Another what car.. Work snotter required.

[philh88]

Hi all,

I currently drive a 2001 Volvo S60 2.0T, which costs me a fortune in insurance and tax. Due to working away I only drive the car twice a week, and have realised it is not doing my bank account any favours! I do like the Volvo, it has performed faultlessly but I need to chop it in for something which is cheaper for me ( so I can save for something loud and unneccessary for weekend drives)
I'm not concerned with the image of whatever car I get instead, however it must be:

Manual
Cheap to run/tax/insure for a 23 year old.
Reliable ( chain rather than cambelt?), probably Japanese.
Reasonably safe I.e no Micras, Saxos etc ( I had a fairly bad car accident a few years ago, which left me rather paranoid, hence the Volvo)
Worth about £1400 or less

Ideas so far have been an E46 3 series diesel, or mid 90's Civic but my minds gone a bit blank.

Any help greatly appreciated.
Cheers, Phil

[Jimbo.]

Late 850 2.4 N/A? All the Volvo comfort and build, the 5-cyl noise, plenty of space, tank-like, and you'll have £500 from your upper budget to change the belt (70,000 miles out of that), service it, and still have change left over for the bork fund. Sorted.

[VR46]

Golf tdi or a3 tdi quattro

[BorkFactor]

You won't get a decent E46 diesel for that money - if you really like them then you should go petrol. Strangely they all have pretty much the same fuel consumption - my 328i gets 42 ish on long trips at the speed limits.

I would be looking at a post 2002 (facelift) mk3 Mondeo 1.8 or 2.0 petrol. Make sure it has the chrome grille, that is the facelifted one.

[Codswallop]

VR46 said:

Golf tdi or a3 tdi quattro

Or look at a Seat Ibiza/Leon/ Toledo or Skoda Fabia/Octavia - same internals, but cheaper to buy due to badge snobs only being interested in the "premium" versions.

[Prof Beard]

How about a pre-2003 Saab 9-3. - should meet most of the requirements listed and plenty around?

[6fire]

If you seriously don't care about image and want something cheap and reliable, but a yr 2000 or so vintage Toyota Corolla. The 1300cc is adequate and in the cheap tax bracket, they are a cam chain engine, boringly reliable and reasonably economical. Cheap for stuff like tyres and brakes as well.

[philh88]

Thanks for all the replies. Most of them are a bit out of budget for me, and insurance could be quite bad. 6fire, the corolla is just the sort of thing, I didn't know they were chaincam either! Image isn't really a problem, as it would do my ailing wallet a big favour!