£1500 to last me 12 months

[SiberianHills]

More change in circumstances now means I am needing a cheap car as a stop gap for 12 months.

Max price £1500, cheap to run and reliable.

I would also put that I require it to be nippy, good looking etc but I realise with the budget there is slim pickings to choose from.

All I can find currently are Civic 2.2's but the prices seem to be more around 2k for these. Don't really want to spend more than 1500.

Any other suggestions. Cheers

[MattyD803]

2001-2005 Honda Civic 1.6 - you might even find a "Sport" or similar with nicer interior and body trim. The 1.6 is bullet proof and will return 40-45mpg all day. Go for the 2.0 Type S if you need 5 doors and a bit more poke....albeit you will lose 10-15mpg.

Both models look 'smart'-ish and nippy enough for day to day stuff. I'd certainly keep it NA for reliability and minimising servicing and repair costs....cheap on tyres too if you have a puncture.

If not the Civic, I'd stick with something Japanese.....a Jazz (urgh), Yaris, Auris, Swift....all in NA petrol flavour....all are known as 'cockroach' cars and are typically run by take away delivery drivers....for good reason. They key is finding something that has been looked after.....if you can find something that looks to be one or two owner, lots of history, ideally an oldie....you'll be laughing.

Edited by MattyD803 on Thursday 12th May 14:30

[Pebbles167]

Get on ebay, filter under £1500, and sort by distance. Since you want something that looks good, itll come down to what you personally like. Loads of okay stuff available for that budget that will be reliable, fit a family and get to 60 in around 10 seconds or less.

My pick would be an Astra H, with a 1.8 16v petrol.

Get clever and search wider and you can find genuinely desirable cars for that budget. Recently bought, and then sold, a Golf mk5 Gti for £1500.

Edited by Pebbles167 on Thursday 12th May 14:29

[Zetec-S]

Mk1 Focus 1.6 petrol

/thread

[LightningBlue]

Total lottery at that budget, I'd go on condition and history rather than look for specific makes

[OutInTheShed]

If you've got £1500 to play with, start looking at the nearest cars for under £1000.
Find something that seems to work, has a long MOT and isn't too squalid.
Preferably from a seller you can trust a bit.
Don't look for a particular make and model, be open minded and get a fairly good example of anything reasonable.

Below £5k there are wrong'uns of every make and model.
You just need to take a punt on something that you feel will do the job for a while.
And it is a gamble, things can go wrong ,you may lose your stake!

Then start saving for the next one.

[mattyprice4004]

Loads of choice out there.
Have you got a friend or family member that's very good with certain makes and models? If so, picking up one of them with some help will mean they're familiar with common issues / faults.

For example I'm well versed in the BMW E6x and the 'modern' MG Rover era vehicles (1996-2005) and have a quite literal fleet of friends running one or the other.
Any issues that crop up and I'm in a position to help, and touch wood they've all been great so far.
Star of the show is definitely the £500 Rover 45 Diesel that's now on year 3 with a friend, needing nothing but tyres and general servicing!

[RazerSauber]

If it's for 12 months and it's a stop gap car, swerve looks. Get something like a Vauxhall Vectra/Astra. Good enough in every department, loads of them everywhere, cheap, reliable, usually well equipped. Probably won't lose any money when you sell on and if you clean it up well then you could probably make a tiny profit at the end.

[Ryyy]

The perfect thread

https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

My last stop gap was an 02 ibiza 1.2 s which drove lovely and was pretty nippy round town. preffered it to the 08 1.6 astra it replaced.

As above you could get the ep2 gen civic for under £1500,maybe even the type s. Mk4 golf?mk1 leon?

[biggbn]

A saab or volvo of some flavour? The older ones don't seem to have been affected by covid tax.

[ussprometheus]

Surprised no one has said pre-2006 Corolla yet.

[Belle427]

Saab 9-3

[Belle427]

Saab 9-3

[georgeyboy12345]

These should last you at least a year and have long MOTs

BMW E46 328Ci
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202201111...


Ford Focus 1.8 Style
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202205095...


Nissan Almera 1.8
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202205055...


Mercedes W202 C200
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202203253...

or C220 CDI
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202205095...

[757]

Vectra C, dirt cheap, like really dirt cheap, I picked a 2008 SRi for £1k for my workhorse car - 2,000 miles ago, 1.8VVT petrol, no issues really compared to diesel. Does the job!

[Welshbeef]

Rover SD1
Cliosport 172
Golf GT TDI PD130
Passat Estate TDI
Skoda Superb TDI
Pug 106 or Citroen C1 these take a total bashing and keep going. Bet you’d get your money back at the end too.
Rover 200Vi
Rover Tomcat

[Mr Tidy]

When I was looking for a cheap runabout back in 2014 I just searched within 10 miles for anything petrol and manual below 80K miles and ended up buying a 1.5 litre 1996 Mazda 323f with just over 60K miles, only 3 previous keepers and a long MOT for less than £700. Previous owners were pensioners living by the South coast so it had scrapes on most panels but didn't feel at all tired to drive.

But after more powerful cars before it just felt gutless so after 6 months and 3,000 miles I sold it and got £550 back and splashed out £1,950 on a 2002 BMW 325ti Sport Compact with 80K miles - so much nicer that I kept it over 3 years!

[scot_aln]

Besides the ask for it to last 12 months, presumably be reliable and cost £1500 or less where does the SD1 come in? Think the last 2 in the list have hit the classic category too.

They seem to be from here upwards these days
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/304447948298

[Welshbeef]

scot_aln said:

Besides the ask for it to last 12 months, presumably be reliable and cost £1500 or less where does the SD1 come in? Think the last 2 in the list have hit the classic category too.

They seem to be from here upwards these days
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/304447948298

I’ve always liked them 3.5 vitesse - hadn’t checked prices but clearly everything’s a classic tax has happened here too