After a sporty a car around £2k... what not to get? What to get :D

Ok, got a week off with £3k & the Mondeo will RIP on 29th so its show time!
The moment you've all been waiting for, another change of car? :p
For 2 weeks ive been looking at a Vectra. Now the awful Vectra has stayed in my thoughts longer than any other decision of car so far, so a Vectra it is.
I know people will say they're terrible cars & an 07 plate Vectra will be worse than a 02 plate MX5 or 15yr old GTI6, but ive seen every car to the grave with car cancer & a 5yr old car seems way more appealing. Plus I like their styling.

There are plenty to choose from & most have a full service history :)
I was going go for the post 2005 facelift with sat-nav, which narrows the search to SRI or Elite models I think.
Engine wise I thought the 2.2petrol @ 27mpg urban rather than the 1.8vvt 28mpg urban, although I think the 2.2 is more unreliable & more expensive to maintain because of the direct injection setup. Plus the 2.2 is chain driven which sounds great, but pre 2007 chains had lubrication issues & were prone to snapping. I need research this more.
Regards to diesel, which is way more popular & probably have lots of nice motorway miles sounds better, although the 120bhp I think is too slow, but the 150bhp would be ok. Although I only do 4000 miles/year so I dont know if the better economy would off-set the running of the diesel. Also I'm unsure yet as to the reliability/running costs of the diesel. A nice sight however is Ive noticed a lot of local taxis switching from Toyota to Vectra diesel and I thuoght the Asians were just racist in only driving Jap cars.

Any tips on what to look for with a post 2005 Vectra C would be nice. I'm sure a lot of folk hate the Vectra so no hate campaigns please.
 
Vectra might be fine if you get a great price on it. someone has to buy them, if its unpopular it might be a kind of advantage

Although I only do 4000 miles/year so I dont know if the better economy would off-set the running of the diesel.
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If you only do 4000 miles a year then fuel is not your greatest cost most likely. It will be depreciation or maintenance.

Seems like you need to sit down with someone whose opinion you respect and who knows something about cars or at least has a good breadth of experience with older models.

Ask the taxi drivers wouldnt be the worst thing to do. Diesel might be best model in range for all I know, Jap cars are often extremely reliable and its their livelihood to have a running car and easy to fix.
Some of the best advice and repairs Ive had was taxi related
 
juno_first said:
How come the Corrado will always need fixing?
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From my experience, they're just at an age where once you've fixed one thing, another thing goes wrong. Electrics were never their strong point.

Awesome cars though, I race one now. VR6 was the last of the great VW's IMO and a very good car in it's own right. G60 wasn't as involving but still great and handled better with less weight up front.
 
HummuH1 said:
From my experience, they're just at an age where once you've fixed one thing, another thing goes wrong. Electrics were never their strong point.

Awesome cars though, I race one now. VR6 was the last of the great VW's IMO and a very good car in it's own right. G60 wasn't as involving but still great and handled better with less weight up front.
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Pretty much my experience. I'd have another VR6 but it'd absolutely have to be a weekend only car. Shame really as my Golf VR6 was faultlessly reliable and some poor soul had spent a lot of money on it in the past. Both corrados were a pain in the ass but who really wants a mk3 over a 'rado!?
 
Thread started sporty car......I'm now reading 4K miles a year in a Diesel Vectra C

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danza said:
I got this for £3k, 1 previous owner, FSH. If I only did 4K miles per year, I'd have something less sane than a 3L petrol BMW.

Actually, buy the Vectra. Motors needs a new clown. :p
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Vectra owners help keep the heat off the Rover owners at least :p

Really like that E39, looks very tidy!
 
I JUST BOUGHT A CELICA 190

Now shut up :D
Just kidding, even though some replies have been insulting at times, its the thought that counts. Thanks everyone :)

Its a Toyota Celica 1.8 VVTLI T SPORT on an 02 plate (registered Nov11) with a full service history & 99k miles. I pick it up on Mon/Tue after its had 12months MOT & it may get 2 tyres on the front. Its taxed until end Oct.
It was for sale at £2500 & I'm paying £2200 after getting £300 pt-ex on the Mondeo which they'll just weigh-in anyway (a local scrap yard offered me £150 if I drove it in).
I'm thinking of taking their 3 month warranty for £150 while I get to know the car (local garages supported).

In time honoured tradition with this thread I changed my mind again, partly due to all the flak about the Vectra & speaking to a taxi driver who has a Vectra diesel who said it was just a cheap in-between car & it was terrible.
It was a spontaneous decision last night, I just looked at the few 190 models on-line & went look at one today. JOB DONE!

The funny thing is I don't know much about them, except for the oil burning issues with the early 140bhp engines & that they're chain driven. Even so, I only do 4k miles/yr & could sell it on if need be considering the ultra high cost of s/h cars in scabby Stoke on Trent.
How does it get 190bhp from a 1.8L engine WTF! Does it have a turbo or is it the vvt thing? A daft question after just buying one lol. I test drove it & it didn't feel mega quick, but I didn't really push it over 6000rpm, which I believe is when the cams do something called vvt.

It has a few minor scratches down to the primer which they said they'd buff out or whatever? About what you'd expect for a 10yr old car. The wheels look stock so I presume they've been refurbished at some point as they're in good condition.
I HPI checked it before going & they even did a check on their PC while I was there & the VIN matches the reg-doc/car & its all ok. The only thing that bugged me was the HPI report said it had a colour change in 2009 from grey to blue, but its blue everywhere, in the engine bay etc. The service history called it an import at times, but the reg-doc says first registered in the UK. Anyway, import or not I think I paid a good price for it, especially dumping the Mondeo in the process, which would have impacted me more if buying private. I could not see any rust, being as it may be an import. Do I need be sure about that with the Insurers or will they know by the registration?
I think with what I've saved on spending £2200 rather than £2800 will negate the initial running costs, especially if it needs the odd job doing.

Certainly in better condition that a shed of a ClioSport 182 at £2400 I looked at with bubbling rust on the bonnet & a chipped steering wheel.
Cant wait for Monday. I think I earned the right to post some big images so here it is...

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I really really liked the 2 Celica 190's I drove, but they both had different wheels to that. I think they were 10 spoke (5x2) wheels ?

Engine is VVTL-i (variable valve timing and lift) which is basically toyota's version of VTEC.

Not quite as widely supported in enthusiast circles as the red top Honda units, but it was good enough for Lotus to use in the Elise and Exige S2 models.

Unsure I'd bother with the warranty. Treat it as a private sale and spend the cash on a visit to a local specialist for a service and checkup.

Enjoy, oh, and loads of revs required.

Edit - hang on, you didn't go over 6k on the test drive ...?!
 
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