Sub £1k car for new commute. Almost all motorway miles.

[Nilt]

Hi,

I'm starting a new job very soon which has a 60 mile roundtrip commute. 50 of those miles are motorway.

I have an i30 in the household already which is the wife's car. I cycle to current place of employment, but now with my new job need a second car.

Now, I could afford a lease deal or finance. But there are things I want to do with the house so don't want to have that kind of monthly expenditure at the moment.

I also don't have a lot saved up, so my budget really is only 1k.

What are peoples best buys around this price? And what are red flags to look out for.

At the moment I'm thinking a high mileage 3 series, one with long service history and clear signs of care.

But, I'll admit, I am a complete novice when it comes to car buying so thought best to ask a community more in the know.

[Scabutz]

A high mileage beemer will be a money pit. I've had high mileage audis before and whilst they never broke down or went bang, there was a constant stream of stuff needing doing.

I would look at a non premium brand, lowest mileage and youngest you can get.

[valiant]

Something Japanese or Korean like a Corolla or similar.

Should find a few gooduns at that price point.

I’d also avoid the Beemer, more chance of throwing a big bill.


Or a D5 of some description.

[MC Bodge]

Something relatively simple, not "performance" and without electrical issues and rust in places that are expensive (look on owner forums when you find something that might be suitable).

Korean, Japanese or common like Ford or Vauxhall - millions still running and cheap to fix

[funkyrobot]

As above. Simple and something common.

Try a few different simple cars because it will come down to the seats.

[ZX10R NIN]

Vectra SRI pretty much made for this type of journey.

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

Signum

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

Ceed LS

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

Civic SE

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

Astra SRI

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

[ninjag]

At this money a Honda is usually a pretty safe bet. Preferably petrol as their n/a engine are bombproof but for the miles you are doing the diesel would be better suited.

Here's a Honda Accord 2.2d Executive, great economy, lots of toys and excellent seats. Unlikely to have any big bills and still has a bit of poke, you can always remap it in the future to retain interest.

These ones are built in Japan and a nice substantial car.

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2019...

[Summit_Detailing]

A petrol Avensis or Accord would be what I'd be looking for in your circumstances.

cheers,

Chris

[dai1983]

Diesel Rover 75!

[Lukas239]

You could cycle that!

No in all seriousness, is public transport on the cards? At this price point the cost of the car could be eclipsed by a few months of maintenance.

[exelero]

Volvo!!

[ericmcn]

Buying a high mileage diesel BMW for 1k is pie in the sky stuff. Get a far Eastern car and wake up. Get a petrol even as you at least have some insurance policy, a Honda jazz is quite frugal won't go tits up and probably can be had for a grand ish...

[scot_aln]

I think at this price point there is a huge amount of luck as it's relatively easy to end up with bills that get close to or exceed car value.

Wouldn't something like a 1.6 focus or similar be a painless option.

Whilst I can sing the praises of running an old German TD others haven't been so lucky.

[mike74]

I'm going to suggest a c1/aygo/107. if overall size and load capacity isn't essential to you and you're not lugging weight or passengers along.

It might sound ridiculous suggesting a 900cc 3 pot for motorway use but they're so high geared that they'll comfortably sit at 70-80mph at around only 3k rpm

Cheap as chips on fuel and tax and insurance and repairs.

Edited by mike74 on Saturday 21st September 05:58

[Poppiecock]

funkyrobot said:

As above. Simple and something common.

Try a few different simple cars because it will come down to the seats.

It's only 30 miles each way.

[JulianHJ]

Mk2 Focus or similar era Mondeo - plentiful, cheap, reliable.

[breamster]

JulianHJ said:

Mk2 Focus or similar era Mondeo - plentiful, cheap, reliable.

I was just about to type the same.

[peterperkins]

That Accord looks cheap as chips. Black leather as well. Good call.

[ClaphamGT3]

At this price point forget all about brand/age/mileage/performance and buy solely on condition. Put Max price £1k, private sales and within 10 miles as search parameters into Auto trader and wear out some shoe leather looking at what comes up. Remember the basic rule that respectable people with well looked after houses tend to have well looked after cars; scummers who park on their front lawn and don't have the self respect to look after themselves and their home don't look after their cars. Buy private as (a) you get to gauge the last owner and how they looked after the car and (b) a £1k car at a dealer is really a £500 car.

Others have mentioned Japanese/Korean makes and I'd be surprised if that isn't what you would up with.

Be brutal, once you have it, as treating it as disposable. Any bill that looks to be over 50% of it's value and weigh it in and start again

Edited by ClaphamGT3 on Saturday 21st September 07:22

Edited by ClaphamGT3 on Saturday 21st September 07:23

[Roger Irrelevant]

mike74 said:

I'm going to suggest a c1/aygo/107. if overall size and load capacity isn't essential to you and you're not lugging weight or passengers along.

Yep I was going to say a Yaris or something like that - if you're doing lots of miles in something cheap then I'd place reliability/cheap cost of running above all else. I regularly do a 50 mile round trip commute in a Yaris, and the chap over the road does similar in an Aygo. It's not overlanding the Gobi desert, it's sitting down listening to the radio for 40 minutes a couple of times a day, just about anything will be fine.