First car under £3000 - spec me something?

puffinchunks

puffinchunks

puffinchunks

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9 Jun 2016
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Hi guys, I'm a long term lurker, just finally signed up to get some advice from a knowledgeable bunch.

I'm 31 and only recently took/passed my test. I've been living in London for years and never really needed a car, but now I'm in mid Wales I'm after a way to get around easier.

I've got £3000 to spend on something reliable and ideally quite economical. Main use will be getting to work 20 miles away and the occasional longer trips to Bristol and Manchester. Lots of country driving.

A lot of what I've seen points to a 1.3 Yaris, and I've seen a decent one locally with 37k on the clock for the full 3 grand, but I'm nervous about buying privately. I don't need something that powerful, but I wonder if I could get something more comfortable/less basic for the money. But what do I know...

I can probably travel about 60 miles away to get a car, so Bristol/Somerset area is doable.

So do you guys have any ideas?

Thanks a lot!
 
Yaris is a very good choice for a first car, but being out in the country and in your 30's something a bit bigger might well be better as it'll be comfier to do longer distances in and as a rule the bigger the car the more stuff they come with as standard. I'd imagine you could get a nice 1.6 petrol Focus or Mazda 3 for that kind of money as they're usefully bigger than the yaris.
 
3k should get you a nice 2007 petrol 1.6 Focus Zetec with climate pack and around 60k on the clock. Nicer to drive on longer journeys or motorways than a Yaris. Run some insurance quotes see what they come up as
 
Having ran a Yaris for almost 5 years I have this to say about my experience with one.

Mine was a 1.8L petrol (2008), so it is the mk2 version, I had it in manual, it came with climate and keyless entry, electric windows, electric mirrors, 17 inch alloys, disc brakes all round, even a metallic paint.

I bought it at 3 years old and I was the 2nd owner of the vehicle, the car had 20k on the clock when I got it and 64k when I moved it on. For the 44k miles the car ran flawlessly mechanically but did suffer from a few flaws. Also I have always taken it to Toyota for service and MOT, so it has all OEM parts and all fitted at the dealers.

In that time I had driven it up and down the country, I live in Hereford (not far from Wales) and went to Hull, Dublin (Holyhead ferry), Folkestone, London, Norwich, Manchester, Bournemouth, Southampton. All over, and in all that time it never failed to start or had to call the AA.

Cons

OEM brake discs rusts, not sure why, it must be they don't have Zinc in them but they rust really fast. Compare to my Volvo, even sitting around in similar weather the Yaris brake discs rusts more.

Also pay attention to rust on the exhaust, mine was so bad it had 2 holes in it and was one of the reasons I moved it on (besides having had it for almost 5 years). I know the 1.8L uses a different exhaust to the 1.3 but no harm to check that out anyway if you can.

On the motorway the car is not quiet. Not only the cabin is not that well insulated, even with the 1.8L the engine is around 3500rpm at 70mph so it's quite loud. I would expect 1.3L would be even louder.

The boot can be quite small, depending how much luggage you intend to carry. Partly because there is a space saver wheel under there.

Lack of infotainment, mine didn't even have Aux and I got Toyota to install a iPod connectivity kit at a cost of £290 into mine. Which worked as expected, can adjust tracks with the wheel thumb controls.

The plastics are not that great, but I've driven mk3 as a courtesy car and it's not better, in fact, part of it is worse than mine !

The tank is a bit small at 42L so I normally have to refuel on a long trip like to the airport on the way back which sucks as that usually means motorway services prices.

Pros

It is actually quite spacious inside, I had Skully member here) in the passenger seat and he is 6 ft 4 and he was comfortable. Although the boot appears to be small, the rear seats are actually on rails so you can push them forward (which will take away space in the rear seat footwell) to make the boot larger if you don't need to carry passengers, or fold the seats down. I did some Ikea trips in that easily because of the folded down seats.

I averaged 40mpg with the 1.8L so it's quite decent, not really a pro, but it's not bad..

It is very easy to park because it is so short, I got in some ridiculous spaces that made me glad I had a Yaris.

Reliable, as I said before, it started up every time. The things that I've changed in my ownership were tyres, brake discs and pads a callipers due to rust and the mechanic snapping off the pins when trying to change the discs ! Engine and gearbox wise, it was in full working order. There was no weird water leaks, no seals leaks, all the electrics worked.

Would I buy it again? Yes, but I wouldn't keep it as long as I did. It was a great car to learn in, if reliability is what you want and can live with the occasional long trips then it's fine. However, a Focus or may be even a Civic may be a better car for those kind of journeys. I was itching to change about 2 years in but other things in life got in the way and money had to go elsewhere, whilst the car was being reliable so I kept it.
 
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Ah cheers for that Raymond! Yeah the Yaris was my initial plan and I keep coming back to it, but I dunno, I'll have to sit in one and decide but I'm not a fan of the interior at all. I go to Hereford quite a lot so that's good to know!

Insurance quotes are pretty great for everything I've tried here. The Mazda 3 and a 2007 Focus Zetec Climate, both 1.6 are around £600, the Yaris £480. There's little enough in it to make a bigger engine etc feasible.

Thanks for the help so far though guys, I've planned a trip to see the Mazda (it's only 20 miles away) and I'll see about getting to Birmingham for a Focus. That kind of car definitely makes more sense to me now!
 
The best thing you can do is test drive the various cars you were interested in before buying one to see which suits you better. If you have a look at the Focus's with the 1.6 go for the 115bhp over the 99bhp models. They are the same to insure but a little quicker. And make sure it has climate pack which is heated screens that are great in the winter for melting your frozen windscreen :D
You can always post links up on here of cars your going to view and I'm sure plenty of members will cast there view on if it's worth bothering with or valued correctly etc.
 
puffinchunks said:
Ah cheers for that Raymond! Yeah the Yaris was my initial plan and I keep coming back to it, but I dunno, I'll have to sit in one and decide but I'm not a fan of the interior at all. I go to Hereford quite a lot so that's good to know!

Insurance quotes are pretty great for everything I've tried here. The Mazda 3 and a 2007 Focus Zetec Climate, both 1.6 are around £600, the Yaris £480. There's little enough in it to make a bigger engine etc feasible.

Thanks for the help so far though guys, I've planned a trip to see the Mazda (it's only 20 miles away) and I'll see about getting to Birmingham for a Focus. That kind of car definitely makes more sense to me now!
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The interior is functional, nothing to set your world on fire. The centre dials is marmite but I got used to it very quickly and in a way it is good that they are where they are as they are higher than normal position and your eyes don't have to look far from the road.

One more thing, there are a lot of compartments in the cabin. There is your glove compartment on the passenger side, a topside compartment on the driver's side, 2 smaller compartment next to each vents by both front doors, and one lower down on the driver's side (where is use to keep change for parking. There is also a tray under the front passenger seat too.
 
If you can stretch to a Mazda3 Takara or Tamura even better, you get the nicer grille, sports kit, rear spoiler, better wheels and fog lights.

Check for signs of rust everywhere, especially wheel arches as that's where mine seemed to be going. I had a 2.0 Sport but my folks had a 1.6 and it wasn't bad really, it'll certainly feel plenty quick enough for a first car.
 
More food for thought. Here's a Focus I've found which is further away than I'd like but also slightly cheaper than most: Saw this car on Auto Trader’s Android App. Thought you might be interested. http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201606094769640 - seems alright?

Haven't written the Yaris off, I'm mostly a little hesitant about the dials but I imagine you get used to it. I'd probably get the Mp3 function added too if I got one. There's a couple of 2007 1.3s around for bang on 3k or a bit less, they've been sitting in my Auto Trader saved cars for a few weeks haha.

Edit: just saw this 2010 yaris on there, it's got an aux and everything... http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201605304449967
 
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My first motor was / is a PD150 MK4 Golf. 155k on the clock and going strong.

Passed my test in it too. The handling is forgiving, it's hard to stall. There's enough room inside but it feels like a smaller car than it is.

Feels heavy and safe.

I've also driven the Mrs 1.6 2008 petrol Focus Zetec which also handles really well but it feels like it's lacking a 6th gear. Bit noisy circa 70mph in 5th.

The reliability has been incredible though. 88k on the clock and it's never failed on MOT or had any advisories. Just had the usual tyre wear to contend with.

I don't buy into the logic that your first car has to be small. May as well get use to what suits best and take it easy.
 
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My first car was a mk2 Focus, really nice car to drive, never let me down, not too big that it feels overwhelming for a new driver either! I'd recommend one definitely! If you are looking at the early mk2's though (so 54, 55 reg) be careful of rust underneath, the early ones do like to gradually rot, same as the early mk1's so look for one that's been looked after.

I always hear about the 115bhp version, but I've yet to come across one personally, my 99bhp 1.6 petrol was slow off the line and pretty gutless, but its plenty powerful enough for everyday driving :)
 
I'm guessing the £3k includes the insurance? Have you done any quotes on the cars you're looking at? As that will likely be either the majority of your budget, or a significant portion, even though you are older.
 
I've got a mazda 3 sport, the 2.0 it has some nice kit that comes on the facelift like -;

Xenon's
Bose audio
Auto lights/wipers
Cruise
Ac

Etc! And you can have a very good condition one for £3k
 
MichaelAwkward said:
I'm guessing the £3k includes the insurance? Have you done any quotes on the cars you're looking at? As that will likely be either the majority of your budget, or a significant portion, even though you are older.
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Doesn't include insurance but obviously if I can pay a tiny bit less for the car to pay for some of the insurance that'd be nice. Maximum quote I've had was £650 for a 1.6 Zetec Focus.
 
My wife bought an 07 reg Mazda3 Sport 2.0 (petrol) facelift last year. Cost £3.5k and had done about 58k miles. It had a few scratches but no rust or damage.

Pros:
  • Xenons
  • BOSE stereo (check the CD player works - mine don't properly)
  • Climate control
  • Chain driven
  • Very big glove box
  • Good amount of space inside for the size
  • Looks nice in silver, interior not terrible

Cons:
  • Both my wife and I agree the seats are uncomfortable on anything but short journeys. I think they lack lower back support.
  • Difficult to pull away smoothly in 1st.
  • Decent tyres for the 17" alloys cost the same as what they did on my ST220 (18" ~£100/corner) but it's worth getting them as it transformed the handling/grip when I replaced the front Goodyear EfficientGrips with Continental Sport Contact 3s.
  • The back of the car (including the window) gets very dirty, very quickly

Edit: Coincidentally she had a 1L Yaris before which she treated quite badly (2nd hand part-worn tyres, never serviced in 5 years, oil never changed, multiple accidents) and it just kept on going. I'm 6ft and found it spacious up front. It also had an unusually high number of cubby holes/storage.
 
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haha tell me about the gearbox! 1st is such a pita! :o people still laugh at me when I stall but it is literally a bitch to deal with, other gears are fine but parking/car parks/traffic is a pain!
 
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