Monocle me a 5k car

Basher

Basher

Basher

Soldato
Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
9,158
Right,

The time has come for me to buy a car, my budget is £5k and here's the sort of thing I'm looking for:

  • Comfy enough for long motorway journeys
  • Reasonable servicing costs
  • Not too dull on acceleration (<10secs)
  • Trade sale as I want to be able to test drive it
  • Reasonable to insure

Any suggestions?

Basher
 
paradigm said:
MK3 Mondeo 2.0 Petrol (spec is up to your preference).

You could even get a TDCI for that money.
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Yep, I concur. Our 51 plate 2.0LX TDCi was on the forecourt for £5400 but we managed to get it down to £4800 (part ex). This was about 3 years back and it's still going strong today.
 
Mondeo's are looking good and by all accounts seem pretty solid. Would people recommend a more expensive example with less miles on the clock, or a cheaper one with lots of miles? I'm thinking a lot for sale will be ex-fleet and even with 100k on the clock will still have a lot left in them?
 
Basher said:
Mondeo's are looking good and by all accounts seem pretty solid. Would people recommend a more expensive example with less miles on the clock, or a cheaper one with lots of miles? I'm thinking a lot for sale will be ex-fleet and even with 100k on the clock will still have a lot left in them?
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fi they are ex fleet they should be decent becuase of the regular servicing and motorway predominent usage.

check for excessive wear and you can tell the way the car has been used:)

i say way it up considering the price difference, a diesel will last for miles and miles if looked after correctly .
 
I wouldn't let high miles put you off up to a point, avoid anything that has been to the moon and back and you can't go too far wrong if it's got a full service history. I've been looking and am thinking of accepting slightly higher miles so I can get a nicer spec the GHIA x is looking tempting.
 
What are people thoughts on Honda Civics? Do they last well in terms of mileage? I've found one at £3650, 51plate has 113,000 miles, 1.6l sport executive edition.

Would people say this has too many miles?
 
You'll get bored of it before it gives up the ghost. The only thing that really kills cars, besides accident damage, is terminal bodywork condition or a repair bill that exceeds the value of the car. But of course the cheaper a car becomes the cheaper bits get anyway - for somebody driving say a £500 Cavalier, a total engine failiure doesn't kill the car becuase a new engine is £100..
 
What about buying from garages/dealers other than main ones? My mum always told me not to buy from anyone other than a big dealer, what are peoples opinions on this?
 
Basher said:
What about buying from garages/dealers other than main ones? My mum always told me not to buy from anyone other than a big dealer, what are peoples opinions on this?
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Buy from anyone BUT a big dealer unless you are buying an expensive car and have lots of money.

Personally, I like buying from private sellers becuase paying somebody elses profit margin on a sub £10k car is not my idea of good value.
 
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