First car ~£800 options

BrenOS

BrenOS

BrenOS

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Ford Fiesta 1.25 16v Zetec 97-99

I know I don't want to go for a 1.3 8v older engine. Looks like a good all rounder. Any major drawbacks? PAS?


Ford Escort 1.4i 16v (or similar sp. eds) 96-98

Can still manage the insurance on this but would have to go a little older with higher mileage to be able to afford it. Get more for my money with e/w, PAS, CL, some with sunroof etc. Current favourite.


Fiat Punto 1.2 S60 97-99

Good Fiat engine but poor interior, lack of electrics and PAS. I'll be doing a lot of city parking so unsure.


Renault Clio 1.4 RT (or simliar) 95-98

Can get a 5 door here no probs. Most with e/w, PAS, CL etc. Not overly keen on this though and I'm not sure why. Does this have a bit of nip about it?


Citreon Saxo 1.1Xi (or simliar) 96-99

Unsure here, seems a good all rounder again.


Peugeot 106 96-99 or 306 95-98

Unsure again on the small French cars.


Vauxhall Astra 1.4 95-98

Not keen on the old shape, my least favourite.


I've tried to be honest, and get my thoughts down, but I'm very tired. Hope you can make some sense of my options and if anyone can offer help and advice on any of the models I've considered, or indeed offer some more alternatives, it would be much appreciated. Thanks :)
 
at this kinda price range you get a lot more for your cash by going bigger. Have a look at (i'm gonna get shot for this) mondeos, as insurance isnt actually that bad, especially with your age VS most new drivers (i have no trouble with even 2L mondeos as long as they are no higher spec than GLX :s), so a 1.8 will be sweet for you :) I can't see you getting a decent condition reasonably modern small car for this kind of money. For less than 800 you could happily get a 1.8i LX or some such with aircon and decent mileage :) (seen quite a few going for less than that on autotrader with aircon).

all, of course, IMO :)

Tom.
 
BrenOS said:
Ford Fiesta 1.25 16v Zetec 97-99

I know I don't want to go for a 1.3 8v older engine. Looks like a good all rounder. Any major drawbacks? PAS?
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Decent engine if you don't plan on going anywhere at serious speed. I think PAS was standard on most models.


BrenOS said:
Ford Escort 1.4i 16v (or similar sp. eds) 96-98

Can still manage the insurance on this but would have to go a little older with higher mileage to be able to afford it. Get more for my money with e/w, PAS, CL, some with sunroof etc. Current favourite.
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Junk. Avoid.


BrenOS said:
Fiat Punto 1.2 S60 97-99

Good Fiat engine but poor interior, lack of electrics and PAS. I'll be doing a lot of city parking so unsure.
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If you're buying a Punto, that would be the model to avoid. The engine is (as nearly all Italian engines) rather nice, but the interior is fairly basic and there's zero toys in there. Lack of PAS isn't actually that much of a problem as the car is fairly light, but it may start to grate if you spend half your driving life parking it :)


BrenOS said:
Renault Clio 1.4 RT (or simliar) 95-98

Can get a 5 door here no probs. Most with e/w, PAS, CL etc. Not overly keen on this though and I'm not sure why. Does this have a bit of nip about it?
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Mate of mine had one, and loved it. Trim falls off, and it isn't quick by any stretch of the term, but his was absolutely bomb-proof mechanically and was comfortable enough for a few of us to sit in there for a 400mile round trip.


BrenOS said:
Citreon Saxo 1.1Xi (or simliar) 96-99

Unsure here, seems a good all rounder again.
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I hate them with a passion, so I'm not going to comment as I'm biased :D

BrenOS said:
Peugeot 106 96-99 or 306 95-98

Unsure again on the small French cars.
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106 - fine if you're a woman (aside from the Rallye, which is quite good fun and the GTi, which seems to have avoided having it's image screwed up quite as much as the warmer Saxos), but I don't like most of them. Again, someone else will need to advise about them.


BrenOS said:
Vauxhall Astra 1.4 95-98

Not keen on the old shape, my least favourite.
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PULL UP!!! PULL UP!!!

*Ahem* Just...no. Avoid this.


And I'm done.
 
Out of that lot, I'd go for a Clio. Although i'm a bit biased, as i used to drive one, albeit a basic model.

Feels a lot more solid than the Fiestas/Saxos i've been in :)
 
BrenOS said:
I'll just get the bus then ;)

No thanks, always good to get opinions.
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Hey, second class drive is far, far better than a first class bus ride. :D For God's sake don't let me put you off any of those cars you listed (aside from the Astra!) as my opinion is skewed by the kind of cars I spend my life lusting over*.



*Fiats and lumps of American scrap iron usually....
 
Most people will probably tell you to go for the Fiesta or Clio which I can't comment on having never driven one.

I do have that Punto though which has never let me down in the past 18 months apart from a clutch slave cylinder thing.

Look at the sx if you're worried about no electrics. As has been said, the car is light so no power steering isn't really a problem unless you're a weakling. :p
 
My 1.1 Saxo never let me down, but i would go for the fiesta the 1.25 is a sweet little engine, alright build quality and should be the most reliable car on your list.
 
Out of all of those the fiesta is probably the one I would plump for however there are other cars that could fall into the category.

Civic springs to mind as does the corsa 'b'.

TBH for this amount of money I would try and steer clear of as many electrical gubbins / extras as you can as they will probably all go wrong (especially on the fiat).

I would highly reccomend having a good look around your local garages and see if there is anything you like. Test drive them and then choose. You may be pleasantly suprised by cars that you would have never thought to look at before.
 
My first car was a Punto 1.2 60S.

It was absolutely knackered (cost me £500), took a front end shunt and the year I had it, it was driven on the endge the whole time. It never let me down, not once. I did about 10k in it that 12 months.

Yeah, the interior isn't the best and they feel awful. But its a first car, and you shouldn't expect much more to be honest. The handling was fun and becasue it has no ABS and PAS, you really learn to drive. Going from that to my 1.4 206 with ABS and PAS, I prefer not having ABS or PAS. The Punto was better handling in some respects too.

If you're not bothered about looks and interior quality and just want a run around, then that'd be a good choice as you can pick one up fairly cheap. Plus if you bang it, you needent give a carp.

If you're bothered about looks PAS and ABS and want to drive around like a sissy girl (like I do in my 206 now :() go for any of the French cars on that list.

An all rounder from all this would be the Fiesta. You get a nice interior, decent build quality and a decent engine.

I can't think of anything decent and mordernish that won't have the insurance companies smiling on the other side of their face. But have you not considered a golf or a Lupo or Polo. Stay away from the Mk3 golf though, I had one and it was just shockingly bad (1.4CL)
 
Fiesta 1.25 is the best car on that list but... hmmm, good luck for £800.

The Escort is dire, if you want something larger than a Fiesta the Mondeo is better than the Escort in every possible way.
 
JoeBoi said:
Hi, and where can you actually get a

Ford Fiesta 1.25 16v Zetec 97-99

For £800?
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I'm in the north east. There's a few available for that price. There's even a few '96 models at ~£600.

[TW said:
Fox]The Escort is dire, if you want something larger than a Fiesta the Mondeo is better than the Escort in every possible way.
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I had a chat with rG-tom last night on MSN and he did a bit of Mondeo pimping. To be honest I'd overlooked it thinking the insurance would be too much, but I'm suprised. I'd have to go for a 97-98 1.8i LX at around £700 though. Any comments here?
 
BrenOS said:
I'm in the north east. There's a few available for that price. There's even a few '96 models at ~£600.



I had a chat with rG-tom last night on MSN and he did a bit of Mondeo pimping. To be honest I'd overlooked it thinking the insurance would be too much, but I'm suprised. I'd have to go for a 97-98 1.8i LX at around £700 though. Any comments here?
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:) you could get a verona or a GLX too, with such fancy trickery such as aircon that the fiestas of similar age havn't even heard of :D

Tom.
 
When did the facelift start? From what I can tell it looks like 1998/R :confused:

I'm going to be lucky to be able to get a GLX facelift version on my budget unfortunately :(
 
not really, facelift is P, there are some mk1 Ps and some mk2's. There seems to be no extra price premium for GLX's around here at least, but they are rarer.

Tom.
 
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