I'd like a car for under £5K

rossk26 said:
Because no one is naive enough to believe you when you say it's not that much more expensive to run a 330i compared to a family hatchback...
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It's mostly the case that people haven't bothered to even do the calculations. In £ terms they aren't much more to run, no. Very little difference in most costs.
Begbie said:
I would be under the impression that, tyres, vanos systems, suspension are all more expensive to replace/repair than that of a typical family car. Also you'd get a newer, less miles for a different type of car.
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Tyres would work out at about £200 more over 3 years - hardly worth worrying about. Suspension I would imagine to be not much different, either.

You would get a newer, less mileage Mazda3, yes... but why? I can tell you why - because it isn't anywhere near as good. An older, higher mileage 330i will look, drive, perform and be better in every way than a newer Mazda3. I expect a 100k mile 330i will drive better than a brand new Focus.
 
PMKeates said:
It's mostly the case that people haven't bothered to even do the calculations. In £ terms they aren't much more to run, no. Very little difference in most costs.Tyres would work out at about £200 more over 3 years - hardly worth worrying about. Suspension I would imagine to be not much different, either.
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Neither have you by the looks of it, you seem to be plucking random figures from thin air...

It's common sense that parts are cheaper to replace on a Ford/Mazda than a BMW...

My brothers 118d cost >£200 for brakes and discs all round (doing the job myself) BMW wanted £600. I did my old 1.6 Focus for less than £100 all round! You can get pretty much any Ford serviced for £99 at most Ford dealers, etc...
 
Uncle_Gravy said:
You boys with your japenese toys :rolleyes:

I've had my Clio for 4 years now, 11 years old, 83k on the clock, caused me no troubles at all, only small things recently like the coil pack, and an MOT failure due to ball joint that's it.

As long as they've been looked after you should have no problem with reliability.
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whereas in the past year my girlfriends regularly well maintained 60k 2001 clio has had:

  • immobiliser fail
  • head gasket failure
  • radiator hose failure
  • its 3rd cambelt & waterpump
  • internal locking mechanism fail
  • rear bearing fail
  • sunroof leak
  • sunroof mechanism fail
  • interior lighting fail
  • interior clock and radio screen fail
  • fresh suspension components fail
  • rear high level break light wiring fail

I also had a 04 FRSH megane before my civic as a temporary measure and it too had more issues than Charlie Sheen.

so its swings and roundabouts.

the Civic and Focus that has been mentioned are particularly reliable cars.
the french cars you mentioned, let alone their performance variants, are not.
 
PMKeates said:
It's mostly the case that people haven't bothered to even do the calculations. In £ terms they aren't much more to run, no. Very little difference in most costs.Tyres would work out at about £200 more over 3 years - hardly worth worrying about. Suspension I would imagine to be not much different, either.
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Going to chime in as I've owned both and I'm with PMKeates. Nothing catastrophic has gone wrong on either car, but the BMW hasn't cost £lol more to run than the Mazda did, don't get me wrong it is more expensive, but insignificantly so. When I bought the 330 my dad did a few sharp intakes of breath through teeth saying how it's going to cost loads, and it just hasn't.

Any work that has had to be done would have ended up needing doing on the Mazda anyway as they're consumables, and yes it has cost a little bit more than it would on the Mazda, but that's kind of the trade off for having 80 more horses under your right foot and a better car. Tyres are £40 more for the rears on the BMW and the fronts are practically the same price, pads and discs are again roughly £80 more all round (parts cost) on the BMW, tax is £20 more on the BMW. All these costs aren't too frequent and are also negligibly larger given how often they need to be paid.

Even fuel isn't significantly different if you're not doing stupid miles a year, the 90 mile commute (there and back) to visit my GF at uni costs £3 more in the BMW than the Mazda if driving normally, £7 if I'm having fun.
 
Voxination said:
Going to chime in as I've owned both and I'm with PMKeates. Nothing catastrophic has gone wrong on either car, but the BMW hasn't cost £lol more to run than the Mazda did, don't get me wrong it is more expensive, but insignificantly so. When I bought the 330 my dad did a few sharp intakes of breath through teeth saying how it's going to cost loads, and it just hasn't.

Any work that has had to be done would have ended up needing doing on the Mazda anyway as they're consumables, and yes it has cost a little bit more than it would on the Mazda, but that's kind of the trade off for having 80 more horses under your right foot and a better car. Tyres are £40 more for the rears on the BMW and the fronts are practically the same price, pads and discs are again roughly £80 more all round (parts cost) on the BMW, tax is £20 more on the BMW. All these costs aren't too frequent and are also negligibly larger given how often they need to be paid.

Even fuel isn't significantly different if you're not doing stupid miles a year, the 90 mile commute (there and back) to visit my GF at uni costs £3 more in the BMW than the Mazda if driving normally, £7 if I'm having fun.
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Haven't you only just recently had your BMW though?
 
rjkoneill said:
the Civic and Focus that has been mentioned are particularly reliable cars.
the french cars you mentioned, let alone their performance variants, are not.
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I'm not Dissing Jap cars, I love most of them, we have a 03 Honda Accord Sport at home, just hit over 110k, runs sweet as a nut, no problems with it what so ever.

I'm just merely posting something different then the generic jap/focus suggestions, and the fact i've had almost trouble free motoring in my "unreliable" french car.
 
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Voxination said:
Have had it 4 months and had the Mazda for 11 months.
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4 months doesn't paint a true picture of car ownership however. We all know the capabilities of the 330 engine. Who wouldn't want a 3 litre 6 pot that can achieve mid 30's on a run.

But lets not forget MPG isn't the only cost to motoring.

Quote from another owner...

E46 will give you niggling troubles, cheap to sort if your handy but an annoyance all the same, every time I get through my to do list I notice another little issue. Maybe only 100 a time to sort but in6 months I've probably spent a grand on mine that I'll never see back..and that was starting from a good base.
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A few things regarding the mazda:

I had one as my last car: bought it on 150k and 163k and it was utterly reliable. I did hear people on the forums complaining about the short life of suspension components, but I didn't find that at all - looking back through the history of my car there were only a couple of receipts for suspension and everything else was just servicing. There were no knocks or bangs when driving it and I always thought it handled extremely well -the steering was precise and everything was quite predictable. I drove it very hard and it only properly lost grip once when I hit a patch of grit on a corner.

As far as parts pricing goes, servicing is the same as on any similar car (as long as you don't take it to a main dealer) and anything you need can be picked up fairly cheaply on ebay. Again, on the forums a lot of people were complaining about Mazda parts pricing, but who actually goes to the dealer to get parts? I never have on any of my cars as places like ebay and eurocarparts are miles cheaper.

As I already mentioned, I have a bit of a lead foot, so my average MPG was around 26-28. Setting the cruise to 65 could get 42MPG on a run but I lacked the patience to do that very often!

Having said all that, if you can afford it, I'd be looking at a 330i as PMKeates suggested. They're really not that expensive to run - slightly more than the Mazda - but unless you've got an extremely limited disposable income that's what I'd have.
 
rossk26 said:
4 months doesn't paint a true picture of car ownership however. We all know the capabilities of the 330 engine. Who wouldn't want a 3 litre 6 pot that can achieve mid 30's on a run.

But lets not forget MPG isn't the only cost to motoring.

Quote from another owner...
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Nail, head. The kinda point I was trying to make but couldn't be arsed to post up.

My TT Supra was flawless for all the 4 months I had it, bar fuel consumption. However I'm damn sure it would have cost me at some point.

Oh wait....
 
Just to add to the civic discussion, I also looked at these when I looked at Mazda 3s. the only reason I did not get one was because the type s cars were out of budget. I did find one but wanted less than 60k on clock. My local Honda had one in with 51k on I got there it had 58k actually so I said no thanks.

I see your not fussed about it being a type-s so certainly find one and test drive it. It seems to be that and the Mazda 3 being good shouts. I see there is some french talk, you may get newer/better spec for your money with them. Personally I would avoid (minus the talk of the 407 I'm a sucker for a coupe)
 
Correct me if I'm wrong, but you turned down a car because it had an extra 7k miles than what was advertised?
 
rossk26 said:
Correct me if I'm wrong, but you turned down a car because it had an extra 7k miles than what was advertised?
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It was also around 600 pound more expensive. I could have probably knocked them down and the mileage was probably an error. I also wanted a little bit more performance and lower mileage.

It was not the main decision but it contributed to me walking away, I do know dealers advertise for less to get people in though!
 
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rossk26 said:
4 months doesn't paint a true picture of car ownership however. We all know the capabilities of the 330 engine. Who wouldn't want a 3 litre 6 pot that can achieve mid 30's on a run.
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Don't get me wrong I'm not saying that every single one is going to be the epitome of reliability, and yes over a large period of ownership it has the potential to throw some large bills, but so does every other car, and risks can be reduced if you buy a decent one (like every other car).
 
OK, feel free to drive the most average thing ever made.
rossk26 said:
4 months doesn't paint a true picture of car ownership however. We all know the capabilities of the 330 engine. Who wouldn't want a 3 litre 6 pot that can achieve mid 30's on a run.

But lets not forget MPG isn't the only cost to motoring.

Quote from another owner...
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I personally drove a 330i for years and tens of thousands of miles. We've had more Foci and Mazda3's in my household than you will ever own cars, and it's my profession to understand total vehicle costs. I know what the cost of motoring is :)
 
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