Target... £800. Daily workhorse required. Suggestions?

[Paul O]

Hi folks,

I'm after a runabout to get me through the daily trudge of the 50mph (and often zero-mph) M62, rather than putting dead miles on my other motors.

As its a mile muncher my requirements are;

• Comfortable
• Reliable
• Cheap enough to maintain
• £800 or less (I don't want to spend a grand - that's psychologically too much for a banger).
• Preferably a new shape (cars were generally remodelled around 2000-2002 era).
• Preferably nice to look at - or funky different.

£800 looks like it will get me into a leggy new shape mondeo, which I really like and is currently the front runner (are these cars still OK at 100k miles - any experience?). However, the missus properly hates Mondeos. I also like the look of Ford Pumas - but not really a motorway car.

So, I thought I'd open the floor to the PistonHeads massive. Can anyone offer some cheap-and-chearful motoring inspiration for eight-hundred notes please?

Cheers!

Paul.

[SuperHangOn]

I would forget about newness and looking funky and find a solid, well looked after car.

I bought an old W124 mercedes for this sort of work and it served me proud.

E36 of some description might be good call.

[muppets_mate]

Paul O said:

As its a mile muncher my requirements are;

• Comfortable
• Reliable
• Cheap enough to maintain
• £800 or less (I don't want to spend a grand - that's psychologically too much for a banger).
• Preferably a new shape (cars were generally remodelled around 2000-2002 era).
• Preferably nice to look at - or funky different.

As the saying goes, pick any two from the list!

Slightly more seriously, for £800 you can't be too fussy. The general rules apply: japanese, german, condition not mileage, evidence of regular servicing especially recently, etc. If you're relying on it to reliably get you to work you will probably need to drop your last two criteria and find the best example rather than an x, y or z model.

[thinfourth2]

Nissian micra K11 so cheap to run it is basically free

[Wattsie]

Mk 3 Mondeo with a petrol engine would do the job perfectly (except the funky/different part).

[LewG]

My dad has always used Mondeos as a sales rep and they are super cars, he covered 1200 miles a week or more in his last one and managed to put nearly 170k on it in 3 years with virtually no problems.

[busta]

A Peugeot 306 would be a sensible choice, if not ticking all your boxes.

Comfortable- yes
Reliable- yes, especially the diesels
Cheap to maintain- yes, very
Under £800- plenty in that budget
Preferably a new shape- no, but they haven't aged badly.
Nice to look at / funky / different- I like the look in an understated sort of way, they all look good with the 15" cyclone alloys. Not funky or different though.

[kwk]

I paid £600 for my Volvo S70 R plate. It had 1 owner, 75000 miles and full MOT. It also has air con and leather heated seats. It does about 34 mpg around town and is extremely comfortable.

[Nickyboy]

I paid £600 for my 850 T5, full leather, MOT etc. Very reliable and superbly comfy

[les3002]

How about a nice MG ZT-T 190? I might know of one for sale at that price......

[Krikkit]

Peugeot 406? Very comfortable and reasonably reliable, a bit of Ronin chique.

[A2Z]

My Mondeo got to 160k without a problem then in the space of 3000 miles did

DMF
Coil Spring
Turbo Actuator
EGR

[5705]

thinfourth2 said:

Nissian micra K11 so cheap to run it is basically free

This. No bloke-points, of course, but that wasn't mentioned as important by the OP.

[Rickyy]

Focus? Mine is on 120k, its making a few clunking noises now, but still reliable.

[damci]

Nissan Primera GT

[chrisispringles]

Volvo 850 or an early V70, both very nice, comfortable places to be and both reliable.

[thinfourth2]

5705 said:

thinfourth2 said:

Nissian micra K11 so cheap to run it is basically free

This. No bloke-points, of course, but that wasn't mentioned as important by the OP.

And they cannot be killed

[rallycross]

Omega V6 with nice spec is within budget they drive much better than they look and great motorway
Mile muncher.

[anonymous-user]

Puma

[Chris944_S2]

My alfa 164 V6 24V was 850 so just a bit over budget. Not a single thing went wrong with it and not a spot of rust. I've mostly had Teutonic cars, all of which were more expensive, more rusty and less reliable than the old Alfa