Best car for £3000

LeoWyatt · 16 Mar 2006 at 17:03

fantastic fella, thanks for that

Hawk Tuah · 16 Mar 2006 at 17:17

Oakesy2001uk said:
sounds like a lot of hassle! but a lot of car for the cash!

I'm not saysin all Fiat Coupes will have the problems above, but they're the common ones.

All cars have their problems, especially if they've got a lot of horses tearing it apart, old, not well maintained and high mileage.

LeoWyatt · 17 Mar 2006 at 10:13

is the turbo the one to go for or is a the normal 20v ok?

Malachy · 17 Mar 2006 at 10:19

LeoWyatt said:
is the turbo the one to go for or is a the normal 20v ok?

the 20v is pretty good still from what i gather (circa 8 secs to 60?) but wouldnt you feel i "I wish i got the turbo?"

LeoWyatt · 17 Mar 2006 at 10:40

i see what you are saying.

Is there much difference price wise between group 17 and group 19?

kitten_caboodle · 17 Mar 2006 at 10:43

LeoWyatt said:
Is there much difference price wise between group 17 and group 19?

MNuTz · 17 Mar 2006 at 10:47

if you didnt mind age i could recommend a nice VW Corrado G60, 160BHP as standard and still turn heads today.

You should find a decent one for £3K

I can also say the Fiat Coupe turbo is a nice car for the money, just dont park them on a muddy lawn in winter because when they sink in its very hard to get them out as you cant push anywhere on the body

LeoWyatt · 17 Mar 2006 at 11:00

MNuTz said:
I can also say the Fiat Coupe turbo is a nice car for the money, just dont park them on a muddy lawn in winter because when they sink in its very hard to get them out as you cant push anywhere on th ebody

personal experience talking there?

how did you get it out in the end?

MNuTz · 17 Mar 2006 at 11:15

LeoWyatt said:
personal experience talking there? how did you get it out in the end?

its was the g/fs dads car and the g/fs mum parked it there

I turned up after they'd spent 15 mins trying to move it. I went round the side of the house where he had a huge 8"x6" piece of chip board, i placed that behind the front tyres, got people to stand on it either side so he could reverse off the grass

Hawk Tuah · 17 Mar 2006 at 14:09

Malachy said:
the 20v is pretty good still from what i gather (circa 8 secs to 60?) but wouldnt you feel i "I wish i got the turbo?"

The 20v is still a perfectly decent car. Its just obviously not as quck as the turbo. However the main wow factor to the Fiat coupe is the turbo.

LeoWyatt · 17 Mar 2006 at 15:01

turbo it is

HEADRAT · 17 Mar 2006 at 21:45

Bug One said:
Fuel Economy - I get 250 miles to a £50 tank. Some report more, others report less. But thats about a ball park average.

Blimey you must have a lead right foot, worst I get is about 350 to a tank if I give it a nice few runs I can sometimes eke out 400.

HEADRAT

chopchop · 17 Mar 2006 at 21:50

jpmonkey69 said:
Get a facelift model Rover 620Ti

and have £1500 left over!

£1500 left over for headgasket repairs?

[TW]Fox · 18 Mar 2006 at 02:59

LeoWyatt said:
Is there much difference price wise between group 17 and group 19?

There can be, in many cases more than than the difference between say Group 3 and Group 12. It could also be the difference between getting a quote and not getting a quote.

For me, for example, I can get a quote for everything up to and including Group 18 - a Group 17 530i is £1100, a Group 18 540i SE is £1300.

However as soon as I tick over to Group 19, it goes bonkers - £1700 for a Group 19 540i Sport, and for many Group 19 cars they just refuse to quote.

LeoWyatt · 18 Mar 2006 at 20:27

Well the cheapest i've found is 1600 which isn't too bad.

Though would you guys suggest getting a 5 speed or 6 speed tubro version?

would you consider this?

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=4623450772

or is this too good to be true? infact it is, he doesn't have the red key.

Hawk Tuah · 19 Mar 2006 at 12:14

LeoWyatt said:
Well the cheapest i've found is 1600 which isn't too bad.

Though would you guys suggest getting a 5 speed or 6 speed tubro version?

would you consider this?

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=4623450772

or is this too good to be true? infact it is, he doesn't have the red key.

Get an expert to see that first.

Clutch slip - as I said above, this will cost a minimum of £330 to fix.

Oil Leak - well, he could be right about it being the rocker cover. A new gasket is only £15 and its a job you can do yourself if you follow my guide. However to be honest, if it was that, then why hasn't he already done it?

Bonnet release handle broken :confused:

Never heard of that before. Could be a bit of a pain. You could probably get a new one easy enough. Plenty of coupe's being broken for spares.

Airbag warning light on. Again, this is something I'd want an expert to take a look at.

It looks ok, but its one of those where you really can't tell from a picture of his description. If you can get it for £1500, then you can set aside another £1500 to get it sorted.

If you can afford it, get a 6 speed as they are newer. The best model is a 20vt Limited Edition, but obviously thats gonna cost more. I'd be a bit wary of an LE for £3000. For that price I'd be look at a P - S reg 20v turbo with about 70-80k on the clock, and certainly not in bright yellow or red. To me that screams 'I want a lambo or ferrari, but I'm poor'.

If you want a real gem, try to find a Vinci Grey one.

LeoWyatt · 19 Mar 2006 at 14:45

So what would you recommend as a good guide to spend on one. £3k is that a good starting point or a 96-98 with 80k on the clock. I am definitely going for the turbo, I don't really want a yellow one. The grey looks good quite like the blue ones.

With regards to an expert to look at them, i don't have friends who are mechanics, would an RAC check be a good idea?

Sorry mate when i said 1600 i meant insurance. On the whole the cheapest 20v turbo is around 2.3k. What is the difference between the limited edition and the normal one?

Hawk Tuah · 19 Mar 2006 at 18:23

LE's have a factory body kit, as you can see on the one above.

Normal 20vt's have black bottoms and different alloys.

However many of them have LE replica bodykits, like mine. Also LE's have different colour schemes, grooved brake disks, push button start, grey bits and are a few years newer.

LeoWyatt · 19 Mar 2006 at 18:39

Right ok,

Well i've just done an insurance quote on confused.com and can say for the first time ever I'm shocked that they gave me a decent quote. The cheapest is £900 which for me is a great offer. I need to see what direct line my current insurer would do.

We have a renault laguna here which I could trade in which would give me around £1100 trade-in value. So I suppose it's time to start looking. I'll certainly be trying to get one for around 3k. I might see what vehicles there are are in the local area and try one of those.

Thanks for your info though, you mind if i post questions here for you?

jpmonkey69 · 19 Mar 2006 at 19:34

chopchop said:
£1500 left over for headgasket repairs?

If you're gonna make fun of something, why not make sure you'll not look dumb first by researching yo' facts?

The Rover T Series (NA and Turbo) engine is a very strong, reliable engine. Not known for HG failure, unlike the Rover K series.