Help me choose my first car.

boYce

boYce

boYce

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18 Oct 2002
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625
Location
Nottingham
im looking at getting my first car at the moment and can't seem to find anything that really jumps out at me. Im 21, university student. I have 3-4k to spend and im looking for a hatchback around 1.4 - 1.6l.

The sort of things i have been looking at so far are;

Clio - good all round but read some bad comments about the handling and im not a massive fan of the shape.
206 - I really like the shape, specially the sporty ones tho everyone seems to say the break down and the style is getting a bit old now.
Fiesta - very good car, gets lots of good reviews and im sure it would bit the bill very well tho there is just something about the style that doesnt stand out to me.

any advice and help is very welcome as i just cant make up my mind, thanks.
 
Have a look at Mitsubishi Colt's mate, the mirage model comes with side skirts, front splitter, roof spoiler, just need a set of alloys to really set them off. Come in either 1.3 or 1.6 varieties.

Example here
 
boYce said:
Fiesta - very good car, gets lots of good reviews and im sure it would bit the bill very well tho there is just something about the style that doesnt stand out to me.
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Fiesta Zetec S.

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All the cheap costs of running a fiesta with the great looks, good speed and superb handling.

Could get a great condition one for 3-4k.
 
TinkerBell said:
Lol saitrix you always recommend the 1.6 focus :p

But you know you can get a lovely Mondeo for the money;):p
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Yes but a 1.6 Mondeo would not be as good as a 1.6 Focus.

I recommend it as it is a good car. The OP has the same requirements as I had when looking for a car. Thus I got the 1.6 Focus Zetec with Climate Pack.
 
Nimzicki said:
Have a look at Mitsubishi Colt's mate, the mirage model comes with side skirts, front splitter, roof spoiler, just need a set of alloys to really set them off. Come in either 1.3 or 1.6 varieties.

Example here
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Sound advice don't touch anything french, I would definetly buy japanese. Honda civic or the colt would be at the top of my list.
 
If you want a small car seriously there is absolutely nothing that's better than a Focus 1.6 Zetec with Climate pack for this money - it's nearly all things to nearly all men. A fantastic all rounder and better in every way than everything listed so far.
 
You can't really say every way though, it certainly doesn't stand out as much as the colt, how many focus's do you see everyday? Also in the looks department, ok thats subjective but still...awesomely bland cars imo.
 
Nimzicki said:
You can't really say every way though, it certainly doesn't stand out as much as the colt, how many focus's do you see everyday? Also in the looks department, ok thats subjective but still...awesomely bland cars imo.
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So your meriting cars that sell less, which is normally for the reason of being not so good cars? If so that really does not make sense at all.

Thats like saying Kia Cerato's are the best cars ever as you don't see them often.
 
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Nimzicki said:
You can't really say every way though, it certainly doesn't stand out as much as the colt, how many focus's do you see everyday? Also in the looks department, ok thats subjective but still...awesomely bland cars imo.
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The Colt looks bland inside and out - whilst a fundamentally capable and reliable car, there is nothing special, interesting or particularly exciting about the way it looks, plus the fact they are so rare means it's hard to find a good one and even harder to find bits for it if you ever get a problem. Also, they are quite expensive to insure for what they are - a problem it shares with the Honda Civic.

The Focus was a completely radical new design when it came out - nothing of its like had been seen before. The reason you can now consider it bland is a combination of two factors:

a) Most other manufacturers rushed to copy the design cues
b) It was such an excellent all round package it sold, and continues to sell, by the boatload. Unfortunately, it's very difficult to make something thats very good and then have nobody buy it.

And lets face it - if you are walking down a road with a Focus, a Fiesta and a Colt parked on it you are not going to turn a head at any of them, are you? We are talking 3 door hatchbacks here not Aston Martins.

The only two criticisms I have of the Focus are that the interior is, whilst well built, slightly wacky, and they cost far more than certain slightly larger, better cars - but these two criticisms apply equally to everything in the class as well, the Colts interior is just a sea of horrid bland plastic, the Fiesta is just plain nasty inside, and all of them cost a fortune for such basic small cars.
 
saitrix said:
So your meriting cars that sell less, which is normally for the reason of being not so good cars? If so that really does not make sense at all.

Thats like saying Kia Cerato's are the best cars ever as you don't see them often.
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No, not in the slightest, I know from first hand experience that the colt IS a good car, a lot of cars, the Corsa for example sell because everyone knows of them, the corsa is NOT a fundamentally great car but yet they sell by the bucketload, for the same price as a colt ;)

Im willing to bet the colts poor sales were due to pathetic advertising from Mitsubishi, the advert for them iirc was an old man storing his golf clubs in the back, the majority of colt drivers that I see around are 60+ :p

Fair points Fox im not going to argue as a lot of it is subjective, horses for courses. P.s - the colt shares the same interior as an evo 6 but you dont hear people complaining about their sea of bland plastic :p
 
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First of all the Evo isnt sold to the same people as the Colt, hense why the interior standard is expected to be different for the two cars. Do you see people who buy Catahams complaining about how the car doesnt have air con? No you don't but people who buy saloon cars will expect it as standard.

I also know from first hand that the Focus IS a good car.

You do realise there are a lot of 60+ people though don't you? So if the advertising was aimed at the older person, then it should still have been able to sell as well as the Focus.

The common nature of the Focus can be good, just about every mechanic has worked on one at some point, parts are cheap and easy to get hold of. I also found the insurance on a Focus to be really cheap for what it is.
 
Nimzicki said:
Fair points Fox im not going to argue as a lot of it is subjective, horses for courses. P.s - the colt shares the same interior as an evo 6 but you dont hear people complaining about their sea of bland plastic :p
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Yes you do, you hear them complaining about it all the time - it's a very similar interior to our FTO and thats a sea of bland plastic as well.

But the Evo has massive performance, awesome cornering ability and immense ground covering ability to take your mind off the fact the interior is of the sort of quality you'd expect to find in a Kia.
 
Easy now, it was a joke, jump back out of my throat...

At the end of the day, look at the original poster, he has shown a choice of 3 cars, the difference he has looked at between these cars is cosmetic. Yes, you're right, stick all of these suggestions on a street and they wont be turning many heads; however, to the original poster there is a vast difference in these cars.

Fact remains, hes choosing from a limited market and if looks are a good part of his choice then I still say the colt should be high on his list. Look at that car I posted earlier, you cannot seriously tell me that a focus, lowered on alloys, looks better than that?
 
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