Have to purchase a boring car ASAP - Advice please?

[anonymous-user]

Hi all,

My Mk1 Ka has died on me and I require a new car asap. Budget is up to 5k but the less the better obviously.


Requirements:

Manual
Petrol
Air con
Cruise Control - If possible

Looking at Mk2.5 Focus as I presume they are a good steer. I had an absolute blast in my Ka! I imagine the focus offers refinement but retains a bit of fun? Are they reliable or not particularly?


My fun option is a Mk3.5 Mx5 however I don't really want to rush into buying one.

Any other suggestions which would be more fun than the focus? Or buy another shed hatchback and hold out for an Mx5?

[steve-5snwi]

Not many Focus's have cruise control as standard, how about a C30 ?

[ZX10R NIN]

If you want a decent car with a few mod cons for decent money I'd look at the next segment up & get a Mondeo sized car , lots have cruise control & come loaded with.

If you want a bargain Vectra's/Insignias are GFM at the moment, also the Mazda6 is a great choice.

Mondeo Titanium X

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

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

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

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

Mazda 6 SL/Sport

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

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

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

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

Vectra Elite

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

SRI 2.0T

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

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

Insignia 2.0T SRI

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

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

[anonymous-user]

Thanks for the suggestions although I'm looking for hatchbacks only. My driving is mixed and roughly 10k a year. I do the odd long motorway journey on the weekends if I'm heading out of Bristol.

Currently have my radius set to 40 miles so needs to be localish.

Haven't seen any C30s for sale but I'll keep my eyes out.

Also not looking for anything performance related.

[Stickyfinger]

Try looking a "Modern Classics", there are loads of great cars that fit that spec from the 90's

[Shore]

Volvo V79

[andye30m3]

Why does it need to be boring? live is to short

plenty of fun hot hatches can be found for £5k, many of which are still reasonably economical and reliable.

I just bought a 2007 Clio 197 for £2750, very clean standard car, something like that would leave a decent pot of of cash for any issues / increased fuel bill over something really dull.

[daemon]

andye30m3 said:

I just bought a 2007 Clio 197 for £2750, very clean standard car, something like that would leave a decent pot of of cash for any issues / increased fuel bill over something really dull.

Great cars, but prone to expensive gearbox failure, the timing belt is an expensive specialist replacement (and moreoften overdue at this price point) and a lot of the wear and tear suspension parts are expensive to replace as they are bespoke.

[daemon]

AB57 said:

Thanks for the suggestions although I'm looking for hatchbacks only. My driving is mixed and roughly 10k a year. I do the odd long motorway journey on the weekends if I'm heading out of Bristol.

Currently have my radius set to 40 miles so needs to be localish.

Haven't seen any C30s for sale but I'll keep my eyes out.

Also not looking for anything performance related.

All of those are hatchbacks, but presumably you mean smaller sized hatchbacks?

I think the Focus mk2.5 would be a good call, as you've said already. Lots about. Unless you do starship miles, i'd avoid the diesels and go for a 1.6 / 1.8 (/2.0?) Titanium or at worst Zetec variant.

[GreatGranny]

Fiesta Zetec S

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

Mini Cooper

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

Type R

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

Clio

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

[daemon]

GreatGranny said:

Fiesta Zetec S

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

Mini Cooper

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

Type R

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

Clio

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

"Also not looking for anything performance related."

[andye30m3]

daemon said:

andye30m3 said:

I just bought a 2007 Clio 197 for £2750, very clean standard car, something like that would leave a decent pot of of cash for any issues / increased fuel bill over something really dull.

Great cars, but prone to expensive gearbox failure, the timing belt is an expensive specialist replacement (and moreoften overdue at this price point) and a lot of the wear and tear suspension parts are expensive to replace as they are bespoke.

I though the gearbox issues tended to be with the very early car but may be wrong.

Cambelts aren't cheap, looking at Ktec website around £500 with the water pump, but in the grand scale of the things isn't much more than a decent set of tyres. Like wise the front suspension and I believe manifold Flexi joints can fail, annoying bill but not silly expensive.

[anonymous-user]

Sorry you are correct I just meant smaller; such a focus size or even potentially fiesta. If I was going for performance I would pick a 2 seater rwd car. Settled on the mk3.5 mx5 for that as the running costs should be low.

I'm looking to purchase a house next year so looking to keep costs down.

I guess my question is; what is the most fun family hatchback to drive?

It just needs to be cheap to run and get me from A to B without breaking down. This gives me a chance to look for the Mx5 I want.

On that note I've set my budget to 3k tops with cruise control a must. Other option is to get a shed with a 12 month ticket like I did with my Ka. Thanks for the replies so far.

[anonymous-user]

daemon said:

AB57 said:

Thanks for the suggestions although I'm looking for hatchbacks only. My driving is mixed and roughly 10k a year. I do the odd long motorway journey on the weekends if I'm heading out of Bristol.

Currently have my radius set to 40 miles so needs to be localish.

Haven't seen any C30s for sale but I'll keep my eyes out.

Also not looking for anything performance related.

All of those are hatchbacks, but presumably you mean smaller sized hatchbacks?

I think the Focus mk2.5 would be a good call, as you've said already. Lots about. Unless you do starship miles, i'd avoid the diesels and go for a 1.6 / 1.8 (/2.0?) Titanium or at worst Zetec variant.

Yeah I was looking for a 2.0 titanium although I'm not sure if there is much difference between the 1.8 and the 2.0?

Anything steer better than a mk2.5 focus?

[anonymous-user]

andye30m3 said:

daemon said:

andye30m3 said:

I just bought a 2007 Clio 197 for £2750, very clean standard car, something like that would leave a decent pot of of cash for any issues / increased fuel bill over something really dull.

Great cars, but prone to expensive gearbox failure, the timing belt is an expensive specialist replacement (and moreoften overdue at this price point) and a lot of the wear and tear suspension parts are expensive to replace as they are bespoke.

I though the gearbox issues tended to be with the very early car but may be wrong.

Cambelts aren't cheap, looking at Ktec website around £500 with the water pump, but in the grand scale of the things isn't much more than a decent set of tyres. Like wise the front suspension and I believe manifold Flexi joints can fail, annoying bill but not silly expensive.

Chocolate gearboxes on the 197 and expensive to maintain properly from what I read in the past.

I'd go for a fn2 type r if I was going for a fun hot hatch.

[steve-5snwi]

What about an estate version of the Saab 9-3 aero ? Or something like a Citroen C4 ? good spec and pretty cheap.

[daemon]

andye30m3 said:

I though the gearbox issues tended to be with the very early car but may be wrong.

Cambelts aren't cheap, looking at Ktec website around £500 with the water pump, but in the grand scale of the things isn't much more than a decent set of tyres. Like wise the front suspension and I believe manifold Flexi joints can fail, annoying bill but not silly expensive.

I had a 2007 variant with 54K miles on it and i took 3rd gear synchro out of it with three weeks "spirited" (but not excessive) driving. Its a problem that can even afflict 200s, but was more prevalent in 197s

Yes, timing belt isnt a massive bill, but its often overlooked. It needs to be done every 5 years irrespective of miles (no matter what the seller tells you), and it can be done quite reasonably now by the right people (or expensively by the wrong people). We got it done in my sons 2012 Clio 200 Cup by a Renault specialist for £400 including water pump.

Suspension - we spent around £450 on parts (plus £150 fitting) sorting out the driver side front of my sons 2012 Clio 200 with just 33K miles on it due to suspension joint movement. its quite common and the bits can only be bought from Renault Sport.

Not massive amounts in isolation, but that can amount to quite a high percentage of the cars value in any given year.

They're a lot more of a specialist car than people give them credit for - theres an awful lot of bespoke stuff in there thats not cheap to replace.

[daemon]

AB57 said:

andye30m3 said:

daemon said:

andye30m3 said:

I just bought a 2007 Clio 197 for £2750, very clean standard car, something like that would leave a decent pot of of cash for any issues / increased fuel bill over something really dull.

Great cars, but prone to expensive gearbox failure, the timing belt is an expensive specialist replacement (and moreoften overdue at this price point) and a lot of the wear and tear suspension parts are expensive to replace as they are bespoke.

I though the gearbox issues tended to be with the very early car but may be wrong.

Cambelts aren't cheap, looking at Ktec website around £500 with the water pump, but in the grand scale of the things isn't much more than a decent set of tyres. Like wise the front suspension and I believe manifold Flexi joints can fail, annoying bill but not silly expensive.

Chocolate gearboxes on the 197 and expensive to maintain properly from what I read in the past.

I'd go for a fn2 type r if I was going for a fun hot hatch.

That was my experiences of running a 2007 low miles 197 and of my sons 2012 low miles 200 Cup

[Marlin45]

Nissan Almera. Boring, reliable, uninspiring but cheap. Suffer rot at the back end though.

[ZX10R NIN]

AB57 said:

Thanks for the suggestions although I'm looking for hatchbacks only. My driving is mixed and roughly 10k a year. I do the odd long motorway journey on the weekends if I'm heading out of Bristol.

Currently have my radius set to 40 miles so needs to be localish.

Haven't seen any C30s for sale but I'll keep my eyes out.

Also not looking for anything performance related.

Not sure if you've bought anything today but here are a few suggestions:

Mazda3 Sport Nav

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

Sport

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

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

Focus Titanium Ecoboost (over budget but worth haggling for)

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

Astra SRI

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

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

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

Elite

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

Volvo C30

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

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