Suggestions for cars £900-£1500

Lyle44

Lyle44

Lyle44

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18 Sep 2007
Posts
572
Location
Norwich
Need a new car following accident & aiming to spend around £900 upto about £1500, if there was something really worth it, £2000 max. at a push.

Spec:

3/5 Door, 5 preferred
Tax/MoT, the longer tax the better
Reasonable mileage under 85,000 would be good
Power steering
Engine size 1.4-1.8l and lower than group 9 insurance
Reliability & good economy are musts.

Not aiming for a Mondeo, Fiesta or Punto.

Currently thinking of Seat Leon (seen one locally for just under £2k with 70k miles; y plate), Citroen Xsara and dare I say it an Astra or Focus.

Anyone got other suggestions for cars that I've missed? that are worth considering.

Cheers
 
You will not get a Seat Leon that isnt falling to bits for between 900 quid and 1500 quid. Most cars in this budget will be high mileage, or crap, or old. Great low mileage cars dont cost 900 quid.

You need to do a little bit of expectation management I think.
 
Ricochet J said:
Mk1 petrol 1.6 Focus engine is underpowered but economical. 1.8 is thirsty. 2.0 seems to have the right balance.

Edit: "...expectation management..." :D
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2.0 is as thirsty as the 1.8, so depends what you're after really. I didn't find the standard 2.0 that inspiring, so I'd just stick with the 1.6 - although at the bottom end they are mostly 1.8s because of that

How about a Toledo?
 
Way i see it is that for a banger budget, you should not be saying "i want this, this this" etc. You should simply buy the best car you can afford.

Surely the best car within this budget is a Mk3 Mondeo? I cant really think of anything better.
 
Lyle44 said:
Need a new car following accident & aiming to spend around £900 upto about £1500, if there was something really worth it, £2000 max. at a push.

Spec:

3/5 Door, 5 preferred
Tax/MoT, the longer tax the better
Reasonable mileage under 85,000 would be good
Power steering
Engine size 1.4-1.8l and lower than group 9 insurance
Reliability & good economy are musts.

Not aiming for a Mondeo, Fiesta or Punto.

Currently thinking of Seat Leon (seen one locally for just under £2k with 70k miles; y plate), Citroen Xsara and dare I say it an Astra or Focus.

Anyone got other suggestions for cars that I've missed? that are worth considering.

Cheers
Click to expand...

there are a couple of x-y reg 1.6 golfs on autotrader for 1500+
5 doors
under 85000 miles
power steering
and only a group 6

there are quite a few astras around that price as well.
 
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This budget would probably get you a ropey MK3 Mondeo, I'd rather get a mint, loaded MK2 TBH. I really dislike the pre-facelift MK3 with it's HORRIBLE centre console and dull looks. The Facelift improved on all the things that needed to be improved TBH.
 
For a car around a grand I'd be more bothered by condition, tax length and MOT length than what car I was getting.

Obviously some caveats apply, like no Renault Lagunas.
 
Janesy B said:
This budget would probably get you a ropey MK3 Mondeo, I'd rather get a mint, loaded MK2 TBH. I really dislike the pre-facelift MK3 with it's HORRIBLE centre console and dull looks. The Facelift improved on all the things that needed to be improved TBH.
Click to expand...

Either way i cannot think of much better :)
 
Jez said:
Way i see it is that for a banger budget, you should not be saying "i want this, this this" etc. You should simply buy the best car you can afford.

Surely the best car within this budget is a Mk3 Mondeo? I cant really think of anything better.
Click to expand...

It is, absolutely - I'm just fed up of all the newbs thinking all we do is reccomend Mondeos, people obviously think I do it because I own one - when it's actually the other way around!
 
TBH i dont even like them! But i can see that on a budget like this they are the best things for the money.

Actually I would possibly get an Omega Mk2. Not recommending one here mind :)
 
Ignore your original requirements and use only the following one;

"What will get me from A to B the most times without me having to spend any money?"

Only after considering that should you start to worry about other things.

No point spending £1k on a shed of a Leon and then having to spend £3k over the next 3 years on replacing every part when you could have a £1k Honda Boring-Mobile that costs you £0 over the next 3 years. It means in 3 years time or whenever you can actually start looking at slightly better cars for more money instead of going through shed after shed.
 
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