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

The inside looks a bit tatty to me as well as the front badge you mentioned. I don't think it's worth that price to be honest.
 
The interior doesn't look damaged, just like it could do with a clean which is fine. :)

Are the Passats alright though, even if not necessarily that one?? I was surprised by the insurance. :)
 
That ad is a great example of how tatty low mileage cars can be. Bet you'd find one in much better condition with 100k on it
 
If it's anything like the turbo fsi engine then it will sound like a diesel and have an enormous thirst for oil. If they're quite unrelated then I'd imagine it would be fine.
 
Just because your turbo FSI is knackered doesn't mean they all are :p

Mine barely uses a drop of oil, maybe a litre in the 6k miles I've driven in it so far
 
Any car has a chance of having problems, concentrating on getting one that's been looked after will reduce the risk of getting a dud.

Stuff like oil consumption can't really be judged when buying used, although looking for the bottle in the boot or lots of oil spillage around the cap might give it a clue. Generally though finding one that's obviously been looked after - clean and tidy interior, matching quality tyres, receipts for regular servicing etc - is the way to go. That Passat looks pretty tatty from the pictures alone, I imagine it looks even tattier in the flesh... It doesn't look like a car that's been carefully looked after.

Don't bother with that one. The Passat is fine as a car but as dull and boring as a dull and boring thing. The mondeo is a much better car to drive and cheaper too. I'd guess that the budget buys a nail of whatever generation that one is, but a fairly tidy one of the previous generation.
 
I am currently learning to drive and being getting dummy quotes with the Mrs on as a named driver. She has 10+ years no claims. (I am on as no NCB, license less than a month)

Been pretty shocked with the results.

For instance, a VW Golf 1.9 TDI is £650 a year insurance. A Corsa 1.3 CDTi was the same.
An Astra 3 door sport hatch is £780.
Ford Focus Zetec was £690.

I'm only looking at Diesels because i'll easily do over 10k a year for work and visiting the rents.

Mrs has had a Focus for years and it's been absolutely rock solid. Nothing ever flags up in MOTs apart from the usual tyres and windscreen wipers.

I'll probably be looking towards a Golf with around 100k on the clock and decent service history. (Cambelt changed and what not)
 
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Roadrunner_668 said:
Goes to show what a difference age makes!!

So are 2.0FSI engines to be avoided then? :)
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Not at all, they're generally considered pretty reliable. Like any car you need to make sure it's been looked after, they're not very powerful and should be run on super unleaded

Mccarf has the same car as me, which has the turbo variant of that engine. Unfortunately it sounds like he ended up with a lemon so he's a bit down on them. I'd still rather have a 2.0 mondeo though
 
Arthur Hucksake said:
I am currently learning to drive and being getting dummy quotes with the Mrs on as a named driver. She has 10+ years no claims. (I am on as no NCB, license less than a month)

Been pretty shocked with the results.

For instance, a VW Golf 1.9 TDI is £650 a year insurance. A Corsa 1.3 CDTi was the same.
An Astra 3 door sport hatch is £780.
Ford Focus Zetec was £690.

I'm only looking at Diesels because i'll easily do over 10k a year for work and visiting the rents.

Mrs has had a Focus for years and it's been absolutely rock solid. Nothing ever flags up in MOTs apart from the usual tyres and windscreen wipers.

I'll probably be looking towards a Golf with around 100k on the clock and decent service history. (Cambelt changed and what not)
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Your postcode will play a large part in insurance prices, don't forget that.

10k miles a year isn't that much, not enough to make a diesel worthwhile.

Why would you go for a Golf when you've had good experience with the Focus? Most equivalent Golfs will be in worse condition than the Focus of the same price.
 
Another vote for the Saab 9-3 Estate. Don't let the 2.0T fool you into thinking it is a performance car. Very strong engine and a lot of car for the money.

Volvo V70's and Saab 9-5's are also worth looking into and are surprisingly cheap to insure. You can't go wrong with a Swedish workhorse. I think your age will help you insure a lot more than you think despite your lack of experience.
 
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adam cool dude said:
Another vote for the Saab 9-3 Estate. Don't let the 2.0T fool you into thinking it is a performance car. Very strong engine and a lot of car for the money.
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And despite the comment above about all turbos being something to avoid, they're probably more reliable than the Passat or mondeo n/a engines... They really are pretty bombproof
 
MichaelAwkward said:
Your postcode will play a large part in insurance prices, don't forget that.

10k miles a year isn't that much, not enough to make a diesel worthwhile.

Why would you go for a Golf when you've had good experience with the Focus? Most equivalent Golfs will be in worse condition than the Focus of the same price.
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10k plus on the mileage, depends on where work takes me. Will be doing 25-30 miles a day plus 300 mile round trips on some weekends.

As for the Golf.... simply like them. Like the design.
 
I got the same insurance prices on a 2002 Corsa 1.3CDTI, a 2011 Corsa 1.3 CDTI and a 2014 BMW 120i M Sport. All within about £50 of each other, insurance will be a fair amount if you have recently passed no matter what.
 
Antony101 said:
I got the same insurance prices on a 2002 Corsa 1.3CDTI, a 2011 Corsa 1.3 CDTI and a 2014 BMW 120i M Sport. All within about £50 of each other, insurance will be a fair amount if you have recently passed no matter what.
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I just did a quote on my Saab 9-5 Aero. 28 Years old with 3 months driving experience and it came to £1300 fully comp which was quite surprising!
 
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