I thought i'd better make one of these threads...

Ah yes but the Mk4 Golf was always reknowned for its interior quality and its recognised that VW took a step backwards with the Mk5, something the Mk6's introduction so quickly after the Mk5 came out was intended to address.
 
Admitedly some of the plastics in the Mk5 look a bit shiny but it still feels like a nice solid car IMO - even down to the nice "clunk" when you close the doors.

Havent seen a Mk6 in person yet, would be interesting because (with the exception of the A3 and 1 series) I dont think there's many small hatchbacks that come close in solidity and feel of the interior
 
Wow, this thread suddenly caught fire! :)

I guess one of the biggest "problems" i'm trying to get my head around, is that if I go down to my local dealer and have a look around, i'm seeing the following kind of prices.

Volkswagen Golf - 06/07 plates - £9K for a small engine, over £10K for a larger one/TDI.
Audi A3 - 07/08 plates - well over £10K for anything "decent".
Seat Leon - just can't seem to get hold of the Mk I cars, which I prefer. And the Mk IIs start at about £9K again for a small engine, with the decent sized ones well over £10K.

Now here's the killer.

Ford Focus. 06/07 plate. 2.0 litre. £7K. And there are quite a few to choose from.

See where my problem lies here? I can probably drag them all down in terms of haggling, but I doubt i'll be able to get any of the others near the cost of the Focus, and that's without haggling the Focus either. They get good reviews, apparantly are great cars, and they're thousands cheaper than the competition.

I guess what i'm trying to say is, for all this talk of Golfs/A3s/Leons etc. are any of them really better than the Focus, and enough so to warrant the extra cost? :)
 
there's nothing wrong with focii, decent cars, however, you will probably find the equivelent mondeo, with more kit for the same price, this is what i found when i was buying my old mondeo anyway. Why not consider going a little older for a A3? an 05/06 A3 will still probably be a better car than a newer focus in terms of build quality and engine, and will also hold it's value better too.
 
Tute said:
Wow, this thread suddenly caught fire! :)

I guess one of the biggest "problems" i'm trying to get my head around, is that if I go down to my local dealer and have a look around, i'm seeing the following kind of prices.

Volkswagen Golf - 06/07 plates - £9K for a small engine, over £10K for a larger one/TDI.
Audi A3 - 07/08 plates - well over £10K for anything "decent".
Seat Leon - just can't seem to get hold of the Mk I cars, which I prefer. And the Mk IIs start at about £9K again for a small engine, with the decent sized ones well over £10K.

Now here's the killer.

Ford Focus. 06/07 plate. 2.0 litre. £7K. And there are quite a few to choose from.

See where my problem lies here? I can probably drag them all down in terms of haggling, but I doubt i'll be able to get any of the others near the cost of the Focus, and that's without haggling the Focus either. They get good reviews, apparantly are great cars, and they're thousands cheaper than the competition.

I guess what i'm trying to say is, for all this talk of Golfs/A3s/Leons etc. are any of them really better than the Focus, and enough so to warrant the extra cost? :)
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Your main problem is the main dealer requirement, as you've seen they just dont have anything more than 3 or 4 years old. Thats why you cant get a MK1 Leon.... If you could compromise and look further afield you'd have more of a choice, but you'd be looking at older or higher mileage cars. You might also get a better warranty from the main dealer.

If you can get a Focus that suits you, do it - they're one of the best, if not the best, mid sized hatchback. My money would definitely be on a 2.0 TDCi (Ignore problems with the 2.0 TDCi in the mondeo, its a different engine) especially as your dislike of VTEC/VVTi etc seems to indicate you prefer driving at lower revs. Titanium is the trim level to aim for if you can, Zetec Climate at a minimum

This one if you can live with an estate:

http://www.vospers.com/UsedCars/UsedCarLocator.aspx?st=Vehicle&vhl=600590705&ctr=1917393

Or the petrol

http://www.vospers.com/UsedCars/UsedCarLocator.aspx?st=Vehicle&vhl=600598733&ctr=1917374
 
It's an automatic Mr.D! :) But I can see where you're going with this. And I would insist on titanium spec. ;)

And the problem with VTEC is not that I drive specifically at low revs, I just don't want to have to send my fuel economy down the drain in order to get any performance out of the car.

The Type-S I drove felt so boring at low revs - no real "go" if I put my foot down. Now i'm aware that with a petrol car it's all about performance at the top, but the Civic felt worse than usual, and it claimed 150bhp!

Anyway, i'll pop you on MSN, we can chat more there.

[Edit] I thought your MSN was on your trust, how odd. Add me if you like then, da.tute[at]gmail[dot]com .
 
Nope - not really bothering with MSN these days...

It certainly looks like the Focus does what you want, within budget and available at local main dealers. Get yourself a test drive in a 2.0 petrol and a 2.0 tdci and see which one suits you - both will be very good cars.
 
Well as I said, all the ones i've mentioned are within budget. It's just a case of getting the best I can for my money, and the Focus seems to be miles ahead of the others in that respect.
 
Sounds like its the best bet for you given the circumstances. The only other one that might be worth looking at is the Mazda 3 as it's the Focus' sister car
 
With the cars you are mentioning you should possibly also consider the Octavia.
Very solid build and ticks all the boxes you've created.

I've been driving my Octy vRS since August last year and love it to death.
 
Today I took Peerzy's advice and went for a look at Fiat.

On the forecourt, a nice 1.4 TJet Fiat Bravo, in Active trim. Asked to take it for a whirl. It's a good little car. Plenty quick, plenty fun to drive, plenty of room. The turbo provided a nice kick to give it decent performance.

A strong contender, at least on par with the Focus.

So now, i'm left with two things to do, although I feel i'm right on the cusp of making a decision. I want to go have a look at a Mazda3, and I want to go give another Focus a go, but this time a 2.0 instead of the 1.8 before.

Then the haggling can start. ;)
 
Tute said:
Today I took Peerzy's advice and went for a look at Fiat.

On the forecourt, a nice 1.4 TJet Fiat Bravo, in Active trim. Asked to take it for a whirl. It's a good little car. Plenty quick, plenty fun to drive, plenty of room. The turbo provided a nice kick to give it decent performance.

A strong contender, at least on par with the Focus.

So now, i'm left with two things to do, although I feel i'm right on the cusp of making a decision. I want to go have a look at a Mazda3, and I want to go give another Focus a go, but this time a 2.0 instead of the 1.8 before.

Then the haggling can start. ;)
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Nice to hear you took a chance and at least had a look at it, too many people dismiss it before even considering it. Was it the 120 or 150? The engine is really nice for a 1.4 and the performance isn't bad either. How did you find the Active trim? I'd be personally tempted to pay an extra £500~ and get a Dynamic trim model as it'll have Cruise control, climate control, nice front arm rest (with cooled drinks storage) and a few nice bits of chrome about the place. Sport is the top trim but doesn't add much apart from different wheels and a Sport button that ups the torque by a tiny bit.

I'd be looking for a 150Tjet in Dynamic if it was me (espcially as the same Bravo is gonna be at least £500 cheaper than the same Focus), check the spare tyre as well as earlier ones have the ouncture goo stuff, some have space savers and some have proper spares.

My remapped 1.4Tjet 150 comes very close to a Focus ST in terms of performance, the ST just edges it so I would expect a stock 150T to be about on par with a 2.0l Focus.

Like I've said before the only thing I can really fault the car on is rear leg room if the driver is tall. The boot is big enough and I'd rather they had shaved a few inches of boot space to give decent back seat leg room instead of just enough.

iaind said:
If you plan on keeping it longer than the warranty period, fiat is to be avoided
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Rubbish, the engines are very good and I seriously doubt it'll cost you anything more than a Focus or Golf would over 5 years of ownership.
 
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Tute said:
It was an Active, so it didn't have the extra bits. 150bhp.

Quite a quick little thing, I was very impressed.

Not a fan of Fiat then, Iain? ;)

[Edit] It was this one.

http://usedcars.fiat.co.uk/used-fia...ctive-hatchback-5-door-1952706-600538424.aspx
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Very quick considering everything, a whole different ball game if you're willing to splash an extra £350 on a remap and induction kit.

When I first test drove a 150 I went in thinking this is a 1.4, it really can't be much faster than my 1.2 60bhp Punto (0-60 in about 13 seconds), how wrong was I, the engine is really easy to use as well, a lot of power through the midrange and not just at the top so it can all be used. Most when put on rolling roads have come up as about 160-165bhp (mine was 164bhp) anyway.

Looks nice but just as a heads up you can get cheaper/better deals. Mine is an 07 plate 150 Dynamic (with a few paid for extras as well) it had done 13k mileage and was also registered in July 07 and it cost me £7500 back in November (had it serviced and had the Fiat two tone alloys put on it at cost which pushed it close to £8000 in total).

Mine was really cheap at the time, but I'd expect to get an early 57plate Active 150 for about £7600 and an 07 plate Dynamic for about £7500.

A quick search on Autotrader showed this up 6 months newer, less miles and in Dynamic.


Edit: Looks a nice example though, but like I said shop around, on Autotrader just click technical spec and make sure it says Insurance Group10 (instead of 4 for the 90bhp 1.4 or 5 for the 120bhp 1.4Tjet). There are enough floating about now so you should get exactly what you want for £7500-£8000.

Edit2: This looks nice, Dynamic makes the inside and out look a tad more upmarket removing the last few black plastics and replacing them with chrome bits.
 
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Okay, i'm at my wits end with this, quite frankly.

I've looked in, sat in, driven, and collected reviews, reports, and various information about all the different cars. I've whittled my list down from numerous, so a handful. But i'm totally stuck at this point.

Focus - Good interior, probably the worst looking of the cars on my list, but solid, reliable. Performance is reasonable, but I don't think it's anything to shout about.

Fabia - Is a diesel, and I enjoyed test driving the petrols more, despite the huge torquey kick in the back. Interior is basic, but the looks good from the outside. That, however, would make it a target, so it both a good and bad thing. Fuel consumption is the best of a lot, but the insurance is the worst.

Bravo - Interior is reasonable, nothing to shout about but not bad either. I feel the same with the exterior, I don't like it as much as the Fabia but I like it more than the Focus. Engine is superb, but the handling felt a bit "off" - not sure what you call it, but when zipping around corners it leans a lot. Also, from reading reviews, it certainly seems to be the "wildcard" in my list when it comes to reliability. Not saying it's bad, but it can be a risk.

Mazda don't really appeal, I had a sit in one but prefer the looks of the Focus.

I'm toying with the idea of "finding" (read beg, borrow, steal) the extra for a Golf Mk5 GT 1.4TSI. I've not had the chance to drive one, yet, but I love the looks inside and out, the engine gets rave reviews and it's more than reliable. But it's almost certainly going to be the "uncomfortable" side of £10K for a good 06 plate example.

I guess i'm asking, how do you guys whittle down when you get to half a dozen cars or less? How do you decide what to go for? I'm stuck.
 
Tute said:
Hey all.

It's probably quite obvious given my activity over the last month in here, in various threads, but i've been given the reins with some money to go and buy a nice car.

Requirements are:

- FIVE doors. This is non-negotiable, courtesy of SWMBO.
- Hatchback (around Focus sized). It needs to be able to carry 4 in comfort, but I don't want anything too massive.
- Budget is around eight to nine thousand.
- It probably will be bought from a dealership. This is something I can't change and is an order from the person providing the funds.
- It needs to be able to do all things, well. It'll be used to run the A38 a lot, anything up to 20K a year. It must be able to hold 80mph comfortably for that reason.
- Decent economy. I don't expect 50+ MPG but I don't really want to be going less than 30.
- Reliable. This is crucial. It must be a well built car, I don't want it in the garage too often.
- I'd like something with a bit of "zip". Thinking warm hatch as the hot ones are quite bad for insurance still. In the high 7s to low 9s for the 0-60.

That's about it really. Sorry there's such a big list, but i'm trying to get this spot on, hence taking my time with it.

So far i've shortlisted the following.

Ford Focus Mk.II - probably a 2.0 Petrol.
VW Golf Mk. V
Audi A3 Sportback
Seat Leon Mk I - I don't like the look of the Mk.II at all.

I was considering a Fabia vRS (as many of you well know). Well i've decided to leave that off the list as it's pretty contraversial, being a diesel. Also the one I had my eye on has sold, so it would mean hunting around a bit.

I also tried a Civic Type-S, which I really didn't like on account of the way VTEC works. So nothing with that technology please.

So er... anything i've missed? Am I on the right track? Fox/Tom|Nbk must be sick of hearing me talk about this as i've been chewing their ears off on MSN for a couple of weeks now. :D
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Mk1 S3's are 5k-8k ish, a friend bought one for 4k and its been very reliable, was already mapped to 280hp, they get around 35-40mpg and its got enough torque to be nippy, and is fast when you want it to be!
 
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