5k Hatchback

godinman

godinman

godinman

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I did post this in someone elses astra thread, but didn't recieve any responses.:(:p

Me and my girlfriend are considering a new car, we have up to 5k to spend and have the following requirements -

Hatchback - we need a bit of practicality, we've recently bought a house and lug a fair bit of stuff around, it'd also be nice to get a bike in the back.

Petrol - We do about 7k miles per year

Reasonably newish, thinking 04/05

Bit of power - <8sec as a rough guide


That's all I can think of really, 3/5 door would be fine, we don't do any motorway cruising I just drive about 7 miles to work and back a week and potter about on the weekends, usually not too far afield.

Sadly, the astra seems to tick all of those boxes, you can get a 2.0T under 60k miles on an 05 plates for less than 5k, I've been in my brother-in-laws and to be honest thought it was quite nice.

Now, are there any better alternatives? What are they? Is the astra really that bad? I don't drive very fast, but just want enough power to overtake stuff safely.

Thanks for any advice.
 
I'll have a look at the focus options, I know she doesn't want a mondeo..What engine options in the focus would be roughly equivalent to the 2.0t?

It's not inner city driving, no. It's B road then an A road, nothing too fun unfortunately. :(

Marvt74, how did you find it to drive? Was it a 3 or 5 door, reckon you'd get a bike in the back?

Thanks for the replies.

edit - Saying that, I've had a look at the mondeos and they look pretty nice, hmmmm.
 
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I noticed it's something like insurance group 16, which is odd as the 200bhp version (I forget the name) is the same iirc? Will factor insurance costs into the car prices....

We were thinking 3 door, so that's good news too!
 
Thanks for all of the advice so far.

It's a toss up between the Mondeo and the Astra, I've got a question - What is the difference between an ST220 and a 3.0 Titanium X? Just trim? More options as standard?
 
They look pretty good actually, don't think my gf is very keen on them tho, will check them out tho.

The rear seats in the Mondeo fold down don't they?
 
Bit of a bump for this thread, I'm still undecided!


The Mondeo is now out - it's too big unfortunately.

Focus - The only ones we like are the newer shape ST, but they're a couple of grand over budget, so are out.

Civic type S - She doesn't like them, and I'm not overly keen, so they're out.

Lean R Cupra - This is a possibility, what's the build quality like, aren't they basically a golf underneath? Would they be an uncomfortably hard ride?

A3 3.0 V6 - Are these any good? They're a little bit older for the budget, and the interiors seem incredible nasty on some of them...

S3 - With a stretch of budget, these are possible, how would these be in terms of reliability, and would the running costs be silly?


Which leaves me with the Astra 2.0T 04/05ish plate. I quite like the look of these, the engine sounds quick enough, and I like my brother-in-laws. Why does OCUK motors dislike Vauxhalls? Are there actual problems, or is it just a bit of lolvauxhall? Are they terribly built? Absolutely dire to drive?

I realise this is a lot of questions, but I'm confused, and after years of reading OCUK and thinking lolvauxhall whenever I see one, I'm now seriously considering getting one and can't actually think of a valid reason not to!

Thanks for any help.

edit - It seems to be a toss up between an Astra, A3 and Leon, with preference in that order.
 
Oh the confusion! Been looking tonight, and if we s=up the budget slightly we can get a rather nice looking A3 3.2, something like this.

Mpg isn't a worry, glad to hear the parts aren't too bad, I think the S3 is a no go as it'll be expensive to fix I think, and more ropey for the money. I prefer the A3 to the leon, and the gf doesn't like them very much either.

The focus seems a little low on power, it's only just faster than the rover!

Hmmm, time to go visit an Astra and an A3 methinks!
 
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Not quite what we're after, thanks tho.:)

Just one final question for you guys, I'm off to see a couple this weekend/next week - there are a fairly equal amount of manual and DSG cars available in budget, am I right in thinking I should steer well clear of the DSG ones as they'll blow up and cost me 3k? Or is it not as bad as all that and they are infact now quite cheap to repair?
 
Thanks for the replies like, but you need to read the rest of the thread, importantly the parts where I say I'm going to by a 3.2 A3.

Actually, reading my last post, I forgot to mention precisely which car I was going to see!

For clarification, the astra is out of the window, the A3 is in.

(The clue was in the dsg)
 
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