what would you choose?

12 months MOT on the Micra, pick that.

Take cash with you, if it looks ok and drives without major issues, try offering £450
 
I'm guessing there's no chance of borrowing £500 or so from parents?

As has already been mentioned, the difference between a £600 car and a £1200 car is going to be quite substantial, and could save you quite a bit of money in the end!
 
I would also have a good look at the mot on the micra as i'd imagine it would have some advisory notes along with it -see if there are major things in that.

also take someone mechanically minded along for a test drive if possible - for that kind of money it's likely that will be the last mot it has before some major work
 
Gaygle said:
Firstly I would not recommend doing a lot of miles in a £625 car. These kinds of cars are not reliable.

Secondly, could you not save up a bit more money? A £1500 car would be infinitely better than a £600 one.
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I really disagree with with this. I've had a few £500 cars, and know of many more, that have been totally reliable for years of motoring going up and down the country. If the car is a simple small car with around 1 litre engine, there is barely even any potential for anything to go expensively wrong, and if it does you can weigh it in and replace - it's practically disposable. A £1500 car, if the extra money is just making it a bigger car with more equipment as per your examples, is no way 'infinitely better' - in fact it's arguably more likely to throw up bills, and £1500 is much more to write off and bail from if anything major happens. If the £1500 is spent on exactly the same small 1 litre car, but newer/less miles/better condition, then you might have a point about the extra money being well spent, but even at £1500 there is a major element of lottery in what you end up with, especially if you dont have the technical knowledge to spot obvious faults when shopping.

So given the OP's clear requirements I find it crazy to suggest more than doubling the budget to get a ropey 2 litre saloon! A friend of mine had a 1 litre Micra of that vintage and my mum had a 1.2 - both were bulletproof reliable, dont rust and just did their job. No cambelt to worry about on these which is really the only relatively major maintenance issue on cars like this with the potential to write the car off. Would choose a Micra over the Euro options any day.
 
I'm with liampope on this . i did 15k in my £250 mk3 golf 1.6 , the only thing that went wrong was £2 exhaust hanger . even after a year of abuse it was too good to scrap. just. :p

laughing at the £900 focus suggestion after mentioning time bombs

id buy that micra and i would run it until it dies. which will probably be a good few years if it isn't rotten. the starlet you linked would do the job too. literally nothing to go wrong on them being the key.

the only thing that would put me off one would be if you where carting kids etc about as small cars of that age aren't too safe when for example a small car of new age hits them
 
"andy" said:
the only thing that would put me off one would be if you where carting kids etc about as small cars of that age aren't too safe when for example a small car of new age hits them
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I was just about to mention this. I was looking for a small car for my girlfriend to practice in (and then adopt). I used to have Cinquecento, and she was quite happy with buying another or a Seicento. However - after looking at the NCAP tests of cars that size / price range - I upped the budget and ended up buying a 2002 Clio.
 
MK3 Astra 1.4. Mine was brilliant, if dog slow. Very, very easy to work on, cheap insurance, and quite reliable. Should easily get a 'good' one on an R (or if lucky S) plate.
 
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