isn't going to cost the earth to run and isn't going to cost silly money to insure. He currently drives one of my parent's cars, a 51' 1.6 Focus and that is £800 to insure, even this price is more than I think he was expecting.

Any suggestions? I'm not really sure what cars in the £2000 range offer reliabilty, are not embarassing to drive, are cheap to run and insure.

Any and all suggestions are welcomed, thanks.

Edited by Snails on Thursday 14th April 22:42

[gareth.e]

It should not cost him 800 unless you live in a ghetto part of Liverpool or east London

[Tunku]

How about a Chevrolet Matiz? Chevvys have so much more street cred.

[SD1992]

A Honda of some sort would spring to mind when you say cheap reliability.

Older Volvos are supposed to be reliable, as are the older VAG 1.9 TDI lumps with a certain type of injector which I can't remember. It is not uncommon to see older A4s with these engines on mega mileages.

Just make sure whatever he gets has a full, documented history.

[HereBeMonsters]

Golf.

[Snails]

gareth.e said:

It should not cost him 800 unless you live in a ghetto part of Liverpool or east London

Nope, He lives in a lovely, almost crime free town in Suffolk. Admittedly that £800 did come from a price comparison site, so it may infact be cheaper direct from that insurer.

[GKP]

http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/2708411.htm

[BlueJazz]

SD1992 said:

A Honda of some sort would spring to mind when you say cheap reliability.

Older Volvos are supposed to be reliable, as are the older VAG 1.9 TDI lumps with a certain type of injector which I can't remember. It is not uncommon to see older A4s with these engines on mega mileages.

Just make sure whatever he gets has a full, documented history.

Very good advice above.

[mrtwisty]

Puma? When you say credibility though.... (I'm thinking PH'ers and hairdressers)

ETA - (for clarity check my garage...)

Edited by mrtwisty on Thursday 14th April 22:48

[Snails]

As it is late an i'm just trying to get an idea of prices for now:

These are all with a £250 excess, 8000 miles, kept on a drive, a 54 year old woman as a named driver:

Focus 1.6 V plate £776!
Golf 1.8T S plate £1019
VW Polo 1.4 X Plate £830
Yaris 1.5 T Sport '51 plate £830

I think he may just have to except it won't be as cheap as he'd hoped!

I will pass all the suggestions on, I really don't know what he'll go for. He probably end up ignoring all my suggestions and end up in a VW Caddy or similar because all his hardcore, skater, metal friends will think it's the best thing ever.

Edited by Snails on Thursday 14th April 22:56

[Snails]

Snails said:

As it is late an i'm just trying to get an idea of prices for now:

These are all with a £250 excess, 8000 miles, kept on a drive, a 54 year old woman as a named driver:

Focus 1.6 V plate £776!
Golf 1.8T S plate £1019
VW Polo 1.4 X Plate £830
Yaris 1.5 T Sport '51 plate £830

I think he may just have to except it won't be as cheap as he'd hoped!

I will pass all the suggestions on, I really don't know what he'll go for. He probably end up ignoring all my suggestions and end up in a VW Caddy or similar because all his hardcore, skater, metal friends will think it's the best thing ever.

Edited by Snails on Thursday 14th April 22:56

[freenote]

Honda Accord is a good bet in that range. I had one a few years ago that cost £1200 and it never let me down. Nice Vtec engine as well.

[Tunku]

Snails said:

As it is late an i'm just trying to get an idea of prices for now:

These are all with a £250 excess, 8000 miles, kept on a drive, a 54 year old woman as a named driver:

Focus 1.6 V plate £776!
Golf 1.8T S plate £1019
VW Polo 1.4 X Plate £830
Yaris 1.5 T Sport '51 plate £830

I think he may just have to except it won't be as cheap as he'd hoped!

I will pass all the suggestions on, I really don't know what he'll go for. He probably end up ignoring all my suggestions and end up in a VW Caddy or similar because all his hardcore, skater, metal friends will think it's the best thing ever.

Edited by Snails on Thursday 14th April 22:56

I really think you will have to go for a smaller engine to get the insurance down. Around the 1.0 litre mark.

[Ben106]

I had a honda civic 1.4is that never broke

[david.h]

I was given a Toyota Carina E estate that had 160k on the clock & not moved for 2 years. Got air in the tyres & charged the battery, took it for an MOT (passed with an ebay £10 headlamp)Drove it for 6 months- about 8000 miles (went mad & put a drivers door @ £20 on to replace the bent one..even the same colour) and gave it to my builder in p/x for work done (£400 worth). He ran it till it needed tyres & sold it to HIS mate for £200 & it passed the MOT with replacement tyres!
Last I heard still going strong with over 200K on the clock. Probably a minicab now!

[busta]

Snails said:

As it is late an i'm just trying to get an idea of prices for now:

These are all with a £250 excess, 8000 miles, kept on a drive, a 54 year old woman as a named driver:

Focus 1.6 V plate £776!
Golf 1.8T S plate £1019
VW Polo 1.4 X Plate £830
Yaris 1.5 T Sport '51 plate £830

I think he may just have to except it won't be as cheap as he'd hoped!

I will pass all the suggestions on, I really don't know what he'll go for. He probably end up ignoring all my suggestions and end up in a VW Caddy or similar because all his hardcore, skater, metal friends will think it's the best thing ever.

Edited by Snails on Thursday 14th April 22:56

Why did you get a quote for a Golf 1.8t if you want cheap insurance? Try getting a quote on a 1.4 Golf, 1.2 Polo and 1.0 Yaris.

[Night Runner]

Reliability wise, anything from here:

[2 Wycked]

Snails said:

Focus 1.6 V plate £776!
Golf 1.8T S plate £1019
VW Polo 1.4 X Plate £830
Yaris 1.5 T Sport '51 plate £830

Maybe it's just me, but being 23 years old with six years NCB, those look very reasonable for someone with no NCB whatsoever.

Just a thought, but an XJR is cheaper to insure than my Sovereign; maybe a 2.0 Focus will be similar/cheaper than a 1.6?

[morgrp]

Volvo 850 2.0 - buy the best in the world for under 2k - ultra tough, reliable, sound good, go pretty well, cheap insurance.

[2 Wycked]

morgrp said:

Volvo 850 2.0 - buy the best in the world for under 2k - ultra tough, reliable, sound good, go pretty well, cheap insurance.

Yep, ignore what I said, these are fantastic and utterly unbreakable. I've had two, the only downside is fuel economy depending on the sort of driving you do.