Reliable car for £750-1000
Discussion
Hi,
Recently my brothers Vauxhall Insignia decided to die so he has had to get rid of it. hes currently looking for something cheap and reliable to use for a while.
Budget is £700-800 however could stretch to £1000
Looking for anything he could get that is reliable and reasonably comfortable
been looking at 07< clios and a honda's
Any Advise would be great
Thanks
Recently my brothers Vauxhall Insignia decided to die so he has had to get rid of it. hes currently looking for something cheap and reliable to use for a while.
Budget is £700-800 however could stretch to £1000
Looking for anything he could get that is reliable and reasonably comfortable
been looking at 07< clios and a honda's
Any Advise would be great
Thanks
I'd stick with petrol engines
Focus MK2
Mondeo MK3
Mazda3 MK1
Mazda6 MK1
I've had a couple of Duratec engined sheds now (Mondeo & Mazda3) and they are robust and reliable. Parts are cheap too for routine maintenance, the only expensive bits were things like AC compressor so I just lived without AC.
You'll be struggling to find rust free cars at sub £1k though
Focus MK2
Mondeo MK3
Mazda3 MK1
Mazda6 MK1
I've had a couple of Duratec engined sheds now (Mondeo & Mazda3) and they are robust and reliable. Parts are cheap too for routine maintenance, the only expensive bits were things like AC compressor so I just lived without AC.
You'll be struggling to find rust free cars at sub £1k though
)Objective Alpha said:
Hi,
Recently my brothers Vauxhall Insignia decided to die so he has had to get rid of it. hes currently looking for something cheap and reliable to use for a while.
Budget is £700-800 however could stretch to £1000
Looking for anything he could get that is reliable and reasonably comfortable
been looking at 07< clios and a honda's
Any Advise would be great
Thanks
Vectra or Astra 1.8vvt petrolRecently my brothers Vauxhall Insignia decided to die so he has had to get rid of it. hes currently looking for something cheap and reliable to use for a while.
Budget is £700-800 however could stretch to £1000
Looking for anything he could get that is reliable and reasonably comfortable
been looking at 07< clios and a honda's
Any Advise would be great
Thanks
Slim pickings sub-£1k at the moment. Maybe you can find something acceptable on facebook or ebay if you are lucky
Here's what I could find
Rover 75 1.8 that looks to have been well looked after and has had the notorious head gasket done this summer
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202212042...
Suzuki Swift 1.3 GL - probably has another year or so left in it until terminal rust sets in
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202209029...
Peugeot 406 2.0 HDI Estate - the engine is about halfway through its lifespan, but the body may well be riddled with rust. The seller has strategically positioned the car so you can't read its numberplates, which immediately makes me suspicious
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202212042...
Here's what I could find
Rover 75 1.8 that looks to have been well looked after and has had the notorious head gasket done this summer
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202212042...
Suzuki Swift 1.3 GL - probably has another year or so left in it until terminal rust sets in
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202209029...
Peugeot 406 2.0 HDI Estate - the engine is about halfway through its lifespan, but the body may well be riddled with rust. The seller has strategically positioned the car so you can't read its numberplates, which immediately makes me suspicious
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202212042...
Skim through Gumtree and Marketplace, and that is a tough buy. There will be little choice, and very few options.
Yaris Petrol is a good shout. 1.4 diesel 207 maybe. Generally avoid German things, and buy simple cars.
Jap petrols are still very good and reliable, but so are the Koreans, and they are more numerous and cheaper.
I'd say buy on condition etc, but the choice is so limited, buy anything that looks half tidy.
Yaris Petrol is a good shout. 1.4 diesel 207 maybe. Generally avoid German things, and buy simple cars.
Jap petrols are still very good and reliable, but so are the Koreans, and they are more numerous and cheaper.
I'd say buy on condition etc, but the choice is so limited, buy anything that looks half tidy.
There's a few different ways to look at this and the particular circumstances you're in will dictate which you favour...
One is to look at cars which were cheap-ish when new - small cars with small-ish engines and limited gadgetry to have gone wrong.
Another would point out that cars answering this description tend to be cheap to insure and attract newer/younger drivers - meaning there's more demand for them and that the potential to have been owned by someone who neglected maintenance (through both being skint and not knowing better) has to be considered... Such that if you're able to get insurance at reasonable rates, perhaps bigger cars that are more likely to have been taken care of (and built better in the first place) and that less people would now want could be as good if not better options.
Depending on how many miles you'll do (so how much you have to consider MPG Vs comfort as a compromise) and whether you're likely to get hit hard by insurance companies, you might find one or other of these approaches particularly "speaks to you" as it were.
My personal thinking if I were in that circumstance would pretty much go like this (though yours/brothers may diverge somewhere!):
1) All else equal, saloons are much less desirable than estates and hatchbacks among the general public - so if you focus on saloons you'll probably get something that's newer, lower mileage or has better service history for the same money.
2) I don't need to worry about insurance being too silly, so I can base my engine choices around engines I know will make big mileages - if a particular engine is usually good for 250k+ then I feel safe picking up a 120-150k mile example... Preferably engines I know a little as this helps with picking a good example and makes working on it easier (saving future bills) - it also saves me having to do homework on when regular maintenance is due, so I can both check for things that are overdue or account for things that will be due very soon.
For me, this would be Volvo 5-pots - I know them well enough in general and very high mileages are usually obtainable from them... The days of £1k D5's has probably gone, but I wouldn't say no to a 2.0T 5-cyl petrol either and probably more realistic on this budget.
3) What cars came with the engines I'd want to run? Now what other issues can these cars have, how easily can they be fixed and are they a deal-breaker?
Realistically to get a 5-cyl Volvo for around £1k I'd have to be looking at the 2.0T and I'm most likely to find that in a P2 S60 - there are the odd issues with them but often not too big a deal...
I reckon I could find one that'd be reliable enough for the budget (the fact they're not particularly modern in appearance inside or out, and saloon body, probably helps) - BUT this doesn't mean I'd necessarily recommend these as a blanket thing.
It's a very shallow pond of cars that are reliable for that kind of money and you're gambling a bit unless you know how to spot a dud and know a bit about the particular car and engine you're looking at... Doing your homework on because you've found something promising is going to lead to lots of wasted homework relative to analysing examples of cars you already have some prior knowledge of
.
One is to look at cars which were cheap-ish when new - small cars with small-ish engines and limited gadgetry to have gone wrong.
Another would point out that cars answering this description tend to be cheap to insure and attract newer/younger drivers - meaning there's more demand for them and that the potential to have been owned by someone who neglected maintenance (through both being skint and not knowing better) has to be considered... Such that if you're able to get insurance at reasonable rates, perhaps bigger cars that are more likely to have been taken care of (and built better in the first place) and that less people would now want could be as good if not better options.
Depending on how many miles you'll do (so how much you have to consider MPG Vs comfort as a compromise) and whether you're likely to get hit hard by insurance companies, you might find one or other of these approaches particularly "speaks to you" as it were.
My personal thinking if I were in that circumstance would pretty much go like this (though yours/brothers may diverge somewhere!):
1) All else equal, saloons are much less desirable than estates and hatchbacks among the general public - so if you focus on saloons you'll probably get something that's newer, lower mileage or has better service history for the same money.
2) I don't need to worry about insurance being too silly, so I can base my engine choices around engines I know will make big mileages - if a particular engine is usually good for 250k+ then I feel safe picking up a 120-150k mile example... Preferably engines I know a little as this helps with picking a good example and makes working on it easier (saving future bills) - it also saves me having to do homework on when regular maintenance is due, so I can both check for things that are overdue or account for things that will be due very soon.
For me, this would be Volvo 5-pots - I know them well enough in general and very high mileages are usually obtainable from them... The days of £1k D5's has probably gone, but I wouldn't say no to a 2.0T 5-cyl petrol either and probably more realistic on this budget.
3) What cars came with the engines I'd want to run? Now what other issues can these cars have, how easily can they be fixed and are they a deal-breaker?
Realistically to get a 5-cyl Volvo for around £1k I'd have to be looking at the 2.0T and I'm most likely to find that in a P2 S60 - there are the odd issues with them but often not too big a deal...
I reckon I could find one that'd be reliable enough for the budget (the fact they're not particularly modern in appearance inside or out, and saloon body, probably helps) - BUT this doesn't mean I'd necessarily recommend these as a blanket thing.
It's a very shallow pond of cars that are reliable for that kind of money and you're gambling a bit unless you know how to spot a dud and know a bit about the particular car and engine you're looking at... Doing your homework on because you've found something promising is going to lead to lots of wasted homework relative to analysing examples of cars you already have some prior knowledge of
.
Edited by Brassblaster on Saturday 10th December 23:33
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202204295...
Something like this Volvo would be my shot or maybe this mondeo which looks to have been well maintained.
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202212112...
Something like this Volvo would be my shot or maybe this mondeo which looks to have been well maintained.
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202212112...
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