3.5K General Motorway/Country Lanes

VaderDSL · 28 Jun 2009 at 23:17

Potentially looking to buy a cheap run around for weekends/holidays. The budget will be 3.5K max which will include insurance/tax/mot etc. so say 2k for the car. My insurance form a couple I have looked at is 1.5k - 2k (26 years old, 0 years NCB). Also I am probably looking to do maybe 5000 - 7500 miles a year MAX I'd say.

After a lot of reading I am beginning to narrow down a shortlist of general cars in that price range, if I could grab a quick opinion on them and any other potential recommendations that would be great.

I basically need a cheap run around, I don't need lots of performance, to date the most powerful car I have driven is a 1.8litre TD 206, so not after big engined cars. However it will be used for motorway and narrow country lanes and hills, and potentially pot holed gravel tracks, i.e heading out to camp sites, fairly remote location so may need to take a slight beating from the terrain.
It will be used to carry a modest amount of weight and potentially some large items, so estate would be ideal.

I was looking first up at the Subaru Forester, I know before you scoff it's not going to be doing any major off-road driving, but some places I go can be a bit tricky for a FWD car, especially in wet conditions. However this is a fairly minor concern.

Here is one advert on PH Now I have heard the Foresters/Legacys aren't all that bad, but with a low budget of 2K is it even worth buying something like this? My mechanical knowledge is basic, oil/water/tyres etc. I have heard a few horror stories but with everything is it a small percentage or quite a high rate of failure with these?

Next up I have heard some good things about the Volvo V40's Like this one here. Again I am very unsure on what 2K will get me in this climate. This example here sounds good to me, obviously discounting actually viewing the car, again the engines are a bit thirsty am I right in thinking but fairly solid? On avergae the mechanics of the V40 should be fairly robust? If so the low price on this is due to the 100K?

Also I hear a LOT regarding the Mondeos

I hear things about the Mk2 and Mk3 I think? Now I am unfamiliar with them and I take it you can figure out if it's a Mk2/3 etc. from the year? I assume a 2000 Ghia X 5 door estate would be a Mk2? Here is a link to AT with what seems like a fairly decent looking estate, now with the Mondeo I can imagine parts and repairs would be fairly cheap and easy to come across as opposed to the Volvo/Forester? Running costs are also in the back of my mind due to my budget. Would this kind of Mondeo be the sort of thing I should be looking at, or am I wide of the mark here with this example?

That's only three however, so rather than list them all those are the three main ones I've looked at. I have given a bit of attention to the 406 estates, but my dad has driven Peugeots so would a 406 estate be something to check out further?

Thank you

Any advice would be brilliant cheers.

Just had a look for TPFT insurance on the Volvo, coming out at under 1K, don't think it's worth going fully comp? But that might allow me to stretch my budget higher.

Peerzy · 28 Jun 2009 at 23:28

I really can't imagine insurance for a 1.8 Mondeo being £2000 for a 26 year old

It would cost me about £700 to insure one and I'm 19! Even with 0NCB it should only really be £1000~ for someone your age!

Mondeo - but I'd push for a Mk3, they look so much better. Enough of them about so try and get one thats not LX as it doesn't come with Air-Con.

VaderDSL · 28 Jun 2009 at 23:32

Peerzy said:
I really can't imagine insurance for a 1.8 Mondeo being £2000 for a 26 year old

It would cost me about £700 to insure one and I'm 19! Even with 0NCB it should only really be £1000~ for someone your age!

Yeah just put the details through again and they are coming up around the 1k mark, not sure what I did to cause the search engine to return quotes of 1.5 - 2k. In that case, stretching to 2.5k budget for the car

Peerzy · 28 Jun 2009 at 23:36

VaderDSL said:
Yeah just put the details through again and they are coming up around the 1k mark, not sure what I did to cause the search engine to return quotes of 1.5 - 2k. In that case, stretching to 2.5k budget for the car

Should get a Mk3 Mondeo (You should be able to tell the difference in shape). Aim for a trim level higher than LX (Edge, Ghia... etc) so you get Air-Con and possibly Cruise-Control.

For your mileage best to stick with a petrol. 1.8 should be fine and keep running it cheap enough. Just make sure it's got a good service history and there is no knocking noises coming from the suspension over bumps and this can be the bushes which can cost a fair bit to replace.

Don't be worried if one you find has high mileage. Nature of the car means it should have spent a fair bit of its time on the motorway where engine and part wear is at a minimum.

monkey_boy · 29 Jun 2009 at 16:23

You didn't mention being averse to high mileage so this would probably get my vote.

http://pistonheads.com/sales/1063422.htm

Berger · 29 Jun 2009 at 16:25

monkey_boy said:
You didn't mention being averse to high mileage so this would probably get my vote.

http://pistonheads.com/sales/1063422.htm

Which of the Ford diesel engines is prone to grenading and throwing up big bills though, is it this one or the other?

paradigm · 29 Jun 2009 at 16:49

Berger said:
Which of the Ford diesel engines is prone to grenading and throwing up big bills though, is it this one or the other?

The TDCI is prone to random failures.

The TDDI is garbage.

Tough choice between the two tbh.

v0n · 30 Jun 2009 at 03:41

VaderDSL said:
I basically need a cheap run around (...)

I was looking first up at the Subaru Forester (..) Here is one advert on PH Now I have heard the Foresters/Legacys aren't all that bad, but with a low budget of 2K is it even worth buying something like this? (..)

In short no. Subaru boxers are great engines but Foresters are heavy cars and with Japanese spec turbo'd 2l you will be looking at mid 20ies mpg on average, insurance might be slightly higher because it's an import and the car in advert is unusually cheap, so there is probably something off about it (my bet goes on japanese style decals, possibly in broken english, it's probably why there are no pictures of it).

Next up I have heard some good things about the Volvo V40's Like this one here. Again I am very unsure on what 2K will get me in this climate. This example here sounds good to me, obviously discounting actually viewing the car, again the engines are a bit thirsty am I right in thinking but fairly solid? On avergae the mechanics of the V40 should be fairly robust? If so the low price on this is due to the 100K?

This is dutch Volvo sharing platform with infamous Mitsubishi Charisma. Early examples had some quality control issues until Volvo stepped in with redesigns. Generally this car is slated on the net, as it's not thoroughbred Volvo, and of course - people presume everything under the skin is just Charisma (and it's not, there is actually very little both cars share, even less after 1998) but to be absolutely honest - it's better than most of cars at the time in that class - be it renaults, astras, nissans and the mitsubishi it shared floorplan with. Interior is a good place to be, in higher spec - with turbo, leathers, cruise and xenons it's hard to beat in terms of bang for buck value. So it's sort of - if you were to spend 7k on it, you can easily find better car, but for 2k, pick as many toys and best trim you can find and it's really not bad. 1.8i is a dog. 1.8GDI is designed to be diesel like, but has some issues with carbon build up, as people tend to drive it like diesel. 2.0 is somewhere in the middle, not fast, not too thirsty. 2.0T is best pick, rest of petrol turbo'd engines are quite good but mpg figures start dropping sharply.