Car for around £4500 or less

Mason-

Mason-

Mason-

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Joined
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Essex
Hi Guys.

Moved to a new area for a new job. Currently getting the bus in for £60 per 4 weeks. Takes me 1 hour to get to work (5.2 miles). If I drove even in morning traffic it would take me 20 minutes.

So I want to get a car. Going to get a loan for £6k. It will be my first year driving so insurance will be between £1200-£1500. So I want to pay for the insurance, tax + price of car for £6k.

I want it to last for 5 years (although I may change it before then) and to be very reliable.

It will be used for commuting 5.2 miles x 2 (10.4 miles) Mon-Fri and occasionally driven from Gillingham-Colchester and back (once a month) which is about 130 miles as a round trip.

Cars I've considered so far:

  • 08-10 Ford Focus Zetec 1.6
  • 06-08 Honda Civic 1.4
  • Renault Clio 2009-2010

Anyone got any further suggestions? I think I favour the Civic the most. Can get insurance on one for about £1300.

Cheers.
 
This is your first car judging by your 'first year of driving'? I would be really hesitant to spend £6k via a car loan on something that you stand a high likelihood of crashing (going by statistics, not your driving) or being crashed into and potentially being written off leaving you carless and still with a loan to pay off.

Can you buy something relatively cheap up front? Say £1-1.5k? That will get you something cheap, easy to repair, semi-reliable and won't cause any undue stress and heartache if it does get crashed into.

Autotrader, within 50 miles, under £1k, DON'T be picky (within reason!) and buy on condition, service history (not so important but you want recent servicing and cambelt+water pump if needed) and MOT length.
 
I know where you're coming from with that. But I'm a 22 year old not a 17 year old, I drive rent-a-cars often for work too and haven't had any problems.

The reason I don't want some old £1k fiesta/clio is because I don't want to have to keep changing cars every now and then I just want to grab a car I can stick with for a long time.
 
Mazda3 is well worth a look. You'd get a 2.0 Sport for your budget but insurance might be killer, so probably better staying with the 1.6.
 
5.2 mile in 20 mins that kind of traffic you will get really poor mpg on focus 1.6 zetec. probably 23mpg. thats what i had in my old focus 1.6 zetec.

for that kind of driving, you're better of with a smaller engine like fiesta 1.25 or skoda citigo if you find one within your budget.
 
Yes but a Focus or Civic is still going to be a nicer place to sit and drive than a smaller car.
I would go with the Focus myself should get a mk2.5 for your budget Op. A 2008 Titanium might be a better choice for 4.5k than a Zetec: as long as u get petrol it should be very reliable!
 
Like all of your suggestions so far.

I do quite like the Mazda 3.

Can anyone give me a reason why I shouldn't get a Civic? Their negatives from what I've read are that they have large turning circles, poor rear visibility and ride is harsh at low speeds. But apart from those they seem like really good cars.

wesley said:
5.2 mile in 20 mins that kind of traffic you will get really poor mpg on focus 1.6 zetec. probably 23mpg. thats what i had in my old focus 1.6 zetec.

for that kind of driving, you're better of with a smaller engine like fiesta 1.25 or skoda citigo if you find one within your budget.
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Would the 1.4 Civic fit the bill?

Also am I right in thinking that Fords generally devalue a lot more than Civics do?
 
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nimchimpsky82 said:
Toyota Auris? FSH, 80K miles, supremely reliable and cheap insurance and tax.
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When you said Auris I instantly thought "no way" but it was the newer shape and I quite like the new shape. That is a consideration, the only thing that puts me off is the miles. Ideally I want a car at or less than 60k miles. I will look around at auriss. Ty

radderfire said:
Honda Jazz, newest shape, petrol, this kind of thing:

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classif...tcode=sp13fa&search-target=usedcars&logcode=p

Personally I prefer the Jazz to the Civic, they are more practical and I prefer the dashboards.
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Yeah I think the styling of the Civics is quite marmite. I personally like them but I know a lot don't. But I can tell you with certainty that I really hate the look of the Jazz! Haha, I will look into them though, looks aren't everything.
 
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Mason- said:
When said Auris I instantly thought "no way" but it was the newer shape and I quite like the new shape. That is a consideration, the only thing that puts me off is the miles. Ideally I want a car at or less than 60k miles. I will look around at auriss. Ty
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They're hardly the most exciting cars to look at, I know, but with FSH and this age and mileage I'm confident it will be very, very hard to beat in terms of running costs over the next 5 years, doing the short commutes that you're doing. Bear in mind that 80K miles on a 5-year-old car means 16K per year, so that's likely to have been quite a lot of relaxed motorway cruising.
 
For something a little different, but cheap to run and insure, what about an Alfa Romeo Mito, with a 1.4 16v engine.

It's basically a fiat punto, but looks better.

Personally though I'd just pick up a fiesta or similar for around £1k.
 
Focus is much bigger than the clio (I've had both) so if you need the space Focus is a good bet, otherwise Fiesta

if its your first year in driving, don't spent a lot of money, save it for the next year or two when your more used to driving
 
Darryl_1983 said:
For something a little different, but cheap to run and insure, what about an Alfa Romeo Mito, with a 1.4 16v engine.

It's basically a fiat punto, but looks better.

Personally though I'd just pick up a fiesta or similar for around £1k.
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Op wants reliable and you're suggesting a fiat/alfa... :D
 
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