A To B Car Help Needed

[LennyLexus]

Hi Guys,

Need some advice on getting an A to B car to run to the ground 3years+, minimum of 50k (40% motorway,40% country A roads, 20% town) of life, here are the requirements:

Hatchback

Budget is between £2-4k

Needs to return 50mpg+

Be reaonable comfortable

Japanese reliability

Must be cheap to maintain

Reasonably good good handling and sum excitement

Offer good chipping gains

Nothing french

Nothing too revolting

Cars I've briefly looked at, would prefer something Japanese, but the good stuff is out of my range.

Honda Civic 1.7 CDTi

Top of my budget,

VW Golf 1.9

Was looking at the 110 or 130, seems like reliability is a problem

Nissan Almera

French unit?

Vauxhall Astra

Ford Focus

Mitsu Carisma

Lacks a lot of it

Many thanks

Len

[Andy-R]

I LOVED my 306 HDI DTurbo. I know you don't want French but I never had any complaints.

[shake]

Nissan Primera GT 2.0 97-99 or Primera egt 2.0 1990 - 1997, or 99-02 SR20DE engined primera. almera gti...? (sr20de is ***** easy to get extra power out of)

as far as im aware, all the petrol engines in the almera are jap units. my g/f has had one for about 5+ years, 1.8 sport (still in the household family) and hasnt gone wrong once. i've had a 1.8 primera which had some frenchy electrics. it did keep flagging cat problems but there wasnt any. i even sold it with the engine check light on!

but your not going to get 50mpg... the primera more like 33mpg, almera about 35mpg

yes i like my primeras :P

[shake]

how about a nissan micra? if your lucky you might even find a jap import 1.0 turbo or later 1.3 turbo!

toyota starlet glanza v?

[widnes_is200]

Nissan Primera GT 2.0 97-99 or Primera egt 2.0 1990 - 1997, or 99-02 SR20DE engined primera. almera gti...? (sr20de is ***** easy to get extra power out of)

as far as im aware, all the petrol engines in the almera are jap units. my g/f has had one for about 5+ years, 1.8 sport (still in the household family) and hasnt gone wrong once. i've had a 1.8 primera which had some frenchy electrics. it did keep flagging cat problems but there wasnt any. i even sold it with the engine check light on!

but your not going to get 50mpg... the primera more like 33mpg, almera about 35mpg

yes i like my primeras :P

i work for nissan and the primeras are very reliable, the primera gt is a hard to find car and fetches good money, for a v reg ure talking 3-4k for a goodun

[LennyLexus]

Andy I always wanted a 306 since passing my driving test and looking at yours i remember why, but I cant be in the 206/7 307 herd.

Shake, I want an oil burner, micra is too small.

I'm leaning towards to a focus at the mo..

I had a primera 94 reg for 30k since 90k, and yes found it quite economical and reliable with it being neglected.

[Anuj]

civic mate, or a mazda 3

[Paradroid]

Budget is between £2-4k

Needs to return 50mpg+

Japanese reliability

Must be cheap to maintain

Reasonably good good handling and sum excitement

Offer good chipping gains

Nothing french

Can't see you getting all that, you'll have to compromise on something!

I had a Rover 45 2.0TDi for a while to do mega miles to work (100 a day). Paid £3750 for it @ 3years old, sold it with 30k more on the clock for £2650 18 months later.

It needed brakes thanks to neglect/abuse by previous owner but apart from that it was 100% solid.

It's kind of Japanese reliability because it's heavily based on a Honda Civic.

Has to be said though, being 32 yrs old I did not enjoy the image. Especially because it was black. I don't like black cars with lots of chrome.

[WylieCoyote]

Ford Focus?

[Rikos]

MG ZR 2.0 TDI

Which Focus? Get a Fiesta and join me and Chris :winky:

[shake]

i've got a seat leon PD150. similar engine as the PD130 in the golfs, main difference is a few internals and turbo.

mine so far has been 100%. i dont go easy on it either.

maybe a 130 leon? or even an ibiza if its not too small. you might even be able to get a 150/160...

[hodaz]

cars are so cheap nowadays if you just want something to run into the ground you may aswell buy a complete sh*tter for sub £500 and forget about economy, and think of all the money saved.

my dad just sold a 98 2.0l Primera with 130k for £450 and there was nothing wrong with it at all, easy had another 130k in it. Big undesirbale petrol cars (like Primera's, Carisma's, Mondeo's, Vectra's) to name but a few go for pennies at the moment.

[84Stoney]

looking for something similar myself.

So far com up with

this

[shake]

looking for something similar myself.

So far com up with

this

i almost mis-read that as GTO engine!

[Noel]

Keep it in the Toyota family ....

http://search.autotrader.co.uk/es-uk/www/c...mp;max_mileage=

can't go wrong with one of these and even after a few years it'll still be worth something ;)

Parkers info = http://www.parkers.co.uk/cars/specs/Detail.aspx?deriv=22438

[WylieCoyote]

looking for something similar myself.

So far com up with

this

i almost mis-read that as GTO engine!

A Buy it Now of £4000??????? Is he having a giraffe? When all is said and done it's a P reg Colt. No amount of fancy bodywork detracts from the fact it's an 11 year old car with an 11 year old engine.

[LennyLexus]

civic mate, or a mazda 3

Lovely cars, but slightly out of my budget

Ford Focus?

Came very close to getting a new one, £17k 1.6 TDCi on a 3 year lease, but didnt want to spend that much driving an average joe focus, never been a fan of fords, cant believe i was 80% close to getting a new mk3 or 2nd hand mk 2.

MG ZR 2.0 TDI

Which Focus? Get a Fiesta and join me and Chris :winky:

Ditto, cant see myself in a ford.

i've got a seat leon PD150. similar engine as the PD130 in the golfs, main difference is a few internals and turbo.

mine so far has been 100%. i dont go easy on it either.

maybe a 130 leon? or even an ibiza if its not too small. you might even be able to get a 150/160...

I've heard a lot about the unreliability of these engines, put me off VAG completely.

cars are so cheap nowadays if you just want something to run into the ground you may aswell buy a complete sh*tter for sub £500 and forget about economy, and think of all the money saved.

my dad just sold a 98 2.0l Primera with 130k for £450 and there was nothing wrong with it at all, easy had another 130k in it. Big undesirbale petrol cars (like Primera's, Carisma's, Mondeo's, Vectra's) to name but a few go for pennies at the moment.

This is what my dad does and its his philosophy when it comes to cars, but I like my cars to run like new, so would spend ££s doing brakes, supension, tyres, engine etc

Keep it in the Toyota family ....

http://search.autotrader.co.uk/es-uk/www/c...mp;max_mileage=

can't go wrong with one of these and even after a few years it'll still be worth something ;)

Parkers info = http://www.parkers.co.uk/cars/specs/Detail.aspx?deriv=22438

I didnt find one in my budget with the right mileage.

Tracking down the right second hand car seemed way too much hassle, and then making sure it was in good running order could have cost as much as a new car...

So today me and the missus went and got a brand new top of the range Aygo (Platinum with A/C), 1/2 leather/suede interior (similar to the Lex, didnt really want this, but it was the only one available), 14" alloys :D , £20pa VED, 63mpg, 68bhp!! Picking her up on friday, Lexi Lou will be doing about 2k pa and should always look her best.

[P4UL T]

I wanna see pis of this beast Lenny

[Anuj]

mazda- http://search.autotrader.co.uk/es-uk/www/c...6/search.action

honda-

http://search.autotrader.co.uk/es-uk/www/c...6/search.action

[WylieCoyote]

Ok, I'll admit, I absolutely love the Aygo's. I've so nearly bought one twice - just for fun. The ting I love about them is this. When I was 17, it simply didn't matter about what gadgets my car had - leather seats, ESP, EBL and so on. What mattered was it was my car and I loved it. Over the past 10 years, I've changed - I now look for all the acronyms before buying a car - none of which I actually understand. The great thing about the Aygo, is when you drive it, it takes you back to being 17 again - it just doesn't matter what it's got (or hasn't got is probably more appropriate!) because it's just a huge giggle and every time I've driven one I've got out with a massive smile on my face - something that no Lexus, Jaguar or Volvo has ever/will ever give me.

You'll be thrilled with it.

[P4UL T]

Ok, I'll admit, I absolutely love the Aygo's. I've so nearly bought one twice - just for fun. The ting I love about them is this. When I was 17, it simply didn't matter about what gadgets my car had - leather seats, ESP, EBL and so on. What mattered was it was my car and I loved it. Over the past 10 years, I've changed - I now look for all the acronyms before buying a car - none of which I actually understand. The great thing about the Aygo, is when you drive it, it takes you back to being 17 again - it just doesn't matter what it's got (or hasn't got is probably more appropriate!) because it's just a huge giggle and every time I've driven one I've got out with a massive smile on my face - something that no Lexus, Jaguar or Volvo has ever/will ever give me.

You'll be thrilled with it.

Sounds exactly like when I used to have a Corsa years ago, was like a go-cart, used to have loads of fun chucking it around.

[LennyLexus]

I wanna see pis of this beast Lenny

will post pics up as soon as :)

they have such a cheeky character about them.

[eXOBeX]

Mate of mine's using an old LS400, gas converted, as a cheap runner to and from work! Ex-LOC, bought on eBay.