Boring petrol five door hatch, £2500

[TVR Sagaris]

What are my best options?

Needs to be:
- Five doors;
- Petrol;
- Reliable;
- Ideally built from around 2007 onwards.

Are the three cylinder previous generation Polos a good bet? The timing chain issue on the K12 Micra makes me a bit nervous, so are they worth considering? I'm leaning towards something French, but I'm prepared to be told that the petrol Pug/Renault/Citroen stuff in this price range is to be avoided.

Thanks

[MrAverage]

£2500 buys an awful lot of car.

Plenty of choice at that price, comes down to your desired size of car? i generally tend to head for common brands like ford or vauxhall or japanese when buying 'cheap'.

[ZX10R NIN]

Astra Elite (Vauxhalls are GFM at the moment)

http://eu.hlserve.com/Delivery/Delivery.aspx?hm_CI...

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

Insignia Exclusive

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

Focus Ghia

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

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

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


Kia C'eed

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

Toyota Auris

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

[IanCress]

I got myself an 08 Civic for £3k earlier this year. Plenty available around your budget and it seems to be fairly solid.

Also, it's not boring.

[TVR Sagaris]

Sorry I should have said in my initial post that this is not for me: it is for a first time driver in their early 20s. I think even a Civic may seem a bit big - Polo probably the ideal size.

The common options that come up on Autotrader are the previous generation Polo, second generation Yaris (no experience with these whatsoever), fifth generation Fiestas (I get the feeling these are a bit sheddy now, but that may be my prejudice), Clio IIIs (which I like the look of), Peugeot 207s (I am put off by a cheap and nasty 206 my dad had years ago); Fiat Pandas (I like these, not sure the person buying will); and K12 Nissan Micras.

There are also a few third generation Mazda 2s which I have always liked the look of. Are they a Fiesta underneath? Rust? Are Skoda Fabias/Seat Ibizas worth looking at?

[steve-5snwi]

A number of cars suffer from timing chain issues the Polo being one of them and even the Yaris. My money would go on a Fiesta, cheap to fix, plenty about and easy to sell. The Honda Jazz is a nice little car to but a little dull. If you don't mind having a repair budget then a Fiat Panda would be nice.