Short-Term Shed for £1500

[Ben Hughes]

I'm off to uni in September, and the MGB won't be coming with me as I won't be able to give it the TLC that it wants. I'm in need of a sub-£1500 something that will tide me over until February when I'll have a years worth of license-holdership and NCB, with an MX-5 hopefully joining the stable.

I've drawn up a shortlist of things that I like or have heard good things about, and it currently consists of:

• Ford Focus Mk1 2.0
• Ford Mondeo Mk 3 1.8
• Peugeot 306 D Turbo

The main criteria are:

• Would make a decent motorway hack
• Capable of carting a drum kit around (I can do it in a Fiesta - just - so any of these will be fine)
• Can have a bit of fun on the Evo Triangle (going to uni in Aberystwyth, so not too far away from it!)
• Reasonable to insure

So, can anyone shed (sorry!) any light onto which of those three would make the better car? Any other suggestions would also be appreciated.

Thanks in advance,

Ben

[Garlick]

My Merc estate (see profile) was £1800, but cheaper are out there.

Fits the bill with exception to the Evo triange too? Anyway, it's a quality bit of kit for the cash.

[Ben Hughes]

Garlick said:

My Merc estate (see profile) was £1800, but cheaper are out there.

Fits the bill with exception to the Evo triange too? Anyway, it's a quality bit of kit for the cash.

Insurance is a bit rapey to say the least...was just quoted £3130, and only a bullseye less for the diseasal model. The others have all come in at around £1200 for the year, and I'm loathe to spend more than a car is worth on insurance.

[sebhaque]

Haven't spoken to you for ages chap.

Anyway I saw a similar thread earlier - linky and the general consensus seemed to be that the 306 is top buck.

Also something I didn't say on fb - it might be worth seeing if Admiral's multicar policy is any good.

[Garlick]

Fair enough. Old age has it's perks as I pay a couple of hundred quid, fully comp, in London

[-crookedtail-]

Look at a second generation SEAT Toledo, I had my 1999 diesel one when I was a student and it was a good car. It used the VAG 110 TDI engine which I still believe to be one of the best produced for economy/performance, although its no speed machine

Best of all it is in a relatively low insurance group so my premiums were not so bad.

It has a big boot but being a saloon the opening is quite small so I am not sure you'll get your drum kit in, but you probably would to be fair.

You should be able to find one within budget.

[Waugh-terfall]

Out of those three, it's got to be the 306, probably will find some niggly faults as it is French after all, but you could likely fix most with a hammer and luck!

I still think after the Facebook conversation that a late Volvo 480 would be kinda cool, though I have absolutely no experience with one what-so-ever, other than Ovlovs of that era have THE most comfortable seats the world has ever seen

[petrolveins]

I got some reasonable quotes when I was mucking about looking at Volvo 850s, not sure about the evo factor there either though.

What about old saabs and things like that?

[Incorrigible]

Just bought a octavia TDI estate for £1500, a bargain if I do say so myself. Over 50MPG and reasonably sprightly. Meets all your criteria, apart from exciting and does leave room for a bass amp and passenger for even cheaper fuel costs

[EDLT]

I'd go for the Focus, although I'd have the 1.8. Its only got about 15hp less than the 2.0 but its better on fuel and cheaper to insure.

[K321]

saab 9.3 turbo

[shirt]

id go with the 306, but the 2.0hdi. purely on insurance (gp5) and ease of sale

[lunchbox]

Not sure this is of any help...but I once got a drumkit with me and the other 3 members of the band in a 106 (so it'll be easy in a 306!).

Good luck having a car at uni, I only had one there for a week and was suddenly inundated with calls from randoms asking me to take them to Asda/Tesco/the dealers house.

[eltax91]

Octavia with the TDi 110 in it. Same as Toledo mentioned before, but a hatch for the drums. It's not quite as good as others for evo triangle, but will be faultlessly reliable and with the right tyres and suspension could be made more fun.

SLX is the range topper from the vintage you are looking at. It has climate but cloth seats so hardly last word in comfort. I will be swapping mine for passat leather soon and nick some cup holders from the same car and I'm laughing.

Mine is the perfect tool for the job. Calculated 50 to the gallon on mostly motorway runs. Running 30k a year in it without fault.

[Ben Hughes]

Thanks for the advice guys - seems to be split between the Focus and the 306. I've had a look at a few other things suggested (Ovlovs, SAABs, Octavia) but they're all rapey to insure and I must say I'm not a fan of the Toledo.

However I'm still tempted by the more 'grown up' feel of the Mondeo, especially over long distances, not to mention all the electric toys that it comes with such as cruise and electric everything. Yes, I am a bit of a child in that respect.

anonymous said:

[redacted]

Well, as a life-long petrolhead, the thought of three years without a car is not a nice one. Heck, I get itchy feet if I go even a couple of days without driving anywhere.

[Mr Dave]

D-turbo is comfy, cheap on fuel, quite good looking, great fun to throw about, cheap to insure, cheap parts, screw her out and get the reek out the back of thon car an she will fill the pipe rightly hey.

[Rammy76]

Go for the Mark 1 Focus. I've done around 80000 miles split evenly between a 1.8 Zetec and a ST 170 and both were 100% reliable apart from the ST requiring a new oxygen sensor.

The are also great to drive with excellent handling yet still refined on the motorways.

IMO they still look sharp today styling wise, and yes I am biased

[Waugh-terfall]

That ST170 is the danglies, sir! What I'd do for that about now...

[Rammy76]

Waugh-terfall said:

That ST170 is the danglies, sir! What I'd do for that about now...

Why thank you

I never kidded myself that it would keep up with Clio Sports or Civic Type R's etc but it was just such a good all round car that was such fun on the twisties, yet was effortless on the motorways. I waited a while to get one with the top spec which made it feel a bit special. Kind of wish I still had it too!

[Ben Hughes]

Wow, that is a very nice looking car - indeed I'd go so far to say that it looks better than the Mk1 RS.