best 1.4 hatchback for under £3000

[Froddy]

Hello,

Looking for a 1.4 hatchback for under £3000 - Any Reccomendations?

I currently have an early ford fiesta 1.2 which gets me from A to B, but i am starting a new job soon and need faster and more fuel effficient car for motorway journeys.

Any help is appreciated.

 

[Begbie]

It surely doesn't need to be a '1.4', you just want something faster. Right?

A focus or newer fiesta would fit the bill nicely.

 

[GravyMonster]

Anything inherently wrong with your Fiesta? Unless it's got an issue, or due some massive maintenance bills soon, I'd be tempted to stick with it. £3k isn't likely to get you something that much better.

How many miles is the commute?

 

[dave28]

I had a 2001 ford fiesta 1.3 - total junk rotted badly at about 12 / 13 years old

Bought a 2006 Clio 1.4 - still have it, easily passed the MOT the other day. Is not rotten. Considerably better and more comfortable car than the Fiest in every way possible. Night and day a better car

 

[tom_e]

£3k in today's market might just be buying you a money pit ,as said unless there's anything terminally wrong with your current car it may be worth sticking it out

 

[pigeonguyuk]

Joined a PC Forum and the first post is about a car.. totally normal.

keep what you have 1.2 is perfecty fine for mortoway journeys. 3k will get you very little

 

[Rroff]

1.2 is perfecty fine for mortoway journeys

Personally I'd disagree if you are doing any real distance on faster roads, depending a bit on the BHP/ton, 1.2 is pretty ghastly - especially with some of the newer heavier vehicles with a 1.2-1.4 turbo'd out the behind which has OK performance but you are wringing it out to get there with more engine noise, probably increased engine wear and the fuel efficiency vanishes.

One of the reasons I try and avoid using hire cars work wants to provide when I'm doing training or the likes further away from home as it is almost always some little ~1.2 thing some of them are nice enough around town but just totally out of their league when you get out on the A303 never mind a motorway.

 

[HangTime]

A 1.2 turbo is fine. We have a 2L hybrid now but done A303 plenty of times in 130hp 1.2.
Fiesta 1.2 less so I assume.

 

[Rroff]

A 1.2 turbo is fine. We have a 2L hybrid now but done A303 plenty of times in 130hp 1.2.
Fiesta 1.2 less so I assume.

Fiesta 1.2 is like 80-90BHP IIRC, 130 wouldn't be too bad, to be fair I'm used to 3L V6s and even the Qashqai for its sins and only 130BHP has a ton of torque which helps, so going down to something like a 1.2 Fiesta is not a good experience for me.

 

[Grim5]

At that price I'd just keep what I have unless it's totally broken, it's not worth doing a car swap at that price

There are some non expensive small displacements with ok performance that may satisfy you roff, like a 1.4 Polo Gti which has 180hp and 250nm torque, can pickup a 2012 model for between 4 to 5k

 

[Rroff]

There are some non expensive small displacements with ok performance that may satisfy you roff, like a 1.4 Polo Gti which has 180hp and 250nm torque

I have no intention of buying or spending much time in anything like that personally :s but I can quite understand why someone wouldn't want to spend extended time on the motorway with most 1.2s.

 

[Grim5]

I have no intention of buying or spending much time in anything like that personally :s but I can quite understand why someone wouldn't want to spend extended time on the motorway with most 1.2s.

Depends on the traffic where you are I suppose. Where I am average motorway speeds keeps me in 2nd gear 80% of my trips so performance is mostly useless for me. But I still enjoy my car when I can on the small bits where I can get up to speed.

At the speeds and level of traffic I travel, the most annoying thing would not be a small displacement car, it would be having a manual gearbox with constant stop start traffic for miles

 

[Rroff]

Depends on the traffic where you are I suppose. Where I am average motorway speeds keeps me in 2nd gear 80% of my trips so performance is mostly useless for me. But I still enjoy my car when I can on the small bits where I can get up to speed

Very varied traffic on most of my travels - I do everything from early morning, rush hour, night time, etc. as well. I don't tend to drive fast, but I do like to get up to speed quickly and effortlessly.

 

[the_worrier]

Joined a PC Forum and the first post is about a car.. totally normal.

keep what you have 1.2 is perfecty fine for mortoway journeys. 3k will get you very little

In a section entitled ‘Motors’ this seems reasonable. Are you tired, hon?

 

[Haze]

Wants more fuel efficient car, wants bigger engine, logic is strong in this one...

 

[Rroff]

Wants more fuel efficient car, wants bigger engine, logic is strong in this one...

Not actually that crazy - real MPG depends on a lot of factor - in the average car range often the best MPG is with the 2.0L diesel, with the smaller diesels and petrol engines getting lower MPG and in mixed driving the 1.4 petrol is often more fuel efficient than the 1.2 petrol option, etc. (EDIT: though this is often due to being not directly comparable technology wise as often it isn't just the same engine with different capacity) also depends on usage - some 1.2s give unbeatable MPG around town but that vanishes if you are using them on faster roads (unless you are one of the annoying people who take forever to get going and don't accelerate on slip roads, etc.).

 

[Diddums]

Anything inherently wrong with your Fiesta? Unless it's got an issue, or due some massive maintenance bills soon, I'd be tempted to stick with it. £3k isn't likely to get you something that much better.

How many miles is the commute?

Absolutely 100% this. £3k is sadly bangernomics territory nowadays, you have a rather high chance of ending up with an absolute nail. If you insist however, make sure you do your due diligence.

 

[Nasher]

Abarth 500 is a 1.4.

You'll need another 3k to fix all the issues a cheap one will have though

 

[Rilot]

Ford Granada 2.8i Ghia with a blown head-gasket on one bank.

 

[Diddums]

Ford Granada 2.8i Ghia with a blown head-gasket on one bank.

Peugeot 306 diesel with the screw mod.