Cockroach for £5K..

[thenortherner]

My first attempt at shedding hasn't gone too well. Two months ago I bought from a local Ford specialist a 2008 Focus 2.0 TDCI Titanium with 60K on the clock and full main dealer history for £3200. A couple of thousand miles on and it's developed a fault - without seeing the car he's reckoning on a turbo breather hose after my description of the problem. There's no warning lights but the boost is non-existent in first gear or the car kangaroos, and boost, nothing, boost nothing, when accelerating in other gears.

He's happy to repair the fault and bare the cost but has advised that if I want cheap motoring then go for a petrol as there's a lot less to go wrong and cheaper to fix if and when it does. He's also willing to buy the car back from me for £600 less than I paid. To be honest it's been pretty crap on fuel averaging 44mpg and I've driven it gently in the time I've had it. Looking at other owner fuel reports that's about as good as it'll get.

I'm reckoning he's right in terms of going for a petrol and I'm likely to trade the car back in. I do around 18,000 miles a year and need something reliable and not going to cost me a fortune to run either in fuel or repairs. And the fuel economy isn't what I'd thought it might be. My fault for making assumptions on what it'd do.

So I'm thinking either a 2011(ish) Toyota Yaris 1.33 or Honda Jazz EX. Both have decent levels of kit, especially the Jazz.

I've £5K max to spend.

I've always had new or almost new cars so haven't had to care about repairs before, and always hot hatches. Part of me wants to go down the leasing route and go for something like a Fiesta ST-2 for £300 a month or so for worry free driving and a nice car!

[egor110]

£3200 is far to much for shedding .

Spend a grand on a petrol focus/Mondeo/Accord

[thenortherner]

Sh*t. Wrong forum, I meant to put in the car buying forum!

[Davie]

An 11 year old (modern) diesel with only 60k on the clock? It's perhaps a cliche but that sort of thing doesn't sound like a good idea to me purely because my brain is pre-programmed to think diesels need to be used, get up to temperature and almost thrashed senseless at times or else things just start to go wrong. I also agreed, that sort of budget isn't "shed motoring" though I guess it depends on how considerably rich you are. Shed's can generally be thrown away if a big bill pops up... not sure I could throw away a £3k to £5k car so thus you're left having to stomach the big bill.

[thenortherner]

I'd deliberately went for it because of its history, I thought I'd paid over the odds a little but there's plenty of others for the same money on Autotrader. And he's confident he'll sell on again if I sell back to him.

It doesn't have a DPF etc so wasn't too concerned about that side of things. I do 40 mile round trip to work daily too so it's not used on short journeys.

I guess it says something if even the traders are steering me away from diesels.

I can't afford to chuck £3-5K away each year too!

[magpie215]

egor110 said:

£3200 is far to much for shedding .

Yes about 2700 too much

[soad]

Older (simpler?) PD130 engined Skoda/Passat might be worth a go?

[samj2014]

soad said:

Older (simpler?) PD130 engined Skoda/Passat might be worth a go?

Agreed, if you want a shed (£2700 is far too much for shed motoring) a 1.9tdi volkswagen engine is the way to go. Alternatively the 1.8t petrol is also pretty robust but you won't get anywhere near the same mpg. More fun though.

[stevep360]

Honda Civic 1.8 petrol, none of the diesel complexity, decent economy and incredibly reliable.

I'd say if you want cockroach material your best bet is Japanese petrol without a turbo

[DanGPR]

samj2014 said:

Agreed, if you want a shed (£2700 is far too much for shed motoring) a 1.9tdi volkswagen engine is the way to go. Alternatively the 1.8t petrol is also pretty robust but you won't get anywhere near the same mpg. More fun though.

You can even get a Fabia VRS with the PD130 lump for <£2k.
I'd probably look towards something Japanese, a Honda Civic Type S or if you want something left field a friend had a Honda Logo 1.3 CVT which was hilarious in a rev and go moped kind of way. Peanuts to run and it even has a sport button.

[0a]

Spend 1k on a corolla. The ultimate cockroach!

[MrGTI6]

I would agree with the poster who suggested a Civic 1.8. The ride's a bit crashy, but they're very reliable and surprisingly economical. £5k would be more than enough to get you a tidy, late example.

[egor110]

You said you can't afford to spend 3k a year.

There's no need just get a petrol focus or Mondeo for a grand , with bills for cambelt and clutch.