What second car?

[hoyin]

Need a second car that my wife can drive (she is taking lessons at the moment), but one that I won't mind driving.

The requirements are:

4 or 5 door
under 2k
reliable
won't bore me silly
no more than 80k on the clock

I've been looking at a Ford Focus. Anyone have any views?

[Frimley111R]

E36? Tons of good ones about for peanuts. Mazda 323 Sport looks nice and is 5dr.

[hoyin]

Aren't BMW's quite expensive to run and maintain?

[TheArchitect]

petrol focus's when i was shopping around looked good. and where meant to be best handling in class. mondeo 2.0 petrols can be had for that money and are good cars.

[kiwifraser]

Easy, as already said Mondeo or Focus. Both practical, cheap to maintain, offer lots of car for little cash, yet still hoonable

Our latest family bus: 52 plate Mondeo Zetec Estate, 2L petrol, 4 new tyres, new MOT, 12 months tax, aircon, electrics, black, clean and tidy, 110k miles = £1200. Can't beat it really

[hewlett]

Early Focuseseses are brilliant to drive and reliable, cheap to repair.

[MX-5 Lazza]

I have a 99 Focus 1.8 Zetec and have been amazed at how good it is! Ok, it's no rocket ship, looks boring and is no sports car but for a "boring family hatch" it actually drives and handles really well! I've had mine 5 years now and other than the usual service parts it's been amazingly reliable, especially considering I've been driving it 50 miles of b-roads to work and back for the last 4 years! It's done 114k miles now and still feels as good as it did when I bought it with 60k miles.