First car advice! Need a small estate car, £3K ish

Roadrunner_668

Roadrunner_668

Roadrunner_668

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edit sorry for confusion i bumped the thread at the end ! :)

Hi guys!

I need to look for my first car, I'm 26 but I only passed my test a couple of months ago.

I need a fairly spacious car like a small estate car, but obviously I'll be a bit limited because of insurance costs!

I help my family with various DIY related things so need room to carry wood and stuff about.

I was thinking a small petrol estate like a Fabia estate or something a little bigger like a Golf??

My mileage will be quite low at about 6K but my Uncle said that I might get more diesel estate car for my money?

Any advice? :)
 
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I don't think a 2.0T is the sort of thing I'm after really, I need primarily reliability, comfort, and enough performance to carry things comfortably. :)

What would you recommend I look at??

Thanks :)
 
Wow that looks pretty good for the money, I'll have a look at some more of those. :)

Any alternatives I could look out for? I'd prefer to buy relatively locally as I'd probably have to use the train to get to the car otherwise.

I'm not in a massive rush, but need to start thinking about it :)
 
Roadrunner_668 said:
I don't think a 2.0T is the sort of thing I'm after really, I need primarily reliability, comfort, and enough performance to carry things comfortably. :)

What would you recommend I look at??

Thanks :)
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I'd recommend you look at what I posted - it's far from a performance car! Those engines are very solid and the car meets every requirement you've posted.

Saab use turbos on everything, dont let it fool you into thinking it's anything but a sensible and practical car. It's barely any more powerful than that focus and does 60 in 9s, 150bhp is a perfectly sensible middle middle ground and they return good fuel economy.

There is a 1.8t but the low pressure 2.0t (above) is a decent middle ground. They're very well equipped, good value for money, cheap to insure and very comfortable. I've had 2 9-3s previously and they were really good cars to own - I had a 2.0T (high output) Aero which was really nice and fairly quick (210bhp) and a 1.9TiD which did about 40k in my ownership with nothing but tyres and brakes needing replaced.
 
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The Focus looks like better value compared to that Fabia, more spacious etc, but thanks. I was looking at those before. :)

I will take a look at those Saab's, but I would be expecting the insurance to be a bit high because the insurance company won't like a new driver in a 2.0T, even if it isn't a sports car.
 
Roadrunner_668 said:
I will take a look at those Saab's, but I would be expecting the insurance to be a bit high because the insurance company won't like a new driver in a 2.0T
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I said above, that's not how insurance works. If you like them, get a quote - you'll probably be surprised.

Insurance is not a calculation of Engine Size x (1/Driver Age)
 
volvo v50 estate - its basically a focus and plenty around at the 3-3.5k mark

I got an SE spec, full leather heated/electric seats/parking sensors etc for that kind of money
 
Roadrunner_668 said:
Alright I'll take a look. Sorry, my brain is wired to think of there being a direct relation between engine size and insurance. :)
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Not in the slightest.

Car insurance is a risk profile - how likely are you going to be to crash that car. You're not an 18 year old so you immediately escape a lot of the high risk stuff, but what do you think gets crashed more often by new drivers - A 1.0 Fiesta or a 2.0 Saab?

Obviously the higher performance the car the higher the risk but you're honestly not talking about anything other than a mid range small estate car here.

When I was a new driver at 17, all my friends were buying Novas and Fiestas with tiny 1.0 engines - I had a 306 1.8 and was paying less than any of them. My second car not long after was a 1.8TD Mondeo.

Everyone is different with insurance so you may find them expensive to insure, you may find them surprisingly cheap. But I can assure you that there's a whole lot more than engine size that goes into the quote!
 
Roadrunner_668 said:
So might bigger cars not be more expensive just because of their size?? Could I be looking at Passats or Mondeo's and things? :)
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Correct, big cars are just as likely to be cheaper. If they're considered uncool by kids in macdonalds car park, they're cheap to insure. Mondeos and Passats are deeply uncool to this crowd - I wouldnt be surprised if they were significantly cheaper than the Focus
 
Trouble with a really cheap car is that I'd be worried that it would die. Cheap cars are cheap for a reason right?

I will have a plastic boot protector and sharp ends will be covered etc, so I don't think I'll damage the inside. At least not very much! :)
 
A £3k car is just as likely to die as a £1k car. Cheap cars are cheap because of their age, mileage and condition. You can find £500 cars that are old and high mileage, but in good condition (mechanically and cosmetically) that will provide trouble free motoring for a few years.

In some cases, £3k cars are just £1k cars that have been spruced up by dodgy dealers trying their luck.
 
If you want cheap motoring i wouldn't touch a diesel nor would i be buying anything petrol with a turbo.

That Focus looks good for the cash.
 
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